Page 54 of Cheater Slicks

Hello, paranoia. Too bad you’ve got valid reasons for this pit stop in my subconscious. Don’t forget to validate your parking.

As the last of the revelers vanished, I was left standing in the street with Kierce, Ankou, and Dis Pater.

“Keep out of my affairs, mouthy girl, or I will make you regret it,” the god snarled at me. “This is only a taste of what I can do to you, and your family.”

Light flared in a blinding pulse, and Dis Pater vanished with a crack of thunder.

“No.”I groped after him, clutching handfuls of air, then whirled on Ankou. “What were you thinking?”

“That you’re wasting your time if you expect him to give you answers or show you mercy.” His laugh was strained, his air supply cut short. “He won’t help you save your family.”

“And you will?” I couldn’t believe his gall. “You expect me to believe that?”

“The only help he was going to give you was into an early grave.” He feigned shock at his own words. “Oh. Wait. He already did that.”

“You don’t get to take the moral high ground with me.” I imagined my fingers replacing Kierce’s, closing around Ankou’s throat. “You set Lyle up to murder me. He just couldn’t pull it off.”

“Rub salt in the wound, why don’t you?” He pouted at me. “Besides, I was acting in your best interests.”

“Are you serious?” I growled at him. “You never do anything without your own best interests at heart.”

Until Kierce flung Ankou back and away from him, I hadn’t noticed how close I had gotten to Ankou. Close enough that Kierce had released Ankou in favor of keeping his hands free to grab me if necessary.

“Dis Pater would have ended you just now. He would have snuffed out your eternal soul like a cigarette smoked down to the stub. I distracted him.” He spread his arms wide like I owed him a hug. “You can thank me now.”

The opening was too good to resist. I lunged at him, hands itching to bring my earlier fantasy to life. I was tired of listening to him talk in circles. I was done with all the constant death threats and senseless taunts. The suspicions he whispered in my ears were driving me insane. Which was probably the point. Because I would have to be crazy to put up with his brand ofhelp.

Kierce snatched me out of the air, holding me under my arms while I kicked and seethed at Ankou.

“You’re a liar and a manipulator.” I flailed against Kierce. “I don’t believe a word you say.”

Dis Pater wasn’t done punishing me. Not yet. I hadn’t suffered enough. I hadn’t lost enough. He wouldn’t go to this much trouble then skip out on the big finale. He wanted me broken. And if I lost Matty…

Cold fingers tickled my arms, ragged voices moaning in my ears. The dead beneath the city stirred as I spiraled from the magnitude of my frustration. Spirits whirled in my periphery. Whispering. Sobbing. The pressure bubbling in the back of my mind pushed against my temples, causing my vision to spark golden.

“You’re upset. I get it. Your brother is halfway to dead, and your mentor isn’t far behind. That sucks.” Ankou inched closer. “You have to look on the bright side, though.”

“There is no bright side,” I growled at him, shaking as I forced the spirits back to their resting places.

“Kierce, why are you so quiet?” Ankou, who didn’t appear to have noticed the restless souls frothing around me, angled his chin. “Oh. That’s right. Your god told you to sit and stay like the good boy you are, and you let Frankie’s loved ones slip through her fingers.”

Ankou was a first-class potstirrer, a facet of his chaotic nature, I was sure. He couldn’t open his mouth without making things worse, and I wasn’t inclined to help him. Unless by help, I could count shoving a roll of socks down his throat to shut him up for good. Barring that, I decided to play possum until Kierce relaxed his hold on me.

“Kierce can’t ignore orders any more than you can.” The second he set me on my feet, I swung my leg between Ankou’s thighs with as much force as I could muster. Impact drove him to his knees, and he clutched his junk before falling onto his side, twitching. “That’s for Josie.” I was tempted to stomp him again. “Consider it as a down payment on the pain you caused her and the rest of my family.”

A whistling groan slipped past his lips, and he vanished before I could decide on that second kick.

“He’s not wrong.” Kierce stared where he had been. “I’m a liability.”

“Nope.” I was done with this conversation. “You’re not.”

“Tonight, I was forbidden to help you, but it can get worse. Much worse. He has the power to command me to hinder you.”

Hindering me wasn’t what he feared. I could tell. Hurting me, though, made him pale with possibilities.

“You make it sound like I should kick you to the curb just in case.”

“It wouldn’t be the worst idea,” he murmured, his eyes downcast. “You should protect yourself from me.”

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