by Alice Bell
I liked to lay in some big bed, in a grandiose hotel room, slightly decayed, with azure tiles and oil paintings on the walls, and think of Ruby, with her angst-filled eyes. I envisioned coming to her aid, instead of preying on her. The fantasy ended the same as the story. Ruby asked me to stay with her. (She begged me.)
I got up and went to Claudia’s room to tell her about it. She was buried under the covers.
I sat on the edge of the bed. “Hey,” I poked her. “You awake?”
She moaned. “No, Devon. I am not awake. I am the opposite of awake. I am deeply asleep. Go away.”
I went down to the plaza to look at portraits of Mexican wrestlers painted on paper bags, placed around the square.
It was late afternoon when I went to Claudia’s room again.
She liked to get up around noon, and have coffee on the balcony, while reading a magazine like Vogue. She’d spend the afternoon this way, in a negligee or a silky gown. At dusk, after ordering up a large meal, she dressed for the evening.
Outside her door, I felt the stillness inside. I told myself I’d missed her. She’d gone out already. And yet, I knew.
She was still in bed, in the same position.
“Claudia. Hey,” I pulled the cover down enough to see her face. She radiated heat but her teeth chattered.
“Claud,” I stroked her cheek. She flinched.
I couldn’t bring her an aspirin to lower her fever. It wouldn’t work. I couldn’t call a doctor. There was nothing a doctor could do.
I wet a wash cloth with cold water and put it on her forehead.
Tears slid from the outer corners of her eyes. “I need to go,” she whispered.
We had been headed to San Francisco, though slowly. Claudia liked Mexico, especially Oaxaca. She wanted to stay a while. She never wanted to hurry, like she might run out of time.
I wondered how long she had, if we could still make it to ‘the city.’ God, it felt like a lifetime ago I’d met her in the realm. And it was—her lifetime.
When it got dark, I carried her out of the hotel, down to the beach, so she could see the stars. She stayed in my lap, her head resting against my chest, her arms around my neck.
I listened to her heart, as it slowed.
“Claudia, damn it.”
I lowered my head, when she took her last breath.
* * *
The humming came from far off. The sound was soft, at first. It got closer and louder, until the sound of beating wings filled the air.
In a burst of light, Claudia’s body was gone from my arms.
A shooting star arced across the sky.
Part 3
“COME HERE, Ruby,” he said.
I stood in front of him. I couldn’t see his face. He was too tall, and something blocked the light. His face was blacked out, like a doctored photograph.
I reached up to touch his chest. His skin was smooth, almost burnished. My hand moved over the taut muscles on his stomach. I sucked in my breath.
He grabbed the front of my bodice and yanked. Cool air rushed over my skin. He laughed. A giddy feeling rose up inside me. “Now these,” he slipped a finger inside my panties. The sound of tearing cut the air.
He carried me to the bed.
I became aware of small details, the dampness on the sheets, the salty taste of his skin, my own slick sweat, the slow hard beat of his heart.
I stopped breathing.
His open mouth was on my throat. I felt his teeth scrape my skin. And then he was inside me. His breath deepened. There was only his movement, his breath in my ear, the slow, sweet friction, sweat pooling between my breasts.
My body went slack.
His hair was on my lips, filling my mouth and I saw a red glow outside the window, as the sun fell low in the sky.
39. Devon
THE MOON was a few nights shy of full. It drifted in the sky and cast a pink light through wispy clouds.
I walked down Ruby’s street, hands in the pockets of my jeans, thinking of the first time I saw her—crazy dress, big cloud of magenta hair.
Of course, she wouldn’t remember me and I wasn’t going to introduce myself. I just wanted to check on her. I was worried, if you want to know the truth.
Worrying was pointless, but finding Sarah’s obituary hadn’t been fun. Christ, it was worse than reading my own. I sure as hell didn’t want to come across Ruby’s. Not when I could watch over her for the rest of her life.
What else did I have to do?
When I got to her house, I noticed the change right away. The yard had been manicured. Roses bloomed. A rope swing hung from the arm of one of the old Oak trees.
Ruby didn’t live here, anymore. Obviously.
Where was she?
I headed downtown, to the 24-hour café, to use one of their computers. I didn’t carry gadgets anymore. It was a pain in the ass, but electronic devices sucked too much energy.
Ruby’s new address came up immediately. She was right around the corner, on Irving, across the street from my old building. Where Sarah had taken her fatal fall. Which I didn’t like one bit.
I’d become highly suspect of coincidence, lately.
It was just a couple of blocks to Ruby’s building. Envisioning its striped awning, I was there in seconds flat.
From the sidewalk, I gazed up. Her apartment was 7P—the penthouse. Light spilled from the windows.
Relief flooded over me. For a minute.
Something wasn’t right. The curtains were wide open. Ruby was a cave dweller. Unless, she’d changed, which she probably had, a little. I’d left her with Henry Thorne. Maybe old Henry had loosened her up. I hoped he made her happy … or at least, made her feel less lonely.
Was he there? With her now?
Someone walked across the room. I saw movement through the vista window.
I cocked my head, honing in to hear what was going on inside. Not spying, I told myself. I’d have no problem walking away, as soon as I was sure Ruby was safe.
I heard voices—female … arguing.
One voice pricked the back of my neck. Was it—could it be?
Zadie?
The wrongness of Zadie inside Ruby’s apartment didn’t strike me. I’d crossed half a continent, believing Zadie dead, thinking I was the last demon on earth.
I longed to know what had happened to Zadie when she disappeared, and even more, I wanted to know what had happened to me. Surely, Zadie knew. If she didn’t, no one did.
My mind was full of Zadie, with no room for anything else.
I leaped the stairs, taking each flight in a single bound.
I landed in a corridor, dimly lit, with a green and gold rug over the polished floor. It was so hushed, so insular in its opulence, I was disoriented.
I had the strangest feeling I’d fantasized not only Zadie’s voice but everything in my life, up till now.
When the door of 7P swung open, my mind clicked back into gear. I braced myself.
The woman who stood in front of me was a demon. I detected her with my built-in radar, immediately. Our eyes met. She knew me. I felt it in my bones. I also felt a kind of dread, the way I had in Nicaragua, the night Zadie disappeared.
“I told Zadie you would come,” she had a low, throaty voice. She reached for my hand, and nearly pulverized it.
Heat raced up my arm. I noticed her beauty, suddenly, as if she had made me notice. Her face was perfect in its symmetry, her lips sensual. Her eyes promised adventure in all ways a man would desire. She had immense power. It coursed through my veins—the knowledge of her ability to decimate.
She released my hand. “Dearest, Devon,” she came closer, and kissed my cheek. “I am Inka. Your sire.”
Red flooded my vision.
Jesus. Just the bitch I’ve been looking for.
What the hell was she doing to Zadie?
My Zadie.
I had all but forgotten Ruby.
And then, I saw her.
Zadie.
She lit up
the doorway. Her smile claimed my heart, like before, when I’d found her in Venice, and wondered why we had ever parted. Tears glistened in her eyes. “Devon?” her voice was small, disbelieving.
I pulled her against me. She felt so right. “Zadie …”
Inka retreated.
I crushed Zadie’s mouth with mine. Our tongues collided. She pushed me against the wall.
God, oh God.
I was so caught up in how we used to be, it came as a shock to realize she was a demon.
No.
Not my Zadie.
I bit her lip, in surprise. Blood gushed. I tasted it. She reeled back and covered her mouth. When she took her hand away, the blood was gone, as if it had never been.
Our eyes locked. Hers were hurt. “Why’d you do that?” she said.
I touched my own lip, where there was a single drop of blood. “Oh, Zadie,” I shook my head.
She made a sound in the back of her throat.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know … what you’d become. How—how did it happen?”
Her scream pierced my eardrums.
She flew at me and pummeled my chest with her fists. I remembered Sarah doing the same, and I knew Zadie (or Inka) had killed Sarah.
I thought of Ruby, at last. Too late, I was afraid.
I pinned Zadie’s arms, surprised by my own strength. I wasn’t sure which of us would be stronger.
I stared into Zadie’s face, confused. She was a stranger. “Where is Ruby?”
Zadie’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Ruby? Ruby who? Fuck you, Devon.” She spit in my face.
Inka poked her head out the door. “Now, now, children. What’s this? A lover’s quarrel?”
I shoved Zadie away from me, and wiped off her saliva.
“Come inside,” Inka said. “Both of you.”
My gut coiled.
The apartment was trashed. Empty champagne bottles covered a granite counter, record jackets lay strewn across the floor. A vinyl record had been smashed to pieces. Clothes littered the furniture; lacy negligees, black dresses, sweaters, all too small to fit Zadie or Inka.
My mind veered over the possibilities. Did Ruby have a meltdown? Maybe she wasn’t even here. I prayed she was in a hospital somewhere. At least she would be safe in the psych ward.
Unfortunately, I suspected otherwise.
My eyes sought a hallway, leading to a shut door. I strained to detect Ruby’s heartbeat. Inka broke my concentration. “Ruby is alive, Devon,” she said, quietly. “We have saved her for you.”
My fingers curled into fists. “I need to see her.” Christ, I sounded like a hostage negotiator.
There was a rush of movement behind me. In the next second, pain cracked my skull. Glass shattered. “Ow … what? ” I whirled around.
Zadie held the jagged neck of what was once a bottle of Cristal.
“That is quite enough, Zadie,” Inka said. “Go sit down. I mean it. Get your shit together.” But a smile curved at her lips, as if Zadie was rather amusing, like an impish toddler.
“He’s in love with a human,” Zadie said. “He’s only here because of her … not because of me.”
Inka raised an eyebrow. I knew what I had to do, and it made my skin crawl.
“She will hurt you,” my mother’s words came back to haunt me. I figured they would for the rest of my life. Which could end brutally … tonight. If I didn’t wise up.
“Zadie,” I touched her cheek that was as soft as I remembered. A terrible sorrow engulfed me. She was pitiful. She’s not Zadie anymore, I reminded myself. “Don’t be mad. I’ve been looking for you. For so long.”
She took my hand and kissed my palm.
“There,” Inka said. “See?”
I mustered the gumption to play along, though it sickened me. I had to, for Ruby’s sake. Images of what they had done to her reared up in my imagination. I squashed them.
“Have you fed, Devon?” Inka said, like a party hostess.
I was full of the moon’s rays, but I said, “No. Not yet.” Let them think I was weak, if they could be so easily fooled. No need to show my cards.
When Inka looked past me, at Zadie, my gaze scanned the kitchen, and landed on an empty wine rack. If worse came to worst, I could break the rack and salvage a broken shard. To use as a stake.
“Shall we show him Ruby?” Inka said to Zadie.
A shadow crossed Zadie’s face. She glanced at me. I made my expression blank. I even put my hands in the pockets of my jeans, acting nonchalant.
“Perhaps he can help us,” Inka coaxed. “Take him to Ruby, Zadie.”
I followed Zadie down the hall, aware of Inka close behind. My heart hammered.
Zadie pushed open the door, and I gasped, in spite of myself.
Ruby was huddled on the floor, clutching at a silver chain around her neck. I wondered what she held in her fist. A cross? She wore a black gown. Her feet were bare, her hair ratted. She shivered so hard, her teeth chattered. Mascara made black rings around her eyes. She looked up; unseeing. She was in shock.
How long had she been there?
“She’s a bad girl,” Inka said. “She tried to get out on the fire escape.”
Zadie snickered. “Don’t feel sorry for her,” she said. “She’s a pain in the ass. Holding us hostage.”
“Holding you hostage?” I said.
“Yeah, we can’t fucking leave. Or she’ll get out.”
“Why—why don’t you kill her?” I said. It was an obvious question.
“Someone gave her an angelite crystal,” Inka said. “She’s using it against us. We can’t touch her.”
“We could have killed her,” Zadie said, her tone bitter. “Nights ago. The first time we saw her.”
Nights ago.
“You can get the amulet away from Ruby,” Inka said. “Can’t you, Devon?”
Ruby’s eyes were squeezed shut. Her lips moved, as she whispered to herself. I have done this to her, I thought. There was no reason for Zadie and Inka to hone in on Ruby. Except to get to me.
I crossed the room. Ruby’s frenzied pulse raced in my veins. “Hey, Ruby,” I said. Her eyes snapped open. She withdrew, scuttling backwards, never letting go of her necklace.
“She doesn’t remember me,” I turned to Inka. “She’s warding me off too.”
It was true, Ruby had no idea who I was. She barely knew who she was. But I wasn’t evil. I meant her no harm. I could have easily reached down and yanked the chain from her neck.
Inka crossed her arms. “Really?” she said. “I’m surprised.”
I shrugged.
“Well then. We’ll have to think up a new plan.” Her eyes bore into mine. She was angry.
“I have a plan,” Zadie said. “Let’s just turn up the furnace and leave Ruby here to die.”
“Right,” I said. “Easy peasy.”
Inka glared at me. I’d quickly shot to the top of her shit list.
Zadie took my hand. “You want to, Devon?”
“It would be the kindest thing to do,” I said.
Zadie squeezed my fingers. “We’ll put Ruby out of her misery.”
Inka hadn’t decided if I was on the up and up, but she turned and headed down the hall, which was what I wanted.
I closed the door to Ruby’s room. I hoped to God it wasn’t the last time I’d see her.
Inka waited. I sensed she was agitated, turning over an internal conflict in her mind (me). Yet, by all outward appearances she was calm.
It was clear she had Zadie under her power. But I was an unknown entity.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Zadie said. “Can we get the hell out of here or what?”
“I think we need to have a visit with Devon,” Inka said. “Aren’t you eager to hear where he has been, Zadie?”
Zadie smiled at me. I realized I didn’t want to learn what had happened to her. Looking into her golden eyes, I felt it was a sad story … about someone I hardly knew.
“Of course I want to hear all a
bout Devon’s adventures,” Zadie said, and something flickered in her eyes, something of the old Zadie. “Just not here. Maybe later, in bed. Over a cigarette,” she winked.
Inka wasn’t impressed. “Where have you been, Devon? I would not like to be the last to know.”
“The realm.”
Zadie sucked in her breath. “You got captured?”
“I went there on purpose. To find you, Zadie.” I turned my gaze on Inka. “And to find out what the fuck happened to me.”
Inka’s lips parted.
I thought of the years I’d walked the earth alone, lost. Why didn’t Inka come to me then? I would have been putty in her hands.
As it stood now, she was not only at the top of my shit list, but my first priority. I had no choice but to take her out. It had just occurred to me that the virtual demons I’d slain in training were much faster than a live one.
I leaped over the counter and landed a karate kick to Inka’s face. It was a good square blow, and I felt her bones crack. She was stunned, giving me time to yank the wine rack from the wall and break off a piece. The end was jagged and sharp.
Zadie keened; a monstrous sound.
I spun around, as Inka staggered toward me. Blood spurted from her nose and mouth. The whites of her eyes were red. Her hands, with their long red talons, reached for me.
In one swift move, I stabbed her in the throat, like I’d done a thousand times in the realm.
Her ashes dusted my hands and my eyelashes, my hair.
Zadie whimpered. I glanced at her. She was backing away, her eyes huge, her face white. I watched her slide down the wall to the floor. She crouched, covering her head with her arms.
I went to her. “I’m sorry, Zadie,” I said. “I really am.”
She lifted her gaze. “Why did you kill Inka? Why? She was our sire.”
I let my crudely fashioned stake drop to the floor, and squatted next to her. “We’re better off without her, my love. Don’t you think?” I wiped away her tears.
She sniffled. “Maybe,” she said.
I settled next to her, stretching out my legs. “Come here, Zadie. Lay your head in my lap.”
I stroked her hair, as she lay there. When she closed her eyes, I reached for the stake. “It’s all going to be okay,” I said. “We had good times, Zadie. We have been lucky in love.”