Any Given Doomsday (33 page)

He was right. I’d felt it in Jimmy tonight, the desire to both kiss and kill me. I wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to resist doing them both. Probably at the same time.

“Why would the Strega even have a kid if that’s the only way he can die?”

“He must have decided that the off chance Sanducci would find the stones to kill him was worth the risk of having his son inside the federation. Now that the Strega’s controlling him, there’s no risk at all.”

I bristled. “Jimmy’s not himself. He’d kill the Strega if he was.”

“And then all our problems would be over.” He took another deep breath, then let it out in a rush before murmuring, “Momentarily. But Sanducci
isn’t
himself. If you can manage to end the strega, make sure Sanducci is next. Killing him would be an act of mercy. He’d want you to.”

“You never liked him.”

“What’s to like? He’s an arrogant prick who takes whatever he wants and damn the consequences. He was like that even before he lost his soul.”

“Glass houses,” I murmured.

“I never pretended to have a soul, Phoenix. I never said that I loved someone, and then tore out their heart.”

Was he talking figuratively or literally? I put my palm against my chest. I kind of liked my heart right where it was.

Regardless of what he meant, I struck back. It’s what I did. “I doubt you’ve ever loved anyone in your long, lonely, black pathetic life.”

Sawyer began to waver. So did everything else—the mountains and sky, the hogan, house, and ramada. They ran downward, like a watercolor left out in the rain. As they washed together into a swirling mass of stormy gray, Sawyer’s voice followed me into the void. “You’re right.”

What came next was a strange, confusing, untenable period in which I wasn’t certain what was real and what was not. Night blended into day. Jimmy was always there, an orgy of two.

He took me every way imaginable and some that weren’t. Pain and pleasure became intertwined. I was always on the edge of consciousness, the edge of orgasm. When I fell, I fell hard, drifting into the darkness, but I never found the light.

When I dreamed it was of snakes and coyotes, wolves and bears, cougars and cackling witches all overlaid with the sound a straw makes when someone reaches the bottom of the drink yet keeps on sucking.

I would nearly come awake at sharp needles of pain at my breast, my inner thigh, the soft skin on the inside of my elbow. I’d feel his body in mine, driving me toward orgasm, both of us tumbling together as he drank from me over and over and over again.

My life had become death, or perhaps my death was giving him life. I didn’t know. I couldn’t escape. I was so languid, I didn’t want to. The only thing anchoring me to this world was the sharp pull of his teeth and the constant pressure of him inside of me. I needed it and him; I craved it. I had truly become his slave.

I started up with a deep, gasping breath, as if coming from the depths of a lake and bursting through the surface into the sun.

The sun
was
shining. Jimmy was gone. My mouth was dry as the desert I’d visited in Sawyer’s dream. My head throbbed. 1 felt hungover, and I hadn’t even gotten any champagne.

I stumbled into the bathroom. I was pale and a helluva lot skinnier than I’d been when I went to bed. My ribs poked out; my stomach was concave, even my arms seemed bony. But my neck looked just fine. Quickly I checked my breasts, my thighs, my arms. Not a mark on me.

How much of that had been real? How long had I been out?

I showered, the hot water soothing the aches but increasing my light-headedness, and I needed to think. So I stepped out long before I was ready.

“Blood of his blood,” I murmured. “There has got to be another way.”

I didn’t know all that I should about the Nephilim and the ways to kill them. Since Ruthie’d died and Jimmy had become evil’s plaything I’d been a little busy.

I left the bathroom and walked into the main living area. A harem costume had been draped across the couch. If I wasn’t the only one with a sense of humor in this place, I’d think it was joke. But I knew better. Since the pantaloons and puffy sports bra were better than nothing, I put them on.

I felt like an idiot. I did not have the body for a two-piece. My breasts filled out the top just fine, but the rest of me was all muscle, with few curves, and my short hair only made me look like a teenage boy wearing an
I Dream of Jeannie
costume. Which was just too disturbing for words.

Next, I retrieved Ruthie’s crucifix from the drawer. Touching it had burned Jimmy. Sure he’d healed, but so far the icon was the only thing that had done any damage at all. The silver knife was useless, but the blessing on this symbol seemed to have some power. At least his frying flesh might distract him long enough for me to…

What? I needed some kind of plan.

Sawyer had said to use all I knew and all I had.

Ruthie’s crucifix was about it, except for the turquoise. I tucked both into my pocket. Couldn’t hurt.

I was just finishing a second cup of coffee when the elevator slid open. No one got off.

This was new. I stepped inside, attempted to push
L
just for the hell of it, but the only button that worked took me to the Strega’s lair.

I expected to find the harem waiting for me, but the room was empty. Were they all… occupied? The’ thought of walking in on the Strega, or worse, Jimmy— even worse, Jimmy
and
the Strega—with all of those women nearly made me get back on the elevator. But now was not the time to be squeamish. I needed guts to kill these guys. Seeing them in flagrante delicto was the least of my worries.

The war room was empty. I’d be nervous if the sun wasn’t up. I had to assume the majority of the vampire minions were all out cold. Ha-ha.

The Strega strolled in wearing a Hugh Hefner robe, loose silk trousers, and slippers. Despite the casual nature of the outfit, or perhaps because of it, he was still the creepiest thing I’d ever seen.

“What happened to the harem?” I asked.

“I ran out.”

Unease trickled down my spine as my costume took on a whole new meaning.

“You look well, seer, considering.” His eyes danced. The expression would have been joyous on anyone human. On him it made me ill. “Most women would be dead.”

“I’m not most women.”

“I’m coming to understand that. You have more power than any of the others. I’m glad my son insisted on keeping you alive. Of course it has been touch and go a few times over these past few weeks.”

Few weeks?

My gaze shot to the war board, which was awash in a sea of green and yellow.

If I didn’t do something soon, we were finished.

Chapter 39

How many of the people represented by those colored pins had fallen right outside this building because of me? The least I could do was try to even the score.

“Where’s Jimmy?”

“We’ve had a slight change of plans.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Mostly because I still didn’t have a plan.

“Let me guess,” I said, stalling. “You want to repent, come over to my side. Forget about doomsday. Let’s move right to heaven on earth.”

The Strega laughed. “I am planning for heaven on earth, but my heaven’s a little different from yours.”

“Humans as slaves, Nephilim are legion. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

His amusement fled. “I will teach you humility and respect.”

“Good luck with that.”

The Strega grabbed me by the neck and dragged me out of the war room. I struggled to be free, but it was like fighting against an iron collar. I wasn’t going to get away unless he wanted to let me go.

He put his lips right next to my ear. “I’ve got a fascinating entertainment in mind for this evening. You. Jimmy.”

I tensed, figuring he wanted to watch.

“To the death.”

“What?” I managed. “He’s your son.”

“So?”

True. Guys like him usually ate their young. So why hadn’t he?

Because Jimmy had been useful. At his feet could be laid the deaths represented by those colored pins. That he hadn’t known his brain was being picked wasn’t going to matter to the dead.

“The last bit of humanity in him will die with you,” the Strega said. “I’ve been looking forward to it.”

He let me go with a little shove. I whirled, then froze. Jimmy stood right behind him.

“Kill her,” the Strega ordered, and Jimmy smiled. “Whoever’s still alive at the end of this gets to be my second in command.”

“I don’t want to be your freaking second in command, you psychotic bloodsucking witch.”

The Strega’s eyes narrowed. “Then die.”

Shit.

The Strega moved out of the way as Jimmy began to circle.

“Why don’t you kill
him
?” I asked Jimmy. “I’ll help.”

“I… c-c-” He clenched his fists. Since he wore his usual outfit, loose cotton trousers and nothing else, I caught every ripple of muscle as his biceps bulged. “Can’t.” The word seemed to explode past his lips, as if something had been keeping it prisoner and only supreme strength had forced it free. “Without him I’d be nothing.”

Without him you’d be you, I thought. But too late now.

With an almost nonchalant movement, he backhanded me. I flew off my feet, missing the pile of pillows by inches and landing on the marble tile so hard I could have sworn I heard my bones shatter.

I’d hoped for a better outcome; I’m not sure why. The Strega controlled Jimmy. There was no way Jimmy would be able to break that hold and save us all. I had to accept my failure. I would die here, probably within the next few minutes, and the Strega’s plan for mankind would succeed.

But I wasn’t going to give in without one helluva fight. I wasn’t defenseless. I had Jimmy’s strength and his speed. He just didn’t know it.

Jimmy moved quickly. I saw his shadow coming at me across the ceiling. I lifted my legs, thrilled when they worked without pain, and kicked him in the stomach. He landed on the kitchen table, breaking it into a dozen shards.

I did a kip, from my back to my feet. I’d always been spectacular at them. Jimmy was already up and heading in my direction.

He swung; I ducked and came up with a left hook. He flew again, this time putting a dent in the wall. I started to feel very much like a terminatrix. There was no reason to hide my superior strength and speed any longer. Letting go felt unbelievably good.

Jimmy shook his head as if I’d loosened a few teeth. “How did you—”

I didn’t wait for the question I had no intention of answering. I sprinted toward him and planted a kick right in his chest.

Or at least I tried to. He grabbed my foot and threw me heels over head. I hit the ground right next to the shattered dining room table. He was on me before I got my breath back.

My grasping fingers touched wood. He lunged for-ward, going for my throat. His eyes flared red; his fangs lengthened. His face was no longer the face of a man but a monster.

Intent on his kill, he didn’t pay attention to my legs. I twined them with his, yanked, and he flipped onto his back, taking me and the splintered table leg with him.

“Go ahead,” the Strega urged, his voice the hiss of the serpent in the garden, temptation incarnate, evil down through the ages. “You know that you want to. They all died because of him. She died because of him.”

“He didn’t know.” I muttered. “You made him do it.”

“Technically, it wasn’t me. I had to hire that out. But… she’s still dead.”

My fingers tightened on the stake.

“Do it,” the Strega whispered, his excitement shimmering in the air like the sun across the morning dew. “I’ll make you my concubine queen: together we’ll rule this rock.”

I was torn. There was killing Jimmy because I had no other choice or because he really, really needed killing. And there was killing him because this creature wanted me to, because killing him would make me his concubine queen.

Who talked like that?

“To end a dhampir you must strike twice in the same place—once for each nature, human and vampire.”

Was he telling the truth? Considering his method and Sawyer’s legend were remarkably similar, I had to think so. Since I didn’t have a better plan, I tightened my fingers around the wood and plunged the stake into Jimmy’s chest.

He gave a gasp that was more like a shriek, and I almost lost my nerve. How could I do this to him? Though I knew in my head I had to, my own heart was aching as badly as his must be.

But I’d gone too far to stop now. Thankfully, when 1 yanked the stake out, he went limp. Blood pattered onto the floor like rain.

“Once more.” The Strega had moved closer, but not close enough. “I’ll be invincible.”

“I—I can’t.” I made my voice tremble. It wasn’t hard. The sight of that hole in Jimmy’s chest made me want to do a lot more than tremble. “Not when he’s unconscious. It’s—”

“Inhuman?” The Strega’s voice wavered too, but with amusement.

“Unsportsmanlike,” I corrected.

“You make it sound like this is a game.” He was closer still. “You will be the most wonderful queen. If you just do what you’re told.”

There was something off in that reasoning, but with him there usually was.

“I can’t,” I repeated.

He slithered closer; he was right behind me. “Do it, or he’ll do you. You’ll scream like Ruthie did, but in the end you’ll die. Just like she did.”

Ah, well, maybe I could.

I lifted the stake, but instead of striking forward, into Jimmy, I flipped it so the pointy end faced away; then I slammed it backward with all that I had.

“Oof,” said the Strega.

I twisted the stake, ground it in as far as it would go before I stood to face him and pulled it out.

The stake wouldn’t kill him, only Jimmy could, but it would slow him down long enough so that maybe I could get away. And if I did, if I could rally those left on my side, maybe one of them would know another way to end this guy.

I also had high hopes of planting the pointy end in Jimmy’s chest for the second strike, permanently ending him. But, as usual, my plan didn’t work quite the way I’d thought.