Facing me, he smiled. “Name your heart’s desire, Madonna.”
“Nothing but you… ”
Joe looked up. Mia’s eyes were a million miles away. “Mia. Are you all right?”
“Ethan was built on illusions… Like that game with the sticks… you pull them away and suddenly it all falls apart. I was all his illusions come to life to be loved and cherished. I never intended to… ”
This wasn’t something he’d expected. “To what?”
She was still staring off into space. “Ethan dreamed that science would free us from our bondage.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Her eyes rested on him, fixed and enigmatic. As usual he had no idea what she was thinking. “Joe. Are you married?”
“Yes,” he answered, evasively. He’d rather not think of the tension at home in her presence.
“Any kids?”
“Four girls, two boys.”
“Jesus, you’re no slouch in your off hours. Obviously, you find time in your busy schedule for some things. Any pictures?”
He pulled out his wallet and opened it to show her. The family portrait had been taken against Rima’s wishes. She’d put on a lot of weight since little Ali’s birth.
“Your wife?”
He nodded.
She grinned maliciously. “Not really your type, is she?”
The stabbing behind his eyes grew worse, a vise wrapping around his head. “We’ve been married twenty-one years.”
“Congratulations. Am I keeping you from something?”
Jean. That’s all Mia needed, some demon, as she put it, to torment him with. “Nothing— just tired.”
“You’ve been looking at your watch all evening. Someone’s waiting for you— but not Rima.”
“How did you know my wife’s name? You just asked if I was married.”
“I do my homework, remember?”
“My personal life is off-limits.”
“Always demons lurking round the corner, blond demons and dark ones. You prefer blonde, but your secrets are safe with me, Joe.”
So she knew about him and Jean. “My secrets are none of your goddamned business.”
“Demons have a habit of devouring the soul if you keep them locked up.”
He rose, gathering his belongings. “I have no interest in demons!”
Her face twisted up. “You should, once they take hold, there’s no turning back.”
He turned his back on her. “I’m really getting tired of these mind games, Mia.”
“Mind games?” she laughed. “You have no idea… My regards to Jean.”
He turned at the door as he let himself out. “Fuck you.”
Mia only sat there, smiling her Mona Lisa smile.
SEVEN
* * * *
By the time Joe entered Mia’s cell a week later, everyone but security had gone for the night. He was exhausted from his hectic schedule, worried he’d fall asleep and not really in the mood to deal with Mia’s barbs.
He found her bent over a charcoal drawing of Kurt, capturing his haunted expression very well in stark black and white. “That’s pretty good.”
“If I can’t have him at least I’ll be able to remember what he looks like. Isn’t he beautiful?”
“I don’t make a habit of looking at other men.”
Her face twisted with malicious humor. “Afraid you might like what you see too much?”
He noted the bag of blood floating in the hot water bath. “I’m sorry— you haven’t uh— fed yet.”
“Nasty stuff. You could spike it a little or something.”
“Sucking blood from a plastic bag doesn’t cut it?”
She tipped back her chair. “Not really— they even brought it cold at first, but finally someone caught on to the fact that we like it warmed, so now they heat it to 98.6. Immortyls function just fine on donated blood, and actually a lot do these days, but the experience is lacking, like a baby must feel when it’s taken away from the breast and someone shoves a rubber nipple in its mouth. The contact, the life isn’t there.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“How about this analogy? It’s like masturbation: you’re relieved but you would prefer a living, breathing partner.”
“I see.”
Her face dimpled malevolently. “All that blood rushing through the body. Zing go the strings of your heart, so to speak.”
“We’ve been analyzing your neurotransmitters. Your seratonin levels are lower than those of mortals.”
“Going to put me on Prozac?”
“We’ve no idea of the effect antidepressant drugs would have on your system. Frankly, I was alarmed by the lasting effect sedatives had on you. I’ve ordered no drugs be used on either one of you, until we understand the full effect they have. However, on the positive side we have found a neurotransmitter unique to vampires. Perhaps it helps with muscle functions and responses, why you’re faster and stronger.”
“Congratulations.”
“I’m kind of tired, Mia. If you don’t mind?”
She peered at his face. “You look like shit. Maybe you should go home and