The girl took Kharon to orchestral and opera performances. Kharon was silent there, frowned and Vic couldn’t understand neither a single thought nor his mood he could be in. Kharon didn’t get what his hair stood on and small round bubbles so-called goosebumps could mean.
They always went to the cinema but only the Titanic was kept in the demon’s mind. The incubus perceived modern films in a bad way, not trusting actors as far as he could throw them. He was sure he would have been able to play better and more convincing. Despite it he liked going to the cinema more than to theatres.
They walked more seldom as it was getting colder. The ground was being covered with snow.
Victoria looked at the falling snowflakes thoughtfully, Kharon looked at her pupils and eyelashes surreptitiously, where the snow was reflected. It’d been a long since he heard her inner voice last time! At those moments when Victoria immersed into her thoughts, silently and sadly pierced with the eyes into something, he could hear a weak whisper, counting down time.
He understood that he had to feel something about her, something that would grip his heart in a vice and tear well up. That was what people called a mercy. But no. He didn’t move a muscle. The girl had been warned that the union of an earth woman and a demon was doomed to fail! Sometimes you should trust a speaker.
Kharon liked so much her eyes changing its colour when they looked at snow. They beamed. They lived and rose up half alive hope from its knees, reanimating it again.
The demon often embraced the girl when they were both at the window and looked at falling snow. He nuzzled her red hair, closed the eyes and holding her tighter, realizing that it was great to be loved.
Every day Victoria came closer to know herself. The seed of suspicion and doubt rooted deep. “What’s wrong with me?” wasn’t on the table anymore but “What exactly wrong?” consumed her mind almost totally. The girl annoyed her blessed with question answers for which he didn’t want to say.
Why he needed to say that Abkhor was a demon of fear and horror who was in witches service and worked like a curse. A witch put a curse to pester the life out of someone, called for Abkhor to help. The demon did his job great. He harked after him or her, frightened them in the darkness, put self-destroying thoughts in their minds that leaded to commit of a suicide. If a witch cursed someone with the help of Abkhor then there was nothing in the world that could help to ward off the demon from the poor. Abkhor would be harking the victim until he or she was dead. Within several generations the demon would be holding the relatives and posterity of the victim.
What way would Kharon explain it in to Vitoria? Moreover, he would be forced to explain why Abkhor proffered his services to Victoria without even opening his mouth. And she understood him silent!
Of course, Kharon lied. How could he know who Abkhor was? Why was he supposed to know him? Besides, it seemed to her and that’s all. She shouldn’t think of it, certainly. Victoria trusted him. Kharon laughed in his heart. An amazing human feature was to believe everything else. Without question. The main point was to speak conclusively while you were lying. Especially when it was about women who believed everything they heard. Especially when it was about the ones who were in love. It was not necessary to speak anything to a woman who was in love. You could just bend your head, gave her a charming gaze, showing her in every way your own superiority simultaneously with that fact that she was so beautiful. You could say couple of nice words. Preferably unusual ones. A woman had to understand that she was dealing with a cocky man not just a usual street trash but a charming, intelligent man with a sense of humour, mixed with cynicism and light sarcasm! Delicacy and mannerism were always welcome.
Victoria worked. She loved her job, but she was tired of her boss’s pressure. She was too used to him and he didn’t seem to her to be so repulsive and meticulous. But she didn’t still have any feelings for him. Only one thought that he would touch her as her lover made her sick. Vic never considered her flirting with Gregory. Yes, he was so nice merry fellow and humourist. He knew what to sympathize meant and always tried to help. He knew no refusal and always smiled. His doors were always opened. He liked chattering and he was a great listener. He was a perfect man…friend. Victoria was preoccupied with a fact that he was a perfect man full of excellent qualities only for her. He could come only into her office being sure that he was waited and wanted to speak. He wore masks for others. Victoria had already seen his wardrobe of masks. To put it mildly colleagues weren’t very fond of Victoria. She was given so many privileges and honours and it’d been done for 4 working months! There were people in the company who had been working for many years and they deserved only a quick, estranged smile in their directions.
Certainly, rumours began to ooze out. In the beginning Victoria protested it, trying to prove to the whole world that she jumped steady and even in her thoughts she wasn’t ready for any adultery. Then she gave up… Gregory advised her to give up. He was sure that people needed to gossip about something at work. Let them speak about themes that related to work somehow. And if it wasn’t Victoria, it would someone else. With a grin Gregory remembered when they had imputed him love affairs if he was polite and respectful to any woman. Of course, it wasn’t pleasant when you were scowled by colleagues and you couldn’t understand if they were jealous or hated you. In time Victoria learnt to ignore them all. The only thing she had to wait for Gregory to learn to ignore her. That was more complicated.
Kharon had fun in his heart looking at the face full of sadness in Vic’s memories, making himself sure again that a human was very stupid creature when he or she was in love. The demon asked the question he had no answer for, and a half of humans asked the same question.
Here was Victoria, in love head over heels with a creature that was different from a machine just because he was warm. The girl cherished hopes for mutual love and every hour she prayed to feel Kharon’s love.
Here was Gregory, in love with Victoria and burnt with passion. Both loves were unanswered. Why?
Why couldn’t they love each other? What was a singular chain that people liked creating, falling in love with wrong persons? The demon didn’t understand that complication.
Bit by bit he calmed down seeing that energies that he had given Victoria by accident, slowly but still was leaving the fragile body of the girl. Slowly she gave it back that the demon was desperate. The witch seemed to know that she had to save it and not to lose valuable possessions.
Their sexual life gathered speed. By any ways the demon tried to get back his energies and he would have managed to do it if Victoria had been just a human. To take away from a witch something that belonged to her and her instincts didn’t want to give it back was hardly possible. The only way was indeed to kill her. Kharon couldn’t do it. The deal. He turned into a sexual magician, exhausting the girl more and more.
Victoria more and more immersed into the sexual details of passion. She knew her body completely on the other hand the existence of which she had never thought of before. She learnt what voluptuousness meant. She knew what to satisfy passion meant while having a rest, giving the body a chance to gain strengths.
Victoria realized what heaven delight was while she was on the earth. Each of her receptor of nerve-endings was fully given to the body. Any touch to the body caused a crowd of feelings which you couldn’t feel all being conscious within. Every millimetre of her skin was so keen that Victoria couldn’t hold back a sigh of pleasure.
Kharon did really like the girl’s sincere behaviour in bed. The incubus got used and he could satisfy. But he absolutely was unknown with when he was answered with pleasure in return. He knew what to give meant and Vitoria taught him to accept. Her lips touched his body so many times! They seemed to be so hot! So many times her gentle lips, warm and soft, fell lower and lower over his body, causing unusual cramps. Her hot breath and gentle tongue had never been tired. The demon let himself close the eyes while the women in love was fussing him. Yes, he just couldn’t help relaxing in her arms and with her touches. Being with Victoria he knew and realized that women were able to give back. He was flattered with it and he used the funny love and desire to please in everything.
Here December already had come. It was luxurious plump December. Moscow was in race: Christmas trees, gifts, cans, discounts, empty shops, food. People were crazy, their eyes were insane, everyone ran, in a hurry, seeing nothing. Kharon came out more often realizing that in December Russia something unreal was on plan. Little by little the city became sparkling brighter. It was all wrapped in wires on which flickering lights were. Darkness quickly fell over the metropolis and electric lights immediately switched on, lighting the centre of the city as if it were in daytime.
Onlookers idly wandered the streets, having raised their heads to look at shimmering illusion of wires stretched above the heads. They were delighted! It was so beautiful! Incredible and incomparable! Kharon couldn’t find any beauty of it. It was just flickering light and nothing more. With the same result you could speak about beauty of the lampposts.
But the demon liked wandering along the winter centre of Moscow in the evening to observe the long preparation for only moment.
Victoria was at work, turning away from her laptop. She was in her armchair facing to the window and looked and the snowflakes tumbling from the sky. The girl intently thought of everything that had happened to her for recently. And it was like a lightning flashed before her eyes. Sergey!
The girl turned back to the laptop and started e-mailing.
Victoria: “Hi, Sergey. I hope you remember me. We met in summer to exchange books. I know it’s been a long time since that, but I have no one to ask… I’m waiting for you to help.”
Send and the message with the appeal into matrix codes space. Now she had to wait. The second hand stopped at once and changed with hour-hand. Time stopped.
So much time Victoria had been sure that she was insane, incapable of talking with anyone about her sticky situation. How she could forget about another psycho who she knew, whom she could speak with about things that healthy person would have never thought of. But the question was if he agreed to speak to her about anything? She was really preoccupied with it.
In lightning speed the girl drew templates, corrected the previous ones, trying thinking of nothing and not to predict events.
Gregory was on his business trip to America and Vic had time to breathe. She had no need to close the door and wait with horror when the door was opened, and Gregory came in.
The door did be opened. Vic saw nothing but felt someone be in her office. She looked up. There was a woman in the doorframes. Actually, a girl. Vic’s colleague. Victoria couldn’t remember the guest’s name. Before when Vic had worked in open space that girl had been not far from her and seemed to be friendly. What was her name? Alla? Anne? No. Victoria couldn’t remember.
The girls mysteriously gazed at each other and kept silence until the guest started uttering some sounds formed into speech finally.
‘It’s not a social visit.’ She said, came into the office and closed the door.
Victoria began feeling uneasy. Her heart sank. She didn’t want any visits especially not social. And, of course, the intended to conflict girl made her be nervous. In addition, Victoria understood that she was weak to protect herself in a physical and moral ways.
‘Ok then what?’ she asked with no desire, intently followed the girl with the eyes.
Anastasia! That’s right! Her name was Anastasia! Vic remembered the opponent’s name.
‘You know, there are rumours about Gregory and you over the company.’
‘What do I care?’ Vic tried to be natural, not showing her anxiety. ‘Just rumours. You should not believe everything you hear.’
Anastasia stared at Victoria, then at the red-burgundy stone on her neck. How unnaturally long she was staring at the jewel and she was difficult to take herself away from the painith. Victoria intuitively raised up the hand. She cupped her hand and covered Kharon’s gift.
‘Tell me the truth, do you fuck with him?’ Anastasia asked straight forward.
‘What a question!’ Vic protested having glanced back the girl.
The glance wasn’t shy and silent but aggressive and unusual for Vic absolutely. Besides she felt her rage and something else awaken. Something unfamiliar, unordinary as like an alien had come into her body.
‘Just a question.’ Anastasia said mockingly smiling. ‘Why then did you get your own office after just two working months? Gregory seems to live here with you. Wanna say it’s all out of kindness?’
‘I’m not gonna speak with you at all. Why should I explain anything to you?’
‘You should, Vic, actually as the colleagues can’t stomach you it’s all about female part. All the men consider you to be a whore, ready for making nicey-nicey to your master for all his kindness.’
‘I’ve got a man!’ Vic snapped out. ‘I’m true to him. I don’t need anyone but him.’
With no ideas why Victoria started justifying herself. She knew colleagues not to consider her to be a saint but when someone came and told to face “you’re a whore” she felt like a fish out of water.
‘So, you mean you’ve got someone else at home?’ Anastasia grinned. ‘Does he know you fuck with your boss?’