One2's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

One2 stood over Vane's body in the shining hall. Beno and Ladybug's people crowded the doors, guns still hot. They grinned at the dead boss. But down the block, One2 heard the other truth. Vane's old men had not run. They hid in doorways and whispered. They still feared a boss they had never seen fall. Word alone would not break them. They needed to look at the corpse and know. "Show them," Beno said. He wiped sweat from his gold teeth. "Drag him out front. Let every man on the block see Vane dead. Then they line up or they run." One2 looked down at Vane. He could carry the body out. He could hang it high on the rich building for all to see. That was the plan. But One2 knew the deeper problem. His soul-hand was dead. The ant had killed it. He was just a strong corpse now. Once his allies learned that, they would leave. Beno stayed for winning. Ladybug stayed for winning. A corpse with no devil in him did not win for long. One2 crouched. He touched Vane's cooling chest. He tried the pull one last time. Nothing came. The power was gone for good. But the body was still here. And the body had eaten the ant that stole his power. One2 did not carry Vane outside. He bent low over the corpse instead. Beno stepped back. Ladybug's women gasped. One2 opened his gray mouth and bit into Vane's throat. He tore and swallowed. He ate the boss down to nothing, flesh and bone, and with it the last of the yellow ant inside. The hall went silent. Beno's grin was gone. "You crazy dead man," he whispered. Then One2 felt it. A hum crawled up his arm. His soul-hand woke. Cold power poured back into his dead fingers. The ant had eaten his devil, and now he had eaten the ant. He had taken it back. One2 rose. There was no body to show now. Vane was inside him. The whispering men in the doorways saw a corpse standing where their boss had been, and their boss was simply gone. One2 lifted one hand. He curled his fingers toward the nearest hiding man and pulled. The man's soul ripped loose. He dropped dead on the marble without a mark. The whispers stopped. Vane's old men fell to their knees, all of them, right there on the gold floor of the rich building. They did not need a corpse to fear. They had a new one. Beno laughed loud and slapped Ladybug's shoulder. "He's back," Beno said. "He never lost it." They did not know the truth. One2 let them believe the easy story. He had the block's men on their knees. But now every soul on this block belonged to a hunger he could not stop feeling.