Behind Closed Doors
by Indigo Giordana-Altú
What if it isn’t true? What if it is? There’s only one way to find out…
Evelyn wished to be invisible to the world but it was an impossibility she had come to accept as she, unwillingly, basked in the limelight of her father. The Paparazzi craved even a centimeter’s glimpse of the famed opera singer, Giomar Wagner, and his family. The amount being paid to them per image had only increased since the heinous death of his socialite wife. To the world, Evelyn and Giomar were people to be pitied. They were in need of comfort and delivery of justice during this time. Evelyn knew otherwise.
A chain of obscure events started long before Evelyn’s father sat in the doctor’s examination room with his sagging malachite eyes welled up with tears.
“Giomar,” his doctor chided, “You must forgive my lack of bedside manner. I know that you are upset but I have been warning you for months. You brought this on yourself.”
With guttural strain, Giomar asked, “Dr. Benton, there must be something that can be done?”
“There was something. I told you not to speak for three months so you could heal. Though difficult, not only did you disregard it, but you had the gall to go and sing in Venice.”
“I needed to. Lana wanted…”
Dr. Benton held his hand up like a traffic officer, demanding that he just stop speaking. He shook his head as he entered his notes in the laptop. Giomar heard the doctor mutter what a waste of amazing talent.
More audible, Dr. Benton stated with firmness, “If you want even a chance to reverse this and avoid surgery, you must end your world tour and I would suggest giving yourself a full year of avoiding speaking at all. I know it may seem extreme but with the vocal ranges you intend to continue to deliver, it is the best option.”
Giomar could not imagine a day without the solace of his music and he was certain that Lana, his naturally buxom doe-eyed wife, wouldn’t agree to living a day without Giomar’s riches. Their relationship was as shallow as the shot glass that he threw back any time she avoided intimacy. He knew he was mere novelty for everyone of his fans and she was no exception. He was a thing to be possessed, nothing more. Giomar may as well have been Quasimodo with his misshapen nose, gap ridden teeth, and arms that swung at the sides of his pear-shaped frame like a gorilla. The one thing of beauty between he and Lana was their dear sweet Evelyn who, despite popular opinion, inherited her exquisiteness from his side of the family. Aside from having Lana’s auburn hair, Evelyn is a spitting image of his great-grandmother who passed just before she was conceived. From the time of her homebirth while he was off performing in Sydney, Giomar’s family became one of the media checklists because the world had become obsessed with them. There was no less than a picture a day posted to showcase the beast and his two beauties.
When Giomar went home that evening, he had already written a note to his wife and teenage daughter. It explained his condition and that he thought it would be best if they sold their multimillion dollar home to purchase a more peaceful location while he deals with it. The thought of moving actually excited him. He would not miss their current home because Lana had chosen rather distressing décor, ranging from paw footed 16th century dark oak furniture to crimson drapes with gold accents of mythical creatures. He pictured, instead, an airy beach home or cozy cabin with a babbling brook nearby.
Evelyn, 17 at the time, wasn’t sure about what was going on when Giomar presented the letter but she did know the signs of her mother’s coming rage. As she observed, she thought that the silence of her father was odd. He gave her a nervous glance and nod. Evelyn knew then to head to her room and close the door, locking it behind her. The sounds of Lana’s anger escalated. Evelyn wept, recalling the past and drifting to her seven year old self. Though very young at the time, Evelyn understood the dishonor of what her mother had done. It was all over the news before her parents’ argument could ensue. The pictures of Lana’s half-naked body straddling a famous soccer player were everywhere. Giomar was a laughing stock. He had already been aware that she had broken their prenuptial agreement time and time again but this was the first time others were aware. On occasion, he even had to pay the swindlers that would visit him to sell evidence of his wife’s indiscretion to prevent them selling it to the celebrity news outlets. To Lana, none of this was a concern. It was not in her nature to lose and she vowed that she would maintain the life that she built.
Rather than the shame that Giomar expected, she responded to his eruption of anger and mention of divorce with pure disdain. When he didn’t stand down, she looked at little Evelyn, and attacked Giomar at his very heart.
“If you divorce me, or try to change anything at all, you will never see Evelyn again,” Lana blurted.
“You will never get custody,” Giomar scoffed.
Little Evelyn had wailed throughout their argument but they tuned her out until the moment that she became a key part of Lana’s game.
“I wasn’t talking about court, Giomar,” she chuckled raucously; in a way that he had only heard once before. It was the way she laughed when she so rudely interrupted his performance on the night they met but, rather than be offended, he was instantly smitten when her gaze had locked with his when she stepped from the shadows of the theatre balcony. Alerted from the haze of his memory, he watched as Lana lunged for Evelyn whose cries turned into screams for help. He was too out of shape to reach them quickly.
Evelyn’s frail young body was no match for the strength and agility that she was unaware that Lana had. Before she could even process it, her own mother had taken her to the second floor landing and slammed her with such force that she thought all of her bones had broken. Her whole body throbbed and her sight blurred. Shouting the whole way, when Giomar made it to the top of the steps, he was confused by what he saw. Lana had completely disrobed and was morphing between a singular self and a vision of three of her. What he was seeing made no sense when it came to earthly possibility. This thing that she had become before his eyes, placed six clawed hands at once upon Evelyn’s body and his daughter went limp. Evelyn’s flesh became ashen and the veins throughout her entire body could be seen pulsating.
Lana looked over her shoulder and her stacked voices asked Giomar, “Do you want her to live?”
“Yes,” he stammered, “Please stop!”
Lana saw his fright and became a single body again. Evelyn’s natural color returned and she inhaled so deeply that she coughed vehemently with sprays of saliva and projectile mucous. Giomar went to his little girl and stroked her hair until she breathed more easily. He trembled as he studied Lana.
“You don’t need to understand. As a mortal, your mind is far too limited. All you need to know, Giomar, is that if you don’t always do as I say, she will not live,” Lana declared.
“Whatever you are, why not take me? She is your daughter,” he bellowed.
“We have no attachments. We are not made that way,” she said with squinted eyes.
With a sound much like the rip of Velcro, she pulled herself in two. Lana’s insides were scarier than all he had already witnessed. Inside, she was filled with both life and death. Larvae and full grown insects of all kinds slithered around a system of small luminescent static orbs, each holding what seemed to be holograms of time from the earliest past until present. Odor seeped from the deadened pieces of matter hanging here and there. Giomar focused in on one of the orbs and saw what looked like the severely disfigured face of a man, screaming while looking from left to right. Lana quickly put herself back together and looked deeply into his eyes.
In a hypnotic mellifluous voice she said, “There is one thing that you need to come to terms with, Giomar. Whatever you think of me in this moment, I am who you want. You imagined me from the time you were a pubescent boy building unrealistic fantasies of what a woman should be. I am here now and you will always love me… until death does us part.”
Lana walked away as tears rolled down Giomar’s cheeks. She, looked over her shoulder and paused in the most seductive of ways to say, “Oh and Giomar, darling, We don’t die.”
She let out another shrill laugh. His body received a shock as the energy of her voice passed through him. It caused reminiscence of something that he had not recalled seeing in the theatre when they first met. He saw her, in the balcony, standing and looking at him on the stage as he belted out lyrics to Si, morir ella de’!. In this memory, he not only saw her engaging eyes, he saw a figure at her side slumped over in a chair as pasty as Evelyn had just been. Lana was pressing an orb against her bosom while laughing and it disappeared inside her as she looked at him.
After that, Giomar carried Evelyn to her room. He soothed her to sleeping through song and he also went to slumber. They both awoke refreshed the next day, but struggled with their new reality. One would think Giomar would have been regretting the day Lana ever walked into his dressing room to apologize for her outburst or that he would be planning a grand escape with his little girl. However, even with his revelation that Lana was nothing close to human, Giomar still felt an inexplicable love for her. He had a talk with Evelyn, telling her that her mother was something that he could not explain but they are family. Giomar reasoned with his terrified little girl and pleaded for her understanding that real love lasts through all things. He assured her that they would be alright as long as they were sure not to anger her. At that young age, she believed it.
Giomar continued to in his advice to Evelyn, “Those who love are bound to have pain. If things are really bad, go to your room and lock the door until it passes.”
This became the start of Evelyn’s life in hiding from both the public spotlight and her mother. Evelyn had near-death experiences at her mother’s hands on many occasions over the years and she could not stomach her father’s ever strengthening love for this vile being that was her mother. She continued to recount the other times that Lana’s anger became out of control. Evelyn’s fractured mind dredged up how lonely she always was, having been homeschooled her whole life. Her heart palpitated as images of her violent experiences inundated her. Her memories stopped like a slowing game show spinning wheel and rested on her at the age of 14. She would sneak the laptop to her room to talk to people on chat sites. One of her favorite friends was a boy named Alvise. She felt she could tell him anything. Once, Lana came home while she was chatting with him. She abruptly entered Evelyn’s room, questioning her about what she was doing. Evelyn was honest in her explanation of talking to a new friend. Lana didn’t want her talking to anyone. She destroyed the laptop with one blow of her fist crashing down onto it. Evelyn challenged her irrational behavior. In that, Lana threw her across the room and barely let her catch her breath before slamming her several times more into the gothic-inspired furniture in her room.
At a point, Evelyn’s head was bleeding and she decided she was going to defend herself. She grabbed a small crystal obelisk statue and rammed it through Lana’s head. Lana screamed as she took on conjoined triplet form. The pitch caused Evelyn’s ears to bleed as she gripped her head. Lana’s wound healed immediately after she dislodged the statue from her central head and, with her six arms outstretched, she uttered the words of a hex. Evelyn spent several months in bed with the unknown ailment. Giomar wept and pleaded with Lana, daily, making all manners of bargains but she was clear that it would stop when she says so. Each day, Lana personally force fed Evelyn with a bubbling gruel that had repulsive ingredients such as eyes, tongues, or small creatures that didn’t meet the social norms for eating. If Evelyn didn’t fight her gag reflexes and consume it, she was threatened with permanent death.
It was the reel of such memories that guided Evelyn’s qualms. She now flinched at the sound of the doorknob turning when she was behind the closed doors of her room. The click of the deadlock and latches scraping the strike plate unnerved her and she would jump or even have incontinence whether there was trouble involved or not. With all that had happened throughout her childhood, she coached herself in to thinking that surely, at 17, she could create a different outcome. She refused to all harm to come to her because of what seemed to be her parents’ very human disagreement about money and things. Evelyn had never considered running away before but she was sure it was the best choice. With the backdrop of Lana’s fury against Giomar in her ears, she opened her window and carefully climbed out on to the roof beneath it. She scaled the ridges and valleys that the tiles created. She looked out in front of her for a next best move and then she saw a woman with a camera eagerly taking pictures of her. She made the mistake of trying to fan her away and slipped. She landed on the ground with a deep thud. Moisture and warmth formed beneath her head in a way that mimicked her bedwetting days. The photojournalist was audacious enough to come closer to take several more pictures before knocking on their door to tell her parents that she leapt from the roof. The ambulance came and the paramedics maintained her survival. From then on, Lana’s watchfulness of Evelyn became all the more consistent but it certainly wasn’t out of love. The media frenzy was terrible. False news of Evelyn’s attempted suicide and the truth of her father’s loss of his beatific voice spread like wildfire. Lana could not be of herself with the amplified attention. So, by her terms and conditions, they would indeed move, as they had informed in the press release, because of doctor’s orders.
One night, before Lana had quite decided where their next home would be, she dreamt. Lana had not dreamt since centuries ago when she still had some human factions. She felt herself floating. She flew over state after state at high speed, not able to focus on anything except abstract streaks of color beneath her. When she stopped it was forceful and she hovered over a group of women in dark clothes. The women were holding hands and conjuring. They were calling for her. Their heads raised and it was as if they were looking directly at Lana when they called her by the name of her birth, Anastasia! Lana felt herself being pulled to the center of them and she catapulted back up into the sky as lightning, sending the women flying to their backs. There she transformed into black rain and fell back on women who celebrated and danced in it. They danced in her, repeatedly expressing gratitude to Anastasia who has finally come to cure the world of death. When Lana’s eyes fluttered back open from her rest, she felt different and invigorated but could not remember having dreamt at all. All she knew was that she had a definite feeling of where they should be going. The first word upon her waking that came to her center of thought was Highlands. She had no idea where it was but she would find out and that would become their home.
It did not take long for Lana to find her the new place that was far from Giomar’s imagination. Now, it wasn’t only on the inside but the outside that appeared hellish as well. It was a peculiar two story home with charcoal siding and columns along its large front porch. Quite against the theme, there was a lovely hydrangea-filled garden just at the back of the house. It was as if two completely different personalities had resided there before them but perhaps that was what made it a fit for the situation. It catered to both the earthly and unearthly. The worst part of it for Evelyn was that it was so remote. There were no neighbors for miles and there was not even a glimmer of light at nightfall unless they hosted it themselves.
Pretty soon, days turned into months. Lana maintained the same reign over the household as before and found that she preferred the silence of her imbecile husband who now rather reminded her of a servant as he bathed her, brushed her hair, and tended to needs that she didn’t actually have but commanded anyway. Evelyn, as expected, didn’t have peace and was slowly planning for another escape. If there ever was such a thing as a poor little rich girl, she was it. Breaking the monotony of their lone environment, every now and then, the Paparazzi would still find them and get chased away by Lana. Evelyn suspected that some of them never made it back to where they come from.
Though Evelyn should have been excited to go, there were also the painstaking trips to what the people called Town. It was when they would buy the things to meet their basic needs. On this day, they would be doing just that but Evelyn was thrown off in realizing that Giomar was begging to stay behind so he could rest. She couldn’t figure out why Lana agreed but didn’t want to go to Town without her father. Evelyn already knew; however, that her wants didn’t matter to anyone. While they were out, Lana noticed a small group of well-dressed gossiping women. As they continued to glance at her, she insisted that Evelyn go into the nearby bookstore until she returned. Evelyn reluctantly obeyed to avoid her untimely peril. She watched out of the window, expecting Lana to disrupt the women’s lives with rage. Instead, she saw Lana speaking to them and blending in with them with their fake smiles and laughter. More disturbed by that vision than the truth, she began browsing. As she passed the storekeeper, she was stared at rather than greeted when she said hello. She brushed it off and kept looking around. Realizing how eclectic the books we, it dawned on Evelyn that this moment could be of great value to her.
She wanted to figure out exactly what Lana is. Ever since the laptop incident, Lana made sure that she didn’t have access to anything. She glanced at several science-fiction book covers and wondered if Lana is an alien. When she reached an occult section, she picked up an encyclopedia full of information about witches, sorcerers, and demons. As she did, a peculiar group of young women, dressed in all black with dark hooded jackets, stared at her and mumbled among one another. The storekeeper joined them in their gawking and chatter. Annoyed, Evelyn took the book to another aisle and continued to mind her business. When she peeked up again, expecting to see them there, she was relieved that they had not followed. Shuddering a little, she flipped through pages in the book until she saw an image that she believed could be Lana. Before she could read, a Stranger spoke to her. Startled, she dropped the book at her feet. She gave him a vertical once over and noticed his unusually trendy clothing and handsomeness. When the Stranger greeted her a second time, calling her by name, she panicked. She moved quickly and noticed a door marked Ladies. She ran inside and hid, locking the door of the stall she chose. Her heart raced when she heard his footsteps and saw them stop just in front of the stall.
She heard the stranger say, “I can help you. Come when you’re ready.”
The Stranger poked a business card through the crack of the door. Evelyn cautiously took the card. She peered through space in the stall door as he walked away. She eyed the strange black card embossed with a white maze and neither a name nor number. Suddenly the latch on the stall door began to open on its own and she could hear Lana harshly asking what she was doing. She quickly shoved the card in her pocket before being snatched by the arm and forcefully guided out of the store to Lana’s black Camaro.
As Lana drove she both interrogated and insulted Evelyn. She was unfazed because she had become used to it and expected touches of death just to prove a point. In the lack of a response from Evelyn, Lana drifted into her own reflections of the night that she met Giomar and her feigned shock at the usher’s discovery that her date for the night had suffered a heart attack. Giomar gave her comfort that she did not need but had planned most calculatedly. Once she went through the human ritualistic motions of dating and marriage, he suggested that they have a child. When Lana chose to try, it was not for Giomar. Evelyn was to be all that Lana was and more. Unknown to Giomar, she easily harnessed the soul of his great-grandmother during a visit. She placed the orb of life within her abdomen. She had lofty expectations as Evelyn grew within the hollow space that was no womb at all. Lana thought that she would have a confidant who understood what it is like to be both dead and alive but it did not happen. Beyond her miraculous birth, the child was very mortal and full of weakness.
In Lana’s disappointment as she watched Evelyn grow up had developed into a nagging curiosity to envelop herself in all the beautiful parts of existence. She wanted to know the feeling behind their grins and laughter, so she studied them. She attained all the things that she heard humans say were important; money, fame, a large home, and a fancy car. Being an extension of Death, it brought nothing except continued emptiness. There would never be true life shared between her , Giomar, and Evelyn. This brought about the only expression she knew she could control… wrath.
While Lana drove, Evelyn noticed a cinderblock building with vines growing along its walls. There was a black door with a black window. Just above the door was a hand painted sign that read The Labyrinth. She was sure she had never seen it there before. She shivered, instinctively knowing that it was related to the card she had been given. Then it was confirmed as the Stranger opened the door and nodded in her direction before closing it again. It was like he had sensed her. When they arrived back at their home, Evelyn walked past her father who was sleeping on the couch and went into the music room, closing the door behind her. Lana pretty much slapped him awake, speaking of Evelyn’s insolence. During her rant, Lana and Giomar could hear Evelyn play and sing Come Sweet Death. Giomar cried every time he heard her singing these words. Unable to bear the beauty and the sadness, he left to go sit in their garden. Lana was frustrated by the emotional display and went to prepare for her typical weekend outing full of parties and affairs in the city where, though not feeling, she still imagined that some work of magic would cause her to feel something close to the pleasure she would see on the men’s faces when they were inside her.
As evening gave way to night, and Evelyn was sure that Lana was gone while her father was again asleep, her curiosity led her to drive her father’s car to that ominous building, The Labyrinth. It was not an easy drive since she was never taught but she improved as she went. When she got there, she was surprised to see that it was a bustling club with people lined up outside the door. Dressed completely opposite of the fashionable patrons, she stood in line. When she got to the front, the doorman told her to leave while referring to her as a kid. In her fight or flight emotions, she abruptly showed him the card. His forehead furrowed and he let her in, directing her to not enter the dance area but to go into the first door on her right and shut the door behind her. Evelyn did as he said and found herself in an empty office with a bit of an old world feel.
As she analyzed the abstract art on the walls, she thought she saw movement in the swirls of the paint and, when one suddenly tilted, she was overwhelmed by anxiety. She turned to leave. Before she could do so, the doorknob twisted. The click of the latch made her raise her hand to her own mouth to stifle her scream. It was the Stranger.
“No need to be afraid. I knew you would figure out how to get back here but I am surprised it was so fast. You have always been a smart girl,” he stated.
Evelyn was confused about why this man spoke with such familiarity and before long she recognized him as one of the many faces that was always there in the Paparazzi mobs, plaguing her childhood.
“I know you. What do you want? Do you have some ridiculous photos that you want us to pay for?” Evelyn demanded.
The stranger again explained his intention to help.
Skeptically, she asked, “What makes you think we need help?”
“The discovery of the Athánato kakó was made long ago,” the Stranger said. He saw her puzzled expression and continued, “The evil ones who don’t die. Anyone dealing with them needs help. My kind has tracked them since before mortals began counting time. In this world, there are creatures beyond what your imagination can fathom.”
“And you?” Evelyn asked, “What is your kind?”
The Stranger looked into a far off place and it is obvious that he is paralyzed in memory. An expression of sadness washed over his face.
“I also am of the Athánatoi but my kind brought no harm. Unlike them, we feel compassion and love, so we strive to protect our mortal kin. Our existence is a lot to comprehend. We usually don’t present ourselves until it seems the information is ready to be received. You seem ready now, WeepyWillow99,” he stated in an all-knowing tone.
“Wait, how do you know my chat name?” Evelyn demanded.
“It was the only way I could talk to you. I am Alvise,” The Stranger shared.
“Alvise? But Alvise was my friend? You can’t be…”
The Stranger, who was suddenly becoming less of an unknown, went on to say, “I was just about to share everything with you when you stopped replying to me. Then I saw you on the news and I was disappointed to know that you attempted suicide…”
“I didn’t try to commit suicide. I was trying to runaway. I just fell,” Evelyn interrupted, “Things were on their way to getting worse and I just didn’t want to deal with it again. It is odd, but I think the fall may have saved me from her that day.”
Dismayed, he responded, “Not hearing from you anymore, I left because there is always work to be done. Imagine my shock that you somehow ended up here in Highland. I travel all over the world, ridding it of the Athánato kakó. I usually do so without hesitation or question but this is the first time that an offspring has been involved. It makes it more delicate.”
He pushed his bookcase to reveal a secret tunnel. He gestured for Evelyn to follow him. With slight hesitation, she went with him down the hall that led to an unreachable underworld. There they stood on a cliff that overlooked a stone-built labyrinth with towering walls and flashing spheres of light moving throughout its paths, often colliding and causing bursts of electricity. Alvise invited Evelyn to sit down at the edge of the cliff while he shared the ancient knowledge he held and what his true form was. For someone so good, his looks were just as frightening as what Lana really looked like. Alvise also described the manner in which the capture is done. Evelyn was both appalled and intrigued.
“So, this is it for them? They just stay here like this forever?” she pressed.
“No, it is not safe for anyone to keep them here. It’s too close. Come, I will show you.” Alvise stated as he extended his hand.
Feeling more comfortable than before, she received his hand. He began speaking very softly in an unidentifiable language. She felt weightless. In an instant, they were no longer in a solid form. Their clothing dropped to the ground and they soared as glittering flecks. They reached the exterior of the labyrinth that was once distant to them and took on solid human shapes again. They were nude and Evelyn covered herself. Realizing that she wasn’t used to exposure of her natural self, he ushered her to an area where she could be shielded by overgrown ferns. Alvise took the form of mere dust speckles again but this time it came with an unexpected gust of wind.
“Wait, don’t leave me here!” Evelyn cried out.
He swirled like a tornado and rose above the enigmatic fortress. The orbs joined him in droves as if pulled by magnets. Suddenly a portal opened up that opened right up to the galaxy beyond. The orbs were flung through until the last one disappeared and the portal closed. Alvise returned to the mesmerized Evelyn and took shape just long enough to place a hand on her shoulder and help her transform to get back to the cliff. Once there, they entered the clothing that they left behind and reformed within them. Evelyn looked back at the labyrinth and could see no light, no static, only a dark void.
Alvise explained to her that the things that mortals have long called constellations are the Athánato kakó. With that, he told her that there is no safety for Evelyn, her father, or other mortals with Lana roaming free. He offered her freedom and, though she knew the loss of Lana would hurt her father, she accepted it. She asked how she could help but she again was treated the same way the doorman had treated her. She was reduced back to being both youth and mortal. He apologized for her hurt feelings but explained that a battle between Athánatoi is never easy or civil. He walked her to her father’s car. Able to tell that it was close to dawn, Evelyn drove with haste so that she could sneak back into their home before her father woke up and, most importantly, before Lana got back from the city.
Some months after their meeting, Evelyn had begun to think that Alvise had returned to being a Stranger and would not keep his word. Since then, she had several dangerous run-ins. For a bit of peace, she would sit in the garden for hours singing gut wrenching operatic songs. At night, she would stare at constellations. It was a relief for Evelyn when Lana had finally left again for one of her city outings. She left in what was now the only car among them. Lana had gotten rid of Giomar’s car, telling him it was needed for expenses while he wasn’t working. Evelyn knew it was another way to keep them trapped and controlled.
Evelyn went out to the garden and paced like a caged animal at a zoo. She squeezed her arms several times and imagined being able to drift and scatter as she had done with Alvise. Evelyn wondered how he did it. It was of no use. She reiterated her mortal makeup to herself and allowed the moment of contemplation to turn to song. She sang out the lyrics to When I am Laid in Earth. Giomar could hear his daughter’s soul stirring voice and it lured him out to the garden. She flinched when she heard the door open.
Evelyn stopped singing. Her father stood in the doorway with tear filled eyes and she relaxed. He inhaled and fought between opening his mouth and closing it when suddenly he continued where his daughter left off in the song. Evelyn rejoiced as he approached singing with as much vigor as he had when she was younger. They embraced and continued the song together while holding hands.
In the city, there was a major contrast to this father-daughter moment. Alvise had not retreated from his mission to help Evelyn and Giomar. He was being very calculated so that he would have a chance in defeating Lana. He wanted to take her off guard and knew the best way would be to catch her at a time like this when she was on the hunt for mortal companionship. He would lure Lana using the things that she thought would give her feelings of life. Giomar’s appearance was just right to attract most single individuals. He was tall with a classically handsome face, built strong, and expensively stylish. He knew that even though Lana would feel no attraction, she would enjoy the idea of having someone with her that others craved. It was the sadistic part of her nature.
It was fairly easy to locate her because he knew she, like most of their kind, was drawn to music due to the frequencies of vibration that passed through them. It gave them a sense of connection to all things. Lana would be wherever jazz an opera is played. Rarely appreciated by this generation, he knew the best place to find her was the one club that catered to both, The Orchestra Pit. Alvise entered with smoothness, gaining attention of onlookers. When he saw Lana, she was nearly draped over the table grinning flirtatiously at a singer performing at the Open Mic Night. She looked radiant but he had to quell the mortal urges that existed at the sight of her in the black velvet dress that made her wafts of auburn hair glow under the lights. The crowd cheered for the singer and another performer was called up. Lana started followed the singer to the bar but, before she could reach him, Alvise slid in front of her in an overtly slick way. She immediately bore a look of anger at his sudden appearance.
“May I have this dance?” he chimed.
Lana, still focused on the singer she had selected, was about to dismiss Alvise until she scanned the room and noticed that women were staring at Alvise with expressions that she could only equate to the times when she saw Evelyn with begging eyes after days of hunger and thirst. She determined that they must want the chance to be with him. So, she quickly accepted and smiled when she saw some of their expressions melt to disappointment. They danced and she did a great job of convincing others that she felt something and was having, a typically mortal, wonderful time. As Alvise made small talk with Lana, he shared that he too is a singer. She looked at him with a wide-eyed expression and asked, disbelievingly, if he was going to perform.
He laughed saying, “Oh no, that is too amateurish for me.”
“Really?” she said with dryness because she had learned mortals enough to know that the men would say just about anything to get what they want.
Alvise placed his lips close to her ear and sang, “And now the purple dusk of twilight time, Steals across the meadows of my heart. High up in the sky, the little stars climb…always reminding me that we’re apart. You wander down the lane and far away, leaving me a song that will not die. Love is now the stardust of yesterday. The music of the years gone by…”
Lana felt a stir within her, like she was changing form without her control of it. She placed her index finger on his mouth to pause his singing and then the most unusual thing happened to her. She felt a drip of water go down her cheek. To onlookers, it would appear to be a bleed of eyeliner streaking down her face from a tear but she knew it was the part of her that no mortals beside Giomar and Evelyn were aware. She wiped it in confusion.
Pretending to be just as oblivious as mortals, Alvise said with a smile, “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
He handed Lana his handkerchief. She excused herself and went to the Ladies room to try to figure out what happened. When she got there, it was only her and the bathroom attendant preset. Lana rushed into a stall and dabbed her eye in secrecy. As she did so, her eye came out of the socket and dangled. She carefully put it back in and held her hand over her eye while chanting. The attendant interrupted her.
“Is everything alright in there?” The attendant called.
Lana did not answer. She kept chanting while covering the eye but then the attendant knocked on the door of the stall, still inquiring of her need for help. Lana is got angry, stumbling over her words at that point. At one more bang of the door, she finalized her chant and swung open the door. Lana’s eyes looked normal with the exception of the irises that were no longer matching in color. As she saw a glimpse of hers eyes in the mirror, she grabbed the attendant by the throat and pulled her into the stall. The attendant struggled for breath as she compressed to an empty skin sack, eventually turning to dust.
Satisfied, Lana pulled herself together and shifted her hair to drape over the discolored eye. As she exited the restroom, she considered the man and knew she shouldn’t risk it happening again but at the same time, she thought she actually felt something. She felt a nag within her to seek him out. She wondered if she had finally found a mortal that could make her truly experience all that she had been curious about. Alvise was standing at the bar waiting for her. He knew she would come back.
Lana walked over to him and said, “Would you like to come back to my hotel?”
He placed his arm around her waist and asked her where her hotel is. After she responded, he shared that his hotel is much closer than hers and asked if she would like to come to his room. Lana, in her trust, agreed. She did not expect that Alvise’s hotel room would actually be a penthouse suite with a striking view of the city. The room was ornately decorated and there were bouquets of flowers throughout different points of the room. Near the bed was a room service cart with all manners of exquisite treats. She was falling for this better version of Giomar that she had found. Lana was anxious to be with Alvise because this time, she had true expectation. She just knew that she had to be guarded. If she morphed in front of this mortal, she may have to kill him and so far, she didn’t want to. Not this one, she told herself.
Lana grabbed Alvise and kissed him rather aggressively. He convinced her to slow down. He slowly removed her dress and, again, had to still the feeling in him at the sight of the mortal figure she had taken on. He suggested that Lana go to over to the bed. She refused it. She told him to take his clothes off. He replied with the ultimatum that he would not take off his clothing unless she did as he says. She was not used to such disobedience but she was intrigued. She got on the bed and he started taking off pieces of his clothing while singing Stardust in the same way he had sung in her ear earlier. She writhed in the bed in a way she did not understand. She had somewhat of a throbbing in between her legs. She looked at Alvise, who now had only pants left to remove.
“Come to me,” she said in her triplet of voices that she did not expect.
Lana looked down and realized that, without her knowing it, she was in her origin form with six-arms, and three heads. She jumped up trying to figure out why she had not known and why this mortal seemed unaffected. Before she could ask, Alvise revealed himself.
“Anastasia, it’s time for you to stop this mortal charade and join the others. You have no place here.” He affirmed.
Lana jumped up in a rage. Alvise changed to a scaled reptilian man. He jutted his clawed hands out, sending static to her abdomen. The force slammed her into the wall, causing an imprint. Lana realized in that moment that what she had believed to be true for hundreds of years was not true at all. She thought that she had imprisoned the last of the hunters deep in the Rangipo Desert. They had taken her kindred from her and, as far as she was concerned, they would not be taking her too. This would be a fight to the finish.
Lana quickly built strength and propelled herself toward Alvise, causing him to fall hard under the impact of her body. She repeatedly struck him and clawed his flesh with the 30 nails of her six hands. His flesh gruesomely tore. He disappeared into specks beneath her, leaving her clawing at nothing as he floated to a new location. Confused, she turned screaming, only to see that he is regenerated. He blasts her with electricity from his hands again and it sends her reeling through the room. He advances on her and she screams, causing him to grab his ears to try to block it. The glass all around them shatters. Alvise advanced for another attack and returned her earlier attempt to dissect him. With a strong, single-handed, claw drag from her chest to her abdomen, he opened her up and revealed her darkness. The stench was stomach-turning. She tried to mend herself. As she did so, Alvise became as an invertebrate and elongated himself, slithering around her in a coil like a snake. As he squeezed, she lost strength and became her singular self. He didn’t stop his constriction until he caused her head to fall back and clunk to the floor. When he released her shell, hundreds of light orbs scattered throughout the room. Alvise changed to his mortal image and breathed with some relief. Suddenly he heard the approaching sound of sirens. He grabbed his satchel and gathered all of the orbs and evaded the situation by route of the suite’s ceiling fire access door. He took the orbs back to The Labyrinth where he released her into the infinite paths of the underground.
Giomar and Evelyn did not expect to get the knock they received at the door, telling them that there had been a tragedy and they would need to come to the city to identify Lana. Giomar was in hysterics while Evelyn was suspiciously calm. She knew in the back of her mind that change would finally come and it was thanks to Alvise, the Stranger, who remembered her. As usual, the media had their big story. Based on the condition of the room and what they found, there was room for many theories. The world was mortified about how her head was found under the bed and pieces of her flesh were strewn about with no signs of bones or internal organs. Some thought it was a violent cannibal or Vodun lover boy. Rumors had serviced about the unusually attractive man that Lana had been seen with at The Orchestra Pit and how it was the same night that a staff member went missing. For a moment, even Evelyn and Giomar were suspects. As time passed, other big stories hit the news and they had some time off from it all, but it resurfaced when Giomar decided to share his voice with the world again, in Lana’s honor.
Giomar released a melancholy album called Tre Donna. Out of guilt, Evelyn agreed to do a duet on it. It brought more attention to the beast with the tragic tale and his lovely daughter who inherited his gift. She was imprisoned by the past and wondered why she had never heard from Alvise again. She searched the sky for a new constellation, but had not yet sighted one. Evelyn did not feel the freedom that was promised to her. She felt gloom.
Evelyn wept to sleeping on most nights and was often not alert because it became necessary for her to medicate for anxiety and depression. One night, in her muzzy stupor, she felt herself being carted off by the group of women in dark clothing. She had no energy to fight. She was laid down upon a stone slab and they whispered:
What if it isn’t true? What if it is? There’s only one way to find out…
Evelyn felt her body being sliced open by a large blade. She felt life pouring out of her and dripping to the ground.
This can’t be Anastasia. She’s dying. They can’t die. The amulet may have led us here but it is not her. We can’t give up. We need her. I can feel her presence. She is somewhere near. Let’s go.
The peculiar abductors left as if no atrocity had been done. In the silence, Evelyn felt the relief of death’s finality coming over her. When Giomar received the news, his heart was like a heat withered rose. Days later, he held Evelyn’s service in an immaculate cathedral packed to overflowing with people he didn’t recognize. He stood afore a mass choir, sharing sentiments of love for Evelyn and announced that he would sing the song that he heard her sing the most in the last few years. He, with the choir, sang in the most gut wrenching and melodious of ways, Come Sweet Death. The congregation met his pain with their tears. As he neared song’s end, he walked over to her casket and dropped to bended knee as one would do in a proposal. He sung to his final mournful note and lowered his second knee to the ground. Giomar hung his head and sobbed vehemently until his heart beat no more. He slowly fell over to his side next to the casket. There were no gasps, just shock-filled silence. The moment beckoned for a shout of Bravo along with applause. In its place, decorum won. Afterall, it was death… truly the end.
Indigo Giordana-Altu 