Page 105 of Concluded
“That shifter killed me.Not you.And you need to stop shouldering blame for things that weren’t your fault.You’re not the center of the universe.Lots of shit happens that’s nothing to do with you.Taking responsibility for all that is a form of hubris, Achilles.”
Oh.That was true, wasn’t it?Admitting it was humbling, but it also lightened Achilles’ soul.
“Okay,” said Santiago.“Your body’s a pretty good machine.Let me in the driver’s seat.”
At the door, Keaton shouted, “They’re here!”
Achilles glanced once more at Dee, who hadn’t moved.“It’s all yours, Santiago.Hit the gas.”
CHAPTER42
Dee had experienced a lot of weird lately, but this topped it all.As soon as Abe finished his prayer, or whatever it was, he started glowing in a way that was impossible to describe.He wasn’t like a lightbulb or anything like that; in fact, maybeglowwasn’t the right term for it.It was a sort of buzz, although Dee couldn’t hear or feel it.Maybe it involved a sense he’d never used before and that had no name.
In any case, Abe glowed, then dozens of sparks appeared in the lobby.They zoomed around for a few seconds, as if searching for something, before each one disappeared into a particular person.Immediately, each person was… expanded?It was as if they had gained an extra dimension.Dee could see a shadowy figure overlaying each one of them.
Oddly, none of this frightened him.It was beautiful, in a way.Especially when each person’s face alit with wonder and, in some cases, joy.Dee actually felt slightly envious of them, although everyone had agreed that it was best if he remain unpossessed—in part because he was already drained and in part because nobody knew how possession would affect a djinn.Assuming it was even possible.
Tenrael, Ish, and Henry also remained fully themselves, although Ralph, Jerry, and the other not-quite-humans in the room welcomed the ibburs.
Charles, however, was even more remarkable, because he had not one shadow, but two.One of them was rounder and balder than Charles and, even from several yards away, smelled of cigarette smoke.The other was slender.Dee couldn’t discern the shadows’ facial features, but he had the definite impression that the slender shadow was grinning.
Achilles seemed to be in a conversation with himself.Or, more likely, with the shorter shadow that had attached to him.Dee, who couldn’t muster enough energy to move a muscle, strained to hear what Achilles was saying.Something about a bear.Ah, his ibbur must be the agent who’d been killed when Achilles was so badly mauled.
Dee wondered whether the ibburs chose hosts who were specifically connected to them in some way.It would make sense if that were so.And, Dee hoped, it might make the union stronger.
Then Keaton shouted and Dee had no more time to wonder.
The dual front doors burst open violently, wrenched from their hinges.Several men stampeded inside and then began committing the most ordinary act of violence imaginable: they opened fire on the Bureau agents with some very large guns.The noise was deafening.Agents shouted, blood spurted crimson against white marble, and Dee tried desperately but uselessly to crawl away.
He couldn’t cry out, not even when several agents fell to the floor.Not even when some of the fallen were people he knew and had started forming friendships with: John.Kurt.Dash.Isaac.
No!It couldn’t end so easily.Sostupidly.
But before grief could begin to set in, two things happened.First, a dragon, a demon, and a very large dog set on the shooters, stopping the carnage while creating new carnage of their own.The blood that flowed now did not belong to Bureau agents.
And at the same time, the agents who had fallen rose to their feet.Although their clothing was bloody, they didn’t move as if they were injured.Together with the other agents, they formed a tight semicircle, shoulder to shoulder, their backs to Dee and their fronts toward the door.Achilles was among them.When he shot a quick look over his shoulder at Dee, he was grinning wildly.Dee tried to smile back.
Within moments, the shooters were nothing but gory corpses.Dee didn’t rejoice in their deaths—they might have been ordinary people simply trying to pay the bills—but he wasn’t sorry about it either.
The room was quiet now aside from heavy breathing, the air thick with anticipation.Dee managed to move his legs a little, then considered an attempt to sit up but discarded the idea.He was marginally less vulnerable while horizontal on the floor.
Charles spoke—only it didn’t sound like him at all.“Keaton, son, are you ready?”
Keaton sounded shaky when he answered.“I can’t find… can’t find a target.There’s nothing out there but sunshine.”
“They’re out there, boy,” said Charles.
Abe moaned loudly, cursed in Yiddish, and then spoke in strangled English.“It’s trying… to get in me.”
Charles ran over and grabbed his shoulders.In a new voice, this one with an English accent, he spoke again.“Tommy?Tommy, protect him.”
“I’m trying,” responded Abe—also in an English accent.
Then Abe spoke again, in his own voice.“Kill me!Kill me before it gets in.”
“No!”shouted several people at once.
“Kill me!Please!”Abe collapsed to his knees, holding his head in his hands as if to keep it from exploding.“You can’t let this happen.”He made a keening sound, a terrifying growl, a string of words in a tangle of languages.“Catch the bullet, catch the bullet, let me catch the bullet.”
