Bitter Spirits Part 8

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I was telling you about wanting to do seances," she said with her back to him. "I'm sure you feel like you're doing me some big favor by getting me this high-paying gig, but I don't need help arranging work. And it doesn't matter how much money people throw my way-if they don't take me seriously, I might as well be dressing up in a jester suit and tap-dancing."

Why was she so agitated? "Look, I wasn't trying to do you a favor-"

"And I didn't mean to upset your lover, but maybe if you would've just explained the situation to me instead of having her summon me out here-"

"Whoa! Florie and I are not lovers. Haven't been since college. And it wasn't as if we were sweethearts then, it was just . . ."

She turned around and crossed her arms over her middle. "Just what?"

"Convenient," he finally said. "I'm sure that's shocking."

"Shocking?" Her laugh was mean and hard. "Like your silly postcard collection?"

"I believe you called me a deviant and a pervert, not silly."

"You are. That doesn't mean I'm prudish. I may not be as loose and free as Mrs. Beecham, or however many other flappers with whom you've had 'convenient' affairs, but I'm no virgin."

Oh, she was a big talker, wasn't she? Aida might be tough and independent, and she might not be a virgin, but Winter wasn't convinced she was carefree and modern when it came to s.e.x. He could tell by the nervous defensiveness in her speech-the way she blinked rapidly and wouldn't look him in the eyes. The way she'd reacted when she'd discovered the postcards in his study, and how she'd acted in the dressing room. He'd been so worried about his own feelings that afternoon, he'd confused himself in regards to her motives.

She wasn't concerned with propriety-she was skittish.

"How old are you? Sixteen? Seventeen?" he teased.

She narrowed her eyes. "Twenty-eight."

"Practically dead. And how many lovers have you had?"

"That's none of your business."

He rested one foot on the bottom step. "You just accused me of being a promiscuous lout. I think it's a fair question. How many? One?"

"Two," she said, putting distance between them by ascending another step without turning around. "And both of them could barely manage a proper kiss, much less anything else, so I can't say I was impressed. Like I said earlier, I can take care of myself."

Now it was Winter's turn to be astonished. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away.

Well, well. No woman he'd known had ever admitted to pleasuring herself, and being curious, he'd asked plenty of times. Frankly, he'd started to believe females just didn't engage in such depravity, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He was quite fond of the activity himself. He must be; he'd been doing it daily half his life.

His mind conjured an image of her sprawled on a bed with her hand beneath her skirt. Big mistake. He tried to think of what she'd said before the taking-care-of-herself bit, and that didn't help matters. She'd admitted to two lovers, and they weren't any good. The sudden s.h.i.+ft of blood from his brain to his c.o.c.k made that sound like a challenge.

"So you're saying that you can judge a man's worth by his kiss?"

"I . . . no, I don't think that's what I said."

"That's what you implied. Would you like me to kiss you, so you can judge my worth?"

"Just because you look handsome in that tuxedo doesn't mean I want you to kiss me."

Handsome? She thought he was handsome? Perhaps she was blind, because he knew from all the uneasy stares he tolerated every time he stepped out in public that this couldn't possibly be true. But he used to be, once, and oh, how he wanted to believe she meant it, so he allowed himself to do so, just for a moment, and climbed one step.

She made a small anxious noise and tried to do the same, but the top step was barricaded by a piece of timber, while his body blocked the descent. The freckled wildcat was trapped on the step above him.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, and that's final."

He chuckled. "You said that to Florie about the seance, then ended up pinning her to floor."

"Yes, well . . . I mean it this time. What are you doing?"

"I'm considering kissing you."

"I really wish you wouldn't."

He lowered his face very close to hers and smelled violets again. That drove him a little mad. His breath was coming faster. So was hers; for a moment, he watched her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rise and fall beneath the weight of her coat. "Why not?"

"I'm sure I have a really good reason, but you're making it awfully hard for me to remember it."

He chuckled. She gave him a sheepish smile.

"Maybe you'll even kiss me back," he said, becoming greedy.

"I doubt that. But if you insist on trying, what could I do to stop you?"

The heated look she gave him sent a bolt of heat through his already hard c.o.c.k.

Jesus. She was teasing him. For a crazed moment, he wondered if he'd been the one to start this or if she'd manipulated him. Maybe she wasn't skittish after all.

He leaned in closer. She smelled so good, he worried he might pa.s.s out and crack his head open on the sidewalk. He could see the gossip headline in the newspaper now: Suspected Bootlegger Succ.u.mbs to Spirit Medium's Seductive Charms, Makes Idiot of Himself. He put a hand on one of the brick posts to steady himself. "This is what's going to happen," he said in a low voice that sounded far surer than he felt. "I'm going to kiss you-just a kiss. I won't lay a finger on you. And if you find you don't like it, if you find my worth lacking, you can shove me back down the steps. Deal?"

She hesitated, just for a moment, before answering him in a threadbare whisper.

"All right."

Something between victory and vertigo raced through his veins. He swallowed hard and lowered his mouth-near hers, but not touching. Not yet. Her breath was warm against his lips. Their noses grazed. He tried to hold his eyes open, but his eyelids were heavier than wet sand.

Her mouth was so small. For a moment, he worried over this, feeling oafish and hulking. But he was too hungry to withdraw. His pulse swished and pounded inside his ears. He closed his eyes as his lips brushed hers, testing. So soft. He felt her mouth open against his as she breathed out the tiniest moan. The reverberation that went through him was wildly disproportionate, like a whisper causing a landslide.

Keeping his promise not to touch her with his hands, he pressed careful kisses on the corner of her lips, on the big freckle he'd first noticed that afternoon when she was in his study, then on her bottom lip, tasting salt. Her mouth opened wider, and that did him in. He was lost. He kissed her fully, trying not to swallow her whole, but unable to restrain himself when she pressed back.

She was kissing him.

Every cell in his body vibrated. Warm chills ran down his arms. He lost all good sense. His tongue slid inside her mouth before he could think that this might be crossing a line, but for some miraculous reason, she didn't resist-she moaned into his mouth and joined him.

My G.o.d, she was kissing him in the slowest, most erotic fas.h.i.+on that he momentarily forgot where they were. He was hard as iron, barely able to stop himself from grabbing her around the waist and pus.h.i.+ng his hips against hers. He'd never wanted to touch anyone so badly.

They broke away from each other, breath ragged. She could've pulled back, could've pushed him away, but she didn't. A single syllable fell from her mouth-"oh"-and her cheek fell against his.

An unexpected tenderness washed over him. He bent his head lower, breathing in the sweet smell of her skin. "Aida . . ." His hand twitched. He wanted to touch her face if nothing else, and he might have broken his promise and done just that, if it weren't for the blinding headlights that s.h.i.+ned on them from the street.

Aida turned her head. He lifted a hand to block the light, out of sorts. She said something that he couldn't hear. He made some strange noise in return, and she repeated herself.

"I think that might be the taxi," she said hoa.r.s.ely.

"Oh."

She wiped her mouth with the back of her glove and cleared her throat as a door slammed in the distance. "The driver's headed up to Mrs. Beecham's."

He pulled away and composed himself. "Seems so." Whistling loudly, he waved a hand in the driver's direction, catching his attention as he was heading up Florie's stairs. The driver lifted a hand in acknowledgment and returned to his taxi to pull forward.

Winter thought of the potentially cramped backseat, which in most taxis was barely big enough for him alone. The thought of Aida crowded into that constrictive s.p.a.ce alongside him inspired several ideas all at once.

Oh, the things he could do to her in the back of that dark cab. Maybe she was right about him being a pervert; he'd certainly never felt more deviant than he did at that moment.

And something more . . . a dizzying lightness. A burden lifted. If a monster's heart beat inside his ribs, her kiss was a sharper lancet than the one she used to pierce the veil: it opened up a small hole that allowed some of the darkness to drain.

She straightened her hat and pulled the brim down tight. Stepping aside, he allowed her to shuffle past him, the fronts of their coats lightly brus.h.i.+ng. He followed her to the curb, smiling the entire way.

As the taxi s.h.i.+fted into gear and began rumbling down the hill from Florie's, he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. A figure stepped out of the darkness near his shoulder: a man dressed in a red suit, his hair in disarray. His eyes glowed yellow, reflecting the headlights of the taxi as it rolled toward them.

White smoke rushed from Aida's mouth at the same moment Winter realized that the man's suit wasn't red at all-he was covered in blood.

Ghost.

Aida looked down at her breath. "Oh no . . . not now."

Winter turned to face the ghost, all the hairs on his arms rising as panic tightened his chest. The b.l.o.o.d.y man looked straight at him-saw him, just like the prost.i.tute. This was no random ghost, no accident victim tied to the street where he'd been hit. This was deliberate. And if the poisonous spell was broken, and he was no longer a walking ghost magnet, then something else was drawing it to him.

This was an attack.

The ghost came for Winter, reaching out with both hands. A strange electrical current crackled through his arm where b.l.o.o.d.y hands touched him.

Touched. Solid. The ghost was corporeal. Worse-Winter knew his face! From somewhere, someplace. So G.o.dd.a.m.n familiar, but he couldn't remember.

Recoiling in horror, he jerked back and slammed into Aida. She yelped. He swiveled around in time to witness her, mid-stumble, as she tripped on her heel and fell into the path of the taxi.

Brakes squealed.

Winter lunged.

Aida felt her ankle give way as she staggered into the taxi's path. She heard a terrible squeal and squeezed her eyes shut as headlights flashed across her face.

Her world tilted. She was jerked in the opposite direction, away from the rolling car. A sharp impact shook her bones as her face smashed against linen and wool and male. The taxi skidded by, veering sharply. Then everything was drowned by the sound of the crash. Metal exploded. Burnt rubber and asphalt filled her lungs.

Winter's arm slackened and she tumbled from his grip. Her face sc.r.a.ped against the pavement as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. She wanted to cry out in pain but couldn't. It took her several seconds to get her breath back. When it did come, that breath remained cold and white.

The ghost was still here somewhere, but she couldn't see it.

Arms shaking, she pushed herself up on her elbows and twisted around, terrified until she felt Winter's leg under hers. He was on his side, cradling his arm, grimacing. She shuffled around and quickly surveyed the rest of him. Saw no blood or tears in his clothing. Nothing but a streak of dirt on the bulk of his upper left arm.

He'd been struck on his shoulder while pulling her out of the taxi's path. That was the thud she'd felt in her bones; he'd absorbed the impact.

"Winter?" She didn't want to touch him, fearing that she'd hurt him further. His jaw clenched. "Mr. Magnusson?"

He exhaled on a loud grunt and s.h.i.+fted his leg, pain causing lines to crease around his eyes. He pulled himself up to sit, coddling his arm close to his side. "You okay?" He nodded to a small rent in her coat sleeve.

"Must have sc.r.a.ped the wheel cover or running board. It's fine. Your shoulder hit the car. Is it broken?"

He rolled it and groaned. "Not dislocated. Just hurts like h.e.l.l. It'll be fine."

Metal squawked behind her as the driver's door of a white and black Checker Cab opened. He'd hit a telephone pole and dented the grille of his car, but nothing was on fire. No broken gla.s.s that she could see. "Are you folks okay?" the driver called out from across the street.

They exchanged brief answers, confirming that no one was seriously injured, as a porch light flickered on in a nearby house-neighbors curious about the crash. Aida scanned the street looking for the ghost. She found it a few feet away, bending over in the middle of the road.

"Behind you," Aida warned Winter as she pushed herself up.

The ghost was seemingly unaware of them. It was fixated on something round lying on the pavement. Something gold and s.h.i.+ny and small.

Another glinting object lay just behind Winter, and a third near his hip.

The ghost picked up the first object, admired it, and then focused his attention on the next one, shuffling a couple steps closer.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Winter murmured, warily watching the ghost bending again.

As he grunted and sat up, Aida squinted at the object closest to them: a gold coin with a square hole in the center that was bordered by familiar characters. "Chinese coins."

"s.h.i.+t!" He pushed himself to his feet. "I heard something clink in here when I pocketed your lancet." He rummaged inside his tuxedo jacket pocket and pulled out a fourth coin.

"They must've spilled into the street when you pulled me out of the taxi's path."

"They aren't mine. Someone put them there."

The ghost had two coins and was now bending over the third. Bizarre, but the show was over. Aida started toward the ghost with the intent of getting rid of it, but Winter's hand gripped her arm. "He's solid, Aida. Feels like electric flesh."

"Solid?"

"I knew this man when he was alive. Whoever poisoned me sent him."

"The coins are the magnet," she said. "Velma removed the magic in the Gu poison. Whoever is after you is trying something new."

The ghost stood, holding the third coin. Its head snapped toward Winter, and then it lumbered toward them.

"It wants the magnet," Aida shouted. "Throw the d.a.m.n coin!"