The Kill Society (Sandman Slim)(70)

He adjusts his sleeves.

“Some. With all the death your Magistrate is drumming up, business is very good these days.”

“Is there anything you can do about it? By the time we find the Light Killer, I’m not sure there’s going to be anyone left to save.”

“Lux Occisor. I haven’t heard that name in a long time. What memories.”

I take out the Maledictions.

“I don’t suppose you have a light, do you?”

He tosses me a lighter. There’s a solid gold phoenix wrapped around the body. It’s heavy.

“Very pretty.”

“Please be careful. That’s an S. T. Dupont Tournaire Red Ligne. It’s worth more than your soul.”

“So, about six-fifty?”

I spark the cigarette.

He holds out his hand for the lighter back. I take a step to hand it to him, but my foot comes down on the Moxie bottle. I fumble the lighter and the damn thing goes down in the dirt. I grab it and rub it on my sleeve, brushing and blowing off as much grit as I can.

“I’m really sorry, man.”

I hold it out to him. He just stands there.

“Why don’t you keep it?” he says. “I was thinking about getting a new one anyway.”

“Seriously. I’m sorry.”

“I know. Somehow, I think it was destined for you.”

“Is it really expensive?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I kind of do.”

“What was it you were saying about a crusade?”

“Right. That.”

I manage to put the lighter in my pocket without dropping it again.

“The fucking messiah I’m riding with thinks he can end the war with this big gun he’s hauling around. He wants me to get you to help us. I keep wondering should I kill him? Should I help him? I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Relax,” says Death. “Or don’t. Here’s the thing. This crusade of yours is a lot more complicated than you think. I knew the Magistrate in the old days. Back when he was still Raziel, the bitchiest of the archangels. Always complaining. Always knowing more than anyone else.”

“Gee. That doesn’t sound like anyone we know.”

“Touché. The thing was, he was even more radical than me. I merely rebelled against God. Raziel rebelled against the whole concept of any guiding force in the universe.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Raziel reasons now that Father has become both God and Lucifer, killing him will free the universe of what in his mind is tyranny. That’s the real reason he wants me on his side.”

“He’s wants you to help him kill Mr. Muninn? Why? So he can take over?”

“Not at all. He rejects all leadership.”

“But he’s the most goose-stepping vicious asshole do-what-I-say-or-else leader I’ve ever met. He plays twenty questions with whole towns, and if they lose, he kills everyone. You were a tight ass when you were Lucifer, but nothing like this guy.”

“Isn’t that how it always is? We become the thing we despise. And I was never a tight ass.”

“If you say so.”

He puts out his hand.

“Let me have a Malediction. I’m all out.”

I give him the package.

“Keep it. We have crates full.”

The pack is covered in dust and dried blood. He handles it with his fingertips. As soon as I light his cigarette, he tosses me back the pack.

He says, “Thank you. I’ll pick some up later.”

“What are we going to do about the Magistrate? You want me to kill him?”

He raises and lowers his index finger a couple of times.

“The problem is that his argument against Father isn’t a bad one.”

That I didn’t expect.

“You want him to kill Mr. Muninn?”

“Of course not. But there is a logic to it. Things have to change. Even if we win this war, there will be another. And another.”

“Then what’s the answer?”

He puts up his hands.

“I have no idea. That’s why you have to continue the crusade. Besides, there’s another complication. I’m not allowed to take sides.”

“Not even for your father?”

“Not even for him.”

I smoke for a minute.

“Okay. I’ll kill him and finish this thing right now.”

“Then you’ll have to kill the entire havoc,” he says. “Are you ready to do that? I thought you were miffed about Raziel’s massacres and here you are proposing your own.”

“Then you want me to go on like nothing happened.”

“There’s the weapon itself to consider. Especially if he finds the Light Killer. If you murder Raziel, who knows who will end up with such a destructive force? At least now you have some control over it.”

“I still have a hard time believing this whole thing is about a gun.”

“Believe what you want about the weapon. Raziel is dangerous and the weapon is important.”

“Why don’t I just dump it in the river? Or destroy it? I bet I could do it, especially with the help from the angels.”

“Can you destroy every scrap of it? Every atom? This is a celestial weapon. Any angel or Hellion knowledgeable and powerful enough could resurrect it from the smallest fragment.”