Mantis [antikvár]

ONE"They're out there." I leaned on the balcony's edge and looked at the city. Red smoke bled around the buildings. "I know they are.""Who?" Behind me I could hear the creak of the folding chair's canvas. My ex-wife sat up to pour herself another glass of wine. "Who's out there?"I went on gazing at the distant towers. All the air behind them had tinged red. Stupid people say the barrier between this world and another grows thinner at sunset. That was true, actually. But that other, darker world lies in men's hearts."Couple of people." I didn't turn around. "Lots of people out there." I knew which two I meant. When the red had drained to absolute black, they would pace beneath the coiling neon. Prowling and searching for what they wanted.She came and stood beside me, cradling her glass in her hands. If she dropped it, the stain would hiss among the shards on the hot sidewalk below. All day the sun had been bearing down, so that the metal of cars pulsed with heat. The palm fronds traced arcs in the gummy tar of the roof tiles sloping on either side of us. The