Vex hesitated. “That would have bought a lot of waffle irons. You probably wouldn’t even need that many.”

“I don’t know,” said Saracen. “He might really like waffles.”

“That is true,” said Vex. “Do you really like waffles, Mr Earl?”

Earl poured himself a drink. “You know what I hope, gentlemen? I hope you and that blonde psycho meet up and kill each other, that’s what I hope.”

Vex’s smile faded. “And what blonde psycho would that be?”

Earl took a sip, closed his eyes to the taste and sat back in his chair. When he opened his eyes, he looked up at the ceiling. “Tanith Low. She was here last night – after the bow, same as you. She told me you’d be coming, which is why I hid it away. Didn’t do a whole lot of good. Neither did those damn Necro’s.”

“You’re sure it was Tanith Low?” Saracen asked.

Earl looked at him. “One hundred percent positive.”

“Did she have anyone with her?”

“Monsters. A blue, ugly woman. A tall, ugly man who kept jumping about. She said she had a vampire too, but I didn’t see it.”

“What about a man in sunglasses?” Vex asked.

Earl nodded. “He was here, sure. Him and a woman. Don’t know much about them, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I like the thought of you two running into trouble and getting your heads cut off. Takes the sting out of losing the bow.”

Vex frowned. “So she came here for this – but left without it?”

“I got the drop on her. Didn’t really give her much choice.”

“You got the drop on Tanith Low?”

“I can be pretty sneaky when I want to be. Now then, you boys gonna talk all night, or you gonna let me try to salvage what’s left of my business?”

Back in the van, driving from the compound, Vex put the bow in a long case and locked it while Saracen relayed the story to the others. Frightening, behind the wheel, didn’t bat an eyelid when Tanith’s name was mentioned. Wilhelm, on the other hand...

“Tanith Low?” he gasped. “We’re going up against Tanith Low?”

“Relax,” said Aurora. “She’s not that great.”

“Maybe not twenty years ago when she was going out with Frightening here,” said Wilhelm, “but she’s changed. She’s got a Remnant in her now. You know what that means? She’s got no mercy. This is a woman who runs up walls and swings a sword and there is nowhere you can be safe from her. She’s basically a ninja, and now that she’s got no conscience? That is the definition of someone I have no intention of messing with.”

“It gets worse,” Saracen admitted. “It looks like Billy-Ray Sanguine is still hanging around.”

“Oh great,” said Wilhelm, “the hitman deluxe.”