Ellison is staring at me in such a strange way that I have to assume is because of the pain pills he’s on. “Don’t think yourstory has made me forget the fact that you know where I live well enough that you know how to find it.”
“I can find anything.”
“Uh-huh… why?”
I glance at him and then at the rearview mirror. “Why indeed.”
“Asmodeus.”
I sigh. “I was always taught that everyone was out to get you—that you needed to learn everything about them before engaging with them, so if the time came that they turned their backs on you, you’d have the advantage. I just… want that advantage.”
“You think we’d do something?”
“Now? No. Back then? Maybe. Even if you do something to me now, I don’t care. You can have at it. You may use me and throw me away as you please.”
“That’s not… you’re not… Asmodeus, you do realize if one of us turned our back on you, you shouldn’t go, ‘Welp, this is my life now. I might as well let them chop my head off.’”
“Is there a reason why?” I ask.
“Of course there’s a reason why!” Ellison seems exasperated.
Is it because of our tail? Or because he’s easily flustered? I have to assume it’s that one.
“Nah!” I decide on as I turn off the main road and onto a more desolate street with factories lining it instead of houses.
Pocket Lint isn’t overly thrilled that her paws fell off when I turned the steering wheel and shows it by chittering a bit and arching her back before looking for something to bite. I pick up the feisty ferret and put her in Ellison’s arms. “Hold the ferret,” I say as I stop the car, slip out, and shoot the two front tires of the car following us. The driver is so alarmed that he slams on the brakes.
I strut over, prepared to blow a hole in his head, while he looks at me in horror and tries to gun the car. I pull out a metal rod that I can use to bludgeon someone or shatter a window. I break the window so fast the man has no time to react before I have him by the collar and drag him out through it.
He sure squeals when he hits the road where I press a foot against his neck and aim my gun between his eyes.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Ellison yells as he runs out holding the ferret. “Fuck! Why’s this thing so evil?”
He hands the ferret to me and pushes me back.
“Ah, you want to kill him. Understandable,” I say as I trade him the ferret for the gun. I aim Pocket Lint at the man on the ground like the ferret is a weapon, and she seems prepared for her new mission to assassinate this man.
“Please, don’t! Please!” the man cries.
Ellison looks exasperated. “Asmodeus… this man… is my mother’s private investigator. She uses him to look into pretty much everyone she comes across… she must have been using him to look into you. He’s pretty much harmless.”
I laugh while I threaten the man with the ferret. “You were going to investigate me? Wow, you’re pretty shitty at your job if I noticed you so quickly.”
“You fucking attacked me! Ellison, your mother was right, this guy is bad news,” the investigator says as he tries to fondle my ankle. He’s got easy access to it from where my foot is still perched on his throat. I’m not sure what he plans to do with it or if he thinks a few strokes will get me to release him.
It would take so little for me to crush his throat so he can’t tell Ellison the shit I’ve done. So he can’t inform everyone who’s taken a chance on me how awful of a person I am.
He seems to see something in my face that makes him stop talking, so I pull my leg back.
“Please, go ahead, tell him every horrible deed I’ve done. Just be warned that I might sic Pocket Lint the Third, Esquire on your ass if you do. She’s itching for a fight.”
I head back to the car, assuming the man is going to spill it all and Ellison will choose to stay with him, but Ellison promptly turns around.
“Ellison, you need to hear this shit about him!” the man calls.
“I don’t really need to hear anything,” Ellison says as he follows me.
I get in my car and Ellison climbs into the passenger seat before holding my gun out to me.
