Helluva Luxe

by Essary, Natalie

  “I heard her,” I said. “Tell her welcome home.”

  “While you chicks are all gazing at each other across the room like that, I’ve got something to ask,” Chance said.

  “Shoot, kid.” Ash made a gun sign.

  I just shook my head at them. “I know what he’s gonna ask,”

  “Woman, you are creeping me out with that shit.”

  “This, coming from the man who’s met everybody’s skeletons,” I said.

  “They don’t know about their gifts?” Lily whispered.

  I looked up at the booth and saw Ash’s lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what she said. Chance didn’t seem to have heard either one of them, and he was still wearing his wire, too.

  “That’s what good bartenders do,” Chance said. “They listen.”

  “It’s more than that, and you know it,” I said. “Ask your question.”

  “No. I want to see you read my mind. Again,” he said. He even crossed his arms.

  “Fine. Ash, he’s worried you two are gonna move out.”

  Chance just stared at me and chugged the rest of his beer.

  “I’m not reading your mind. I’m just…picking up on your worry. Maybe we should talk about this later.”

  “Tell Rorke we’re not moving out,” Lily said to Ash. “She’s worried, too.”

  “I can hear her,” I said.

  “You can hear who?” Chance said.

  “I can hear Lily talking.”

  The earpiece clicked. “I had you muted,” Ash said.

  Several beats of silence passed.

  “You have to tell Rorke the truth,” Lily said. “She’ll get hurt if you don’t.”

  “Tell me what?” I said.

  “Come on up here, baby. Chance, you too. Bring booze,” Ash said, and she clicked off.

  But then I heard Lily say, “We’re out of time.”

  Chapter 36

  We never had that talk.

  Chance and I were halfway across the dance floor when the front door banged open and Zayzl stormed in, eyes blazing, gun in hand. His shirt was buttoned crooked, and his wrists were torn up from the cuffs.

  He headed straight for the DJ booth.

  Ash noticed him first, of course. She immediately moved between Lily and the doorway, but there was nowhere for the two of them to go.

  “You fucking bitch,” was the first thing I heard. “He left me. Is that what you wanted? He fucking left me!” Zayzl was frothing at the mouth, and he had his gun aimed at Ash.

  She looked completely calm. And then she started buying time. “How’d you get loose,” she said.

  “Evidently, Kendol was sticking it to the overnight desk clerk. So we buzzed him with the panic button behind the headboard, and he came up and unlocked us. For a fee. I guess you didn’t know the penthouse had a panic button. Don’t you fools know only important people stay in penthouses? We found the bug, too, you cunt.”

  I grabbed a hold of Chance’s arm and tried to pull him behind me, but he was having none of it. He was trying to do the same thing to me.

  Zayzl whirled on us. “You two. You just stay right there. If I had enough bullets, I’d shoot you all. Don’t make me have to choose.”

  And that’s when I caught sight of Wolf sneaking up the stairs to the booth.

  “Zayzl,” Ash said, a little too loudly. She was obviously trying to get his attention off of Chance and me, and it made my stomach turn. “Where’s Kendol?”

  “I told you, he’s gone! You cost me everything!” He started laughing like crazy people do in the movies. His face was shiny, and he was waving the gun around. “I’m not here to monologue with you, dyke. I just wanna see it end.”

  “Zayzl, don’t.”

  But he fired the gun.

  The shot rang through the bar, and Zayzl’s eyes bulged before he went down with a thud. Wolf was standing in the doorway behind him, smoke curling from the barrel of the .357 in his meaty hand.

  I heard a gasp in my head, and Lily screamed to raise the dead. Then Zayzl fired off two shots from the floor of the DJ booth. Ash got shoved into the deck so hard it knocked the wind out of her.

  And Lily went down.

  Ash roared like an animal. I’ve never heard anything so primal. She fell to the ground, and in seconds she was covered in blood, Lily in her arms.

  “I love you, Lily. Look at me. Can you hear me? Lily, I love you.”

  I heard Lily’s response in my head.

  “I won’t be long, baby. I love you, too.”

  Then everything went dark.

  But only for a while.

  Chapter 37

  “Shit, Rorke.” I could hardly breathe.

  “Holy shit, you mean.” She tried to smile, but she ended up biting her lip and leaning into me. I put my arm around her. She tried to make things less awkward by poking at the steaks.

  Madder had come in and curled at Rorke’s feet sometime during the story. She had her head down on her monstrous paws, and her eyes were closed. There was a low rumbling sound coming from her chest. I didn’t realize the bird was perched in a tree inches from my shoulder until Rorke tore a bite of meat from the grill and reached around me. The bird took the food, all the while watching me with its huge eyes.

  “I knew why I hadn’t met Lily yet. I knew something happened to her. I just didn’t want to hear you say it. I kept telling myself she’d come crashing through the front door like Chance did.”

  Rorke nodded. She wouldn’t look at me.

  “Ash’s lighter,” I said. “Who had it that night?”

  “How’d you know about that?”

  “Then I’m right?”

  “Yeah. Lily had it in her pocket when she shoved Ash into the deck. The first bullet dinged off the lighter. The second one went straight to her heart.”

  Ash echoed through my head. “It was a gift.”

  I felt the room start to move.

  “Here, Salem.” Rorke touched my shoulder with one hand and reached into my robe pocket with the other. She pulled out a black, brushed metal flask with a platinum lid. The club’s logo on one side, my initials underneath.

  “Ride, baby, ride,” she said.

  I took it from her, and my fingers tingled. I ran my thumb over the lettering. Under any other circumstances I would’ve been thrilled. Or at least asked what else she could pull out of my robe. Instead I said thank you and took a good long drink.

  The bird made some crazy shrieking sound and disappeared through the skylight just as Madder stood and quietly left the kitchen.

  I felt like I’d cleared the room.

  Rorke leaned against the grill and let her hand fall to my hip. She was smiling, giving me time for everything in my head to settle down.

  I didn’t know if I should tell her the drink wasn’t working like usual. Something was off. What she was saying didn’t match the way she was looking at me. I could feel the heat of her skin through my robe. And the more heat I felt, the more I knew I was right. But I kept it to myself.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what that was like. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Well. You can turn around and say hello to Lily.”

  The room went still.

  Rorke took my hand and nodded toward the entrance behind me. I turned. Evidently, Madder had gotten up to greet the door, because Ash was standing behind the tiger with a woman that could only be Lily. She was slightly shorter than Ash and just as thin, but curvier. Long, silvery blonde hair hung in her bright purple eyes, and her lips looked like candy. She was wearing this knockout black-and-white Lolita coat. And she was kinda glowing.

  “How’s it going, Salem?” she said. Her voice sounded like honey and wind chimes. I started choking on nothing.

  Ash grinned at me. “Breathe, Nick. She’s not dead. Well, she’s kinda dead. Would you say you’re kinda dead, love?”

  “I’ll say whatever you want if those steaks are almost ready. I’m starved. Bonsoir, Rorke.”

  “I�
�ve got your filet right here, baby. Pretty in pink.”

  “Thank you.” The kinda-dead girl beamed.

  Undoubtedly, my mouth was hanging open.

  Rorke leaned in and kissed me on the neck.

  “Helluva Luxe,” she said in my ear. “Comme vous le voyez.”

  “That’s the same face Rorke made when Lily started walking around with a hole in her chest,” Ash said. “I told you we dig surprises around here.”

  Lily crossed the water and held out her hand. Her skin was cold, but it was solid and smooth as glass.

  “Hello,” she said. “I’m the appetizer.”

  She shot Rorke a look, and Rorke just grinned.

  “It’s good to finally meet you, Nick. Sorry about your initiation. In time I’m sure you’ll see there was no other way to determine if you’re really cut out to be family. There’s a fine line, you know.”

  As she spoke, she leaned over and plucked a flower from one of the plants beside me. Then she pinned it to my lapel. “Tonight is your first family dinner. This is a Spiderlily. You can’t get them in this country. Return it to Ash tomorrow night. When it’s soft and sleepy. She’ll mix paint from the petals for your new door.”

  “You’re the statue,” I said. “The glass one that looks down over the entrance to the bar. I saw you watching me. And you are Elise.”

  “I had to see who was checking out my Ashes.” Lily winked.

  “How’d you know?” I said.

  “I felt you standing in line.”

  “Are we still talking about the line outside the door?”

  “Rorke calls it the bus stop.” She touched my face, and looked kind of sad. “You were waiting there for a while, Nick. Weren’t you? Why?”

  “I don’t remember,” I said, and she nodded.

  I couldn’t stop staring. Lily looked like every woman in every wall, on every door, crouched in every corner of that crazy bar.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know I’m staring. It’s just… Thank you for scaring the life into me.”

  When Lily laughed wind rustled the trees.

  Ash cleared her throat. “Elise?”

  Lily blushed. “I wanted to meet him, and you wouldn’t let me.”

  “So you impersonated the broad squad?” Ash looked proud.

  “Maybe just a little. I put on extra tattoos.”

  “I told her she was playing rough with the new kid,” Rorke said. “So she went and kicked it up a notch.”

  “That’s my girl,” Ash said.

  I turned to Rorke. “It was you I heard arguing with Lily through the wall. Wasn’t it?”

  “Not through the wall,” she said. “You flipped on one of the bugs. Those little red radios are in all the rooms. They’re wired through the security system.”

  “But I heard ‘Kyoto Song.’”

  “Well, hell, Salem. That should’ve been your first tip,” Ash said. “Forget the bloody, melted walls. Nobody plays that song on the radio.”

  The tiger snuffed an agreement.

  “So that’s how you heard me screaming,” I said. “Through the radios?”

  Ash shook her head. “Nah, you rattled the building.”

  “I wasn’t awake,” I mumbled.

  Rorke started laughing, and the fire leapt up on the grill. “I’m sorry I missed that. I heard you did more damage than the freak fairy here.”

  “Nonsense,” Lily said.

  “I’m so glad you’re not dead,” I told Lily. “But… Zayzl is. Right?” I turned to Rorke. “Please tell me one of those steaks isn’t for Zayzl.”

  “Zayzl is gone for good,” Rorke said. “If Wolf hadn’t shot him, he would’ve turned his gun on himself.”

  “Dark can’t stand next to light for long,” Lily said.

  I cocked my head at Rorke.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I knew. I picked up on it as soon as Zayzl stormed through the door. He wanted to die. I knew Lily wanted to die, too.”

  “I didn’t want to die,” Lily said. “It was my time. There’s a big difference. I tried to warn you more than once.”

  Rorke pointed the spatula at her. “Yeah, in code. By singing creepy songs in my head.” Obviously, this was a conversation they’d had before.

  “I had my way of telling you. Just like you have your way of telling Nick.”

  Rorke rolled her eyes.

  “And the creepy songs were so you’d realize your gift in time to help me,” Lily said. “Besides, whenever I tried to tell you straight up, you just fed me cherries.”

  “Works for me.” Ash winked.

  Rorke ignored her. “You told Ash.”

  “That’s not true,” Lily said. “She knew before I did.”

  Ash walked over to the bar and popped open a couple of beers. Then she sat down in front of the plaque that had her name on it. “Don’t worry, Salem. You’ll figure out how things work around here. It takes time. And that’s only a fraction of the fun.” She eyed me. “I’m assuming you want to stay. If not, we’ll shoot you after dinner.”

  Lily patted me on the shoulder and smiled into my eyes. She felt like pure goodness. I wanted to hug her so badly I could taste it. “Ash is right, Nick. There’s no need to worry,” she said. “We’re usually much worse than this.”

  “Cheers to that.” Chance was at the door.

  “Baby boy! Come on in,” Ash said and patted the bar stool next to her.

  The tiger padded over to Chance and nuzzled his arm. Lily blew him a kiss. I felt so much heat in my chest, I could hardly look at the kid. I seriously thought I was about to lose it. Rorke lit a cigarette and handed it to me.

  I eyed her. “You sure you can’t hear my thoughts?”

  “I promise,” she said.

  “But you can read my emotions.”

  “Bingo.”

  “Everybody’s?” I asked.

  “No. Just family.”

  “So you first zoned in on me… When?”

  “The second you hit the front door, baby.” She pinched my ass.

  I felt my whole head catch fire. “Why did I ask?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was wondering,” Chance said. “That gift of hers is a curse, dude. She’s gonna catch you with your pants down every time. Don’t even try to touch your monkey anywhere near her bar.”

  I shook my head at him.

  Lily nudged me a little. She looked like she had a secret. “And what about you, Lily?” I asked.

  “Oh, my gift is useless,” she said. “I’m just a fairy now.”

  A beat passed, and then I understood. “Someone who uses magic to interfere in the lives of humans,” I said. “You were just playing with me.”

  Lily’s perfect lips twitched into a smile. “You were fun, Nick. I knew you wouldn’t be mad. Even when I set you on fire. But I didn’t mean for you to slip in the bathroom. And I think Wolf took it a little far with the fake vomit, but he said he liked your shirt.”

  “I wouldn’t call that useless,” I said.

  “Me, neither.” Rorke was cracking up. “I’m so sorry, Salem. Shit. Ash, help me out here.”

  “Lily knows when people in the family are going to die,” Ash said.

  “What? How could that ever be useless?”

  “Because there’s no such thing as death,” Lily said.

  I nodded. “She has a point.”

  “Two of ’em,” Rorke said. “One on each ear. You believe her?”

  I nodded again, but I was still watching Lily.

  “You’re here because you believe you belong here. Aren’t you, Lily?”

  “This is my heaven.”

  I smiled back at her. “Mine, too.”

  She squeezed my hand, and then she crossed the water to the bar. She slid up onto Ash’s lap, and they started murmuring over something. I swear I saw some crazy silver shimmer pass between them.

  I turned back to Rorke. She was still watching me.

  “What do you bring to the table?” she said.

  “Is ther
e a pool going? Who says I’ve got anything to bring?”

  Madder snorted.

  “She does,” Chance said, pointing his beer at the cat. “Did she offer to share her steak with you?”

  “Uh, yeah. She did. That’s what Rorke said.”

  “The Chateau, right?” He snapped his fingers at me. “Come on, Salem. You’re usually pretty quick.”

  “The castle,” I said. I’m not even sure I said it out loud. I walked over to Madder, bent down and leveled my eyes to hers. She blinked lazily, and a low rumble came from her throat.

  “Mofet?” I said.

  The huge tiger raised a paw at me, roared to rattle the devil, and licked the entire left side of my face. Damn near knocked me down.

  “Ding. Ding. Ding. Tell the man what he’s won.” Ash slapped her knee, and Lily giggled.

  “See, now that’s what I’m talking about,” Chance said.

  Rorke was leaning on the grill, grinning at me like a fiend. That’s when I realized my robe was gaping a bit from her vantage point, and I closed it. But not before my face went up in flames.

  “Aw, hell, Salem. That was dessert.” She winked at me. Then she picked up the platter of steaks and headed for the bar.

  “Come on, Nick,” Ash said. “If you can peg the Great Mother, you must have some idea what else you can do.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “If anybody says I see dead people, I swear I’m outta here.”

  “I think your gift is cooler than that,” Chance said. “Obviously, we can all see dead people. No offense, Lily.”

  “None taken,” she said.

  “I think he’s got a little of each of us,” Rorke decided.

  “No, I don’t.” I said. “I’ve got no fucking clue when I’m going to die.”

  “But you knew what I said about death was true,” Lily said. “So Rorke could be right.”

  Ash shook her head. “I think his gift is that he’s still standing after hanging out with Rorke for a week without getting laid.”

  “Yeah, what the hell, Rorke? I heard about the bathtub. Give it up already.” That was Chance. Of course. “Look, he’s got a nametag and everything.” He flicked his fingers on the plaque to his right.

  “I do?”

  I crossed the water with Madder on my heels. I could feel the flask burning through my pocket as I leaned over the bar. Sure enough. The middle plate had my name on it. Madder snuffled again and nuzzled my arm. I reached out and scratched her behind the ear, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the plate. Something else was eating at me.