The Forever Drug by Lisa Smedman Read Free Book Online Page A

the name the ganger girl had used earlier.
    He stared at me a moment, then his eyes slid to the girl beside him. "Never seen this frigger before in my life."
    "Yes you have," I said. "Watch." I shed my shirt and unzipped my pants, letting them fall around my ankles. As I dropped to hands and knees, I heard the girl's voice: "Likes to show off what he's got, doesn't he?"
    Then I changed...
    I swiveled my ears and caught the troll's sharp intake of breath as he watched my body shift into wolf form.
    "You're the dog I saw in the garage," he whispered.
    I panted happily, my tongue lolling. Then I shifted back...
    The wide-eyed ganger girl eyed my human form appreciatively as I put my clothes back on. I shot her a wink, then spoke to the troll.
    "That ball of light that I saw touching the elf girl's head—"
    "My girlfriend," the troll rumbled. I could tell from his ugly frown that he'd crank me if I mentioned the fact that he'd accidentally put a bullet through her chest.
    "It was a paranormal animal," I continued. "A corpselight. Where'd it come from?"
    "It's Halo."
    "Who's Halo?"
    "Not who ... what." His expression melted into a dreamy smile. "That drug is some good," he answered. "Frigs ya up somethin' fierce—leaves ya weak as a kitten for days after. But it's the best rush ever. Like a good boff. Just leaves ya wantin' more."
    "Did you know it was a living creature?"
    The troll shook his large head. "Not until it flat-lined Punk and Mick. That's when Alishia took a peek at it in the astral and started screamin'. When it latched onto her, I decided to cap it. She's nowhere near as chill as those two, and it would'a done her for sure."
    The girl ganger shot the troll a look. "So Halo really is a para? This guy's not scammin'?"
    "Guess so," the troll said.
    My mind was still trying to process what I'd just learned. The tentacled horror that had killed three people in the North End parking garage was being sold on the streets as a drug. Somebody had found a way to sustain corpselights in a city environment, and was selling a new high: the deadly rush of ecstasy that a corpselight used to subdue the victims whose life essence it fed upon.
    It looked as if Drug Enforcement had a claim to the case, after all.
    "Where'd you score the Halo?" I asked.
    That got me a look. I could see the troll debating whether or not to tell me. Ratting out your dealer is an excellent way of getting iced. But that dealer was responsible for the death of the troll's girlfriend...
    "Ya gotta know a shaman or mage to use Halo," he stalled.
    "How come?"
    "Ya need magic ta use it."
    "I don't want to use it," I reminded him. "I want to talk to the friggers who're dealing it. I want to capture one of these corpselights."
    The troll paused, but I could tell by his body language that he was going to give me what I wanted. He still craved the "drug" Halo—that much was clear. But the craving was stirring up a fear that I could read in his troubled eyes as easy as I could read a marquee.
    "Try the Old Burial Grounds," he said. "Ask for Wowkwis."
    It was an unusual name. Mi'kmaq Indian, by the sound of it.
    "Thanks," I said.
    The wide-eyed girl ganger had already lost interest in me and was climbing back up on the rope. She disappeared into the tree house above.
    I gave Stud a look. "It'll be payback for Alishia," I told him.
    "Yeah," he muttered as he turned away. "Sure." I could see that he didn't really believe me. He figured the corpselight would ice me, too.
    I bared my teeth at any gangers who might still be sitting in the branches above, then loped out of the park.

5
    The Old Burial Grounds are in the oldest part of the city. They might have had a proper name once, but that's the name everyone uses now. Some of the graves go back to the late 1700s, just after Halifax was founded.
    I walked along Spring Garden Road until I came to the cemetery, which is about a meter higher than the street. The burial grounds are a block square, and are surrounded by a