Skin (12 page)

Lilith would rather depend on her learned street survival skills than a weapon that could be turned against her.

oOo

LILITH SLEPT most of the next day and didn’t roll out of bed until midway through the afternoon. She wasn’t used to waitressing or being on her feet wearing heels for hours. Today would be even busier. She had a class before work and before that an even more important mission.

Normally, Lilith didn’t pick up Carmen, rather met the girl at the gym, but today she made an exception. Carmen’s future was at stake.

The Vargases lived in a big apartment complex in one of the streets in Uptown that hadn’t yet been gentrified. The building was surrounded by scrubby grass and had one sad-looking tree in the courtyard. Lilith entered the litter-strewn hallway and was buzzed up to the third-floor apartment.

How twelve people lived in a single city apartment, even a big one, was something she couldn’t fathom.

Carmen met Lilith at the front door. “I told Mama you wanted to talk to her. I think she’s not too happy.”

The teen escorted Lilith into the living area, whose floor was strewn with toys and three little kids.

Balancing a baby on her hip, Mrs. Vargas awaited her with a sour expression. “What can I do for you, Miss Mitchell?”

“I was hoping to talk to you about Carmen’s future. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

The woman nodded and indicated she should sit. Carmen took the baby from her mother, then rounded up her little brothers and sisters and escorted them out of the room.

“Your daughter has a lot of responsibility for one so young,” Lilith said.

“As did I.
By the time I was eighteen, I already had her and was pregnant with her brother.”

Which made Mrs. Vargas thirty-five with nine children to care for.
She looked far older. Fine lines already radiated from the corners of her eyes and around her mouth. Her hair was already streaked with gray.

“Carmen wants something different for herself.” Lilith tried to phrase this carefully, so as not to hurt the woman’s feelings. “What do you really want
for her
?”

“I am a good mother!”

“Of course you are, Mrs. Vargas. And I know things are difficult for you and your family. But if Carmen were able to finish high school and go on, things could be very different for her.
And for your other children.”

“You don’t understand. People here don’t have choices like you.”

“Like me? If anyone understands being desperate for a different life than she was dealt, I do, Mrs. Vargas. At least your children are loved and protected. I had to escape my old life, and I did so by going to school.”

The woman’s expression changed at the revelation, and Lilith sensed a tentative connection.

“You think this is possible for my Carmen?”

“She’s a very smart girl. She wants to go to college. I’m sure she can get a scholarship. At least she could go to one of the city colleges. I know it’s a sacrifice for you, but think of the future. If Carmen could get an education, she could get a really good job. And she wants to help her brothers and sisters do the same.”

“They’re not like her. Not ambitious.”

“And they never will be if you don’t give Carmen the chance to set the example. Don’t take away her dreams. Just think about it, please.”

An excruciating few seconds passed before Mrs. Vargas nodded. “I want my children to have more than this,” she said, looking around at the tired furniture in the too-crowded apartment. “I’ll talk to my husband.”

Lilith hadn’t realized how tense she’d been until the woman agreed. Carmen had come to mean a lot to her. She’d been trying to do for the girl she mentored what she hadn’t been able to do for her own sister.

They were barely out the door and into the courtyard before a cautious Carmen asked, “So what did Mama say?”

“She promised to speak to your father.”

“Yes!” Carmen hugged Lilith and danced around her. “I knew you could do it!”

“Nothing is settled.”

“But it will be.” Carmen threw her arms around Lilith’s neck and nearly strangled her. “You’re the best
!.
”

Her euphoria lasted all the way to the gym.

It was only when they were changing clothing in the locker room that Lilith’s mood darkened. Another early morning dream of her sister’s murder had haunted her on and off all day, and now the memory returned.

By the time she got to the mat, she was worrying again about what might have happened to Hannah. As she warmed up with Elena as her partner, she was wondering if Hannah could have gotten free of her kidnapper if she’d known how to fight back. And as Lilith fought Jack, he became the nameless padded man in her mind.

Then became something more sinister.

The man who had taken her sister...

A killer...

Pumped, she let loose with a viciousness she’d only dreamt about all those years when dealing with her brutal stepfather. This was for real. She snap-kicked his kneecap and followed with a double strike to his nose and throat.

He went down.

Blind with fury, she sat and kicked
him
in the head with her heel... kicked again... and again... and again...

...until voices around the mat finally got to her.

“Lilith, please!” the instructor pleaded.
“Stop!”

Lilith jerked to an uneasy stop.

The man who’d volunteered to be a punching bag scooted away from her. And all around the mat, the women were staring at her, their expressions shocked.

Abruptly, Lilith came out of the zone.

Horrified at
her own
actions, she rose and offered Jack her hand. “So sorry,
  Jack
, I don’t know what got into me,” she lied.

Jack refused her help and got up himself, removed his head padding and threw it to the mat. Giving her a disgusted glare, he turned his back on her and strode off toward the men’s locker room.

All eyes were glued to Lilith. She closed herself off from the stares. Seconds later, she was being escorted to the locker room, Elena holding one arm, Carmen the other.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Elena whispered.

But Carmen seemed pumped rather than disturbed. “Nobody better mess with you!”

A stricken Lilith looked at Elena, but her friend had nothing to say, so Lilith quickly showered and dressed.

Surely Elena understood her fear and frustration for Hannah. Lilith had spent more than half her lifetime under the thumb of a man who made her fear him, and just when she thought she had the fear conquered, it came rushing back to haunt her. She knew how to fight – she’d just proved that. The problem was calling up the will at the right time.

On the person who deserved it.

“Are you going to be all right?” Elena finally asked when they were ready to leave.

“I don’t know, Elena. I’m trying.”

But she didn’t feel all right. Blind rage had given her focused strength, but now that her adrenaline had plummeted, she was uncertain not only of herself but of her decision to act as a lure for whoever had Hannah.

She couldn’t shake the doubt. It followed her into Club Paradise. Storing her emotions to some far corner of her mind, she changed into her uniform and entered the lounge. She didn’t get far.

Halfway to the bar, a balding customer sitting alone at a table grabbed her by the wrist. He whirled her into his lap against his paunch and wrapped his beefy arms around her, saying, “Honey, I got something for you.”

The confidence she’d had an hour ago was gone. Her pulse rushing, she gasped, “Let go of me!” To her horror, Lilith suddenly felt weak, like in the old days with her stepfather. She couldn’t find the strength to push herself away from the repulsive man.

“Oh, now don’t be like that.” He pulled her closer, his whiskey-breath nearly choking her as he said, “I have plenty of money,” right in her face. “You’re just my type.”

“You’re not mine.” Panicked, she struggled against him, her hands ineffectively pushing at his chest. His arms around her were like steel. Forgetting everything she knew about defending herself, Lilith went light-headed.

Before she could pull herself together, she heard a firm “Let go of the lady” and glanced back to see Michael standing over them.

The customer tightened his grip. “Who the hell are you?”

Michael grabbed the man by the throat and jerked the man’s head back. His expression grim, he glared down into the man’s beady brown eyes threateningly. “I
said
let go.”

The arms binding her immediately loosened.

Her heart thumping wildly, Lilith jumped to her feet, and Michael released the man even as Sal rushed up to them followed by a bouncer.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Sal demanded.

“I was doing
his
job.” Michael indicated the bouncer.

“Whatsamatter, Sal?” the customer whined.
“Your girls too good for the regulars now?”

Lilith recovered her breath. “I am not one of Sal’s girls. I serve drinks.
Period.”

With a look of gratitude and a mouthed
thank you
for Michael, Lilith stalked off, but Sal caught up to her, grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. “Hey, Tommy’s a good customer.”

Her anger restoring her confidence, Lilith pulled her arm from his grasp. “That doesn’t mean he gets to handle
my
merchandise. And neither do you.”

“Tommy can afford to handle anything he wants, know what I mean? And you oughta be nicer to the man who pays your salary.”

Lilith controlled her mouth. She couldn’t lose this job. Not now. Not until she knew Hannah was safe.
But afterward...

She gritted her teeth and raced away from Sal, not to the bar, but back to the dressing room, where she threw herself into a chair before the mirror. Angry with
herself
for caving to fear the first time she’d had to face it in the club, she said, “I can do this. I CAN DO THIS!”

Caresse sauntered in and checked her own makeup case. When she couldn’t find what she wanted, she went through Mariko’s case, seemed to be examining it thoroughly before borrowing a blush.

As she swiped some color across her dusky cheeks, she said, “Had a little trouble, huh?”

“I freaked out because the customer surprised me is all.”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t think you’d worked a joint like this before.”

“I’m that transparent?”

Putting down the makeup, Caresse appeared serious. “You got options, you know. Go back to whatever it was you were doing before you get immune.”

The dancer seemed to be the most likely person to care about her sister. “That girl who disappeared... Anna... was she immune?”

Caresse stared at her via the mirror. “She was a lot like you, honey. Tough on the outside, but on the inside, well, she just tried not to show it.”

“Sounds like you really knew her.”

The dancer shrugged. “As well as anyone around here knows anyone, I guess.
Gotta go.
I’m on next.”

After Caresse left, Lilith took a big breath and regrouped. She was going to have to play nice with the customers just like Hannah had, or she wouldn’t tempt the kidnapper-killer to come for her. Straightening her hair and putting on another coat of lipstick, she readied herself for another try at the big room. On the way out, she passed Mariko, who had just come off stage. The other dancer didn’t say anything, merely gave her a look that told Lilith that Mariko didn’t think she would last.

But Mariko didn’t know her.

No matter that she’d had a setback; Lilith wasn’t the teenager who’d had to escape her home to survive.

Nothing would drive her from the club, not until she found her sister.

oOo

THE END OF HER SHIFT couldn’t come quickly enough for Lilith. There were no further incidents, and tonight she easily agreed to meet Paul Ensdorf for that high tea at The Plaza he was so hot on. If he’d had anything to do with Hannah’s disappearance, she would find out, Lilith vowed. She wouldn’t allow herself another weak moment.

Until a dark figure stepped out of the shadows on her way to the bus stop.
Her knees went wonky and her stomach jumped, but she settled down when she realized Michael had been waiting for her.

“Is that like one of your favorite things to do?” she asked. “Scare a girl?”

“I told you I’d check in with you tonight.”

“You already did that earlier.” He’d come to her rescue, or who knew what that creep of a customer would have done. “I never got to thank you properly.”

“Not necessary.
Unless you want to rethink my offer, of course.”
He added, “To talk to me.”

Part of Lilith really wanted to go home and crash. But could she let this opportunity slip by? Michael had to have known something about her sister and she didn’t think he would be open about it inside the club.

“Come on, change your mind about coming to my place,” he said. “I’m only after your mind.
At least tonight.
Scout’s honor.”

“I never did trust Boy Scouts.” But his smile disarmed her.

“Then don’t trust me. C’mon, my ride is over there.” He pointed across the street.

To Lilith’s surprise, Michael didn’t drive some fast, flashy sports car.
“An SUV?
I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Makes it easier to haul video equipment.”

As she slid into the passenger seat, Lilith eyed the cases in the back. “Aren’t you afraid someone will break into your vehicle to get at all that?”

“Maybe I have a relaxed worldview of my fellow man. Or maybe it’s because the rear windows are tinted, and you can’t see what’s in back from the outside.

“This video thing,” she said as he pulled away from the curb. “Is it a hobby?”

“It pays the bills. I shoot documentaries usually. I’ve been doing some freelance production while working on Skin.”

“Skin?”

“The name of the documentary.
You thought I was kidding about wanting you to talk on camera?”