"Thurman continues to deliver strong tales of dark urban fantasy."aThurman continues to deliver strong tales of dark urban fantasy.a a"SFRevu"?Thurman continues to deliver strong tales of dark urban fantasy.? ?"SFRevu"About the AuthorRob, short for Robyn (yes, he is really a she) Thurman lives in Indiana, land of rolling hills and cows, deer, and wild turkeys. Many, many turkeys. She is also the author of the Cal Leandros Series: Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse, and Deathwish; has a story in the anthology Wolfsbane and Mistletoe; and is the author of Trick of the Light, the first book in the Trickster series.Besides wild, ravenous turkeys, she has a dog (if you dont have a dog, how do you live?)one hundred pounds of Siberian husky. He looks like a wolf, has paws the size of a persons hand, ice blue eyes, teeth out of a Godzilla movies, and the ferocious habit of hiding under the kitchen table and peeing on himself when strangers come by. Fortunately, she has another dog that is a little more invested in keeping the food source alive. By the way, the dogs were adopted from shelters. They were fully grown, already housetrained, and grateful as hell. Think about it next time youre looking for a Rover or Fluffy. For updates, teasers, deleted scenes, and various other extras, visit Rob Thurman's website and her LiveJournal.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Table of ContentsTitle PageCopyright PageDedicationAcknowledgementsChapter 1 - CalChapter 2 - NikoChapter 3 - CalChapter 4 - NikoChapter 5 - CalChapter 6 - NikoChapter 7 - CalChapter 8 - NikoChapter 9 - CalChapter 10 - NikoChapter 11 - CalChapter 12 - NikoChapter 13 - CalChapter 14 - NikoChapter 15 - CalChapter 16 - NikoAbout the AuthorPraise for the Novels of Rob ThurmanMadhouseThurman continues to deliver strong tales of dark urban fantasy. . . . Fans of street-level urban fantasy will enjoy this new novel greatly.SFRevuI think if you love the Winchester boys of Supernatural , theres a good chance you will love the Leandros brothers of Thurmans books. . . . One of Madhouses strengths is Cals narrative voice, which is never anything less than sardonic. Another strength is the dialogue, which is just as sharp and, depending on your sense of humor, hysterical.Dear Author . . .A fast-paced and exciting novel . . . fans of urban fantasy will love this series.Affaire de CoeurAccording to Cals sarcastic first-person perspective, life in New York City is just as nasty and gritty as ever in this dark urban noir tale of two brothers. The . . . adventures of the Leandros brothers continue at a rapid clip, with many a . . . twist unfolding.Romantic TimesIf you enjoyed the first two wisecracking urban adventures, you wont be disappointed with this one; it has just enough action, angst, sarcasm, mystery, mayhem, and murder to keep you turning the pages to the very end.BookSpot CentralMoonshine[Cal and Niko] are back and better than ever . . . a fast-paced story full of action.SFRevuA strong second volume . . . Cal continues to be a wonderful narrator, and his perspective on the world is one of the highlights of this book. . . . The plotting is tight and fast paced, and the world-building is top-notch. Romantic TimesNightlifeA roaring roller coaster of a read . . . [itll] take your breath away. Supernatural highs and lows, and a hell of a lean over at the corners. Sharp and sardonic, mischievous and mysterious. . . . The truth is Out There, and its not very pretty.Simon R. GreenA strong first novel.SFRevuCals a sarcastic, sardonic narrator who pulls the reader into his world, both the good and the bad. Tightly plotted and fast paced . . . full of twists and turns.Romantic TimesA subtly warped world compellingly built by Thurman. . . . This book has an absolutely marvelous voice in Cals first-person narrative. The combination of Chandleresque detective dialogue and a lyrically noir style of description is stunningly original.The Green Man A damn fine book, and excellent first effort.RamblesGripping, fast-paced fantasy.Fresh FictionEngaging . . . the characters are well-drawn and memorable.ItalicsAlso by Rob ThurmanNightlife Moonshine MadhouseMilk and Cookies in Wolfsbane and MistletoeROCPublished by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. First Printing, March 2009 Copyright Robyn Thurman, 2009All rights reservedeISBN : 978-1-101-01959-7REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADAWithout limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.PUBLISHERS NOTEThis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.To Shannon, who saved my ass, but didnt physically touch it, I swearmy best friend, my twin, my sherpa/pack mule. I love you, man.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI would like to thank, first and foremost, my mom, without whose incesssant nagging I would never have written my first book at all. I would also like to thank my editor, Anne Sowards; Jessica Wade, who can keep a secret; Cam Dufty, who didnt once get annoyed when I called her asking, Whats this copy editors squiggly line mean again?; magnificent author Charlaine Harris, who has been most kind to me and my work even though she didnt actually personally know mean anonymous fairy godmother, and when I finally did meet her, grace herself; Brian McKaya helluva copywriter and one who genuinely gets the feel of Cal and Nikos world (he doesnt even know the word perky, and say Hallelujah for that); Agent Jeff Thurman of the FBI, for advising me on something that may or may not exist; my eleventh grade English teacher, Earl Perry, who actually let us write what we wanted to write in the creative writing section of classhe inspired students when my college English teachers instead sedated them; the incomparable art and design team of Chris McGrath (an art god) and Ray Lundgren; my agent, Jennifer Jackson; doctors Linda and Richard, for being convention pals extraordinaire; Shawn Van for keeping my Web site up and running; Jordana for all the cookies; Mara for finally being recognized for her amazing talent; to Michael and Saracongratulations on a wonderful marriage; and last but never leastmy fans. Devoted, faithful, and somewhat frighteningly obsessed with the cover models. Without you . . . hell, I wouldnt be writing these acknowledgments at all.1CalOnce, when I was seven, I was chased by a dog.We lived in a trailer park then, my brother, our mother, and me. There were lots of dogs around, most of them running loose. I didnt mind. I like dogs. But dogs . . . dogs dont much like me in return. Puppies do. Puppies like everyone. Theyd crawl in my lap, chew happily on a finger or the tattered edge of my sneaker. Dogs are differentone sniff of me was enough. The upper lip would peel back, ears would flatten, and the warm brown eyes would go glassy and slide sideways as they hunched away with tail tucked beneath their legs. Dogs dont just not like me; theyre afraid of me.Except for Hammer. Hammer wasnt right; not right being flat-out crazy. One hundred pounds of shepherd mixed with Rottweiler mixed with God knew what else, Hammer wasnt afraid to look at me as the other dogs were. No, Hammer liked to look at me. He liked to think about me. If anyone thought animals didnt think, didnt plot, didnt plan, then theyd never met Hammer. Two trailers down and one of the few dogs in the park kept on a chain, he watched me every day as my brother and I walked to school. He never barked. He never growled. He never even moved. He just watched.Because of his lack of apparent aggression, any other kid might have been tempted to pet him. Not me. Even at seven, I knew a monster when I saw one. It didnt matter whether his owner had made him into one or hed been born one like me. Hammer was Hammer. You didnt pet him any more than you petted a rabid grizzly bear. You just walked by and kept your eyes on the ground. You never looked. . . . Just as Hammer never moved.Until he did.Hammer was bad inside, wrong, and as I recognized him, he recognized me. And when drunk old Mr. McGee let the chain finally rust through, Hammer came for me. I had my dollar-store sneakers and a bagged lunch my brother had made for me, but I didnt have my brother. Hed gone ahead, although he was still in sight. He never failed to make sure I was in sight. Id forgotten my backpack like kids do. Id catch up. No big deal, until Hammer made it one.Hed been lying in the same position he lay in every day. Bowl of dirty water, gnawed club of wood. That day, like every day, I wondered why he didnt like me. We were both twisted. Both wrong. So why? I didnt get a chance to wonder any further than that. There was a blur of fur, jaws clamped into my backpack, and my body was thrown sideways. He dragged me several feet before he tore the pack completely off me.I didnt think. As I said, Id seen monsters. You didnt hang around and ponder the situation. I got up and ran. While Id seen monsters before, been followed, watched, I hadnt ever been chased by one. It was my first taste of death at my heels, my first taste of running for my life.It wasnt my last.In fact, I ended up spending a vast amount of my life running. Not just living my life on the run, which I had as well, but actually running. I wasnt seven anymore, but I was still flat-out hauling ass. Like the windlike the fucking wind. Running from this, running from thatusually from something with teeth, claws, and the attitude of a great white on steroids. Things that made Hammer look like a toy poodle.I hated it, the running. Hated it like poison. Which may be why I had finally decided Id had enough and committed to staying in one place more than a year ago, and that place was New York City. A veritable Mecca for monsters like me, as well as monsters like Hammerthose that had me literally running for my life or the life of one of the few people I gave a shit about. There werent many of those. Part-time bartender, private investigator/bodyguard/jack-of-all-trades to the nonhuman world, and one suspicious son of a bitch, that was me. Not precisely Mr. Social. It paid to be wary in a dark world thought to be nothing more than fairy tales and ghost stories by most peoplemost people being the blindly oblivious, the cheerfully clueless, the ever-so-lucky assholes.The handful of people, humans and non-, that I did give a crap about had all ended up in New York, tooin the City That Never Sleeps, a good place for us creatures of the night. Everyone I cared about, and one in particular: my brother. He had been with me since the beginning, my beginning, and now had me running through the streets to make sure my beginning didnt bring him to an end.The runningit always came back to that. A pity, because I was an inherently lazy son of a bitch. Burning lungs, knotting muscles, stuttering heartI could do without any of that, thanks. But now I was running toward something, although there was plenty to run from. Death behind me; the unimaginable before mean unholy situation, and it only made me run faster. The bus that nearly clipped me as I ran across the street? That wasnt even a blip on the radar. I had bigger, badder, and far more destructive things on my mind.Traitorous cousin.The side of that bus brushed my jacket as I looked up at the sound of the icy hiss. For a second I saw it crouched on top, proving that mass transport wasnt just for hygienically challenged humans. I saw metal teeth, red eyes, and hair the color and drift of jellyfish stingers. I saw a killer. I saw a monster.I saw family.Then I saw something more immediately relevantthe front of a cab barreling at me. I dodged to one side as it braked. I rolled across the hood, taking down a bike messenger. Vaulting the cursing man, I ran on. I didnt look behind me. I didnt have to. I knew what was there. I knew what was coming, and I knew it wasnt alone. But that was the least of my concerns. What was important to me now was getting to the park, because I had other family. Real family.My brother was at Washington Square Park, waiting for me. We were supposed to spar. Spar was a word Niko used when he meant he was going to beat the shit out of me for my own good. He kept me sharp and quick. He kept me evading monsters and taxis with equal alacrity. He was the reason Id lived this long. The ones that followed me, the Auphe, knew that too. They hated him nearly as much as they hated me. And hate was like air to an Auphe. When something was as easy as breathing, you got pretty damned good at it. But the Auphe werent good. No . . .They were the best.Thats why I ran. Not because they were behind me, but because I suspected they were also in front of me. Theyd been waiting for me at the apartment building at St. Markss, where Niko and I lived. Id come home to see them lining the roof, and Id felt the internal wrench as they ripped holes in reality and slithered through. The dread was instant. If they knew for sure where I lived, they knew where I went. If they knew that, they knew the same about Niko. Months ago they had said theyd kill everyone in my life before they killed me. I believed them. Reapers and rippers and older than timeliving murder wrapped in cold flesh. They didnt lie. Why would they when blood-soaked destruction was so much more entertaining?Yeah, it had been months, but they said it, I believed it, and now was apparently the time. Long months of waiting, but, hell, Id have been happy to wait a little longer.No such goddamn luck.I came off East Eighth Street, crossed Astor, then hit Broadway and kept running. This time I was hit, a big, ancient black Lincoln, but it only grazed my hip. There was the screech of brakes as I was knocked to the asphalt. As I scrambled back to my feet and kept moving, the skies opened up and dropped a waterfall of icy rain. I was soaked instantly, but the cold I felt on the outside couldnt touch what swirled inside me. Once on Fourth, I was running through the people. The human and the non-. The blissfully ignorant and the voraciously aware. The dinner and the diner.Among the walking, talking snacks that were now cursing the rain, I could see the occasional pale amber eye, the gleam of a bared tooth. Upright Hammers. And they knew me as Hammer had. Smelled me. Werewolves were good at that. Leg humping and sniffing out a half-Aupheit was all a piece of cake.There were other monsters among the unwitting, but I didnt bother to pick them out. I didnt have time. I didnt have time for anything except getting to Nik. It was a fifteen-minute run, going as fast as I could. Fifteen minutes was a long time. I didnt let myself think it might be pointless, that Nik had been at the park for more than an hour now. I just gulped wet air, tried not to think how much easier it would be if I shot the people milling in front of me, blocking my way, and kept running.There were people in the park, but they were all leavingrunning themselves, although not as desperately as me, for shelter from the unexpected downpour. When it was cold enough to shrink your balls and wet enough to prune up everything else, it tended to put an end to casual walks and Frisbee playing. Niko would be on the far side of the green. There were bunches of trees gathered around the perimeter of the park. We worked out by a particular group of them in the northwest corner. As I ran toward it, I smelled the grass crushed under my feet, the mud, the dead leaves, the acid-free oil Nik used to clean his swords. . . .And Auphe. I smelled Auphe.Elf and Auphe, one and the same. Proof that mythology never failed to get it wrong. How it had gotten blond, prissy, silk-wearing elves from the worlds very first monsters, I would never know. After pointed ears and pale skin, the resemblance stopped, and the steel teeth, razor claws, and lava eyes of a demon started.I ignored the few people who gave me quick stares as they ran in the opposite direction, and tried to get more speed. I couldntI was giving it all I had and more. But then I was there. I was in the trees. The leaves had all fallen and the dark branches shouldve been bare as they split from the trunk to spread against the sky. They werent. They were filled with Auphe, as pallid as the winter sky behind them. They were hidden enough by the rain that I could barely see them, but they were there. There had been no one behind me because they had beaten me here, the same twenty from the apartment building. From the roof to the treesit was only a step for them. Open a door in reality, pass through, and there you were.The one on the bus hadnt been following me. It had been playing with me. Homicide and humorit was one and the same to the Auphe.And Niko faced them all.Revealing himself, he stepped from behind a glistening black tree trunk. Jesus. Alive. Fucking alive. And he was ready, with dark blond hair pulled back and katana held high in the pounding rain. The Auphe didnt blink, didnt move. Gun, Nik said calmly.I was already reaching under my jacket for the Glock .40 in my shoulder holster. My grip shouldve been tight and cramped with adrenaline, but Id pointed one weapon or another so many times over the past four years that my touch was light and confident. The rest of me couldve taken a lesson. Normally I was good at thisI saw monsters all the time and faced them head-on. Kicked ass, tail, flipper . . . whatever they had. But this . . . this was the Auphe. Half of my gene pool. Theyd been not only the bogeymen of my childhood, but of my whole damn life. Outside windows at night, around darkened corners, trailing behind me from the time I was born until I was fourteen. Bad, right?Wrong.There was worse. They took me. For two years. I didnt remember those years and I probably never would, but inside, at a level I couldnt access, I somehow knew what they had done. Could feel it. Seeing just one was enough to have the taste of screams and blood in my mouth and a chunk of ice in my gut.Seeing twenty of them was like seeing the end of the world.Pointing a gun at the end of the world seems fairly goddamn futile. I did it anyway. Its broad daylight, assholes. Seems bold even for you, I said tightly. I didnt freeze, not this time. I swallowed the bile, grew a pair, and kept the Glock steady. Two-headed werewolves, mass murderers, dead bodies hanging like fruit in a tree, Id faced all of thatId face this. Or did you get the weather report I missed out on?Faithless cousin. Hundreds of titanium needle teeth bared at me as the closest one spoke. The blind do not see us.And when your eyes are ripped from their sockets, hissed another, neither will you.Jesus, family. It was a bitch.But maybe they were right. Even if the water falling from the sky hadnt been the next best thing to the biblical flood, it still might not have mattered. Because if you saw them, youd have to be insane, wouldnt you? So instead, maybe youd just turn your head and keep moving as your brain glossed over what simply couldnt be. Maybe your average human was smarter than I gave him credit for.We nearly wiped your race from the face of the earth. Wed also gotten our asses spanked and handed to us on a silver platter in the process, but Niko didnt feel the need to mention that. Show the enemy no weakness. A throwing knife appeared in his free hand as he continued without hesitation, We finish what we start.Thats when they fell from the trees. Predators who had no equal. The hundred others we had killed had been a suicide run wed unexpectedly survived. A big-ass explosion, a collapsing building, and the good fortune of several lifetimes; I didnt think wed get that lucky again.They were like lightning as they fellthat quick, that deadly, and that inescapable. I heard steel hit flesh as Niko swung his blade, and I also heard the thud of my back hitting a tree as clawed hands lifted and threw me before I could get a shot off. God, they were so damn quick. Another one snatched at my shirt, scoring the skin of my chest, and tossed me to the wet ground and then landed on me to pin me there. I could see my skewed reflection in the mirror of its teeth as I jammed the muzzle of the gun under an unnaturally pointed chin and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit nothing but the rain. The gate, one of twenty opening, gobbled up the Auphe just as it gobbled up the others.They were just playing with us.Blocking the rain, the gray light of the gate shimmered above me, hypnotic in the twists and turns of it. It slowed me for less than a secondId seen my sharebut that was long enough. The hand came through to wrap around my throat, black nails snagging in my shirt and my flesh. I didnt wait for the muscular jerk that would yank me into the light. I emptied my clip into it instead. As the bullets vanished, the hand against my skin spasmed tight enough to cut off my air, then went limp. When it did, the gate closed, leaving a pale arm severed at the elbow lying across my chest. Dark blood pooled on my stomach as the arm suddenly twitched, fingers opening and closing before slowly stilling, this time for good. Dr. Frankenstein couldnt have done any better. Shit. I pried it off of my neck and with a lifetime of revulsion threw it to one side. Shit. Shit. Shit.Sothere was no whisper of drenched grass, no ghost of the faintest of footsteps, but suddenly Niko was looking down at me anywayother than that, how was your day?Actually the day had sucked ass before the park, during the park, and it didnt look to be getting any better.Wed called Promise and Georgina to warn them about the Auphe. Niko spoke to both of them; my call wouldnt have been precisely welcome on Georges part. She had cut me out of her life as of that morning. Id worked toward that for a year now and Id finally gotten what Id wanted, although Id never really wanted it. But I had bad genes, and not wimpy little alcoholic or schizophrenic tendencies either. I had the DNA of Dahmer and Godzilla combined, and I wasnt passing that on.Promise was a vampire and George a psychic, when she wanted to be, and they werent helpless against the Auphe. Not completely. It didnt make me feel any better. The Auphe were the Auphe.Now we were here to warn the third person in our lives. He was a cocky, annoying, conceited, lazy son of a bitch. He was also a friend, one whod had a few bad days of his own this week. He was currently holed up in his apartment and had been for three days. No one went out; no one went in. For a chronically social, not to mention horny, puck, that was alarming behavior.I pounded on the door of his Chelsea apartment. I was slowly drying off; the rain had stopped not long after wed left the park. Goodfellow, open the hell up!There was silence, then a muffled but cutting reply. How did you get in the building? You cant afford to piss on the topiary out front much less walk through the door. Go away. I heard something hit the door with a shattering of glass. When I want to see belligerent, fashion-impaired monkeys, Ill go to the zoo and watch the feces fly.That would be Rob Fellows, car salesman of the month, year, decade. Better known to us as Robin Goodfellow . . . Pan . . . Puck, whatever name hed been passing off at the time. Immortal, stubborn, and could talk shit with the best of them. Hed also saved our lives more than once. That made his nonstop mouth a little more bearable.This lost its entertainment value as of yesterday. Niko folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Kick in the door.Unlike most siblings, I listen to my big brother. I kicked in the door. It was a good doorsolid, thick. It took a few tries to get it open. There was quite a bit of damagesplintered wood, locks ripped free of the framenone of which I planned on paying for. Goodfellow was right. I couldnt afford to piss on his bushes, and he had money to burn. Besides, tough love was tough love. And right now thats what the infamous Robin Goodfellow needed.Oh, good. Wavy brown hair disheveled, green eyes bloodshot, the puck was sprawled on his couch in pajama bottoms and an open, wrinkled silk robe. The Hardy Boys are here to show me the light.I walked into the apartment, which was an unholy mess. Considering his housekeeper, Seraglio, had been killed just days ago, that wasnt much of a surprise. As she had been trying to kill us all at the time, I wasnt crying a river over that. On the other hand, I still remembered how shed made me peach pancakes. It was a concept that was hard to fathom. Pancakes and assassination. What a mix.There were empty wine bottles everywhere I looked, littering the floor, the granite counters, and there was even one embedded in the screen of the plasma TV. Damn, Id loved that TV.I nudged a bottle out of my path, moved closer, and winced at the sheer volume of alcohol fumes seeping through Goodfellows pores. I had a good nose, as good as your average dog, thanks to my Auphe sperm donor. But even a normal human nose couldve picked this up easily. Jesus. My eyes watered as I squinted at him. How are you not dead?I was there when the first grape was fermented, he grunted. It makes for a tolerance a fetus like you couldnt begin to comprehend.So you were the one who taught Bacchus to drink? Niko asked with a gleam of skepticism in his gray eyes that came from a years familiarity with Goodfellow and his . . . er . . . exaggerations. He didnt wait for the answer, instead making his way to the kitchen.Actually, I did. Of course, I think hes in AA now. Mournfully, he lifted a bottle into the air, then drank. It is to weep.Yeah, Im sure. I sat on the massive rock crystal coffee table in front of him. Okay, Robin, you deserved a little holing-up time, but now youve got to shake this off. The Auphe are back playing their games. They messed with Nik and me in the park. They could come here next. They were toying with us. They might be more serious with you. As in rip you open and get drunk on that alcohol you call blood. You have to be ready. Sober your ass up.Gamo the Auphe. Goodfellow had known the Auphe when people were still living in caves, gnawing on mammoth bones and picking fleas off one another. He had a healthy fear of and respect for them. Very healthy. At least up until now, apparently. Bring them on. He took another drink. Lead their pasty asses hither. Ill give them something to chew on.I wasnt sure whether he meant his sword or himself, and that worried the hell out of me. Hed been through it, I knew, but I wasnt sure how to deal with a depressed and ashamed puck. Id never seen him less than confidentbrazen as hell. Cocky and way too willing to show you why that word was appropriate in more ways than one. Anything different from that, I wouldnt have been able to picture as of last week. Now . . . now Id seen it and it wasnt right. It wasnt puckit wasnt Robin. I didnt like it. Goodfellow had lived a long, long time. Now wasnt the time to give up.I reached over and snatched the bottle out of his hand. Okay, fine, you fooled some people into worshipping you as a god. And, yeah, their descendants chased you for thousands of years, wanting to kill you for deserting them. So what? They failed. Get over it already.The glassy eyes blinked several times before he gave a slurred drawl. You know, say it that way and it doesnt sound so bad. Of course it had been more than that. Two people had dieddied very bloody, terrible deaths because of his massive puck ego, when he had been their god. He hadnt meant for it to happen, but it had and thats what had him in the bottle, not being worshipped and nearly killed by the last of his followers tribe. Speaking of bottles, he grabbed at it and missed. Id seen Robin drink, but Id only ever seen him drunk twice before. The first time had been when hed met us, and the last time had been days ago. Both had been for only a few hours. This time, I would bet hed spent every minute of these past three days like this.Look, I said sharply, we dont care what you did back then. We only care what you do now. Youre a friend, and you were a friend to us when any person with the sense God gave a mentally challenged rock wouldve run the other way.He let his head flop against the back of the couch. Looking up at the ceiling, he exhaled, then reminded me with a faint note of nostalgia, Dont forget that you threatened to slit my throat when we first met.And even that didnt dissuade you from talking endlessly. Niko appeared and deposited a plate on Robins lap. There was a sandwich on it and what looked like homemade potato salad. I tried not to think how Seraglio had no doubt made it herself. Now eat, sober up, and face up to the fact that what you did was wrong, but not wrong enough to justify your murder as penance.Goodfellow remained motionless, either thinking about it or ignoring us entirely. Niko leaned in, planted a hand on each side of Robins head, looked down at him, and asked silkily, Did I or did I not say now?Yeah, the tough love. Niko was all about it.There was more silence, a grunt; then the puck straightened marginally and reached for the sandwich. I hate you both. He took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and added grudgingly, But Im glad the Auphe didnt kill you. The massive hero worship you have for me brightens my day.Yeah, I can imagine. I pushed a few bottles off the coffee table and spread out a little while Niko distanced himself to stand at the other end of the couch from Robin. I doubted it helped with the alcohol reek, but I gave him credit for trying.Making his way methodically through the sandwich, Robin looked us both up and down, and then asked between bites, The Auphe came at you and neither of you have a scratch? How did you manage that? Are you carrying nuclear armament now, Caliban? Did you give up on the pop guns?Like I said, they were just playing with us. Talking shit. I did have a few claw marks, but in our work if you could still walk and talk, that didnt count. They were on the roof of our apartment building when I came home, and then they traveled to the park where Nik was practicing.I often thought of going through the gates as traveling now. Id been called traveler repeatedly by a homicidal asshole in the past two weeks. Sawney, mass murderer and one seriously crazy son of a bitch, was dead and less than ash now, but the term had stuck with me. It was as good a description as any for what the Auphe did . . . for what I could do. And as it also covered my other halfRomit fit.And youhe grimacedtraveled after them? Hed gone through a gate with me on one occasion. It wasnt a pleasant sensation for non-Auphe; not unless you were into puking your guts out.No. I ran my ass off. Traveling, once difficult, had suddenly become easy. Too easy. It put me in touch with my homicidal Auphe roots more than was good for me . . . or for anyone around me. Id told my brother I wouldnt do it again if I could avoid it, but if I hadnt been in the midst of a sidewalk full of people I wouldve done it in a hot second. He was a helluva lot more important than wrestling with the wrong half of my Jekyll-and-Hyde issue. He was worth losing a piece of my soul. . . . If I had one, it was only because of him anyway.Still, it wasnt anything I wanted to talk about. How I felt the mental stirrings of a bloodthirsty heritage when I passed through the gray light wasnt my favorite topic right now. The Auphe nature wasnt mine. I wouldnt let it be. And if I said that to myself over and over and sprinkled enough frigging fairy dust around, maybe it would be true.Clap your hands. Clap them goddamn hard and wish like a mother. what are the best products to dropship Deathwish (Cal Leandros)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great Reading Once AgainBy Douglas C. MeeksAll of these books follow a similar pattern in that they start you off with some action to grab your attention and then a bit of a breather to fill you in on details and then a build to a finish that usually has a few twists that you did not expect. Sounds simple, right? If it was every writer would be this good and they are not, these books are great stories and always allow you to get involved in the characters. highly recommend but understand these are a bit "dark" for lack of a better word and violent, which bothers me none at all. Start with Book1 and read them all, you will find it a great investment of your literary/entertainment funds.33 of 34 people found the following review helpful. No limitsBy Michael EckhardtPicking up right where "Madhouse" left off, the Auphe (evil hell dimension hopping/traveling monsters) are again a threat to our heroes, brothers Cal and Niko Leandros. If that wasn't enough to deal with, there's also ex-lovers, mysterious ancient cabals, family complications and an unknown assailant that has killed a client. Things get darker as Cal's Auphe heritage starts to rise to the surface to become more central to his personality. Can Cal fight his darker impulses and should he?"Deathwish" has all that snappy and snark-tastic dialogue that has become the author's trademark but we're also treated to something new. I love the first person perspective of Rob Thurman's novels but in "Deathwish' the narrative/perspective changes back and forth between Cal and Niko's view. We have a great opportunity to see how Cal's long suffering brother views him and the choices he's made in his life. This also has the benefit of adding more depth to Niko's character as we get more insight on what motivates him."Deathwish" is a bit psychologically darker than previous novels as the alternating character perspective also allows us to see just how far and to what lengths the brothers are willing to go to protect each other, and the answer is...there are no limits.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Really, I'm too old for this....By J. GreenwoodBeing old enough to be their mother (but hopefully more sympathetic than her), I shouldn't get so caught up with the Leandros brothers, but I absolutely love both of them.Thurman has done a beautiful job in this series: nothing is formula, nothing is predictable (except for the devotion of the brothers to one another, and Goodfellow's libido). She has built the characters of Cal and Niko so skillfully that they have become complex and real. I actually forget for a time that they aren't really living breathing guys trying to survive in the Big Apple. And although the intensity of the bond between them would normally seem unnatural or unbelievable, the author communicates the background for that relationship so effectively that the reader has no doubt that this is the only way these brothers could be. It's a beautiful relationship, it makes the reader believe in the reality of absolute, unconditional commitment.Plenty of action, good plot, and interesting supporting characters, especially Goodfellow and Delilah (I like George too, and I really wish Cal could get together with her, although Delilah is a lot of fun). Like at least one other reviewer, I'm not much impressed with Promise -- the only time she seems real is when Goodfellow is getting on her nerves.I read a lot, and have been tending towards urban fantasy lately. No author I've found is as skillful at it as Rob Thurman.