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.“No, that’s just an example—” Charlie saw she was trying not to laugh.“Hey, I’ve been bruised and electrocuted and tied up and traumatized tonight.”“So my seduction strategy is working?” Audrey grinned.Charlie was flustered.“I didn’t—I wasn’t—was I staring at your breasts? Because if I was, it was totally by accident, because, you know—there they were, and—”“Shh.” She reached over and put her finger on his lips to shush him.“Charlie, I feel very close to you right now, and very connected to you right now, and I want to keep that connection going, but I’m exhausted, and I don’t think I can talk anymore.I think I’d like you to come to bed with me.”“Really? Are you sure?”“Am I sure? I haven’t had sex in fourteen years—and if you’d asked me yesterday, I’d have told you that I’d rather face one of your raven monsters than go to bed with a man, but now I’m here, with you, and I’m as sure as I’ve ever been of anything.” She smiled, then looked away.“I mean, if you are.”Charlie took her hand.“Yeah,” he said.“But I was going to tell you something important.”“Can’t it wait till morning?”“Sure.”They spent the night in each other’s arms, and whatever fears or insecurities they had been feeling turned out to be illusions.Loneliness evaporated off of them like the steam off dry ice, and by morning it was just a cloud on the ceiling of the room, then gone with the light.During the night someone had picked up the dining-room table and cleaned up the mess Minty Fresh had made when he crashed through the kitchen door.He was sitting at the table when Charlie came down.“They towed my car,” said Minty Fresh.“There’s coffee.”“Thanks.” Charlie skipped across the dining room to the kitchen.He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with Minty.“How’s your head?”The big man touched the purple bruise on his forehead.“Better.How’re you doing?”“I accidentally shagged a monk last night.”“Sometimes, in times of crisis, that shit cannot be avoided.How are you doing besides that?”“I feel wonderful.”“Yeah, imagine the rest of us all bummed about the end of the world, not being cheerful.”“Not the end of the world, just darkness over everything,” Charlie cheerfully said.“It gets dark—turn on a light.”“Good for you, Charlie.Now ’scuse me, I got to go get my car out of impound before you start with the whole ‘if life gives you lemons you make lemonade’ speech and I have to beat you senseless.”(It’s true, there is little more obnoxious than a Beta Male in love.So conditioned is he to the idea that he will never find love, that when he does, he feels as if the entire world has fallen into step with his desires—and thus deluded, he may act accordingly.It’s a time of great joy and danger for him.)“Wait, we can share a cab.I have to go home and get my date book.”“Me, too.I left mine on the front seat of the car.You know those two clients I missed—they’re here.Alive.”“Audrey told me,” Charlie said.“There’s six of them altogether.She did that p’howa of undying thing on them.Obviously that’s what’s been causing the cosmic shit storm, but what can we do? We can’t kill them.”“No, I think it’s what you said.The battle is going to happen here in San Francisco and it’s going to happen now.And since you’re the Luminatus, I guess this whole thing is riding on your shoulders.So I’d say we’re doomed.”“Maybe not.I mean, every time they’ve almost gotten me, something or someone has intervened to pull out a victory.I think destiny is on our side.I feel very optimistic about this.”“That’s just because you just shagged the monk,” said Minty.“I’m not a monk,” said Audrey, bounding into the room with a sheaf of papers in hand.“Oh, shit,” said the Death Merchants in unison.“No, it’s okay,” Audrey said.“He did shag me, or, I think more appropriately—we shagged—but I’m not a monk anymore.Not because of the shagging, you know, it was a preshag decision.” She threw her papers on the table and climbed into Charlie’s lap.“Hey, good-looking, how’s your morning going?” She gave him a backbreaking kiss and entwined him like a starfish trying to open an oyster until Minty Fresh cleared his throat and she turned to him.“And good morning to you, Mr.Fresh.”“Yes.Thank you.” Minty leaned to the side so he could see Charlie.“Whether they were here for you, or for our clients who didn’t die, they’ll be back, you know that?”“The Morrigan?” said Audrey.“Huh,” said the Death Merchants, again in chorus.“You guys are so cute,” Audrey gushed.“They’re called the Morrigan.Raven women—personifications of death in the form of beautiful warrior women who can change into birds.There are three of them, all part of the same collective queen of the Underworld known as the Morrigan.”Charlie leaned back from her so he could look her in the eye.“How do you know that?”“I just looked it up on the Internet.” Audrey climbed out of Charlie’s lap, picked up the papers on the table, and began to read.“‘The Morrigan consists of three distinct entities: Macha, who haunts the battlefield, and takes heads of warriors as tribute in battle—she is said to be able to heal a warrior from mortal wounds in the field, if his men have offered enough heads to her.The Celtic warriors called the severed heads Macha’s acorns.She is considered the mother goddess of the three.Babd is rage, the passion of battle and killing—she was said to collect the seed of fallen warriors, and use its power to inspire a sexual frenzy for battle, a literal bloodlust [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.“No, that’s just an example—” Charlie saw she was trying not to laugh.“Hey, I’ve been bruised and electrocuted and tied up and traumatized tonight.”“So my seduction strategy is working?” Audrey grinned.Charlie was flustered.“I didn’t—I wasn’t—was I staring at your breasts? Because if I was, it was totally by accident, because, you know—there they were, and—”“Shh.” She reached over and put her finger on his lips to shush him.“Charlie, I feel very close to you right now, and very connected to you right now, and I want to keep that connection going, but I’m exhausted, and I don’t think I can talk anymore.I think I’d like you to come to bed with me.”“Really? Are you sure?”“Am I sure? I haven’t had sex in fourteen years—and if you’d asked me yesterday, I’d have told you that I’d rather face one of your raven monsters than go to bed with a man, but now I’m here, with you, and I’m as sure as I’ve ever been of anything.” She smiled, then looked away.“I mean, if you are.”Charlie took her hand.“Yeah,” he said.“But I was going to tell you something important.”“Can’t it wait till morning?”“Sure.”They spent the night in each other’s arms, and whatever fears or insecurities they had been feeling turned out to be illusions.Loneliness evaporated off of them like the steam off dry ice, and by morning it was just a cloud on the ceiling of the room, then gone with the light.During the night someone had picked up the dining-room table and cleaned up the mess Minty Fresh had made when he crashed through the kitchen door.He was sitting at the table when Charlie came down.“They towed my car,” said Minty Fresh.“There’s coffee.”“Thanks.” Charlie skipped across the dining room to the kitchen.He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with Minty.“How’s your head?”The big man touched the purple bruise on his forehead.“Better.How’re you doing?”“I accidentally shagged a monk last night.”“Sometimes, in times of crisis, that shit cannot be avoided.How are you doing besides that?”“I feel wonderful.”“Yeah, imagine the rest of us all bummed about the end of the world, not being cheerful.”“Not the end of the world, just darkness over everything,” Charlie cheerfully said.“It gets dark—turn on a light.”“Good for you, Charlie.Now ’scuse me, I got to go get my car out of impound before you start with the whole ‘if life gives you lemons you make lemonade’ speech and I have to beat you senseless.”(It’s true, there is little more obnoxious than a Beta Male in love.So conditioned is he to the idea that he will never find love, that when he does, he feels as if the entire world has fallen into step with his desires—and thus deluded, he may act accordingly.It’s a time of great joy and danger for him.)“Wait, we can share a cab.I have to go home and get my date book.”“Me, too.I left mine on the front seat of the car.You know those two clients I missed—they’re here.Alive.”“Audrey told me,” Charlie said.“There’s six of them altogether.She did that p’howa of undying thing on them.Obviously that’s what’s been causing the cosmic shit storm, but what can we do? We can’t kill them.”“No, I think it’s what you said.The battle is going to happen here in San Francisco and it’s going to happen now.And since you’re the Luminatus, I guess this whole thing is riding on your shoulders.So I’d say we’re doomed.”“Maybe not.I mean, every time they’ve almost gotten me, something or someone has intervened to pull out a victory.I think destiny is on our side.I feel very optimistic about this.”“That’s just because you just shagged the monk,” said Minty.“I’m not a monk,” said Audrey, bounding into the room with a sheaf of papers in hand.“Oh, shit,” said the Death Merchants in unison.“No, it’s okay,” Audrey said.“He did shag me, or, I think more appropriately—we shagged—but I’m not a monk anymore.Not because of the shagging, you know, it was a preshag decision.” She threw her papers on the table and climbed into Charlie’s lap.“Hey, good-looking, how’s your morning going?” She gave him a backbreaking kiss and entwined him like a starfish trying to open an oyster until Minty Fresh cleared his throat and she turned to him.“And good morning to you, Mr.Fresh.”“Yes.Thank you.” Minty leaned to the side so he could see Charlie.“Whether they were here for you, or for our clients who didn’t die, they’ll be back, you know that?”“The Morrigan?” said Audrey.“Huh,” said the Death Merchants, again in chorus.“You guys are so cute,” Audrey gushed.“They’re called the Morrigan.Raven women—personifications of death in the form of beautiful warrior women who can change into birds.There are three of them, all part of the same collective queen of the Underworld known as the Morrigan.”Charlie leaned back from her so he could look her in the eye.“How do you know that?”“I just looked it up on the Internet.” Audrey climbed out of Charlie’s lap, picked up the papers on the table, and began to read.“‘The Morrigan consists of three distinct entities: Macha, who haunts the battlefield, and takes heads of warriors as tribute in battle—she is said to be able to heal a warrior from mortal wounds in the field, if his men have offered enough heads to her.The Celtic warriors called the severed heads Macha’s acorns.She is considered the mother goddess of the three.Babd is rage, the passion of battle and killing—she was said to collect the seed of fallen warriors, and use its power to inspire a sexual frenzy for battle, a literal bloodlust [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]