“Who in Manhattan does, right?” Miriam said with a chuckle. “Okay, then—how about a student ID? Anything with your picture on it…?”
By the Founders, the woman was relentless! Lilith took a deep breath as she tried to steady herself, her mind scrambling for an easy, believable lie that would extricate her from this situation.
“I’m afraid I left all my identification back at my dorm at Columbia. I didn’t realize I’d need it. I’m real new at all this….”
“Uh-huh. That’s all right, Lili. Just fill out as much as you can. I’ll get what I need for our files at the next shoot.”
“Next shoot?” Lilith asked as she quickly jotted down false information on the forms.
“Uh-huh. Maison d’Ombres has arranged for at least three different editorial shoots in ELLE, Vogue, and Vanity Fair,” Miriam explained. “This is the ELLE shoot. Then there’s the straight shoots for the advertising that’s going to run in every major fashion and lifestyle periodical.”
Kristof’s assistant left, and Dino removed the pins from Lilith’s hair, releasing a mass of loose waves. As he fastened her locks at the back of her head, he leaned down and whispered in Lilith’s ear.
“How much are you getting for this shoot, sweetie?”
“I don’t know,” Lilith admitted. She had never thought twice about how she was being paid. Since Gala had gotten a million dollars, she had automatically assumed she would be getting a million dollars as well. “We really haven’t talked about that aspect of it yet….”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” the hairstylist said with a wry smile as he handed her a business card. “Here, take this. A friend of mine handles talent. Call him before this goes too far! You need a contract, girl, and you need one drawn up fast! I wouldn’t trust anyone in this business, if I were you. They’ll all smile in your face and tell you how beautiful and talented you are and then stab you in the back the first chance they get. Truth is they’re all just a bunch of damned bloodsuckers.”
“Dino’s right, hon,” Maureen agreed as she carefully curled Lilith’s lashes and applied a light coat of black mascara. “A girl as young and beautiful as you needs to have someone looking out for your best interests.”
Lilith stared at the business card for a long moment before pocketing it. “You really think I’m beautiful?”
“Of course you are, sweetie!” Dino laughed. “Hasn’t anyone told you that before?”
“All my life; I just didn’t know whether they were lying or not.”
“Silly girl! All you have to do is look in a mirror to know it’s true.”
“It’s not as easy as that,” Lilith replied wistfully. “Not for me, anyway.”
Dino pursed his lips in dismay. “Models! I’ll never understand how drop-dead gorgeous people can be so insecure!”
It was almost ten-thirty by the time Lilith was finished with hair and makeup. Then she was off to wardrobe. A tiny birdlike woman named Enid dressed her in her first ensemble for the day: a puffy buttercup-yellow dress with a black bow. Under normal circumstances Lilith wouldn’t be caught wearing it dead in a Dumpster.
“Okay, Lili—here’s what we’re looking to do with this shoot,” Tomás said as he walked her over to the waiting set. “We’re playing up Maison d’Ombres being a French label. That’s why our incredibly talented set designer and props master, Enrique, built this replica of a classic Parisian garret. You can even see the Eiffel Tower out your little window. Isn’t that cute? Anyway, the theme of the editorial spread is that of a starving artist locked away in her loft, slave to her muse, just like Toulouse-Lautrec, except that you’re young, hot, and have beautiful legs. You’ll be portraying a poet, a painter, a sculptress, a dancer, a musician—each with a different Maison d’Ombres ensemble that allows you to express yourself. Do you think you can do that?”
“Mais oui.” Lilith smiled.
Seven hours and five changes of clothes later, Kristof held up his hand and announced: “That’s it, people! It’s a wrap! We’re done!”
Lilith, dressed in a red silk blouse cut to resemble a traditional painter’s smock, put down the long-handled paintbrush she was pretending to use to finish an incomplete canvas depicting a man wearing a bowler hat with a green apple obscuring his face.
Maureen hurried forward from off camera and removed the daubs of color she had artfully smeared across the young model’s cheek and brow to suggest paint.
“Let’s hear it for our beautiful star: Lili Graves!” Tomás said as he stepped out from behind the LCD computer screen he was using to study the shots transferred from Kristof’s digital camera. “I think I speak for everyone when I say that Lili really did a fantastic job here today!”
Lilith returned the borrowed clothes she was wearing to the stylist, heaving a sigh of relief as she changed back into the boot-cut jeans and cashmere sweater she had arrived in. As she zipped up her black leather Prada ankle boots, she glanced at her watch. It was after five in the afternoon, which meant it would be getting dark soon. If she hurried, she could get back to the penthouse in time to change into her school uniform before the night shift revived and discovered she was gone.
As she looked up from her watch, Lilith was surprised to find Kristof standing in front of her with an expectant look on his face. “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight.”
“I’d love to, but it’s getting late and I have, uh, night school this evening. I really need to leave. I’ll get in trouble if I ditch class….”
“I was hoping we could talk about your contract and the other shoots,” Kristof said, looking somewhat crestfallen. “Plus, I have a present I wanted to give you….”
“You got me a present?” Lilith asked excitedly. “What is it?”
“The only way you’ll ever find out is if you agree to go to dinner with me.” The photographer smiled.
Lilith glanced back at her watch. She really needed to leave if she was to get back to the penthouse before her absence was discovered, but she also wanted the present Kristof had promised her. And Lilith would gladly walk over a bed of live coals liberally garnished with rusty barbed wire and discarded syringes if there was a box with a bow waiting for her at the other end.
What to do? What to do…?
“Did you really mean it when you told the others I did a fantastic job?” Lilith asked as the waiter placed her Niçoise salad in front of her.
“Of course I did! Like I said, I don’t lie unless I’m in love….”
“And even then, not until the third date,” Lilith finished for him.
“And this is only our second.” Kristof chuckled. “So you can still believe everything I say. And I’m telling you that you were truly incredible today, Lili.”
Lilith smiled and lowered her eyes as she poked at her salad. She’d never spent so much time alone with a human before. Although, to be honest, she was finding it increasingly difficult to view Kristof as just another clot.
“So what’s the present you wanted to give me?” Ever since they’d left the studio, she’d been trying to guess what Kristof had bought for her. It had to be some little bauble or bangle, because all he was carrying on him was a leather portfolio about the size of a large notebook. Perhaps it was a tennis bracelet or a watch? Or a pair of earrings? It might even be a necklace or a ring.
“I have a present and a surprise for you. Which one do you want first?” he asked, giving her a mischievous smile.
“The present!”
“Here ya go, then.” Kristof slid the leather portfolio across the tabletop.
The smile instantly disappeared from Lilith’s face. Granted, the portfolio was made of fairly nice leather, but it wasn’t like it was a purse or even a handbag. It didn’t even have gold stamping on it or anything.
“Go ahead—look inside,” he said.
Lilith flipped the portfolio open and saw a vaguely familiar young woman with piercing ice-blue eyes and honey-blond hair looking back at her. With a s
tart, Lilith realized she was looking at pictures of her own face.
“These are the photos you took in your apartment!” she said as she paged through the plastic sleeves clipped within the portfolio’s binder.
“Do you like them?”
“Kristof, no one’s ever given me anything like this before in my life!” Lilith replied, and for once she was telling the absolute truth.
“Every real model has a portfolio—what she calls her ‘book.’ You take it with you on go-sees.”
“Go-sees?” Lilith frowned.
“Job interviews with fashion designers and other potential clients,” Kristof explained. He sighed and shook his head. “You really didn’t think this whole thing out very well, did you?”
“What do you mean?” Lilith said defensively.
“Look, if we are going to continue to work together, you’ve got to be honest with me, especially about the important stuff, Lili.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say to me, Kristof.”
“Lili, I know you’re not eighteen. You listed your Social Security number as four-zero-three-two, for Christ’s sake! You don’t even know what a Social Security number is supposed to look like, do you?”
Lilith opened her mouth, prepared to launch into yet another round of denials, but then thought twice. It was better for her if Kristof mistook her for an underage girl pretending to be a college student rather than discover she was an underage vampire trying to pass herself off as human.
“You’re right,” she admitted, allowing her shoulders to slump.
“So how old are you really? Fifteen? Sixteen?”
“Sixteen.”
Kristof took a deep breath and rubbed his face as if he’d suddenly become very tired. “Well, that’s a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that being young isn’t a drawback in this industry. Most models are your age.”
“So what’s the bad news?”
“There’s not going to be a third date for us, I’m afraid. Not for several years, anyway. I have absolutely no interest in your father coming to look for me.”
“I’m not scared of my dad,” Lilith said sullenly.
“Well, that makes one of us.” Kristof chuckled. “As it is, we’re probably the same age.”
“No, my dad’s a lot older than you,” she assured him. “And he’s nowhere as cool. Fact is, he’s a lying asshole. I need the money from this job so I can get out on my own and be free of my family. I’m sick of them trying to control my life and telling me what to do!”
“Well, that’s not that unusual in this business, either.” Kristof sighed. “Lili, I’m willing to go out on a limb here and help you lie about your age, your Social Security number, all of that. But I’ll also see about hooking you up with a good lawyer who can help you emancipate yourself from your family, if that’s what you really want. Do you want to know why I’m willing to take these risks? Because over fifty percent of the frames I shot of you today were usable.”
“Is that good?”
“Kid, there are big-name supermodels I’ve worked with who don’t have that kind of percentage. With someone as green as you, it’s unheard of. You’re a phenom, Lili! If what you did today is any indication of the future, you’re going to set the fashion world on fire. And I want to be there to watch it burn!”
“You said you had a surprise for me as well,” Lilith said. “So what is it?”
“The publisher of Vanitas is throwing a Halloween party tonight. A lot of people from the industry will be there. I think it would be a great idea for you to meet these people and get some face time in with them. What do you say?”
Lilith glanced down at her watch. School was well under way by now. Although she knew she was already in trouble for playing hooky, she couldn’t bring herself to worry about it. That was part of Lilith Todd’s world, not Lili Graves’s. Lili Graves was a girl without boundaries, limits, or expectations. And right now Lilith was enjoying her alter ego’s life a lot more than her own.
“Sounds like fun,” Lili replied.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cally sighed as she walked through the cafeteria at Bathory Academy, looking for a table to sit at. Normally she took her midnight meal with Melinda and the Maledetto sisters, but she hadn’t seen Melly since the incident on the pier, and her father had forbidden her to associate with the twins. It wouldn’t be long before the other students realized she was flying solo once more, and then the hazing and harassment would begin again. With them, Cally feared, would come the risk of accidentally summoning the Shadow Hand.
The Vamps table was, of course, out of the question. Even though Lilith did not appear to be at school that evening, her second in command, Carmen, was jealously guarding their turf against all unworthy invaders.
Cally briefly contemplated sitting at the Amazon table, but then thought better of it. Unless you were their equal in aerial combat and shapeshifting, the Amazons were more apt to give you a swirlie than pull out a chair in welcome. Cally was having to take Remedial Shapeshifting in an attempt to catch up with her peers, and she wasn’t in that big a hurry to have them wash her hair.
That pretty much left the spod table, which was actually worse than sitting alone. The whole point was to avoid becoming a target, after all.
In the end she decided to run the risk of calling attention to herself and sat at an empty table. She frowned at her plastic bag of O poz. She hadn’t really eaten much in the last couple of days, and although she knew she should be hungry, the best she could manage was a few sips.
“What in the name of the Founders do you think you’re doing?”
Cally was surprised to see Melinda standing on the other side of the table, her hands planted on her hips and a scowl on her face.
“Melly! You’re back!” Cally grinned, jumping to her feet to embrace her friend. “I was afraid the Van Helsings got you.”
“Never mind about me,” Melinda said, pushing Cally away. “I was sitting up with a sick friend. I want to know what’s up with you, girl.”
“What do you mean?”
Melinda stepped aside to reveal Bella and Bette standing behind her. On seeing the twins, Cally grabbed her tray and prepared to move to another table. Melinda sidestepped in front of her, blocking Cally’s escape.
“I’m gone for one night and when I come back, it’s to find you treating Bella and Bette like, well, like Lilith would! The only reason I’m not already kicking your ass is because I owe you. But that doesn’t mean you can get away with acting like a complete and utter bitch on a stick.”
“Are you mad at us, Cally?” Bette asked plaintively.
“No, I’m not mad at you, Bette.” Cally sighed. “Neither you nor Bella has done anything wrong. This has nothing to do with you, really. It’s my mom. She doesn’t want me hanging out with you guys anymore.”
“Why is your mother so worked up over the twins?” Melinda frowned.
Although she wanted to be honest with her friends, Cally doubted that telling them the whole truth would make things any easier. So she decided to tell them just a part of it instead. “Bella and Bette’s brother gave me a ride home the other night, and my mom jumped to the wrong conclusion. Now she doesn’t want me to have anything more to do with the Maledettos.”
“You met our brother?” Bella asked in surprise.
“Didn’t Lucky tell you?”
Bella shook her head. “We don’t see Lucky that much anymore, now that he’s working for Papa.”
“Do you like him?” Bette asked.
“He seems nice.” Cally shrugged.
“A lot of things aren’t what they seem to be,” Bella said, a grim look on her face. “Lucky is one of them.”
Melinda snapped her fingers. “Can we get back to the subject at hand?” she asked tartly. “So what you’re saying is that your mom doesn’t want you hanging around the twins because she’s got a thing against the Strega and is afraid you’ll get mixed up with their big brother, is tha
t it?”
“More or less,” Cally said, relieved that she didn’t have to lie any more than she had already.
Bella and Bette exchanged looks and then shared a deep sigh. “My sister and I understand the importance of family,” Bette said solemnly as her sister nodded in agreement. “We respect your decision to honor your mother’s wishes, even though it costs us your friendship.”
Cally watched as the twins turned and walked away dejectedly, their heads down and shoulders slumped. Although she was relieved that Bella and Bette weren’t mad at her, the sight of them looking so forlorn made Cally feel like she’d just hurled a bag full of fluffy little kitties into the river.
“I hope you’re happy,” Melinda said. “You get to dump your friends without having to feel guilty about it.”
“I’m as far from happy as you could possibly imagine right now,” Cally replied. “The last thing I wanted to do was treat them like Lilith does.” She paused to look around the cafeteria. “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen her around tonight.”
“If I know her,” Melinda said with a sour smile, “wherever she is right now, it’s definitely rated triple X. You know: exciting, exclusive, and expensive.”
The Vanitas Halloween party was being held in an event space in one of the old skyscrapers looking out onto Union Square. Waiters bearing silver trays laden with champagne and shrimp cocktails hurried in and out of the full-size kitchen, while costumed guests looked out the arched windows onto the park or lounged on the couches and ottomans scattered around the room.
Kristof led Lilith by the hand through the beautiful people, stopping every now and then to briefly chat with friends and business associates. After a few minutes of wandering through the crowd, the photographer succeeded in locating the hostess of the party: Fiona Alphew, publisher of Vanitas, one of the most respected publications in the fashion industry.
The millionaire publisher was dressed as Medusa, complete with realistic-looking viper hair extensions. She smiled warmly as Kristof approached her. “There you are!” she said. “I was afraid you weren’t going to make it.”
Night Life Page 10