Chaos Bites (27 page)

Though I longed to throw my control over the balcony as Jimmy had thrown his, I knew there might come a day when I needed to put the collar back on. I shoved the thing to the bottom of my duffel, picked up Sawyer’s turquoise, and looped the chain over my neck, tucking the stone beneath my shirt along with Ruthie’s crucifix. Then I stripped off my jeans and tried to get some sleep.

Next thing I knew light had just begun to creep across the sky. The breeze through the balcony window felt morning-cool and smelled like the fresh water I heard splashing out of the hoses and washing away the filth on the streets below.

Sanducci slouched in a chair by the terrace. I could have been annoyed that he’d disappeared last night; I could have started the day bitchy. But he’d brought coffee and beignets.

I crossed the room and snatched the nearest cup, taking a healthy swig despite the waft of steam that billowed up and nearly blinded me when I removed the top. Then I grabbed a beignet and stuffed most of it in my mouth—they were small—letting the sugar and the deep-fried dough soothe me until I almost felt human.

“Where’d you go last night?”

Jimmy reached into his back pocket and slapped a lethal-looking silver dagger onto the table. The weapon was small, but from the way the sun sparked off the edges, it was sharp, the grip black, grooved, all business. No fancy jewels or cutesy dragon faces to mess up the aim.

“Charmed?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t be much good if it wasn’t.”

I thought it might be good enough for most things, if you stuck them just right. But we weren’t interested in most things. This dagger was for Mait.

“Where’d you get it?”

“Charmed dagger shop.”

“That’s a legitimate question, Sanducci. What if I need a charmed dagger at some point in the future?”

Knowing my future, I was sure that I would.

“You’ve got one.” He flicked his finger at the table.

“Do
you
have one?” He shook his head. “Why not?”

“They aren’t cheap, Lizzy. Besides, we only need one. I’ll grab the book, you stab the Nephilim.”

“How come I have to stab the Nephilim?” I whined.

“Mait and I have a history. If he sees me coming, we’re screwed.”

“I thought the gris-gris would repel his magic.”

“They will. But he’s a big guy, and he fights dirty.”

“So do you.”

“You’ll have a better chance of sliding in and—” Jimmy made a stabbing motion with his fist toward his eye. I resisted the urge to gag. I did not do well with eyes. They were yucky.

That sounds girlie. But I
am
a girl.

Which didn’t mean I wouldn’t do what I had to. I’d also do everything I could to get out of it first.

“Why do you think I’ll be able to get close to him?” I asked. “I’m not huge, and my dirty fighting isn’t the best.”

I’d always had a hard time with it, probably because I’d been kicked when I was down so often as a  kid whenever I tried to do it myself, I hesitated. I needed to get over that, but I wasn’t sure how.

“Besides,” I continued, “the first time Mait saw me, he knew I was there for the book.”

“Anyone who shows up is there for the book, Lizzy.”

“They couldn’t be out for a stroll?”

“In New Orleans? In August? In the
swamp
?”

“All right,” I muttered.

“You won’t have to fight him.”

“You think he’ll just let us walk in and grab the
Book of Samyaza.
”

“I think he won’t notice me grabbing it if you’re seducing him.”

I choked on my coffee, which went down the wrong pipe and made me cough as if I were in the throes of death. For a while I wanted to be. At last I managed a hoarse, “If I’m doing what?”

“This guy’s been stuck in an abandoned church for a very long time. He’s desperate to get some.”

“Well, he isn’t getting any from me! He’s a Nephilim.”

“I didn’t tell you to sleep with him.”

“You said
seduce
.”

“I meant offer but don’t deliver. I’m sure you know how.”

My eyes narrowed. I’d certainly never offered him anything I hadn’t delivered.

“I’ll just fight him,” I said. “I’ve got skills.”

“You won’t have your powers.” At my frown, Jimmy lifted a gris-gris. “Once we walk in with these, it’s a no-magic zone for everyone.”

“You couldn’t buy a gris-gris that puts a hex on evil magic and leaves the good guys’ juice alone?”

“What
is
evil?” he murmured.

“Don’t start with the existential bullshit!”

“It’s a legitimate question.” He repeated back my own earlier comment, and my head felt as if it might explode. Only Sanducci had this effect on me.

“You think a bag of seeds and grass can tell the difference between good and evil?” he asked. “Especially when the bad guys believe what they’re doing needs to be done. Haven’t you ever heard the saying:
A villain is the hero of his own story
?”

“No.”

“Think about it. Mait was given the task of protecting that book. He’s going to protect it by any means necessary. Is that an evil deed?”

“Hell, yeah!”

“In your opinion.”

“In everyone’s opinion.”

“Mait’s just following orders.”

“From Lucifer,” I said. “You think because the guards at Dachau were ‘just following orders,’ they aren’t roasting above an open flame directly to the left of Hitler?”

“Probably.” Jimmy sighed. “The fact remains that the gris-gris will put a stop to any magic—good or bad—so seduction is your best bet. Get in close, make sure I’ve got the book, then”—he made the same jabbing motion toward his eye, and I flinched—“nail him.”

CHAPTER 29

“Got the gris-gris?” Jimmy asked as he stepped out of the car near the swamp.

“Check. You?”

“Roger.”

“Dagger?” Jimmy continued, as if I were new at this.

I patted the back pocket of my jeans. I’d donned the tightest pair I could find, along with a well-washed white tank so see-through the shade of my skin made it appear beige. I hadn’t bothered with a bra. Why try to be subtle? I’d never been any good at it.

I’d left the turquoise and the crucifix at the hotel. No need to remind Mait whose side I was on until I had to.

“Okay then.” Jimmy rocked back on his heels, glanced at the sky.

“Synchronize our watches?” I asked.

He lowered his head, lifted a brow. “You aren’t wearing one.”

“I’m not wearing much,” I muttered, and walked into the overgrowth.

Despite the early hour, I was dripping sweat by the time I reached the church. Mait had said he was on duty in the daytime, so I’d assumed night demons only demoned at night. Since no evil bat-like shadows dived from the sky and tried to eviscerate me, I appeared to be right.

“Mait?” I called.

He appeared in the doorway so fast, I thought he might have been waiting for me. Probably just waiting for someone, anyone. If I had to live alone in an abandoned church in the swamp with only nasty demon birds and Lucifer’s Bible for company, I’d hover around the doorway, too.

“Back for de book?” he asked, gazing on my breasts, which might as well have been bare for all the good my old, white, wet shirt provided for cover.

I didn’t answer. He wasn’t listening anyway. Instead I walked toward him, making sure I put a little bounce in my step that transferred to my chest.

Ba-booommmmm. Ba-booommmm.

“Mait,” I said in what I hoped was a tempting murmur.

Jimmy’s idea of sending me to seduce someone, probably not the best idea he’d ever had. I was more of the
Jump him if you want him
school. But if I did that now, I’d have to follow through, and that wasn’t happening.

A few more ba-boom steps and I came close enough to see the symbol depicted by the tiny braids across Mait’s skull. A cross of two straight lines, combined with another cross that ended in a curlicue and tilted toward two o’clock, all with the same center—an
X
and a
T
—crossroad upon a crossroad. Very powerful magic.

I ran my finger along it, attempting to get inside his head, but either the gris-gris was strong enough to block my psychometry or his mind was too full of breasts for anything else.

Since I’d never considered my psychometric talent a form of magic—I’d been born with the talent; being psychic was part of me, not something I’d earned or taken or learned—I voted for the latter.

Mait snatched my wrist. “How did you get past de protection spell?”

I smiled despite the pain of his fingers crunching my bones. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Tell me now.”

Son of a bitch.
I needed to ramp up the seduction. At this rate, Mait was going to know Jimmy was coming long before he arrived. I had maybe ten minutes to make Mait see, hear, and breathe nothing but me.

I tugged on my wrist and he let go, though he stayed close enough to grab me again if he needed to. I slid my fingers into my front pocket, pushing my chest out in the process.

The shirt had begun to dry in the heat, the salt from my skin causing the material to stiffen. When it rubbed against my nipples so did they.

“Mmm,” I murmured, and wiggled so the shirt shimmied some more. “I’ve got a little—”

With difficulty he pulled his eyes from my chest and lowered them. Every one of my fingers was outlined inside of the faded denim pocket of my too-tight jeans. All of them pointed toward my crotch. Mait licked his lips, and I stifled a smile. This wasn’t so hard.

I pulled my hand out just as slowly as I’d put it in. “Gris-gris,” I said, and held up the bag.

He snatched at it, but I’d been expecting that and put my hands behind my back. He got very interested in my boobs again. He
hadn’t
had any in a very long time.

“Ah-ah,” I singsonged. “No magic but what we make, okay?”

Sheesh, had I actually
said
that?

“Okay,” he echoed, and I knew I had him.

How the guy could think the woman he’d met first as a phoenix and the woman I pretended to be now were one and the same without a complete personality transplant was a mystery. Then again, considering that all the blood in his head was now in his pants, maybe not such a mystery after all.

Why anyone believed it was a good idea to lock up people all alone yet expect them to be incorruptible, I hadn’t a clue. Either the person would go stark raving mad or, if we were talking about a guy, he’d be easily compromised by a pair of great breasts in a thin white tank top.

A flash of movement caught my attention.
Jimmy!
Luckily Mait had his back to the room and his nose practically buried in my breasts.

“You can touch them if you like,” I whispered.

He dived. His hands crushed; his mouth suckled. I used his inattention to shove the gris-gris into my front pocket.

I must have made all the right noises, all the right moves, because Mait never hesitated in his adoration of my breasts. I retreated to my special place, one I’d fashioned when I was young and there’d been times I’d had to check out or lose my mind.

I’d learned I couldn’t check out completely. Monsters—be they half demon or entirely human—liked to get some response. If they didn’t, they only tried harder and kept at it longer.

Mait began to slide his erection against the skin-tight crotch of my jeans. I gasped at the sudden rush of nausea. But I’d had practice; I could make the gasp sound like anything. My head fell back as if I were in the throes of passion, when in truth I couldn’t bear to see his face.

Mait’s hands left my chest and grabbed my ass, lifting me onto his thigh. He held me there as he rocked his leg to the rhythm of his mouth at my breast. Jimmy’d better hurry up or I might nail this guy one way before he nailed me in another.

My jeans vibrated. Mait lifted his head. His mouth was wet, his eyes slightly unfocused, their brilliant green exquisite against the mocha of his skin.

“What is that?” he murmured.

“Oh.” I smiled, though the expression felt as if it would crack my frozen face. “Cell phone.” The prearranged signal. Jimmy had the book. Time for me to end this guy and run. “I’ll turn it off.”

Slipping my fingers into my pocket, I clicked the off button. When I brought them back out, I held the dagger just out of sight.

“Would you like to come in?” Mait asked.

“Definitely.”

Better to kill him out of sight than right in the doorway. The longer the Nephilim remained unaware that we had their book, the better.

Mait flexed the muscles in his thigh. They rolled against my clitoris. My stomach clenched so hard I nearly doubled over. I’d thought I might have a problem sticking him in the eye with the dagger. I didn’t think so anymore.

I climbed off his leg, glanced toward the church, and saw Jimmy through one of the holes in the crumbling walls. So did Mait.

“Who de hell are you?” he demanded. Then his eyes narrowed, and he roared, “Sanducci!”

Mait started forward. I brought the knife up toward his nearest eye. I might have made it if I hadn’t at the same moment registered what Jimmy was doing.

Burning the
Book of Samyaza.

The realization caused me to hesitate, and that hesitation cost me. As Jimmy had said, Mait was a big guy and he fought dirty. He didn’t even look in my direction as he backhanded me across the cheekbone. Pain exploded. It felt as if he’d just poked out
my
eye.

I stumbled, disoriented, and he spun, catching me in the chest with his bare foot. I flew into the doorjamb. The force snapped my head against the corner and down I went. I didn’t get back up.

“What have you done?” Mait shouted.

“It’s obvious,” I mumbled as the whole world spun. “Bastard burned the book.”

I should have seen it coming. Would have if I’d trusted Sanducci less and touched him with the intent of picking his brain a little more. That’s what I got for being polite.

Dizziness washed over me, and I thought I might pass out. I wanted to. Then I wouldn’t have to think about what Jimmy had just done.