“Look, since you’re here, there’s something I need to tell you,” Eliza said. “When I was visiting my sister, she asked me to come and live with her.” She placed her cup of tea down on the table. “I said yes.”
“What? You’re moving away?”
Eliza nodded.
“But you can’t leave!” April said. “You’ve lived here your whole life. You love it here.”
“I do. But as you know, my health isn’t great. It would be good for me to have people around who can help me out a little. Plus, I can barely even get up these stairs anymore.”
“But you have me here to help you,” April said. “And all your other friends.”
“I can’t rely on all of you forever,” Eliza said. “Also, my medical bills are starting to pile up. The developers who bought the place next door have been offering to buy my house for years now. I’ve always turned them down, but they recently made me an offer that’s hard to refuse. April, it would mean that I’m set for life.”
“But…” Tears began to form at the corners of April’s eyes. She wasn’t the type to cry at the drop of a hat. But she had known Eliza since she was fourteen. She had opened up April’s world and introduced April to the sanctuary she needed so badly at the time. She had taught her how to stand up for herself and fight for what she believed in. She was April’s guiding star.
And now she was moving away.
“You can always come visit me. It’s only a short flight away.” Eliza placed her hand on April’s. “I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I understand.” April blinked away her tears. “I should go. Thanks for the tea.”
“Okay.” Eliza gave her a sympathetic smile. “Try to remember what I said. Be open to compromise.”
April nodded. As soon as Eliza let go of her hand, she fled out the door.
April stood on the sidewalk, wiping the tears from her eyes. She wasn’t being fair to Eliza. But she was just so angry at the world right now. Everything was changing. Everything was out of her control. And there was nothing she could do about it.
But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to try.
She would take Eliza’s advice about being open to compromise. But she wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Vicki any longer. April needed to track her down, figure out a way to see her face to face. It wouldn’t be easy, with Vicki ignoring April’s atte
mpts to get in touch.
There was one option. It was Tuesday night, and April knew exactly where Vicki was supposed to be.
It was a long shot. But April had to take it.
Chapter Seven
When April got home from Eliza’s, she only had an hour before she was due to meet Vicki at that club. After a quick shower, she looked up the address that Vicki had given her, hoping to find out the name of the club. However, there was no information about it online at all. It was like it didn’t even exist.
Was this some kind of joke? Had Vicki been messing with her all along? April sighed. It wasn’t like she had any other options. She threw on a simple black dress that was somewhere between casual and dressy, and headed straight to the club before she lost her resolve.
April arrived at the address with a few minutes to spare. She double-checked the number next to the small, black door in front of her. This is it. Once again, she wondered if Vicki was messing with her.
April looked up at the sign above the door. It read Lilith’s Den in red cursive script.
Lilith’s Den? April had taken a class on mythology at college, and although she had forgotten most of what she’d learned, she was pretty sure that Lilith was a demonic seductress from Jewish folklore.
And April was marching right into her den.
Two women walked around April to get to the door. They were both dressed in long black coats. One was wearing thigh-high leather stiletto boots with laces all the way up the front. The other wore a spiked leather choker around her neck that resembled a collar.
What the hell is this place? When Vicki mentioned a club, April assumed she meant a nightclub. What if this was a different kind of club entirely?
It didn’t matter. April wasn’t planning to stay. She would go in, find Vicki, and make her set a meeting there and then. That was it.
Steeling herself, she followed the couple through the door.