Victor made an amused sound from the threshold.Nora’s eyes flicked to him. “What? What is it?”“I told them you were bad with people.”“I’m not bad with people.”“You aren’t great with them,” Deirdre said.

It was teeth and talons and fire and mustard gas, it was ghosts scorched into Hiroshima streets, showerheads pouring poison into tiled rooms, and a grasp that twined itself around his own bones, a tongue that licked for marrow in his own spine, and a hunger he could feel in his own stomach.

if you’ll let me hijack your feed for one second, I think we could help each other. The voice was chemical-sweet, carcinogenic, a pool of oily promise cooking in a silver spoon. Its silky bravado reminded Deirdre of stories about devils and demons, about dark fae spirits feasting on firstborn children after a handshake and a trick.

The deal involved saving your life. There aren’t any subsection clauses to that. I saved your life. And if you hurt that kid, I’ll take it back.”Frank’s lips flapped, making sounds but not words.Deirdre didn’t wait for him to figure out how to speak again.

What could someone say to the dead to earn their forgiveness?

I’m looking for information.”She lifted her arms, indicating the breadth of the library, and declared with self-parodied drama, “I’m surrounded by it!

It was funny how little justice seemed to come in the wake of justice being done. It was funny how often the word “funny” described horrors that couldn’t be screamed away.

Under lightless skies, dark things flourished.

She leaned back from the ebb and flow of the sigils’ glimmer and clasped her hands. Prayer, they called it in some circles. The truth was more complicated. Words and meaning, context and history, all arranged in rhythm, in certain order. Magic took many forms.

Paul scrambled across the war torn lot to the rear of the car and snatched the dead boy’s rifle from the moonlight. Wet blood kissed his palm along its grip. He wiped the gore on his pantleg and pressed his back to the tire well at the rear of the vehicle. Another bullet yawped against the reinforced frame.From the tree line, the chorus of dead rasped, you too, soon.