Blood Ties

Chapter 11

I need to find Tommy's house. I know he lives round here somewhere, it said so on his card.

The streets of Cannaregio were a maze, made worse by the listless darkness and the treacherous slickness of the snow. The blackshirt officer's footsteps were dogged behind her and her breath seemed to burn in her throat. 

It was an old building, converted into flats. Damiana stepped inside the entrance hall and leaned against the wall, shaking, snow dripping from her shoes and onto the marble floor. Still breathing hard, she barreled up the stairs to Tommy's place. Please let him be in.

"Tommy!" Damiana hit his door with the heel of her hand. "Tommy! Open up!"

"Just gimme a second, cuz. One second." There were shuffling noises from inside, and then Tommy was standing at the door in a set of blue silk pyjamas, the jacket open to the navel.

"Tommy! I need your help!"

Tommy looked her up and down. "If that's the way you wanna play it," he said. "Let's do this."

With a smooth motion, he hooked his hands round the backs of her thighs and lifted her, as if she weighed no more than a child, until her knees were level with his shoulders.

"Tommy!" Damiana clutched at the wall behind her. "What the fuck?"

"It's fine, baby." Tommy peered round her belly, grinning. "Just relax. I got this."

"No, Tommy." Damiana pushed back on his face. "Seriously, there's a guy after me."

"Ohhh." Tommy set her down, drawing a pistol from the waist of his pyjama pants. He wiped his forehead. "Thank fuck for that."

Damiana was barely inside Tommy's flat when the officer staggered through the door on the ground floor, which slammed against the wall, glass pane cracking. She peered past Tommy, whose shoulders had tensed.

Tommy sucked air in through his teeth. "Hey!" he called. "You!"

The sotto capo looked up, still holding his arm, the black material of his jacket shiny and wet. Tommy advanced, his pistol behind his back.

"Sir," said the officer. "I'm in pursuit of a fugitive. A pregnant woman. She attacked me with a knife. If you hand her over now, I won't implicate you."

"Well now," said Tommy, head tilted to one side. "Isn't that an offer. Here's my counter. You come upstairs, and we patch you up."

There was a moment of tension as the officer stared at Tommy, and then his expression softened. "Yes," he said. "I'll come upstairs."

He can do that? Damiana sank back against the wall in something like relief. He's not even a vampire.