“Take a guess. Mimi thinks she’s at the soup kitchen,” Glory growled between her teeth so that only the Paladin heard her.
Leaning against the wall, Cornelia made a face. With her usual finesse, she harangued Crystal.
“Come on, honey, let’s get out of here.”
Crystal nearly jumped for joy and followed the warrior, who was already dashing out of the living room.
“Don’t leave. I made a nice pot roast !” Miranda said, upset.
“Too bad,” Cornelia retorted. “See, since Sybil died, Crystal and I have been trying out anorexia to honor her memory,” she mocked openly, catching the young woman by the arm and dragging her into the hall. Crystal tittered and then doubled over, overcome by a laughing fit when her friend added :
“See you later, B-B-Beatrice,” the warrior woman shot at the new Paladine, who fell apart under the mocking.
Comfortably settled in at the Four Seasons, Cornelia and Crystal finished off their meal. A far cry from anorexia, they had eaten so much that the young woman felt her stomach swelling from the food overdose. She felt good, in a state of beatitude approaching somnolence.
“I think you traumatized Beatrice for life,” Crystal said with an amused smile. She clearly remembered the first impression Cornelia had made on her. The memory warmed her soul, and she was reminded of just how terrifying her friend could be. And yet, when you got to know her, she really did have a heart of gold. A straight and faithful friend, always ready to come when called. A rare friend.
“I tell you now I’m going to make her sweat, this dense little number,” promised the Paladine, stretching her legs out under the table. “You know, usually I scare people silly without doing it on purpose, but that Beatrice chick ; I don’t like her. There’s just something about her that bugs me.”
“It’s because she’s dumb. Like me in the beginning, right ?” Crystal argued.
“No way, honey. Believe me, in my job you’ve got to be able to figure people out fast. And you two are different. You, you had something right from the start. I didn’t let it show, but I saw it right away. You had and you still have something that few other people have : a personality.”
“Yeah,” sighed the young woman, massaging the back of her neck with a distracted hand. “Whatever, it’s not enough to make Falada fall for me.”
Cornelia raised her eyes to the sky.
“Oh goodness, it’s been a long time since we’ve talked about him. I have told you three hundred times and I thought I made myself perfectly clear when we took that motorcycle trip : let it go. The dude does not love you.”
“But we kissed,” Crystal argued. “And it was perfect, real Romeo and Juliet stuff. Fine, he’s been distant since then, but that’s because Glory came back wounded from your adventure in the old subway tunnels. I’m sure that he feels guilty because he failed in his duty by being with me. That being said, we kissed. K-i-s-s- kissed ! He’ll cave eventually, I’m sure of it.”
Her friend rolled the last few crumbs of bread scattered on the table under her fingers.
“You’re dreaming. I know Falada really well. He’s my buddy. We took our potential Paladin and Paladine classes together. Graduated at the same time. He has one hell of a reputation as a playa. He’s calmed down a lot in the past few years but, like I’ve already told you, if that dude wants a chick, he doesn’t beat around the bush. If he was in love with you, you’d already be going out. Don’t you have someone else ? I’m really sick and tired of talking about him.”
“Maybe there is someone,” Crystal confided, scrutinizing an imaginary point above Cornelia’s head.
She needed to talk about Dimitri, about the unhealthy effect he had on her. But it was so tricky. How could she confess to a Paladine that she was carrying on an ambiguous relationship with the Prince of the Underworld ? With their worst enemy ?
“This person is... it’s not someone good. A part of me detests him, but when I’m with him, I feel unique. I know that it’s bad to let myself be ensnared by him, but I can’t help myself. I try to resist and I swear, I send him away with all my strength ! And yet, no matter what I do, no matter what I want, I end up looking for him. I don’t want to see him, but I’m constantly waiting for him. I’m waiting for him – his presence, his scent. And it tortures me.”
The Paladine arched an eyebrow, fascinated.
“Well, hey, I’d like to meet this guy ! For a human he’s really making you crazy.”
“He’s not...” the young woman hesitated to confess. She was on the verge of telling Cornelia the truth. It didn’t matter what the consequences were, she trusted her friend. She was about to confess to her that Dimitri....
“You bitch !”
All of a sudden the two young women raised their heads. Above them a beautiful brunette stood in front of the table, eyeing them furiously from head to foot.
“How could you do this to me ?”
The Paladine leaped up and knocked over her bourbon, ignoring the customers who were looking at her, while Crystal stared, her eyes wide.
“Lou, sweetheart, it’s not what you think.”
The brunette stared at Crystal.
“Really ? I saw you putting the moves on this little whore !”
Crystal spit out half her champagne into her glass while her friend took the brunette’s hand.
“Don’t be ridiculous, sweetheart. She’s not a whore, she’s….”
“You shouldn’t have bothered getting me out of the brothel and taking care of me if you were just going to take off with the first skank you see.”
Desperate, Cornelia turned toward Crystal, who was trying to ignore the shocked looks of the other customers.
“Please tell her that you’re not a skank.”
“I’m not a skank,” Crystal confirmed, hiding behind her napkin.
The brunette proudly raised her chin.
“You see ? Your slut is playing along with you. That’s fine, I’m going. This ho is outta here !” she yelled to the crowd before leaving the restaurant.
The Paladine sat there speechless for a few seconds before picking up her handbag and hurriedly telling the young woman, “That’s my girlfriend, Louise. She’s fragile. I have to go after her.”
Standing in front of Prince Dimitri’s New York residence, Crystal was still hesitating. After having left the Four Seasons, she spent a long time asking herself whether she should go to this man whom she hated but who nonetheless exerted an irresistible attraction on her. It was, without a doubt, the right address. Unlike the other Damned Ones, she could locate the Prince of the Underworld. He had allowed her to do so months before and had never withdrawn that power.
A light wind had arisen in the cool night. Alone, facing with the dark and menacing presence of the mansion, Crystal moved toward the door. She knocked and someone opened it.
The young woman recoiled upon finding herself more or less nose to nose with a butler with his face totally burned. The boogeyman.
“Uh, good evening,” she greeted him, trying to control her repulsion. “Actually… I think this is the wrong address. Bye.”
“Miss would like to see my master,” the butler stopped her. “Please, follow me,” he bowed subserviently.
Reluctantly, Crystal ended up walking into the building and allowing herself to be guided by the disfigured servant. Behind him, she crossed the enormous marble hall and climbed the stairs to the top floor. They did not encounter anyone, but she sensed the presence of other living beings behind the many doors ; in all the rooms whose oppressive secret she could not penetrate. How many members of the Order of Hell were hiding in the nooks and crannies of the residence ? How many slaves ?
Reaching the top of the mansion, the butler opened one final door and stepped aside to let Crystal pass into the Dark Prince’s private apartments.
She swept the place with a circumspect glance. A black living room, and, connected to it, a room half camouflaged by an archway.
On a sofa the
size of a single bed, Dimitri was calmly smoking a cigarette, an open bottle of Château Margaux on the low table next to him.
“You are aware that your butler looks like Frankenstein, only uglier,” Crystal criticized, with no further greeting.
The Prince leaned his head to the side.
“I’m happy too, kitten, that you’ve come to pay me a visit.”
She sighed heavily, sat down beside him, took his glass and emptied it in a single gulp under Dimitri’s half-flabbergasted, half-amused gaze.
“And see, what great manners. Don’t be shy, and definitely don’t let me pour you another glass,” he growled, making a vain attempt to grab the bottle that she had already picked up.
“I am sick and tired of being taken for the village idiot !” she said, letting off steam as she downed a second glass. “I know, right ? I called my mother this morning and she said that I should find a real job ! A real job.... I’m training so much I’ve got as many aches and pains as a grandmother slogging at for the Olympics. And besides that, I find out that Cornelia is a lesbian. You might have thought someone would keep me in the loop, but no ! And on top of that, she works the street, and she has the gall to call me names ! ‘This ho is outta here !’ ‘This ho is outta here !’ I’m sure as hell never going to show my face at The Four Seasons again.”
“Cornelia works the street ? Cornelia, the Paladine ?”
“No way ! You don’t get it at all !” Crystal said impatiently. “Oh well, I don’t want to talk about it anyway,” she sulked, crossing her arms childishly.
Dimitri put his arm around her shoulders and drew her to himself. She remained rigid, her eyes obstinately fixed on the wall-to-wall carpet, but didn’t resist.
“What’s wrong, baby ? You’re annoyed today, huh ? My turtledove is in a bad mood....”
“Leave me alone,” she pushed him away to hide the delighted expression that threatened to light up her face.
When he didn’t release her, she said in a nearly inaudible voice :
“Sometimes, I’d like to feel what you feel. Just for an instant. To see through your eyes, and into your depths. Sometimes I would like to get to know you.”
“Well then, come,” the Prince of the Underworld decided, standing up. “Come. I’ll show you.”
He reached his hand out to her and Crystal slid hers into it. They stared at each other and for the space of a second that seemed to last for centuries, the young woman dared to lose herself in the green abyss of Dimitri’s eyes. She stood up in turn and followed him.
He drew her in front of the open window and moved behind her. So close that she felt the Prince’s breath on her neck. The rain beat down on the sidewalks of New York and the skies were loaded with heavy clouds. Her eyes half closed, Crystal trembled. With infinite slowness, Dimitri glided his powerful hands along her slender arms until their fingers intertwined. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, pierced with a purely sexual sensation. Her body responded to the contact with the Prince as violently as if she were in pain.
Aware that she was falling, Dimitri parted his lips like a predator seeking to control his impulses.
Down below in front of them, the street was dark and empty with the exception of two passers-by.
The Prince fixed his attention on one of the two men.
“Look at him,” he ordered the young woman in a hypnotic voice, so deep and so heavy that it could have raised the dead and commanded their legions. “Open your eyes and see.”
Under Dimitri’s control, Crystal felt the power grow around her and within her. The power of the underworld penetrated her through her hands, linked with the Prince’s. A spasm shook her, and in an unbearably fast flash, she saw the Shadows and their darkness, life and death, blood and lava. A silent scream rose within her while Dimitri’s strength took possession of her being. A whirlwind of black light roared in her soul, flames flared up in her eyes and suddenly this unbearable power exploded and shot out of her.
In the street, the passer-by that the Prince had chosen burst into flames and burned. A human torch. The other passer-by started to yell. Crystal felt her legs give way, incapable of holding her up any longer.
Dimitri supported her and closed the window before taking her back to the sofa. Panting, horrified, the young woman had the impression she was waking up from a trance. The Prince put a soothing hand to her head.
“Everything is all right, kitten. You have the resistance of the All Powerful bloodline within you ; you are perfectly capable of bearing black magic. Don’t worry ; I know what I’m doing.”
Her heart pounding in her chest, wondering if she was going to have a heart attack, Crystal shoved him away from her and got up, staggering.
“You know what you’re doing ?! I just killed an innocent man because of you ! I was wrong ; I don’t want to know you. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
11
Within the delirium
New York, Park Avenue apartment
Seated in front of her dressing table, Glory was preparing for the kind of conversation that would be better hidden from the others. The red velvet drapes were closed in her luxurious gold and amaranthine room. Settled in front of the mirror, dressed in a black silk peignoir, she looked like a rich courtesan of ancient times. Nervously she tapped the edge of the dressing table with the tips of her lacquered fingernails, then ran her hand over the table and up the mirror, lightly brushing it with her fingers.
The consistency of the glass changed ; a man appeared on the other side. The Paladine bowed her head respectfully.
“Master, I have news....”
Twenty minutes later she was about to finish her conversation when Falada entered the room. The Paladin froze as his lover stood up swiftly between him and the mirror, preventing him from seeing with whom she was speaking.
“Darling ? Who are you talking to ?”
“I...the All Powerful. But we’re done. He had to leave,” she mumbled, pointing at the surface of the glass, which had returned to normal.
Falada rubbed his chin, then wiped his sweaty hand on his charcoal grey slacks. Glory regained control of herself and looked him up and down coldly. As they stared at each other, not speaking, the Paladin shook his head in embarrassment and pushed the door of the room shut. He looked like a little boy caught misbehaving.
“We have to talk.”
Glory arched an eyebrow. No other feature of her face moved, but her turquoise eyes shone with metallic luminosity.
“You’re sleeping with Crystal,” she struck.
“What ? No, of course not,” Falada defended himself. “I’m not the kind of man who would cheat on the woman he loves. But we... I kissed her. I wanted you to know.”
His lover fixed him with a dangerously mesmerizing look. With measured steps, she crossed the space that separated her from her nightstand, opened the drawer, which emitted a soft hiss, pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, and slowly closed it. Her back turned to the Paladin, she drew a few puffs.
“Do you love her ?”
Her tone was clear and composed, but Falada was not fooled. She was suffering. All his love for her came flooding back through him.
“I love you. You’re my companion, my lover, my partner ; you are my first and only love. Forgive me, please....”
Behind the slightly ajar door, Crystal’s eyes grew big. Too preoccupied with themselves, the Paladin and Glory had not noticed her. And the conversation she had just overheard tore at her insides. She had come to confess everything about Dimitri to her friends. The relationship could not continue any more ; he had too much of a hold over her. And what’s more, she felt as if she were betraying the people she loved.
Behind the door, Crystal bit down on her fist till it bled. She felt as if she were going crazy. Falada, her Falada, the one she loved more than anything, the one she trusted, was in love with someone else. He had been with someone else for months, maybe years. And that other woman was... Glory. My best frien
d, my protector, my sister.
Unable to face the unbearable truth any longer, Crystal backed away from the door, choking back the tears sticking in her throat. She kept backing away ; she did not want to see, she did not want to know. She backed away....
And banged violently into Beatrice, the new Paladine.
“Ouch !” Crystal yelled, rubbing the back of her head. “Beatrice ? What are you doing here ? Are you spying ?”
“Oh, no… no, no !” the other sputtered, her face instantly flushing crimson. “I... I was looking for you. I was thinking – we don’t know each other very well and you are my future All Powerful, so maybe I could treat you to dinner... if you want to, of course.”
Crystal raised her hand to her forehead. The vertigo she felt made her feel as though she were about to pass out.
“Yes, yes… Beatrice. Well, I just have to... see you later,” she fobbed her off before rushing from the hall that led to Glory’s room.
Ditching the poor new girl there, Crystal rushed toward the meditation room. She had to talk to Miranda. She had to find help.
Still stunned, she threw open the door of the room.
The room was bathed in an orange-ish, sparkling light. The sorceress, as stiff as a board, floated a yard above the floor, stretched out flat.
When Crystal opened the door, Miranda let out a shout and collapsed to the ground.
“Ouch ! Seriously ? You think that’s funny ?! You can’t just walk in here without any warning ! I could have broken my back, for goodness sake !”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” the young woman apologized. “Mimi, something so awful just happened to me....”
“Didn’t do it on purpose ! Didn’t do it on purpose ! That’s what everyone says, every time ! Magic requires concentration and peace ! No one respects anything in this house. And to top it all off, you’re crushing my snack !” the sorceress scolded her.
Dazed, Crystal clumsily pulled her right foot out of a heavily frosted cinnabon.
Crystal and the Damned - Possession Page 11