Lilith watched through the window as a bedraggled man who evidently spent most of his time on the streets slunk into one of the alleys between the apartments. She recognized him of course, he was one of her most “loyal” customers. The man was usually soaring above Concorde jet cruising altitude - she had no idea how his body could handle all the meth and LSD he pumped into it, but it did and he kept coming back for more.

Where he got the money she didn’t know, and she didn’t really want to think about it either.

What confused her though, was why the idiot was coming here. She hadn’t received any tips that the police were close to finding her, and yet she had explicitly told him that the only time he could come within sight of the apartment was if that was the case. Her brow knitted into a scowl and she sighed, resignedly throwing on her heavy longcoat and flipping the hood up to mask her face. Tucking the revolver under her coat she angrily stormed out of the apartment’s back door, rounding the corner and confronting the man.

“The fuck are you doing here?” She demanded, getting right in his face. He was known to the police, the idiot could lead them right to her if they were keeping tabs on him. “Spill it. Now.”

The man’s eyes were sunk into his skull, and they widened as he shrank back from her. His frail frame quivered in fear of what unholy wrath he might’ve provoked on himself. “I-I needed my fix.” His voice quivered and his legs looked about to collapse. He rushed at her, pushing a twenty dollar bill at her as he fell against her. “Please, anything! I can pay more later, I just need my fix!”

She glared at him coldly, anger rising. “You could’ve lead the police here.” She growled at him, voice low and even. “You could’ve lead the cops straight to my front door, all because you wanted a fix. And then, when you get here and put my whole operation in jeopardy - what do you do?! You push twenty at me.” She slammed the man into the wall, whipping out the revolver and sticking its barrel in his mouth. “Listen to me, Paul, and listen well. If you ever come here for something that isn’t [i]actually[/i] urgent again, I will put a bullet through your skull and dump your body in the ocean. If you ever consider going to the police, I will do the same. And if you [i]ever[/i],” she paused, waving the bill in his face, “try to buy some of my product with… this pitiful amount?” She cocked the hammer on the gun, narrowing her eyes and letting the action speak for itself. 

Standing back, she let the man collapse to the ground before holstering her gun, letting the twenty fall in front of him. “Get out of here. I’ll meet you at the usual place tomorrow, at the usual time, and you’d better have more cash. I don’t do credit. Funnily enough it has a habit of never getting paid back.”

Lilith stormed back inside, throwing the coat to the side before sitting down to clean off the gun, gingerly unloading it and lowering the hammer softly. She sighed, setting the weapon down on a small side table, and buried her face in her hands. 

She’d never wanted to be like this. 

She held back from crying. Crying hadn’t done her any good before. Instead she stood, moving over to the computer sitting proudly on the desk. She had gotten a notification only moments before seeing Paul arrive, but considering it was from Sophi - it would probably lift her spirits somewhat.

The computer took a second to blink back to life, but when it did, there was the email, still sitting untouched in her inbox. She eyed the title before clicking on it, reading the message through sleep addled eyes. A party? She hadn’t attended a party for… anything since she was seventeen…

Lilith grinned before shooting off a quick reply - she could do with something fun for once.