‘Speak,’ Vic glanced at his eyes.

‘Be careful with your friends.’ The demon smirked in a slyly way. A serious hint sounded in his voice, that made her heart shake.

‘What does it mean?’ Vic got nervous. ‘Why are you speaking like this? Kharon!’

‘Because I can hear and see what people think about… And today I’ve seen and heard…’

‘What was she thinking about?’ her heart was beating like a drum.

Kharon kept on smiling. He stopped embracing the girl and focused on her face.

‘Sweet dreams, dear.’ He stooped to her and whispered, ‘at three at the Arbat, tomorrow.’

The man turned around and went in the direction of the park.

‘Kharon!’ Vic cried. ‘Wait!’

But the demon rapidly walked into the darkness, covering with a dark shadow.

‘Kharon!’ Vic screamed again and rushed for him.

The girl was running so fast that she almost got under a car, crossing the street. When she came to herself there was nobody in the distance.

‘Where did he get?’ she whispered, stopped before the road.

It was silence around …and only a thought: I don’t have friends any more. “Be careful with friends” was a terrible warning! What did it mean? What did Vasilisa think of that Kharon decided to warn? Why did he do that? To disappear with no explanations…

Victoria was alone among the empty street and looked at 1905 station where life was still burning near.

There was her cell in her hand. Vic was phoning her friend.

‘Vic? I’ve forgotten anything in the café, have I?’ the girl got worried at once.

‘No. I wanted to know what you think of Kharon?’

There was silence on the phone. Vic was looking at the frozen part of the park without moving.

‘He…’ Vasilisa said, ‘he’s nice. Handsome.’

‘Nice and handsome?’ Vic asked quietly.

‘Romantic.’ The friend added.

‘Did you like him?’ Vic ask straight staring at a tree.

‘I liked him as your man. You both look great! Don’t worry.’

‘I don’t. I just wanted to know your opinion. Ok, I’m going to bed. See you.’

Nice. Handsome. Romantic. Be careful with friends. Victoria sat on a bench near the entrance. There was only one thought jumping in her head – no meetings with any friends. Plus, the demon’s warning did its part. What was Vasilisa thinking while she was looking at the man whom Victoria had sold her soul for?

Vic closed her eyes. Morning. Maybe afternoon. It was her own place near her house at Bolshoy Predtechensky alley. There was nobody here. Suddenly a tall broad-shouldered man appeared with an insane mask on his face. With his big paws he shook the girl and asked for money. She cried and mumbled something not understandable through her closed with his hand mouth.

He drugged her behind the garages, threw on the ground and stabbed. Victoria screamed and rushed to help the girl but… she was back-strapped to do anything. She was a discorporate material. Victoria tried to catch the man’s hand but her fingers, her own fingers went through his hand like in damn horror films.

No matter how many times Vic tried to catch his hand she did nothing and it certainly brought her into a gargantuan horror. The man kept on stabbing the girl one by one. With her last strength the girl cried that the man confused her with someone whose name was Yana. She begged him to stop…

Victoria opened her eyes. Darkness. Her entrance. There was nobody. There were cold sweat and atrocity in her soul.

The girl stood up and barely stepping headed to the mischievous garages. There was a body of that girl, whom Vic had seen in her visions, between the garages near the wall. It was in blood, half covered with a bag.

Having closed her mouth with her hand not to let herself cry, Vic moved back.

‘Tell ‘em…’ she heard a quiet voice.

Victoria lifted up her eyes. There was a living girl’s spirit near its body… Moreover, it could speak. It was difficult to get its words, but she understood. It sounded like a TV or radio electronic interference affecting its words.

Victoria shivered and ran home, praying under her breath. But the more she spoke the pray the stronger her tattoo hurt on her blade and the quiet voice of the cadaver affected by metallic sound didn’t leave her head.

‘No!’ Vic screamed as she came home and slammed the door.

‘What’s up? What are you screaming?’ Olga Vladimirovna appeared in the hall.

‘Nothing. I’ve been speaking on the phone.’ The girl lied along the way.

‘You look very alarmed. Vic?’ her mum called her and added some more light. ‘You’re pale… Are you ill? Vic!’

‘It’s ok, mum.’ Vic answered finally.

‘It doesn’t look like it’s ok…’ Olga Vladimirovna was about to touch her daughter’s forehead, but Victoria stopped her.

‘I told you, I’m ok.’ Vic tried to smile. ‘Ok. Go back to bed. Work tomorrow?’

Victoria had to pull herself together not to let her mother be suspicious.

‘Are you?’ Olga Vladimirovna felt that something went wrong.

‘Mum!’ Vic screamed, stepped back from the door at least. ‘I did tell you! Why shall I say it fifty times in a row?’

‘That sounds that you’re ok. I’m gonna back to bed. I work tomorrow… and please, don’t scream like this.’

‘Ok, mum.’ Victoria smiled, closing the door behind herself in her room.

‘Dinner’s in the kitchen. If you’re not hungry, take it to the fridge.’ Her mother said after her.

‘Yes, I will…’

A half of the night Vic was turning around in her bed trying to fall asleep. There was a real apocalypse in her head like a horrible war of thoughts. Everything connected with Kharon destroyed everything connected with the terrible vision. Her heart and soul wanted to think of her beloved man, his beauty and hellish existence, him in all his way. But her head tried to get what was going on to her exactly. What was the reason that spirits worried her? Was Lucifer’s mark to blame? What attracted spirits to her? She didn’t get struck by lightning and face apparent death. Nothing of those happened to provoke that vision…

… Or could she be crazy? A crazy fool who made up different nonsense, believed in it and pile of questions was breaking her mind at that moment. She had to believe none of those had happened. It was just her mind games.

5

^th

September 2013 (Thursday)

Having successfully completed her plan, Victoria came out of tax agency building. She was going along the street trying not to look at people, being afraid of seeing again empty eyes of lost souls. She was afraid of facing someone supernatural.

Victoria was heading to metro to get to Arbatskaya station where Kharon and she had agreed to meet.

There were different thoughts because of which the girl felt uneasy. Victoria had been already tired of thinking, but her mind kept on its weak-willed terror.

There was music playing in her ears not to listen to the outward things. She didn’t want to listen to anyone not to get crazy completely. She was scared to feel her own mind leaving her body. Vacuum. She could understand nothing but perfectly see her own mind walking without saying goodbye.

What could she do? How was it possible to make her own mind to stay? It was terrible just because of one thought that she was a mindless cretin. A vegetable that was going to be fed on medicine in an asylum.

Victoria was in a good mind nobody had to know of her new ability otherwise an asylum would be exactly for her. Nobody had to know who Kharon was and where he had come from and what had been done for it. Nobody had to know of the meeting with Lucifer…

The girl was walking ahead with no lifting her head up, doing her bag right over her shoulder. She sniffled, tucking her hair behind her ears and talked to herself. She persuaded herself: “let’s keep it in a secret?”, “Sure, we will! It’d have been blindly to blub out about what happened”, “Right, but you had to tell about the killed girl”, “No, no, I’d be put into prison. What would I tell the police? A spirit of the dead girl came up to me, threw me a little bit in the past and I saw the murder in detail? That some psycho cut up carelessly the poor girl like confetti just because he confused her with someone else because his mind dived into madness? What if this madness will come to me? No, none of that happened…”