Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories Read Free Page A

cover up her dress.
    The dressing rooms she usually had at her
disposal did not always offer enough space for changing, and this
way she did not have to carry so much either. A definite click
assured her that the lock on her bag worked fine.
    Once in the street, Lily focussed on the
songs she was going to sing.
    The piano player'd better be better than the
one she had worked with two evenings ago. With that one, Lily was
surprised that he knew what side of the piano he had to fondle,
because that was all he had done. Well, that and almost ruining the
evening.
    Today she would sing at the dance hall, not
very far from her house. The weather was wonderful, so initially
she decided to walk. Then she stopped a carriage after all.
    Ladies, she reminded herself, do not walk
those distances, and certainly not with heavy bags. Ordinary women
did. As the carriage took her along Lily missed the walking, but
this way she would not be seen as someone who had the physical
stamina of the Masked Woman, her alter ego. She had to avoid any
resemblance, even at the price of a ride.
    The carriage came to a halt. The driver
opened the door and helped her out. He was so kind that Lily felt
sorry she could not give him a better tip, but he seemed well
pleased.
    "Have a nice day, Miss," he said as he tipped
his hat and climbed back into his seat.
    "You too, sir," said Lily. Then she walked
towards the dance hall. She'd been here before. The singer entered,
announced her presence to Jonathan, the manager of the hall, and
located her dressing...
    "A closet. Of course."
    As she was laying out her belongings on the
desk that had been shoved inside, there was a knock on the door.
Without waiting for a response, a woman entered. She was too blond,
her eyes were blue and her figure was a tad too voluptuous.
    "Lily! How nice, you've arrived!"
    "Hello, Selma."
    Lily and Selma went back a long time. Back to
school, actually. It was often difficult for Lily to keep her life
as the Masked Woman hidden from Selma, as the woman made Lily talk
too easily.
    "Jonathan told me you were coming to sing,"
Selma said as she somehow moved into the closet and sat on the
desk. Jonathan was her husband. "I always tell Jonathan that you
should not be singing here. Your voice is so nice, Lily, you should
be in better circles. I know you have it in you."
    As Lily tried to do something to her make-up,
Selma brought her up to date on the latest gossip. Selma was better
than any tabloid. "And did you hear about that creep that seems to
drop in from God knows where and then starts killing people without
any reason?"
    Lily carefully shook her head as she was
touching up her lipgloss. "Drat," she muttered. She had not been
careful enough. "No, I haven't. When did that happen?"
    "Last night. Some people had told the
reporters that a man had fallen from the sky and killed people,
after which he had gone up to the sky again," Selma knew. She
wasn't only better than a tabloid, she knew more than Lily's
newspaper too.
    "The problem is that nobody has a decent
description of the person, and the dead people did not look as if
they were murdered. Cause of death was called a heart attack and
the description of the murderer had been an angel." Selma sighed.
"Wouldn't it be magnificent if there was a real angel here?"
    "One that murders people? I can do without
that, thank you very much," Lily said.
    "You have a great voice, Lily, but you lack a
romantic heart," Selma stated as got up.
    "That kept me alive so far," Lily
grinned.
    "And alone," said Selma as she opened the
door. "It is down to me to do your dirty work, asusual. I shall
have to find you a decent man, Lily. With that attitude you'll
never find one." With an overdone dramatic gesture Selma left the
closet.
    "A decent man," Lily muttered as she
continued finishing her make-up. "An angel. Where does she get all
that from..." Before she could mutter any further, there was
another knock on the door.
    "Miss Marin? We're ready for you," a