Authors: Darren Shan
Tags: #General, #Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #Suspense, #Large type books, #Magic realism (Literature), #Gangsters, #Noir fiction, #Urban Life
When the sun drops out of sight and the glass turns reflective, I study my face. I shaved my head two nights ago, with an electric razor. It was hard to adapt to—bald, I realized how closely I resembled my father—but I’m getting used to it. I no longer jump nervously when I spot my reflection.
The left side of my face is the same as before, but when I rotate my neck a twisting snake comes into view. The tattooing will take longer than I thought. The design I asked for is tricky to create, and will require time and patience to get right. But I can wait. A week or two won’t matter. When it’s finished, I’ll have the tattoos and the smooth skull, as well as the motorcycle. The clothes will be easy to replicate. Then I’ll take his name, hit the streets and spread the word—
Wami’s back!That should draw Bill out. He’ll have to investigate. Even if he senses a trap, he won’t be able to stay away. His hatred will drag him out of his pit and back into the playpen of the city. When it does, and he shows himself, I’ll capture him, put a knife to his throat, kiss him once on the forehead, then make a swift end of him. Mere murder wasn’t revenge enough for Bill Casey, but it will do for me.
But what if he doesn’t show? What if the charade isn’t enough to lure him out of hiding?
I spin away from the window and study the photo hanging next to the bottle of vodka, the snapshot of Bill and a young Priscilla Perdue. My eyes turn to the trinket hanging from a chain around my neck—Bill’s little finger, varnished so it will last. I stroke it from tip to base, as I have many times since I conceived the ruse to tempt Bill out into the open.
The look might not be enough. Bill’s no fool. Maybe he won’t fall for rumors alone. I may have to do more than re-create my father’s image. Wami’s body of work might also have to be duplicated.
I think I’ll have to kill.
Contents
Part one: “she’s my girlfriend”
Part three: “a severed human head”
Part four: “the red fingerprints of death”
Part four: “the blood of dreams”
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Darren Shan
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017First U.S. Edition: January 2011
First published in Great Britain in 2000 under the name Darren O’Shaughnessy by Millennium, an imprint of Orion Books.
Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-446-57437-2