“Doesn’t matter,” he managed. “She’s still dead.”
Exactly what the Strega had said. The spell over Jimmy appeared to have broken with the death of his father, but what remained?
“What do you remember?”
“Everything. I was trapped inside of myself. I could see myself, hear myself, but I couldn’t stop. The things I did, Lizzy.”
He was still wrapped around me. I let him hold on. I wanted that connection too. Just because the Strega was dead didn’t mean we weren’t in a lot of trouble. The building was full of vamps, and they weren’t going to be too happy to discover the boss man was a big red stain on the Italian marble tile.
“You need to let me go, Jimmy. We have to get the hell out of here.”
“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “You’re right.”
He got to his feet, slowly as if he hurt all over. I know I did.
His gaze went to the floor where the Strega’s Hugh Hefner outfit lay in a puddle of blood. “How did you do that? Only I’m supposed to be able to kill him, and I… I couldn’t.”
“It turns out sex makes me take on supernatural abilities like other people catch viruses.”
“Son of a—” Jimmy rubbed his forehead. “You’re an empath.”
“That seems to be the consensus.”
I couldn’t stop glancing at what was left of the strega. I hadn’t needed Ruthie’s crucifix after all. I patted my pocket, relieved to find both it and the turquoise still there.
Or maybe I had. Maybe that blessing had been just the boost I needed to succeed.
For the first time I could remember I wanted to embrace who I was. I wasn’t a freak; I was the leader of the light. With the powers I had, and the ones yet to come, I could really help people. And it was so much less stressful to be myself rather than trying not to be.
Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door.
“Trust me,” Jimmy whispered.
As the door swung open, he grabbed me by the neck and squeezed. I didn’t have to fake the choking sounds that spewed from my mouth. I clawed at his hands without being asked.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“The master?”
“Not here. I’m busy. Get out.”
The door closed. Jimmy let me go, catching me when I would have fallen to the ground.
“Sorry.” His lips pressed against my hair. “Sorry. We can’t let them know.”
“I’m all right.” I rubbed my throat. “All in a day’s work.”
“That should keep them happy for a while. Follow me.”
He moved into the next room, a bedroom fit for a fat Middle Eastern pasha. Filmy bed curtains, low, round bed, huge fountain that poured into what looked like an actual restored bathhouse from some country that had once been ruler of the world and had fallen when the outlaw hordes came. There were quite a few. The walls were equipped with cuffs and chains—several pairs. I gave Jimmy a quick glance, but he was studiously avoiding that area, focusing instead on a panel next to the closet.
“What are you doing?”
“There’s a passageway.” He put his shoulder to it and shoved. The panel swung open and cool, musty air wafted out.
“No one else knows about this?”
Jimmy shook his head.
I took a step toward him and a photo on the night-stand caught my gaze. Because the Strega didn’t seem the type to keep mementos, I paused to look and then I couldn’t breathe.
The woman of smoke. What in hell was she doing here even in a picture?
I snatched up the framed photograph. I guess I hadn’t dreamed her after all. Here she appeared even more lifelike since she’d been captured in living color.
“Who is this?” I asked.
Jimmy glanced at the picture and shrugged. “Never saw her before.”
A sound from the other room made us both start. “Gotta go, Lizzy.”
I nodded, then, as he turned away, I yanked the back off the frame, folded the picture into quarters and tucked it into the pocket of my harem pants with everything else.
Silently we trailed downward. The path was dark, but I could see as well as Jimmy now, move just as quickly too. A short while later we reached a door that opened outward, spilling us into the same alley I’d entered weeks before.
My pantaloons ruffled in the spring breeze. My bare stomach got gooseflesh. I was headed into Manhattan in a harem outfit. No one would probably notice.
“Hold on,” Jimmy said, and disappeared inside.
He was gone so long I began to panic. Right before I rushed back in, he appeared, bursting from the gloom in a great big hurry. As soon as he saw me, he caught my arm. “Run.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I figured they were on to us.
We found a break in traffic, streaked across the street, ignoring the horns and the curses. When we reached the far side, Jimmy stopped.