Page 55 of Lucifer's Revenge
“Lucius,” a weak voice said, and Luc hurried over to the bed where Lilith lay. “Cool,” she said as she reached up and laid her hand over his beard and red face. “What happened? Where am I?”
“What do you remember?” Bandit asked, and the cop from the break-in at her house was right beside him, both of them taking notes.
She reached up to rub her head, but winced at the pain she felt. Luc helped her sit up. “I had to meet with the insurance agent at my house after work. They were going to walk through and record the destruction.” When she saw they understood, she reached up and gently rubbed her forehead with a heavy sigh. “They were late. I thought only one person was coming, but two of them arrived. By late, I mean more than thirty minutes late. I didn’t want to call and ask where they were.”
“Why not?” the young cop asked.
“Because I didn’t want to piss them off and have them tell me that no damage had been done to my home. It hadn’t happened to me personally, but I’ve heard it happen to others. When they finally arrived, I only handed them a copy of the police report and my keys. I didn’t want to influence them in any way, shape, or form.”
“That was smart,” Bandit said. “How did it go?”
Lilith shook her head on another sigh, and shrugged. “No clue, I stayed outside, I couldn’t stand to look at the mess again. When they came out, they both looked a little green. Remember, it has been almost three weeks and all that food lay there rotting. Anyway, they handed me my keys back, and said they’d have their decision by next week. Oh, they were inside for over an hour. As soon as they left, I left to go to Hell’s Coffin. I parked in my usual spot, and when I got out, I looked up when Prospect Joey called my name, then I felt a sharp pain in my upper arm, I stumbled, and I woke up here.” She reached up to rub her arm, and looked around until she spotted Lucius.
“I like the makeup, Starr did a good job.”
“Thank you,” he said as he leaned down and kissed the center of her forehead. He then told her what Joey had told him, and to verify it, the curtain was pulled back and Joey himself stood there with his arm in a cast.
“Thank god,” he said as he saw she was awake. “I thought they had killed you.” They took the next fifteen minutes to tell the police everything, and when they were satisfied, they looked up and saw Starr standing there with a brown paper bag. She walked forward and placed it on the bed.
“The guys came back and told us what happened. I hope you don’t mind, but I went to Luc’s place and got you some clothes.” They all nodded and stepped out as Lilith got dressed while Hawk said he’d get her discharge papers ready. She was shortlydischarged, and because he could, he took Lilith over to where the man lay, still cuffed to the bed.
“Do you know this guy?” both Lucius and Bandit asked.
Lilith studied the man and shook her head. “Never saw him before in my life. Did he act alone?”
“No,” Lucius sighed. “Brenda Smith and Sally Barclay helped him.”
“Shit,” Lilith whispered, and studied the man with a shake of her head. She laughed evilly when the man opened his eyes, spotted Lucius and screamed like the actual fires of hell were after him.
“Remember this face,” Lucius said as he pointed to his face done up in makeup to look like Lucifer. “This will be the face you see for the rest of your life.” He took Lilith’s hand, turned on his heel, and the two of them left with their heads held high, but the sounds of deranged screams behind them had them only shaking their heads.
Chapter 24
Two weeks later, everyone was in the middle of an extremely successful Halloween Bash, when Lucius walked over to the DJ he had been convinced to hire for the event, and had a word with him. As soon as the music stopped, he picked up the microphone and made his way to the center of the room, bringing Lilith with him.
“I’d like to say something,” Lucius said into the mic, and everyone turned to stare at him, dressed in his Lucifer make-up. When he had everyone’s attention, he called for his club members to come forward. He nodded to the patch holders, and when he got the signal he was waiting for, he smiled.
“First, thank you all for coming to the Hell’s Coffin Halloween Bash. I have heard throughout the night the compliments about our makeup. I’d like to give a shout out to my sister, Starr, and her team, Kelsey Warner and Matt Rider. Those three are the ones that made us up. The special effects of this building are all thanks to Brad Tiggs. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without Professor Gary Tiggs for starting a class on how to do makeup like this.” He waited until they all waved when they were introduced, and it was Vampire who started clapping. It lasted for a good two minutes before Luc took over again.
“I don’t normally conduct club business in front of other clubs, or strangers. However, this needs to be done publicly. Prospect Joey, please step forward.” Because of what he did for Lilith, Lucius would forever remember his name, and since he had been keeping a hard eye on him, he knew what he was about to do would be best for everyone. He also made a personal vow to never forget Joey’s name ever again. Everyone waited as he didand as he stood before Lucius, he swallowed hard. The bruising on his face was still visible, and he still wore a cast on his arm.
Lucius reached out and laid one hand on his good shoulder. “Prospect Joey, part of wanting to be a member of Hell’s Coffin is to prove yourself as being part of a brotherhood, with no thought of any harm coming to you. What you did when you saw Lilith was in danger proved to me, as well as the patch holders that you have the dedication to fulfill that role.” Lucius took the hand from his shoulder, lowered it to his chest and ripped the‘Prospect’patch off and tossed it over his shoulder. Everyone sucked in their breath at the act.
“You don’t need this any longer. Instead, you need this.” He held out his hand and someone placed three items in it. Then Lucius passed it to Joey.
“What is it?” someone in the crowd called out.
“Show them,” Lucius said and stepped back two feet, leaving Joey in the center of the crowd.
Joey frowned and looked down at the items in his hand. He grinned and looked at Lucius in shock. “Are you sure, I’ve only been a prospect for three months.”
“I am sure, and so are the patch holders. As I just mentioned, you proved your worth by trying to protect Lilith. I know if you hadn’t been beaten like you had been, then Lilith never would have been saved. This is our way of saying thank you.” Lucius reached in and grabbed the top item and held it up for all to see.
“As of right now, Prospect Joey is no longer a prospect, he’s a striker.” He looked at Joey with a wink. “We’ll have to come up with a club name for you now.” Lucius gave an oomph when Joey slammed into him and hugged him.
“Thank you,” he said with a grin. “I’ll put them on my cut when I get home tonight.”
“See that you do,” Lucius said gruffly, worked up by the emotion in Joey’s eyes. He looked over at the DJ and nodded,and the music started, allowing the party to continue. He stood there, full of pride, that he had done this little thing for Joey. In his mind, if it hadn’t been for the kid, then Lilith might not be alive today. He shook off that dark thought and with his arm around Lilith’s shoulders, went back to return the microphone to the DJ. He went over and took a seat in the corner, where most of the women sat, and looked out at the party. He nodded when Lilith joined him with his glass of ginger ale and lime, and her drink, which he later found out was just a cola.
