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First published by HarperVoyager 2013
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2013
Copyright © Richard Kadrey 2013
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Richard Kadrey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007446063
Ebook Edition © August 2013 ISBN: 9780007483877
Version: 2017-09-18
IâM IN A window seat at Donut Universe eating heart-crippling lumps of deep-fried dough with the Devil. Ex-Devil technically, but then technically weâre both ex-Devils. He was Lucifer before I was. Now heâs Samael and Iâm back to just plain Stark.
I take a bite of an apple fritter.
âHowâs your donut?â
Samael eyes his glazed old-fashioned suspiciously, like maybe itâs haunted.
âCharming. Did I invent these? They taste like something designed to destroy mortals from the inside out.â
Candy says, âNope. We came up with them all on our own.â
âHow wonderfully suicidal you people are. Donuts must be the very essence of free will.â
As for the Devil job, I stuck another poor son of a bitch with that. Mr. Muninn. Some days I feel bad about it. Some days I donât. Today the sun is out, Iâm eating donuts with my girl and another ex-Devil, and itâs all pretty goddamn heartwarming.
Samael says, âThat blond woman buying coffee. She sold me her soul for a 1956 Les Paul Goldtop. I donât think she ever learned to play it. The man behind must be a pious bore. Heâs virtually free of sin sign.â
The Devil can see peopleâs sins. Theyâre like streaks of black tar on skin. Since I quit the damnation biz, I canât see sin sign, but as an angel, Samael can still pull that rabbit out of the hat. I donât miss doing that trick.
I say, âThis is why I donât take you to Bamboo House. I donât want you taking an inventory of my friends.â
âSorry. Itâs a hard habit to break.â
Candy is sitting next to Samael, trying not to let on how thrilled she is to meet the original Devil. I havenât seen her this excited since we met a furry, six-foot-tall Pikachu at the Lollipop Dolls store in Beverly Hills.
She has her pink laptop on the table, open to Wikipedia. Sheâs updating the Sandman Slim page. And by âupdating,â I mean taking out all the dumbest rumors about me.
âDoes it say anything about me being Lucifer?â
She nods.
âSort of. It says you were always Lucifer and that Sandman Slim doesnât exist. Heâs just one of the Devilâs fronts.â
âYou might want to take that out,â says Samael. âYou donât want any demon hunters or aspiring crusaders taking potshots at you.â
âYeah. Delete it all.â
Candy types something over the Devil stuff.
âIs there a picture of me?â
âA drawing. Itâs pretty dumb. Kind of like a police composite sketch in a movie.â
âDelete it, please.â
âYou got it, Chief,â she says, channeling Jimmy Olsen.
A police sketch. Iâm not surprised. Theyâve known who I am for a while now. So why arenât there fifty patrol cars outside? Why isnât there a SWAT team waiting for me at the Chateau Marmont? Iâm not lucky enough that theyâd lose my paperwork and all the surveillance photos. That means somebody doesnât want me taken in, which means I have a secret benefactor. I donât think Blackburn would do it, even if I did save his wifeâs soul. The head of the Sub Rosa is too political to be sentimental. That means itâs someone I donât know about. I donât like that. Secret friends can turn into full frontal enemies without you even knowing about it.