The Illustrious (The Sublime Electricity Book #1)

by Pavel Kornev

  "I could smell your fear, Leo. And I still can. Why?"

  "Nothing to be surprised at," I smiled light-heartedly. "He’s just an overly talkative person by nature, and that makes me devilishly uncomfortable. I cannot bear being the center of attention."

  "As you say," smiled Elizabeth-Maria craftily, not continuing to insist

  I simply shrugged my shoulders and sent the girl to the buffet table at the far wall.

  "Would you like to dance?" Elizabeth-Maria asked in surprise. "Listen, such music!"

  "I can't hear. A bear stepped on my ear," I got out of it with a saying that I had heard quite often from my father.

  "You're just..."

  "And I didn't have time to eat lunch."

  "Now that's a good reason!" the girl laughed uncontrollably.

  In the end, before all the formal pandemonium began at the tables, I managed to scarf down my tenth canape, then sauntered around the room holding a glass of soda water. Elizabeth-Maria limited herself to a glass of cherry juice.

  "Pretty much the same as blood," she told me.

  "Only sour."

  "I meant color-wise."

  "Arterial is brighter, and venous is darker."

  "You're unbearable!"

  "Nerves," I sighed and, as Elizabeth-Maria was becoming an object of discussion, I began introducing the girl to my colleagues. And it would've all been hollow interaction, but then Inspector White appeared.

  "Leopold!" He smiled as if nothing had happened. "Let me steal your treasure away for a few dances!"

  "Naturally, inspector!" I allowed without the slightest hesitation.

  I wasn't planning on dancing today in any case.

  At that moment, the orchestra on the improvised stage began playing a new melody. Robert and Elizabeth-Maria joined the dancing couples, and I headed back for the buffet tables, making an effort to avoid running into anyone I knew.

  It's nothing! But I couldn't hide.

  "She is pretty, though," rang out from behind my back. "And, they say, she looks somewhat like me."

  I turned sharply and found myself face to face with the inspector general's daughter. Elizabeth-Maria von Nalz noticeably surpassed my companion in height, so our eyes were hardly on the same level. Mine, colorless-light, and hers light-gray, with blindingly orange sparkles. They were the kind of eyes one wanted to look into until the end of time.

  "Few could compare with your beauty, my illustrious lady," I answered with an awkward compliment. Not having mastered my temptation, I pulled off my dark glasses.

  According to rumor, the Illustrious Ms. von Nalz's talent was the ability to bewitch people with a glance, but I wasn't at all worried by that now.

  "What a flatterer you are, Viscount!" the inspector general's daughter shook her head.

  "I may be a flatterer," I shrugged my shoulders, "but not in this case. And, as the chance has presented itself, I would like to offer you my most sincere apology for the deplorable incident with the paper. Believe me, I had no idea that poets could be so unrestrained."

  The daughter of the inspector general just laughed uncontrollably.

  "Think nothing of it!" she declared, twirling a reddish lock of hair around her finger. "I even found it flattering, being the main character in a story in the society pages. And it was so fun to see daddy get mad..."

  Fun? Not so much for me.

  I smiled sourly:

  "I'm glad everything worked itself out."

  "I'm sure that tomorrow, this misunderstanding will be the farthest thing from anyone’s mind," the girl noted frivolously and got curious: "Viscount, do you really know Albert Brandt? He is called the most mysterious poet in modern times! How did you ever make his acquaintance?"

  "The thing is..." I faltered, not able to keep my gaze from her dazzling feminine eyes and, much to my own surprise, answered with the pure truth: "It was in Athens, if memory serves..."

  "In Athens?"

  The pressure in my temples became unbearable. I replied:

  "Yes," but immediately found the power to correct myself: "Or in Angora, I don't remember for certain. Albert got into a difficult position, and I did him a small service. And, since then, we talk."

  "How interesting!" the inspector general's daughter gasped. "Have you done a lot of traveling?"

  Instead of answering, I suggested:

  "Elizabeth-Maria, why don’t we continue this discussion over a dance? Maybe. You know, now that it wouldn't cause idle gossip..." and was struck by my own bravery in waiting for an answer.

  "Naturally, Viscount!"

  We joined the spinning couples in a waltz. I began leading the girl and immediately realized that Elizabeth-Maria danced incomparably better than me and, in order not to fall face-first into the mud once and for all, I would have to distract my partner with conversation.

  And not step on her feet. Just make sure not to step on her feet...

  "My mother died when I was five," I told the girl, "and that nearly killed my father."

  "I'm very sorry..."

  "I cannot recollect exactly, but I seem to remember us spending a certain period of time going from place to place after that. Around six months."

  "Surely, you toured the whole Empire in that time!"

  "No, not the whole Empire," I laughed uncontrollably, masking my nervousness. "But I did get to see quite a lot."

  "And where did you like it most?"

  I answered without hesitation:

  "New Babylon, the heart of the Empire."

  I did not share my impression that it was an ulcer eating the Empire from the inside, though.

  "And your friend, Albert?" Elizabeth-Maria wondered. "Is he really as strange as they say?"

  "No stranger than the other bohemians," I answered with a meaningful and even mysterious air. "Have you read about the conductor who took his own life after losing his wand?"

  "Yes, simply horrible!"

  At that moment, the music went silent, and I had to step back from the girl.

  "It was nice to meet you, Viscount," Elizabeth-Maria smiled goodbye, walking away with the light step of a dancer.

  Her breathtaking eyes paused on me, leaving me stunned, and I squeezed out:

  "You too. You too..."

  It grew dry in my mouth. I wanted to wet my throat unbearably, but before I'd had time to reach the buffet tables, I was grabbed by Robert White.

  "Have you thought over my proposal?" asked my boss.

  "No."

  "You still haven't?"

  "No, inspector," I shook my head and put my dark glasses on. "And I will not."

  "As you say," Robert White shrugged his shoulders with surprising nonchalance and did not try to convince me. "But let's talk tomorrow when our minds are fresh. Promise me you'll think about it."

  "I will," I promised.

  "Don't come to work. I'll come to meet you," the inspector warned, giving a salute with his glass and heading back homeward.

  Curses! His last remark had hit me right in the Achilles' heel. If the inspector doesn't have a change of heart about firing me, I'd be just as likely to see my advance as my own ears. After all, he definitely wouldn’t change his mind...

  I cursed silently once again and someone took me by the elbow.

  "Leopold, is everything quite alright?" asked Elizabeth-Maria, my Elizabeth-Maria.

  "Yes."

  "You're breathing like a spooked horse."

  "It's stuffy in here," I said, looking all around absent-mindedly. "Let's go get some fresh air."

  The girl, after dancing, wasn't panting in the slightest. The blue vein on her neck didn't even start beating more rapidly, but I was obviously not doing well. My heart was pounding, and for some reason, it was uneven.

  "You wanted to suck all the life out of the party?"

  "Not a bad idea, don't you think?"

  "If you're already finished..."

  "Yes, we can leave."

  We headed for the exit, but in the door we were inter
cepted once again by the inspector general.

  "My Illustrious Mademoiselle," the ghastly old man smiled, "allow me to have a brief word with your handsome cavalier..."

  Friedrich von Nalz and I walked over to a flung-open window and there the inspector general spent some time in silence looking at the row of electric torches illuminating the night outside.

  "I am impressed, Viscount," he said some time later. "You are quite the shrewd young man."

  "Thank you..."

  "But!" The inspector general turned unexpectedly sharply, and I felt like I'd been doused in boiling water from head to toe. "In the future, keep your distance from my daughter! Get that straight!"

  "There's no need for this warning whatsoever," I assured the man, making an effort to stop myself from taking a step back.

  "Wonderful..." the old man uttered with detachment. His eyes gradually grew dim. He nodded a few times, as if agreeing with his own thoughts, and returned to the ball room.

  I followed him with a steadfast gaze, then extended my hand to the approaching Elizabeth-Maria and, with her in tow, headed for the exit.

  "What did he want from you?" the girl wondered when we'd gone out onto the street.

  "Not going into particulars," I chuckled, "the inspector general told me that I'm lucky to have you."

  "Can't argue with that!" Elizabeth-Maria laughed uncontrollably, sincerely and rollickingly.

  I wiped off the perspiration that had started forming on my forehead and led the girl down the electric-light-ensconced sidewalk. We found our cabby waiting just where we’d left him. Together with the shadows, an uncomfortable chill had swept in, and Elizabeth-Maria, sensitive to the cold, wrapped herself in a weightless mantle.

  "Will you stay with me for a few days?" I asked, helping the girl into the carriage.

  The question cheered her up, and she laughed uncontrollably again:

  "Naturally, dear. I am yours to command."

  "That is excellent."

  I threw myself into the back of the seat and closed my eyes. The future, as before, was making me weary. It was too indistinct. And though now I didn't have to be afraid of the inspector general's wrath, the threat of losing my soul scared me no less.

  The reductionists were free to sound off on the Sublime Electricity and push their pens in libraries, trying to acquire their sacral knowledge, but I wasn't so naive. The underworld existed, I didn't have to doubt that, and I absolutely did not want to take up residence there. But now, everything in my life was leading to that.

  And losing my salary, when compared with that, somehow didn't seem so worrying.

  Some things cannot be bought with money.

  WHEN WE GOT HOME, night had already fallen completely over the city. Walking among the houses, it was mute and inky black but, from the hill, one could see just how spotty the night's hold over this city really was. Part of New Babylon, had in fact capitulated without a fight and would be immersed in darkness until the very morning, but other neighborhoods were yellow with the uneven light of gas torches and, over the very center, the light was silver with the luster of electric bulbs. And everywhere around, there were the flashing spots of navigation signals when you looked up.

  "What a breath-taking place," Elizabeth-Maria said, lifting herself up on my hand and getting out of the carriage. "From up here, you can see the evanescence of being perfectly."

  I didn't respond to her remark in any way, and led the girl into my house. I handed my guest over to the butler who'd come out to meet us, myself going up into my bedroom. Once there, I untied my neckerchief with relief.

  And that was how that crazy day ended. Just like that...

  I folded my jacket, vest and pants carefully, stored them in their bag and placed the bag by the door so I could have it back to the tailor's first thing tomorrow. After that, I shed my dress shirt, stood next to the full-length mirror and took a skeptical look at my reflection.

  The first thing that caught my eye was that I was thin. Thin and lanky like a pole.

  There was no challenge at all in counting my ribs.

  Gangly? No, just thin. And though my father never stopped harping on about how "if bones remain, flesh will grow," I still didn't believe that in the slightest. I was a thin person, period.

  And also, just not a very handsome man. The lines of my face were too sharp. My nose was overly long; my uneven teeth did nothing to add to my attractiveness, either.

  But in general, there was nothing special. Just an ordinary young man twenty-one years from birth. Although, no, not ordinary. I would be ordinary if not for my eyes.

  The piercing gaze of my withered-light illustrious eyes caused fear, at times even in me.

  No one could grant the title of illustrious. You could only be born illustrious, or become illustrious. To be more accurate, you used to be able to become illustrious. All the fallen have long been destroyed, and no one will ever again have the chance to bathe themselves in their cursed blood.

  But had they really all been destroyed? I remembered the underground chapel in the Judean Quarter, and my mood instantly went sour like milk over a flame. It would have seemed worse, but it would have been naive to suppose that I had truly reached the very bottom. An infernal, bottomless abyss.

  The inspector would never let up...

  "That's the ticket!" whistled out suddenly from behind my back.

  I turned to Elizabeth-Maria, who was frozen in the doorway with an irritated frown on her face.

  Curses! There didn't used to be any reason to lock the bedroom at all...

  But the girl had already stepped foot into my room, not at all embarrassed that I was standing in front of the mirror wearing nothing but underwear.

  "A blank cross!" she whispered dumbfounded. Her thin small fingers slid along my spinal column. "Down your whole back. Did it hurt to get the tattoo?"

  "Go away," I snapped, but it was in vain.

  Elizabeth-Maria stepped away from the mirror and took an evaluating look at my nearly-naked form before her.

  "An eight-pointed star on your heart, a fish to the right," she continued enumerating my tattoos, "a chain around the neck, and a Chi Rho on your spine, on your arm, though..." She took a closer look at what was written. The tattoo wrapped around my right bicep a few times, but the letters were too small for her to really make sense of. "Is that Latin?" she then asked.

  "Pater Noster," I clued her in, and the girl involuntarily took a step back.

  "Leopold, you're just full of surprises!" Elizabeth-Maria shook her head. "But by the fires of hell, why? Why'd you get more inked up than an Egyptian sailor?"

  "My dad didn't always explain the reasons for his actions," I answered calmly and took the robe thrown on the bed.

  "Original," the girl noted, frustrated. "It can't be that you never asked him about it, right?"

  "He didn't want to talk about it."

  "You didn't argue?"

  "That wouldn't have been too smart."

  "Surprising!" the girl shook her head, then tossed a red lock of hair from her face and said with a thoughtful smile: "But you know, there's something of a lack of symmetry with the left arm."

  "My dad had some plans for it," I confirmed, pulling on the belt of the robe. "And now, if you're not opposed, I would like to get some sleep."

  Elizabeth-Maria got closer and whispered:

  "Shall I stay?"

  "No!" I cut her off very sharply, but did not apologize. "Please don't."

  "Not today," the girl agreed and finally left me in peace.

  I locked the door, lit my night light and checked all the shutters. After that, I put out the gas lamps and lay down in my bed. I began mentally sorting through the events of the past day, trying to restore in my memory the face of the inspector general's daughter, but all that remained of her image were orange sparks in a pair of gray eyes and the light aroma of perfume. And her voice.

  To its captivating sounds, I slipped into a restless slumber.

  5


  I SLEPT BADLY. I would constantly wake up from rustling and creaking sounds, then drift into a half-sleep a bit later, but soon I would just be awoken again. Dreams and reality were so seamlessly interwoven that I was often not quite sure which of the two I was in.

  That was why, after falling asleep once again and discovering an unfamiliar man on a stool in a dark corner, I was not at all surprised. Though the bedroom door was locked from the inside and the shutters were down over the windows, wood and iron, sadly, are not capable of stopping quite everyone.

  "Mr. Orso," the man in the third-rate dress of a shopkeeper or a modest clerk said with unhidden reproach. "I advise you to consider Inspector White's request with a bit more understanding. You owe him a lot. Also, the inspector doesn't forget his friends. Jimmy and Billy haven't even been with him a year. He dragged them out of such a hole that it's scary to even imagine. If the inspector goes to the top, you go to the top too. His success is your success..."

  "Go to hell!" I cursed him, turning to my other side.

  "It is very impolite to turn your back to someone, Mr. Orso!" My uninvited guest got offended and, jumping up from the stool, began to pace about the room from corner to corner. "The inspector will get what he wants no matter what. You know that, and he knows that. So why complicate things? Why bring it to such an extreme? To pacify a fallen is make yourself like Maxwell himself. Wouldn't that be quite the gripping adventure?! Think about it!"

  "Maxwell died a horrible death," I mumbled to myself under my breath, pulling my comforter over my head.

  "The inspector won't just let this go!" the stranger broke into a scream, which was followed by a deafening clap. Knick-knacks went flying around the room, and the shutters flew open outward, their bolts broken.

  I sat up in bed and picked at my left ear with my pinky finger, but that didn't make it ring any less.

  Curses, how importune!

  The door had been bashed open. I threw off my comforter and undid the latch; Elizabeth-Maria burst into the bedroom wearing nothing but a nightie, carrying a heavy candle-stick in her hand.

  "What’s happening?" she shouted out, having noticed the burst of noise caused by my uninvited guest.