Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [109]
He shoved the two of us away from the brazier as Lopez returned to it and reached into its red- hot contents with both hands. He scooped up a pile of glowing coals and washed them sensually over his chest and arms, eyes closed in apparent ecstasy. His skin remained unharmed, though I noticed the falling coals left behind some nasty burn marks on his khaki trousers. Even dry cleaning wouldn’t save those pants after this escapade.
“A bucket of water, Jeff! Now,” I said. “Let’s not wait until he sets the building on fire, huh?”
“Right. Okay. I’ll go get—Whoa! What now?”
Lopez staggered backward, moving with sudden awkwardness. Then he stood still, swaying dizzily.
“Is he okay?” Jeff asked.
“Lopez?” I said, stepping toward him.
Looking as if he suddenly found it difficult just to remain on his feet, he put a hand up to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. He made an inarticulate sound, then shook his head a few times, as if trying to clear it.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Lopez? Can you hear me?”
He collapsed like a marionette whose strings had just been cut. One moment, he was swaying dizzily; the next, he was lying at my feet, head thrown back, eyes closed, body inert.
Lopez lay unconscious on the floor of the hounfour, sprawled out atop the remnants of the vévé of Ogoun that Mambo Celeste had drawn there.
“No! Don’t put him down here,” I said to Jeff as he, Max, and I carried Lopez’s unconscious body into my apartment. “Let’s put him on the bed.”
Max was wheezing from the effort of carrying Lopez up my stairs. He and I each held one leg while Jeff, walking backward, carried the weight of Lopez’s torso and shoulders.
“Give me a minute,” Jeff said, still trying to put down the limp body. “I’ve got the heavy part.”
“Oh, come on.” My back was starting to hurt. “It’s just a few more feet. Keep moving.”
Max said to me, “The detective is heavier than he looks, isn’t he?”
“You’re just tired,” I said.
We’d had to carry Lopez out of the hounfour, up the stairs, and out of the foundation, and then we’d had to carry him down the street until we reached an avenue where we could hail a cab. Stuffing him into the backseat of the taxi had been no easy feat, either; he didn’t bend and fold that easily when he was unconscious. And I thought I had strained something when pulling him back out of the cab upon arrival at my apartment a few minutes ago.
“No, this guy is heavier than he looks.” Jeff shifted Lopez’s weight in his arms, trying to get a better grip on the limp detective, then started backing toward my bedroom. “Good muscle development. Does he have a personal trainer?”
“Hey! Careful with his—” I winced as Lopez’s skull thudded against the doorjamb of my bedroom. “Head.”
“Oops.” Jeff said, “Good thing he’s already unconscious.”
“Yes,” I said tersely. “Everyone knows that a head injury doesn’t really count unless you’re awake for it.”
Max and I shuffled forward awkwardly as the three of us maneuvered the body through the doorway. Lopez’s left arm stuck out at an angle that prevented entry. I reached over to nudge it through the door. As a result, I dropped his leg, unable to retain my hold on it with just one hand. My gris-gris pouch bounced against my chest, making my eyes water.
“Goddamn it!” I said. “Where the hell is Biko?” The young athlete’s strength would certainly have been useful in this endeavor, but we hadn’t seen him since our meeting in the training room.
“And what happened to Puma?” Jeff added as he and Max hauled Lopez to the bed and, with one last burst of effort, dumped him onto it. “I didn’t see her at all at the ritual, and she’s the only reason I went! We sure could’ve used her help. She probably has some idea what to do with someone who’s become a shovel.”
“Cheval,” Max wheezed, sitting down on the bed to catch his breath.
“Whatever.”
I glanced at Max with concern as I climbed onto the bed beside Lopez and started trying to arrange him more comfortably. “Jeff, get him a glass of water.”
“The boy just drank about a gallon of rum.” Jeff eyed Lopez. “Do you really think