by Pavel Kornev
"What is this for?" I asked Adriano, but he didn't answer, then totally closed off his ears with wax plugs. He was certainly not preparing to listen to Albert's poem.
The architect adjusted the ratio of the air coming into his mask and started messing with a small tank that had a red gasket. One twist, another – and with a quiet hiss, the room started to fill with gas. It was colorless, flavorless and odorless, but had quite an unmistakable effect.
I didn't try to hold my breath. It was pointless. Wouldn't help. I just tried to take shallow and infrequent breaths but, still, my body was soon filled with an unbelievable lightness. My head was ringing, and shining spots were flickering before my eyes. Then, Albert Brandt began his performance.
"Run!" his all-enveloping voice cut through the silence of the room. "Wings of night behind me!"
His talent was diminished by the crackling and distortion of the speaker, but the narcotic intoxication made it impossible to withstand the flood. The speaker on the wall transformed into a dark spot. It started flickering and spinning into a bottomless crater.
"Run!" the poet shouted out again. "Sword of fate overhead!"
So I did. I tried with all my might to burst forward, but my body would no longer obey. I was hoping to cleanse my consciousness with the pain of electrical shock, but I couldn't even move.
"Run! Don't let them get you off course!"
Space was transforming and swimming. The frescoes of Kali on the walls and Liliana dancing on the screen joined together into a single figure. She extended a hand to me and pulled me after her into a bottomless pit.
"Run!" I heard after that, then I was swallowed by darkness.
In the next moment, I was already hovering above the amphitheater. The voice of the poet reached me as if through deep water, and although I could make out every word, the meaning was evading me. The toxin lingering in the air liberated the human consciousness, and Brandt's poem became a catalyst that started an irreversible metaphysical reaction in their minds. Now, even firmly convinced reductionists were dreaming of Kali’s coming, and that turbidity set Liliana's faith alight.
It was as if Lily became larger. Her figure was made partially transparent, and shadows were running behind her back, which occasionally joined together into the outlines of another pair of arms. But the attention of the illustrious public, and the personal talent of Liliana were still not enough to make her a true embodiment of the goddess. That would take more.
Power. Lots of power.
And I could provide that power.
The fallen one imprisoned in the vault was gradually overcoming the weakening electromagnetic field, and the icy buzz of his otherworldly essence reached out to me. The emanations of darkness were flying like ghostly whirlwinds. The detached contemplation was torn to shreds. The bone harpoons of fear sunk in.
Yes, there was more fear than you could shake a stick at. Everyone was inclined to fear: both the people and the demons. Fear is an invaluable companion to any rational being, and the fallen one had a panicked fear of missing his chance and remaining a captive of soulless mechanisms.
My talent went completely off the rails. My consciousness split in two. One part of it was winding over the amphitheater, the other was drowning in a wave of otherworldly power.
Adriano Tacini was no longer sitting in his chair, now walking fussily from corner to corner and ceaselessly looking at the time. The architect was illustrious and fully felt the presence of the infernal creature. The fallen one emptied its essence from the basement, oozing with otherworldly energy and gradually changing space itself in an expanding wave. A bulb flickered on under the ceiling. The floor began to shake. Maxwell’s holding chamber gave out and the demon returned to our world, gripping into reality and mastering the generator failures with its iron will.
"He's going to kill you, idiot!" I thought, belated illumination starting to drum in my head, and in the next moment, the frescoes of Kali finally came together into one complete image of Liliana, flickering with all the unbearable luster of a supernova.
The demon's energy filling the vault lashed at the hole burned in my soul by hypnosis. I could not resist, even if I'd wanted to. Any illustrious carries a germ of the otherworldly inside, and like always attracts like. My consciousness was cut into by a murderous hurricane of power and emotions foreign to humankind, like hateful rage and burning offence. At first, it was filtered through the weakened magnetic field but, soon, the torrent of pure energy reached me unimpeded. That energy was unbelievably complex to the human perception, illustrious or not.
"And Lily won't even die!" a sneaky little thought flickered up in my head. "She'll just begin a new form of existence! And you don't love her, she loves you. You're too different! It's all hypnotist tricks..."
"Love!" the word was so inappropriate, it chased off the cloud filling my head for a moment and helped me come to a decision. Energy splashed out, like wine spilling through a little hole in an old wineskin; all that remained for me was to slightly direct her and not let her head go under.
The vision of Liliana dancing in the amphitheater changed into acid blotches of narcotic nonsense, and the longer it went on, the more these surreal visions attracted the darkness. For some time, Albert's voice continued to rasp in the microphone, then even he could no longer be heard...
When I woke up, it was already over.
I woke up – that was good. How long had I been out? The cage was still in place, and as soon as I touched the iron bars, an electric shock blasted through my body.
The speaker was silent. The basement was filled with the measured hum of a fan, an exhaust hood. Adriano Tacini was moving the tank of narcotic gas into the hallway, then returned and pulled the breathing mask off his face.
"Seeing as we're still alive, I suppose it all turned out well!" he laughed nervously, pulling the wax plugs from his ears. "Lev, I'm sincerely grateful to you, but let's be frank – your testimony could swamp me. What's more, you're the type to harbor a grudge."
I was entirely unsurprised to see a pocket revolver appear in the architect's hand. The bullets in the cylinder were shimmering with polished silver.
"Burn in hell!" I exhaled, spitting my bloody saliva out on the floor.
"I suppose I’ll be in good company at least," Adriano shot back a snarky reply, starting to pull down on the trigger.
Just before the hammer flew into the chamber, the door behind him flew open and Belinda Tacini walked into the room with her black curls in glamorous disorder.
"Dear, what are you doing here?" Adriano turned to her, alarmed.
"I was looking for you, dear," Belinda answered with a worried, maternal voice and walked over to her husband. She kissed him, took the revolver, and with an abrupt jab of her free hand, ran the architect's stomach through.
Clutching the fearsome wound in his hands, Adriano collapsed onto the chair with a moan.
"What..." he croaked out, watching with horror as Belinda wiped her bloodied fingernails on the hem of her dress.
Needless to say, it was not Belinda. The woman's appearance changed seamlessly. She became shorter. Her classical profile acquired a sweet rotundity, and her full lips went narrow and bloodless. Her hair, once the color of a raven's wing, became the burning red of a fire. Only her black eyes remained as before. They contained a boundless twisting darkness.
"How?" Adriano sighed out hoarsely, trying to stand. Not finding himself able, he crawled from the chair onto the floor.
The succubus did nothing to answer, and when the real Belinda walked into the room, with a charming smile, she handed her the revolver.
"No!" the architect growled out, but it was as if his wife couldn't hear him.
Without hesitation, she stuck the short barrel under her jaw and squeezed the trigger. A shot clapped out, and the wall behind the woman was colored with blood. Her lifeless body fell to the floor.
"Belinda!" Adriano shouted out, crawling over to his dead spouse, but the succubus blocked his
path and kicked the weapon toward him with a blood-caked shoe.
Tacini didn't hesitate for even a second. He grabbed the revolver, placed it to his temple and shot himself in the head.
And suddenly, the leprechaun appeared in the doorway.
"Bugger, what a tragedy!" he whistled. "Romeo and Juliette! Shakespeare, bugger!"
The succubus turned to him and the pipsqueak instantly bit his tongue.
"What the devil?" I cursed out. "What the devil are you doing?!"
"You should fear your desires, my sovereign," Elizabeth-Maria smiled softly. The space around her was trembling and shivering from the outpouring of force. "I've held my part of the bargain sacred. You wished to send him to hell. Isn't that where all people, who commit suicide go? This was the simplest way..."
"Devil!" I cursed and pointed at the transformer. "Turn that off!"
The succubus cast a short gaze on the measuredly humming device, and it gave a quick shake. It quickly started smoking and turned off.
"Shall I help you, my sovereign?"
"No!" I refused, breaking the door bars with a sharp burst.
The proximity of Elizabeth-Maria, who'd acquired the strength of the fallen one, scared me to death, but there really was no risk. In exchange for returning her powers, the succubus had sworn to obey my will. Such promises are not empty words. They create a mental connection, which isn't so very easy to break. That was the very connection that allowed me to send the demon's energy not to Liliana, but to Elizabeth-Maria.
Dangerous and a bad idea? Beyond all doubt. But better that than allowing my talent to turn Lily into an ersatz dark goddess. I didn't want such a fate for the girl.
Elizabeth-Maria was watching me with a light smile, as if she saw all my doubts straight through.
"What are your orders?" she purred, licking the blood from her fingers.
"We need to get out of here," I decided. "You didn't happen to see my things, did you?"
"They're in the hallway," Elizabeth-Maria told me. The darkness in her eyes slightly dispersed, but they still weren't as colorless and light as before and continued burning with the gloomy fire of the underworld.
I walked out of the basement and froze, struck by the spectacle before me. The stairs up were covered in blood. On the dirty floor, there was a trail of smeared brownish tracks.
Elizabeth-Maria just shrugged her shoulders.
"Collateral damage," she declared, warning against possible interrogations.
Her icy composure made ants run up my spine. But I didn't show it, and started gathering my clothes, which had been piled in a heap. My tattoos looked swollen and inflamed. It hurt even to touch them, but I overcame the pain and started getting dressed.
The leprechaun quickly slipped into the room, turned on the movie projector and the image of Liliana continued her entrancing dance.
"Voyeur!" Elizabeth-Maria threw out contemptuously.
"You're an idiot!" the albino snarled, slamming the door with a thunderous boom.
"We're so sweet together!" the succubus laughed and suggested: "Leopold, would you like help with your shoes?"
"No!" I refused, bending down with a moan, putting on my shoes and hobbling over to the stairs.
Fatigue rolled over me. I got scared. I was afraid of having to sort out my own feelings toward Liliana. I didn't even want to think about her affection for me – all just the result of Marlini's hypnotic suggestions. And was it really all that simple with my own feelings?
I froze at the blood-soaked stairs, not feeling enough resolve to take another step.
"Leo?" Elizabeth-Maria grew worried. "Leo, what is happening?!"
There wasn't time to answer. The building shuddered and stones showered down from the ceiling. The succubus pressed herself against me. The power overflowing from her warped space itself. When the floor underfoot gave out, we fell into the vault. But we were hovering in the midst of the rubble. Then, unnaturally, as if in a slowed-down film, we floated downward.
Just then, a thundering boom blasted out. Wisps of dust rocketed up and shards of stone flew in all directions!
We didn't get hit by any, but Elizabeth-Maria fell to the floor powerless. I kept my balance and gave a heartrending cough; there was a strong smell of burnt wire from below, and quickly, something even more piercing and vile mixed in. The reek of aged fear.
I was sure of what I smelled. Just as I knew that this smell didn't promise anything good for us.
"Let's go, we need to get out of here!" I extended a hand to the succubus. But before I managed to help her to her feet, an electric shock sparked up in the dust-caked hallway.
In the next instant, a series of balls from the Gauss caster broached the basement. A strong blow to my left shoulder spun me in place and knocked me off my feet. A security guard walked into the basement in a closed helm and aluminum-foil jumper. He aimed at Elizabeth-Maria, but decided not to shoot a helpless girl so thoughtlessly. The succubus, on the other hand, didn't hesitate for even a moment; like a spring uncoiling, she burst from place and broke through his glass visor with a sharp swipe of her splayed fingers. Shards flew, blood splashed. The security guard died instantly.
"Leo!" the succubus turned around, and unhidden fear could be heard in her voice. "What is happening?!"
"Maxwell's Demon!" I exhaled hoarsely, getting to my feet. My shoulder was aching unbearably, but simple iron couldn't harm a werebeast. The steel round sticking out of the wound clanked on the floor and the bullet hole covered itself over, not even leaving a scar.
"Didn't you give me the strength of the fallen one?" the succubus gasped.
"Well sure," I confirmed, taking the Gauss caster from the dead man's hands.
"What shit!" Elizabeth-Maria cursed. "There won't even be a wet spot left when the fallen one gets done with us!"
"How? His strength is in you now!"
"It's still his strength. How do you not understand that?!" the succubus started panicking. "He's coming to reclaim it!"
"Calm yourself! Let's just look for a way out!"
We didn't find one. The far wall suddenly shuddered. The ancient brickwork bulged out and rocks showered down. A thick cloud of dust blasted up to the ceiling, then I heard a foreboding scraping, and a huge iron cabinet flew in our direction.
Elizabeth-Maria ducked down. The cabinet flew over her, blowing out the doorframe with its frightening force, then breaking apart to reveal an intricate relay switch and spools of copper wire. I placed the stock of the launcher against my shoulder and opened fire. The steel balls howled into the dust and drummed against something there, sometimes flying back as deformed clods of red-hot twisted metal.
I didn't cease fire until the drum was empty.
"Leo, I hope you blow up!" Elizabeth-Maria exhaled fatefully and took a step back.
And then, through a hole in the wall, the fallen one squeezed into the room in one dazzling burst. The long imprisonment was not to the demon's advantage: his semi-transparent wings stretched out behind him like two ratty rags. His head and body were covered in stigmata and burns. It seemed as if he was carved from a single piece of stone, and moved in uneven jerks like a stone golem; there was no trace remaining of the grandiosity and majesty of the former sovereigns of the world.
But this was no golem. Nothing of the sort...
The wave of his will rolled over me like a crushing tsunami; I bit my lip until it bled and pushed down on the button, activating the lightning gun. The electric shock cut through the room with a blinding thread and the demon was thrown backward. The shock demolished the otherworldly creature’s concentration and dispersed his mental domination; Elizabeth-Maria shot out of place and threw herself on the attack with a hateful cry.
The blistering jump hit its mark, and her sharp nails easily sliced into the demon's flesh. But before the succubus reached the heart of the fallen one, he cast her aside with a careless blow. Elizabeth-Maria collapsed on the iron cabinet. Blood was gushing from her back, pierced by a pi
ece of wreckage. And although the wound was quickly covering over, the succubus didn't manage to get to her feet on the first try.
Grabbing the Colt, I pulled down on the trigger, but the proximity of the otherworldly creature put the weapon out of commission, and no shot rang out. The demon rocked forward and sharply threw out his splayed paw in Elizabeth-Maria’s direction. The succubus was thrown against the wall, and she hovered in the air like a butterfly stuck on a needle. The power torn from her dispersed throughout the room in a bristly wave. The fallen one's wounds started to heal over. His gray skin started glowing from inside, and the beast himself seemed to grow in size.
In hope that the electric igniter would still work, I drew my Cerberus. It didn't let me down: one after the other, three shots thundered out. The aluminum-jacketed bullets pierced the demon's chest and he was rocked back, but immediately regained his balance and sent me back to the opposite wall with a careless flick.
I felt like a grenade went off in my head. My breathing seized. My mouth filled with blood, and when I finally managed to take a breath, a blinding luster had already flared up between Elizabeth-Maria and the fallen one. No matter how the succubus resisted, her opponent was drawing every grain of power out of her. Her breathing was shaky. Space was swimming. The energy overflowing the room caused sparks.
Covering my eyes with a hand to block the unbearable glow, I got to my feet, but didn't manage to start moving due to the invisible press holding me against the wall. Reality changed. There was no longer any place in it for me.
"Bugger!" suddenly sounded out from a side corridor. "Well, come one then!"
The leprechaun deftly stole past the demon, sent both hands flying into a sparkling cloud and with one wave, took all the energy into himself. At that moment, the albino lit up from inside and, to the vile cracking of bones, joints and tendons, started to morph into a ghastly beast. His arms and legs grew longer, sprouting unevenly gnawed claws. Bunches of powerful muscle wrapped around his frame. His face transformed into a frightening snout. His brow jutted out, hiding his eyes. A set of razor-sharp teeth crowded his gums.