Taking Maggie at face value would have been foolish. It did seem best to seek answers from Nicole herself.
Passing the Crystal Corner in my cab, Nicole and Charles were clearly visible through the glass front door of the bar, thus quickly ending my search. I parked my cab, entered the bar and walked to her side. Nicole said not a word as she turned and faced me, her expression quite blase. Shortly, she turned her attention back to the new object of her affection. Charles turned not his head, his expression still that forced combination of boredom and scorn, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
"We do have to talk, Nicole," I said quietly. No reply. I stood my ground, noticing Todd hovering nearby, keeping a close watch. Our eyes met for a short moment. He gave me a sympathetic shrug, then departed to fill a patron's drink order.
"Nicole, wedo have to talk. Nicole - "
She turned, fire in her eyes. Charles continued to stare straight ahead. "Talk? There's not a damn thing to talk about." Nicole again turned her back to me, but I was not leaving without satisfaction.
"Nicole," I said after a few silent moments, "it is very important that we talk."
"Fine!" She jumped off her stool. "You wanna talk? Talk then. Talk 'til you're fucking blue in the face."
"Outside."
She glanced at Charles. He nodded, the movement nearly imperceptible.
"What the fuck do you want from me, Al?" Nicole asked as the door slid shut behind us. She rubbed her arms; covered merely by a long-sleeved T-shirt, Nicole shivered against the chill of this mid-spring night, having left her jacket draped over her bar stool. Her nipples asserted themselves against the fabric, and I caught myself staring at them, a stinging pang of longing searing deep into my being.
"You here to talk or stare?"
Her remark lay unacknowledged. "Nicole, I just want to say, you are free to do whatever you want - "
"Damn right!" Her eyes burned white hot. Of her many moods and her various modes of anger, none seemed so intense. "You don't own me."
"I never said I did." My words rolled softly over my tongue. This was not intended to be an argument. "I would have appreciated a little more consideration - "
"After everything I gave you? After everything you took?" She slapped the side of her neck for emphasis. "What else do you want?"
"Nothing, Nicole, nothing." By the earth of my homeland, there would be no provoking me, for that certainly had nothing to do with my motivations at this point. "I merely am concerned. Maggie sought me out. We had a conversation."
"Ha!" Her dry laughter echoed against the brick wall next to the door. Two men across the street turned and stared at us. "Why don't you askher out and leave me the fuck alone. That stupid bitch thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread."
"You should not be talking such about your friend. She is concerned about you."
"Let her mind her own damn business." Nicole made a move for the door. I grabbed her arm. She twisted away and slapped my forearm hard. "Don't fucking touch me!"
"You said you were willing to listen to what I had to say." My tone shifted from soft to commanding. "I will talk, and you will listen. If you choose to burn in a hell of your own doing, so be it. I will not stop you, but do not say I did not point it out as the hell that it is. Maggie is a good friend, and she is worried about you. She told me how your father - "
"Don't talk to me about my father you goddamned, bloodsucking freak!" Nicole slapped me hard in the face. A hint of something putrid tickled my nostrils. I grabbed her wrist and shoved the sleeve up to her elbow, revealing the jagged outline of a pentagram, the tattoo so fresh that it bubbled with plasma and pus, the flesh around it red and puffy.
The design bore not the style nor artistry of a tattoo done by a professional. The pentagram was obviously homemade, and each of the five points was punctuated by circles of reddened and blackened flesh, the crusting skin oozing more plasma and more pus.
"He is a danger, a menace." My voice was a near-shriek. "Maggie is right about him. You should listen to your friend. Please, Nicole, please. You must end this insanity. This fellow will be your ruin."