Tomorrow night? It was Thursday. I didn’t work Fridays or Saturdays. Those shifts were usually run by Sam and Jezebel. They were highly coveted, and only the best got to work them. Jezebel had handed in her notice a few weeks ago, but considering I was new to the bar, never in a million years had I thoughtIwould be chosen to replace her.
“Is little Lilith getting a promotion?” Shem purred, working the cherry’s stem into a knot with his tongue. His green eyes flashed in amusement, and Rafael looked at him with disgust.
“Don’t eat the garnish,” he snapped, but Shem just chuckled. He seemed to be the only person who wasn’t at least alittleafraid of Rafael.
My mouth dropped open, and I shot a look at Sam, who was beaming at me. He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
“I wanted to tell you earlier, but it just got so busy. I’ve been working on this with Raf for the last two weeks. If you don’t have any plans, I need someone tocover for Jezebel since she quit. You’re the fastest person I’ve ever worked with on service. If you want Fridays and Saturdays, they’re yours.”
“Are you serious!?” I whipped back and forth between Sam and Raf. Both of them were grinning at me, amused by how excited I was. “Of course I want to work weekends with you!” I squealed, hardly able to keep myself from bouncing in my non-slip Mary Janes.
Before I could think better of it, I threw my arms around Sam and hugged him. He stiffened for a moment, then relaxed and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He rubbed his large, warm hand up my back, and I shuddered, immediately wishing I could take the hug back.
“Ooh, how come you never hugmelike that, sweetheart?” Shem teased, and I jerked away from Sam, laughing nervously. Sam frowned but didn’t say anything. He just shot Shem an annoyed look, and I anxiously chewed on my thumbnail and straightened out my bartending pouch.
“Tomorrow.” Sam smiled at me before picking up the bin of empties. Raf lifted the stainless-steel drop hatch to let him out, and Shem looked me up and down, a mischievous look glinting in his green eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugged and slinked off after Sam, leaving me alone with my stern bar manager.
“You’ll be on probation, of course. We’ll see how it goes, but I have to admit, you’ve impressed me, Lilith,” Rafael said. I wasn’t sure how he made even compliments sound like criticisms, but I didn’t care. All I could see were dollar signs.
I would never have to worry about making rent again.
I would be stable and independent.
I would besafe.
I tried to contain the giddy little dance that wanted to burst out of me and fisted the edges of my mandatory pleated black tennis skirt instead.
“You need to work on cleanliness. You’re fast on service, but that’s because you don’t clean as you go. You need to be quickandpristine if you’re going to stay on weekends.”
I nodded eagerly.
“Yes, Rafael. Of course.”
Alexa, play ‘bury a friend’ by Billie Eilish
“We are the dead, and we do not enter lightly into the realm of the living.”
— ABIGAIL, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE
It took me over an hour to mop the keg fridge. I wanted to make sure it wasperfect.Rafael had said I needed to work on cleanliness, and I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t start now. It was nearly three am by the time I had balanced the till and checked out. I slipped through the kitchen to grab my bag in the staff room, and Mike, the pantry chef, grunted at me.
“I saved you this,” he said gruffly, nudging a little to-go container at me. Mike was a middle-aged man who was rough around the edges but had been in the kitchen at Voodoo for nearly ten years. He was a stickler for rules and normally wouldn’t even let me sneak a fry from the fry bowl.
“What is it?” I asked, eyeing the little cardboard box.
“A birthday brownie.”
“It’s… not my birthday?” My birthday falls on Halloween, which was still almost two full months away.
“I know. Sam told me you made primetime. I wanted to congratulate ya.”
Realizing he was giving me one of the little free desserts we gave guests on their birthday, I suddenly felt my eyes swim with emotion. “Thanks, Mike… this is, this isreallynice.” No one had ever done anything like this for me before. For the second time that night, I found myself wanting to hug someone. This time, I stopped myself and took a step back instead.
“Goodnight, Lil. See ya tomorrow,” he said before lumbering out the back door and out into the night.
I grabbed my bag and my black maxi coat, throwing it on over the short black tennis skirt and Voodoo tank top. When I first started and Raf showed me the uniform, I panicked. It showed a lot of skin, and I had a few scars that I was sure would make guests uncomfortable. Happily, the skirt was just long enough to cover the scars on the tops of my thighs. They were self-inflicted. A punishment, if you will. After I learned that Death would not allow me to kill myself, I had taken to opening the flesh on my thighs for each person I had killed.
The deep, pink scars that ran up the insides of my arms from that first attempt were another problem. Thankfully, Voodoo’s uniform policy required that women wear a minimum of three pieces of jewelry, preferably made of leather, to keep up with their dark, macabre theme. I immediately purchased two thick leather cuffs and strapped them around each wrist on my first shift.Tada!It was like I had never even tried to slit my wrists to escape the undeserved wrath of a demon.
