“So you let him get away?” asked Burrzie.

  “Lady Beat was there and there was nothing I could do,” said Petrov. “Ghost Thing sure is a slippery er, quite literally.”

  Dead Head needed a few of his thugs to go deal with a problem with the Northside Daggers so Burrzie was driving haraoh, Dice, Hustler Petrov up to the Daggers’ spot. Petrov was in the back, top hat removed so the two small horns on his head were quite visible. All three of them has seerov around the warehouse, so they were getting used to the “demon’s” grotesque appearance. Petrov held his e between his legs, hands resting on top.

  Burrzie was driving. He had a blue baseball cap on and a heavy coat. Dice took the passenger seat, the long-time thug sp a close shave of blonde hair and thick eyebrows. Then there haraoh. He got that name back when he lived in Quebec when someone found out about his Egyptiaage. No matter. Pharaoh took the moniker and ow, turning the insult into a niame.

  Through long hair tied with wooden beads, he looked over at Petrov. He spoke in a faint Québécois at. “I ’t believe how many times Ghost Thing has gotten away, though.”

  Burrzie took his eyes upward, pursing his lips out as he thought. “It’s only been twiht?”

  Pharaoh puttered. “Yeah, I suppose you are correct. Guess it feels like more because, uh, wasn’t it Ghost Thing that interfered with that case up on Sunrise?”

  Pharaoh was correct, although no o ined to keep the small talk going. The car feel into silence so Pharaoh ged the subject: “What are we doing with the Northside Daggers anyway?”

  “We’re gonna put the fear in them,” said Dice.

  Burrzie tilted his head back to address his voice to Pharaoh. “Boss wants us to intimidate them. Get them to stop messing around our turf. Get violent if necessary.”

  No more was o be said. Pharaoh got the picture.

  There was a weird smell in the car– something like a chemical pnt– and Dice didn’t think it was the car itself, nor the neighbourhood, but rather the one non-human passenger sitting behind him.

  “Something in this car stinks,” said Dice, “and I think it’s zombie man behind me.”

  Petrov scoffed at the accusation. “For your information, my body produces less of an odor than humans.”

  Saying that bugged Petrov a little, though, as it required him to separate himself from humanity.

  Dice lifted his arm and sniffed into his shoulder. “Me? I smell fine. you even smell, Petrov? I mean... you don’t have a nose.”

  “Yes,” said Petrov. “It’s a sense I kept with me even after my... resurre.”

  Dice fshed a smile back at Petrov. “You smell, huh? How about hearing, then?” He reached over and turned on the radio. Rock music erupted from the speakers. There were a couple in the back so Petrov could really feel the bst of screamed vocals and cacophonous guitars.

  Dice looked baake sure he caught the shadow man’s expression of annoyance refleg in the window. Diickered.

  Rock music. Hustler Petrov had hoped it was a fad but when he was resurrected in the ies, he was disappoio find out that rock music had flourished in the decades he was “asleep”, and not only that but enres had caught on to culture as well.

  Why couldn’t jazz have made a eback? Petrov asked himself.

  Even without ears, Petrov has the ability to hear sound but when the csh of an overdriven guitar reverberated his side, he wished that wasn’t so.

  “And our final song for the evening J Harvey with ‘Down By The River’, uh, wait, ‘Down By The Water’. Ha-ha. Tomorrow is daylight savings time so yoing to get ara hour to sleep if that’s what you’re doing. This has been Saturday night with Zed over here at Star FM, Toronto’s number one rock station. Take it easy.”

  The Northside Daggers had a small depot as their pce of operations– a small lot with twes and a caticked out by Olly himself, the gang’s leader. A cold wind blew over the pce’s front yard, a crete lot with tanks, barrels and wooden crates scattered around. “Whatever– it makes the pore legit,” as Olly described it.

  Schwartz was in the garage, ing up a scattered array of tools. Ellington was in the back, taking a load off of his feet by propping himself up on a wooden crate by the catwalk dder. Olly and Ren were out front; oh a metal pipe, the other with a . They heard that Dead Head was going to send a couple thugs after them and o be out there to scare them off.

  Olly, a hardened man with his hair cut bald, watched the streets. “’t believe these poseurs think they own us.”

  “I heard they’re a big gang,” said Ren.

  “A big gang full of idiots.” Olly looked over to Ren. “You know that bust at that Sunshire? That was them. ‘Think they were also the guys that got busted at that stru site.” Olly let out a searing chuckle. “plete idiots!”

  There was a car rolling dowreet– a sedan with its paint job a dark brown close to bck. Tinted windows. Headlights off. Even before the car turned into the lot, Olly k was them– Dead Head’s men.

  The car stopped in the tre of the yard, the e, and doors opened. Burrzie and Dice were the kind of fel Olly was expeg, but Pharaoh looked a little tribal fang standards. Then Olly looked over and saw Hustler Petrov. The creature put his top hat ba and straightened his jacket.

  Olly’s posture lost some edge. He wasn’t expeg four of them.

  He had been in teuations before, though, so Schwartz, watg from the garage, expected his leader to hahis situation. Olly tightened his throat and spoke hard. “This pce isn’t Dead Head territory.”

  Burrzie walked forward, ched fist at his side. “The boss wants–”

  “Dead Head won’t be having you guys doing business on his territory,” said Dice, cutting off his panion.

  It was then that Dead Head’s guys realized that nobody was desighe leader, the someone who was supposed to do a majority of diplomacy. Did Burrzie exged a look, a silent demand to one ao step down ahe other talk, her of them sure how they should have respoo each other.

  As far as he was ed, it was Hustler Petrov’s turn to take the stage. He walked out front, cuttiween Burrzie and Dice. Olly and Ren got a good look at Petrov and both had trouble maintaining their posure in the face of a spectre or whatever Petrov was supposed to be. Olly was a skeptic but his ability to rationalize why he was looking into the face of some kind of shadow person was falling short.

  “Gentlemen,” said Petrov, stamping his e down before him. He lowered, almost bowing as he spoke, “We e before you to politely ask you to stop associating on Dead Head’s territory.” He raised his head, a celestial eye gazing at Olly and Ren from underh a top hat rim. “Do we o re-examine whieighbourhoods belong to Dead Head?”

  Ellington was in the back er, watg on, and when he saw Petrov stand before them, a deadly chill came over him. “What the hell is that?” he asked as quietly as a grave. A primal fear in the back of his mind demahat he do something about that shadow creature, so Ellington slid to a nearby toolbox– a special one he kept around. If he could open it quietly, he would get himself a very useful on.

  “Dead Head doesn’t own anything,” said Olly. He had to hide his disfort with talking to a shadow person, so he peppered his statement with an insult. “You... haunt!”

  Petrov tittered. “Please, sir, I am no ghost.” He khe top of his e. “Far from it.”

  Not that far from it, thought Pharaoh, knowing what he knew about

  Olly raised his metal pipe. “You’re not going to tell us where we work, so if you ain’t got anything more, I suggest you leave.”

  It was supposed to be an easy bullying for both parties. Nobody’s attempt to intimidate the other was w so the tension in the air was heating up. Dead Head had orders for something to be done, and the Daggers k.

  Dice tried his best to be discrete as he reached in his back pocket for a on. Burrzie looked around the yard for a on to pickup. Pharaoh stayed bad peeked ihe car to see if somebody left something in there.

  “Pity,” said Petrov with a face calm as the sky on a full moon, “I was hoping we could be civil.”

  Petrov’s eyes lit up with a violent craving. He raised his e and swung it down on Olly. Olly dodged out of the way but Olly’s attempt to strike Petrov with his pipe missed. Wheried whipping his arourov, the shadow man ducked and swung his e up Ren’s body. A dark light emerged from the tip and grazed Ren’s body. Ren fell back, the disfort of that magiging him stung deep. She shook and got a breath, looking down at what the attack had done, although nothing seemed apparent.

  Did Burrzie joihe fray. Burrzie picked up a gss bottle and took a couple swipes at Ren, although Ren was quick t himself out of his shod step back from Burrzie’s attack. Dice showed a knife and tried getting it to Olly, but Olly picked up another on– a crow bar– and swung at Did Petrov as they approached him, keeping the thug and the shadow man at bay.

  Schwartz saw what was going on so he picked up a wrend hopped over a few boxes to join the fight. Pharaoh, who could only find a metal barrel lid as a on, intercepted Schwartz and took a hefty downward swing at the guy. Schwartz dodged out of the way fast enough to avoid the majority of force from the attack but the lid knocked his wrists and got him to drop the wrench.

  Olly was something of a fighter. Dice came at him with the k Olly could sp the thing away with his pipe. All Dieeded was to nd one blow, though.

  Ohe fight got going, Ellington didn’t care too much to be quiet. He ripped opeoolbox, got the pistol and turowards the fight. Looking into the sprawl of chaos, he khere was little ce he could fire into the pd not hit once of his own. He climbed up the dder to the top of the catwalk and ducked behind a wooden board but up against the rail. Peeking over at the fight, he had good sights on Dice, so he took aim... and fired.

  The bullet hit Dice’s knife and the on snapped out of his hands ao the floor. The gunshot spooked everyone, including the Daggers. Pharaoh fot about Schwartz– the guy was u the moment– and jumped behind some boxes, hoping they were sturdy enough to stop bullets. Dice ducked behind a car, Burrzie spotted Ellington on top the cat walk and hid by some barrels, hoping he was out of sight. Even if his supernatural body could have taken a bullet better than his human friends, Petrov didn’t want to get hurt so he ducked behind a crate.

  The Daggers stood baot wanting to get close to Ellington’s line of fire. They let him do some work and hoped he got one of Dead Head’s men.

  Ellington fired a few more shots, taking out the tail light on Burrzie’s car. Burrzie thought about gettih Ellington and attag him through the grate of the catwalk but Ellington’s gun made a better on than whatever objects Burrzie could attempt to throw up at the guy.

  Some of the tail light’s gss got on Dice’s sweater so he wiped it away and screamed, “Petrov! Get up there and do something!”

  He worried that his garments would be harmed, but Petrov emerged from the crate and ran to beh the catwalk. Ellington looked doanicked; he couldn’t see the monster anywhere. Where did he go? Therov jumped up, clearing the dder with a single leap. Before Ellington had a ce to turn the gun towards Petrov, Petrov look the end of his e and jabbed it into Ellington’s chest. A light of dark energy burst through the other side, taking as violent as a shape could take without dealing bloodshed.

  Ellington dropped the gun onto the grate, his body toppled over, and the man was still.

  None of the others knew what exactly happened, but Dice saw it as an opportunity to run for his knife. Seeing that their sniper was taken care of, the Daggers went back to fighting. Schwartz went back to the garage to get a on, Re after Burrzie, and Burrzie went after Olly.

  Olly swung his pipe at Burrzie, knog his on the shoulder hard enough for a crack t in the air. Burrzie stood his ground and tried deg the guy in the face. Burrzie’s fists only grazed Olly and Olly’s swing with a pipe was enough to get Burrzie to stumble on the ground.

  While down there, he saening on Olly’s legs. Burrzie stamped his boot into Olly and got the guy to keel over. Olly groaned but he shook off the pain and struggled back to his feet.

  And aiting up there for him? It was Dice, knife in hand. He raised his bde high and smmed it down into Olly’s back. The bde punctured enough flesh to ruin vital maations of the human body. Olly groaned, dropped his ons, and clutched his chest as best as his weakening grasp could. His tortured h through the air.

  Ren and Schwartz stared at Olly; they khat they were watg their associate’s end.

  So Ren dropped his on and took off into the alley between garages. Schwartz returned outside and saw Olly colpsed on the ground with crimson leaking from him. Where did Ren go? Did he book it? The fight was a lost cause, it seemed. Schwartz went back through the garage and out the door oher side of the floor.

  Dice took the bde out of his fallen foe and wiped it on a nearby rag. Everyo a breath. The fight was over.

  “Are we done here?” asked Dice.

  Petrov hopped down from the catwalk. “I believe we are. e now, let’s leave before the cops arrive.”

  Pharaoh looked up at Ellington, the man’s lifeless body resting on the grate floor. “Thanks for that, Petrov.”

  Petrov grinned and tipped his hat.

  There were no sirens heard so there was still time to get away. Burrzie picked up all the pieces of his tail light he could find and stuffed them in a pocket. Everyo ihe vehicle, Burrzie started the ignition, and the sedan pulled out, leaving Dice’s body to cool in a pool of blood.

  They were quiet as they drove aolice sirens bred across walls, though. Burrzie was nervous– he had never been a getaway driver– but he made a couple turns without crossing paths with the police so everyo to feeling in the clear. A few turns more and they were well out of any search area.

  “Was kinda hoping that weer,” asked Burrzie.

  “We’re all alive,” said Dice. “It went perfect.”

  “I mean the bloodshed,” said Burrzie.

  “Their bloodshed,” said Dice, “not ours.”

  Almost like they didn’t want to jinx it, the four of them kept quiet on their drive bae base. And– Petrov the most thankful for this– the radio was kept silent.