Skeleton Crew. Cameron Haley

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СКАЧАТЬ this time, and it coiled around my throat, almost gently, like a lover’s caress. Tony finally picked himself up and flew at the monster, but its head snapped around, its mouth opened and Tony was swallowed up like smoke being sucked into an air cleaner. The creature made a vile gulping sound and licked its lips. Then it turned back to me. It drew close and its jaws stretched wide. Its hot breath smelled like rotten meat.

      An arrow burst from the thing’s throat, just above its Adam’s apple, and blood and pus spattered my face. It was in my eyes and my mouth, and somewhere deep inside I started screaming.

      I reached out with my free hand and grabbed a tentacle, pulling the creature to me. I took hold of the arrow and twisted it, grinding it against the raw edges of the angry wound, and then I head-butted the thing in the face. The creature shrieked and recoiled from me, and the tentacles withdrew.

      “Big mistake, motherfucker.” I brought Ned up and fanned the hammer with my left hand. The monster jerked around in the air like a kite in a gale, but it couldn’t dodge all the ethereal lead the weapon threw its way. One shot pierced the wrinkled gray skin of its cheek and the other took it just above the eye. Black blood trickled down its face and sprayed from the exit wound in the back of its skull.

      I heard a sharp snap and another arrow slammed into the side of the creature’s head. The arrow penetrated the monster’s temple and burst out the other side. It looked just like the arrow-through-the-head party gag, and I couldn’t hold back the giggle that bubbled up from the part of me that had gone a little mad.

      The creature remained in the air for a few moments, bobbing like a cork in a pool. Then its eyes rolled up in its head and it collapsed in a twitching mass of tentacles. I stepped up to it, stuck the Peacemaker’s barrel in its ear and pulled the trigger a couple times. Maybe more than a couple.

      I felt a hand on my wrist, pressing firmly but gently. “That’s enough, miss. It’s over.”

      I looked up and saw a ghost. He was wearing a long leather coat and a wide-brimmed hat. Brown hair shot with gray spilled down from the hat to his collar. He looked to be in his fifties, and his face had a seamed and weathered appearance that suited him. He was holding an antique wooden crossbow in one hand and a large leather pack was slung over his shoulder. I nodded and reluctantly holstered Ned.

      “That was a disembodied head that eats ghosts,” I said.

      “The Karen tribesmen of Burma call it the kephn.”

      “Around here we call it Pac-Man.”

      The ghost shrugged and extended his hand. “I’m Abe,” he said. “Abe Warren.”

      I shook his hand. “Thanks for your help, Abe. I’m Domino.”

      Abe nodded and then squinted at me. “You’re alive.”

      “Yeah, barely. Like I said, thanks.”

      “What I meant was, you’re not dead. You’re not a spirit.”

      “Right on.”

      “So you’re a witch.”

      “I prefer sorcerer. Or sorceress, if you have to be gender-specific about it.”

      “A witch spirit-walking in a boneyard at night…I probably don’t want to know what you’re doing here.”

      Abe didn’t seem too fond of witches but at least he was polite about it. “Well, why are you here?”

      “I’m a ghost-hunter.”

      “You’re a ghost yourself, Abe.”

      “Well, yes, I was a ghost-hunter in life. I never saw the point in changing vocations just because I died. Matter of fact, it’s a lot easier to find the bastards this way.”

      “What do you have against ghosts?”

      “Oh, nothing against most of them, just the troublesome ones. The haunts, revenants and vengeful spirits—those are my prey.”

      “Well, I don’t think there’s any ghosts like that here. Tony got eaten and Keshawn can’t leave his grave.”

      “I’m glad to hear it. I’m on patrol, you see. It’s my job to make sure there aren’t any malevolent entities on the prowl.” He drew a gold watch from his vest pocket and snapped it open. “Since there aren’t, I should be on my way.”

      “Yeah, just the head. Thanks again for that.”

      “My pleasure. Well, there’s plenty more graveyards to visit before the dawn.” He smiled and tugged on the brim of his hat. “Good evening, miss.”

      He turned away and I watched as he walked across the cemetery toward the edge of the mist.

      “Say, Abe,” I called. He stopped and turned back to me.

      “Yes, Miss Domino?”

      “You got any idea why Tony and Keshawn were trapped here? It’s like their ghosts were chained to the place where their bodies were destroyed.”

      Abe looked down at his feet and rubbed his chin. He looked back up at me and shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “But I reckon a powerful witch such as yourself will get to the bottom of it.” Then he turned and disappeared into the fog.

      I didn’t want to chase him into the mist but I thought about going after him. Not because I needed the company, but because I was pretty sure the son of a bitch was lying.

      “Why didn’t you tell me the Koreans were making noise about Terrence’s outfit?”

      I was meeting with Adan in the second-floor office of his father’s strip club, the Men’s Room. It was early afternoon and there was a light lunchtime crowd in the club below. The girls danced onstage and gossiped in back of it. The men paid their money and pretended they weren’t lonely for a while.

      “It’s a political matter, not directly related to the war effort. I figured you had more important things to worry about, and besides, Dad left this kind of thing to me. Anyway, I’m telling you now.”

      “Terrence is our ally, Adan. Supporting our alliances is critical to the war effort, and you damn well know it.”

      Adan’s voice softened. “I’m not trying to undercut your authority, Domino. Really, I’m not. I just think you’re being soft on Cole because you feel like you owe him something.”

      “Yeah, he saved my life.”

      “And we’re all grateful for that. I’m grateful.” Adan smiled and looked at me with his dark, soulful eyes. I’d gotten lost in those eyes once before. I didn’t plan on doing it again.

      “So you want to show your gratitude by stabbing him in the fucking back? Remind me never to do you a favor.”

      “No one has to get hurt, Domino. I’m not talking about taking him out. He’d get bumped down to lieutenant again, but in a stronger outfit. It’s still a promotion for him, from where he was before. We annex his territory and he runs it for us.”

      “I’m СКАЧАТЬ