Darina Grotto - Unlimited

‘Absolutely’

‘Why did you come to me again? I told you I don’t agree to the deal’

‘That remains to be seen. Hm, I am glad that you have stopped being afraid of me, finally’

‘Damn it all!’ Vic couldn’t take it anymore, ‘How’s it possible?!’

‘By the way, every time when you say damn it all, a deuce takes three days out of your life. Be careful with what you’re saying, Babe’

She had a lump in the throat again. Deuces? Were they real?

‘You see, Victoria, deuces don’t take the highest hierarchy step of Hell and do thankless job. They have to please themselves at least’

‘Kharon… Honestly I’m out of sorts. It seemed to me just an illusion, a hallucination. It can’t be. There are no demons and deuces! You’re just kidding me’

‘Oh, really? Then I shall show you what an illusion is’

Kharon took her hand and whispered: ‘Close your eyes’. Vic did and silently was sitting with her eyes closed.

There was a noise of wind. The air was warm. Waves were crushing against the rocks. Victoria opened her eyes. A scared scream came out of her because there was a beautiful sheer drop under her feet, the sea was beneath, maybe it was an ocean, crashing against the highest rock bottom on the top of which the girl was staying.

‘Oh my God!’ Vic screamed, staggering and grabbing Kharon, ‘What the hell, Kharon! I’d have fallen down!’

‘Yes, you would, but you didn’t. Do not forget, it is an illusion. Everything you are looking at, doesn’t exist! All of these is my imagination’s projection. These lovely, ominous waves, churly blasts, messing up your hair, seagulls, a heart-rending screaming and floating in the sky do not exist! Give me your hand’

Kharon smiled and jumped down, dragging the shrieking girl. Vic was considerably scared with her fellow-traveller’s actions. She was afraid of falling, tried to realize that everything was an illusion, but her mind refused to believe in it. Everything looked so real and could be felt. What kind of illusion could it be if there was a salty air in her nose and sounds of nature in her ears and bared feet felt exactly sharp stones of the rock…?

Suddenly Victoria felt her feet buried in burning sand like if she had been put on a spit. Having looked around Vic saw a desert flooded with the sunlight.

‘Ah!’ she cried, shifting her feet.

It was hot. Too hot. Victoria burst herself into Kharon’s arms, stepped on his feet.

‘Hm’, he grinned, embracing and supporting the girl. ‘An illusive desert full of mirages, doubled illusion… Let’s go further!’

Milliards of needles pierced her skin, pain locked her body, fading away, fog was before her eyes. She didn’t feel any life. It was cold. An unbearable cold. There was snow, snowdrifts and ices everywhere and no living soul. It was frozen emptiness…

‘I can’t bear it!’ Vic said chattering, ‘Kharon, please…’

Suddenly they turned out to be in the café again. There were no unpleasant physical feelings left but only discrete reminiscence.

‘Now, Dear, you understand what an illusion is, don’t you?’ Kharon hugged the girl and smiled.

Victoria looked at him seriously, studying his extra-terrestrial beauty. He smelled of passion, she wanted to embrace him, she wanted him to embrace her. She was drunk with his charming gaze, gentle lips, velvet voice. Victoria was melting near him.

‘I suggest a deal’ she whispered to him, staring into his amber eyes.

‘A deal? I like it’

‘Yes, you, diabolic dregs, are able to do anything according to a deal…’

‘Diabolic dregs?’ Kharon frowned.

Victoria looked at him being seriously afraid of his next actions. She didn’t know what could happen next, what Antarctica he would throw her in. But Vic was insanely interested in how he would react and what he would do.

Kharon kept on frowning, incinerated the girl with the sly look. Finally, he just smiled.

‘What kind of deal?’ he asked.

‘I want to know what women give their lives for. What do you give them in return?’ the girl’s eyes were burning. ‘I can suggest you live a human life’

‘What does that mean?’ Kharon was looking at the girl imperturbably.

‘That means you will understand what to be a human means’

‘Should I be interested in it? What can be interesting about a human life? Instincts and a couple of clever phrases said for the whole life? A couple of love adventures? Crocodile tears?’

‘Well, you will have a chance to find out.’

‘No, Dear. You cannot have a deal in such a way. I named the price and gave you a right to choose. For the thing that you suggest I can give only platonic love. You will be able to feel body physics only after deal is concluded’

‘You’re so stubborn’ Vic smiled.

‘No, that’s not the point. This is a law and I must follow it. I do my job’

‘Even now?’

‘No, we are drinking coffee now not lying in bed’

‘I saw a spell which could tether you to me…’ Vic gave a hint and scarcely smiled.

The demon smiled, too and a burning flame appeared in his eyes. Kharon squeezed her hand and couldn’t take his eyes off her.

‘A spell which can tether me, right?

‘Yeah’ the girl answered shyly.

‘There are no such spells, dear. Everything that you find in books, internet, in manuscripts is just a described collaboration between the human world and ours. If a demon is in love with an earthborn woman then he certainly can be tethered to her. If he is bored and suddenly hears a tethered spell, he can pretend to be tethered just for fun. But when a demon is tired of the game, human dies. Mostly such kind of spells are executed for boredom. Believe me: it is not always possible to get a demon interested in you’

‘Does it mean that I have no chance to get you to experiment?’

‘There is always a chance. Get me. By the way, your preparatory meeting is over in 15 minutes. The professor has been asked the last question’

‘How do you know all of that?’

Kharon smiled in response. He was so amused by people. He was probably one of the few demonic creatures who had genuine satisfaction in dealing with people. Against their background he looked like an all-powerful giant and people turned into small ants.

Most of all Kharon liked communicating with women. That was understandable, he was an incubus. He was created for female sex. Women deified him and gave their lives with no regret until their minds joined the game.

‘I don’t know everything. For example, I don’t know what you will do in your future. I am perfectly aware of your past, great on the present, but future is beyond even our control’

‘So, there’s a chance to surprise you, isn’t there?’

‘You can do whatever you want. There are no limits except you and your consciousness. Every unlawful limit is your consciousness’

Victoria sighed and looked out of the window. People were going somewhere, speaking about something, they looked interested in life. But in fact, they went with the time slowly without even managing their auxiliary parts. They just floated.

The demon looked at the girl and he became more interested in her. Of course, she wasn’t the only one whom he was interested in. He had many women and many of them he loved…. The love of the demon … it was strange, stupid in some ways, but love had a lot of subspecies. Demons could love too.

Many people asked the question how was it possible? Did such creatures as demons need women for love? Why? That was a logical question, which, unfortunately, nobody knew answer to. But everyone knew to withstand women temptation, including such a powerful creature as an incubus, was too difficult.

‘You’re not gonna hurt me, are you?’ Vic asked suddenly.

‘Hurt you?’ Kharon re-asked, ‘I am not a deleterious demon, actually. But for your information – never trust demons. Never’

‘Do you confess that you’re lying?

‘No, dear, I confess that we cannot be trusted, that I can lie at any time because we like lying. This is one of my favourite sins. Your preparatory meeting is over. Your exam is on 13 thof June. How are you going to pass?’

For a minute Victoria abstracted herself from thoughts about the sexual man. The exam…Damn it! It was a serious issue. She completely forgot about it, but she shouldn’t have.

Women’s heads have resemblance to a sieve… They are so foolish. They have plans, the future is seen, the life is raising from its knees, showing up its ingenious horizons. Then he comes. That’s all. She doesn’t look ahead anymore, doesn’t look up, but she looks only at him, only into his eyes, hiding her languishing concupiscence, secretly whispering to herself “you’re so stupid”, but keeps on haunting him… The horizons are falling so silly, unworthy and banally. And then she sits on her broken bones again, with no trying to rise up because she’s scared. She is afraid of being hurt again, that she will break down and fall. But she doesn’t even think what will happen if another one comes…

Victoria destroyed herself morally. She pined for to try what Kharon had suggested. But the girl was afraid of the deal, she loved her life.

‘Damn it’ she whispered looking away from his amber eyes. ‘Damn it!’

Kharon was observing the girl, fishing for her every emotion and the way she felt it.

Did he like her, or he didn’t care and just did his job? It was an absolute lie! He liked her very much, he wanted to lift the curtains to see a fragrant performance in a progress. He craved for her to see it. But Victoria still didn’t want to buy a performance ticket, impudently breaking through the security.

‘Dear…Leave deuces alone… What’s up your exam? Your head has been preoccupied with my personality since recently. I see clearly in all its beauty every thought jumping through your head. I know every scene you think of and dream about. I saw everything you imagined’

He touched her lips, softly whispering his vision. Vic closed her eyes, trying to focus on something worth and distractive.

‘You want my hands to touch you, my lips to burn yours in a voluptuous kiss… Endearment. Brutality. Everything has got all mixed up in your head, dear… Please, stop thinking of us so loudly… I can’t see anything about medieval philosophy in all that sexual chaos of thoughts in your head…’

Victoria opened her eyes. Suddenly she felt ashamed. She couldn’t have even thought that Kharon saw through all her desires and spoke them up. Self-consciousness, diffidence and passion that were what the girl was full of at that moment.

‘Please…’ Vic whispered, squeezing his hand, ‘Please, don’t do…’

‘Do not do what?’ Kharon smiled and kissed the girl again, ‘Do not do this? Or that?’

His hand, so hot and fond, slithered under her shirt up to her back.

‘No!’ Vic jumped up; her hand met his face in a resounding slap. ‘It’s a mistake. All of this is a mistake! Damn it!’

The girl grasped her bag and ran out of the café. Unexpected appearance of her mind brought her to life.

“Oh, dear God, what I’m doing… I’m absolutely craze. It can’t be. I’m dreaming. Could I be critically ill? Have I had an accident and fallen into an eternal coma? Some guy lets himself do things which he’s not supposed to think of. And me? I’m acting like a slutty little bitch! What’s happening to me?”

Vic was running to the university, hoping to catch someone of her mates, to find out what had been discussed at the preparatory meeting and how the exam was going to be, if the students had to be frightened.