Ring of Madness

by Royden Labrosse

  - Jane, does Andre know where you live?

  - Katka knows for sure. Why?

  - He'll just pull all the information out of her. I guess he's already discovered I'm gone. Or you. Either way, he's gonna start checking everything out, and he's gonna take on your friend when he realizes we ran away. And trust me, he'll shake everything out of her, down to the size of your underwear. And then he's gonna send a grab team to your house. You're not a fighter, and neither am I during the day. By the way, how did you and your friend end up there?

  - My story for a story about the IPF," I started bidding.

  - Okay. Then later," the vampire curbed his curiosity. - In the meantime, tell me this. Is this Katya a close friend of yours?

  - Not the closest. But one of the oldest. Friends since we were kids.

  - This is even worse. Does she know a lot about you?

  - That's enough.

  My main principle was not to share information about my life. But Katya was often at my house. And it turned out to be enough for her to know my friends and acquaintances. Our city is far from being a metropolis! It's big, that is, but hiding in it is difficult. Everybody knows each other, and information spreads very quickly. When someone finds out about me, that's all. Circles on the water will go almost instantly. By noon, everyone will know everything. And yet there were several people...

  I let myself think the whole thing through. Where can you hide a vampire and a human so that no one will look for them? At least so that they can spend the day there? A vampire shouldn't be exposed to the sun. Oh, by the way...

  - Do you have to sleep during the day?

  - Not always. And this is not the case. I may not sleep during the day, I may even travel in the sun, but I must be completely shielded from its rays. But it's a rare talent.

  - Does Duke have it?

  - No.

  - Perfect! His weakness is our strength!

  - I like your mood. Have you figured out where we can hide?

  - And why is it always me?

  - I am a guest in this city, Danielle answered a rhetorical question. - Just a guest. My friends, vampires and werewolves, are all under Andre's command. No one will go against him. It's a death threat. Long and painful.

  - I see. I had a good idea. I have a friend. Nobody knows about her. Nobody knows about her at all.

  - And how did this happen?

  The vampire's voice was mistrustful. Well, I understand him.

  - It was an accident. A friend of mine works as a nurse there...

  - A classmate? A school acquaintance?

  - No. We became friends by accident. I was on the bus, sitting, reading a book. Fantasy. It was a long drive. Nadia was sitting next to me. She got interested and asked me to read it. I gave her the book, of course. Then she gave me something to read. It's not too long ago, and I tried not to advertise it. And I didn't have time to put it in my diary either. I can call her. And then, she doesn't have many friends. She works at the morgue.

  - In the morgue?

  - Yes.

  - And which one?

  - Medical school.

  - Well, that's good. I hope Andre hasn't missed us yet. Make the call.

  I obediently dialed the institute morgue number. It's been a long time since I've had an answer. Danielle made a question mark, and I shrugged my shoulders. You should at least know where Nadjushka is before you drive into town in a stolen car and with a vampire. Because if the traffic cops stop us... Danielle's not gonna bribe us for sure. And I... although I don't like these vultures on the big road, that's no reason to kill them, or by biting a hungry vampire.

  I've already lost all hope. Daniel melancholy wooled his jacket pockets, wallets, and glove compartment, catching money out of there.

  - Any beeps?

  And then the tube finally clicked, and an angry woman's voice said:

  - Who the hell wasn't killed this morning?

  That's what Nadia is all about. Frank to the last, clever, sarcastic, ugly - and he sticks his poison on the head of anyone who gets caught. I wish she'd poured her poison on me too, but she wanted to read. It's very, you know, unpleasant when you read a book, read the first volume, and you can't get the second one. I had such opportunities: I was writing my own catalogues, my grandfather would take me to Moscow to go to bookshops and ruins, and Nadia did not have such an opportunity. At first she held back her bitchy character because of the books, and then she realized that I could not bow down - and we became real friends.

  - Hi, Nadine. I'm the one they haven't killed yet," I answered. - Would you like some help?

  - Why not? I'm guarding the corpses today," said a friend. - Come and pick me up. Are you still undrunk? Cause I have fresh medical alcohol. I got a ride yesterday.

  Yeah, alcohol. She would have offered more dichlorophos. Jokes from these medics, though... Or is that how the morgue works on an immature psyche?

  - Do you have anything for the roast? Fresh cookies, for example? Or you could cut a piece out of someone's sirloin...

  - We'll see about that. You pick it up, call me twice, I'll get it.

  Judging by the voice, Nadia didn't want to joke. Can you imagine the picture? And it's worth it! Why should I be the only one who's gonna get hurt?

  - Okay. Nadia, don't be surprised. I won't be alone.

  - And with whom?

  - Yeah, there's this asocial guy.

  Danielle snorted a snort from that characteristic, but I didn't argue. Why would he argue? Who could be more asocial than vampires? I didn't want to know the answer.

  - Then come together. I respect the asocial types, starting with Dr. Lecter. He's not a doctor?

  Except for the patanate. Judging by the skill of cutting people.

  - No. Nadia, just about my call, nobody. Are you there alone? - I was too late to meet you.

  - Alone. Are you in the middle of something?

  - I don't know what I'm getting into, but I answered honestly. - Does it bother you? I don't have to come, just tell me.

  - If you come, you'll get it in your ears for saying that, your friend spilled herself.

  - I already got it," I sighed into the tube.

  - Really? Are you hurt?

  - I wouldn't say. - I didn't know if a lump on the head and a vampire bite could be considered a wound. - I'll tell you when I get there. I'll see you later?

  - Bye.

  Nadia passed out. I put the phone back in my pocket and looked at Daniel.

  - We can go. Just don't bite her right away if she says something wrong, okay? Nadia's a good person, she's just got a temper and a hard life.

  - What do you think I am, a total scumbag? - offended by a vampire.

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  - It's hard to draw conclusions from Duchka's example, but it's a fact that he's sick in the head. How do I know if this is your common problem? Because of vitamin D deficiency.

  - Are you kidding me?

  - No," I put my hand on a vampire's shoulder and felt the muscles roll under a thin jacket of snakes. - I just don't know anything about vampires.

  - I promise you, as soon as we find shelter for the day, I'll tell you anything you want. In the meantime, I'm sorry. Wouldn't want to fit in a tree and crash a car. How do we get to the morgue?

  - I'll show you the way. Now we have to drive along the district until the intersection with Vyatka Street, and then turn to it.

  - Can we wait there for the day?

  - Well, who knows? In fact, Nadya's not the last option. If it's especially bad and we can't find a place anywhere, we'll stock up on gasoline and drive the car into the woods. You sleep in the trunk, and I'll sit in the salon. I don't think they'll find us here.

  - We can do this," the vampire admitted after a moment of reflection. - But you could get sick. You humans are very fragile creatures.

  - Still no choice. And then, I have good genes. My grandfather survived when the Nazis wanted to freeze him in an ice-hole. He was sick for a lon
g time, but he survived! And I can handle it. Buy me panadol, paracetamol, analgine and aspirin, I won't even notice the day goes by. Or better yet, a folk antipyretic. Raspberry tea and an alcoholic compress.

  - Are you kidding?

  - I'm nervous. Adrenaline is breaking," I honestly admitted. Danielle nodded, and I winked at him. - Shall we go?

  - Buckle up, heroine.

  - I've lived, I've ratted myself out. - A vampire will teach me traffic rules.

  But I buckled up. Danielle pressed the gas, and the car moved, and I thought of Nadiazka.

  Nadia is a separate story. It's almost a song.

  Imagine a girl from the village. No friends, no acquaintances, no family. Not even a model's appearance or superstartedness. But there is a gold medal (which was worth it in the village school - God knows), the persistence of the tank and a passionate desire to become a doctor. A cardiac surgeon. And where did it come from in her bearish corner, where the ravens died with longing? Nadia won't admit it, although I'm guessing from somewhere in the movies.

  Nadjushka didn't change into little things. She went to our medical school. And she failed the exam. And the gold medal didn't help. But you had to know Nadia to understand that such a little thing didn't stop her. She just broke into the admissions office and demanded an answer - what and where she didn't pass. She took the same exam! Like a medalist!

  The head of the admissions committee at the medical institute (this is strictly between us) looked at the scandal, dragged Nadyushka into her office, washed her motherwort and clearly explained the party's policy. And that there were not enough places, and there were many medalists. And that medalists from about the tenth grade hire tutors from the Institute of Chemistry and Biology. And that the director clearly said to take not only students, but also money from their parents. And that even with three medals, Nadia had no chance. Well, if only to offer them as a bribe.

  Nadia listened to all this, and then she only asked one question. Does she have a chance to get in?

  It was a chance. There was a vacancy for a nurse in the morgue - and a night watchman as well. The job's creepy. But housing was provided - a tiny kennel in a dorm on the outskirts of the city. And for this housing had to pay a penny. And next year, in a year at the most, you could try to do it again - as a working youth. And the place would be left behind Nadyushka.

  The girlfriend didn't hesitate long. She did not want to return to the village with the lyrical name Shmarovka to her home house on Sobadovka Street. There wasn't even hot water there. There wasn't even hot water. I had to drag it from the well. But there was an alcoholic father and a mother who gave birth almost every two years. Nadia didn't want that fate for herself. Well, there was a chance to get caught up in it. Five minutes to think was enough for her eyes.

  And the boss picked up the phone.

  The director agreed, but set a condition: two years of impeccable work - and Nadyushka chooses his own faculty and specialization. A gynecologist, a dentist. The entrance exams will be a pure formality. He'll give his approval in advance and even make sure. But the slightest nagging for work is goodbye, girlfriend.

  Nadia had no choice.

  How to live on the salary of a nurse in the regional center?

  In a way, it's not an easier question than "To be or not to be". Hamlet was probably fed three times a day. A sausage made of natural meat. So he philosophized. And he would look for an answer to the question "How to live a day for twenty rubles? " - you see, there would be no tragedy.

  Nadya had to eat and dress. Well, at least. And if the question of clothes was solved quickly - thanks to the second hand, and products could be bought in chain stores with discounts, there was still a third problem.

  Terrible information hunger.

  I had to read. Like me breathing and someone jogging. Her love of books was like a natural disaster. And given the speed of reading, she needed about one new book a day. The classics ended very quickly. I'm all for people reading classics, but get me right! They're already dead! And Tolstoy (both of them), and Kuprin, and Dreiser! They're not gonna write anything else. And then what? Reread the old ones in the eighth circle and admire the subtlety of the syllable? I'm sick of it. I'm telling you, I'm tired. And what's left? That's right, that's right. Reading modern writers. And it's good if they write fun and interesting.

  I never judge writers myself. Something's readable and enjoyable. For example, I swallowed Shroud in two days. And I'm still glad to read it. And there are other writers - successful, steamed up, but when I try to read their books, I have circles floating before my eyes and ringing in my ears. It's not mine. Irrespective of the talent of the author - unreadable! It doesn't matter!

  Nadia had the same problems. You can use free libraries, but how much will you read there? Financing them... Let's not talk about sad. Suffice it to say that our mayor spends more per month on cigarettes than libraries are given to buy new books.

  And the nurse's salary is small. Our mayor wouldn't even have enough for socks.

  Nadia could afford no more than two books a month.

  We came together on the grounds of the Wolfhound. Just came out the last book, and I enthusiastically read it on the bus, not distracted by stops, people and controllers. Nadia was pressed against me by the crowd and she couldn't stand it.

  - What are we talking about in there? Tell me, please.

  I wasn't sorry. I told her briefly what I had read, and then I offered it to a girl I didn't know:

  - Let's exchange numbers, and I'll just let you read it.

  Nadia's all flashed out. She didn't have a cell phone, and the dorm was only on watch. That's what she left me.

  And two days later, I went to visit her with a bag of books.

  That's where our rather strange friendship began.

  - Vyatskaya Street. Where to next?

  - Third alley to the left and then right to the square, I commanded a vampire.

  Danielle drove very well. We only caught some light poles a couple of times, and then we braked in front of the fence of the medical school.

  - Next, it's on foot.

  - And the car? - The question was urgent, given the contents of the trunk. You didn't understand, I didn't feel sorry for the two scumbags, I just didn't want them to be found sooner. And the car's good - big, comfortable...

  - For now, we'll leave it in the parking lot in front of the institute. Then we'll see. If we can stay in the morgue, I'll drive her somewhere in the parking lot. And if we have to go somewhere else, it's better to keep her close at hand.

  The vampire pulled the keys, came out, opened the door and gave me his hand to help me down. Oh, what a fucking man... What a real dead man!

  - How do we get over the fence? - I got it. - Okay, let's go around, there's a cute hole in the back of the fence...

  The vampire looked at me like I was mentally retarded, and then he just snapped his keychain, closing the car, slipped his keys in his pocket, and picked me up.

  - What are you doing? - I'm outraged.

  Daniel, not to say a bad word, threw me over my shoulder, came to the fence (by the way, two with a tail of a meter of cast iron rods) and instantly froze up. I didn't even understand how it happened that we were now standing on the other side of the fence. The guards weren't visible. And that's good.

  - Where are we going?

  - Put me down, or I'll throw up more...

  The vampire cleverly intercepted me like a bride, but he didn't put me on the ground.

  - Let there be fewer traces," he explained. - So where to go?

  I didn't object to that way of carrying.

  - To the left," I commanded.

  Five minutes later, we were at the morgue building. Danielle obediently walked around and stopped at the inconspicuous door on the side.

  - Two calls," I gave instructions. - The call is under the upholstery on the left.

  The vampire grabbed me comfortably and ran my fingers over the upholstery. Zzzzzzzz! Z
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

  Nadia didn't take long to wait. The door swung open - and she appeared on the doorstep, so dear, familiar and normal in her old blue coat and with a constant bundle of hair on the back of her head. Nadia wasn't a beauty, as I said. She is a little bit full, ten pounds more than necessary, her nose is too small, her lower jaw is too heavy and her forehead too low. Her eyes are small, grey-green and completely inexpressive. Her cheeks look like two pillows, and her hair is too liquid and dull. But all these flaws fade when she smiles. Her smile is wonderful. Fun, kind and very open. So is she. Yes, Nadia is rude, she doesn't choose words and can often say nasty things, but you can always rely on her. Whatever happens in this life, Nadia will remain an indestructible rock. Nothing in the world can knock her out of the saddle. And then, she's totally selfless, and her kindness to her loved ones just overlaps. And it adorns her much more than any cosmetics. Sometimes I just don't understand where men look. I'd hold on to a wife like that with two hands if I were them. But the trouble is different. I hope you don't need someone to look at a pretty face. She doesn't like to take care of herself and is often careless not to say sloppy. I mean, we have a guest who meets us by our clothes.

  - Hey, I waved at her. - You gonna let her in?

  - Climb in. - Nadia stepped back a few steps from the door. - You owe me some information, right?

  I wouldn't bet. Especially since it wasn't hard to lie to me. It wasn't even hard to lie. It's almost true. But in the interpretation I needed.

  - Nadia, you know who my grandfather is.

  Danielle put me down on the floor, but still held me under his arm so I wouldn't slam my nose.

  - I know. So what?

  - He's on vacation right now. And somebody thought it was time to blackmail him. They grabbed me and took me to a summer house. Danielle was already there. Luckily, they didn't have time to deal with him. We managed to get out in one piece. Almost unharmed.

  - Almost you?

  - It's me. I've been drunk with some shit. I don't know what was in it, but I'm still broken.

  Nadia took all the news for granted. I told you, the rock. First, we'll dig up what's closer, then we'll think about everything else. Scarlett O'Hara's principle in action.