fundamental, and irreversible ways. Every time she looks in the mirror she traces and fingers the shiny scar that disfigures her from the right side of her nostril to the left corner of her chin. A reminder of the evil VV is up against and a badge of honor she wears with pride.
She’d gotten clean and started looking for the woman who’d changed her life. She got involved in the vigilante’s mission by seeking out stories that would be of interest to her and speaking about them on her podcast. She dropped breadcrumbs about various cases she suspected could be attributed to her. Naturally, the Internet trolls were quick to label her a conspiracy theorist and her hero as a vagina vigilante. To their chagrin, Amaya loved the name, and The Vagina Vigilante was born. In her wildest fantasies, she liked to believe VV herself was among her visitors, waiting for the day to make Amaya her official sidekick.
Then, out of the clear blue, she received an encrypted email containing an offer she dared not refuse.
“Are you here to help these girls?” She leans closer. “Did something happen to the real Noelle Stein?” she whispers above the music.
“You ask a lot of questions, Amaya. Allow me to ask a few of my own. I’d be interested to know how you attribute these disappearances to me. If you want to help me, it would be useful to know.”
“You thought you were slick, huh? Didn’t think anyone could put your shit together. But ahhh, you didn’t plan on me. Gotta let me in the club now. I know too much, you know what I’m sayin’?” Amaya giggles and throws her head back.
Noelle digs her fingers into her chair. “You know mierda. You have inside information; you knew what to look for. I took pity on you and saved your ass before that creep got started instead of waiting until he was alone.”
Amaya’s good humor dies in her chest. She turns her body toward Noelle and gazes up at her until Noelle turns to look at her. “What do you mean? You were gonna let him rape me?” Amaya looks around the room and realizes anew what’s happening all around her while Noelle sits and watches with Amaya at her side. “You’re not here to save them, are you?”
“Are you?” Noelle retorts. “How far are you willing to go to get what you want?” She reaches out to stroke Amaya’s mask in lieu of her face. “I’m not a superhero, Amaya.” She takes Amaya’s gloved hand in hers and caresses her fingers. “I’m a killer.” Amaya tries to pull her hand away, but Noelle is stronger than she looks. “Do you know what you are?”
Amaya doesn’t know how or what she feels in the presence of Noelle. She knows, ostensibly, that VV is a killer. Amaya doesn’t care about dead rapists. However, she’s never considered that VV might not be in it for the sake of justice but simply has a predilection for killing. Amaya has always assumed the rapes were the cause for the murders and not a victim profile of VV’s preferred prey.
“You’re sorry you didn’t let him rape me?” Amaya asks, managing to keep her voice steady.
Noelle pauses to formulate her response. “You want to learn from me? I’m teaching you. Don’t assume people are on your side. The more people you trust, the more there are to turn on you. Sometimes, you have to decide what’s more important; the moment or the movement. With you—I chose the moment. You could’ve gone to the police, told them where we put the body. I didn’t plan for you to put my business on the Internet. About the smartest thing you did was keeping our history out of the narrative.” She spares a moment to glare at Amaya. “It’s fortunate no one takes you seriously, but it doesn’t help me rest easier. You understand?”
Processing all that information takes Amaya several minutes. In essence, Noelle views rescuing her as a mistake, a threat to her movement, but what is the movement? She refuses to believe VV’s entire motivation is murder itself; otherwise, she would not have let her live; not seven years ago and certainly not after Amaya created an online trail of VV’s exploits.
“I’ll take it down. I only wanted to find you. I’m smart, like you said. You could use someone like me.”
They look into one another’s eyes for a few moments, having a silent conversation. “I plan to use you,