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pain goes through it.  Don t be. He kept himself at a distance from events, using Stone as his proxy.
There was no way to connect the two, not in any rational manner.
 But you did.
 Yeah, well, sometimes rationality is a one-trick pony. I think I heard that in a cartoon once.
He hesitates, then says,  I understand that certain items are still missing.
 The Midnight Sword and the Balancer gem are. The Quicksilver Kid s on their trail, though I have
the feeling they won t be missing for long.
 And the armor?
 Safe. You can pick it up later.
He nods, then looks back at Gretchen.  Her child is fine. I think the African Queen just bought herself
a great deal of political support.
 Gretch s still zonked out, huh?
 Yes. They tell me she broke two of the orderlies arms when they tried to restrain her, too. Dr. Pete
was just arriving to visit her when all the commotion broke out he disappeared from the hospital right
after that.
 Yeah. About that . . .
I do my best to explain what s happened to Dr. Pete, though I m a little unclear on the details myself.
 He s calling himself Tair now. He was shadowing me for a while I almost caught him in a
supermarket, but he threw me off by shifting to were form and pretending he was after Dr. Pete. Thing
is, he is Dr. Pete a Dr. Pete that could have been, anyway.
It takes a lot to make Cassius look worried, but he looks worried now.  That s unfortunate. Peter had a
troubled past if he d continued on that path, he would have become a very dangerous man. And now,
it seems, he has.
 Yeah in the blink of an eye. I shake my head.  We re not going to just give up on him, are we? I
mean, this isn t some criminal that may or may not be worth rehabilitating this is Dr. Pete. We know
that underneath it all he s a good person.
 Of course we won t give up, Jace. But the magic that triggered his change was meant for you it s not
just a powerful spell, it s a powerful spell gone wrong. Reversing it will be difficult, maybe even
impossible.
 Then we ll do it the old-fashioned way. Worked the first time, didn t it?
He smiles.  Yes, it did. And this time, he ll have you on his side from the very beginning. I m sure
that ll make a difference.
Gretchen shifts and mutters something in her sleep. I notice that both her wrists are still in padded
metal restraints.  Not taking any chances with Gretch, huh?
 She ll wake up with her baby beside her. That ll calm her down in a hurry but I don t want her
disabling another orderly before her head clears.
 Yeah, she s got enough to worry about. Single motherhood and getting used to aging again.
 I m hoping I can alleviate some of that.
I frown, not sure what he means.  Excuse me?
 It s possible if you act quickly to replace a pire father with a surrogate, another donor for the child
to draw life force from. I m going to offer to do so for Gretchen.
For a second, I can t even process it. David Cassius, a vampire who s spent unknown centuries in the
body of an eighteen-year-old, is giving up some of his youth.  I what? Are you serious?
He gives me a carefully neutral look.  I m very serious, Jace.
 Don t get me wrong, I think that s wonderful, but you and Gretch? Really?
 It s not like that, he says.  She s one of my most valuable operatives. I have the years to spare even
nine of them will leave me relatively untouched. I think it s time I added a little more . . . stature to my
image, anyway.
 Stature, sure. Maybe you should grow a mustache, too I understand that really impresses the girls.
And helps you get in bars.
 I ll take that under advisement.
 Plus, you can finally move out of your parents basement and get that cool bachelor pad.
 Are you done?
 Me? Never. I m a work in progress. I pause.  And I guess you are, too. Or will be.
 It s not that big a deal, Jace.
  Course not, Caligula. It s not a big deal at all. And definitely not the sweetest thing I ve ever seen
one friend do for another.
I lean over and give him an impulsive kiss on the cheek. He looks a little surprised, starts to say
something, then stops.
 Well, I say.  I better get going. I ve got you know. Things. Call me when she wakes up, okay?
I leave him there beside the bed, still looking like he has something to say.
I do some hard thinking on my way home.
Now that the case is over, it s back to hunting Aristotle Stoker. I m beginning to think that the best way
to do that is to have him start hunting me . . . and in fact, I may have already set that in motion.
My last lead on Stoker had him researching Ahasuerus, the sorceror who created both the golem race
and the anti-firearm spell and the one that brought me across the dimensional divide. If Stoker is
looking for Ahasuerus, then the best way to catch him is to bring Ahasuerus to me; and since
Ahasuerus is the only one that can send me back, I need to locate him anyway.
Which might just happen on its own. The third level of the no-guns spell is an alarm system. If the spell
is ever broken even in only one person s mind the alarm is supposed to go off, alerting the spell s
caster. Presumably so he can show up in person and eliminate the problem.
I don t know if it ll still work now that da Vinci is dead. Guess I ll have to wait and see but if and
when he does show up, he s in for a surprise.
I pick up the comic book from the seat beside me. It s the one Dr. Pete lent me, the one of the Bravo
Brigade that the government printed. The stated reason for its existence was to counter the power of the
Kamic cult but it was printed after the attack on Wertham, when the members were already dead and
their power drained into the bulk of a volcano.
The government completed the ritual anyway, though. Blood from the Bravos went into the ink, the
comic went into the hands of thousands of kids, and then the government used a flimsy excuse to recall
and destroy every issue they could get their hands on except for a select few, no doubt, locked away
in a Hexagon or NSA vault for future use.
But they didn t get them all. Which means, if I understand my Animism 101 correctly, that the
remaining ones still have all the power of the Bravo Brigade s spell locked up in them. I don t know
how to access it but human beings have a natural affinity for magic that pires and thropes have to
work at.
If I concentrate, I can feel the slightest hum of something coming from the comic in my hand. Looks
like I have some studying to do . . .
Because when Ahasuerus shows up, I m going to be ready.
 Oh boy, I say.  Home sweet 
 Jace! Galahad says, and tackles me like a linebacker.
I hit the floor with a thud, and shove him off me as he attempts to lick my face.  What the hell? I
manage, getting back to my feet.
Xandra looks up from where she s curled up on the couch, reading a magazine.  Hey, Jace. Gally s
glad to see you.
 Jace! Jace! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]