A cocktail bar meeting between two supernatural beings, one called to dispatch human souls which have lingered beyond their allotted time on Earth, another to hand out punishment on behalf of the Great Forces. Here is a chance for a psychopomp to show a little mercy, however unwise that may be in the longer term. The two old comrades banter back and forth, alternately concealing and revealing secret longings and beliefs that may see them too obliterated if they judge the other wrongly. The emotional tenor of the story is alternately soft and vicious, as giddying vistas open onto other realms, their priorities entirely alien to the human mind.
First published in Flowers from the Void, Serpent’s Tail, 2024
A Personal Anthology 