Part 21 (1/2)

254.

Daniel's kisses were moving up my legs. I parted them, and the clever hands slid higher. Lestat watched. He had unwrapped a syringe and was applying a tourniquet to the girl's arm to draw her blood. I couldn't watch because my eyes were dimming. The mouth which was moving closer and closer to my centre was hot, the kisses burned, I felt myself twitch. He was between my legs now, my inside thighs were getting wet, my knees slid over his bare shoulders. I clutched at him as the lips touched, touched and clung, and then I swallowed blood that Lestat shot into my mouth as I bloomed into an o.r.g.a.s.m so intense that for a moment I thought I must have died. I screamed with pleasure.

Daniel lay where he was, his head on my breast, panting. I was shaking and dizzy. Lestat reloaded the syringe with a clear fluid, gave it to the girl and opened the little iron door. She went out into the back lane. Cold air rushed in. Daniel stood up and pulled me to a sitting position.

'Igor,' said Lestat.

'Master?' asked an Igor.

'You may now stop the tape and show the lady. She will surely contribute to our crypt when she considers who else might see it. Five hundred dollars, Lady, to begin with.'

'Jason,' said Daniel. 'Shut the inner door. Don't let anyone open it.'

'Okay, Daniel,' said the Igor. Jason? My Jason? There were some small details in his life history which he had forgotten to tell me about. This was one of them. I was a little behind events. Tape? What tape? And how had I just been blackmailed?

'It is no use threatening me,' said Lestat. 'I am already dead.'

'You can get deader,' said Daniel. 'I have some names for you. Listen carefully, dead man. Suze MacDonald. James Collins. Mick Hughes. Gianni Venetti. Tan Nguyen. Hally Udall. Sam Trench. Know them? Recognise them, Lestat?'

Lestat backed away as Daniel came forward. The slave's mouth was wet. His hands clenched at shoulder height. He was magnificent. His voice burned with ferocious contempt.

'You gave them the heroin you confiscated from your slave Vic,' he said. 'One of the poor little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who robbed the man in the red Porsche. You used it to pay the wh.o.r.es who partic.i.p.ate in your blackmail racket! Lestat!' Daniel hissed, straight into Lestat's black eyes 'Didn't you wonder why they all died?'

The dapper gentleman faced the half-naked savage and did not flinch. He said calmly, 'But I told you my name. My name is Lestat. And my gift is death.'

Daniel hit him as hard as he could in the face. There was a soggy crack. Lestat flew out the door and into the lane. I jumped down to follow. An Igor was before me.

'Catch him!' I screamed and a composed, official voice said, 'That's all right, Ms Chapman. I've got him.'

Of all the people I had expected to encounter in a damp lane behind a Goth club at three in the morning, Lepidoptera White was probably second last, behind Pope John Paul II. She had Lestat in a hurtful and efficient armlock. Several uniformed officers were approaching but she didn't let go of our murderer until he was securely handcuffed. His face was a mask of blood. Daniel sucked his knuckles and spat.

'You b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' he snarled. 'I hope you die in jail.'

'I can't die,' Lestat told him through the blood. He was licking it with every sign of enjoyment as it ran down to his mouth. I felt sick.

'He fell against the wall,' Ms White told Daniel. 'They're clumsy, these murderers. I've known them to leap face first down whole flights of stairs. Thanks, Daniel. We've got the junkie and the syringe. You want to stay out of it?'

'G.o.d, yes,' said Daniel. 'Me and Corinna and this Igor. We weren't here. Here's the blackmail tape,' he said, handing over a videotape which a silent Igor had given him. 'There's no harm in the outer circle of the club,' he said. 'Just the inner. No need to scare innocent Goths into another incarnation, is there?'

'Quiet as mice,' she promised. 'I already warned Mistress Dread to bar her doors. Now, you're going home.' She widened her eyes a little as she got a good look at us. 'In a police car. An unmarked one. You wouldn't want to worry the neighbours,' she said, and giggled.

I suddenly felt so relieved that my knees were weak. I sagged and leaned on Daniel. We got into a car driven by a police officer so taciturn that she didn't utter one word as she drove Jason to his hostel and us to Insula and watched as we went in.

There was no one in the lift. We threw ourselves inside and locked the door. Then, slowly, carefully, we stripped the clothes off each other and fell into bed. And before the alarm went off I had occasion to scream again.

We hadn't slept. I had lain down in Goth make-up. I was filthy. But I was also terribly happy. I went into the bathroom. There in the mirror was a real Medusa, corpse-white skin, melted mascara circling panda-like around her eyes, mouth red and swollen from kissing and, a final touch, a red bite mark on her throat.

I grabbed a handful of cotton b.a.l.l.s and some cold cream and wiped it all off. Only the beestung lips, the teeth-marks and the smile of complete satisfaction remained. I blew Medusa a kiss and washed thoroughly, releasing my mistreated hair and rubbing suds through it. Standing under the hot falling water and remembering Daniel. Then I put on my trackies and padded off to make coffee.

He was asleep and beautiful and although I still had a hundred questions, they could wait. I had bread to make, for one thing. The ovens had come on and hot air was rising. Horatio accepted breakfast even though he had been affronted by another person in his bed. He had been sleeping in the small of a p.r.o.ne Daniel's back. They both looked very decorative. Daniel woke. I set down his coffee and kissed him.

'Corinna,' he said. 'I love you.'

'Daniel,' I answered. 'I love you. Got to start the baking,' I said, and went down the stairs with a refreshed mug of coffee. I was going to need some sort of intravenous arrangement if I was to survive today.

A tap at the door announced a de-Igored Jason.

'You all right?' he demanded, holding me by the shoulders and staring into my eyes. He looked as bright as ninepence. There is no justice.

'Yes, you?'

'Hostel desk dude got a bit of a shock when I came in,' he said. 'I'll give the costume back tonight. What're we making?'

'Just the usual,' I said. 'Switch on the mixer, will you? Rye bread, pasta douro, and blueberry m.u.f.fins.'

'Boring,' he replied. I was in no mood for impertinence.

'First rule of the bakery. The baker is always right. You can make the m.u.f.fins. Any sort you like. Just do it fast. I'm very tired.'

'Sweet as!' he said, flying around the room collecting ingredients, pouring flour, slos.h.i.+ng yeast mixture. In no time at all it was done and we had to wait for everything to rise. I had fed and rewarded the Mouse Police for their measly single rat. But I was in a generous mood. And I needed answers from Jason.

'When did you tell Daniel about your two mates and the pure heroin they got from robbing the man in the red Porsche?' I asked.

'Yesterday arvo,' said Jason. 'When you sent me out for herbs. Vic really believed that he was Lestat's slave. So when he stole the stuff and Lestat saw him, he just gave it to his master. Then Lestat must have given them some and they died and I got scared and ran away. It was easy money, being an Igor. I liked it. I never played the blood game but Suze did and she told me what happened. I couldn't tell the cops,' he said, really wanting me to understand. 'I can't be a baker if I'm in jail for ten years. And Daniel told me not to tell you. You understand?'

I did. I gave him a casual hug. He was really clean, smelling strongly of one of those robust soaps-Rexona? Norsca? Pine-scented. He smelled like he had spent the night lying in a spruce forest. Very much a contrast from the way he had smelled when I first met him. I was still trying to make sense of events.

'So someone needed to get into the inner chamber,' I reasoned it out. 'And Daniel couldn't do that on his own, so ...'

'So I used you,' said a voice from the stairs. Daniel and Horatio sat there. 'I put you in a position to be blackmailed.'

I thought about it. He was right. Was I angry? Jason had lied to me. Daniel hadn't told me what he was planning. By rights I ought to have been furious with both of them. I delved for some fury. I was too tired to be angry. And also, where was the damage to me? Had I been injured or hurt? No. Had I been betrayed? No. Had I just spent the most erotic hours of my life? Yes. Had I acquired a new apprentice who made m.u.f.fins which angels would queue to order in a heavenly canteen? Yes. So where was the emotion? I just felt tired and fuzzy.

'I volunteered,' I said. 'I knew you were not what you seemed. You're some sort of detective, aren't you?'

He spread his hands.

'Private. Mostly I look for lost children and erring husbands ...'

'The Open Eye,' I said, enlightened. That's why Andy Holliday recognised you.'

'I failed to find Cherie,' he admitted. 'Aren't you angry?'

'Because?'

'Take a walk, Jason. Sniff the cool morning air along with the Mouse Police,' ordered Daniel. Jason bounced out into the alley. The Mouse Police went along, tails in the air, hoping that he might do something useful, like turn into a smoked trout. Daniel lowered his voice and came all the way down the stairs.

'Because I partic.i.p.ated in a s.e.x act with you while Lestat was watching and taping it. The police now have that tape. I needed to have him on tape, giving the girl the heroin and demanding money from you.'

'Gosh, and I didn't even qualify for Big Brother,' I said absently. 'They should be so lucky. Are you saying that it was all an act; you don't love me?' I demanded with sudden terror. So, I did have some real emotions. He put his arms around me.