back. Finally, she made a low whine, and her face twisted up.
"She's going to kick us both out."
"If this job pays off, it won't matter."
"Isn't that what you thought about the job for Red?"
That one hurt. "I've already got a new van and a private jet."
"Do you think you could get me a PortalTech?"
"I don't even know what that is."
"A rig. I never mentioned it because it costs more than you've seen in your life." Her eyes lit up at the thought of the enhancement to her addiction.
"I can try."
Another staring contest. She didn't whine again. Instead, she pulled herself out of the chair, did something to the equipment that powered the rig, and then headed for the stairs.
"Good enough. Meet me outside."
I turned and headed to the outer door, pausing to listen to her feet on the floor above. The Sharmas weren't home at the moment, but I could still smell the spices simmering.
I climbed up the steps and headed back towards the van.
The rear door was open.
Carl was standing in the street.
I hadn't animated him.
"Necromancer," he said. Only it wasn't the deep Brooklyn accent I expected. It was him. Death.
My heart thumped triple-time. The day just kept getting better and better.
"I'd say hello, but I don't know what to call you," I said.
"Master."
"You want something? Say it."
"I want you to join me. To come home where you belong. Otherwise?" He looked past me, to Prithi's house. "I may have to take someone else in your place. Perhaps more than one."
"Leave them out of it."
"You don't command me, necromancer. You are the one disobeying the laws of nature, not I. I am what I am, and I do what I must. A soul for a soul." He smiled with Carl's face, managing a level of innocent malice that threatened my bladder.
The words, the face, they reminded me of another entity. One that survived in a pair of dice and a mask made of bone. The power of a soul for the power of a soul. The words echoed in my mind.
Were the two connected, somehow?
I reached into my pocket and put my hand on the mask. My fingertips tingled.
"Your time is running out, along with my patience," he said. "I have more than one way to be persuasive. If my Reapers aren't able to put you out of your misery, I'll be forced to convince you by more indirect means. Think on that for a while, necromancer, but not for too long."
He glared past me at the Sharma house again, his laughter assaulting my ears, leaving me shivering long after Carl's corpse had fallen to the ground.
And Prithi thought I was creepy.
FOURTEEN
Red sky at night.
The shift had changed the world in a lot of different ways. Beyond the fences and gates that had become a sight so common you never even noticed them anymore, there were other, more dramatic adjustments depending on where you were. Some places, like New Orleans, had been forced to alter their entire landscape, condensing into a smaller area and using the rivers and heavy, high walls to protect themselves from the new denizens of the bayou. Others, like New York, used a stronger presence of Feral Control units and the dearth of suitable habitat in their urban landscape to keep nature under control.
Then there was Vegas.
Sitting in the middle of a desert, surrounded by rocky terrain. If the magical fields hadn't been as strong as they were there, I think the residents might have almost forgotten that geomagnetic reversal had ever happened.
Meaning, Vegas hadn't changed much because of magic or the bloom in new-old life forms. Of course, there were the occasional ferals. Vampires, werewolves, and people who came down with the Rot. That happened everywhere. There were also some pretty nasty creatures that roamed the desert like basilisks. They didn't find their way into the city very often. They didn't like the lights. They didn't like the noise. They also didn't make it very far on the rare occasions they did stray too close. A city full of users was a city with a powerful self-managed defense.
Tarakona's private jet touched down at McCarran International at six o'clock, making good time from Jersey across the Great Plains. It was a smooth, easy ride, and we'd been treated to the sight of a giant eagle crossing within a thousand meters of the left side of the plane somewhere over Kansas.
"I'm hungry," Prithi said as the plane taxied to a stop. She pulled out her cell