After Dark

by Nancy A. Collins

  ***

  “And that concludes our class for tonight,” Madame Mulciber said to her Basic Alchemy class. “You are all free to leave—oh, except for you, Miss Todd. I would like to see you after class.”

  Frowning, Lilith returned to her seat. Earlier that evening the class had been given a pop quiz. She was worried that she had failed the quiz. If so, it meant academic suspension for sure.

  After the last of the students left, Madame Mulciber motioned for Lilith to approach her desk. The teacher was tall and willowy with a tangled mane of flyaway hair as red as the flames that constantly burned under the huge copper alembic in the corner of the classroom.

  “Given your precarious situation, Miss Todd, I took the liberty of grading your paper first,” the alchemy teacher said. “Congratulations: you passed.”

  “You’re joking, right?” Lilith gasped in disbelief. “I got an A?”

  “I didn’t say that—I said you passed,” Madame Mulciber replied. “I knew you could do better if you simply applied yourself. So, in light of you showing such dramatic improvement in such a short time, I will recommend to the headmistress that you be removed from academic probation.”

  “So I’m not going to flunk out of school?”

  “That’s correct.” Madame Mulciber smiled. “I feel it’s the least I can do. Your mother, Irina, and I were schoolgirls together in St. Petersburg, back when Tsar Alexander II was in power. Tell me, does your father plan to hold your mother’s totentanz in America or the Old Country?”

  As Madame Mulciber gazed at her, politely awaiting an answer, it suddenly occurred to Lilith that she didn’t have the slightest clue what her father was planning.

  “He was still working out the logistics when I left for school,” Lilith lied as she quickly jotted down some numbers on a piece of parchment, which she handed to her instructor. “Here’s my father’s private cell phone number. Why don’t you call him and explain who you are and see if the location for the totentanz has been finalized yet? Oh, and while you’re at it, could you tell him I’ve been taken off academic probation? I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear the news.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Lilith could barely contain her glee as she hurried up the steps of the Belfry, cutting ahead of the line of bridge-and-tunnel wannabes. She had made a brief stop after school to change out of her uniform and into a D&G magenta and black satin tank dress and strappy slingbacks.

  “Welcome back, Miss Lilith,” the bouncer said, moving to let her pass.

  Lilith made her way across the crowded dance floor, reveling in the music pouring from the gigantic speakers that sounded like the heartbeat of some mythic, hard-partying giant.

  As she started up the stairs to the converted choir loft that served as the VIP room, Lilith was surprised to see Sister Midnight making her way back down.

  “Lilith! Is that you, darling?” the businesswoman exclaimed.

  “Sis! How lovely to see you again!” Lilith replied, ritually kissing the air beside the older woman’s cheeks.

  “It’s funny we should run into each other like this! I was just thinking about you. I’m planning a fashion show, and I’m looking for some young, popular girls your age to serve as runway models.”

  “Really?”

  “You’re the perfect example of the market we’re trying to reach! I mean, who wouldn’t want to be you, darling? Are you interested?”

  “Of course!”

  “Wonderful! I’ll have my secretary get in touch with you later and fill you in on the details. It’s going to be the event of the season—I’m going to make sure everyone who is someone will be there. I promise it will be golden, my dear, positively golden!”

  ***

  Lilith hurried up the stairs to the VIP room, eager to tell the others about modeling clothes for Sister Midnight. The prospect of being the center of attention again was enough to make her giddy. Although she was forbidden to brag about her brief career as the fashion model “Lili Graves,” this was completely different. However, her elation collapsed the moment she saw Carmen sitting on the divan next to Oliver Drake, who was talking to Jules.

  Carmen glanced up at Lilith and went paler than usual. She got to her feet and headed for the bar, leaving Oliver on his own. Jules, noticing Carmen’s exodus, turned to see what triggered such an abrupt retreat.

  “Lilith! What a surprise!” He smiled, standing up so he could position himself between the two ex-friends. “We thought you were still grounded.”

  “My grades improved, so I’m not on academic probation anymore. But never mind that. I want to know what’s she’s doing here,” Lilith demanded, pointing at Carmen.

  “Well, you haven’t been around lately, Lili….”

  “So, when the cat’s away, the redheaded rat sneaks out and parties with the cat’s friends, is that it?” Lilith said hotly.

  “We’ve already gone over this, Lilith,” Jules said testily. “The thing with Carmen is over and done with, okay? If you can’t handle what went on between us, it’s your problem, not mine. The only reason Carmen’s hanging out here is because Ollie is my friend. I’m not going to snub him just because you’re pissed off at his girl.” Apparently satisfied everything was settled as far as he was concerned, Jules opted to change the topic of conversation. “So, I guess this means you won’t be hanging out with Exo anymore?”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  Jules’s smile was replaced by a scowl. “You’re no longer in danger of being kicked out of school. Why would you want to keep seeing him?”

  “I’m working on a special project with him for extra credit, that’s all,” Lilith replied with a toss of her head. “Besides, what difference does that make to you?”

  “I don’t like the idea of him spending all that time alone with you, that’s all.”

  “Why? Are you afraid he’ll slip me a love potion and steal me away?” Lilith started to laugh, only to halt upon catching the look in Jules’s eye. “I don’t believe it!” she marveled. “You are afraid he’ll seduce me!”

  “I didn’t say that,” Jules said sullenly.

  “You didn’t have to! If you’ll excuse me, I would like to have a drink.”

  Lilith headed over to the bar, silently fuming over Jules’s cavalier attitude toward their relationship. The bastard fooled around with her best friend (well, all right, her closest friend), got caught at it, and then had the audacity to be jealous of her spending time with his spoddy cousin simply because she was trying to keep from being thrown out of school! Where did he get off being such a hypocritical jerk? He was starting to sound and act more and more like that dickhead father of his. What really pissed her off, though, was the fact that he acted like she had no choice but to put up with it.

  “The usual, please,” she told the bartender, who handed her a glass of AB neg laced with bourbon. Instead of sipping the drink, she knocked it back like a shot. “Hit me again,” she said, rapping the bar with her empty glass. She was pondering her next move when she heard a cry of girlish delight from behind her.

  “You’re back!” Sebastian threw his arms around her in a fierce bear hug. The club promoter for the Belfry was dressed in his trademark platform heels, this time while tricked out in a tight-fitting black Lurex jumpsuit.

  “Did you miss me, Seb?” Lilith asked.

  “I was heartbroken,” Sebastian assured her as he clambered up onto the bar stool beside her. “Absolutely inconsolable.”

  “I missed you, too,” Lilith replied, air-kissing his cheek.

  “I thought Daddy Dearest grounded you,” Sebastian said. “At least, that’s what your BFF Carmen told everyone.”

  “BFF?” Lilith spat. “Parasitic, slutty, loudmouth, hideous, redheaded harpy is more like it.”

  “Mee-yow, darling!” Sebastian chuckled. “Why don’t you tell us what you really think?”

  “It’s bad enough I still have to deal with Carmen at school, but having her hanging around at the club is adding insul
t to injury!” Lilith scowled. “Did you know she’s down to taking her meals in the cafeteria with the spods?”

  “By the Founders!” Sebastian gasped. “Well, knowing you, sweetie, I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to get rid of her. I simply must go! Ta!”

  Alone once more, Lilith stared down at her empty glass. The night was definitely not going as she had planned. In her mind’s eye she had envisioned everyone in the club stopping and applauding her triumphant return to the fold—oh, yes, and Carmen was certainly not included. But the reality was proving far more awkward than awesome.

  It was clear Jules valued his friendship with Oliver more than his relationship with her, but not so highly that he wouldn’t bang Carmen behind his buddy’s back, given half a chance. If Jules was telling the truth and the only reason Carmen was hanging around was because he was still tight with Ollie…

  “It’s good to see you back out on the town again,” Oliver Drake said as he stepped up to the bar alongside Lilith. Although good-looking, with a mop of dishwater-blond hair and slate-gray eyes, Oliver was considerably shorter than either Jules or Sergei, with a temper to match.

  As Oliver waited for the bartender to serve him his rum and blood, Lilith leaned forward and placed her hand on his arm. “I really have to admire your self-confidence, Ollie. Most guys would feel pretty insecure given your situation, but you’re pretty cool about it.”

  Oliver turned to her, a baffled look on his face. “What situation?”

  “You know,” Lilith said chidingly. “About Carmen and Jules.”

  Oliver’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

  “Oh. I’m so sorry!” Lilith said, feigning embarrassment. “I thought you knew. I mean, everyone at school knows…. I just assumed you did, too….”

  “That no-good, lying, worthless…” Oliver’s eyes grew as dark as thunderheads, while his hands curled into fists.

  Jules and Sergei were talking to each other while Carmen stood nearby, staring up at a music video playing on one of the flat screens. They had their backs to Oliver, so they didn’t see him barreling toward them. Lilith smiled and licked her lips. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Jules’s face when Oliver sucker-punched him. However, to her dismay, Oliver made a beeline to Carmen, ignoring Jules altogether.

  “You! How dare you embarrass me like that in front of everyone! You whore!” Oliver shouted, slapping the redhead so hard she fell to the floor. Carmen cowered as Oliver loomed over her, the veins in his temples and neck standing out in stark relief. “Everybody’s laughing at me behind my back! Is that what you wanted? Is that why you couldn’t keep your fucking hands off my friends?” he shouted, stabbing a finger at Jules.

  Oliver looked down at Carmen, cowering at his feet like a whipped dog. His anger toward Carmen had nothing to do with feeling betrayed by someone he cared for: the redhead was just a convenient sex partner and a means of attracting free-range humans. He never had any plans of binding his bloodline to hers and, to be honest, her constant prattle about Lilith, high fashion, and makeup wore on his nerves. Still, even though he didn’t want Carmen, he didn’t want anyone else to have her, either.

  Carmen sobbed, cringing in anticipation of another blow. She looked over at Jules in the hope he would intervene, but instead he looked away, as if what was happening had nothing to do with him. To her surprise, Sergei stepped forward.

  “That’s enough, Ollie!”

  “Butt out, Savanovic!” Oliver snarled. “This doesn’t concern you!” He tried to maneuver around Sergei, only to have his schoolmate push him back.

  “I said that’s enough!” Sergei repeated, baring his fangs.

  Oliver stepped back, looking around uneasily. Everyone had stopped their partying and was staring at him. While there were a few clots hanging around, most of the onlookers were vampires, who knew that for him to publicly take up Sergei’s challenge meant more than a drunken fistfight behind the Dumpster in the alley.

  “You want her so much?” Oliver sneered, trying to look brave while still backing down. “You can have her.”

  As Sergei bent to help Carmen to her feet, Sebastian arrived, dragging one of the club’s hulking bouncers behind him. “I don’t care who started what first,” the club promoter said heatedly. “Either kiss and make up or take it outside!”

  “Screw this bullshit,” Oliver spat, pushing his way past Sebastian. “I’m outta here.”

  Sergei turned to Carmen. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” The bruise on her cheek where Oliver had struck her was already starting to fade like breath on a windowpane.

  “C’mon—let’s get you a drink.” Sergei slid a protective arm around Carmen’s shoulders as he steered her in the direction of the bar.

  “Are you happy now?” Jules asked Lilith sourly. “Did you get it out of your system?”

  “Not entirely.” Lilith scowled, displeased by the unexpected turn of events. When she came up with the plan, she hadn’t taken Oliver being chickenshit into account. Now, instead of banishing Carmen from their social circle by destroying the friendship between Oliver and Jules, Lilith’s scheme had hooked Carmen up with Sergei, Jules’s best friend.

  As she sipped her latest drink—was it her fourth? Fifth? She’d lost count along the way—she noticed a tall figure in a navy pea jacket, a black wool watch cap pulled low over his forehead, making his way through the crowd of partygoers. When she recognized him, her pulse suddenly raced.

  “Oh! Look who’s here!” Lilith said excitedly, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet as she waved her hand in the air. “Yoo-hoo—Exo! Over here!”

  “Hi, Lilith. Hi, Jules,” Xander said. His eyes locked on to her as if she were the only girl in the room.

  “What are you doing here?” Jules demanded, flabbergasted by the sight of his cousin in such a public place. Although he was nowhere near as monstrous in appearance as his father, Xander’s peculiarly long fingers and milk-pale skin did nothing to help him blend in with the locals, even in a vampire-friendly nightclub like the Belfry.

  “Lilith asked me to come by,” Xander explained.

  “She did, did she?” Jules said, turning to glare at his girlfriend. “Why would she do that, I wonder?”

  “I thought it was only fair to invite him, darling,” Lilith said blithely, ignoring the dark look on Jules’s face. “After all, he is the one who helped me pass Basic Alchemy! I wouldn’t be here partying at all if it wasn’t for dear Exo!” She turned and smiled at Xander. “You prefer O neg, am I right?”

  Jules waited until Lilith was safely out of earshot before turning to glower at his cousin. “She knows your type?”

  “What’s so weird about that?” Xander said defensively.

  “It’s about as weird as Lilith inviting you out to the club in the first place!” Jules retorted. “What’s going on between you two? What are you trying to pull?”

  “I’ve simply been tutoring Lilith so she can pass her alchemy class, that’s all,” Xander replied, clearly stung by his cousin’s accusation. “You know, maybe if you actually paid some real attention to her and made her feel good about herself instead of cheating on her all the time, you wouldn’t feel so damn insecure about Lilith and me being friends!”

  “Right! Like I’m going to take relationship tips from an Orlock!” Jules snorted, rolling his eyes. “What do you know about having a girlfriend, bat boy?”

  “Oh, yeah?” Xander replied. “Well, we Orlocks might not be much to look at, but at least we can read above a third-grade level!”

  “Shut up, Exo!” Jules snapped, his eyes flashing genuine anger.

  “Did you say Jules can’t read?”

  Lilith had returned from the bar, drinks in hand, and was staring at the bickering cousins, her mouth hanging open in amazement. The look in her eyes was enough to make the pit of Jules’s stomach drop away.

  Xander nodded. “I do all his homework assignments, and he simply recopies them in his own h
and. He’s barely able to read and write.”

  “That’s not true!” Jules protested. “I can read!”

  “Yeah, in English,” Xander retorted. “When it comes to chthonic script, he’s functionally illiterate. He’s barely able to sign his name.”

  “I said shut up!” Jules shouted, lunging at his cousin, fangs bared.

  Xander moved so fast Lilith didn’t see it. One minute he was standing there, the next his over-long fingers were wrapped tightly about Jules’s throat. His cousin’s feet dangled inches above the floor.

  “You might have been able to get the best of me in the nursery,” Xander growled, his blue eyes burning with a strange inner fire as he watched his attacker struggle in vain to break free of his grip. “But we’re not kids anymore, Jules! I’m tired of being the de Laval whipping boy. I don’t like it coming from your father, and I despise it coming from you!”

  “Sweet hell! What is wrong with you kids tonight?” Sebastian cursed, pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers. “Can’t you party for fifteen minutes without trying to kill each other?”

  Xander let Jules drop to the floor like a bag of wet cement. As he watched his cousin and oldest friend gasp for air, the blue fire in his eyes died and was replaced by self-disgust.

  “Jules! I’m so sorry!” he said, moving to help his kinsman to his feet. “I don’t know what came over me—I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Don’t touch me!” Jules snarled, slapping away Xander’s hand.

  Suddenly aware of the eyes focused on him, Xander hurriedly left the converted choir loft, a pained expression on his face. As he shouldered his way through the packed dance floor toward the exit, one of the drunken partygoers grabbed his forearm.

  “Hey, buddy! Who do you think you are? Pushin’ people around like that?” The drunk’s eyes widened in amazement when he saw Xander’s mouth. “Holy shit—what’s wrong with your teeth?”