by Ana Calin
“That would at least allow my supervisors a dinner break,” Damian said with a smug grin, as if he’d obtained the very result he aimed for.
We followed Sorescu out of the bazaar, leaving behind the heady smells of homemade sweets. This time Leona walked alone under her umbrella, and Damian shielded me under one he bought at the nearest booth. Wet gravel crunched under our boots, my arm hooked around Damian’s. We separated when I climbed into the back with Leona. Damian took the passenger seat.
Leona kept her head down during the entire ride, while Damian kept Sorescu under tight scrutiny, the tension only masked by dull radio chatter. I patted Leona’s leg to let her know that we were all good.
Finally, we pulled up in front of the house. The shadows seemed to be dancing across it. It was the branches of our tree, bending and bowing to the wind.
“Where can I take you,” Officer Sorescu addressed Damian, “now that the girls have been delivered safely?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Damian replied, turning to me. “Alice invited me in, didn’t you Alice?”
Cold sweat covered my palms in an instant, and a lump formed in my throat. I swallowed audibly.
“I could use a cup of hot tea, the rain has permeated my bones,” Damian said with a sly grin.
Officer Sorescu looked defeated behind the wheel. He flicked the heat on, his gaze darting from Damian to me.
Dark windows greeted us as we approached the front door, with the exception of a faint flickering that seemed to be emanating from the living room.
Damian hovered on the doorstep waiting for me to take the lead, I assumed. I stared at him, unsure of what to do next. The door opened, bathing Damian’s face in light.
“Oh, there you are,” Mom greeted us with a large smile. She kissed Leona and me, then her eyes rested on Damian. She welcomed him so warmly, my skin creased. I was sure my mom would be able to sniff out the fact that he had a weapon beneath his sleeve. But no.
“Please, have a seat,” she said, motioning to the old fluffy sofa as she took us to the living room. That she was ecstatic about Damian’s visiting and that she still believed he harbored tender feelings for me was obvious as it was alarming.
Damian spent a few moments looking at the sofa as if it were a museum piece, then slowly he lowered himself down onto it. It warped and squeaked under his weight but held together. My mother frowned and gave me an odd look. I just shrugged—maybe he thought the old couch wouldn’t hold him. He was a big guy, after all.
“Power’s out,” Mom said with an apologetic shrug and headed for the kitchen. “Thank God the stove’s on gas. I’ll just grab some tea and cookies.”
Leona and I stood next to one another nervously glancing about the room.
“Oh, Leona dear, George was asking after you,” Mom called from the kitchen.
Leona took off in a second. With a flick of Damian’s eyes he hinted at me to sit next to him.
I took the bait and sat down, my arm rubbing up next to his.
“Does my being in your home make you nervous, Alice?” he whispered, his breath tickling my cheek, and his fingers stroking the base of my neck. My pulse thumped in my ears.
“A little.” My voice came out gruff and crackly.
“I’m not here to harm you,” he continued just as hushed, his fingers now wrapping around my hand and taking it to his left arm. “I’m here to give you what you want. Answers.”
The blade was hard under his jacket. I couldn’t help stroking along its length over the leather arm of his jacket like I would his manhood. I kept doing it mindlessly, slowly. His lashes hooded his eyes, in a way that made me think maybe he enjoyed it.
His voice rippled, deep and velvety. “Number one – the police can’t protect you from BioDhrome. Number two – your father is safe, but trying to find him puts you in great danger.”
His words slapped me back to myself. My hand stopped moving. I threw my head back, staring him in the face.
“Number three,” he continued, beastly eyes drilling into mine, “BioDhrome sent an agent for you, Alice. That’s not the best news.” He retreated, his breathing a bit heavy. “I believe you met him tonight. You need to keep a low profile, because he’s a very dangerous man.”
My tongue froze.
Before I got to say anything Mom appeared with a tray of cookies and mugs of tea. She seemed a warm headmaster dressed in her light blue two-piece suit, her hair up in an elegant bun.
“So, where did you grow up, Damian?” she asked, carefully placing the tray on the side table, before settling back into Dad’s armchair with her red tea mug.
“A village in the Danube Delta, not far from the Ukrainian border.” Damian reached for a mug and handed it to me, then he picked up his own. The heavy ceramic mug felt hot in my hands, and the heat began to spread all over my body. “They call it the End of the World.”
Mom gave a sad, melancholic smile. “Tiberius took me to the Danube Delta once,” she said, looking into the candle flames. The scent of wax mingled with that of Damian’s leather jacket, giving me a feeling of memory and mystery, too. “Paradise on Earth, wild and free.”
A small ripple went through Damian’s jaw, as if his own memories of the Delta weren’t quite as pleasant.
“Wild, yes,” he said, leaning forward with elbows on his knees, the mug disappearing between his enormous hands. “But also dangerous. Life is hard where I come from.”
“Well, it’s the hard life that taught you survival and, thanks to your skills, Alice is safe right now. I understand the . . . train, CPR. Had it not been for you –” Mom shook her head like she didn’t want to imagine. “I wish I could express how grateful I am.”
“Thank you, but I’m not really a hero,” Damian said, his voice a deep rumble. “However, according to Alice, you are.”
Mom raised her eyebrows. “Me? A hero?”
“You did save Leona Ignat and her sister from underage marriage and illiteracy, didn’t you? And later you engaged fully as a social worker for the Roma minority. How did you manage to get them interested in education, by the way? It proved an impossible task for others.”
“They like stories, the Roma.” A soft smile curled Mom’s lips. “I simply tapped into their traditions. For hundreds of years, their entertainment has been dancing and story-telling around campfires. I used the story-telling, and took it from there.”
As Mom spoke, I fidgeted waiting for the chance to be alone with Damian again. Of course, it was all in vain. As soon as his tea mug was empty, he stood up, thanked Mom for sharing her fascinating story, and bid us a nice evening.
“Thank you again for seeing Alice and Leona home safely,” Mom said, smiling.
“Officer Sorescu had that under control. It was a whim of fate that we bumped into each other, really.”
With a hand on the door handle he looked at me, the candle flames playing their game on his deceitful grin.
“I’ll accompany you to the gate,” I said.
“Not necessary,” he blocked.
“Oh, but it is.” With a fake smile I walked passed him and led the way out.
I could feel his eyes on my back as we strolled down the stone path to the gate. I stopped and turned slowly, not sure I wanted to catch the expression on his face. Apparently he didn’t want it caught either. When my eyes rested on his he looked to the side.
“Who is that giant guy, Damian?”
“That’s a good name. Giant. Just call him that.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“Neither am I. The information I already gave you is all the information you need. The less you know, the safer you are.”
“Safer? Giant got to me at the bazaar, and you entered my home with blades under your sleeves, so it’s pretty clear my protection is useless. I seriously doubt knowledge will make matters worse.”
“You are protected. I’m constantly watching over you, Alice, I owe it to your father. No one will lay a finger on you as long as I b
reathe.”
My heart jumped into my mouth. I could barely find my words again. “You were at Marvimex tonight because you followed me?”
Damian took a few steps towards me, his stare steady on my face. “Let’s get one thing straight, okay, Alice?”
Opening my arms in a Halleluiah-gesture, “I’m willing to get everything straight, Damian.”
“I owe your father a lot. It’s because of him that I can live among people again. He’s been extracted to safety, but you are in the open. You, his daughter, the apple of his eye. If you heard the entire talk we had at the hospital, then you know how I offered to protect you. I’m your best chance at survival. Your surveillance officers are useless. And I will protect you, for Tiberius’s sake, even if it makes him mad. But that doesn’t make me your friend, Alice, you understand? Your father would disapprove, and he’d be right to do so.”
“Are you saying you can do what the police and even the R.I.S. can’t? That you can protect someone where they can’t?”
“I used to be a BioDhrome agent, Alice. I can do many things the police and the R.I.S. can’t.”
BAM! There it was, the guilty plea loud and clear, knocking me back.
“We discovered that BioDhrome led the operation in the mountains with the purpose of getting you,” he continued, “and thereby taking revenge on Tiberius for working with their antagonists – the organization both he and I are with. Tiberius’s science brought our organization results that seriously damaged BioDhrome’s business, and BioDhrome wanted to make a point.”
I shook my head, my chin trembling to keep back tears. Damian came closer.
“He did infiltrate me on campus to watch over you when BioDhrome’s threat became too great, but he didn’t expect what actually happened. He thought BioDhrome would try something here, in Constanța, but nothing of this magnitude.”
He cupped my face with both of his big hands. “Alice, I orchestrated your father’s extraction because I had to keep him away from Constanța, since he wouldn’t have sat still and let me do my job – protect you. He would’ve put you in more danger. I acted against his wish, but nevertheless in his best interest, because I have special respect for him. I owe him, and I’ll keep you safe, but you should never take me for a friend, Alice. At the core I am a villain. It’s in my blood and, no matter how much time I spend in the world of normal men, I’ll never be one again. BioDhrome made that impossible, but for this very reason your only safe shelter is with me as long as you’re a BioDhrome target. You have to do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you, you understand?”
Tears broke down my face, an uncontrollable salty flow.
“Two of Dad’s colleagues were murdered,” I cried, clinging to his jacket in a surge of despair. Letting it stream out of me felt liberating. “Then a doctor from Bulgaria was taken in by the police, and then he died too. And you want me to believe my father is safe? I’m so terribly afraid he’s already dead!”
“None of those doctors are dead, and Dr. Lazar Dobrev is not in police custody. Those are lies. They have all been extracted by our organization. Their families, too.”
I stared at him, trying to process what he’d just said. With a gentle finger Damian stroked a wet tendril off my cheek, making my scalp prickle. Unable to resist, I pressed myself harder against his leather-clad body, fingers clawing in his jacket.
“Where is he, Damian? Where is Dad?”
He looked in the distance, above my head.
“Please,” I insisted.
“The less you know, the safer you are.”
With that he set me out of his way and dashed out the gate. A few moments later, soaked to the bone and snuffling, I leaned over the fence, peering down a dimly lit street blurred by rain.
Chapter Ten
Leona sat by me on the bed’s edge as I towel-dried my hair.
“I say we take this to Hector,” she said. “I mean, come on, there’s no such thing as an ex-BioDhrome. They’re a vicious pack, they traffic organs and conduct genetic experiments on humans, I doubt they let anyone out of their ranks alive. There must be an awful lot of power behind what BioDhrome does, and I’m talking megalomaniac oligarchs who want to live forever, maybe backed up by entire freaking governments. Novac wouldn’t have been able to escape them, so he must still be in the game.”
“Damian admitted both he and Dad now work for BioDhrome’s antagonists, who are just as powerful.”
“In your place, I’d try to get more information out of him.” Leona stood and started preparing the bed for the night, her toned backside wriggling through her satiny night robe. It made her look like a temptress from a Latin American soap opera. “If anyone stands a chance of winning his trust, it’s you.”
“I’ll talk to him again tomorrow,” I said a few moments later as I turned off the light and tucked myself in. “I’ll push for more answers.”
The mattress warped as Leona turned on one side, facing me in the half-darkness with an arm curled under her head.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I said.
“And? Am I right?”
I exhaled in surrender and pulled the blanket up to my nose, as if that could conceal my thoughts and fantasies.
“I guess so.” Yes, I was completely taken with him, even under the circumstances.
“I think he’s pretty much into you, too.”
“You think?”
“Don’t take this wrong, it’s not like I want the two of you together anymore. Damian Novac is dangerous, but his attraction to you is good for your self-esteem. For you to lose the preposterous complexes Tony left you with.”
I snorted. “Are you even sure he likes me?”
“I don’t have the slightest doubt, and I’m pretty darn certain his feelings are way beyond ‘liking’.”
I didn’t reply, allowing her time to say more. I couldn’t hear enough of this. But there was something else Leona seemed eager to talk about. She propped herself on an elbow and turned the reading lamp on. “There’s something going on with you, Alice.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re different. Something changed. I mean, you’ve always been pretty, but . . .”
“Good night,” I cut her off and turned my back at her. I wasn’t in the mood to hear, “You’re beautiful the way you are.” But Leona jumped out of bed, grabbed my hand and pulled to drag me out.
“What the hell are you doing?” I squealed.
She rummaged in her bag and took out a makeup set the size of a cell-phone. She opened it and stuck the mirror out to my face.
“Just look at yourself and save me the effort of explaining.”
An eye appeared first, then the mouth, then a cheek. Leona didn’t succeed in centering the thing on my face, but I doubted there was anything special to see anyway.
“I still don’t see your point.” I pushed her hand away.
She dropped next to me, forcing me to look into the mirror. She pointed her finger at this and that part of it, which surely reflected my face from her angle, but all I could see was the plastered ceiling seemingly afloat in the vague lamplight.
“You’re different since you came back with Novac at Marvimex, as if his presence had somehow activated the femme fatale in you,” she said, gaining more and more enthusiasm. “Your skin is silken and smooth in a natural and yet unnatural way. Your lips are rosy even though you’re not wearing any make-up. I don’t know what happened with you tonight, but you look ravishing, Alice.”
“I don’t see anything, to be honest. And I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation, it’s just plain stupid. And vain.”
She clapped the makeup set shut and gave me a narrow-eyed scowl. “The Alice I know is very much in touch with her inner bimbo. ‘Phony they are if they deny her.’ Should I go on?”
“I recognize my own quotes, thank you.”
Leona nodded, neck long and face drawn in mock-refinement. “Words put to paper in your dear philosophic period. Freshman yea
r, wasn’t it? When you were still fearless. Why put up a false pretense now, Alice? You know that most women want to be desirable. Fuckable.” She sneered the last word in my ear.
“I did say that, didn’t I?”
“You must’ve read it somewhere.”
“Surely some misogynistic philosopher.”
“Aren’t they all …”
“Maybe Nietzsche. I’d expect particular impertinence from him. Wouldn’t hurry to ascribe it, though, it was a while back.”
“Well, you know what they say. We forget names and titles, but the content shapes us. Do you still believe in your old thesis?”
I pondered and fished the truth right out of the darkest depths. “Strongly.”
Leona smiled. “Then hear and savor: You returned home different tonight. It must be the adrenaline Novac makes boil in your blood. You’re still the sweet Lolita with baby blue eyes and creamy caramel locks but somehow more . . . glamorous. Striking even.”
“But still Lolita,” I whispered, deflating. Beautiful or not, Lolita was still a child and a subject I resented. “How’s George feeling? Any improvements?”
Leona dropped back on the bed, hand already reaching to turn off the reading lamp. I caught it.
“I’m listening.”
She rolled on her back. When she spoke, she did so as if she talked to herself. “All he wants to do is cling to my chest and snivel. The entire time. Among sobs he might repeat apologies.”
“Apologies?”
“He feels guilty for being violent with me. He fears he might’ve killed me like…he did that guy.”
A heavy silence fell over us. What was I supposed to say? “Oh, honey, everything’s gonna be all right?” Overused and devoid of meaning. I lay on my back by her side. She turned off the light, and for minutes both Leona and I stared upwards in the darkness.
“You think he would’ve done it, Alice?”
The question I feared. I squeezed her hand, my voice faint. “Yes.”
Further moments of silence, even though we were both wide awake and haunted. I decided that, since we took off the gloves and wielded the dirtiest of truths again, we might as well do it all the way. Plus, this particular truth might just free her.