“Lasciel,” Bob said. His voice was worried.
“I thought she was locked up. I thought she couldn’t touch me from there, Bob.”
“She can’t,” Bob said, bewildered. “I mean, that’s impossible. There’s no way she should be able to reach out from there.”
“Sounds kind of familiar,” I muttered. I wrapped up my hand again. “But that’s what I thought too. And my staff is acting weird. When I start to run power through it, I’m getting excess heat. The runes start glowing like embers and there smoke curling up out of them. Seemed like my workings with the staff were coming out a lot bigger than I wanted, too. Did I blow something on the preparation?”
“Maybe,” Bob said. “But, uh. Well, it sounds a lot like Hellfire. I hear that some of the Fallen really love it.”
“What?”
“Hellfire,” Bob said. “Uh, it’s sort of an alternate power source. Not a pleasant one, but man, you could really turbocharge violent spells with it.”
“I know what Hellfire is, Bob.”
“Oh. Right. Why are you using it then, Harry?”
I said through clenched teeth, “I don’t know. I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
“Hell,” Bob said. “Heh. You made with the funny, boss.”
I had involuntary access to Hellfire. How had that happened?
Lasciel’s sigil on my left palm was the only cool spot on my burning hand.
Hell’s bells. I shook my head and headed for the ladder back up.
As I left Bob said, “Hey, Harry?”
“Yeah?”
The orange lights in the skull glowed eagerly. “Tell me again about Murphy’s ass.”
Thomas came back from the store later that day. “Got the puppy a bowl and a collar and food and so on. Nice little guy. Real quiet. Don’t think I’ve heard him whine at all.” He tousled the puppy’s ears. “You decide on a name?”
The puppy cocked his head to one side, ears tilted up with interest, dark little eyes on my face.
“I never said I was keeping him,” I said.
Thomas snorted. “Yeah. Right.”
I frowned down at the puppy. “He’s tiny. He’s grey. He doesn’t make much noise,” I said after a minute. I dropped to a knee and held my hand out to the little dog. “How about Mouse?”
Mouse bounced straight up in a fit of eager puppy joy and romped over to lick my hand and chew gently on one of my fingers.
Thomas smiled, though it was a little sad. “I like it,” he said.
We started putting groceries away, and it was the strangest feeling. I was used to being alone. Now there was someone else in my personal space. Someone I didn’t mind being there. Thomas was all but a stranger, but at the same time he wasn’t. The bond I sensed between us was not made weaker by being inexplicable, no less absolute for being illogical.
I had a family. Hell, I had a dog.
This was a huge change. I was happy about it, but at the same time I realized that it was going to be a big adjustment. My place was going to be pretty crowded, pretty fast, but once Thomas got into his own apartment, it would be more normal. I don’t think either one of us wanted to be tripping all over each other every time we turned around.
I felt myself smiling. It looked like life was looking up.
I had started feeling a little crowded already, sure. But I took a deep breath and brushed it back. Thomas wouldn’t be here too long, and the dog was certainly a lot smaller than Mister. I could handle a little claustrophobia.
I frowned at a giant green bag and asked Thomas, “Hey. Why did you get large breed Puppy Chow?”
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two