Hey, girl, you've got a serious problem here. The man's a zombie.
"Where's David?" she asked.
"Dougal bound him to the land. He's in the forest, near the dragon." Brian put the knife down and turned back to his book.
She snatched the book out from under his nose and threw it into a corner. Cats scattered and glared at her. Maureen glared back, and they vanished.
Brian still stared at the table. She grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled his face up to meet hers. "Goddamn you, what fucking dragon?"
"David killed a dragon." He spoke slowly and patiently, as if he was talking to a young child. "It belonged to Dougal. Dougal bound David to the land in a blood sacrifice, for revenge." He reached up and squeezed the sides of her hand, forcing her fingers loose from his hair and driving white-hot pain into her pinched nerves.
So that was what was rotting in the forest. Maureen stared into his eyes, forcing him to recognize her. "Take me there. Help me set David free." She massaged her hand, wiggling the fingers until they all worked again.
"Ask Fiona. If she says I can go, I'll show you where he is." He paused for a moment, frowning as if he was almost starting to notice the woman standing in front of him. "If you killed Dougal, you own his lands by right of conquest. That's the law of the Summer Country, as much as there is any law. If David is still alive, you can set him free without my help."
Maureen exploded. "Damn you, I want to find David and Jo and get the fuck out of this freaking place! I need your help!"
"Ask Fiona."
She backed away from him with a sick feeling in her gut. She remembered the tree's picture-show: Fiona dancing around Brian, singing to him, enslaving him.
If you want him, you're going to have to fight for him, the whispering repeated in her head.
How do I fight for a man?
The answer only added to the flip-flops in her belly. She was going to have to seduce him. That was what Fiona's dance had done. Maureen was going to have to turn into Jo. Maureen, the woman who was afraid of men. Maureen, the woman who had just killed a man for raping her. If she wanted Brian's help, she was going to have to break this spell.
The only way was with a spell of her own.
You slept with a monster, to get a chance to kill him. Why the hell can't you seduce the man you love, to save him?
Her head hurt, and her eyes refused to focus.
You. Must. Bed. A. Man.
Just thinking the words made it hard to breathe. Dougal didn't really matter. She knew it had happened, knew a time bomb might be ticking in her belly, but she remembered nothing. She'd switched off that part of her brain and slept right through it.
She remembered Buddy with perfect clarity. He was huge. He was on top of her. He hurt her.
She remembered his face hanging over hers--panting, red, sweaty, the glazed look of animal hunger in his eyes. She remembered sweat dripping off that huge flat cave-man nose like scientists always showed on their Neandertal sketches.
Brian had that nose. So had Dougal, and Liam before him. Sean didn't. Maybe that meant it was for tracking female Old Ones by their smell.
Fear condensed into her bladder. It felt like it would explode any minute, reminding her of the night in her apartment, walking down the hall away from Brian's fading glamour. She remembered how she'd nearly killed herself in the tangle of insanity afterwards, how she'd hated him for tampering with her emotions. And now he ignored her.
If Fiona used a hand pump, she probably had an outhouse. Maureen tried doors in the vain hope for an indoor toilet and found one, just off the kitchen. She emptied herself and sat in the universal refuge, arguing with the voices in her head.
What do you want? they asked.
I want him to help me find David and Jo. I want him to help me find a home. I want him to talk to me. I want him to smile at me. I want him to touch me.
What are the first three words of all those sentences?
I want him.
What was he doing in your dreams, last night?
Maureen clenched her fists, staring at the white knuckles standing out under her flushed skin. He was kissing me, she answered. He was running his hands over my naked body. He was . . .
And you liked every bit of it, in your dreams. Those weren't exactly dreams. Those were Dougal. He didn't hurt you. He didn't even really wake you up. You aren't ten anymore. Your body knows something your brain doesn't. You're a woman now. Most women enjoy sex. We're programmed that way. It's how the species survives.
She wiped cold sweat off her forehead. Give me time, she whimpered.
You don't have time, the surly voices muttered. Fiona will be back here, soon. Once she's here, you've lost him. Lost him forever. If you want him, you'll have to fight for him. You'll have to break her spell.
You’re going to have to bed him.
She stood up and peeled off unbleached toilet paper and searched for a flush lever before noticing it was a composting toilet. Maureen shook her head, unable to visualize tres elegant Fiona shoveling out a year's load of composted shit. The Old One probably witched it directly to her rose beds.
Shut up and quit stalling!
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly," she quoted. "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." And then she shuddered at the unintended pun.
How did a woman seduce a man?
Do what Jo would do, her voices nudged her. You've called her a whore often enough. You've seen her at her work. Learn from the pro. Turn into your evil twin. Let her possess you.
Maureen studied
