He seemed to think better of finishing the sentence, and turned and walked off, shaking his head.
They'd been tailing her for several minutes, since she left Fortunato's place in a cab. Spector was sitting in the back seat with the Astronomer. The old man's eyes were closed and he was completely silent. Imp and Insulin were sitting in the middle seat. Imp had his arm around her. They were probably sleeping together. Imp had made a joke about the baseball uniform, but the Astronomer had stepped in before Spector could kill him.
The girl wasn't what he'd been expecting. She was pretty enough and carried herself well, but wasn't dressed like a highpriced whore. She had on faded blue jeans and a red-and white University of Houston sweatshirt. Her hair was short, dark blond, and tightly curled. She'd bounced down the stairs with a smile on her face when the cab showed up. Saved them the trouble of going inside. It would be simple enough to grab her wherever she got dropped off.
Spector looked at the Astronomer. The old man was breathing noisily and his hands trembled. When he opened his eyes again, Spector would try his power. There wouldn't be a better opportunity. Spector stared at the Astronomer's eyelids and waited.
The Astronomer opened his eyes. There was still power there, too much for him to challenge. Spector turned away. "I wonder where the hell she's going?" he asked.
"The Jokertown clinic." The Astronomer laughed wheezily. "That's right, Demise. The place you were, born, so to speak."
"I'm not going in there," Spector said, shaking his head. "Yes, you are, Demise. You really have no choice." The Astronomer closed his eyes again. "No choice at all."
Spector clenched his teeth. The, old bastard was right. "You're sure she's going to the clinic."
"That's what she told the cab driver, Demise. There will he two other women. I want them all. Imp and Insulin will go inside with you." The Astronomer paused. "Just to back you up."
They rode in silence until the cab pulled up in front of the Jokertown clinic. The limo pulled past the cab and parked in front of a fire hydrant. The girl got out of the cab.
"Go get them." The Astronomer jerked his thumb in the direction of the clinic entrance.
Spector opened the door and stepped out of the limo. He walked slowly toward the brightly lit entrance. His guts were ice. He'd spent the worst days of his life in the clinic, most of them screaming. He'd had to kill an orderly to escape, and someone might recognize him and remember. Two women were coming down the stairs to meet the girl from the cab. One had dark hair and was wearing a black sequined dress. The other, also a brunette, had on a low-cut electric-blue lame dress slit up to mid-thigh.
"What happened?" asked the girl in the sweatshirt.
"It's Croyd," said the brunette. "We think he went into a coma or something. One minute he was fine, the next he's passed out and we can't wake him up."
"Bet you tried everything you could think of, though." The girl in the sweatshirt smiled. Spector wondered what her expression would be if she knew what was in store.
He heard car doors close behind him. Imp and Insulin were moving in. Spector couldn't make a break for it with Insulin around.
Spector heard muffled screams from inside. Glass from the entranceway shattered outward. A security guard bounced bleeding down the steps. Spector ran forward.
"Get the fuck out of my way, jerk-offs. Get away, or I'll feed you your own assholes." The speaker was one of the biggest, ugliest jokers Spector had ever seen. The thing's face was badly bruised. He raised a clublike hand, tearing the white hospital gown that only partially covered his oversized body. The joker saw the girls and smiled. They backed away from him toward the cab which was pulling away, tires screaming…
"Come to Poppa, little pussies."
Spector moved in as the joker grabbed the woman in the lame dress. She tried to knee him in the balls, but couldn't hit high enough. Spector looked at the dark-haired woman and squinted. It was the same girl who'd been in the subway station with the pimp. She looked even better dressed up. Spector took a step toward her.
"Who the fuck are you?" The joker had slung the other woman over his shoulder and leapt down the stairs at him. "One of the boys of September?"
Spector saw the punch coining and ducked; the blow grazed his left cheek and spun him to the ground. He rolled out of the charging joker's path. There was no way to lock eyes while he was moving so quickly. He turned at a scream behind him. Imp was dragging the dark blonde toward the limo. Insulin faced the giant and smiled.
The joker went to one knee. "Goddamn, what the fuck are you doing to me?" He dropped the woman and slumped over. The brunette pulled herself out from under him, tearing her dress. Insulin grabbed her by the elbow and pointed her down the street.
Spector sat up, thought about running, and looked at the limo. The Astronomer was staring at him. No chance to get away. There wouldn't be, ever. He went for the dark-haired girl, putting his arm around her. She didn't look scared, but there was something in her eyes that made him feel she wasn't all there.
"Me again," Spector said. "Looks like your visit is going to, be kind of short." She didn't react. "Tonight nobody's getting out alive." Still no reply.
He kicked the fallen joker in the face with his good foot as he walked past.
Chapter Twenty-one
2:00 a.m.
She glanced back, arched until her shoulder blades etched bony wings beneath her skin, but Tachyon failed to take the hint. He was agitatedly pulling the brush through his tum bled curls and staring sightlessly into the mirror. Frowning with irritation, Roulette reached back and unzipped the white silk gown. It whispered to the floor, brushing softly at her ankles.
The brush crashed onto the antique marble-topped dressing table scattering crystal bottles. "This day! What is it about this day that it always engenders so much grief? And they celebrate." He swept out an arm toward the closed window which could not completely block the sound of continued revelry. "Would you celebrate?" His violet eyes seemed to blaze in his pale face as he swung around to face her.
"No, but mine's a bleak nature." She took several steps toward him, but stopped short of touching him. "And I don't think you fully understand why they celebrate. It's not heedlessness, it's an attempt to survive. We have very few op-. tions when life plays its little jokes on us. We can laugh, hiding the hurt. We can die. Or we can be revenged. You hear the laughter, but I hear cries of pain."
"Pain. You talk to me of pain, I who have lived with it every day for forty years. You humans are fortunate. Your present time memory is mercifully short. The tragedies you endure fade quickly. Your minds draw a veil. It's not so with us."
He lifted the picture in its silver frame, staring at the delicate face captured there. His lips hardened, deepening the lines about eyes and mouth.
She felt again that tearing as the Astronomer stripped from her those buffering veils and released her demons. They lovingly presented each moment of loss and abandonment, and each repetition was as exquisitely painful as the one before. Her hand lashed out, and swept away the picture. It landed face down on the cold marble, and the glass shattered with a sound like frozen music. Tachyon lifted the photo, and held it protectively against his chest while Roulette stared in fascination at the crystal pattern left by the broken glass.
Reflecting waterfalls as the mirror broke, window glass like a scintillating snowfall across the streets…
His eyes were on her, seeming to burn her cheek. Slowly she faced him. Long lashes lowered as he studied the picture. Then the full force of his gaze was once more on her.
"You are absolutely right," he murmured cryptically, and opening a drawer in the dressing table he slid in the photo. Before it closed she saw the gleaming black metal of a. 357 Magnum.
In the midst of the public chaos, it seemed to Jack and Bagabond that they were starting to walk in circles. In the middle of the very core of the Big Apple, the pair started get ting the feeling that they might as well have been in trackless woods with no sig
n of the sun for navigation. The faces in the crowds started to look the same. The costumes all began to look alike. The only thing missing was a sixteen-year-old girl, tall and slim, with straight, black hair and dark eves.
They passed an alley and heard what sounded like cries. Bagabond shook her head and started to walk past. "Hold it," said Jack. He walked a few steps into the narrow passage. He saw several people he'd already encountered today on separate occasions. One was Jean-Jacques. He crouched protectively over one of the other dancers. This one, in tattered and dirty formal ballet getup, was lying sprawled on the alley floor. There was blood around his mouth.
Standing over the pair was the punkish young man with whom Jack had had the run-in the morning past, outside the Young Man's Fancy. The young man's rainwater eyes were masked by the alley shadows.
"Try sucking this," he said. Jack and Bagabond heard the snickt of spring steel. The blade snapped out of the young man's stiletto and locked into place.
The young man crouched with the knife and feinted toward Jean-Jacques. The Senegalese didn't move. "Fuckin' faggots! I'm gonna cut off everything that moves."
Jack started forward. Bagabond tripped him. Jack sprawled forward into the alley, partially catching himself with his outthrust palms, feeling skin grate across the ragged brick. "Wait." Bagabond frowned, concentrating.
Alley cats erupted from the stinking pyramids of garbage bags stacked further back in the darkness. Howling, they bounded toward the young man with the knife. He snarled in turn and swung, around to face them.
"Come on," said Bagabond, helping Jack up. "It's taken care of. Everything's cool." She tugged at his arm.
Jack hesitated, but saw that Jean-Jacques was helping his friend up. He followed Bagabond.
The alley cats screeched and yowled triumphantly behind them, as all humans exited the alley, save for the young man. "Couldn't happen to a nicer homophobe," muttered Jack.
Spector had never been inside the Astronomer's penthouse apartment before. It was in the Seventies off Central Park. The decor was surprising subdued, dark wood floors and furnishings complemented by off-white walls and ceilings.
The Astronomer unlocked the door to a room off the library and motioned them to enter. The old man leaned heavily against the doorframe. Spector pulled the dark-haired girl inside. The captive women had been quiet, probably Insulin's doing. The room was dim, the only illumination coming through a large skylight. Underneath it was a mahogany altar. There were steel manacles at each corner, and a large V -shaped notch at one end. Spector didn't have to wonder what that was for.
"That one." The Astronomer pointed to the girl in the University of Houston sweatshirt and closed the door.
Imp pulled off the woman's sweatshirt and dragged her to the altar. He quickly manacled her hands and then unzipped her jeans and began working them down her legs. He tossed them on the floor and tore off her red cotton panties, then fastened her feet down.
Spector felt the dark-haired woman tense and he gripped her arms tighter.
"Get her ready." The Astronomer opened a drawer in the altar's side and pulled out a syringe. He made a fist and tied his arm off, then sank the needle in and slowly injected what Spector knew had to be heroin. The old man took a deep breath and pulled out the needle, leaving a tiny red dot. His arm was lined with them. The Astronomer unsashed his robe and let it drop. Imp kneeled between her legs and began moistening her with his tongue.
The Astronomer walked unsteadily over to the altar, stroking his erect penis. "What's your name, my dear?"
"Caroline." She struggled ineffectually against the chains. "You have any idea whose girls we are? You're going to be in deep shit if anything happens to us."
The old man laughed and pinched her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. "Fortunato the pimp. He's been a nuisance to me for years, but not much more than that. What could be more appropriate than using his own women to insure his destruction." He turned to imp, who still had his head buried between her legs. "That's enough."
Imp stood and walked silently over to where Spector and Insulin held the other two women. He tugged at the end of his tongue trying to pull away a stray pubic hair. "We taking him with us?" Imp indicated Spector.
"I think so." The old man ran his finger down the naked woman's body as he walked around the altar.
"You leave her the fuck alone." The woman in the electricblue dress strained to get away from Insulin, then went limp in her arms.
"No more interruptions." The Astronomer stood in the altar's notch, between Caroline's legs. He pushed into her and closed his eyes. The only sounds in the room were the Astronomer's labored breathing and the soft rattle of the manacles. The Astronomer put his hands under her armpits and drew his fingers slowly down her rib cage, leaving deep red furrows in her flesh. Caroline screamed. The old man brought his hands to his mouth and nibbled at the skin he'd torn from her. Blood began to pool on the polished wood. The Astronomer carved a symbol into the skin around her navel.
The dark-haired girl looked away and began to shake. Spector pulled her close. "What's your name?"
"Cordelia."
"He's going to do this to all of you, unless somebody stops him. Only an idiot would try, though." Spector wondered about Imp's comment. Where the hell were they going? The Astronomer had said something about other worlds that morning, but it hadn't sunk in until now.
The Astronomer straightened his back. His body was covered in a sweaty sheen; he was gaining vitality with every stroke. Caroline rotated her pelvis down as far as she could, trying to push the old man out of her. She clenched her teeth in pain, but was no longer screaming.
"Stupid bitch." The Astronomer pulled out and climbed on top of her. "Imp, take care of her." He pointed to Cordelia. "Demise, get over here."
Spector waited until he was sure Imp had a good grip on the girl, then walked to the head of the altar.
"You don't mind if I fuck you in the mouth, do you, my little bitch'?" The Astronomer slid up her body.
"You just try it, asshole." She opened her mouth wide, baring her teeth.
"That won't be necessary. I've got my own special way of doing it." He reached for her throat and sliced it open with a finger.
"Look at me, sweetheart," Spector said, bracing himself. He grabbed her head and twisted hard. There was a pop as her neck gave way. Caroline convulsed and was still.
"Idiot." The Astronomer grabbed Spector and threw him across the room. "You killed her, wasted her energy." He grabbed Caroline's head and bounced it hard against the altar.
"I'll kill you for this. As soon as I'm done with them. Pain like you've never imagined, Demise. Imp, bring me the next one." He undid the manacles and dumped the corpse on the floor.
Spector stood up and looked for something he could use as a weapon. There were knives in the altar's open drawer if he could get that far. He felt his knees getting weak. Insulin again.
Imp tore at Cordelia's dress and dragged her forward. Her face was white. "No." She screamed and pulled away from Imp. The little ace gritted his teeth and clutched at his chest.
"What the fuck?" Spector righted himself. Whatever was happening had distracted Insulin enough to make her forget about him. He ran toward the Astronomer, ignoring the pain from his crippled foot.
Imp dropped to the floor, gasping and tearing at his shirt. "She's doing it." The Astronomer pointed at Cordelia, who took a step backward. "Stop the little bitch. Insulin, look out."
The warning came too late. Veronica was awake and clawing at Insulin's face, dragging her to the floor. Spector slammed into the old man, knocking him over the altar, then turned to Insulin. Veronica was out again. Insulin didn't notice Spector moving in from behind. He spun her around and hit her hard on the chin, twice. Her eyes rolled up into her head.
A final gasp came from Imp's now bluish lips, then he was still. "Very impressive, my dear. You somehow stopped his cardiac and respiratory functions simultaneously. A painful death." The Astrono
mer wiped his bloody hands on the altar as he pulled himself into a standing position. "Yours will be even more painful."
Spector knew the Astronomer could negate Cordelia's power with his own. It was what happened every time he tried to kill the old man. He decided to try something. They were dead anyway if he just stood around. He moved in closer.
"Whatever you did to Imp, lady, try to do it to him." Specfor pointed to the Astronomer, who turned to look at him. Spector locked eyes and tried to force his death into the old man's mind. He felt the Astronomer block him off "Do it now," he yelled at Cordelia. Pain flickered in the old man's eyes and he reached for his heart. It was like Spector figured. The Astronomer couldn't block two ace powers at once, and Cordelia's was getting through.
Spector kept pushing hard mentally. The Astronomer couldn't look away now that their eyes were locked.
The Astronomer dropped to his knees. "Kill you all," he said, just loud enough for them to hear.
"Not this time, you old fuck." Spector's breathing was getting ragged from the strain.
"What are you doing?" Veronica was awake and looking at Cordelia.
"I don't know. I've never done it before."
The Astronomer slid his right hand underneath the skin and into his own chest. He screamed.
"Jesus, let's get the hell out of here." Veronica grabbed Cordelia by the wrist and dragged her toward the door. Spector broke contact and stared for a moment at the muscles in the Astronomer's forearm. The old man was massaging his heart to keep it going. The Astronomer stared hatefully at Spector. "Dead. All of you."
Spector ran after the women. "Hey, come back. We have to finish him now" He heard a hiss as the Astronomer started breathing again. "Fuck it. Somebody else will have to do it."
Spector ran through the apartment toward the elevator. Veronica had her dress caught on the elevator door and was tearing at it to get free. Spector dived inside the elevator, knocking Veronica down and putting another tear in her already-ruined dress. Cordelia punched the button for the ground floor. The cables creaked and the car began to go down.
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