The Fallen (The Sublime Electricity Book #3)

by Pavel Kornev

  Everything was worse than I imagined.

  "Leo!" a well formulated voice carried through the train station as soon as Lily and I started for the exit. "Is that you, my friend?"

  If I had any chance to pretend I didn't hear, or even to run away disgraced, that's exactly what I would have done. But I wasn't alone. Lily had already slowed her pace. I then had to stop, too. Stop and turn.

  The imposing man of thirty years who called out to me was well-built, broad-shouldered, and wearing a light flax suit. He took his summer hat off his head and waved it, drawing my attention.

  "Leo!" Albert Brandt shouted out again. "Over here!"

  And it really was Albert Brandt. He hadn't changed a bit since the last time I’d seen him: he had light hair, just as before, combed back. His sand-colored mustache and beard were carefully trimmed. His colorless illustrious eyes contained light reproach, as if to say: "Where did you disappear to for so long, friend?" But that voice...

  Run? Balderdash! I wouldn't have been able to run even if I wanted to. The poet's voice literally froze me to the floor. I turned into a pillar of salt. Albert Brandt decided not to rely on chance and fell back on his talent...

  So, I just stood in place and watched his approach in silence. It should be said that I was more looking at the woman next to him than Albert himself. The medium-height lady was wearing a black dress and tapping a thin blind-person's cane in front of herself. The thick veil on her hat covered her face entirely. Red locks of hair cascaded down her shoulders.

  Elizabeth-Maria! Elizabeth-Maria Nickley, the succubus I’d deprived of her otherworldly essence.

  At one point, we had been bound by an agreement, but when I'd torn it up and tried to drive the succubus into the underworld, I'd only found partial success. After that, Albert took the blinded Elizabeth-Maria out of town, but not before he'd challenged me to a duel.

  Several times, as a matter of fact. I wasn't at all sure that I wanted to see them. Especially here and now.

  But Liliana was shivering in curiosity.

  "Well then, Leo," she sighed, poking me in the side with her sharp elbow, "why are you frozen like a stone statue? Say hello!"

  I raised my right hand and waved fatefully at the poet.

  That gesture was enough to overcome the awkwardness of the moment. Time stopped stretching on and began running at normal speed again. Albert was in front of me a moment later. He embraced me and patted his palm on my back.

  "Leo, old buddy! I'm insanely glad to see you! What a meeting! I simply couldn't believe my eyes!"

  I gave a detached smile, observing with agitation as Elizabeth-Maria approached. Despite her blindness, she crossed the passenger-packed room without any difficulties, and that wasn't easily explained by her skill with the cane. People got out of the succubus's way without even noticing.

  I looked at Elizabeth-Maria. Elizabeth-Maria looked at me, and the gaze of her blind eyes burned cleaner than red-hot iron, even through the veil.

  "Look how healthy you've become! I even thought I was mistaken, but your gait is the same." The poet slapped me on the back again, taking a step back and looking at Lily. "Leo, won't you introduce me to your charming companion?"

  "Liliana Montague," I said without any enthusiasm.

  "Albert Brandt," the poet said with a slight bow, clapping his hat back on his head as he pointed to the succubus. "Elizabeth-Maria, my wife."

  "Very nice to meet you," Lily smiled, slightly taken aback. But she immediately got herself together and laughed. "I won't even ask if you’re the real Albert Brandt! I've heard you bear a resemblance to Van Gogh, but I never thought it would be so striking!"

  "Resemblance?" Albert snorted. "There's no resemblance! I've got two ears! But if you're referring to his Self-Portrait with Palette, then yes, we’ve got some features in common. In fact, let me tell you a secret: he and I are distant relatives."

  "You two have the same face," Elizabeth-Maria said, taking the poet by the hand.

  "If you say so, my dear."

  I shuddered nervously and turned to the exit.

  "Perhaps we can continue this conversation outside?"

  "Ah, no thank you!" Albert refused and pulled me firmly to the second-story stairs. "I know you – always running off on business. But you and I have so much to talk about! You cannot even imagine how glad I am to see you!"

  "I need to visit the ladies' room," Elizabeth-Maria informed us.

  "Allow me to take you!" Liliana called out, offering to serve as her eyes.

  I jerked to stop Lily, overcame the desire with difficulty, and turned back to Albert with a fated sigh.

  "Well then, let's go."

  We took a seat next to a window on the second floor in the bar.

  "Are you still mad at me?" Albert asked when the waiter out brought a bulbous snifter of cognac to him and a mug of strong black coffee for me.

  "Should I not be? Albert, you ran at me with a saber! Then, you left town without even warning me!"

  "Let’s not forget you had a hand in it too, Leo!" Brandt jumped out in front. "If only you weren't so secretive. If only you'd have told me everything right away, none of this would have happened!"

  I froze and asked cautiously:

  "What exactly do you think I should have told you about?"

  "About the fact that you hired Elizabeth-Maria to play the role of your wife!" Albert said, clapping his palm on the table. "I never would have started falling for her, then!"

  My relief had no end. For a fleeting moment, I started to suspect that Elizabeth-Maria had revealed her true essence to the poet.

  "Albert, be honest: when have such trifles ever stopped you before? You're above the arbitrary tyranny of morals and the rigid ways of the bourgeoisie, isn't that right?"

  "I fall in love mindlessly – yes!" the poet confirmed. "And you know that perfectly well! If I had known about your understanding, I wouldn't have acted so rashly. But the way it happened, we got mixed up in lies and nearly killed one another. And look at Elizabeth-Maria – the attack of nerves made her lose her sight! All doctors say her blindness is of psychological origin, but no one can help!"

  Here my relief rolled back out, and I sensed regret. I knew that my friend was living with an infernal creature deprived of her power, but couldn't gather the courage to tell him. And I understood that I never would gather it. And that made me nauseous.

  "Leo! Why didn't you tell me about that?" Albert demanded.

  "You wanna know why?" I grimaced. "So you wouldn't feed another story to the papers! I went to you for help one time, and that was enough for me."

  "Damn it!" Albert exhaled, admitting defeat. "But after..."

  "After that, I started suspecting that you were romancing the inspector general’s daughter behind my back."

  "A comedy of errors, no more, no less!" Brandt shook his head. "Leo, listen. From here on, we must be open with one another. You still haven't asked how it all ended! I married the blind actress! And I'm bound to her until the end of my days. I cannot leave her, or ask for divorce. Marriage wasn't part of the plan, Leo. That it happened is all your fault. And you're mad at me?"

  I felt a muted annoyance start tossing and turning inside me, and didn't hold it back.

  "Albert, enough of the comedy act! As long as I've known you, you've changed lovers like most men change gloves. Marriage cannot have changed your habits! You want to pressure me with feelings of guilt? Hell no! I only made your life easier. Now, after you get sick of your next pretty young thing, you can cry that you cannot leave your blind wife, and it'll all go by without any drama or vein-slashing. And those feather-brained trollops will most likely answer you in kind, because they will no longer be afraid that their notoriously fickle lover will lose his head or torment them with his jealousy. And that's to say nothing of the heart-sick ninnies who will now fall into your bed just out of sympathy!" I made a pause, sighed loudly and continued: "Elizabeth-Maria? I'm sure she knows everything you do and basks in the
sympathy and adoration of a great many gentlemen. Isn't that so?"

  "You always have been a cynic and a scoundrel, Leo!" the poet declared in reply, getting up from the table and leaving. But he didn't go far – just to the bar. He returned from there with a new snifter of cognac, rubbed his sand-colored beard and chuckled. "Though you aren't so very far from the truth, my shrewd-minded friend. In a certain degree, my life really has become easier."

  "As I said!"

  "Leo!"

  "Don't call me that!" I hit my friend, got an eyeful of his bug-eyed visage and explained: "In public, I'm Lev Borisovich Shatunov."

  "Trouble with the law?"

  "Old business. All related to my father's debts."

  "Do you need help?"

  "No."

  "And your girlfriend? I didn't put you in an awkward position when I called you by name?"

  "Everything is fine."

  Albert lifted the snifter and offered:

  "Peace?"

  I clinked my coffee glass and confirmed:

  "Peace."

  It was simply impossible to remain angry at the poet for too long. He was an unbearably stubborn person.

  "But, if I'm hearing right, you must have a serious debt," Albert noted, getting up from the table. "I've born so much because of you! You threw a pool ball at my head!"

  "God forbid!" I brought my friend down a peg. "It was the most thrilling adventure of your life!"

  "Touché!" the poet replied, admitting the weight of my argument.

  We went to the stairs and immediately ran into Liliana and Elizabeth-Maria.

  "My dear!" the poet smiled seductively. "You don't want anything to drink?"

  "Not now," Elizabeth-Maria refused. "The journey has tired me."

  "Then, let's get a cab," Albert decided and explained to me: "We’ve rented apartments by the lake."

  "We'll take you," Liliana called out to help. "We've got a carriage waiting."

  "Simply wonderful," Elizabeth-Maria smiled and took the poet by the hand.

  We left the train station. Albert Brandt tracked down the porter with his bags, and I helped him load a couple of their voluminous suitcases onto the carriage. When everyone was sitting in their seats, the springs started sagging a great deal, but they held out.

  "Have you come to the springs to treat your liver?" I asked the poet as soon as the carriage started off.

  "Your sense of humor is as cunning as ever, my friend!" Brandt laughed good-heartedly in reply. "No, I'm here on business. Although my Running in the Shadows was even performed on Broadway, I didn’t earn much, so I agreed to take part in the grand opening of some stone heap here in town, which by some misunderstanding, they've decided to call an amphitheater."

  "You'll be impressed when you see what this 'stone heap' has become," Liliana smiled craftily.

  "That is of no importance whatever," Albert waved it off, letting the wind blow on his reddened face. "On top of the usual fee, we had accommodation and travel paid for. For compensation like that, I’d be willing to perform in a morgue. Audience delight is a wonderful thing, but lack of it is no reason to refuse a check. Incidentally, this time I’ll have both."

  "What will you be reading?" I asked, distracting Lily's attention from the poet's showy materialism. "Something new?"

  Albert nodded.

  "Something new." He smiled proudly. "Mistress of the Night. I wrote it on commission, but I'll be honest: it's a nice little poem."

  "Oh, it's simply unbelievable!" Elizabeth-Maria confirmed, taking her husband by the elbow.

  I tried not to look in her direction too many times.

  "And what is the topic of your... composition?"

  The carriage drove over the rails, and we shook. Brandt even stood up and looked around, checking to see if the bags were still on tight. After that, he gave a wink and a satisfied smile:

  "It's a very fashionable topic, I assure you."

  "I'm lost in guesses."

  "India!" the poet threw out a new hint.

  "India?" I thought. "Mistress of the Night?"

  "Kali!" Liliana suddenly blurted out. "You wrote a poem about Kali?"

  "That's right!"

  "Oh!" Lily just gasped. "That's unbelievable!"

  The coachman gave a disapproving snort, but decided not to intervene in the conversation of his betters.

  "And it isn't just a poem," Albert Brandt continued his shameless bragging. "It will be a whole dramatized performance! Dancers! Fakirs! Snake charmers!"

  "Yes, yes, yes! That sounds amazing! I can’t wait!" Lily clapped her hands.

  No two ways about it, she was burning with desire to take part in the poet’s bacchanalia. Her unhidden enthusiasm even threw me a bit, but Brandt took it all in his own way.

  "I suppose I could shake out a couple tickets to the concert-gala for the two of you," he promised.

  "No need, thank you," Liliana refused. "Daddy's rented a box."

  Albert looked expressively at me, but didn't rush with the interrogations. He just asked:

  "Leo, can I count on your attendance?"

  I shrugged my shoulders carelessly.

  "Those performances aren't for me. You already know that, Albert. I don't have a musical ear, and my sense of rhythm is a joke..."

  "Doesn't matter," the poet guffawed. "You won't twist your way out of this one, old friend! The contract states that my performance will be broadcast throughout the city! No matter where you are, you'll hear my voice!"

  "So that's what they're hanging the loudspeakers up for!" Liliana guessed.

  "I guess we'll see," I smiled and said nothing about the ticket I'd bought for tomorrow's train. I simply didn't consider it necessary to advertise my plans. I was still being bored into by the gaze of the succubus' blind eyes.

  Albert rented apartments on the top floor of a building tucked down a narrow shady alley; the carriage could barely turn around in the small area in front of it. The tall gate and walls were totally cloaked in ivy. Almost no stone peeked out from behind the thick greenery. Only the windows were free. The lake wasn't visible, but I could sense a humid freshness whenever a slight breeze blew past.

  "Good spot," I said, praising the poet's choice.

  "Won’t you come in for tea?" he offered, handing his travelling bag to a servant.

  "No," I refused, "we're late to a lecture in the municipal garden."

  "A lecture?" Albert was caught off guard.

  "And dances!" Lily laughed and suggested: "Why don't you join us?" She looked at the poet's wife and immediately added: "They have a wonderful orchestra. They play excellently."

  "Not today," Elizabeth-Maria shook her head. "The journey here wasn't easy."

  Albert nodded and helped his wife out of the carriage.

  "See you later... Lev."

  "See you later," I smiled back, still staying silent on tomorrow's trip to New Babylon. Then I'd send a telegram, blaming my absence on urgent business.

  The poet and his wife went into the building, and Lily and I rolled off to the city garden. Enclosed with a wrought-iron fence, it wasn't very large. There was a winding path among the bushes and trees. In the shady corners, they had placed benches for amorous couples. Next to the dancefloor, there was a stage for summer performances. There were people everywhere selling sweets, ice-cream and carbonated water. Children were running, and respectable couples were promenading, awaiting the dances of the young vacationers.

  We were late to the beginning of the lecture, so we decided to simply walk through the garden. It was starting to grow a bit dusky. A worker was sauntering from light-post to light-post starting the gas lamps, which still had yet to be changed out for electric lighting.

  I bought a couple glasses of water with syrup. Liliana took one gratefully, drank it and asked:

  "Can I ask you an immodest question?"

  I felt I would be unable to avoid interrogation on my friendship with the famed poet, so I nodded.

  "Of course!"


  "Was there ever anything between you and Elizabeth-Maria?"

  I avoided the question by taking a drink of water, coughed, rubbed my chin with a kerchief and asked:

  "What, excuse me?"

  "Did you ever have an affair with the poet's wife?" Lily repeated her question with icy composure.

  "Naturally, no!"

  "Oh!" Lily said, drawn out. "So, it isn't a love triangle, but a love of three?"

  "Devil!" I shot out, immediately raising my voice and looking around. "Nothing happened. How'd you ever get such an idea in your head?"

  "I had a very acute sense of something going on when the two of you were together."

  "Yes, we are bound by a complicated relationship. But not an amorous one."

  "Do such things happen?"

  I suppressed a fateful sigh, finished my mineral water and decided to make away with a half-truth.

  "I met Elizabeth-Maria first."

  "And she left you for the poet?" Lily immediately lit up.

  "Come on, no! We had a purely business-like relationship. I hired her to play the role of my companion for an event I simply could not attend alone."

  "You hired a blind girl?" Liliana asked in disbelief.

  "No, she went blind after we parted ways."

  "The poor thing!"

  "In the end, when it was all revealed, Albert and I had a bit of a scrap. He got it into his head that I'd known about their relationship from the beginning but kept silent. And since then, we haven't talked."

  "How confusing that all is!" Liliana shook her head. "But I suppose that’s what happens with such arty types!"

  "I don't exactly belong to that milieu."

  "Yes? Then how'd you get to know Albert?"

  I sighed and looked for a free bench.

  "Oh, it's a long story. There was some business in Athens or Angora, I can't remember for sure anymore..."

  In the end, the story took up the whole rest of the lecture, and there were a few occasions where only a miracle stopped me from getting lost in complete balderdash. The real story of our meeting, with the public house and mad witchery wouldn't have lasted quite as long, but I decided not to reveal it. I wanted to make a more... positive impression, so recalling memories of a bloody skirmish in a strip joint with a dozen half-naked girls didn’t seem wise.