Ghost of Doors (City of Doors) Read Online Free Page B

might save your life."
    Wolfgang held it reverently. "Thanks, Dad. What did you used to fight with?"
    "Something a little more direct," he said, and produced a handgun from an end table drawer. He waggled it a little, then returned it to its resting place. "Without bullets, it's pretty useless. I haven't asked for any more because SUN and I have made better weapons since then, like my snare gun. It creates a temporal pocket in any reflective object to trap fae in. Powerful, but has to be recharged often. And of course, against humans, there's always the soul stealer, but there's no point in using it here."
    Marie fluttered her eyes as if waking from sleep. "Soul stealer?" she asked.
    Dr. Schäfer nodded. He showed her a needle-like device, no larger than the barrel of a pistol. "It doesn't seem like much, but when this is attached to a weapon, it can drain the life force from its victim, in the same way that a ghoul or a wraith does."
    "Interesting," she said. "Then what?"
    "Well, then it can be used in the same way those monsters might use a human’s life force: For food, or to create something."
    "Life force in a can?" she asked.
    "Basically, yes." He put the soul stealer away and went back to delving into various drawers as he had been when they had first arrived. "Anyway, for the knife, we can find something to use as a holster...somewhere in this mess. And...oh my," he added as he discovered a slim, dark stone like a long teardrop, its golden chain swinging wildly, seeking escape. He used two hands to hold it as a snake handler might, keeping it gingerly restrained. "Here's something important. Speaking of souls." It was cold in Wolfgang's hand, strange in something so small. "You would do well to wear that." Wolfgang searched for a clue as to what his father meant in its dark surface, but it answered him only with the reflection of a pale blue eye. "Go ahead. Put it on. No, no, not with the ward. You have to take that off." Not wanting to doubt his father, he none-the-less offered a confused glance at Marie, who, for once, mimicked him. But he did as his father told him, unclasped the iron token, and slipped it into his pocket to join the other. He didn't feel any different after putting the dark stone on, but he trusted his father knew what he was talking about. "It's something new I've designed. Something for all the humans in Doors. You'll see. Soon they'll be everywhere. Well, wherever there are souls, anyway."
    "Do I have to do anything...?"
    "No." His father's slight smile grew taut. "It will work when the time is right."
    "What will it do?" Marie asked.
    "Keep him from doing something he'll regret."
    "I already regret it," said Pilgrim. "Even if he doesn't. I think Doors needs him way more than he thinks."
    Wolfgang kept his skepticism to himself.
    It wasn't long before his father found what he was looking for, and handed a leather-and-steel sheath to his son. "For the knife. You might also want this map," he said, handing it over. Wolfgang waved a little moth away from the nearby candlelight as he spread out the map before it. Hand-drawn and yellowed, the map fractured at the edges as it unfolded. A bird's-eye view of a place he had never been--the Hindernis--lay before him, and he tried to commit to memory the position and names of some of the larger regions of the map. As the names seemed to indicate what he would find there, he wasn't so sure he wanted to visit "Fog That Blinds" or "Vomit Water" all that much. "That should do. And Wolfgang," his father added, "you should probably go back home and say goodbye to your mother properly."
    Wolfgang refolded the map and eased the knife into the sheath--it fit perfectly. "I will."
     
    ☽☉✩
     
    O UTSIDE ON THE STREET, MARIE leaned over Pilgrim to climb aboard, her long, blond hair melting across her arms in the summer sun, and slid a leg easily over the horse's side as he knelt down before her. Her face, elegant and haughty, caught the afternoon light that