"You can't approach her with this contempt for her," said Louis. "Let me talk to her. You can't prevent it. You have no right. "
"I will be there when you talk to her," I said coldly. And I meant to keep my word.
When we reached the old house in New Orleans, I knew immediately that Merrick was at home.
Bidding Louis to wait, I went around the property, as I had several nights ago, made certain the caretaker had been sent off, and indeed, he had been, and then I returned to Louis, and I said we could approach the door.
As for Merrick, I knew she was in the front bedroom. The parlor didn't mean much to her. It was Great Nananne's room that she loved.
"I want to go alone," said Louis. "You can wait here, if you wish. "
He was on the porch before I'd moved, but I quickly caught up with him. He opened the unlocked front door, its leaded glass glinting in the light.
Once inside he went into the large front bedroom. I was just behind him.
I saw Merrick, as lovely as ever in a dress of red silk, rise from her rocking chair and fly into his arms.
Every particle of my being was on alert for danger, and my heart was breaking in two. The room was dreamy and sweet with its vigilant candles.
And they loved each other, this pair of beings, Louis and Merrick, there was no denying it. I watched silently as Louis kissed Merrick repeatedly, as he ran his long white fingers through her hair. I watched as he kissed her long throat.
He drew back and he let out a long sigh.
"A spell, is it?" he asked her, but the question was really meant for me. "That I can think of nothing but you, no matter where I go, or what I do? That in each victim I take, I find you? Oh, yes, think on it, Merrick, think on what I do to survive, don't please live in dreams. Think of the awful price of this power. Think of the Purgatory in which I live. "
"Am I with you in that Purgatory?" asked Merrick. "Do I give you some consolation in the very midst of the fire? My days and nights without you have been Purgatory. I understand your suffering. I did before we ever looked into each other's eyes. "
"Tell him the truth, Merrick," I said. I stood apart from them, near the door. "Speak true words, Merrick. He'll know if you're lying. Is this a spell you've put over him? Don't lie to me, either, Merrick. "
She broke away from him for the moment. She looked at me.
"What did I give you with my spell, David?" she said. "Wha
t was it but random visions? Did you feel desire?" She looked again at Louis. "What do you want from me, Louis? To hear that my soul is your slave as surely as your soul is mine? If that's a spell, we've fixed each other with it, Louis. David knows I speak the truth. "
Try as I might, I could find no lie in her. What I found were secrets, and I couldn't crack them open. Her thoughts were too well guarded.
"You play a game," I said. "What is it you want?"
"No, David, you mustn't speak to her in that manner," said Louis, "I won't tolerate it. Go now and let me talk to her. She's safer with me than Claudia ever was or any mortal I've ever touched. Go now, David. Let me alone with her. Or I swear, man, it will be a battle between you and me. "
"David, please," said Merrick. "Let me have these few hours with him; then the rest will be as you wish. I want him here with me. I want to talk to him. I want to tell him that the spirit was a liar. I need to do that slowly, I need an atmosphere of intimacy and trust. "
She came towards me, the red silk rustling as she walked. I caught her perfume. She put her arms around me and I felt the warmth of her naked breasts beneath the thin cloth.
"Go now, David, please," she said, her voice full of gentle emotion, her face compassionate as she looked into my eyes.
Never in all my years of knowing her, wanting her, missing her¡ªhad anything hurt so much as this simple request.
"Go. " I repeated the word in a small voice. "Leave you both together? Go?"
I looked into her eyes for a long moment. How she seemed to suffer, how she seemed to implore me. And then I turned to Louis, who watched with an innocent anxious expression, as if his fate was in my hands.
"Harm her and I swear to you," I said, "your wish for death will be granted. " My voice was low and too full of malice. "I tell you I'm strong enough to destroy you in precisely the way you fear. "
I saw the terrible dismay in his expression.
"It will be by fire," I said, "and it will be slowly, if you harm her. " I paused. Then: "I give you my word. "