Sleeping Beauty and the Demon (29 page)

“I need to know what you did with the amulet and the bracelet.”

“I . . . I left them in France.” She paused. “They’re hidden inside the portrait of Jean-Daniel Girard.”

Drago spun away from her and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Damn it! I was hoping you had them stored somewhere in New York.”

“I’m sorry. I was scared that day.”

She came up behind him. When he faced her, his eyes were as dark as a stormy sea. “When we’re on top of the building tonight,” he said, “only one thing can help me kill Morvina. The lei coin—considering I can get my hands on it.”

Face flaming, Rose shifted her eyes away.

Drago took her hands in his again. To get them to stop shaking, he squeezed them. “Listen very carefully. If we’re going to survive tonight, I need that coin,” he repeated, “to see what Morvina has planned. Do you have it?”

Rose’s lungs constricted. “No.”

Alarm lit his eyes. “What happened to it?”

“Someone stole it from my handbag the other night.”

“I need it!”

“Are you powerless without it?”

He shot her a grim look. “My powers are depleted and I can’t maintain my energy during the day. That’s why I’ve been hiding out here.”

“Your show won’t take place until the sun goes down,” she said with hope.

“It’ll take every ounce of strength I have to defeat Morvina. You’ve never seen a battle between two demons. They get extremely ugly.” He paused. “One of us will lose our head tonight.”

She gave a violent shudder.
How can I possibly face all of this?

Drago’s nostrils flared. “Since I don’t have the lei coin, you
really
have to trust me this evening, Rose.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I know you’ll be terrified. More scared than you’ve ever been. Regardless, you must do what I tell you.”

Following Drago’s commands had gotten Rose into her fair share of trouble, but today she had no choice. She removed her hands from his then wrapped her arms around her waist. “Can you tell me exactly what’s going to happen?”

“I can only tell you that if you don’t do as I say, you won’t make it through ‘til morning.”

More tears poured forward in hot streaks. “That’s not helping.”

“You had faith in me the minute we met,” he said. “You put on the necklace, married me, and became my assistant—all because you trusted me.”

“Yes—but this might be too much.” Blinking against her tears, she searched his eyes for some empathy.

“Without the coin, the only way to stop Morvina is for you to risk your life and kill her yourself.”

Rose’s body froze. “I thought killing her was your job!”

“I cannot be one hundred percent sure what will happen on top of the building. I’m only sure of the fraction of it I saw in my vision.”

“Describe what you saw.”

“I saw one demon falling off the building without a head.”

She cringed.

“It’s imperative that you throw the right demon off the Woolworth Building tonight, Rose.”

“The
right
demon?” Her stomach lurched.

Drago nodded. “Morvina and I will look identical in our demonic forms. Still, you must steal up underneath her and yank her off.”

“I doubt I can go through with even scaling the building. You know I have horrible vertigo.”

He cupped her chin with his enormous hand. “You have to.” “But how will I know which creature to pull?”

“You have special abilities. Use them.”

She grimaced. She did possess psychic abilities, but they were minimal.

. “What about the curse of the amulet and the damnation spell Morvina cast over me?” she asked. “Either way, it seems I’m destined to die this evening.”

“Not if you yank the correct demon off the building.” He paused. “Now wait here.”

Rose wrung her hands as he left the room. If there were any damned mirrors in the house, her reflection would’ve confirmed that her face was ashen right then.

A moment later, Drago returned. In his hands, he held what looked like replicas of the amulet of Tousret and the bracelet of Amenhotep. He also held the scanty costume Rose had worn during their show at the Hippodrome.

He passed the necklace and the costume to her with a dour expression. “Wear the amulet. I had a duplicate of the Egyptian pendant made in case you no longer had it. And I’ll wear this substitute of the bracelet. People expect to see them, and they won’t know the difference.”

“And the costume?”

“You wouldn’t want a long skirt hindering your climb up the building.”

Heart hammering, Rose clasped the objects to her chest.

Drago gave her a kiss before lying down to conserve his energy. “I’ll become a demon at seven thirty this evening. It’s the exact time I accepted the lei coin years ago. But the spectacle leading up to that won’t be about me hypnotizing you—like I want the audience to think. It will be about your survival.”

CHAPTER 31

E
leven hours later, twenty thousand eager on-lookers surrounded the Woolworth Building. Spotlights crisscrossed in the black sky, vendors sold souvenirs from the street corners, and eager audience members shoved one another to find an ideal spot from which to watch the act.

All in all, the highly-publicized event was even more chaotic than Rose anticipated.

Drago grasped her hand protectively as he drove his Garford close to the building. Meanwhile, reporters clamored on the sidelines, readying their cameras and notepads.

As Drago and Rose emerged from the motorcar, they were joined by Archibald McMillan. He escorted them inside the Woolworth Building that, thankfully, had been sealed off to the public. Only Rose, Drago, McMillan, and a few police officers milled about the structure’s brightly lit lobby.

Rose clutched the long shawl that covered her costume. She’d donned ballet flats instead of the heels she usually wore onstage. Would the slippers give her enough traction to climb properly?

Her legs quaked at the thought. She was about to face her worst nightmare and it was nearly impossible for her to think straight.

What had Drago said in the car? He’d explained that there were grooves along the building’s exterior in which she could place her feet. Once she reached the base of the spire, there was a narrow, steel ladder she would climb to the very apex.

That’s where Drago would be waiting for her.

“The crowd is calling for a speech, Starkov,” McMillan said as he puffed on his cigarette.

“Speech?” Drago replied sternly.

“Yes, a speech. You’ve been in hiding. The public eats that stuff up. Now they want to hear you tell them where you’ve been.”

They also want to hear you say you’re not the murderer I accused you of being
, Rose thought nervously.

“I hate reporters, but I’ll do it.” Drago drew his thick brows together. “I need to clear a few things up.”

“Great,” Archibald said as he steered Rose and Drago outside.

Camera bulbs exploded and Rose panicked.
The cameras will show Drago’s lack of presence.
Nearly blinded by the thought and by the camera flashes, she groped for him and lost her shawl in the process.

“I love you,” he murmured into her ear.

“I love you, too,” she mouthed as he approached a standing microphone.

The crowd went insane. If the spectators were scared of Drago turning into a homicidal monster, they didn’t show it.
In fact, that’s why these people are here
, Rose presumed.
They’re just as curious as I used to be.

“Good evening,” he said, his Romanian accent thundering through the speakers. “Welcome to my final magic act. I promise you it will be like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

Loud applause punctuated the statement.

“I’ve been in hiding, it’s true,” Drago said. “But it doesn’t matter where. What’s important is that after tonight, I would like to retire from performing. I need time to be with my beautiful wife.”

He glanced at Rose. Her cheeks bloomed.

“However,” he took a breath, “I know that a leisurely retirement isn’t in the cards. There have been erroneous rumors floating around about me—even newspaper articles claiming that I’m the creature who killed the girl at Coney Island. My wife asserted as much. But she has since learned that I am not guilty. Unfortunately, the police aren’t convinced of the same thing. Ladies and gentleman, you’ll see that the authorities are controlling this spectacle. After I’m finished, they intend to take me into custody.”

Rose heard someone shout, “Come on, Starkov. Admit that you’re the Coney Island Killer!”

Drago didn’t reply.

Rose thought desperately,
How can he persuade them he’s telling the truth?

She flinched as another voice rose above the crowd. “Your wife was the one who blew the whistle on you, Starkov. You must be furious and she must be frightened of you. Did you coerce her into participating tonight?”

Drago fired the man a dark look. “Coerce is hardly the word. She’s hypnotized by the enchanted amulet she’s wearing.”

All eyes zeroed in on Rose’s neck. She wanted to run back to the car. It took every iota of strength she possessed to stand her ground.

“My wife has debilitating vertigo,” Drago continued. “So her climb tonight will prove dangerous in and of itself. That’s the reason I used the amulet to hypnotize her. She would never dare climb this building without it.”

Rose wanted to cry out, “The amulet is a fake!”

“You’re a monster—putting your wife through such torture!” A stout woman hissed.

“I’m wearing the bracelet of Amenhotep,” Drago retorted, “so no harm will come to her.” He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and revealed the ornate band.

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

“Since my wife is already hypnotized, I intend to impress the public with another sort of trick,” Drago went on. “I’m going to make her
disappear
.”

Rose stumbled back. Luckily, McMillan caught her.
Disappear?

That can’t be Drago’s plan, she thought. He told her she would need to pull the correct demon off the building.

What does he have up his sleeve?

Confused, she swayed on her feet. Once she gathered her wits, she tugged on Drago’s arm.

Drago covered the microphone with his hand. “What are you doing?” he asked gently.

“I need to tell everyone the truth.”

“The truth?”

“That what I saw in the coin wasn’t you killing that girl,” she whispered to him. “It was Morvina.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “These people won’t believe you.”

“Let me try,” she pleaded. “I don’t want you to get arrested after this spectacle.”

“You don’t understand, Rose. Nothing will matter once we complete the magic act.”

He’s being so damned secretive.
He didn’t want to scare her by telling her what to expect—but the reality was,
not
knowing was scaring her more.

Drago would die if his head was severed.
What if I’m responsible for that? Will I pull him off the building instead of Morvina? Will I kill myself afterward?

Knowing that her husband wasn’t going to answer her questions in front of this massive crowd, Rose released Drago’s arm and let him finish his address. While he explained that he’d scale the highest quarter of the building and then wait for Rose to climb to him at its apex, she searched the skies for Morvina.

Would she swoop down and attack at any moment?

After Drago thanked the crowd and stepped away from the microphone, a tense silence ensued. He removed his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Then he turned to Rose as the crowd fell into a profound hush.

“It’s time,” he said.

Her nerves vibrated to a new high.

“I’ll see you at the top.” He planted a gentle kiss on her cheek.

Rose wanted to scream and protest like a three-year-old. Instead, she fought for composure—and blew Drago a final kiss as he disappeared into the Woolworth Building.

Suddenly, a hand grasped her arm. Assuming it was McMillan, she let the gentleman lead her inside behind Drago. But when she turned to look at her escort, she realized it wasn’t Archibald. It was Patrick.

“What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.

“I’m running this circus, but more importantly, Olivia came to me in a hysterical state. She’s beside herself because you’ve reunited with Drago.”

Olivia had witnessed the spirit writing session
.
She knew Drago wasn’t a murderer. “That doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“I’m worried about you, too.”

Rose scowled. “Please let go of my arm. You’re hurting me.” “You need to come with me.”

“Where?” she asked in a panic.

“I’m authorized to take you up to the level below the roof—the level from which you’ll start climbing.”

She struggled to free herself of his grasp. “I want someone else to take me.”

“Rose—” irritation shadowed Patrick’s face—“you raced back into my arms when you returned from Europe. Now you’ve reconciled with Drago.
A monster
. Do you think that was a smart move?”

“Drago is not a monster,” she protested as he pushed her inside the elevator. “I was wrong about him and Olivia knows it. I think you’re lying.”

“Think what you want.”

“Give me a chance to explain,” she said quickly. “Morvina is the one who killed the girl in Coney Island. She has the power to transform herself into a demon. You need to be looking out for her in a disguised form so you can arrest her.”

There was nowhere for Rose to run inside the elevator so Patrick released her arm. She was about to tell him who to search for when he said, “I know Morvina is coming.”

“What did you say?”

“Morvina sought me out and I agreed to help her,” Patrick said. “As a result, she promised to do away with Drago—so that you and I can be together.”

Terror pulsed through Rose’s veins. She backed into the corner. “
You
helped her?
You
stole the lei coin from me?”

“Exactly.” Patrick placed his hands on the walls and leaned over her. “Thanks for showing me you had it.”