Free Dead Lucky by M.R. Forbes

told her and regretted.  
    It was the first time I had outright lied.
    I told her that Mother double-crossed me. That she was the one who made the first move, and tried to have us both killed. I made myself look like I was only defending us when I used the dice, and killed the two Laveau.
    I don't know if she believed me. She didn't say she didn't. She never said she did either. She asked after Marie, and I stumbled with the excuse, that she had been sent away so she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. She asked how I did what I did with the dice.
    I wasn't sure I had done anything at all.
    All I knew was that when it came down to it, I couldn't let them go.  
    Which is what Olivier said would happen. Like he knew the end of the story before I did.
    The way Mother had died, so peacefully, so silently... I wasn't sure she hadn't known either.
    Maybe the bones had told her how it was going to be?
    I didn't understand most of what had happened. I really didn't understand the dice. Where they came from, what the hell the... thing... was that was living inside. I just knew I had to keep them. I knew they could protect me, that I could use them to keep myself alive. Our line of work had always been dangerous, and any advantage was more valuable than the lives of two crazy voodoo worshippers.
    Or so I convinced myself.
    We left New Orleans the same night, stealing the cash and making a beeline back to 10-gate. With Mother dead, it seemed like the monsters in the area wound up confused, because we saw the same white snake on our return trip, and it slithered away from us like we were both infected.  
    We caught up to Marie at some point, and trailed behind her unseen while she went through the gate and got the guard to call her a cab. We waited out of sight until she was gone, and then approached the guy ourselves. The sensors would have told him we were hiding out there, but he didn't ask any questions.  
    We broke into the shop and stole the van from it, lucky that the hose was already fixed, collected Evan from the Jambalaya, and hit the road. I was dead tired, and I slouched in the seat in a mixture of sickness, guilt, depression, and excitement. I faded in and out of sleep, most times waking to Dannie shaking me to make sure I was still alive. One time I woke to her voice as she spoke to Dalton about having the meds ready for me when we got back to Chicago, assuming I made it.
    The power of the dice had been revealed to me. So had the hidden and uncomfortable truths that I wanted so much to bury. The lies I would tell, the people I would hurt.  
    These were the truths that changed you.
    Mother claimed it wasn't wise to cheat death, and I was certain she was right.
    Then again, I had never considered myself wise before.  
    Why would I start now?

Did you like Dead Lucky ? You can follow Conor and learn more about the world of Ghosts & Magic in:
    Dead of Night

    Small-time thief and hitman Conor Night thinks having terminal cancer is his worst problem. The illegal treatments keeping him alive are expensive, and the side effects a mixed bag:
    Conor can raise the dead.
    When a low-end hit points to a high-end job, Conor is suspicious, but it's an opportunity he can't afford to ignore. Armed with a set of soul-sucking ancient dice, a collection of corpses, and the estranged daughter of one of the most powerful wizards on Earth, it will take all of his wit, charm, and magic to navigate the treacherous world of the dominant Houses and either finish the job, or be finished himself.
    He's got ninety-nine problems, and dying is only one.

    http://books.mrforbes.com/?dl  

    Want more than just a blurb? Read the first chapter now:

    Chapter 1: About that job...

    I approached the door on my elbows, dragging myself like some kind of mutant lizard along the stained brown carpet that lined the eighth floor hallway of the Hotel Paramour. It had taken me almost ten minutes of left arm, right arm, rinse, and repeat to get from the first