Sonata (Butcher and Violinist 2)

I shut my eyes, knowing she would see my disappointment on my face as she watched me in the camera.

The Devil spoke, “And you’re in Paris?”

“Yes.”

“Come here. You have ten minutes.” He hung up and slung the knife on the floor.

Another man shut off the camera. “What do we do now?”

“We wait.” The Devil pointed to the other side of the room. “You go over there for now.”

I hugged myself, walked that way, and didn’t turn back to where Shalimar sat. Don’t look. The whole room stank of decay. Breathe. I looked to the right and more bodies lay in the corner. Don’t look. I sat down and kept my eyes on the wall.

Nothing about me would ever be the same.

Not one part of me.

Shalimar is sleeping. They’re sleeping. It’s okay.

I rocked in the chair.

Uni the Unicorn’s voice trembled behind me. “Your friends are not nice at all.”

That’s not real. I’m drugged up. It’s okay.

I blinked away the tears and blew out a long breath.

The Devil barked at another person. “Put the princess back on the couch. We have to stay on our toes with Celina. Who knows what she has under her sleeve? Men might be coming our way.”

For once, I didn’t argue about going into the couch. There was no reason to care about anything else. My head rattled. The exhaustion and hunger drowned me into doom and dread. If I could grab something to kill myself, I would have.

The Devil watched me for several seconds and smiled under his mask. “I’m almost done with this situation. Once I am, then you and I will have fun.”

We won’t. I’ll kill myself first. I’ll jump out a window. I’ll find a way.

A knock came from the front door.

Everyone turned that way, except Uni and me.

“That can’t be Celina.” The Devil gestured for someone to check the window.

We just stared sad at each other. I realized in that moment, that even Uni was rotting like the bodies in the room. His colors had faded. His cone appeared chewed on at the tip. And before he’d seemed genderless, now a large penis dangled near his hind legs.

I shut my eyes.

When will these drugs wear off?

“See who that is.” The Devil took out his gun.

Others followed.

One man walked over to the window and gazed out. “I think we have a problem.”

The Devil frowned. “What?”

The man was about to speak, when a shot came through the window and hit the center of his forehead.

“Fuck!” The Devil ducked to the ground.

Jean-Pierre? Police? Somebody?!

Another shot came.

Everyone scrambled.

I fell to the ground with Uni.

Someone crashed down the door, shoving it off the hinges. More bullets came next. Guys in black entered with huge guns. Several of the Devil’s men were shot before they could lift their weapons to aim.

Yes! Kill them! Kill them all! Every last fucking one!

“Wait!” The Devil dropped his gun and raised his hand. “Hey! I’m on your side!”

The new men kept their guns pointed at him, as they moved further into the house, scanning the space.

Who are they?

“Hey?!” The Devil kept his hands in the air. “I work for Misha. Call him up.”

And then, the men parted the way for someone to walk through.

Who’s this?

A huge man in a suit appeared. He was bulky. Almost the size of a monster, if not for a handsome face. But then, I’d just been staring at the Devil’s chopped up face all day, so maybe I was just happy that there was shape and form to the new man’s head.

Is this real?

The man wore an impeccable suit, but he also wore wings. Large black ones pushed out and spread from his back.

Yes. . .he’s real, but the wings aren’t.

Either way, he looked like an angel, and I hoped he would be my savior.

Please help me.

Whoever this was, I had to get their help. I couldn’t stay anymore.

Those huge, black wings spread out more as the angel stepped right to the Devil, looked him up and down from head to toe. A Russian accent rode the angel’s dark voice. “Are you the man they call the Devil?”

“Yes.” The Devil had humbled himself a lot with this new person. He looked damn near close to dramatically bowing in front of the angel like royalty, or maybe even shitting his pants. In fact, the Devil seemed close to doing both.

The angel gestured to me. “And that is Eden?”

I widened my eyes and bobbed. “Y-yes, I’m Eden.”

The Devil nervously turned to me. “Uh, yes. But as I explained to Misha. The girl is linked to an old enemy that I—”

“Be quiet.” The angel placed his hands in his pocket, walked around the room, and gestured to his men. “Where are the codes?”

“It’s in my pocket.” The Devil still had not lowered his hands. “Celina has the other part. The sister unit.”