Kiss The Witch Part 27

"Dominic."

"Of course."

"But aren't you.... I mean, you never"

She gathered the folds of her dress around her cleavage and hiked it higher. "I am of vestal modesty," she said. "If that is thy question."

"It is, Ursula. Exactly. You know that being a virgin is something special, don't you? Why would you rob Dominic of that gift?"

I watched her brows gather in a furrow. "Gift?"

"Yes. It is a gift when a young woman saves herself for the man she loves. It is something one can only share once, so why not share it with someone special? Do you understand?"

"Aye, but Lilith said"

"Lilith? Oh here we go. I should have known. Don't tell me this was her idea."

"Not so, exactly. She said a man likes it when a woman knows how to please him. That is how she keeps you to herself."

"Well, sure that's true, but...."

"And she said of thee, thou art a good specimen on which to practice."

"She said that?"

She smiled shyly. "So she tells me."

"Ursula, I'm sure she didn't mean that you should practice on me. She was simply using me an example."

Her face grew noticeably whiter. She drew her fingers to her lips and gasped softly. "Oh, dear." Her hands began to tremble. "What have I done? I have brought shame upon the coven and thee."

"No, no." I reached for her hands and cupped them gently. "You did no such thing."

"But I kissed thee."

"Yes. You kissed me, and I kissed you. But that was all." I a.s.sured eye contact. "That was all. Right?"

Her panic retreated. "Of course. That and naught."

I gave a sigh. "Good."

"Dost thou remember more?"

"No. It is just that I was worried because I had a dream the other night that seemed so real. I thought you came to me in my room and you ahm...."

"Yes?"

I shook my head. "Forget it. Look. You have to know that Dominic loves you and wants you just the way you are. You don't need to practice anything before marrying him. Just be yourself and I a.s.sure you, your wedding night will be magical."

"Oh, what great relief, Master Tony."

"Yeah?"

"Aye. 'Tis a burden shed that I most dreaded, that of copulating with thee."

"Come again." I admit I felt offended by that. "Are you saying you were not looking forward to having s.e.x with me?"

She shook her head. "No more than any ch.o.r.e."

"Ch.o.r.e?" I laughed to deflate my defensive posture. "Why would you think it a ch.o.r.e?"

"'Tis something Lilith said, is all."

"What did Lilith say?"

She turned away bashfully. "I should say but not."

"No. You should say. Tell me."

Her eyes came back to me through a side glance. "Do not hate me."

"I won't hate you."

"Lilith said you are the bomb in bed."

"The bomb?"

"Aye. Her words, not mine. 'Tis a bad thing, I know. I am sorry."

I reached across the table and gave her a hug. "That's all right," I told her, smiling. "Lilith has said worse things about me."

As I backed away, she said, "Thou art a good kisser, though. I shall tell her that."

"What? No. No, you mustn't tell her that. You will tell her no such thing. You understand? And you must never tell Dominic either. Tell no one what happened here this morning. If anyone asks, we did not kiss. I didn't see your a.s.s and you didn't grind your pelvis into my crotch so hard I popped the st.i.tching in my shorts."

Her eyes grew frightfully wide. "That was thee?"

I settled into my chair a bit uneasily. "Yes. What did you think?"

Her eyes fell to my lap. "I thought it was thy gun."

I let it go at that. Later, when I was about to leave, I returned into the kitchen. Ursula was back at the sink, finishing the dishes she started earlier. I said to her, "Ursula, can I ask you something?"

"Aye?"

"When I came home this morning and we talked, you sounded like Lilith. In fact, you had no old English accent at all. How did you do that?"

She looked over her shoulder at me, her lips drawn thin and turned up slightly at the corners. "'Twas a deal we had. Was it not?"

"A deal"

"Aye."

"What deal was that?"

In perfect modern speak, she said, "The deal was, if you practiced your witchcraft more often, I would practice modern English."

"Uh.... That's amazing," I said. "You nailed it."

She shrugged lightly. "It's not so hard. You displace a verb here and there, toss in a few contractions. I do it all the time now."

"Wait. You talk like Lilith all the time?"

"Shaah."

I approached her, studying her expression, waiting for her to flinch. "Have you ever led me to believe you were Lilith before?"

"What? Pah-leeese. Why would I do that?"

My jaw dropped. My heart sank to my stomach. My pulse began racing. "Lilith?"

She smiled devilishly. "Excuse me?"

I reached for the hemline of her dress and lifted it high enough to see her left cheek. She slapped my hand away with a wet dishcloth.

"Master Tony."

I sprang back. My hands held in surrender. "Sorry. Had to check."

"Hath thou gone mad?"

"No. I have not gone mad. I was just making sure. It's okay. No tattoo. Listen." I grabbed the car keys off the table and headed for the door. "Remember. What happened here this morning is just between you and me, Ursula. Just you and me. You got that?"

As I opened the door and started out, I heard her say in a strikingly sarcastic tone, "Whatever."

FOURTEEN.

I called Carlos the minute I left the house. He and Dominic had already checked into some of New Castle's less-refined motels looking for Howard Snow. They investigated the Sun Valley Suites, the Clark and Brookbend Motels on Jefferson and the Fairview on Monroe and Baker. They were just pulling into the parking lot of the Minuteman Motel when I called.

"Nothing yet," said Carlos. "Dominic downloaded a picture of Snow on his iphone. Showed it to four clerks and a wino so far, but nothing."

"He showed it to a wino?"

"Sure. Hey, winos and b.u.ms are a great source of Intel. You remember that time we dressed up as b.u.ms to work the hobo camps along the railroad tracks?"

"Yes. I remember."

"Yeah, that's when you thought Lilith was Gypsy, and that girl with the tramp stamp at the hospice"

"Carlos. I remember. Now please, can we focus?"

He paused just long enough to let me know he was displeased with me snapping at him. "Sure, Tony." He sounded very matter-of-fact. "We can focus. What do you want to focus on?"

I pretended I did not hear the sarcasm in his voice. "I think we ought to split up. If the three of us break the city up into sections we can cover more"

"Tony, wait. Something's happening."

I could hear Spinelli in the background saying, "That's him. That's him."

"What is it?" I asked.

Carlos returned, "It's him, Tony. Snow. We see him. He's right in front of us."

"What's he doing?"

"He's chasing someone. A woman."

"It's his wife." Spinelli exclaimed.

"Tony, it's his wife. Snow just ran out of his hotel room chasing his wife. She's alive. d.a.m.n! What do you want us to do?"

"Get him," I said. "Get him now."

Spinelli said, "Let's get him."

I heard the car door open and shut. Carlos opened his door. "We're going after him, Tony. Get here as quick as you can."

The phone went out before the second car door shut. I flipped the switch on the running lights and hit the siren. I was only a couple of miles from the Minuteman by then, and made it there in less than three minutes. Carlos and Spinelli were standing outside one of the rooms with weapons drawn, their backs against the wall flanking either side of the door. I swung the cruiser around the pool and parallel parked along the curb several doors down.

"What do we have?" I asked, pressing my back to the wall on Carlos' side of the door.

"He's in there. Snow and his wife. We saw them both go in."

"I a.s.sume you knocked?"

"We did," Spinelli answered. "He won't come out. Said we would have to kill him first."

"Is he armed?"

"Don't think so. He's still in his underwear. If he's packing, it's small."

Carlos laughed at that. "Could be a pee shooter."