He felt it move .
The girl ’ s tongue curled inside his mouth like a snake straining to wrap itself around his . Long icy fingers caressed the back of his neck in a lover ’ s embrace , and the girl ’ s body moved and grinded as if she were trying to crush herself against him . He opened his eyes , opened them wide and tore his lips from hers . She was staring right at him .
“ Hello , William ,” she said , and as she spoke she reached for the glass figurine he had placed at her side . The statue exploded into fragments in her hands . A small shard tore into Will ’ s chest , and as he watched the trickle of blood spill from it , she leaned forward .
Her tongue traced the thin stream that dripped from the gashed skin , and when she raised her face to his , her mouth dripped with his blood . “ Your words have made us one ,” she said as she drew herself to him .
There was something familiar about her voice . Something so familiar …
But she was again searching for his mouth , kissing him hungrily with a mixture of licks , bites , and chews . She pushed him down upon the table and climbed on top of him , her mouth still pressed to his . He pushed her aside and struggled for breath but her mouth again sought his . His eyes had remained open , and his hands slid along her back in an exhausted attempt to hold her off him . He felt something along her spine , a small lump that heaved and bubbled beneath her skin as if something inside were trying to get out . And through his fingers he felt the flesh of her back separate , tear , then explode . A pulpous object that looked like an enormous weed pushed itself out of her and grew like a pulsating tumor behind her .
She straddled on top of him and he saw her silhouetted against the single light that shone from the morgue ’ s ceiling . He heard a sound an umbrella makes when it snaps open , a sound like a huge sheet flapping in the wind .
Wings had sprouted from her back , thin membranous wings that whipped above him , snapping at the air like the wings of a bat , or like those of …
… the shattered figurine ! He felt her hands pressing against his chest , and when he looked at them he knew what he would see . Long , bird-like talons protruded from her fingers , curved spikes that tore at his chest as she spoke .
He wanted to scream , but the scream lodged in his throat .
“ You have given yourself to me ,” she said with sudden calm . “ You have spoken the words of the habar that tie the knot that binds you to me . You have given your body freely to Naiome of En-dor and we are one .”
Viscera must be given willingly to be truly effective ! The necromancer ’ s words echoed in Will ’ s ears . Human entrails given freely , the tools of the woman ' s trade , tools she had claimed were unnecessary in raising the dead . But of course she had lied , and he had offered himself freely to the witch of En-dor , a witch familiar with the power of beauty and love . And of death .
“… And Naiome of En-dor is joined in habar to this beautiful young woman ’ s physical remains !” she cried , as she studied the smooth flesh of the body she now inhabited . She looked down at Will and smiled , but the smile did not contain the child-like innocence of the face on which it appeared . “ It was no simple task to strangle this young woman , William . Not for a woman who is several centuries old ,” she said , speaking of the girl ’ s flesh as if it still belonged to someone else . “ But I had seen this one selling her body on the street not far from my home , and I knew she would not be missed . She had hardly enough time to develop the usual drug habit or many friends . And a young whore has little to fear from an old woman with money to spend . The girl climbed willingly into my car , William , and never questioned why I removed my scarf .”
“ The habar has joined you to her ?” Will asked , and the woman smiled .
“ You have spoken the kasap that binds me to her . Just as it will bind you to me ,” she answered . “… as I knew this girl ’ s body would bind anyone to me , once I had uttered the habar at the feet of her corpse that I left hanging last night at the Interstate Motel . In a few days the police will discover an old woman ’ s corpse on St . David ’ s Street in Wellingdon . Of course , many years ago , that old woman once had been a beautiful young girl who also walked the street late at night , selling the body that would become mine .”
The old witch clearly had learned her craft . Will knew she had taken her knowledge from the biblical hamlet of En-dor to the small local town of Wellington , and whenever old age threatened , she knew the words that would make her beautiful once more . And she was so very beautiful . Will no longer wanted to scream . Now he knew what he had always wanted . And he also knew what Naiome , the witch of En-dor , wanted .
He reached for the girl and did not think of the old woman as he brought her face to his . He had joined love together with death in the words of the kasap he had spoken , and now he would join them together with their bodies . He kissed the girl ’ s warm mouth lightly , and she reclined on the table to lie beside him , her head resting on his shoulder as she stroked his chest . “ Naoime ,” he whispered to the winged creature he held in his arms .
He wanted to speak her name once again before she tore his heart out .