Part 39 (1/2)

He listened fretfully to Thierry wheezing below him Slowly the words of their client ca depraved in that figure, unnatural, as though he had done terrible things, and would do theain ”I don't know,” he said at last

Thierry sta on They heard bone crack ”Careful,” said Andre He heard his own everlasting dooain, he crept to the body in the burlap sack

He would have to touch it, real soon Then he'd know It would be hard, aard; settled in its discomfiture the way old co at the would shock hiht stretched into night, in his ht would never coain An illicit one-time actthat was the way Andre liked to think of it; but this ti

Andre had never murdered anyone He didn't think he could But he knehat murder felt like And he had never felt this before

He looked at Thierry, who see the same set of et the feeling,” he said, ”like we shouldn't be doing this?”

Thierry grunted, clearly troubled

”Say we don't,” said Andre, ”say we take this guy, we”

”He's dead,” said Thierry ”If we heard anything, it was his ghost talking” He was irritated by the hesitancy he perceived in Andre's voice ”Let's get this over with”

Then he looked up Andre looked frightened A fear was on his face that could not be tossed aside, or in a pit and covered over hat reht

”I don't want to do this,” Andre said

Andre had a plan They would cover over the coffin, lid and earth,had happened there Suspecting ones were another h it seemed, Andre wasn't certain, whether in a day or in a year, sorave, to see if the contract had indeed been fulfilled But there was nothing else for it With doubt indecision had been born

Probably he was being paranoid, but it was time to take action What could this man have done, he wondered, to warrant Quickly, and with aching backs, they began forcing the dirt back from where it had co their best tocold and all about therass rose in feeble patches

The one, as they trundled back the way they'd coht, their burden still in their possession It was late Decelazed over the Seine It was so cold, Thierry noticed his breath fog before his eyes His breathing was labored, both with trundling their cargoif anything it had kept growing in size; it was very heavy nowand the new exertion of his and Andre's choice So their mission (which had never happened before)! And now they were stuck hatever it was

”Are you thinking what I am?” he said

Andre nodded ”The old man will knohat to do,” he said ”They say he studies Maybe he will take it off our hands”

”Not that,” said Thierry, who stopped short to rest against a s him”

It was the thieves' code, both men knew it Given where the body came from, there could potentially be a considerable amount of heat upon it: interest from unlooked-for foes The only kinds of bodies they buried were the ones nobody wanted found Which begged the question: What if it were? Tales get around Pretty soon you pay for your kindnesses, they thought They didn't want to bring the old h He stabbed first one spade into the ground, then the next It was fantastically quiet out ”Are you saying that you think we should check this fellow?” he said ”We can't keep dithering, Thierry”

”Stolen radios make bad pawns,” said Thierry philosophically

”Your knife please,” said Andre ”Hurry! I don't want to be known as the ditchdigger of Pere Lachaise We'll see what this fellos or if he's as mundane as I find you”

Thierry handed Andre a small butterfly knife It whicked open in Andre's hand

He started at the neckline, piercing the burlap with the point of the blade, working his way up to expose the chin There was no pulse

If experience had taught both nize Death For all intents and purposes, the body before them was dead

Soon, the head was exposed Andre pulled the hood back cru the face

The features were striking This person, whoever he ould h society extraordinarily easily, both in the supernatural world, with all its variation, and in the e how there was a definition between the two, alh they may have been, even Thierry and Andre could sense that supernaturals souessed, hardshi+p For them and everyone else

A myriad of far-fetched ideas paraded in front of both men's minds, each more outlandish than the last, until they were consu, Which option shall we take? First things first, however: they would need to get a look at the Mark; concealed, for now, but not forever ”We need to get a look at this fellowbefore we bring him to that old bone conjurer,” said Thierry shrewdly

Andre balled his fingers into fists Why was it always him?

Cautiously, he held one out until it flowered into five gnarled, veined tentacles, and he touched the sack

There was no reactionunless it was the reaction of Andre's heart beating ”See? Told you,” he said ”Dead” He breathed a sigh of relief The powerful form in the burlap sack re been?

Andre wet his lips, anxious to resolve this He could sense Thierry's uneasiness The Mark Just the Mark And then they could get this over with Either the body would give up its secrets, and renoble burial, probably in the oldthe burlap had nicked the skin There was blood on it Running blood Andre gasped Thierry shook his head It was there The Mark

The skin had the fine silvery penstrokes they had only heard about but never seen before What had the client said? You must say the words?

That was very ie form before them, the only words Andre could muster were ho had the body seeh it were still aliveor worsechanging

The face was hardening, becohter Andre had never heard of bodies altering so drastically Hair was for where there had been none

What had the client said? This work ht

”I don't think we'll ever get it there in ti as it's off our backs”

”I think we're too late”

The figure was rising up, stepping fro to the waysidebut it was too late

”So wicked is in the e're dead because of it”

”Its Mark Look at its Mark, Andre!”

On its feet now, the figure was eventhan they could possibly have iined Who had not wanted it seen, and why? They sla at it, their backs to stone Confusion and fear so up their ability to move