City of the Snakes by Darren Shan

“Let’s not dwell on that. Get you something to drink?”
    “I’d rather skip the preliminaries and find out why you called me in.”
    “As you wish.” Tasso rubs the wrist of his right arm, then moves up to the elbow. “You heard about Capac and the Fridge?”
    “Jerry filled me in.”
    “Ever meet him?”
    “Raimi?” I shake my head. “Saw him a couple of times.”
    “A strange kid,” Tasso reflects. “Cold and alien inside. Dorak was a mean son of a bitch, but he was human. I don’t know what the fuck Raimi is.”
    Tasso tosses a doll at me. It’s a dead ringer for Capac Raimi. It reminds me that this room used to be full of dolls—absent now.
    “I locked them in a cupboard,” Tasso explains as I stare at the bare walls. “Never could stand those fucking mannequins. Had to put up with them when I was playing second fiddle to The Cardinal.”
    “But when the cat’s away…”
    “Exactly.”
    I turn the doll around, examining it idly. “Think he’s dead?” I ask.
    “He can’t be killed.”
    I smile, keeping my eyes on the doll so that Tasso won’t see the grin. “You never struck me as the gullible type.”
    “I’m not. But I’m telling you, Capac Raimi can’t be killed. He’s immortal.”
    “I’ve heard the rumors. I don’t believe them.”
    “I’ve seen it firsthand. He’s been shot, knifed, blown to pieces, pushed off that balcony. The fucker keeps coming back. I don’t know how, but he does. His remains dissolve away and a few days later he forms a new body and returns. If you think I’m going senile, check with Jerry and Frank. They’ve seen it too.”
    I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “If that’s true, why are you worried?”
    “He’s never been gone this long. Normally he returns within three days. At a stretch, four. Never longer. This time he’s disappeared. I don’t know where he is. And I don’t think he’s going to make it back on his own.”
    “But if he can’t be killed…”
    “I don’t know how to explain it!” Tasso roars. “If I could, I wouldn’t need to turn to you.”
    “Speaking of which… What do I have to do with your missing Cardinal?”
    Tasso’s left hand creeps to his right shoulder and he kneads the flesh firmly. If he were sitting at an angle to me, the right side of his face would show all the vitality of a corpse.
    “Capac came to see me the week before he vanished,” Tasso says. “He was agitated. The city’s going to hell and he wanted to halt its slide. He believed the
villacs—
they’re blind priests—”
    “I know who they are,” I chip in softly.
    “—Were responsible for the unrest. This wasn’t the first time they’d clashed. Capac had his own way of doing things. The
villacs
didn’t approve. He felt they were undermining his authority. He asked me to step in for him, freeing him to deal with them. I refused. The following weekend he wound up at the Fridge and nothing’s been seen of him since.”
    I dwell on that a while. “Why return to the hot seat now, when you wouldn’t before?”
    “Guilt,” he answers directly. “I thought Capac could handle things. I didn’t take his offer seriously. If I had, maybe he wouldn’t be on the missing list and this city wouldn’t be on the brink of war.”
    “It’s a bit late in the day to put things right.”
    Tasso shrugs (only his left shoulder rises). “If I’m late, I’m late. Point is, I’m here and I need your help.”
    “I still don’t understand what you think I can do. I have no idea where Raimi is.”
    “You can find out,” Tasso says evenly. “I think the
villacs
have him and I think you’re the one person who can deal with those blind sons of jackals and persuade them to set him free.”
    “Why would you think that?” I frown.
    “Stuff Capac told me over the years. I know about the Ayuamarcans, your father and how, aside from Capac, you’re the only survivor of Dorak’s phantasmagoric army.”
    “You remember Paucar Wami?” I