Silverthorn (7 page)

CHAPTER SIX

“Why are you dressed like that?” asked a beefy man at the entrance of
Angels of Babylon
, an upper scale strip club. His eyebrows rose. “All those clothes on you? That just ain’t possible.” He pushed a hand through a scraggly goatee. He closed his eyes and looked at me again. “Must’ve took some bad acid…or something. It’s a bad trip.”

I shook my head. My neck was a little stiff, but I’d avoided serious injury. “I’m not Alexis. She’s my identical twin sister.”

The man removed the half-smoked cigar from his lips and chuckled. He slipped a hand across his bald head. “No kidding?” He looked me over and a smile surfaced. “Hey, you’re a mighty good looker. Some nice curves on you. Might want to see the boss, see if you two could do a performance together. Bet our clients would get their rocks off on that. Hell, I know I would,”

“Tempting offer, but…no way in hell! I ignored his sexist comments and scanned the packed strip club. The classic Whitesnake song “Slide It In” pumped through the surround-sound speakers across the ceiling. Above the stage, canned lights shined down on a tanned, lithe blonde woman who barely looked of drinking age. She wore a short, plaid skirt, white-laced stockings, and a leopard-styled bra that peeked through the white see-through white blouse that she’d tied at her bursting breasts. She removed a pair of glasses and flung them into the crowd. Then she sat down on a chair at the middle of the stage and spread her legs, pushing down her short skirt to prevent the crowd from seeing what remained hidden behind it. Even so, she bent forward, providing the audience with more than a heap of cleavage.

A few men clapped and a couple others lifted their mugs of beer in salute, while the vast majority chatted or looked on in silence. Half a dozen men stood at the stage railing, waving bills at the woman, a couple of whom stumbled from having drunk too much.

On my way here, I gave a lot of thought to how my sister ended my life. How do you mentally process something like that? Did I hate her? Not precisely. Did I want retribution? Yeah! How could I not? She’d resorted to that measure in order to protect our mother, but still…I kinda died because of it! Alexis enjoyed irritating me (and everyone else, for that matter), but she didn’t seem to have any interest in killing me…or anyone. Given that rationale, I wasn’t sure if I didn’t hate her because I didn’t have any family and I desperately wanted one, or because she would be a wily ally against Darius since she could read minds, push thoughts into those around her, and move objects with her mind.

“You looking for Alexis?” asked the bouncer, putting a hand in his pocket and adjusting his erection through his pants. “Damn, girl. You got some hot shit going on.”

I ignored him, barely able to contain my revulsion. “Is she still scheduled to go on? Or is she done for the day?”

He looked at me, incredulous. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. What’s the problem?”

“Problem? There ain’t no problem.” He stepped aside and jerked a thumb toward the stage. “She’s on right now.”

I looked in the direction he pointed. Shocked, my mouth hung open. My sister did a fantastic job of transforming herself into a naughty schoolgirl.

“Hey, I catch your drift,” he said, nodding at my expression. “I’m due for a break. You open for business? I got a hundred coming your way. You know, the best job…is a blow job!”

In no mood for further sexual harassment, and without a second thought, I landed an open-handed chop into his neck. Even though it made my own neck sting, the punishment I doled out was well worth it.

He doubled-over, grasping his throat, gurgling.

“
Never
speak to a lady like that. You hear me, you redneck punk!” I walked past him and made my way down an aisle, watching Alexis contort her body in various directions, accepting bills of various denominations. Just as the last man tucked a fifty-dollar bill into her bra, I stepped up beside him and glared at my sister.

Shocked, she stared at me, touched her wig and adjusted it. “What’re…” Anger flashed across her face. “What’re you doing here?”

“We need to talk. Now!”

Seeing the seriousness in my expression, she clenched her teeth, nodded, and slanted her head toward the hallway about forty feet to my left. Then she spun around and strutted across the stage as the song ended.

I followed opposite her, ignoring the men who stared at me as though they’d seen double, because they had, only I wasn’t about to acknowledge that fact. When I finally reached the hallway entrance, a seven-foot tall, burly black man stared at me with an uncompromising stare.

“You just saw me speak with my sister. Please let me see her.”

He shook his head. “That won’t happen…without word from Lexie.”

I disregarded the man’s nickname. “Did you see me put down the bouncer at the front of the club?”

He nodded. “Already got someone to take his place.” He gestured toward the entrance. “See for yourself.”

“I don’t care who’s there. What I care about is seeing my sister. It’s incredibly important that I see her. Please don’t make me hurt you.”

He cracked a smile. “Not gonna happen, sister.” Then he nodded his head behind me. “Already got some back-up.”

I sensed more than saw two men behind me, both of whom were no doubt ready to escort me off the premises.

At that moment, Alexis turned the corner along the red-carpeted hall, no longer wearing her wig. She had traded in her schoolgirl outfit for a t-shirt and jeans. “Hey, Tony, she’s all right. She can hang with me for a few.”

“Can’t let that happen. She beat up on Ray.”

Alexis put a hand on Tony’s shoulder, drawing his attention. “It’s okay.” She stared into his eyes for a few moments.

I watched Tony’s determined gaze relax. I didn’t need my sister to tell me that she’d pushed thoughts into his mind, the kind directing him to agree with whatever she asked.

Alexis said, “Let me and my sister chat for a bit, okay?”

Tony broke into a wide grin. “Sure, you got it, Lexie.” He turned aside, allowing me a path to walk into the hallway.

The only issue I had with waiting to speak with Alexis dwelled on whether or not Darius planned to send another crew of vamps after me soon. I couldn’t imagine him spending his days worrying about me, so I doubted he’d even consider following me to strip club, but I couldn’t tell whether he and Alexis had been keeping in touch.

I followed Alexis as she veered down a tributary of the hallway before stopping at the third dressing room on the right. She opened it, stepped inside, and motioned me to enter. I walked in, unsurprised by the makeshift dressing room.

Two transparent cases full of make-up lay on a scarred wooden desk across from us. Above it, a flimsy and filmy circular mirror was attached to the table. The rolling leather chair with cigarette burns scattered across it supported the outfit that Alexis had worn on stage only moments ago.

“What do you want?” asked Alexis. “Payback for killing you?” She stopped behind the door, rummaging through her purse on the coat rack. Obviously, after killing me last week before Celestina brought me back to life, she didn’t regard me as a threat. My sister pulled out a roll of chapstick and applied it.

I pushed aside my fears that she might try to kill me again, since she acted as if I were more of a nuisance than a threat, which I appreciated, since she’d proved that she could end my life with little effort. Furthermore, I understood why she killed me. She’d done so to protect them from me. If the circumstances were reversed and Alexis tried to murder Grams (before she died, that is), I probably would have done the same thing. Not only that, but Celestina was a good kid. Her kind and sunny disposition were in stark contrast to her mother and grandmother, but I suspected that she picked up some of her good traits from Alexis.

“I don’t want payback. You’re obviously better with magic than I am. And I’m okay with that. But here’s what I’m not okay with, I just had a run-in with Darius.”

“Yeah?” she asked, disinterested.

“He tried to rip my head off.” I waited for a response, but Alexis kept looking through her purse. “I torched him, but he recuperates quickly.”

“Huh,” said Alexis, obviously paying little attention to me. “What did he say about that?”

I tramped down on my frustration. “Maybe he’ll send me a ‘thank you’ card.”

“Cool!” Alexis turned away from the coat rack and went over to table behind her. She bent over a bouquet of flowers and inhaled. “Carnations. They smell amazing.” She turned toward me with a smile. “Go on…catch a whiff.”

“What I said doesn’t worry you?”

She stared at me, expressionless. “No. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Are you and Darius buddies or something? I barely escaped from that maniac.”

“I’m sure he had good reason for trying to kill you. I sure did.”

“Yeah, he wanted the Soul Sword.”

“See? Told you.”

Since explaining the obvious and impersonal didn’t get me anywhere, I decided to try a different tactic to get her attention. “How can you go on stage, wearing practically nothing? It’s demeaning and it objectifies women.”

Alexis scoffed, grabbed her cell phone, and began texting someone. “Did you see
Magic Mike
? Do you know how the women in the theater responded? Whooping and hollering. They acted as if they were in a strip club. That movie objectified men. Did they care? Did the women watching the screen care?”

She made some good points. I looked for another way to incite some intensity in her, so she’d open up to me. “Celestina visited me last night…at 2:00AM.”

My sister swung around toward me. “What?” She hurried to the desk and grabbed her phone. She gripped the phone so tightly that her forearm bicep flexed. “She snuck out of the house?”

“Yep. Took a cab. She was scared.”

“About what?” She stomped up to me, eyes wide. “Why would she sneak out of the house?”

“She’s scared of Zephora.”

“Why? Did my daughter have nightmares about her?”

I shook my head. “Zephora’s back.”

“Little Miss University.” Dispirited, with all trace of irritation gone, she chuckled. “Grasping at straws, are we? Always coming up with some reason for me to pay attention to you. I can’t blame you. Who doesn’t want to feel important?”

“Do you remember killing me last week?”

“I don’t feel guilty about that. You had it coming. Besides, you’re not dead, so…nice try.”

“Oh, you’ve been there, done that? I’ll be sure to return the favor some day.” I gritted my teeth at her righteousness. “After you…
killed
me, Kendall retrieved the wooden box.”

“I know.” She shrugged. “I watched it happen. So, why should I care?”

“Because that box held Zephora’s soul, and right after I killed our mother, Zephora entered her body.”

Alexis’s brow furrowed. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?” She tossed a hand in the air, dismissing me.

“That’s why your daughter visited me. She knows the truth. After Celestina revived our mother, Zephora’s soul entered her body—”

“Our mother’s body? You get some paranormal gifts, and now you think
anything
is possible.”

“Now she’s working behind the scenes to gain control of every paranormal creature.”

“If you’re trying to blackmail me, you’ll need to try harder. First, I’ve killed you before, so I obviously don’t have a problem doing it again. Second, Celestina would never sneak out of the house. She’s not—”

“You?” I asked.

Alexis smirked. “Thank God for that!”

“Like I said. She’s scared. Zephora is back. Darius is turning humans into vampires left and right. Zephora plans to create an army of paranormal beings, so she can rule the world. And yes, Celestina snuck out of the house to see me!”

Alexis walked across the room, opened a wooden hutch, which contained various sexy outfits on hangers, and reached up to the top shelf. It held four bottles of liquor. She selected a near empty bottle. She twisted off the cap and took a giant gulp. Then she exhaled a vapor of alcohol at me, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “Does the body good!” Alexis opened her eyes, acting startled to see me standing before her. “What are you still doing here?”

“You don’t believe me?” I asked. Seeing a smirk light up her features, I swung an open hand into the bottle she held.

It smashed in half. I’d destroyed bottles and wooden boards before with an open-handed chop during my martial arts training years before, so it didn’t surprise me.

Alexis stared at the top of the bottle…that she still held, since the bottom half crashed against the ground, leaving behind shards of glass and the liquid it contained around it. “Holy shit!” One side of her lips curled upwards. “That was fuckin’ awesome!” Her smile slowly dropped. “But you owe me another bottle.”

“Take away your magic,” I said, “and I could do that to your head.” I glared at her. “Do I have your attention now?”

The other side of her lips lifted in admiration, but a second later, she turned serious. “So Celestina snuck out of the house because Zephora is stuck in Mother’s body. Do you know how messed-up that sounds? Body swapping and what-not?” She returned to the hutch and took out an unopened bottle of watermelon-flavored vodka. “I think you need this more than I do.”