‘It’s Jude,’ she screamed. ‘Turn him back.’

‘Jude,’ Xan said, looking at the frog. ‘Why am I not surprised.’

‘We were stealing the purple necklace just like you told us-’

‘A moment, please,’ Xan said. ‘That was not “us” I told to steal the necklace, that was you.’

‘I couldn’t get them to give it to me, so I went and got Jude,’ Maxine said, almost sobbing. And he was wonderful. But then that blond guy-’

‘Elric,’ Xan said, thinking, Elric wouldn’t have looked twice at that bubblehead Jennifer.

‘-threw him out into the yard and he was a frog-’

‘Well, it happens,’ Xan said, and waved her hand.

‘-and I caught him and brought him-’

Jude rose up from the silver rug, as naked and beautiful as the sunrise, and Maxine stopped talking and gaped.

‘Ciao,’ Jude said, looking panic-stricken.

‘What happened?’ Xan said, unmoved.

‘The middle sister,’ Jude said. ‘She hit me and I turned.’ He cast a nervous glance at Maxine.

‘She can do that,’ Xan said, trying to be kind. ‘She doesn’t have control of her powers.’ She waved her hand and he was dressed again. As long as you’re here, aside from failing completely at taking the necklace, what’s happening?’

‘Dee and Danny were very cozy at dinner,’ Maxine said, talking fast, still not taking her eyes off Jude. ‘Dee had two Martinis, so she was very receptive.’

‘Martinis?’

I did it for you, Xantippe,’ Maxine said, talking faster. ‘I knew Martinis would loosen Dee up so I served them for you. They were going up the mountain the last I saw of them. And Lizzie and Eric-

‘Elric’

‘-Elric were in her bedroom, so that’s good, right?’

Wonderful, Xan thought bitterly, ignoring the scrabbling inside the wineglass.

‘But I don’t know what happened to Mare after work.’ Maxine looked at Jude who shrugged.

‘She went home,’ he said. ‘I tried to get her to come out for a drink, but she said no.’

‘She must be nuts,’ Maxine said explosively.

Xan picked up the see glass and polished it with her sleeve.

‘Dee,’ she said, and saw Dee weeping in her bedroom, and sighed. Dee was always going to be the most difficult.

‘Lizzie,’ she said, and saw Lizzie sleeping with Elric beside her. Lizzie didn’t deserve what she was getting. It wasn’t fair. Just a slight miscalculation and it would no longer be a problem.

‘Mare,’ she said, and saw Mare rise up under a dark-haired man on the mountain, flushed with passion while blue flowers rained down on her-

‘Bloody hell!’ Xan said, and rose up to glare at Jude. ‘What the hell have you been doing?’

‘I don’t think she likes me,’ he said, licking his lips.

Maxine licked hers, too.

‘You listen to me,’ Xan said, grabbing Jude’s tie and pulling him close. ‘You’re her true love and you’re letting her get seduced and confused by some blast from her past. You get down there and you give her everything she’s ever wanted so she realizes that you’re what fate intended for her, do you understand? Everything she’s ever wanted. Whatever she wants, she gets.’

Xan gripped the tie tighter, trying not to panic. Everything was very finely balanced – if Mare went off with the wrong man, one Xan couldn’t influence, then everything might collapse, all her careful plans, the youth and energy she so desperately needed might be denied her. She couldn’t let that happen. It could not happen-

‘I think Mare wants him,’ Maxine said, craning her neck to see into the glass where Mare was thrashing in the arms of the dark-haired lout.

‘You do realize that if I have to come down there, I won’t need the two of you,’ Xan said quietly as she let go of Jude’s tie.

‘We’ll make it happen,’ Jude said, taking Maxine’s arm.

‘You bet,’ Maxine said, turning for the door and knocking over the wineglass on the table as she did.

Vincent made a break for it and hit the floor; Maxine saw him and screamed, ‘Cockroach!’ and stepped on him; and silence filled the room.

‘Ew,’ Maxine said, looking at the bottom of her shoe.

‘Scrape that off on the Dumpster, will you?’ Xan said.

‘You bet, Xantippe,’ Maxine said.

‘I’ll get right on Mare,’ Jude promised.

‘Lovely thought,’ Xan said and waved her hand.

A moment later she watched Maxine scrape Vincent off onto the Dumpster in Salem’s Fork.

‘Jennifer owes me,’ she told the see glass and went to bed.


Lizzie moaned. She was asleep, but she could hear the sound she made – a soft sound of pleasure and protest. She didn’t want to wake up – the dreams were too delicious. Sexual dreams, so powerful that she felt her body spasm in her sleep, this time so real she could have sworn she was actually being touched. And this time the phantom lover had a face, a body, the mouth of a fallen angel and the eyes of a sinner. It wasn’t real, but it was wonderful, and she didn’t want her sister dragging her away from such a deliciously sinful fantasy. Some distant part of her brain could hear Dee in the front room, and the noise filtering into her subconscious.

But she pushed the noise away, snuggling deeper into the bed, into the silky sheets, into the arms of the man who touched her…

Her eyes flew open. He was asleep beside her, and her head had been resting on his shoulder, his arm draped loosely around her. The covers were pulled up to his waist, but from what she could see he was naked.

They weren’t her sheets. Instead of the percale with the tiny flowers, her bed was now covered with sheets that were either silk or a cotton of such an astronomical thread count that it might as well be, and the color was deep, rich purple. The color she never wore, the color that she secretly loved. She moved slowly away from him, so as not to awaken him, and sat up in the bed, looking down at him in shock and awe.

Asleep, he couldn’t cloud her perceptions, and she could see him quite clearly. He was beautiful – there was no other word for it, a beauty so classic that it shocked her. He looked younger than she’d thought – her age or even younger still, and yet curiously ageless, and his body was strong, lean, with smooth, golden skin. His dark blond hair lay rumpled against the deep purple sheets, and she reached out a hand to touch him, then pulled it back.

She looked down at her own body, and just barely managed to stifle a gasp. She was wearing the purple silk nightgown she’d conjured up the night before. It made her pale skin glow, and it draped her body, clinging to her slight curves, and she must have made a sound after all, a tiny squeak of distress.

He opened his eyes, and she could see a rim of purple around his irises, something she hadn’t noticed before. He didn’t move, but his voice was low and just slightly amused. ‘Don’t panic,’ he said. ‘I didn’t touch you.’

Then why did her body still vibrate with remembered pleasure? Why did her skin feel hot and shivery at the same time?

The tapping on her door made her jump, and for once Dee didn’t wait for a reply. She opened the door, and said, ‘Lizzie, did you-’ and then stopped, her mouth open, and Lizzie waited for the shit to hit the fan.

‘Good Lord, Lizzie, where did you get that nightgown?’ Dee said, a fairly minor question considering there was a naked man in her bed.

Lizzie glanced down at Elric, who’d rolled on his side to look at her, a faint smile on his mouth as he tugged at the hem of the silk nightgown. ‘I know this is upsetting for you but…’ she said lamely.

‘Why would your choice of nightgown upset me?’ Dee said.

Lizzie gave Elric another confused look, but he simply smiled and shrugged, saying nothing, although his hand was touching her foot beneath the silk, and she could feel the tremor of response dance across her skin. And then she felt a flash of relief. Dee couldn’t see Elric lying in her sister’s bed. As far as she could tell, Lizzie was simply sitting alone in an inappropriate nightgown.

‘It’s time to talk about Xan,’ Dee said.

‘Xan?’ Lizzie echoed absently. Why was he touching her when he knew there was nothing she could do about it? She couldn’t respond as some dark, secret part of her wanted to, she couldn’t slap him away without Dee noticing. All she could do was sit there and shiver in delicious anticipation.

‘Did you see her? You shivered. You saw her.’

‘No, no,’ Lizzie said.

‘Well, come out for breakfast,’ Dee said. ‘It’s time for the vote.’

‘We voted yesterday’ she protested.

‘Somebody told Xan we’re here, and we need to get the heck out of Dodge.’

Instinctively Lizzie glanced down at the man in her bed. His hand froze, his beautiful face an unreadable mask, and she knew who had betrayed them.

She scrambled out of bed, jerking the quilt with her to wrap around her. Elric lay back under the sheet.

‘It’s okay, Lizzie,’ Dee said. ‘Just get dressed, and we can decide what we’re going to do. Not that there’s much to decide, apart from which piece of jewelry…’ Dee’s eyes widened. ‘What are you wearing? What’s that around your neck?’

Lizzie had forgotten all about the Borgia pendant that Elric had placed around her neck just before he’d kissed her. It lay between her breasts, a comforting weight against her heart, and she knew it belonged there.

Just as a beautiful, treacherous creature like Elric belonged in her bed. She was going out of her mind -she must be. She started to pull off the pendant, but he sat up, reaching out and covering her hand, stopping her. ‘Liz, what’s going on?’ Dee said.