After Dark (10 page)

A
s the sun began to sink behind the towering skyscrapers, the undead in the service of Sister Midnight awakened from their daylong hibernation and immediately set to work preparing their mistress’s place of business for that evening’s fashion show. There was much to be done before the doors of the store opened at the witching hour.

The racks and shelves containing merchandise were moved aside to clear a space for the presentation stage and catwalk. The audience seated closest to the catwalk was given padded chairs, while those farther back had to make do with folding chairs set on metal risers.

Draperies were hung from the ceiling to block off the rear of the stage so no one could see the models before they appeared on the catwalk. The sound system was set up and tested for feedback and to make sure the announcer—none other than Sister Midnight herself—could be heard over the music playing in the background.

“There you are, dear!” Sister Midnight exclaimed, hurrying to greet Cally. She was wearing a wireless headset and held another out for Cally. “Put this on immediately! The dressers know to take orders from you if there are any problems backstage.”

“What kind of problems?” Cally asked as she put on the headset.

“Broken zippers, late models…” Sister Midnight said, beginning a long list of possible disasters. “You know: the usual.”

At their best, fashion shows are as perfectly timed as the finest Swiss watches. If everything goes as planned, the models strut down the runway, impressing the audience with their impassive stares, perfectly coiffed hair, and flawless makeup as well as their taste in clothes. Everything is cunningly designed to make it all seem as effortless, simple, and easy as putting on clothes and walking down the street. As if!

Cally already knew that backstage at a fashion show was supposed to be chaotic, but actually being dumped into the middle of it—and being expected to answer questions and solve problems—was something else entirely. Cally made her way behind the curtains to the models’ staging area, crowded with clothing racks and makeup tables. The dressers were flittering around their assigned models, adjusting belts, buttons, zippers, and shoe straps like drones in a hive, each in the service of a queen bee.

Cally saw a dresser busily scraping the bottoms of a pair of Prada high heels with a scissors blade so that her model wouldn’t slide on the runway. The undead servant didn’t so much as glance up as she walked by.

After a little bit of looking, she finally found Melinda, who was being helped into a strapless gown in burnt-orange silk. Mustard-yellow velvet ribbons were sewn across the bodice, and Melinda’s dresser was fluffing them out carefully, per Cally’s earlier instructions.

“You look wonderful!” Cally said.

“I’m so jittery!” Melinda said as the dresser carefully slid a pearl-studded heel onto her foot. “What if I get out there and fall down?”

“It’s a
catwalk,
Melly!” Cally laughed, patting her friend on the shoulder. “What could be more natural for you? Just go out there and wow them with your feline grace!”

“Thanks, Cally.” Melinda smiled. “You always know what to say!”

“Places, girls! Places!” Sister Midnight darted back and forth amid the pandemonium, shouting orders into the headset. “The doors are going to be opening in a few minutes, and I need everyone lined up in order! Cally, make a final pass to make sure everyone looks like they should!”

Cally walked up and down the lineup of impossibly beautiful, perfectly coiffed, immaculately made-up young women dressed in her original creations, making minor adjustments, tweaking collars, and straightening seams as she went.

As she approached the head of the line, she paused. Lilith, dressed in a black silk shift dress decorated with hand-painted abstract flowers, was submitting to the ministrations of her dresser with a passivity Cally would never have imagined possible. It was like watching a fierce bronco meekly surrender to the currycomb of a stable hand.

“I wanted to thank you for agreeing to be a part of the show,” Cally said. “It means a lot to Sis—and to me, too.”

“Yeah, well—you
did
save my dad’s life,” Lilith said.

“Cally! Come here!” Sister Midnight called. “Take a look at this turnout!”

Cally gasped as she peeked out at the audience. They were already close to maximum capacity, and the doors to the store had been open for only a few minutes. Baron Metzger was seated near the front, chatting with a handsome, well-dressed man she didn’t recognize. She also saw Bella and Bette flanking a dark-haired woman she assumed was their mother. She looked around, hoping Lucky was there as well, but she didn’t see him. She recognized a good number of her fellow students from Bathory Academy, but not in a way that made her feel warm and fuzzy. Sitting close to the runway were Lilith’s newest running mates, Armida Aitken and Lula Lumley.

“We must have close to a hundred out there!” Sister Midnight whispered.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Cally asked uncertainly.

“It’s a
very
good thing, my dear! It’s a record for this store! And to have this kind of turnout for a new designer is
unheard
of. Some of my customers have come from as far as Paris!”

Cally shook her head in disbelief. Everything was happening so quickly. If someone had told her three months ago that she would be having her very first fashion show in the most prestigious vampires-only boutique in the city, she would have called them crazy. But here she was, doing just that. She only wished her mother and grandmother could be sharing it with her. Then again, they probably wouldn’t have been allowed to enter the building.

“Which one of them is Lady Elysia?” Lilith asked. She had left her place in the lineup to sneak a peek at the audience.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lilith!” Sister Midnight said, feigning regret. “But Lady Elysia can’t make it tonight. She called earlier to inform me that something had come up.”

“What do you mean, she’s not here?” Lilith said angrily. “You
promised
she would be here!”

“I said no such thing,” Sister Midnight replied curtly. “However, if you wish to back out of the show, you’re free to do so. Otherwise, get back in line until I call your name.”

Lilith glanced out at the waiting crowd. As much as she wanted to meet Lady Elysia, that wasn’t her only reason for walking the runway. Plain and simple, she needed a fix. She had gotten a taste of what it was like to be a model with Kristof, and she was hungry for more. Grudgingly, she rejoined the lineup.

“Lock and load, ladies!” Sister Midnight grinned. “It’s showtime!”

The volume on the techno music blaring from the speakers dropped down to a subsonic throb as the curtains parted and Sister Midnight, dressed in a narrow gold lamé jacket and a pair of black skinny jeans, strode out onto the stage. There was a burst of applause from the audience, which Sister Midnight paused to accept, waving and blowing kisses to her friends. Once the clapping died down, she took her place behind the podium at the foot of the presentation stage and looked out at the assembled spectators.

“Good evening, my friends!” she said, opening her arms wide to embrace the entire room. “And welcome to my humble shop! It is my privilege to introduce to you tonight the maiden collection of a uniquely talented young woman—one already known to most of you, if for a very different reason. I will not say any more about Cally Monture, for I believe the clothes you are about to see speak for themselves. Now, without further ado—ladies and gentlemen,
meine Damen und Herren, mesdames et monsieurs
—I give you the future of fashion!”

The music swelled as Lilith stepped out from backstage and strode toward the catwalk. The moment she set foot on the runway, her fellow students from Bathory jumped to their feet and began applauding and cheering.

Lilith looked out at the hungry, eager faces in the crowd and felt the emptiness within her begin to fill. As the audience focused its attention on her, it didn’t see the girl whose mother refused to love her and whose father alternately indulged and ignored her. Instead, it saw a shining, golden girl, a vamp born into immense wealth and privilege who commanded the envy and respect of everyone around her. And when all eyes were focused on her, she truly did feel that she really
was
the icon everyone thought she was. This fleeting glory was infinitely better than the cheap thrills she used to get from peeking at herself in a compact mirror.

As she made her turn at the end of the runway, Lilith felt a tiny spike of fear. Her brief moment in the spotlight was about to be over. She wanted, no,
needed
those eyes trained on her, alternately feeding off her and willing her into existence. She felt that if it didn’t continue, she would start collapsing on herself, dwindling away like the Wicked Witch of the West doused with a bucket of water.

As she headed back up the runway, she could see the next model already headed down the catwalk. Lilith was sorely tempted to trip her as they passed each other but held back, knowing it would be a bad move.

“Quick! Get her out of that outfit and into the gown!” Sister Midnight barked.

One of the dressers hurried forward and took Lilith back to the clothing rack where the white chiffon gown awaited her arrival. Lilith allowed herself to be undressed like a giant doll, just like she used to let Esmeralda clothe and groom her when she was a little girl. The attention focused on her by the dresser wasn’t nearly as potent as that from the audience, but it would do until she could plug into the real thing yet again.

The second model had finished her walk and was already backstage, and the third girl—a statuesque brunette dressed in a sexy herringbone corset worn with a narrow tweed skirt—was headed for the runway. The fourth model in line, nervously awaiting her cue from Sister Midnight, was Melinda, who was positively stunning. Careful to make sure no one was looking, Lilith stealthily placed her Louboutin on the train of her ex-friend’s dress.

“Melinda! Evangeline is making her turn!” Sister Midnight announced. “Get ready to step out!”

Melinda moved forward, only to freeze upon hearing the sound of ripping fabric.

“Oops! I’m
so
sorry, Melly!” Lilith said with an exaggerated look of dismay on her face. “I didn’t realize I was standing on your gown!”

“My
ass
, you didn’t!” Melinda growled.

“Never mind whose fault it is!” Sister Midnight barked. “Nadja—you’re next!” she said, pointing at the model standing behind Melinda. “Someone get some stitches on that gown!”

“That’s okay, I’ll handle it,” Cally said, taking the needle and thread from Melinda’s dresser.

“I
knew
that bitch was going to pull some kind of shit tonight!” Melinda fumed under her breath.

“Hold still, Melly—I don’t have time to repair this properly,” Cally said as she knelt beside her. “I’ll have to baste it and just hope it doesn’t show on the runway. As for Lilith: forget her.”

“I’m trying.” Melinda sniffed. “Really trying.”

“There you go!” Cally said, standing back up. “It’s not perfect, but it should do until I can fix it later.”

“Thanks!” Melinda said, kissing the air beside Cally’s cheek. “You’re a lifesaver—again!”

“Okay, Melinda—you’re next!” Sister Midnight said.

Cally hurried back so she could watch the show and was pleased to hear the chorus of “oohs” and “aahs” that arose from the audience as Melinda appeared on the runway. No one noticed the last-minute repair job, and the dress got the biggest applause of the evening so far.

She glanced over her shoulder at Lilith, who was awaiting her final turn on the catwalk. She wished things could be different between them, but right now if the worst Lilith did was inflict minor wardrobe malfunctions on her fellow models, then Cally took it as a positive sign. Maybe, just maybe, her sister was finally starting to mellow out—if such a thing were possible.

“
Oooooh
! That was so
incredible
!” Melinda exclaimed as she returned backstage. “Thank you for making that possible!” she said, throwing her arms around Cally’s neck.

“You’re welcome.” Cally laughed. “And you were
amazing,
Melly! I mean it!”

“Lilith—get ready to take your mark!”

“How do I look?” Lilith whispered to Sister Midnight.

“Like the goddess you are,” she replied. “Now get out there and walk it like you own it!”

There was a collective gasp of awe from the crowd as Lilith stepped out onto the runway. The applause that arose to greet her as she made her way down the catwalk was almost deafening. The thrill Lilith had gotten the first time was nothing compared to what she was experiencing now. Her heart surged in her chest as if spliced into a high-voltage wire.

Lilith smiled as she turned and headed back to join the other models in a victory lap around the catwalk. Sharing the stage with the other ten models wasn’t nearly as satisfying as walking it alone, but it still felt pretty damn good.

Backstage, Sister Midnight turned to Cally and took her by the hand. “It’s time for you to meet your public, my dear.”

“Not yet—I’m not ready!” Cally protested, hanging back. “I look horrible!”

“Nonsense! You look
fabulous
!” Sister Midnight insisted as she dragged Cally out onto the stage. “See? What did I tell you?” Sister Midnight shouted as the cream of Old Blood society got to their feet, delivering a standing ovation so loud it made the rafters shake. “They
love
you, darling!”

“
Cal-lee! Cal-lee! Cal-lee!
”

Not that long ago, she had been dismissed as a lowly New Blood unworthy of notice, then reviled as a half-human mongrel. Now the exact same people who made every school night living torture were shouting her name and hailing her as a genius. After a lifetime spent pretending she was something she was not, it felt good to finally be accepted for what she was, very good indeed. In fact, the last time she felt this kind of acceptance was from Peter.