Читать книгу Devil’s Cinema. Crypt of the Seven Angels - Natalie Yacobson - Страница 2

Summer, 2013, Blue Lotus Cinema

The film is about to begin. Most likely, it will shock the audience, suppress their will, deeply shake, completely deprive them of consideration. It would be nice to cancel the premiere before the film starts, but the audience has already gathered. The whole elite is here. All around there are stars, the press, even politicians. What he conceived is impracticable.

Mikhail looked around. Not only guards can interfere with him. The most dangerous thing here is people who are not armed to the teeth. His attention was drawn to marble statues in distant boxes. They glowed pale in the semi-darkness. The outline of the wings was somewhat reminiscent of movie posters. One statue is located near the screen. Its marble fingers were pressed to its lips in a sign of silence. The statue’s smile seemed sinister. Is it just a play of light and shadow? And what are the only statues doing in the cinema? As if no one noticed them.

But the appearance of a young star attracted everyone. Atenais came, accompanied by grim-looking bodyguards. Her curly golden head stood out sharply from the crowd. She is the same as in the film, he noted with horror. As if she had just stepped off the screen, crossing the line of worlds: real and surreal.

Mikhail’s attention was drawn to the living lotus in her hair. And where did she get it? In the local climate, lotuses do not grow. Where did he hear that the lotus is a sacred plant? And for whom is it sacred? For those strange creatures in the shadows above the screen?

“Do not do this!”

Who suddenly whispered in his ear? Mikhail turned around, expecting to see the stranger in the red hood, but he did not sit in the back rows as usual. There were only smartly dressed people around. While they are careless, but soon they will all become ill.

Athenais walked forward, oblivious to the admiring glances. So fragile, so tender. Who would have thought bad of her? Who saw the darkness in her eyes?

Mikhail looked at her almost with a shudder. I really don’t want to hurt her. She is an ordinary girl with an angelic face and the grace of a model. Is this Atenais who, instead of ink, signs autographs with the blood of those who adore her? Or is it all the illusion of cinema?

He doubted, and yet he kept his hand on the gun in his pocket. He managed to carry the pistol past the security systems. He knew how to turn and not that. Nobody suspected him of anything. Besides the statues! They seemed to be watching him from afar with their marble eyes. Wiggle marble wings. They smile ominously.

There were exactly seven of them. Statues! Why does he think about them instead of the main goal? All attention should be focused on Athenais. She has already taken her place in the front row, straightened her silk dress and is waiting for the start of the session. Before the premiere it shouldn’t be.

But the screen lit up. The credits have already gone. Probably, it only seemed to him that one of the marble statues suddenly moved. Athenais turned her head to find him unmistakably among the row of filled rows. The look in her eyes, as always, startled him. He kept expecting her to repeat what she had said before, nodding lightly at the angelic statues:

“Save me from them!”

But she said something else, clearly and clearly, so that everyone could hear:

“Save them all from me…”

Who did she mean? All the people in the cinema? All people around the world? It didn’t matter anymore. He had the determination to finally pull the weapon out of his pocket. He was ready to carry out his plans. It’s a shame the movie has already started. When the show starts, everything in this place gets out of hand. People change, thoughts change… And nothing can be reversed.