Mike shifts his weight from foot to foot like he has to go to the bathroom. By now he probably does.

“Yes?” he says.

“Wrong,” says Candy.

“Wrong. It’s worth shit. The closest thing you can get to nothing without being nothing.”

Mike shrugs.

“Sorry. I mostly deal in gossip. Stuff like Blue Heaven isn’t my specialty. Hell, I didn’t even know how to get in touch with you to sell my soul.”

No. A guy like Mike wouldn’t, would he? He’d have to go to someone. A name pops into my head.

“Do you know Amanda Fischer?”

“That Hollywood devil-worshipping bitch?” says Mike. “I mean. Sorry.”

“Forget it. So you know her.”

“I built her a peacock and a Persian cat. One of her crowd did my soul conjuration. It cost me a wolf.”

Mike takes an anxious sip from the bottle.

“I want to get in touch but I lost my address book. Do you have her number?”

Mike goes to a desk as filthy as the sofa and as crowded with junk as the worktable. It reminds me a little of Mr. Muninn’s cavern, full of centuries of obsessive collecting. Mike finds an old gray metal Rolodex, pulls a card out of it, and brings it to me. It says FISCHER, AMANDA. Below that is a Beverly Hills phone number.

“Nice work, Mike. You pulled things out there at the last minute. I thought I was going to have to feed your bones to my associate but you came through.”

“So now I can have my soul back?”

“Not a chance. But I’ll tell you what you can do to get it back. I have a friend, really just sort of a yammering bastard. He’s stuck on a mechanical body, only it’s not finished. You finish him off and you’re halfway home.”

“What’s the other half?”

“I need you to build something else. A Hellion-to-English translator. And it needs to read lips.”

Mike sits on the sofa and sets the bottle between his feet.

“Is that all?”

“You do that and you can have your soul back.”

He looks up at me. Big fat tears in his dumb, red eyes.

“You promise?”

I take out a pack of Maledictions and tap him out the last one.

“If you can’t trust a man who gives you his last cigarette, who can you trust?”

He takes the smoke and I light it with Mason’s lighter. Mike nods.

“What choice do I have?”

“None. I’ll be in touch with the details.”

Candy starts out. I follow but stop at the door to put on my glove.

“What’s the story with the vucari out front?”

Mike shakes his head. Wipes the tears from his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“My cousins. From the old country. Fucking Cossacks.”

“But you’re not a Lurker.”

“It was a mixed marriage,” he says.

“I see why you made the deal. If I had to work with family, I’d prefer Hell too.”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll sell you my soul back,” he says. Then quickly, “I’m only kidding.”

“I know, Mike. I know.”

We go back to the Porsche. Mike’s cousins beat on the dead car, smiling at us like they’re tenderizing steaks for our dinner.

I get out my phone and dial Amanda Fischer’s number. She answers on the fifth ring.

“I don’t recognize your number. How did you get this one?”

“Don’t you know me, Amanda?” I say in my spookiest Hail Satan voice. “It’s Mr. Macheath.”

The line goes quiet. I hear breathing, then, “This doesn’t sound like Mr. Macheath. How do I know it’s you?”

I try to remember what happened when I met her and her Devil toadies at the Chateau Marmont with Lucifer 1.0.

“I have the lovely pyx you gave me on the mantel in my library.”

“Master!”

“New rule. Don’t call me ‘master.’ Lucifer will do.”

“Yes, Lucifer. What can I do for you, Master?”

This shit again. Why are all Hellions and devil worshippers bottoms?

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“It’s quite all right. Now I need you to do some things for me. I need some information.”

“Yes, Lucifer. What kind of information?”

“I want everything you can find about a place called Blue Heaven. Where it is. How you get in.”

“I didn’t think anywhere was barred to you.”

“You’ll notice that part of the name includes the word ‘Heaven.’ All Heavens have a waiting list to get in and my name is at the bottom.”

“Of course, Lucifer. Sorry.”

Candy looks bored. She gets out of the car, goes back to the garage, and starts talking to the shorter vucari. By her body language she’s flirting.

“What do you know about this ghost girl running around town?”

“Our mediums say she’s a hungry ghost. A spirit that will never be satisfied no matter how much she devours. She’s killed a lot of people.”

“I know. A lot of Sub Rosa.”

“Not just Sub Rosa. Ordinary mortals too. In fact, she’s killed members of our temple. When I knew it was you, I was hoping you’d returned to save us.”

Now Candy is flirting with the taller vucari. She glances over her shoulder at the shorter one and she and Ivan laugh together. The short vucari isn’t pounding on the car anymore.

“Of course I’m here to save my followers. But I have to know which of my flocks are worthy of saving. Yours isn’t the only temple in California, Amanda.”

“Of course. We’ll prove ourselves worthy of you.”

I doubt that.

“I’m sure you will. I’d like all information you can find as soon as possible. Let’s say tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? That’s hardly any time at all.”

“Then you’d better get started.”

Candy steps out of the garage, running her hand down Ivan’s arm and holding his pinkie for a second. She blows the short vucari a kiss and comes back to the car.

I put my hand over the receiver when she gets in.

“What was that all about?” I whisper.

“Watch,” she says.

In the garage, the vucari cousins are shouting. The little one pokes Ivan in the chest with the wooden handle of his mallet. Ivan swings and clocks the little guy. But he doesn’t go down. He crouches and slams his shoulder into Ivan’s belly. Ivan falls on the shorter vucari and they end up in a pile of flailing fists and feet, rolling around the garage floor like a spider having a seizure.

I mouth, “You’re evil.”

Candy shrugs and mouths, “I was bored. And I love messing with dumb guys.”

“One more thing, Amanda. I’m going to need guns. Pistols. I’m not sure what I’ll be in the mood for, so bring an assortment. Like teacakes to a party. All right?”

“My pleasure, Lucifer. I live to serve you.”

“Of course you do.”

“Where shall I get in touch with you? The usual? The Chateau Marmont?”

Goddamn. I forgot about that place.

“Yes, the Chateau. My usual suite.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow evening, Lucifer.”

“Ciao.”

I put the phone away and Candy leans back like she’s never seen me before.

“You have a suite somewhere? You’ve been holding out on me.”

“I don’t have one yet but I think I will when we get back to town.”

“Is there room service? I like room service.”

I put the black blade in the ignition and start the car.

“How does Rinko feel about you spending time with me? She knows about us, right?”

“She’s not brain-dead, so yeah, she knows. I told you before, Rinko and I aren’t married. She knows you and I have something and you know she and I have something. No one has to be here who doesn’t want to be. I mean, there’s nothing that’s stopping you from seeing someone else.”

“I’m not interested in anyone else.”

“Really? Is that why Sasha Grey had her tongue down your throat last night?”

“Brigitte? That was nothing. Just a couple of old zombie slayers who haven’t seen each other in a few months.”

“Another month and you two would have been dry-humping on the bar.”

“And spill our drinks? Against the bar maybe, but not on it.”

“Keep talking and I won’t go back to your suite with you.”

“You started it.”

“Did I? I don’t remember. Home, Jeeves.”

I pull a U-turn across four lanes of traffic and head for the freeway. When we pass the garage Ivan and his pal are still wrestling.