Film About the Demon. Daughter of the Dawn

But the authorities demanded from him that he contacted one outstanding movie star and extorted all her secrets. He was not usually involved in this kind of work, although he knew that sometimes celebrities were used for espionage purposes. Only this time, the hint was a much more serious threat. Mikhail did not believe that because of which actress something irreparable could happen, but an order is an order. It needs to be done. The photo of the star could not be attached to the instructions. Mikhail himself easily found it in the very first newspaper that was handed out in the subway passage. The girl’s resemblance to the drawings of angels struck him unpleasantly. He saw the same face in a fresco in the cathedral that was no longer in existence. Here it is! Printed on cheap offset paper! Here it looks even more beautiful than it was on the wall under the dome. So why isn’t he glad to see him again? Something deathly, frightening came from the face of the movie star. Next to such sublime beauty, a person begins to feel like just an insect.

Why, in connection with such divine beauty, did wars, terrorist attacks, torture and murder climb into his head? He drank all of this. His work was intense. For the peace of the whole world, sometimes it was necessary to show tactlessness and cruelty.

In his free time, he could only sit for hours on the curb of the Friendship of Nations fountain at VDNKh and ponder why people only think about enmity, war and strife. The golden figures of different nations stand together so peacefully, but living humanity needs conflicts. And he has to resolve these conflicts.

So today he went to the main entrance of VDNKh, clutching a newspaper with the fatal photo in his hand, sat down on the edge of the fountain, and almost fell into the water, noticing that the central of the golden figures had turned into a movie star from the newspaper, looking like an angel. The golden wings opened behind her, the golden body arched proudly upward, golden eyes stared at him.

It just so happened that a movie star named Athenais played exclusively the role of angels. But she was definitely not a sculpture. The golden hand reached out to Mikhail. The pool of the fountain, which shared it with the statues, was huge, but there was a feeling that a hand made of gold touched and burned him.

Where did the golden girl in the national Russian costume, kokoshnik and with a sheaf of ears of corn in her fingers go? Why does he see a living winged body of gold instead?

Mikhail pulled out his weapon and scared everyone. He had to explain to the guards and show his ID. He had the right to bear arms, but he did not have the right to hallucinations. When performing, he needs a sober quick-witted head, and he behaves like a mental patient.

He used to have dinner at eateries near the fountain, but today his appetite is gone.

“You want blood,” someone annoying whispered over his ear. “Blood is our food, and you are one of us! You killed the woman you loved because she was not of your race, but of a human race. Your path lies in the Cathedral of Thunder. Your food is the blood of people. You should have eaten Iliana’s heart when you killed her. Then you would already be with us.”

Hot sweat ran down his forehead. Michael brushed it off. He walked at random, passed the Stone Flower fountain and found himself at the pavilions, which had a fountain with a rocket and models of old planes. He needed the other way. From here you can only go to the Botanical Garden, which in former times was the estate of the Sheremetyevs, and from there you can take a bus to the outskirts of Moscow rather than to the center. Now his dwelling is in the center. It is comfortable and convenient there, not like in rented apartments where he used to hang out. He needs to return to the massive arch of the main entrance. Behind it are the planetarium and the road to the metro. He would have driven around the city by car, if not for frequent traffic jams.

As a child, he and Iliana walked around the Botanical Garden and Ostankino Park exclusively on foot. The walk stretched for many kilometers, but it was pleasant. As a child, Iliana was empty-headed and outgoing; when she grew up, she became selfish. She took flowers and gifts for granted. What is loyalty, she did not understand at all. If he had not found her in the arms of a man who threatened the well-being of the whole country, she would have been alive now. It occurred to her to get confused with a foreign intelligence agent. Mikhail did not understand: did his weapon misfire or did he shoot Iliana on purpose?

For a moment it seemed to him that the fountain with a stone flower was gushing not with jets of water, but with its blood. And the corpse of Iliana in a shiny evening dress floats limply between the figures of gilded sturgeons.

Iliana loved dresses with plunging necklines, beaded handbags, which are usually carried with them to the theater, and fashionable haircuts under the bob. This is how he remembered her: slender, dressed in an evening dress, with curls no longer than her earrings and with a bullet in her forehead.

Rip out and eat her heart!

How could such a thing come to mind? Such advice is given only in scary tales to people who want to acquire witchcraft.

Mikhail went back to the fountain with golden sculptures. Plantings of multi-colored roses smelled fragrant around him. Couples hugged on the benches. Flashlights flashed. Here is a favorite place for tourists. After all, the fountain was erected back in the days of the USSR, as a symbol of the unification of sixteen nations into a single state. Each female figure on it is cast in the national costume of one of the states that became part of the country. And in the center of the figures, jets from a huge gilded sheaf are gushing, and the water flows down along the recesses that resemble large shells. The USSR collapsed long ago, but the fountain remained as a monument to its former prosperity. Many people said that this is the most beautiful fountain on the planet. Mikhail liked the meaning inherent in its construction more. All people should love and support each other, blurring the line of interracial hatred. Unfortunately, not everyone shared his opinion. Most of the onlookers came here just to admire the sparkling figures, only a few amateurs walked around the curb, trying to figure out which nationality each figure belongs to. This Georgian woman with grapes, this Moldavian woman, and that gilded girl over there, embodies the Autonomous Republic of Karelia. Michael himself was looking for the golden angel, but he was no longer there.

Someone clicked the camera, in the lens of which a fountain was reflected, surrounded by exclusively golden winged figures. Again obsession!

Mikhail walked by quickly and bought hot corn and a hot dog at a park stall. You need to eat and hurry home. For some reason it was scary to turn around, and at the same time he didn’t want to leave. It seemed that Athenais was waiting for him at the fountain. Alive, not gold. She is wearing a scarlet robe, the color of which is so bright that it burns the eyes, and dragons embroidered with golden thread move on the robe.

“Go to the cinema!”

The voice was definitely not Atenais’s. He was hoarse and unpleasant. The Kosmos Cinema and Concert Hall was located right behind the highway in front of the VDNKh entrance, but Mikhail was not going to go there.

For a long time he had no time for his own entertainment. Work has become for him the main occupation in life, because if you distract from it for a moment, you will die. This is probably why he did not pay attention to the huge posters in front of the cinemas, which depicted Athenais. The same as she seemed to him at the fountain – in a red robe and with a golden sickle in her hand, on which runic symbols appear. She looks more like a deity than an actress.

“Who are you?” Mikhail whispered in the face of a poster hanging on a billboard near the highway. The taxi driver stared at him in bewilderment. Through the rearview mirror, you could see his eyes widen in horror. It’s probably scary to carry dubious types around the city. You never know who will attack you with a knife. It’s easier for bus drivers. They are separated from passengers by a glass partition.

Mikhail leaned back in his seat and pretended to relax so as not to frighten the taxi driver. His thoughts wandered around the boss’s directions.

“What would you do if one beautiful young creature colluded with a whole gang of criminals in order to lay a program for the destruction of the whole world into the mechanical progress of cinema? Find out: did you drag her into this or is she herself the author of the project? Previously, this did not affect us, but now it has reached Russia. This means that soon we will begin what is already happening in other countries.”

These are all the instructions that he remembered, and now he was pondering. What exactly is happening to others? He recently traveled abroad and did not notice any crisis. True, he visited those countries where cinema is not in vogue. This means that you need to take a closer look at the situation in wealthy states, whose residents have funds for entertainment, and not at the third world countries. True, even there he heard something about a movie that drives you crazy and which you can watch for free in the most unexpected places, for example, in mounds, caves or tombs.

Well, almost free. Some poor shaman mentioned that you have to pay with blood and souls. Then Mikhail decided that it was about filming executions and torture, but now he realized that the matter was even more dangerous. Films with Athenais somehow influenced the psyche of people in a special way, forcing them to commit strange and destructive actions.

Divine beauty, captured in frames, brings evil! Who would have thought?

When Mikhail returned home, the TV was on. He definitely didn’t turn it on. On the screen flashed frames from the film with Athenais. She was even more beautiful in them than on the advertising poster. Usually stars are different. One picture is easier to retouch than a whole video.

Athenais either walked through the palace halls of Ancient Egypt, then filmed torture exclusively of priests and clergy with a hand-held camera. What the hell is this? History alternated with modernity, presenting a contrast close to surrealism. The beautiful angel tore out the hearts of modern priests, then ancient priests.

“You only love gold, but I take debts not in gold, but in blood,” she repeated. “You know me! So why did you contact me?”

The footage terrified even an adult man accustomed to difficulties. Mikhail tried to turn off the TV and could not. All buttons on the remote control stuck, the control panel did not work either. And all the bulbs in the chandelier suddenly burned out at once. He fell asleep to the accompaniment of how a beautiful angel tortured the princes of the church. And with this angel he will have a meeting in the morning! Mikhail instinctively reached for the loaded pistol he kept in the bedside laundry drawer. The angel flashing in the frames taught him that even in a dream it is better not to let go of the weapon.

Many-faced tree

Usually reporters rush to the scene of hot events: terrorist attacks, hostage-taking, fires, robberies, events of political and social significance. The paparazzi besieging the stars is a myth invented by the stars themselves to fuel popularity. None of the paid press and television workers will run after famous actors and actresses of which there are innumerable. Many journalists give free tickets to movie premieres to friends because they don’t want to go to them after working day. If only there is no additional payment from the film studio, then no one will write positively about the filmmakers. Usually the actors themselves besiege the press, not the other way around. But this time it turned out differently. No one paid Rik any extra money. Nevertheless, he began to run after the star, and he himself could not understand why. He despised movie actors with their cheap morals (what a decent person would be for money to stand naked in front of the camera and act in erotic scenes), but Rick fell in love with Athenais at first sight. Now he walked through the forest, looking for her and cursing his own stupidity. He took it into his head to do work that the authorities would not pay. After all, no one ordered a report about a movie star. This can only be assigned to novices and journalists of the lowest standard, and it was usually sent only to the place of especially important events. He talked with politicians, with the military, with representatives of the secret services. Stars are just pawns. So his boss loved to repeat. A decent journalist should not stoop to pass off the flaws of stars as merit, unless paid for it at the highest rate. Film studios’ money often changes attitudes towards their offspring.

After crashing his car on the freeway and nearly drowning in a muddy swamp, Rick began to wonder if something unique had happened. One of the pawns from the film studios suddenly turned out to be for him at the price of a queen. In any case, for her sake, he made his way through the thickets, sparing neither new trousers, nor a jacket, nor even his own skin, scarred by branches. And he almost did not regret that he had wandered into the thicket after her.

The only question that haunted him was: why did she come here herself, and all alone. They said in this very forest, there is a section where people most often commit suicide. Probably, the site was fenced off here for shooting the next horror film with Athenais. In such a wilderness, you can neither pay rent for a place, nor get a special permit. There is no one to control it anyway. The nearest police stations are miles away. The place has too bad a reputation for anyone from the surrounding settlements to wander here.

Didn’t it seem to him that Athenais was heading here? Her golden head had long since disappeared from sight, and he wandered at random. The brushwood crunched underfoot. How many fallen branches all around!

“It would be nice to make a grand fire here to cleanse everything with fire,” someone whispered over his ear, and immediately there was a long dull sigh. “Although not worth it, the first time he fire did not clear anything, only infuriated.”

Rick glanced at the screen of the extinct iPhone. He did not vibrate. The sounds are definitely not from an audio device inside the phone. They rang out from above. Above, only the crowns of trees and a glimpse of the sky, illuminated by a crescent. There are not even birds. Did he hear only a whisper in the rustle of leaves? There are also auditory hallucinations. True, he still did not suffer from them, but fatigue could provoke them. You can’t go that long. He rubbed his feet with blood and calluses. How did Athenais not get tired on the way? A couple of hours ago, he saw from afar her silhouette and how easily she varied between the trees, as if she were flying.

The flashlight in the iPhone went out. Probably out of charge. The total darkness scared him a little. Rick groped forward. A faint light flickered somewhere far away. It feels like roaming lights have settled there. It’s good if they don’t lead to the next swamp.

The shimmer led to a huge, spreading tree that must have taken up tens of meters. Probably, this is a whole group of intertwined trees, and somewhere inside the interlocking crowns, a ghostly light seems to flicker. Carved faces, horned heads and groups of angelic figures stand out along the perimeter of the huge trunk. So this is not a tree, but a dummy for shooting! And the star is here! Rick noticed from afar the curly back of Athenais’s head. The curls of her hair sparkled like solar threads. It couldn’t have all the flicker come from them.

Why is he surprised? There is nothing natural about movie stars. False eyelashes, dyed hair, skillful makeup instead of a beautiful face. So the thicket, where the star mysteriously sneaked into, actually turned out to be a film set. Where are the filming cameras? There is a backlight. But where does it come from? Not from above, as it should be when shooting such scenes. From somewhere inside. Really from the inside of a tree. Or does it just seem so?

“I still love you.”

Athenais was caressing someone who was hidden by a dense century-old trunk. So she has a secret love date here? Who would have thought? It’s a pity he doesn’t have a camera with him. Although the iPhone has a camera. Quality, not very good, but worth a try. The iPhone cracked right in his hand. Why did he become so fragile? He must have touched something sharp with his jacket pocket, and the protective glass on the screen shattered to smithereens. How fragile expensive things are!

Athenais was in no hurry. There were no bodyguards or escorts with her. She’s not scared here alone? And who is this with her? How to consider it and not attract attention to yourself? A branch snapped so inappropriately underfoot, but Athenais did not even turn around. She was too carried away by her lover. Or lovers? A whispering, polyphonic choir was heard behind the tree. Probably an echo. Although where does it come from among the dense branches? Maybe someone has Internet connection on their cell phone in their pocket, and voices come from some audio program. This can explain the fact that they are somehow unnatural.

From the side it seemed that Athenais was gently stroking the bark of a tree with her hand. The gestures were touching and seductive. What would he not give for her affection! But she was not caressing him. Some stranger.

“I love you very much. Do not consider yourself abandoned and forgotten,” she repeated, as if she was reciting the prayer by heart.

“Before you didn’t love anyone,” a handsome male voice was like the rustle of ash.

“Since the tragedy happened, I realized that I really love you,” Athenais pressed her clean forehead to the charred tree bark. Or to someone’s shoulder? Rick rubbed his eyes. He began to see poorly. It was getting darker all around. Only the curls and skin of the movie star, who wandered into the forest, continued to flicker, as if she was all illuminated from the inside.

“What a score! If you had not lost the war, I would not have understood the depth of my feelings. When you really love someone, you realize this, not when he shines in the sky or, for example, even on a modern screen, but when he, burnt and tormented, falls at your feet.”

Rick shuddered. What is she talking about? War? Burns? It seems like it was a long time ago. Her lover returned from Iran, from Chechnya? Where is the war going on now? Stop, lost war. Lost by whom?