SANDMAN SLIM

"That's nothing. A couple of kids jumped me last night. They must have been high or something. They weren't very good robbers. They didn't get anything. Maybe they just wanted to beat someone up."

"Did they grab you or did they just start pushing you around?"

"What difference does that make?"

"If they grabbed you, it was probably a robbery. If they started whaling on you, then they were just looking to kick someone's ass. Which was it?"

"I guess they sort of grabbed me, at first."

"Then it was a robbery."

"Yeah, but they didn't ask for my wallet or pat me down. They just kind of held on and dragged me around."

"Were they trying to pull you toward a car or into one of these stores?"

"Like they were kidnapping me? No. I don't think so. They were just high."

"Who've you pissed off? You owe anyone money?"

"No one. It was nothing. Just life in the big city." He puts the last of the rocks away and turns to me, half smiling. "Look who's quizzing me about pissing people off. I think you took the gold, silver, and bronze in that event."

I waited for a minute, not sure I was going to say the next thing.

"I figured out one of your secrets."

"Which one would that be?"

"The rocks you used on Allegra and me. They're glass, aren't they? The glass from Aelita's story. Glass all full of divine light. Where did you get them?"

"You can find anything on eBay."

"Or from Mr. Muninn," says Candy.

"He has some nice things, no doubt."

"Why did you want them?" I ask. "You don't seem like a hippie New Age type. And you seem smart enough. Why aren't you a regular doctor?"

"What do I keep telling you? We'll talk when you let me take those bullets out."

"Then it was a bad move using those rocks on me. I don't even feel them anymore."

"You will." The doc keeps moving around the place, putting little things away. Examining others before handing them to Candy. He drops things, clumsy with just the one good arm. Candy leans against the end of the exam table. I pull my legs back so she can sit down. "Keep running around things and you'll feel them soon enough." Kinski picks up some green stems with small white blossoms on top. Candy leans over and takes them from him. "See? I told you we had some veratrum," he says.

"That's why you're the doc," says Candy.

The doc looks at me and crosses his arms.

"You might want to ease up on Eugene. He stood up for you while a lot of folks around here want to see you sent right back to where you came from, but he stood up for you."

"You one of them?"

"I'm on the fence."

"That's why I don't know if I trust you to cut me open."

"Imagine how I feel having you in my home, Sandman Slim."

I hadn't thought of that.

"Thanks again for fixing me up. I owe you."

Candy says, "You're going to have a nice new scar for your collection."

I rub my chest. She's right. There's an almost-healed burn near my heart, right where the sword went in.

"It's a good one, too. I think I'll be immune to nukes after this." Candy's heart has slowed, but her pupils are still wide. "Listen. I was an asshole the other night. I had no call to talk to you the way I did. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Jades freak out a lot of people."

"Not me. I know better than that. When I was Downtown, I met Hellions more honorable than ninety-nine percent of the people I have to deal with up here. And I met human souls as vicious and treacherous as any Hellion. So for me to say that stuff to you, that was double shitty. My father would have smacked me and I'd've deserved it."

"I forgive you. We'll all be freaks together. A bloodsucker who doesn't suck blood. A human who thinks he's a Tasmanian Devil driving a tank. And a two-armed witch doctor with only one working arm."

I ask Kinski, "Why don't you use the glass to fix yourself?"

He shakes his head.

"They don't work the same way on everybody and they can't fix everything. I've got my herbs and my ice packs. I'll be fine."

"It's funny, you got mugged by people who didn't know what they wanted and I sort of did, too."

"You mean the angel?" asks Candy.

"Yeah. One minute, she's doing the hard sell and then she's coming over all beatific and Mother Teresa. Then she suddenly goes batshit psycho. Screams, 'Abomination,' and stabs me."

"You're sure she said 'Abomination'?"

"She was screaming it right in my face. I'm sure."

Candy makes a face and says, "Angels can be such pricks."

"That they can, darlin'," Kinski says. "Listen, you're going to have to watch your back. Just because Eugene stopped Aelita today doesn't mean he'll be able to do it again."

"You think she'll come after me?"

"Angels don't use the word Abomination lightly. You're the lowest of the low to her. Worse than a Hellion."

"So, if Parker or Mason or Hellions or Homeland Security don't get me, she will."

"Don't forget the Sub Rosa," says Candy.

"Thanks, sunshine. The Sub Rosa, too."

"You can always come here if things get too hot. I know people who can help get you out of town," Kinski says.