Free And Eternity by Piers Anthony Page B

pay well and return again on other days. It was all quite close to the reality, except for the significant detail of the sexual element.
    She checked herself in the mirror. Now she realized that Vita was of mixed blood, her skin light brown rather than white. That explained one remark. To have any evident black heritage was to be defined as all-black, logic to the contrary notwithstanding. The Negroid element was slight and showed not at all in the hair, which was brown and straight, or in the facial features; makeup could have eliminated it entirely. But to the pimp she was “blackass” as if it were literally true, and as if there would have been any fault if so.
    “Looking good,” the pimp conceded grudgingly. “Now you get your sniff, and I’ll take you to meet him at a classy joint. Eat what you can; you won’t get more till morning.”
    He brought out a small package of something. Jolie realized it was the Spelled H-the magically enhanced variant of an ancient addictive drug, far more potent than the original. She couldn’t afford to take that!
    She sought to turn her face away as the pimp brought the package up, but suddenly Vita’s soul stepped in, seized control, and sniffed deeply. Jolie wrested control back immediately, but it was too late; the drug was in the host’s system. Already the exhilaration of it was spreading out from her nose, encompassing her brain, and giving her entire body a tingle of joy.
    This is disaster!
Jolie thought at Vita.
You can’t afford this stuff! It will kill you!
    But the girl, having gotten her fix, was satisfied. She retreated into near oblivion.
    Jolie intended to be on guard in the future. The addiction was not yet complete; she should be able to fight it off despite this setback. If she got the girl out of this situation, there might be no further opportunity to take the drug. Perhaps this slip was just as well; it had shown Jolie how canny the seemingly passive girl could be, pouncing during Jolie’s momentary inattention. She would be on guard against that henceforth. Also, it would have made the pimp suspicious if she had refused the fix.
    “Now we go,” the pimp said. “Remember, any trouble, no more H. That goes double for when you’re alone with him.”
    The system was clear enough. The drug kept the girls obedient, and the pimp supervised every aspect of the business so that there were no errors. It was a living, of a sort.
    They walked out of the room and down the narrow hall. Jolie could have run for it, but several things restrained her. She did not know her way around this neighborhood, so would not be able to hide quickly. The pimp was robust, and could probably outrun her, and certainly could subdue her when he caught her. Others here were more likely to help him than her. And if she did win free, what would she do alone on the street? Until she learned where Vita’s home was, and got money to travel there, she would be entirely on her own resources, and they were forbiddingly meager. So she still had to play along; her time was not yet.
    There was a limousine waiting. It seemed the pimp lived in style, even if his girls didn’t. They got in and rode to what was indeed a “classy joint” a quality restaurant. They were guided to a table already occupied by a fat, extremely well-dressed man of middle age.
    “This is my niece, Vita,” the pimp said, nudging Jolie, who smiled obligingly. “You show her the sights, call and I’ll pick her up, okay?”
    The man nodded, his porcine eyes taking in the young body. This was what he had ordered, certainly!
    The pimp helped Jolie take the opposite seat. Helped? His grip on her elbow was warningly firm. She would behave, or suffer more than H deprivation! Then he left the restaurant, but she noticed that the limo didn’t drive away. He was still watching, making sure that she was committed. Later, when her addiction to H was complete, he would be able to relax, but this was still the training stage.
    The