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And had covered his error so fast and smoothly that I’d never tumbled to it

"Oooh," warned Irht have killed Lilith He had her snowed, for sure Better stay out of his contrail"

True, but the answers I wanted ht lie there too

I definitely had to consider Snow as the revived Christopher, or a progenitor or descendent thereof Certainly, he was the force behind the resurgent Inferno, which was a gauntlet thron before the olf lords who had run Las Vegas since vanquishing or bonding with the human mobsters here in the late forties and fifties

The only vahes’ investment in the decrepit hotel at the south end of the Strip So Christophe had co his rock band, collecting his groupies, and bringing the dead and buried concept of the Inferno up from the ashes

No wonder Cicereau orried

So was I

And there was only one place where I could go to find out the truth and set o undercover

Chapter Forty-Eight

Night found me back at the Inferno, dressed so no one I knew could spot me, hopefully And I o to Deja-Vous The bossthat happened there

Estate sales for older folks often sold funky wigs as well as potty chairs, useful for Halloween So tonight I wore a glossy head of synthetic cinnath I’d rustled up solittery tube-top, and then added gray-tinted heart-shaped sunglasses to subdue the color of my eyes

I avoided the Inferno Bar and e I waved led forward an hour before the show to stand packed with the other Snow groupies in thethe stage froroupies aroundlike happy little coffee beans, wired and jue and the instru a water bottle A lot of thes, tats, chains, leather, sunglasses rendered theettable, but anonyhed and swooned at anything alive on that stage, nowas a buildup to the entrance of the Seven Deadly Sins and its lead singer

"My girlfriend’s made it," a wild-eyed blonde next to me said to no one in particular

"With Cocaine?" a wood! When?"

"Two years ago After the Live Again! concert She’s in the don club I’ve been cootten close enough to the stage to see more than his hair"

I was ias"

I was azes

"Oh, yeah," an older woman said "We all do You’re not a confirmed Cocaine fan unless you move here to see every one of his performances"

"But your jobs-?"

"They have McDonalds everywhere, honey"

"Don’t tell me you didn’t move here for him?" another one demanded

"Well, I did move here-"

I was about to say for other reasons, but these crazed women had no other reasons If they had known the silver "love beads" around e sixties neck came from the hair of the love object himself they would have torn me apart for souvenirs

I wanted to feel superior to these obsessed groupies but I was beginning to wonder ifwith me to be immune to their idol Well,withto ad, and part of it

Even with the ar seen and spoken to-been touched by- Snow up close and personal, I was beginning to feel the fever The jittery, longing, excited groupon carpeted concrete for so long, but I was hopping fro, old, and in-between-hopping and hoping and shivering with belly-deep excitement

"It’s hiuy who puts all the different guitars in place"

"The tabloids say he’s screwing Lust"

"No, she’s boffing soul"

"She’s craaaaazyy," wailed a fan

"If it’s anybody in the band, it’s Envy All that evil green costuht?"

I had to fight to keep in the frontlines, which I needed to do to be seen as a otten the point in writhing around for the attention of soht briefly of Ric, as plenty sexy without having to sell it, and was squeezed back a whole row in position when I didn’t concentrate on keeping ain

These fevered close quarters were forging a e one by one, everybody jumped up to see theood We’d be able to see their feet and feel their sweat

Then the fireworks started I saw the giant dragon heads descending Wasn’t that in Revelations? The Devil coon? Snow the Devil? Somehow I didn’t think so Or on’s two heads to the stage in his patented entrance, I feltstrand, circleloop down between my breasts to my belly button Every bead was as cold as ice Or sleet Or Snow

The distraction allowed the surging groupies to push roupie routine required the chutzpah and concentration of being in an estate sale line

I wormedlevel I was back in rohere I wanted to be: too far to be swept up in Snow’s Briister on the roupies, to be seen as one of them To join their club and pick their brains What was left of the down here in the mosh pit My bones vibrated to the beat Every tied lady tried to squeeze me out of my row I pushed back, with interest

Time ceased It was all deep bass vibrations and amped-up raw rock music Snow looked cool in his open Byron shirt and seaht white leather pants I had to ad sandpaper on the hard rock stuff, then slo, and sincere on the ballads Right That’s when the wo that drowned out even their idol’s voice totwo-hour set Forthe inter tension holding ht when I was about ready to sit down on the cold concrete to rest my bones and eardrums Except I’d have been stomped

The second set wentSnoith their colorful writhing forpin and I was as incapable of feeling lust as a loaf of Italian bread

After the encore, I was e women as Snow bent to the mosh pit to sweep up a few lucky fans for the Brimstone Kiss Didn’t that name imply the Devil? Wickedness sells Or pseudo-wickedness

I fought to keep limpsed the idol up close He wore numerous white silk scarves around his neck, the better to snare the chosen groupie One swooped up the woered behind, the only material token of her Bri forward Thewave My God, I was next in line! A loop of silk chiffon snared od face and hair No! I was here to infiltrate the fans, not ace the a cold slither as the silver necklace becaht arm I stared into a tiny reflection of myself on curved blacktoward lass

The scarf slithered aroundblack sunglasses looking elsewhere Another wo humanity and claimed a kiss from those frost-white lips She shrieked in bereave!!!" A wo ht I alroupie world Almost favored And in In like Lilith?