Poor Maggie. She was so hungry for my attention and affection.
I could only just barely remember what that had been like with my dad.
“Yeah, okay,” I said. “Hey. You carry that damned bag everywhere. What’s in it?”
“Trouble for bad guys,” she said.
“Like what?”
Bear looked at me for a moment. Then she reached into the bag and pulled out a goddamned cannon.
“Hell’s bells,” I said. “What isthat?”
She offered it to me. It weighed about as much as a barbell.
“Four-bore,” she said.
It had a lever action that I worked. It lowered a block from the barrel, where you’d put a round about the size of a damned can of Red Bull. Just one round, no magazine or anything. “What’s it shoot, tank shells?”
Bear reached into the bag and plucked out a cartridge that was indeed absolutely enormous. She handed it over. The bullet was as big around as my eye socket. “What the hell, Bear?”
“Puts a nice big hole in soft targets,” she said.
“Like ghouls,” I said.
“Just like them,” she confirmed. “You want one?”
“Would it tear my arm off?”
“You’re a big guy,” she said. “Probably not.”
I hefted the empty rifle and examined the iron sights. The weapon was just a block of metal barrel and walnut fittings and felt like it could club someone’s head completely off if I got a good two-handed swing behind it. “Can we use this on the range downstairs?”
Bear burst out laughing and then said, “Indoors? I wouldn’t.”
“Well. Maybe we can take it to an outdoor range at some point.” I offered it back to her, and she took it calmly, restowing it in the bag. “Everything arranged?”
“He’ll be here at midnight,” Bear said. “Alone, under guest-right.”
“Ballsy bastard,” I noted. “Given the last major violation of guest-right happened right here, in this very building.”
“You planning to betray him?” Bear asked. “No judgment, I just want to know what to look out for.”
I grimaced. “No. Mab would have my teeth.”
“Then I imagine things will go smoothly,” Bear said. The big woman paused. “You’re wearing your coat, right? Just in case I’m wrong.”
A chill went down my spine and I looked up.
There might have been a dark shape soaring overhead, in the dark. Without the lights of the city everywhere, it was hard to tell.
“Seidrmadr?”Bear asked.
“You see anything up there?”
She squinted up and said, “No.”
“Huh,” I said. “Okay. Let’s get back indoors.”
