Page 16 of The Morning Star
Wait. There were tourist penny machines in Dakar? Fuck me.
“The cities closest to the seven gateways from Hel,” I commented, handing him the squashed penny.
He shrugged. “Pop through a gate. Get my souvenir pennies. Walk back into Hel. It’s quicker than taking a bus.”
I eyed him. “Not really. The gateways are spread all over Hel. You’re a Low. You can’t teleport. It’s probably quicker to take a bus, or plane, this side of the gates than hiking it all around Hel.”
“Elf buttons.” He stood and turned his back to me, sticking another penny in the machine.
“You’re wasting elf buttons to transport yourself all over Hel so you can go through the seven major gates and have tourist pennies made?”
He pushed the coin into the machine and it began to make a horrible grinding noise. “Everyone has to have a hobby. This is mine. For now, anyway.”
“And once you get this one, are you going to put them all in a shadow box or something?”
“I’ll probably continue to get ones from the minor gates, although some of those are in areas without these machines. Then maybe I’ll hop on a human bus and collect additional ones. Starting with Asheville, or maybe Los Angeles. Yeah, think I’m going to start with Los Angeles.”
This was a strangely inane, boring conversation about a stupid hobby, but my skin prickled with that weird connected sensation and more. Something wasn’t right about Gimlet, and I got the impression that whatever he said was important. I just had to figure out what was important about little stamped pennies.
“The gate guardian didn’t see you cross,” I mentioned, watching his reaction.
He shot me a quick grin. “I’m sneaky. I can’t just stroll through like Snip because…well, first of all I’m not banging the gate guardian, second I’m not a member of your household.”
He wasn’t but he sure hung around my house a lot. For a Low I’d never even met until a few months ago, he seemed to be everywhere lately—at least everywhere I was.
“See anything when you came through? Like maybe a demon causing a big ruckus, blowing up cars and stuff?”
He took the penny from the machine and blew on it before shoving the whole lot of them into his pockets. “The one that spit fire? Oh yeah. That’s the perfect time to cross, when the gate guardians are distracted by someone else. Snuck right through. She didn’t even notice me. Although she doesn’t notice much. Not very alert, that one. Not as bad as the last guy the angels had there, but still not the brightest bulb in the pack.”
None of them really were, but that wasn’t my problem. “Do you know the fire-spitting demon? Did you recognize him?”
Gimlet looked me square in the eye and lied. “Nope. No idea who he is. Never seen him before. Just some random demon, blowing shit up and killing humans. I got the fuck out of there because I knew that gate guardian had called for an enforcer. Didn’t want to be hanging around when one of those showed up.”
“So you’ve been here in Seattle ever since? You ducked down a side street, and just hung around for twelve hours or so, then came back to peek around the corner of a building and watch the gate guardian speaking with us, then came down here to have pennies made?”
“Yep.”
Another lie. He shoved his hands in his pockets and I heard the pennies jingle.
“Why did you come back to check on the gate guardian?” I asked.
“Huh?” He gave me a puzzled look that was laughably contrived.
“Why didn’t you just come straight down here to have your pennies made? Why hang around for half the day, then go back to the gate? Weren’t you afraid that she’d see you?”
He snorted. “Uh, no. She’s not very observant as I said. I had brunch, then did some window shopping. I was passing by and I sensed you and some powerful angel down by the gate. Figured you were getting the crap beat out of you and went to watch. Once I saw all you were doing was some boring old talking, I left.” He jingled the coins again. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get some commemorative pennies made in Los Angeles.”
“That’s going to have to wait,” I told him. “I need you to come with me. I’ve got an assignment for you.”
I didn’t, but I got the feeling that I should be keeping an eye on this strange Low. His eyes narrowed at my words and then he quickly took in the exits, obviously calculating the distance and the chances of his making it out the door before I grabbed him. If he was doing the same math I was, the odds weren’t in his favor.
His shoulders slumped as he came to the same conclusion that I did. “I’m not a member of your household.” His voice was defiant.
“I’m the Iblis. Don’t be a jackass. I don’t particularly want to get into a fight with you in the middle of a souvenir shop. Come on. I’ll let you have some of my salmon and get you a beer. I’ll even let you play Call of Duty until midnight.”
He eyed the package in my hand. “Okay, but just for tonight. I’ve got other things to do. I’m busy, you know. I don’t have time to be running around doing shit for some imp with a sword who isn’t even the head of my household.”
That made me wonder. “So who is the head of your household, Gimlet?”
