George R.R. Martin - Down and Dirty

Book 5 of Wildcards

Edited by George R.R. Martin

ISBN: 0-553-27463-5

Brennan moved through the autumnal night as if he were part of it, or it were part of him.

The fall had brought a coolness to the air that reminded Brennan, however palely, of the Catskills. He missed the mountains more than almost anything, but as long as Kien was free they were as unattainable as the ghosts of dead friends and lovers that had lately come to haunt his dreams. He loved the mountains as surely as he loved all the people hed failed down through the years, but who could love the dirty sprawl of the city? Who could even know the city, could even know Jokertown? Not him, certainly, but Kiens presence bound him to Jokertown as solidly as chains of adamantine steel.

He crossed the street, entering the half block of urban debris that bordered the Crystal Palace. With the sixth sense of the hunter he could feel eyes follow him as he passed through the wreckage. He shifted the canvas bag that carried his broken-down bow to a more comfortable position, wondering, not for the first time, what sort of creatures chose to make the mounds of junk their home. Once or twice he heard twittering rustles that werent the wind and glimpsed flashes of movement that werent shifting moonshadow, but no one interfered as he swung up onto the rusted fire escape hanging down the Palaces rear wall. He climbed silently to the roof, went through the security system that would have given him pause if Chrysalis hadnt keyed him to it, and entered through the trapdoor that opened on the Palaces third floor, Chrysaliss private domain. The corridor was totally dark, but he avoided, by memory the delicate stands cluttered with antique bric-a-brac and let himself into her bedroom. Chrysalis was awake. Sitting naked on her plush winecolored fainting couch, she was playing solitaire with a deck of antique playing cards.

Brennan watched her for a moment. Her skeleton, her ghostly musculature, her internal organs, and the network of blood vessels that laced through it all were delicately lit by rosy light from the Tiffany lamp hanging above the couch upon which shed spread her cards. He watched the articulated skeleton of her hand flip through the deck and turn over the ace of spades.

She looked up at him and smiled.

Her smile, like Chrysalis herself, was an enigma. Difficult to read because her face was only lips and smudges of ghostly muscle on her cheeks and jaw, it could have meant any of the thousand things a smile could mean. Brennan chose to interpret it as a welcome.

Its been some time. She looked at him critically. Long enough for you to start a beard.

Brennan closed the door and set his bow case against the wall. Ive had business, he said, his voice soft and deep. Yes. Her smile continued until Brennan could no longer ignore the edge in it. Some of which interfered with mine. There was no doubt as to what she referred. Several weeks ago, on Wild Card Day, Brennan had broken up a meeting at the Palace at which Chrysalis was brokering a very valuable set of books that included Kiens personal diary. Brennan, hoping that volume had enough evidence in it to nail Kiens damnable hide to the wall, had eventually gotten it for himself, but it had proven to be worthless. All the writing in it had been destroyed.

Im sorry, he said. I needed that diary.

Yes, she repeated. Ghostly muscles bunched, indicating a frown. And youve read it?

Brennan hesitated a beat. Yes.

And youll not be adverse to sharing the information in it?

It was more of a demand than a request. It would do no good, Brennan thought, to tell her the truth. She probably would think he was trying to keep it all to himself. Possibly.

In that case I suppose I coud forgive you, she said in a not-very-forgiving voice. She gathered her cards together slowly, careful of their age and value, and set them aside on a spider-legged table that stood next to the couch. She leaned back languorously, her nipples bobbing on invisible pads of flesh whose warmth and firm texture Brennan knew well.

Ive brought you something, Brennan said conciliatorily. Its not information but something you might like almost as well.

He sat down on the edge of the couch, reached into the pocket of his denim jacket, and handed Chrysalis a small, clear envelope. When she reached out to take it, her warm, invisible thigh touched, then rested on, Brennans own.

Its a Penny Black, he said, as she held the glassine envelope up to the light. The worlds first postage stamp. Mint, in perfect condition. Rather rare in that state, rather valuable. The portrait is an engraving of Queen Victoria.

Very nice. She smiled her enigmatic smile. I wont ask you where you got it.

Brennan smiled in response, said nothing. He knew that she knew perfectly well where hed gotten it. Hed asked Wraith for it when they were inspecting the stockbooks full of rare stamps shed heisted from Kiens safe, the same safe from which shed removed his diary during the early hours of Wild Card Day. Wraith had felt bad that Brennan hadnt gotten what hed wanted from the worthless diary and had gladly given him the stamp when hed asked for it.

Well, I hope you like it. Brennan stood and stretched as Chrysalis set the envelope aside on her stack of cards. It had been a long day and he was tired. He went to the sidetable by Chrysaliss canopied four-poster bed and lifted the decanter of Irish whiskey that she kept there for him. He looked at it, frowned, and put it down. He rejoined Chrysalis on the couch.

She edged forward lithely and covered his body with hers. He drank in the musky, sexual scent of her perfume and watched the blood rush through the carotid artery in her neck. Change your mind about the drink? she asked softly. The decanter was empty.

Chrysalis drew back a little, stared into his questioning eyes.

You only drink amaretto. It was a statement, not a question. She nodded.

Brennan sighed. When I first came to you, I only wanted information. I didnt want anything personal between us. You started that. If its to continue and become meaningful, I have to be the only one in your bed. Its the way I am. Its the only way I can give myself to anyone.

Chrysalis stared at him for several seconds before replying. Whomever else I sleep with is no concern of yours, she finally drawled in the British accent that Brennan, with his ear for languages, knew was faked.

He nodded. Then Id better be going. He stood and turned.

Wait. She stood too. They looked at each other for a long moment, and when she spoke, it was in a conciliatory voice. At least have your drink. Ill go downstairs and fill the decanter. You can have your drink and we we can talk.

Brennan was tired and had no other place in Jokertown he wanted to be. All right, he said softly. Chrysalis wrapped herself in a silk kimono spattered with whisps of smoke shaped like galloping horses and left him with a smile that was more shy than enigmatic.

Brennan paced the room, watching his image shift across the myriad antique mirrors that decorated the walls of Chrysaliss bedchamber. He should get out, he told himself, and leave well enough alone, but Chrysalis was as fascinating out of bed as in it. His best intentions to the contrary, he knew that he needed her companionship and, he admitted to himself, her love.

It had been more than ten years since hed allowed himself to love a woman, but as hed been discovering since his arrival in Jokertown, the emotions that he allowed himself werent the only ones he felt. He couldnt live on hate alone. He didnt know if he could love Chrysalis as hed loved the French-Vietnamese wife whom hed lost to Kiens assassins. He didnt even want to love a woman while he was on Kiens trail, but despite all his fixity of purpose, despite his Zen training, what he wanted and what actually happened were often two entirely different things.