Chaos Bites Part 33

"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 a.s.sumed 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s, 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed 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 b.i.t.c.h. 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed at it, but I'd been expecting that and put my hands behind my back. He got very interested in my b.o.o.bs 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s. 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 pa.s.sion, when in truth I couldn't bear to see his face.

Mait's hands left my chest and grabbed my a.s.s, 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 b.u.t.ton. 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 c.l.i.toris. 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 h.e.l.l 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. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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 pa.s.s out. I wanted to. Then I wouldn't have to think about what Jimmy had just done.

Destroyed the only hope I had of getting Sawyer back alive.

CHAPTER 30.

I was supposed to have a dagger in my hand, but I didn't. I glanced around; I couldn't see it anywhere. Checked my back pockets. Nothing. Front pockets. Nothing.

Huh.

Spots flickered in front of my eyes. White. Black. Red. They chased one another like amoebas across a microscope slide. Watching them only made me dizzier, so I turned my attention to Mait just as he let out a furious shout and sprinted for Jimmy.

"No," I whispered. I didn't seem to have any volume to my voice or strength in my limbs. I'd been hit harder than this before. What was wrong with me?

The two men came together like deer during rut. Though they didn't b.u.t.t racks, they did slam chests, then they wrapped their arms around each other and grappled.

Mait was a hair taller, a tad wider, and while he might be strong and fight dirty, Jimmy fought dirtier and had been doing so since he was very young. Mait, on the other hand, had been relying on magic for too long. It showed.

Jimmy wrestled him to the ground and attempted to get his arm around Mait's neck. Not that it would do much good. Jimmy had no weapon, or at least none that would work.

"Lizzy!" Jimmy shouted. "The dagger!"

I shook my head hard enough to rattle my brains some more. The pain sobered me, and I began to crawl, first looking then feeling for the missing knife. I couldn't find it.

"Lizzy!"

It was hard to tell who was winning; they looked like a double man pretzel, all wound together, fingers searching for a better hold, arms bulging, legs flailing.

"It's gone," I said.

Jimmy flicked me a glance, and Mait slammed his elbow into his nose. The crunch echoed throughout the abandoned church. Blood spouted; Jimmy lost his grip. Mait leaped to his feet and ran.

Making a grab for him, I wound up on my face in the dirt. I slapped my palm to the phoenix tattoo. If I could shift, I'd heal, and then I'd catch him. Wouldn't be any trouble at all.

Except the gris-gris still blocked my magic.

"d.a.m.n," I muttered. I pulled the thing out of my pocket, then threw it as far as I could.

Jimmy cursed and bled. I crept over to him and felt his pockets until I found his gris-gris, then I tossed that away, too.

I began to lift my hand again, but Jimmy grabbed it before I got there. "Don't bother," he said, his voice thick with pain and blood.

"I can catch him."

He shook his head then, cursing, winced. "The instant he got far enough from the gris-gris, his magic came back." He pulled himself to his feet then helped me to mine. I managed not to fall back down. "He's long gone."

"I thought he was confined."

"To protect the book." Jimmy met my eyes.

"But you burned it, and released him." I couldn't help it, I slapped Jimmy across his b.l.o.o.d.y face. "What the h.e.l.l were you thinking?"

The slap resounded in the sudden silence that followed. The imprint of my fingers appeared, dark splotches on his already dark and splotched skin. I hated the sight; nevertheless, I wanted to hit him again.

"I was thinking," Jimmy said slowly, "that the book was trouble. Nothing good could come from it." His gaze bored into mine. "Nothing, Lizzy."

I wasn't so sure about that.

"You insisted that we push our vampires beneath the moon so we wouldn't be tempted to steal the Book of Samyaza. But we could have used those demons, or at least one of them, to end Mait."

"I'll end Mait. Don't worry about that."

"Yeah, you've been having great luck so far," I muttered, earning an exasperated glare from Sanducci. "If you were going to burn the d.a.m.n thing anyway, what was the point of the full moon evil spell?"

"We aren't the only problem. Anyone who has that book is dangerous. Anyone could be tempted by the secrets inside it." He took a deep breath and then finished, "You were."

An icy breeze seemed to stir the wings of my phoenix tattoo. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not stupid, Lizzy."

"So you say."

His lips tightened. I couldn't blame him. "Do you remember when your mother was raising revenants?"

I blinked at the seemingly random change in subject. "I don't think I'm ever gonna forget Mommy or her army of the undead."

"They were an Apocalyptic portent."

"And now they're dust."

"Which leaves plenty of room for the next undead army."

"There's more than one?"