Part 34 (1/2)
She shook her head. ”'Tis no trick. The mind sees what it will. I am here as you want me, but in your mind is all. I come neither clothed nor unclothed. Thou wished to see me in the flesh, so thy eye hath made it so.”
”Yes, but now I see your face clearly and only a blurred silhouette of your body.”
”Aye, 'tis by suggestion I blind thee. Still, you see me as ye wish.”
I pa.s.sed my hand in front of my face and Ursula was naked again, veiled only in a sheer whisper of lingerie. Another pa.s.s, another look, and she was clothed in traditional seventeen century garb, hemmed to the ankle and b.u.t.ton to the neck.
”That's amazing. I see you any way I want.”
”As you wish.”
”Except I really don't wish to see you at all. Why aren't you home with your husband?”
”I am in body, but my mind is with thee. We are linked. Thou hath beckoned me through the witch's light.”
”So, you are not really here?”
She shook her head. ”In body, no.”
”But if I were to touch you....” I crossed the floor and reached for her. Upon contact, a bright blue spark arced between my finger and her arm, sending a shock through my bones like a mini lightning bolt. I fell back with a shriek, jerking my hand involuntarily and slamming it against the sink.
”d.a.m.n it, Ursula. What was that?”
She pressed her finger to her lips and shushed me. Then she pointed to the door. I turned to see Carlos shuffling into the bathroom, blind to our presence. I stepped away from the sink and let him pa.s.s. He positioned himself in front of the toilet, opened his stance, took it out and proceeded to relieve himself. I turned to Ursula, who did not seem shy about watching him.
”Can you see him?” I asked.
She crowded her brows as if I had asked her a stupid question. I suppose I had. ”Of course.”
”Can he see us?”
She shook her head. ”Methinks not.”
And then she did something completely uncharacteristic, something I would have expected only from Lilith. She scooted along to the edge of the tub, leaned in closer to Carlos, and with her index finger she.... Well, she poked his thing, diverting a heavy stream of urine off to one side of the bowl and onto the floor. She pulled back and giggled, covering her mouth with her hands as if Carlos might hear. I fell back against the wall, laughing so hard I nearly p.i.s.sed myself. Carlos, who had been half-sleeping, or sleepwalking, I'm not completely sure, swung his aim back to the bowl, over corrected by a foot and sprayed the other side of the floor, missing Ursula's foot by inches.
”Ursula,” I said. ”I cannot believe you did that. You are a naughty, naughty girl, aren't you?”
”Please, Master Tony. Forgive me. I could not resist.”
”I think you have been hanging around Lilith too long. She has definitely corrupted you.”
”Aye. 'Tis Lilith's fault. I admit. I am what she made me, is all. What fruit falls doth falls not far from the tree.”
”What?”
She shook her head, and then Carlos shook his and tucked it back into his pants. He washed his hands, but did nothing about the mess on the floor. As he turned and started back to the couch, I said to Ursula. ”How did you do that?”
Again, she gave me that innocent look, though I was beginning to suspect she was not that innocent at all. ”Do what?”
”How did you interact physically with Carlos if you're not physically here yourself?”
She gave me an unconvincing shrug. ”I know not the laws of energy, only what the laws allows.”
”So tell me again why you're here? You said I beckoned you, but I wasn't thinking about you when I saw that d.a.m.n blue light and followed it to the bathroom.”
”Hark,” she said, her eyes and ear pitched toward the ceiling. ”My Dominic calls for me. I must go.”
”No, Ursula. Wait. I have questions.”
And like that, she was gone. I turned and headed down the hall back to the bedroom. The bathroom light switched off by itself, but not before the light spilling in behind me lit up the bedroom. I could see Lilith lying there, sleeping with her head at the wrong end of the bed. And me, also sleeping, though still sitting up with my back against the headboard. I felt a tug at my chest and the sensation of falling. The next thing I knew I was rus.h.i.+ng toward the bed. My conscious self snapped into my sleeping body and startled me awake.
I took a deep breath and let it out, feeling a little like a fish returning to water. Was it all a dream? I had to know. I got up and made my way back to the bathroom. There, on both sides of the toilet bowl, was Carlos' pee puddles. I mopped them up with wads of toilet paper, flushed them down the bowl and went back to bed. Sleep returned to me fast and easy. And if I dreamed of Ursula, I did not remember it in the morning.
EIGHTEEN.
I awoke at sunrise to find Lilith lying there watching me, her cheek upon my pillow, our noses nearly touching. She thinned her lips softly. Brushed my face with the back of her hand. Traced my eye with her fingertips. I tried to remember the last time she looked so beautiful to me. I could not remember.
”Morning,” I said, smiling back at her.
”'Gmorn' to you.” Her breath smelled fresh like peppermint. She had been up. Gone to the bathroom. Brushed her teeth. I rolled over onto my back, wis.h.i.+ng I had done the same.
”Sleep well?” I asked.
”Yup,” she said, and she slid her hand under the covers, down my chest, across my stomach and lower. ”You?”
”Yes. Like a babeee....” I shuddered at her touch. Her hand felt cold, but good. I unfurled my toes and splayed them outside the covers.
”Like a baby?”
I exhaled deeply. ”Yes.”
”That was nice last night. Wasn't it?”
”The wedding?”
”Yeah.” She gathered me in her hand, squeezed and pulled gently. I gasped audibly, sighed and then found my body easing to the rhythm she had settled into.
”Yes. That was sweet. I think those two are meant for each other.” I turned my head to look at her. She still had that smile, that angelic expression that told me she was happy to be with me. I kicked the covers off and crowded them to the foot of the bed. Shards of sunlight streaming through the blinds pinstriped my body, but the breeze from the ceiling fan negated its warmth.
”You were sweet,” she said. ”And you looked most handsome in that firelight.”
Lilith had me at full attention, teasing me with her touch, dragging her fingertips over sensitive terrain before clamping down with utter authority. I arched my back and adjusted the spread of my legs. She nestled closer, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s warm against my side. I put my arm around her and cupped her tattooed cheek in my hand. She stretched out straight and did the same with her trophy.
”No. You were sweet,” I said. ”And beautiful. And amazing.”
”Amazing at the wedding? Or afterward?”