Joe was left with a smoking gun in his hands and a crumpled dame on the ground. Rain pelted down, thick and dark, staining the city streets like oil. Her hat had fallen off after she'd gone down, and rolled aside to a puddle, its veil floating like a funeral shroud. He could see the white-blond of her hair, already losing its curl, bright against the dark street. The blood that pooled about her was elegant, almost seeming remote from its implications: Death, human death.

The gun slipped from his fingers to strike the cobbles with a metallic clatter. Raising his hands he could almost see the blood on them. Death of an innocent, death of a dame, not the femme fatale he'd thought she was.

"So you shot her," the Lilim said from a nearby alley. "Big deal. Joe, you take my advice, forgeddaboutit. She deserved it anyway."

Not the femme fatale he'd thought she was; no, she was the ingenue and the Lilim was the other, wasn't she? Had been there all along, behind him, whispering encouragements against this - against this slip of a girl.

"She was human, doll," Joe said. The dissonance shivered along his spine, whispered in his ears, shuddering disharmony that came out in static. He opened his arms to the rain and let his head fall back. The night sky had its stars and moon hidden to him, giving him no answers.

"You'll get over it, Joe," the Lilim said encouragingly. "I mean, you're one helluva guy and she *had* used ya, ya know - seduced ya to help herself. You think she really had a brother who'd run out with her family cash?"

"I think it doesn't matter, doll. It doesn't matter at all." He let his arms fall to his sides. "I'm gonna turn myself in."

The Lilim gasped, emerged from the alley to wrap her arms around him and press to his side. "Oh, *Joe*! You mustn't, sugar! Those true-blue cops always come 'round and make trouble - you can't lose, you can't give in to 'em. There has to be another way to solve the problems of startlets, honey, and that's *our* way-"

He shoved her away, none to gently. She stumbled, ankle twisting, and fell close to the human girl's body. After a moment, she choked, "That was cruel, honey. You can't go treating ladies like that."

"You ain't no lady," he said, and bent to pick his fedora off the ground. He shook rain off, straightened its rim. "And who knows, maybe they'll lock me up, maybe they'll let me go. It's out of my hands now."

She reached for him "Joe..."

He took a step back, looking at her with pity. "It's over between us, doll."

Her sobbing rose up behind him as he turned, straightened his back, and set his fedora on his head. It was time to go.

Joe walked off, into the sunrise.