Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers

He gasped, half in despair. He still didn’t know what was happening, but the fear and loss of control were obvious. “No,” he said, like someone who held to a route through enemy territory.

But none of his maps were working. Lilith reached for him again, and tears were running down his face. She caressed his cheek, ran her hands through his hair, comforting him; then she kissed his mouth, long and hard, and when she moved back again to his neck there was blood on his lips. His eyes rolled back with ecstasy, then closed. When she finally let go of him, he sank to the ground, sitting aimlessly for several minutes. Eventually he looked up, trying to focus on her. He reached for her hand. She stepped back and said, “Bailey, come here.”

Walking wasn’t easy for him, but she was too concentrated to notice that right now. His leg throbbed with the effort, pain meeting each pulse of his blood, a connection he was not unaccustomed to. He was sweating by the time he reached her. He waited. She touched Ron’s cheek, getting his attention. “Tell him,” she said, gesturing to Bailey.

Ron looked at him blankly. Bailey said, “The four hundred thousand dollars. Where is it?”

Ron continued to regard him as though he were a stranger. Then, after a few seconds, he frowned. “They’re not dollars. They’re bearer bonds.”

“Where are they?” Bailey repeated. It was like talking to a six-year-old.

“A safety deposit box at the Bank of San Cristobel.”

Lilith knelt beside him. She didn’t know Bailey’s case, but she could see where this was going. “Do you have a key?”

He blinked at her, then reached into his jacket pocket and took it out. Bailey didn’t know why he was surprised; naturally Ron wouldn’t let that out of his sight. Lilith took the key, then held his face in her hands again. “Do you remember the box number?”

He whispered it, hoarsely, and she let go of him. “Do you need to write that down?” she asked Bailey, not looking at him.

He could replay every beat of that hoarse voice. “I really don’t think either of us will forget it.”

She ignored that. She stood up, lifting Ron with ease. She walked him back against the wall.

He said, “No more, please.” She kissed his hair.

Bailey looked away briefly. They had the information, but he supposed it was hard for Lilith not to play with the things she killed.

He barely looked back in time to see her break his neck.

Bailey sank down on the patio, reflecting that shock seemed to be catching up with him. The world around him, stars and breeze and nightbirds, seemed to be unnaturally silent.

They were all beautiful nights in San Cristobel. Except, he thought vaguely, for the sound of weeping that came from someone unhappy, nearby.

“Teej, stop it.” Lilith’s voice cut through the thick silk of the night like a blade. There was a catch in Teej’s breath. “Bailey needs us now.”

Another long gasp for breath from Teej, and then a slower, more deliberate one; he was obviously forcing himself to come down. Ten seconds; fifteen. Then he spoke. “The car,” he said, surprising Bailey. “He came in a car. It’s down the hill. We can’t leave it there.”

Good kid, thought Bailey. Maybe it was time to stop underestimating him.

“You’re right,” said Lilith. “And we can’t leave him here, either. I’m not worried about his friends, but I do wonder if the police will come.”

She spoke as though it were a hypothetical question in philosophy; nevertheless she came over to Bailey and squatted down beside him. “Bailey?”

“He was never really here on the island, anyway. Good chance he won’t be missed.” What an epitaph, he thought, belatedly. She was still thinking it through, a serious expression on her face. She turned to Teej.

“Take the car into town. Park it behind one of the clubs… Deadeye Dick’s, if you can find a spot. It’ll be weeks before they notice it there. I’ll drive Bailey to the hospital. We’ll explain that he was mugged.”

Teej’s gaze went to the dead man. Lilith said, “I’ll take care of the body when I get back.”

Teej’s eyes were wide and strained, with the look of someone who’s heard too many artillery shells. He said, “What… what will you do with the body?”

She moved to him, stooped down beside him, and lifted his chin in her hand. “Teej. Worry about the car.”

He let out another breath, and nodded.

After a moment Bailey saw him rise and vanish into the house. Lilith walked over to the pool, cupped some handfuls of water, and began washing blood from her face.

Bailey sank back on the patio, resting. Anything else was beginning to seem too much effort. He was vaguely aware that she’d gone to the driveway and returned. He waited.

He heard sandals on gravel, felt the cold reassurance of it as Lilith’s arms lifted him up and carried him to the back seat of the convertible.

“Lilith,” he said, “don’t ever call me ‘heart of your heart.’”

Her voice was amused. “You are,” she said, “but I won’t call you that if you don’t want me to.”