Darina Grotto - Unlimited

Kharon was in a natural shock. Needless to say, that he had never been slapped by any woman over the entire history of his existence. He never knew his cheek to be burning.

The man was in the café among people and tried to fathom what he was supposed to feel. Anger? Perplexity? Offence? Wrath? But none of those emotions could describe the state which the hell representative was in. The only thing he knew for sure was that he didn’t understand what he was slapped for.

Practically it was for the first time he faced the most terrible male nightmare: like nobody else, Kharon looked the girl’s thoughts through as if her head had been made of glass. He looked through her desires, dreams, her thoughts visualization. She slept with him not once in her head, and he knew it and she knew it. But in reality, she slapped him in the face and ran away.

To run away from oneself? What a childish stupidity. To run away from her own thoughts, desires, dreams. Why? Was it so scary to materialize things which are in one’s head? No, that’s not the point. It’s yet another concern of society and collaboration. Was it so shameful to say I was unfaithful to my beloved or my husband? Then their cheeks were red, and they would kill themselves for obscene deed, destroying and rebuking for stupidity made. But it was so good. Why did nobody remember it being very good? It’s a shame… Being ashamed in whose presence? In people’s presence whom you don’t know? In your own? It’s a lie. You’re not ashamed. You were so scared to admit it, scared of being an outcast in society. To be someone who people perk their fingers in and laugh at, despise and make fun of.

But why? Why did everyone care so much about what was going on with others? Why did they care so much about others’ lives? Was an adultery really the worst crime? In fact, it was easier than people think. If a person never loved, he would never know love to have limits, to be very seldom long-lived, to leave quietly, gently closing the door behind. People continue thinking that love was here, near… but it’s empty for some reason.

Were they truly afraid of becoming outcasts in society but they weren’t afraid of being alone in unhuman emptiness, soothing themselves with ghost mirage of dead love? Bridle necrophilia. Love couldn’t resuscitate if it was dead. It could not. Love couldn’t come back if it’s gone. No. It was all a mirage. An illusion. Was that not a shame? Was that not a shame to deceive yourselves? But it was a shame to be unfaithful to…

Why did you need to be loyal to something dead? It’s better to keep it in memory. Bright, full of emotions and life. You just needed to remember.

Kharon certainly didn’t get what was going on. Even he, a powerful and imperious demon, at the first opportunity got lost in a female subconsciousness… And he became more interested.

A woman of undescribed beauty, dressed in white, let her light long hair down, came into the café. At once she saw Kharon alone, whose face showed frustration and a little bit of desperation and she sat down near him. The woman smiled, Kharon was staring at her azure eyes.

‘Lucifer…’ he whispered, having let himself a tiny sliver of a smile.

‘Hello to you, Kharon’ the girl was gazing the man in front of her. ‘Where did you get such a perfect body?’

‘I’ve created it! I am tired of constant thinking in what appearance I shall be before this or that woman. This version has never screwed over me, until today happens’

‘Yes, I’ve been observing your passions. It was quite the performance…what is it about, by the way?’

Lucifer leaned back in his chair and fixed his gaze upon Kharon. The demon sighed, looked away, allowing easy almost airily sadness to run over his face.

‘Lucifer. Just imagine what an awkward situation I am in now. The Lord of Hell is here and waiting for me to answer about my deeds and I don’t know what to say. Can you imagine it?’

‘Indeed, I can. I’ve imagined stranger things. Let me correct you. In the first place here is your friend if you forgot, then the Lord of Hell. You can trust me, Kharon. I think I deserve to be trusted.

‘Absolutely. I’ve never thought of hiding anything…’

‘I’m not sure you actually could hide something’ Lucifer smiled.

Kharon nodded and withed his head low.

‘When did people summon you last time?’ the demon asked, looked up at his Lord.

‘Oh, these idiots do it every day and not once per day’

‘And how often do you come to them?’

‘Very seldom. Pretty much never. There are several criteria when I can come to a human. If it is a man who’s summoning me, it is 70 percent that I won’t come. If it is about a woman, then it is 10 percent more that she will see me. I’d like to begin with men. When I hear a man voice, I always try to get what that idiot wants from me. If he wants different nonsense like money, authority, revenge, I don’t come, as a rule. But if I’m in no mood I can visit him, have a benefit only for me deal with him, then to annihilate the magician and be happy about free evening. If a magician has an interesting desire or he wants to suggest a strong deal, I will bargain for a while, surely, but he hardly stays alive. If a magician is a woman then in fact, it becomes more interesting. In spite of that I am not an incubus, I prefer women. Besides, they can offer something else. You perfectly understand what I’m speaking about, Kharon, don’t you?’

The demon smiled in response, remembering little fire on his cheek left and again started banishing up-coming misunderstanding.

‘How are you feeling, Kharon? To my personal memory that was the first time when incubus was rejected with a resounding slap. How did it come to that?’

‘I don’t know. The only explanation which I have is that I speed things up, speaking Human Language’

‘No, the point is that now you’re working in the reality. It’s very difficult to carry through things you usually do in dreams. Reality is an associate hole full of maggots that swarm in the bottom, crawling on each other, trying to elevate themselves, without even realizing that each of them is the same withe, thick worm with a black head, very dull, by the way.’

‘Do you think that I am nothing beyond dreams?’

‘No, of course, I don’t, it’s just very difficult to do things which you used to do in dreams. If you come up to any woman, more than less, she will reject you but simultaneously she will plan a night with you, exaggerating everything.’

‘I shall get what I want anyway. She will agree.’

Lucifer looked at the demon and slightly smiled. He was catastrophically bored walking over the earth. People didn’t make him laugh anymore. Everything turned into every day simplicity: senseless wars, where no one understands what they fight for; murders for depreciated pieces of paper or for insults from childhood; robberies – thieves stole from other thieves, the circulation was locked; adultery were just like a pray during the dinner; children betrayed their parents, their parents betrayed their children; love was for sale: the richer was loved stronger… Everything had happened already, and then it was predictable and trivial for hell inhabitants.

‘I’d like to watch it. Would you mind, my friend?’

‘Sure’ Kharon shook the stretched hand.

‘Well shall I go then?’ Lucifer grinned, made a move. ‘The game is on.’

Kharon followed the leaving woman with his eyes and making sure that no one was watching, just disappeared. He appeared in a narrow-deserted lane. A girl with cans was walking before him. Kharon was hard at her heels.

The demon didn’t believe the reality to be so different from the dream empire. So many times, he saw wandering people there and they didn’t even realize that they were in non-reality. They felt true emotions, wept, laughed, frightened, took to flight, lost their relatives, found new beloveds, and looked for familiar faces through faceless mask of crowd. They didn’t understand them be in oblivion.

Kharon firmly decided to check his King’s words: the demon was fully sure that people would never be able to tell the reality from non-reality. But he was also sure that his King couldn’t mistake.

Kharon grasped the girl by the hand. She jumped in her fright and got the cans out of her ears. The man was strongly holding her hand and whispering about fabulous love, getting the girl closer to his arms like a spider dragged a fly into its cobweb.

‘No!’ she screamed as loudly as she could, fighting against the numb incubus with her hands and legs.

‘Hush, hush!’ he pressed her to himself, closed her mouth with his hand, ‘Just let me touch you, let me show that thing that you won’t be able to see without me. Let me know you. I shall give you the whole world, the world you knew nothing about until today. I promise you when you experience it, there will not be regret about your right choose.’

The girl was gazing into Kharon’s eyes, looking for any little hint that he wasn’t a crazy maniac taking a foil to pierce her through.

‘I’ll take my hand away and you promise that you won’t be screaming’, Kharon asked, touching her temple with his lips.

The scared girl nodded her head, accepting the terms. Kharon slowly took his hand away, showering her velvet cheek with little, soft kisses. His hand shamelessly unbuttoned her jeans, smoothing meanly and alluringly under the cloth.

‘Please…’ the girl whispered, and tears were dropping down from her eyes.

A round, warm tear fell on the demon’s hand. He stopped and severely looked at the girl. Her chin shook, the huge tears were running down her cheeks, she squeezed man hands strongly with her cold fingers, prevented him from touching the dearest part of her body. There was neither passion nor desire in her eyes and thoughts, there were only tears, where panic terror splashed like a fish in water.

‘Why?’ he asked in a low voice, buttoning up her jeans.

‘Please… let me go’ the girl persuaded him, setting her jeans, brushed away the tears.

Kharon took a sigh and took a step back, letting the girl go. She quickly minced towards crowded street, praying all the known and unknown gods, still couldn’t believe in her second birthday.

The demon was in the lane looking at the asphalt in rage.

‘It should not be like this!’ he grumbled and hit the wall with his fist.

In several hours Kharon came into that girl’s dream, who had been crying and begging not to touch her. The dream was beautiful: there was magical nature, iridescent with all colours and shadows. There was summer forest noise, smell of rare acerose leaves, tender, soft chattering of cheerful birds, clouds hurrying up nowhere and the warm wind.

There she is, let her hair down the back, with a smile on her face, barefooted, wearing a sundress, running through the grass. It is soft, silken like pillows. The girl is running and a male figure in white appears on her way. She recognizes him, it is the same man who attacked her in the lane… But now she’s not afraid of him. She honestly enjoys his beauty. She’s sure that her subconsciousness is projecting recent event. She’s not afraid of him.

Kharon takes her by the hand, and she smiles at him. His touches are so gentle that she wants him to touch her again and again.

‘Let me know you…’ Kharon whispered again, taking off the sundress strap from her shoulder.

‘Yes…’ the girl agrees, closes her eyes and immerses into something unreal…

She didn’t open her eyes in the morning.

The demon, having confirmed his abilities, finally could relax.