"No I didn't."

"You most certainly did."

"Why would I say that? She's not my fiancee."

"You tell me. A Freudian slip maybe?"

"Why don't you just shut up and drive? Take me home."

He signaled left and turned on Broadway. I rooted myself into my seat and crossed my arms at my chest. I spent the rest of the ride wondering if I really called Ursula my fiancee, or if Carlos was just s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me. I decided it was Carlos s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g me. I had to. Otherwise, I would have to submit to his armchair psychoa.n.a.lyses. And frankly, he is better at it than I care to admit.

TEN.

Lilith and Ursula made a great dinner that night: baked lasagna, garlic bread and tossed salad with red wine. Of course, the lasagna came from the frozen foods aisle, the garlic bread from a poppin' fresh can and the salad from a plastic bag of ready-mix a.s.sorted veggies. And though the wine came in a box, it was crisp, bright and refreshing. Overall, a delicious meal.

Lilith set the mood by placing a dozen white candles about the room, all representing the purity of our new coven. The unusual thing about them was how the wicks burned blue with a white-hot tip on the flames. She said it was an indication that our unity was strong, as the flames fed off the aura of the coven. I have to admit, I could feel the energy around me like never before. I told her so, and when she touched me, a tiny spark shot from her fingertip to the back of my hand.

Ursula took care of the incense, blending a delicate mix or jasmine and cinnamon with a hint of musk for a natural outdoorsy scent, reminiscent of a summer's night in a cool forest. Echoes of nature murmured in the background, the sounds lifting like whispers off the CD Lilith used in our coven ceremony.

After dinner, we retreated to the living room. There, we sipped more wine, toyed with some level one spells for the fun of it, and talked about the old days.

For me, of course, the old days were my rookie years, memories stretching back a mere forty years or so. Lilith's memories reached back further. She recounted a time in the mid 1800's when she helped a band of runaway slaves make safe pa.s.sage along the underground railroad all the way to New Castle.

"They knew I was a witch," she told us, laughing some, perhaps remembering the antics she played on them along the way. "And I know they were afraid of me." Her smile waned and her gaze grew distant. "I was so much younger then," she said. "Fifteen maybe. A real fifteen. I guess I didn't truly understand what they were running from. Then at some point I realized, as afraid as they were of me, they were more afraid of their masters catching up with them. Can you imagine that?"

She looked at me, sorrow welling in her eyes. For the first time I understood what it meant to live a lifetime of do-over's, what a second and third lifetime can do to a soul. I started to reach for her hand, but she shook it off like a pup shedding water from her coat.

"Wow," she said. "Crazy stuff, huh?"

I smiled thinly. "Yeah. Crazy stuff."

When I asked Ursula to share her thoughts about the old days, she simply lowered her head and gestured unease over the question. I watch her black bangs spill into her eyes and upon her face.

"I have no days of old," she said softly. "Save for those long pa.s.sed what seem recent to me now. And what memories they are, I cannot bear: the Indians, the cold winters, the persecutions and the hangings." She turned her head to me, parting her bangs with her fingertips. "Art these the days of old ye wish me to share?"

"No," I said, feeling stupid for not thinking her situation through. "They are not. I'm sorry."

I looked into her eyes, reading her pain, connecting with her for as long as I could before she dropped her hand again, spilling her bangs once more to veil her face.

We found little else to talk about after that. So we finished the wine, blew out the candles and went to sleep in our separate rooms.

Sometime in the night, Ursula came to me, riding on moonlight stealing through my window. She presented herself freely, naked, but for the witch's key around her neck. Though the key was cold, her skin felt hot against my body. I kicked the covers to my feet. She laid her head on my pillow, caressed me with a teasing touch, drawing me to the brink and backing off before I came.

I asked her what she wanted. She did not reply. She knew I knew. Her kisses dropped like rain upon my chin. They drizzled down my neck and chest and lower still to a point of bated antic.i.p.ation. I traced my fingers along her cheek and across the back of her neck. She cooed softly before taking me. I gasped. My legs stiffened. My toes splayed. She pulled back slowly, disengaging with a kiss. I relaxed and she returned, repeating and continuing with variations, always withdrawing with that gentle kiss.

Once more, she took me to the brink. I whimpered an audible sigh, wanting the warmth of her breath around me again. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder, straddled and received me. Something inside me ignited. I cared not of the consequences. I let the heat of the moment melt all apprehensions. Defy all reason. I reached for her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, filled my hands and squeezed. She hissed, then smiled. I coaxed her down and she kissed me, the sweet taste of wine still lingering upon her lips, the smell of jasmine mingling in her hair.

"Ready?" she said, the Devil's smile in her eyes.

"I am," I said. "I'm ready."

And I was. I was ready to take her all the way. Ready to deliver. We fell into a steady rhythm, a balance of pa.s.sion and fury synchronized to our quickening heartbeat.

"Now." I told her, and I closed my eyes as I neared climax. "I'm ready. I'm coming. I'm...."

I opened my eyes and she was gone. I sprang from bed. My heart racing. Sweat rolling from every pore in my body. I looked across the room. The hanger on the back of the door remained undisturbed.

She had not gone. She had never been there.

I fell back onto my pillow and gazed up at the ceiling. "It seemed so real," I said, whispering to convince myself I was indeed awake now. I laughed lightly, until a sinking feeling in my belly told me it was wrong. Wrong to have erotic dreams about Spinelli's fiancee. Wrong to harbor subconscious feelings for Ursula that my conscience cannot accept. And wrong to think that Lilith is not the very essence that justifies my existence. Because that part I know is true.

As my heartbeat returned to something resembling normal, I closed my eyes and tried to steer my thoughts to the case that Carlos, Spinelli and I were working on. I might have succeeded, had I not run my hand down my chest and over something wet. I smeared it across my stomach, lifting my hand and feeling it slip between my fingers.

I got out of bed, took a shower and tried again ten minutes later. Better luck found me then. I fell asleep.

The next morning over coffee, I told Lilith I had a dream as real as life itself. I did not tell her what that dream was about, but from the look on her face, I suspected she knew.

"Your mind is in a heightened state of awareness," she told me. "The power of the coven is with you always now. Everything you do from here on, you will do with greater exception. You will draw your energy from the coven when you need it most and contribute to it when you do not."

"But this dream," I said, "it seemed so real. I could see, smell and taste everything as if I were experiencing the moment just as clearly as you and I are here now."

"I know. That's how it works."

I shook my head. "I don't think I like that."

"Don't worry. You will get used to it."

Ursula came into the kitchen then, turned the corner and stopped abruptly. I saw the surprise on her face as she regarded me from across the room. I forced a guilty smile.

"Good morning, Ursula," I said. "Sleep well?"

She gathered her hands and folded them tightly to her chest. "Aye, and thee?" she said shyly.

A sense of dread consumed me. She knew. I could not imagine how, but I just knew that every sordid detail of my dream came to her as our eyes locked and found focus on each other. I begged her silently not to let on, hoping our minds were as much in tune as my gut instincts told me they were. Lilith noticed the unusual exchange and commented, "Something wrong?"

We both looked at her. "No," I said. But I didn't think she bought it.

"Nay," Ursula answered, shaking her head and smiling convincingly. "Naught but a cup of tea shan't fix."

She crossed the room in a gentle sweep, her eyes down, her hands still clutched above her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I took that as my cue and announced my retreat, explaining that Carlos would be there soon to pick me up. Lilith kissed me on the lips, and in backing away, I noticed a curious look in her eyes.

"What?" I asked. "Is something the matter?"

She leaned in again and sniffed my hair. "Hmm, jasmine," she said, and smiled. "Smells nice."

I smiled back, looked at Ursula and noticed her smiling, too. "Yeah, well...." I picked up my coffee and finished the last sip before taking the cup to the sink. "I guess I'll see you."

She watched me out the door. Only G.o.d knows what the two of them talked about after I left. Knowing Lilith, she likely had a good laugh over it. And knowing Ursula, she likely did not.

I sat out on the front stoop for maybe ten minutes before Carlos came by to pick me up in a company sedan. I asked him where his Vette was.

"Getting rigged with dash lights and a siren," he said.

"You're outfitting your Corvette for work?"

"Sure. Why not?"

I dismissed it without cause. "No reason."

He came back. "Want to stop for breakfast?"

I knew his question was just a formality. If he was driving, we were stopping. I told him sure, why not. He turned down Jefferson and headed for the Perc.

Though admittedly, I did not have much of an appet.i.te when I agreed to his request, once at the restaurant, I decided to order a two-egg omelet with toast and coffee. This, because Carlos ordered up his usual breakfast; three eggs scrambled, four bacon strips, two pancakes, hash brown potatoes, rye toast and jam with orange juice. I figured if I was going to sit there and watch him eat, I had better eat something myself. Otherwise, I might feel as if I were watching a condemned man finish his last meal. He puts that much dedication into it.

"Tell me again about the oil thing," he said, pausing only briefly between mouthfuls of egg and bacon.

"What?"

"The other night. You and Ursula. You didn't tell me how long it lasted. Was it like all night?"

"No. It was not all night. Besides, the amazing thing was what happened when we slipped into the black mirror. Why don't you ask me about that?"

He shook his head. "Not as interesting. I'm more interested in naked women."

"Forget it. It's too embarra.s.sing, especially after what happened yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?"

I shook my head. "I shouldn't say."

"You have to now. You brought it up."

"I don't know."

"Tony. Tell me what happened. What? Did Ursula walk in on you taking a c.r.a.p or something?"

"No, but you're close."

He dropped his fork. "Oh, this is juicy. Come on. You have my attention now."

"Okay, but you cannot tell Spinelli."

"Tony, please. Do I look like a tattle tale?"

I felt a twinge of regret for wanting to tell him, but I had to tell someone. If for no other reason than to clear my conscience. Besides, he had kept quiet about the oiling incident. I figured I could trust him on this one, too.

"I walked in on Ursula," I said. "In the bath."

"Nooo."

"And I was naked."

"Naked? Tony. Are you insane? Lilith would kill you for less."

"I didn't do it on purpose. I had no idea she was home. Remember yesterday when that cruiser soaked me out front at work?"

"You? h.e.l.l, I'm getting wet just listening to this."

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

"All right, but give me details."

"It was perfectly innocent. I went home to shower and change. Lilith had called me earlier to tell me she was going shopping. Naturally, I a.s.sumed Ursula would go with her."

"Naturally."

"Yeah, well she didn't. I got home, stripped naked at the front door, grabbed a towel and walked into the bathroom."

"And?"

"And Ursula was in the tub taking a bubble bath."

"Awesome. Wait." He closed his eyes and drew a mental picture of the incident in his mind. "Okay. Got it. Continue?"

"What the h.e.l.l was that?"

"What?"

"You were thinking of Ursula in the tub naked. Weren't you?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So stop it."

"Why?"

"I don't like it. You know Lilith looks just like Ursula. When you picture Ursula naked you picture Lilith naked, too."

"What, are you Dominic now?"

"No. I just don't like you picturing my girlfriend naked."