Ana #2
As I stepped inside the cave, I felt his eyes on my back.
Burning.
The second and third souls
The capital city. Bucharest.
It overwhelmed me. I was used to fresh air, with mud and grass everywhere.
The sounds of the cars and trams were clinging to my ears, my opinci drenched in rain.
People were everywhere, their umbrellas hiding their faces. There was no wonder it was named the Grey City.
The buildings on Calea Victoriei were almost touching the sky, the moon reflecting on their windows. Concrete everywhere, not a single patch of grass.
The avenue that split the neighbourhood in two was decorated with flags, the emblem of Romania imposing in the middle. An eagle, its head decorated by the Steel Crown, stood proudly holding a sword and a sceptre in its claws.
Next to the building I was staring at was a small brothel. Their owners were shown to me by the Mirror. A chubby man dressed in dark suits, smudges of lipstick on the collar of his white shirt and a woman with a sour face, slimmer than the wooden pole which sustained haystacks.
The Mirror showed me multiple scenes of how they took women and orphan children and sold them throughout our continent. As though they were a piece of meat to be enjoyed at the dinner table.
I walked the steps of the brothel where two women with no modesty were standing. The skull I wore silenced them, their eyes watching my hooves.
The thought of the contract made me want to finish my quest, even though my soul and mind kept saying no. Also, the quarrel I had with the Goat Man pushed me further.
We were both to blame. He, because he didn’t remember why he took down his family and had no interest in doing so.
And me, because I didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
What else was I to think? He, with his own mouth, said he ruined his family.
Although there was the matter of memory loss.
Which was certainly a lie. But my soul said the opposite.
The music coming from the l?utari hit my ears, making me walk to their rhythm. The violin, cymbal and accordion called me to a large salon. Tables and chairs were filled with men and women enjoying the pleasures of the night.
One of my next souls was throwing money on the floor, making the famished men and women fight for a piece of paper.
From the corner of my eye, I saw children at the end of the room. Many children.
I couldn’t kill while innocent beings watched me.
My feet stood frozen on the threshold, searching for ways to protect sinless eyes. If I had had a heart, it would have found a way to escape my ribcage.
Until then, no one had noticed me.
All the adults were enjoying themselves from the music and the alcohol, which had no end. The children gazed upon them, their faces pale and their young eyes widened.
I bit my lip to the point I drew blood. How will I take these two souls without scarring the children for life?
Tears gathered in my eyes, cursing the Goat Man and whatever power he had. I didn’t want to repeat his story, where he left the children alive only to pass his legend from mouth to mouth. My fingers gripped the skull, and I was about to take it off when I felt a gush of cold wind behind me.
“You’re stalling, Ana.”
Standing with my back to the Goat Man, I nibbled my lip harder and harder.
It felt as if the people around us did not even see us, as though we were invisible to the human eye.
“What are you doing here, Goat?” I asked, conjuring my scythe. At once, the black handle appeared between my fingers, its dark blade shining in the artificial light.
“I came to see how you handle this situation.”
His words drawled.
“I cannot handle it, as you can see.” Frustration coated my words. My fingers gripped the scythe’s handle until they turned white.
“I thought you could do it all by yourself.” His tone was flat, but the mockery was there.
“And you came to gloat?” I gritted my teeth as hard as I could.
Ignoring my question, the Goat Man supported his shoulder on the wooden threshold, watching me. His arms crossed over his chest, expecting. Waiting to see how I would solve this.
But then, he said something that surprised me.
“If you cannot do it now, you can search for another soul. Believe me, the Earth has its share of evil.”
My head turned to him. “You’re not forcing me?”
He shook his head. “No, you can choose anyone you want.”
I looked again at the frightened children who stood in one narrow corner of the room. Their eyes were fixed on the adults. “But there are children here who act as slaves. I don’t want to leave them,” I said, my chin dipping.
Biting my cheek, I took a deep breath.
I remembered his words before our quarrel. “The means of taking a soul are endless. Use your imagination to get what you want.” If he had been that righteous before murdering his family.
With my free hand in the air, I threw all the adults out of their chairs and from the wooden objects, I raised a wall between them and the children.
Without looking at the man with the burning gaze, I knocked once with my scythe on the dark tiles in the salon.
Stopping the adults from enjoying the carnal pleasures, I kept the musicians still playing.
I walked to the chubby man, his golden rings tight on his fingers and hit him once with the scythe.
The fiddle music continued to play, the vocalist and their band watching my every move. The violin broke its rhythm, my ears picking up a prayer.
The first soul’s fat head rolled on the marble floor, staining the money.
“Are you feeling well?” My eyes slanted to Goat, who had a slight frown on his forehead.
“Yes,” I answered, but not as loud as I wanted.
“I’ll take care of the children,” the Goat Man said, his eyes hovering over me. With a snap of his fingers, the youngsters disappeared from the room. When he turned, a satisfied smile spread over his lips. “I believe you have one more to take?”
His head tilted, keeping his smile on his lips.
“Yes, I do. And as you can see, I can handle it.” I passed by him, and he gripped my hand.
“You can and you will, I do not doubt that,” he whispered. As much as I wanted to lose myself in his appreciation, I couldn’t. Not when he killed his family. I pulled my hand away and stepped around his body. The goosebumps his touch created were unnerving.
The chaos resumed behind us, screams overshadowing the music. I turned to the Goat Man. “Would you also deal with those, please?” As he nodded, I ascended the stairs.
The stairs which led to the first floor of the building were on my right. But I didn’t get to step on them, and the first face I saw was the woman I was supposed to hunt. She held two children by the arms, not older than six.
The boys were naked, their skin purple on their arms and yellow on their stomachs. My blood grew hot in my veins, a rage I have never felt before flooding me. I crouched down and spoke through my teeth. “Stay!”
My order was for the woman. As soon as her body froze, the boys scurried away, leaving me to fulfil my contract.
My scythe split the woman in half.
Three souls collected.
Seven remaining.
“See, Goat Man? I can handle myself very well.”
After saying that, bile rose, its acid burning my throat.
“I see that,” the Goat Man said, holding me in his arms.
But that woke me up and expelled the nausea. Even though his hold comforted me.
I pushed myself slowly away from him. “I cannot touch a murderer.”
He stepped back, his eyes turning into slits. “What are you then? A holy person?” His chin wobbled, but he recomposed his stance. “Aren’t you one now, too?”
“I did it at your behest, but I never hurt anyone else while I was human. You did.”
“Oh, that was it? I was wondering where my sense of morality was. I am glad that it resides in you, Ana.” He held his eyes narrowed. “If you think yourself so pristine, then pray for my soul.”
He stepped towards me, his eyes boring into mine. He hesitated, wanting to say something else, but shook his head and marched outside.
I took a deep breath. Again, I could not meet my mentor on any grounds.
I was too afraid to feel anything else, so I masked my turmoil caused by his murdering his own siblings.
Which was an unforgivable thing to do. Since then, a small voice crept into my mind, saying that I should trust him.
But the loud voice of my morality, as he put it, and my beliefs wouldn’t budge.
As I opened the main door to avoid the chaos we left behind, I felt two more swirls added to my eyes. It was as if worms were crawling inside, my vision becoming blurry.
On the busy street, there were the children that the Goat Man saved from my procession. They thanked me and ran freely, giggling and calling for the Stag Woman and the Goat Man.