Patricia Rosemoor - Skin

Not that he was going to use it just yet. But he needed to be prepared for his newest prey. So fast, so fast, he thought with regret. He’d had far more time to ready himself in the past, had gone nearly four months between the first two. He’d been able to think about his actions. Plan them to the last detail.

Savor them.

This time was different.

His need was growing, spiraling out of control. Rubbing himself, he imagined the play-by-play. Barely two weeks after the last kill, the urge to take up the hunt returned as intense as a wet dream.

SATURDAY MORNING. Too little sleep. Up all night worrying about Hannah, wondering what she should do — could do — to get her sister back in her life, Lilith dressed fast. She spent several hours of most Saturdays doing something with Carmen, but how was that going to go with her worrying about her sister? If she cancelled, that would disappoint the girl, maybe lose her trust.

Just as she had Hannah’s.

Lilith wanted to return to her sister’s place to make amends. Hannah had done what she’d needed to in order to survive. And now she was proud of her life, or at least that’s what she projected. Lilith could accept that but she didn’t have to like it. She wanted something better for her sister, something safer — she hadn’t forgotten about the murders. She had to admit that while her heart went out to them, she’d never understood how women could stay in abusive situations where men used them up. She’d never understood how Mama could let a man beat her and her daughters.

And now Hannah was at risk, if in a very different situation.

She knew what she had to do if she wanted a relationship with her sister — understand her the way she was now. That meant knowing what Hannah had gone through after running. Though she’d imagined it all, she didn’t know the real horror. She had to ease into trying to find out, though, or she feared Hannah would simply continue to reject her.

If she couldn’t fix this relationship, if Hannah refused to be her sister, Lilith knew her heart would be broken all over again.

She was putting out cat food for Valkyrie, who was whirling around her ankles when the phone rang. Thinking it was Carmen, she picked up and said, “I know, I know, I’m late. How about meeting me at the seal pond — I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“What seal pond?”

Hannah.

Heart pounding so hard she heard blood rush through her head, Lilith tried to sound normal. “At Lincoln Park Zoo.”

“Doesn’t exactly sound like a hot date.”

“It’s not a date at all. I mentor a high school girl named Carmen Vargas.”

“Mentor? What’s that? Like a big sister?”

“Sort of.”

Silence.

Making Lilith realize Hannah didn’t like it. But she had made the first move, and Lilith couldn’t let that go. “Why don’t you meet us at the zoo?”

“Not my thing. Well, I didn’t mean to make you late. Talk to you some other time.”

“No, wait! Please!”

But it was too late. Hannah had already hung up.

“Damn, damn, damn!”

Hannah’s caller ID was there on her phone and Lilith reversed the call, which went directly to voice mail.

“Hannah, I would really like to see you. If the zoo isn’t your thing, then pick something. Anything.” Please.

Hoping Hannah would call her back, Lilith disconnected, then called Carmen, who agreed to meet her in half an hour.

Whipping out of her house, Lilith ran to the corner where she caught the bus that would get her to the zoo. If Hannah didn’t call her back, then what? Should she once more seek her out at the club? The thought of going there, of revisiting what her sister did for a living, depressed her. What if she said or did the wrong thing again?

Within the appointed half hour, she caught up to Carmen at the seal pond, located in the heart of Lincoln Park Zoo. For the moment, she tucked away her thoughts about her sister so she could concentrate on the teenager.

Lilith slid over to the rail next to Carmen and asked, “What animals do you want to see first today?”

Carmen shrugged, making Lilith wonder if she wanted to be there at all.

“Would you rather do something else?”

The girl shook her head. Normally she was talkative, full of enthusiasm. Today she was folded in on herself. Something was wrong.

“Well, let’s watch the seals for a while, then,” Lilith suggested, “and maybe you’ll think of something you’d like to do.”

As in talk?

She’d pushed her own sister away by trying to go too far, too fast. Not wanting to make that mistake with Carmen, she figured she’d better let the girl set the pace.

So when Carmen finally said, “Poppi says I gotta quit school,” Lilith was almost relieved.

“Why?” Did the father not want his daughter to exceed his own education?

“He said that since I’m seventeen now, I don’t have to go no more, that they can’t make me.”

“But you want to go, right?”

Carmen shrugged. “Poppi says it’s best for the family. And me. Better to stop wasting my life dreaming about something I’m never gonna get.”

“College?”

Carmen nodded.

“There are city colleges and scholarships for state and private universities.”

“Any money I make I would need for books and stuff. Poppi says it’s more important to put shoes on the little ones’ feet.”

“What do you think?”

“That I don’t got a choice.”

Lilith wanted to argue the point, but she needed to stay neutral, to give Carmen the support she needed without getting on her case. If she pressed too hard, the girl would push her away the way Hannah had, and Lilith simply couldn’t stand the thought of being estranged from someone else she cared about.

HANNAH STOOD at the rail of the rooftop café overlooking both the big cats and the seals and watched Lilith relate to the girl who’d been waiting for her.

They stood there for a while, silent, watching the antics of the seals. Hannah became impatient. Questioned herself as to why she was even there. What did she hope to get from playing detective?

They were talking now, and the girl — Carmen — was shaking. Lilith put an arm around her shoulders, and the girl started to cry. And then she threw herself against Lilith, and Lilith comforted her as if Carmen were her kid sister.

Well, they weren’t sisters. She and Lilith were sisters, Hannah thought, her temper rising. Where had Lilith been when she had needed a shoulder to cry on?

Not wanting to see more, Hannah backed off and hiked across the zoo grounds straight for the exit. Lilith hadn’t held her like that for too many years. Not since she’d abandoned her.

And, considering how Lilith felt about her working at a gentlemen’s club, now she never would.

Why did that bother her? Hannah wondered. She didn’t need Lilith’s approval. She was her own woman. An adult. She could do or be whatever she wanted. Lilith needed to know that, needed to stop underestimating her little sister. Well, it was time her little sister let her know what was what.

Then a male voice drifted after her. “Hey, chica , why such a hurry?”

Though Hannah kept moving, she turned so she was walking backward. The Latino guy following her was kind of handsome in a tough way. Dark hair spilled over a scarred forehead. She sized him up. Leather and gold didn’t come cheap.

“Maybe I’m trying to get away from you.”

“Don’t look like it to me.”

“This is me, getting away,” Hannah said, turning again and walking forward toward the gate.