Lilith - TI3 (40 page)

"Now, now, Bertie," admonished Lilith. "Mr. Perez is a guest here. We don’t want him to feel unwanted."

"Sorry, boss."

Everyone knew she wasn’t.

"So, what is it I can do for you, Mr. Perez?" asked Lilith, leading him through the room toward her table in the corner. Several women turned to stare at them and frowned.

"I thought men weren’t allowed in here!" yelled one from across the room.

Lilith stopped to stare at her and then the other occupants. The grumbling stopped although the low whispers were indicative of the discontent permeating the room. Motioning to the chairs around the table, the club owner signaled to Agra to bring some drinks. When three Budweisers were set on the table, Freddie and the two men frowned, wondering how they knew what beer they liked.

"It’s a common preference for men," replied Lilith as if reading his thoughts.

Freddie looked up at the tall, dark-haired woman with the black eyes. Slowly his gaze wondered from her face, down her body and then back up. Licking his lips crudely, he imagined what it would be like to fuck her.

"You wouldn’t last two seconds."

"Huh?"

"Fucking me. You wouldn’t last two seconds," she said, sitting down and crossing her long legs.

"How did..."

"That’s all men like you ever think about. I have to admit, it’s the one thing that’s consistent with your type."

Being a pimp, Freddie didn't like women talking down to him. Knowing his two men were witnessing the disrespect made it worse.

"Ok. So you want to play games, eh, Miss..."

"Lilith."

"Lilith. Well, Lilly, I’m here to clear up a few things."

"Ah. I’m intrigued, Mr. Perez, but I don't believe you hear well. The name's Lilith. L..I..L..I..T..H. Just in case you can't spell. Now, what is it you think needs clearing up?"

Ignoring her sarcasm, Freddie looked at his fingernails and stroked them slowly with his thumb.

"Let’s say we need an understanding. You keep your whores away from mine and we’ll get along fine."

"
My
whores?"

"Don’t play games with me... the Sisterhood."

Lilith laughed.

"Agra!" she called. "Would you come over here?"

Freddie watched the bartender swagger toward them. The orange hair with the purple tips made her look like a punk rocker.

"What’s up boss?"

"Agra, Mr. Perez here seems to think I am the Sisterhood’s pimp."

"You?" Turning to the other barkeeper, a short plump woman, she called out. "Hey Mudy, this guy thinks the boss runs the Sisterhood."

Several women choked on their drinks and the sound of coughing filled the room. Others snickered and stared at Freddie as if he had grown horns or something. Mudy gave him the finger and went back to making drinks. Turning red, Freddie felt his anger growing.

"Look, lady. We can settle this nicely or I can come back here with a few extra men and be not so nice," he threatened, looking first at Lilith and then Agra. When their eyes momentarily flared a brilliant red, he swallowed nervously. The bartender noticed the action and chuckled. There was no humor in her laughter. Placing her palms on the table, Agra leaned down, her face just inches from his.

"
I
own the Sisterhood... and I don’t take threats well," she hissed, her hot breath fanning his cheek.

Freddie jerked back and reached up to touch his face. It felt hot and tender like a mild sunburn.

"Hey. My mistake. I’m just trying to be reasonable and protect my investment. Like I said, you stay on your turf and I’ll stay on mine. That’s all I’m saying."

"I tell you what, Mr. Perez. I’ll think about it. In the meantime I’d suggest you call your goons back from the hospital before they end up like the ones I had to take care of earlier today."

Startled, Freddie wasn’t sure what to say.

"I... uh... I don’t know what you mean," he stammered.

"Oh. I’m sorry. Perhaps I’m mistaken. I thought you sent some of your men to the hospital to get Candy and my whore," snarled Agra, curling her upper lip slightly.

When he didn’t respond, the demoness straightened up and glared down at him. Later Freddie would swear her eyes were the color of blood.

"I was jus... just making sure they were ok. That’s... all."

"How nice. Well, maybe you should call the guys and ask them to drop the girls off here, since you are being so... thoughtful."

"Yeah. Sure."

Taking out his cell phone, he punched in a number, glancing at the bartender nervously.

"Cooley. When you pick them up, bring the whore to Lilith’s Den."

"Bring
both
of them," ordered Agra.

"But Candy belongs to me."

"Not any more. She joined the Sisterhood today. She’s mine!"

"You can’t..."

"What?" demanded the demoness, quietly threatening.

"Nothing. Cooley, bring them both here... No I’m not kidding... just do it."

Before he could hang up, Lilith reached over and took the phone from his hand. Smiling graciously, she put it to her lips.

"Oh... and Cooley, if you lay a finger on them... if you so much as look at them wrong, I will personally cut off your hands and feed them to you one finger at a time."

The threat was said so calmly that everyone who heard it knew the club owner was serious. Handing the phone back to Freddie, Lilith stood up and smiled. Freddie could feel something almost evil behind it.

"Now, Mr. Perez. You rudely pushed your way into my club, threatened my bouncer, who happens to be a good friend of mine, with a gun and then threatened me. Four of your men were sent to kidnap members of the Sisterhood and kill them. Oh, by the way, you will need to replace Cooley. He’s about to have a
terrible
accident. I don’t take kindly to rapists. As for the two jerks at the backdoor... you can pick their bodies up when you leave."

Freddie started to interrupt when Lilith held up her hand to silence him.

"No. Not a word. I listened to you... now you will listen to me. Your reign over your whores is over. You have one week to get your business in order and leave town... one week... not a day more. If you choose to ignore my suggestion I promise you, you won’t live to regret it... but you
will
regret. Agra will be by in a few days to collect your whores. They are now under the protection of the Sisterhood."

At the moment, Freddie wasn’t sure what to do or think. Once he was out of there, he’d decide on his next move. For sure, he wasn’t about to let this bitch dictate terms to him.

"I suggest you do."

"Huh?"

"Take me seriously."

Reaching over, she caressed his cheek lightly. The pleasant, cool trail left by her fingers soon turned warm and then began to burn causing him to gasp. Jerking his head back, he covered his cheek with his hand, his eyes watering from the pain.

"What are you?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

Lilith looked at Agra and the two women smiled.

"What’s the old cliché? Your worst nightmare?"

"You got it, boss."

They laughed, knowing it wasn’t exactly the truth. Freddie’s worst nightmare wasn’t going to happen in this life. He had an eternity of them ahead of him.

"Now, Mr. Perez, I think we have a good understanding. It’s time you left... after all, this is a ‘women only’ bar and you’ve overstayed your welcome."

Motioning for Bertie to come over, she watched as her bouncer escorted the three men from the club.

"I don’t trust him," Agra said.

"Neither do I. Send Mudada to watch him. If he tries anything, tell her to handle it... but... make sure his soul is left in tact. She’s not to damage it in any way. I want him to spend a long time repenting his sins."

Nodding, the bartender returned to the counter and whispered to Mudada. Wiping her hands, the plump demoness nodded, grinned and then left. Grabbing her crotch in a lewd manner she made a slicing gesture across her lower body. Lilith chuckled. Mudy would like nothing better than to cut Freddie’s nuts off. Knowing it would cause him tremendous pain and not affect his soul, it wouldn’t take much for him to piss her off enough to do it. She had her doubts about the pimp lasting more than a few days.

I could almost feel sorry for him
, she thought.

"Why?"
asked the Child, intruding on her mother’s thoughts. "
He doesn't deserve anyone’s sympathy."

"True. I did say ‘almost’."

"But the thought was there. You are growing more human in your old age."

"Old age? Demons don’t grow old."

"Maybe. Who can really say? Perhaps we’re simply long lived. Many of us have disappeared and no one knows where they have gone."

Lilith had to agree. There weren’t as many demons as before. Even taking into account the Great Battle and the few skirmishes that had occurred since then, it didn't explain the thousands who had vanished.

"Only time will tell."

"Time, something we never think about... at least in your world. I think about it a lot... and wonder if it exists in this place. It’s strange. I haven’t seen myself since I was banished here. Do you think I’ve aged any, Mother? It’s hard to tell when you can’t see your own reflection. I can’t even remember what I used to look like."

"I don’t know."

"Well, I’d hate to think I still had the face and body of a demon child."

"I can understand that. So, you were telling me about your plan. How did you get Eve to cooperate with you?"

"It was easy. Eve was naïve but she was intelligent. She was also very curious. When I noticed she avoided one particular tree, I asked one of the demons about it. He told me about the Tree of Knowledge and how the Twin had declared it off limits to any of his creations."

"True. He thought absolute knowledge would corrupt anyone. Even Dis and the demons believed this."

"I know. None of them wanted anything to do with it, but I did learn enough about the Tree to formulate my plan. Every day I would return to paradise, climb it and wait for her to walk by. One day, she stopped and looked at the fruit. I knew she was thinking about it... wondering... so I whispered to her."

"You talked to Eve? The Twin would never allow a demon to talk to his creations. He never forgave Dis for interfering with Adam and me."

"If he had known, probably not... but I wasn’t there in demon form. I made myself into one of his creations. It was easy. The Twin believed Paradise was safe so I knew as long as I remained small and unobtrusive, he’d never notice."

"So you became the serpent. Most of us believed it was Leviathon (I’m assuming you want the old spelling rather than Leviathan) who tempted Eve. When he defended Dis's actions concerning me, the other Angels felt he was being disloyal to his brother and threw him from the Heavens. Had Dis not caught him before striking the Underworld, he would probably have been destroyed. He was so bitter he threatened he would get his revenge one day. As the commander of Dis's navy, he could come and go anytime without be questioned... and as one of the few true shapeshifters, he seemed the logical suspect. Your father confronted him once and he just glared at Dis and then left. We thought it best to drop the subject since the deed was already done."

"Leviathon has always been loyal to Father, but loved the angels. Unfortunately, they forced him to choose sides before the Great Battle and he chose loyalty. He felt betrayed by what they had done."