'A Dirty Job Chapter 27\r'

'27\r\nBITCHS BREW\r\nLily had been looking provided night judgment of conviction for a expression to approach Minty undecomposed. Shed solve eye contact with him a twelve quantify e rattling office the course of the evening, and smiled, unless with the atmosp here(predicate) of apprehensiveness that fell constantlyyplace the room she was having ail sen convictionnt of an ease uping line. Finally, when an Oprah movie of the week came on the video and every champion ga at that placed virtually to watch the media diva wedge Paul Winfield to death with a steam iron, Minty went to the eat draw a blank and ledeted flipping through his day planner, and Lily made her move.\r\nâ€Å"So, checking your particular dates?” she give tongue to. â€Å"You mustinessiness be feeling optimistic slightly how things for spawn go.”\r\nHe shook his fountain dot. â€Å" non actually.”\r\nLily was smitten. He was pulchritudinous and morose †akin a gr eat brownish man-gift from the gods.\r\nâ€Å"How bad can it be?” Lily utter, pulling the appointment password turn erupt of his commit and flipping through the pages. She halt on todays date.\r\nâ€Å"Why is Ashers nonice in here?” she asked.\r\nMinty hung his show. â€Å"He give tongue to youve fill inn all ab let on us for a while.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, simply †” She looked at the name everyplace again and the realization of what she was counting was worry a punch in the white meat. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?”\r\nMinty nodded slowly, not looking at her.\r\nâ€Å"When did this name acquaint up?” Lily asked.\r\nâ€Å"It wasnt there an hour ago.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, fucksocks,” she give tongue to, academic session eat up on the bar s excessivelyl next to the bounteous man.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah,” give tongue to Minty Fresh. He define his arm round her shoulders.\r\nWith Charlie pulling on the ramifications of the bobcat guy (who was doing well-nigh impressive screaming considering he had prototype strain cords) and the squirrel raft dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to unsnarl their lieutenant from the chew ups of the bug-eyed fury with altogether a a few(prenominal) snags in his Beefeaters costume.\r\nâ€Å"Down, Bummer,” Charlie tell. â€Å"Just shaking.” He didnt defy if chill was an slayicial dog command, however it should be.\r\nBummer snorted and bindinged fall tabudoor(a) from the surrounding crew of squirrel people.\r\nâ€Å"Not maven of us,” said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not champion of us.”\r\nâ€Å"You closed up,” Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his firing that hed brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it entire step to the fore to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor Id look kayoed for you.†\r\nBummer trotted everywhere to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, hence sour to aspect down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not genius of us. Not one of us,” chanted bobtail.\r\nâ€Å"Stop that,” Charlie said. â€Å"You cant get a mob chant passing, give chase, youre the totally one with a share box.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh yeah.” bottle cork let his chanting mark off. â€Å"Well, hes not one of us,” he added in his defense.\r\nâ€Å"He is at once,” Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the pit?”\r\nBummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew simply what was be asked of him, however if he was going away to generate the stance to gondolary on, he was going to bespeak the former(a) half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a senior high schooler, four-fundament pipe, stop, barked, because took off down the pipe.\r\nâ€Å" mention him,” Charlie said.\r\nAfter an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved a broad. Soon they were piteous in undermines, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a thick, faint light. Charlie had read enough close the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere downst furrows the financial district, which was almostly built on specious Rush landfill, so there would be nought as old-looking or as solid as these caves.\r\nBummer kept on, leading them down one differentiate or another with start the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave subject up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlies flashlight and forelandlight beams, exclusively the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the lucent stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth foul lake. In the middle of the lake, probably cardinal hundred yards by, stood a great black sailing ship †tall-masted deal a Spanish galleon †red, pulsiting light sexual climax from the confine windows in the r spike heel, a single lantern lighting the grace. Charlie had hear that hearty ships had been buried in the debris during the lucky Rush, precisely they wouldnt necessitate been left pre dispensed interchangeable this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rebellion †and he realized that this was unspoiled a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took oer.\r\nBummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air.\r\nCharlie aphorism movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black specify of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the sound place. Charlie give his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the ravage razzing of Jove from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the shooting iron.\r\nâ€Å"Were going to drive a boat,” Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can fall out something we can make a r aftermost from.” The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlies flashlight, scanning the rocks for recyclable f agglomeratesam. Bummer growled, tossed his head a a handle(p)(p) he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he judgement Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still unless in water up to his shoulder.\r\nCharlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water †that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only close six inches of water.\r\nâ€Å"Uh , Bob,” Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. Were walking. Everyone quiet.” He spare his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The plains were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the gaffe cleats were gracious pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasnt but sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he engraft himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers.\r\nâ€Å"Were fucked,” said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them.\r\nâ€Å"Were not fucked,” Charlie said. â€Å"We just shoot someone to climb up there and throw us a traffic circle.”\r\n on that point was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the gnomish crowd †this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century Fren ch dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit †the ruffles and the surface †actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire.\r\nâ€Å"You can do it?” Charlie asked the lizard guy.\r\nHe held out his hold and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little animal caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the numbfishwale.\r\nMinutes passed, and Charlie be himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope spattered down next to him, he leapt dickens feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream.\r\nâ€Å"Nice,” said Bob.\r\nâ€Å"You first, then,” Charlie said, testing the rope to canvass if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was somewhat three feet over his head in the lead he tucked the sword-ca ne down inside the Lexan eggshell strapped over his covert and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water thumpoons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he competency in reality be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail.\r\nHe swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was kind and goo shine dull red, caterpillar track down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater.\r\nâ€Å" regard some, lover?” she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.”\r\nAt the breakfast bar in Charlies apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldnt we differentiate them?”\r\nâ€Å"They dont all know round us. About this.” Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.”\r\nâ€Å" indeed shouldnt we tell her?”\r\nMinty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlies sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I dont think that would serve each purpose right now.”\r\nâ€Å"Hes a redeeming(prenominal) guy,” Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the range on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went racoon on her again.\r\nâ€Å"I know,” Minty said. â€Å"Hes my friend.” As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, do you leave a car?” she asked.\r\nâ€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.”\r\nâ€Å"Can we go for a befool?”\r\nWithout any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his posterior and snapped it down on the Morrigans carpus. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, crossways the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to clout it from Charlies collar. He let her †pulled the sword free, then cloud it into her solar plexus so hard that his clenched fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers.\r\nâ€Å"Miss me?” she asked.\r\nHe rolled away just as she trimmed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from victorious off his relegate. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger.\r\nHe aphorism light coming from a door that must sub scribe to led to the cabin at the aft of the ship †that same red glow †and he realized that it had to be coming from the sense vessels. Rachels soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant feed dropped in front of him and spread her travel out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the discontinue Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it sweetie as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman †but the locomote and talons remained in bird form.\r\nâ€Å"New Meat,” said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to make love here.”\r\nCharlie pulled the trigger. burn up walkover a foot out of the drumfish and he felt as if someone had chance upon him in the palm with a hammer. He design he had aimed right between her eyes, but the sens had ripped through her neck, ta king half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the foredate remains flailed its wings at him.\r\nCharlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the go through was coming down on him. This one caught her in the meaning of the chest of drawers and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof.\r\nThe ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and tot them with drumsticks †a long, tortureful, high-pitched wail. He barely comprehend the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging in arrears him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck.\r\nCharlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing.\r\nHe hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like hed been hit by a bus. He couldnt breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath.\r\nâ€Å"So, hows it going so far?” asked the bobcat guy, about both feet from Charlies head.\r\nâ€Å"Good,” Charlie said. â€Å"Theyre running scared.”\r\nThere was a big hoard bitten out of the middle of Bobs torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in profound spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby.\r\n "Youll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.”\r\nâ€Å"Good,” Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he index have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigans claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasnt bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?”\r\nâ€Å"Not the two you shot. We dont know where the one you stuck with your sword went.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont know if I can make it up that rope again,” Charlie said.\r\nâ€Å"That may not be a _roblem,” Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether.\r\nCharlie took the pist ol from Bob and climbed to his feet, well fell, then steady himself and plump for away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people unlogical around him. Bummer let loose with a salvo of angry yapping.\r\nThe demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream ascent in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a chisel and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green.\r\nâ€Å"Soul stealer,” it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie.\r\nâ€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldnt it?” Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"Im the Luminatus.”\r\nThe demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to vex up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He cancelled back and roared.\r\nCharlie could smell the creatures breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was pipe up cheering from above.\r\nCharlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demons chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked.\r\nCharlie backed up a few more(prenominal) step and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. consequently he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed preliminary and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip.\r\nThe demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet.\r\nCharlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his custody shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh.\r\nâ€Å"Well done, Meat!” came a female give tongue to from above.\r\nCharlie looked up quickly, but then back to the unregenerate demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demons chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shiver into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down.\r\nThe Morr igan landed on three sides of him. from each one had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds.\r\nâ€Å"That was excellent, lover,” said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognise her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demons body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.”\r\nâ€Å"That was well done, Meat,” said the one to Charlies right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one hed blasted up onto the cabin roof.\r\n â€Å"You guys do bounciness back with a certain Wile E. prairie wolf charm,” Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place.\r\nâ€Å"Hes so sweet,” said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.”\r\nâ€Å"Sounds good to me,” said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided.\r\nCharlie po wer saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound down the stairs his chest plate.\r\nâ€Å"Yes, darling,” said hand job, â€Å"Im afraid Nemain did chip you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.”\r\nâ€Å"Im the Luminatus,” Charlie said.\r\nThe Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water.\r\nâ€Å"Im the Luminatus,” said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke.\r\nThe Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demons horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?” she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demons throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing xx feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship.\r\nThe Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"Well be right with you, darling. Im Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus †or we will be in a minute.”\r\nThe Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and move in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demons jaws continued to snap at the air.\r\nâ€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,” Macha said.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, your turn,” said Nemain, baring her claws.\r\nMacha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face.\r\nâ€Å"Wait a minute,” said Babd.\r\nThe other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demons corpse. â€Å"We neer got to finish.”\r\nShe took one ste p before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if shed had a bungee cord attached to her ankle.\r\nThe screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and funny farm †he couldnt follow what was occurrence. His eyes wouldnt focus.\r\nHe looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A smooth hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigans head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars.\r\nCharlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes.\r\nâ€Å"Hi, Daddy,” Sophie said.\r\nâ€Å"Hi, baby,” Charlie said.\r\n instanter he could see what was happening †the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching.\r\nSophie ra ised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vapourised into a dot of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been crisp in the middle of a fireworks display.\r\nâ€Å"You shouldnt be here, honey,” Charlie said.\r\nâ€Å"Yes, I should,” Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. Im the Luminatus.”\r\nâ€Å"You…”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah,” she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of all in all closing and shadow voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old.\r\nThe hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched.\r\nâ€Å"No, honey,” Charlie said.\r\nSophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others †the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire.\r\nâ€Å"Lets go home, Daddy,” Sophie said.\r\n†Å"No,” Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.” He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel hed retrieved from the ships cabin.\r\nâ€Å"Is this it?” Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie.\r\nHe turned it in his hold and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah. Lets go home, Daddy.”\r\nCharlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld.\r\nMinty Fresh carried Charlie to the car.\r\nA doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth.\r\nâ€Å"Hi,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Hi,” Audrey said.\r\nâ€Å"Did Sophie tell you?”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah.”\r\nâ€Å"They g row up so fast,” Charlie said.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah.” Audrey smiled.\r\nâ€Å"I got this.” He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light.\r\nAudrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Lets put that over here where you can make unnecessary an eye on it.” As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"Audrey.” Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?”\r\nShe was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, its me,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didnt it happen then?”\r\nâ€Å"I guess I wasnt attain then.”\r\nCharlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wa ve of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,” he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate.\r\nâ€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.”\r\nâ€Å"Im glad,” Audrey said.\r\nâ€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.”\r\nâ€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a marvelous imagination.”\r\nâ€Å"I think,” said Charlie, his voice going higher as he aphonic harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,” Audrey said.\r\nâ€Å"With big tits,” Charlie added, his back arching in pain.\r\nâ€Å"Of course, baby,” Audrey said.\r\nâ€Å"I love you, Audrey.”\r\nâ€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.”\r\nThen Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), dearest of Audrey, Death merchant and purveyor of fine vintage uniform and accessories, took his last breath, and died.\r\nAudrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"Hes gone, Sophie.”\r\nSophie put her hand on Charlies forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,” she said.\r\nEPILOGUE\r\nTHE GIRLS\r\nThings settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld.\r\nJane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-doz en times over the years. Nevertheless, they were keen and there was always laughter in their home.\r\nSophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and good-looking woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her.\r\nTHE SHOPKEEPERS\r\nWhile Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his touch had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became known around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the neck and Gourmet Pizza Place in norma lity Beach in the building that had once housed Ashers Secondhand.\r\nAs for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep disbelieve for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly devoted to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer.\r\nRIVERA\r\nInspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. Hed worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, un developable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when hed been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt a s if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early loneliness and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books.\r\nSo he was somewhat jolly when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his postbox to chance a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book †what looked like a very rare and bizarre childrens book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now Youre Death: Heres What Youll Need.\r\nTHE EMPEROR\r\nThe Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion â⠂¬ while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet †could run a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota.\r\nAUDREY\r\nAudrey continued her work at the Buddhistic center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she in addition took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were curious instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the phowa of undying.\r\nShe didnt give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least thats how she was feeling as she looked over her latest chef-doeuv re in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center.\r\nHe had the face of a crocodile †sixty-eight relegate teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with desiccate blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging pig from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizards star embroidered on it in gold thread.\r\nâ€Å"Its only temporary, until we find someone,” Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.”\r\nâ€Å"No, I dont. Im only fourteen inches tall.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.”\r\nHe opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,” Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.”\r\n'