~1858~

By 1855 the consensus of most of the country was that the California Gold Rush was officially over. There were still enough people who stubbornly remained in the city searching for their fortunes, or else hadn’t discovered or retained enough of said fortunes to be able to afford to make a new life for themselves elsewhere. So, the population was still nearly 4000 mortal residents, despite the gold fever that finally came to an end after nearly a decade.

Due to that population explosion, among other factors; the popularity of Raven’s Loft was still adequate enough to keep a steady stream of patrons coming through the doors each night. However, in the three years since the Rush officially ended, Claire had stopped hiring any new prostitutes to work for her. After all, she had never been fond of women being exploited in such a way, which is why she went above and beyond to ensure that the women originally hired by Sebastian did truly want to be there and were kept as safe as possible by her blood; though of course, that method of keeping her customers and girls safe did lead to other problems, such as the violence perpetrated by Tobin and company.

After stopping the new hire of any more prostitutes, Claire also made the remaining girls aware that she would be more than happy to change their positions to those of singers or dancers such as Davina had been. Of course, not all of the girls had such talents, so they continued to hold their original positions. By 1858, there were only three girls in her employ who continued to take money in return for any kind of intimacy. Though, those three feared that Claire was soon going to just completely end their employment as well.

One of the three girls who still took money for their affections was Hallie. She had been the one who was responsible for convincing Claire to continue running the saloon and therefore serving her special drinks, despite all of her misgivings. Now the pretty young brunette was in her mid-twenties and in fear of losing the only income she could earn now that Claire was trying to phase out her position altogether.

That warm afternoon Hallie was making an attempt to enjoy the last few hours before her next shift at The Loft by sitting out on the strip of beach nearest the tavern. Though her worry about her own ability to maintain an income was dulling her ability to enjoy the sunny day. She sighed and curled her bare feet in the wet sand as the tide gently licked at her toes while she tried to devise some plan for what she would do if tonight was the night Claire finally decided to eliminate the positions of Hallie and the other two remaining whores. Claire had assured her that even if she didn’t have the talent for the stage, she could still work there as a serving girl. But with other former whores stepping into that position already; there wouldn’t be all that many shifts or wages left for Hallie, which would make earning a living quite difficult.

That was when Hallie’s worrisome thoughts were interrupted by another young woman’s voice accompanying the sound of footsteps crunching in the sand as she approached, “you seem a little troubled for someone spending the afternoon on a sunny beach” she greeted her.

Hallie looked up at the sound of the voice and shaded her eyes from the bright sun coming off the waves to better focus on her companion. The woman had hair as dark as Claire’s and skin nearly as pale, as though she rarely spent any of her own time out in the sun despite the abundance of it there in their Southern California city. She had eyes so dark they were nearly black and the equally dark locks only fell an inch or two below those pale shoulders. She stood at about 5’7” and looked to be in her late twenties with eyes that somehow gave the impression that she had endured more than her share of hardship.

Hallie attempted a small smile as she responded, “you don’t look like you spend much leisure time out here in the sun either.”

“Yeah, I haven’t had a lot of chances for any of that leisure time” the woman concurred as she moved to a seat in the sand near Hallie, “you seem to have found a moment of peace yourself though; so why the sad eyes?” she asked her as she squinted out over the sun glinting off the waves.

Hallie sighed slightly, “just worried about things” she stated as she glanced back at the other woman, and added “my name’s Hallie.” She then offered a hand to the slightly older woman.

“Ilana” the other girl returned quietly as she took Hallie’s hand before turning her eyes back to the sea for a moment, “so, worry is something I’m quite familiar with as well. Wonder if we’re worried about the same things?” she offered with another faint smile as she cast a look back at the buildings nearest the beach.

“Well, I’m worried that I may be out of a job soon. This may be my last chance to even try to enjoy the view from this particular stretch of beach” Hallie sighed quietly.

“Your job near here then?” Ilana asked as she cast another glance at the nearby buildings, her eyes lingering a moment on the sign outside Raven’s Loft.

“Yeah, The Loft” Hallie sighed once more as she gestured to the building Ilana’s eyes now lingered on.

Ilana then turned her eyes back to Hallie as she looked rather surprised by the comment, “I heard that was the most popular saloon in the city. Why would you be out of a job there?”

Hallie let out another sad breath, “my boss never really wanted to hire… girls like me” she decided on, “and now that the Gold Rush is over, my job could be too soon.”

“Girls like you?” Ilana asked with a raised brow.

“Whores” Hallie admitted with a look down, “the other person who used to help run the place hired us when the Rush began. Now, we’re not as needed I suppose.”

“Aren’t whores always needed? Oldest profession and all” Ilana returned, not seeming as shocked by hearing what Hallie was as she was by hearing that there could ever be a lack of need for that occupation.

“I suppose; but since my boss has never really liked the idea of hiring us, she only originally gave in…”

“She?” Ilana caught that word and had to ask for more information.

“Yeah” Hallie smiled slightly, “her name’s Claire and she’s always been very good to us; but she really doesn’t want this place to be associated with… that” she finished quietly.

“So, the person running the most popular saloon in the city is a female?” Ilana asked as she glanced back at the tavern once again.

“Yeah” Hallie smiled again, not able to hide her admiration for Claire, despite her worries about losing her source of income, “her husband did buy her the place originally, but he lets her run it all herself. I think I’ve only seen him even step foot in the place a couple times over the ten years since I started working there.”

“So, a woman running the place herself has made it the most popular place in the city, putting just about every other saloon out of business; but she has a problem with whores?” Ilana repeated with another skeptical look.

“She didn’t mean to put the other places out of business” Hallie began quietly.

“But she did” Ilana returned pointedly, “and now she’s going to get rid of girls like you who helped her make the place so popular?” Ilana added in a calculated tone, “kind of strange that you would be defending a woman who is about to toss you out on the streets.”

“It’s not like that” Hallie stammered as she attempted to find the rest of the sentence, “she said I could stay on in another position. But I’m not good enough to be a showgirl and there’re already so many other serving girls that they all have to share most o’ the shifts already…”

“So, why are you defending her again?” Ilana interrupted, “she sounds like she’s about to ruin you, after all” she added with another questioning look.

Hallie was quiet for a long moment, trying to come up with any kind of response, considering how devoted she did feel to Claire after ten years spent in that tavern drinking those special drinks; not to mention Claire had kept her safe throughout most of her employment, even if that employment now may be coming to an end.

“She may not like the idea of whores, but she’s always kept us safe” Hallie defended weakly, “that’s more than most saloon owners do for their girls, ain’t it?”

That was when Ilana did look away for a moment, caught in her own thoughts before replying, “I suppose you’re right about that at any rate. My boss didn’t give a shit if we were safe or not” she allowed herself to admit, quietly though it was.

“You’re a whore too?” Hallie asked as she looked back over at Ilana once more.

“Not like I had any other choice” Ilana replied bitterly, “almost none of us have any choice if we want to make a living; we don’t all have rich husbands buying us saloons” she added under her breath.

“Sean’s really nice too though; not that I’ve talked to him much at all, really” Hallie added more quietly, “but the fact that he bought her this place and lets her run it however she wants; that’s pretty good proof ain’t it?”

“Well, my father did want to give me and my mother a decent life; but that didn’t exactly work out” Ilana admitted with further bitterness as she glared out at the waves.

“What happened?” Hallie asked worriedly.

Ilana sighed heavily as she finally turned back to look toward the slightly younger woman, “my father and brothers came here from San Diego when the gold rush started. They left mom and me behind to look after the house. They even started their own business with the gold they found. They were planning on sending us money to live on and eventually having us come live here too. But it didn’t work out” she repeated with more bitterness as she looked away once more.

“And then you became a whore?” Hallie asked sympathetically.

“First we lost the house we had there; then mom and I had to find some way to eat after dad and my brothers were killed. Well, we found the only way we could” Ilana muttered as she cast one more glance back at The Loft.

“So, what are you and your ma doin to make a livin now?” Hallie asked, hanging on the words of the other woman’s sad story.

“Mom died too” Ilana stated plainly, “then I had to leave San Diego” she finished with finality.

“Why’d you have to leave?” Hallie asked with widened brown eyes as she listened to the story.

“Because, I got even with the man who killed her” Ilana stated as she forced her voice to remain even.

“You killed a man?” Hallie asked as her eyes widened further.

“He killed my mother” Ilana told her coldly, “what would you have done?”

Hallie looked down as she swallowed hard at the confession, “if he really did kill your ma, then wouldn’t that be enough to keep you from being hung?” she asked with an attempt at hopefulness despite her voice shaking and growing smaller in light of the story she had just heard.

“Do you really think justice applies to any whore who kills a man?” Ilana scoffed, “they don’t care what happens to girls like you and I… and my mother. We barely count as human. Shouldn’t you already know that after being a whore yourself for the last ten years?” Ilana scoffed again.

After another long moment of letting Ilana’s words sink in, Hallie found her voice again, “was it a customer that killed your ma?” Hallie finally asked.

“No” Ilana swallowed and took a deep breath, “it was the man who owned us” she admitted, then quickly looked back, “and if you tell anyone that…”

“I promise, I won’t” Hallie assured fearfully. She then added, “who’d I tell anyway?”

“I don’t know; you seem to think the woman who owns you actually gives a damn about you even though she’s about to toss you out. Might get it in your head to tell her” Ilana retorted as she narrowed her eyes.

“Claire might actually be willin to help though; I mean, if she knew what happened to you…” Hallie attempted some kind of assurance.

That was when Ilana yanked up the bottom of her skirt to show the hilt of the knife she had in the side of her boot, “you might wanna rethink that plan” she threatened.

Hallie swallowed another lump in her throat, “I just was offerin some kind o’ help” she promised, “but if you don’t want me tellin, I won’t” she promised again. She then let out a shaky breath as she got to her feet, “but if you change your mind about tryin to get help from her, I’m sure she’d at least try if she knew you were in need. She helps most everyone who asks. She’ll be here tonight if you wanna come meet her at least” Hallie finished as she attempted another smile of assurance despite her fear after the threat. She then took another shallow breath before shakily moving back in the direction of the saloon doors.

An hour or so after arriving at the saloon that night, Claire could no longer ignore the fact that Hallie had been casting her worried looks since she had arrived. Claire sighed as she moved down the bar toward where Hallie waited on her next customer, looking away apprehensively as she approached.

“It would probably make it easier for me to put your mind at rest if you told me what you look so worried about” Claire smiled over at her as she offered her a drink while the applause died down after the last song one of the other girls had just finished performing upon the small stage.

“Worried?” Hallie asked nervously as she hesitantly reached for the offered drink.

“What is it Hallie?” Claire asked with another slight smile.

Hallie took a deep breath as well as a sip of her drink to gather the courage to voice her concerns and hopefully not upset Claire by doing so. “Are you gonna send us somewhere else?” she forced her mouth to form the words.

Claire narrowed her eyes a bit at that, “who’s us?” she had to ask just to be sure of what exactly Hallie was asking her.

“Me and Janina and Karice” she asked softly as she cast her eyes downwards, as though guilty for even asking.

“I told you all that I could offer you jobs as serving girls if you didn’t want to try your hands at dancing or singing” Claire reminded gently.

“But if we can’t be showgirls and there’s already too many of us servin drinks now… does that mean we’ll get sent away to some other place instead?” Hallie asked with further worry as her voice remained too tiny for almost anyone without Claire’s enhanced senses to have made out.

Claire sighed as she looked around the room as another former prostitute took the stage for a slightly risqué dance number. She then looked back at Hallie sympathetically, “it’s true that I really don’t want to keep employing prostitutes, but I also don’t want any of you to lose your income or be forced to work any place where you won’t be as safe; that’s the reason I’m continuing to let you keep your positions as long as you still wish to.”

Hallie looked only slightly relieved, though there were other worries still present. Taking another short breath, she made her eyes come up to meet Claire’s faint smile and managed to ask her next question, “so I’m guessin that means you ain’t interested in hirin any other whores neither?”

“Wasn’t planning to” Claire admitted as she watched the girl curiously.

Hallie sighed sadly as she bit her lip and looked down again. She then made herself speak once more, “even if I met someone whose whole family got killed and she ain’t got nowhere else to go?”

Claire adopted her own sad look at that, “I might be able to offer her a different position too, just like I’ve offered the three of you who are left.”

“I dunno if she can sing or dance; I just know that there’s already too many serving girls already and she just seemed real sad and in need o’ some kind o’ help” Hallie sighed sadly again as she kept her eyes to the floorboards then.

Claire allowed another sigh of defeat after a long pause, “I suppose I can at least see if there’s anything I can do for her.”

That was when Hallie beamed back over at her, “thank you, Miss Claire. I’ll go see if I can find her for ya” Hallie stated as she hopped down off the barstool and headed back out into the night in search of her new friend, despite how dangerous that friend may actually have been.