Film About the Demon. Daughter of the Dawn. Natalie Yacobson

forever. And it doesn’t matter that this idol lured you here. The pyramid is a symbol of death and eternity. And the Akhetaton hotel is a copy of the pyramid.

      “I have always believed that one soul can be more important than all the souls in the universe. Once I promised that if I met such a soul, then for her sake I would spare the whole world. But a lot of time has passed since then. I’m not going to keep my promise, although I like you. And the priest to whom I promised this has long been dead. In this era, I am going to act by the method of exclusion, destroying in turn all the souls that might interfere with my plans.”

      She did not read an excerpt from the script, although what she said was suspiciously similar to the plot of the first film with her participation. Kiril looked at her slightly dumbfounded. The wound on his wrist opened again. Under it, something like letters, or rather hieroglyphs, appeared on the skin. Athenais grabbed his wrist. She really has marble fingers.

      “It’s real,” he guessed. “You don’t act in films, you live inside them, like in this hotel. Therefore, it looks like a pyramid both outside and inside. And I am not sleeping now!”

      “People sleep all their lives, and I come to open their eyes to the truth,” a fire flashed in her pupils. Are there any orange pupils? They looked like two bonfires. Visions immediately hit my head: a fire under the pyramids, demons or ancient gods dancing around it. Some are practically indistinguishable from others. They dance to call upon someone, and from the sands of the desert something rises that threatens to destroy the universe. And then Athenais walks with a sickle across the field, killing Egyptian plowmen. Their blood irrigates the fields, from it, as from seeds, instead of the harvest, monstrous figures rise. And above all this, the bloody moon shines.

      So who is this movie star in front of him? She came from those ancient times or straight from space. Lufcraft wrote something about strong cosmic beings, which weak people naively mistake for gods and demons. What if she is such a creature? Then who would have thought that aliens are so beautiful and seductive.

      But the touch of Athenais was not pleasant. She squeezed his hand, kneading the meat and crumbling bone. The pain would have been enormous, if not for the hypnotizing look of a movie star.

      “What did you want from me when you stood in the rain?” Athenais’s voice changed, becoming like a hiss of a cobra.

      Kiril himself no longer knew what goals he was pursuing. At first, the fact that she invited him to her seemed like the ultimate dream. Now he realized that he had fallen into a trap, but he did not want to change anything anyway. He had to come here, had to see her with his own eyes. We can say that fate called him here.

      “I wanted my routine life to end,” unexpectedly even for himself, he poured out everything that had boiled over the years in his soul, “so that I didn’t have to go to work that I didn’t love in the morning, didn’t have to go back to an empty apartment and see neighbors around who unpleasant to me. Ever since I saw the first movie with you, all people around the world have become disgusting to me. I only wanted to see you once so that I could return home in the evening, turn on the CD with your film and open my veins. Your film is one minute against your whole life. Better to leave this minute and take away everything else.”

      “I think so too.” She let go of his wrist. Blood flowed in a stream. “Those who watch films about demons let them into their world, and then they won’t kick us out.”

      “Go away!” The roses were still whispering. Now it became noticeable that their petals were indeed in blood, and the warning was not in vain. But he was not going to leave. Better to die in the arms of Athenais today than live your whole life without her. She hugged him with cold marble arms, and it was as if another movie had begun. Only it happens not on the screen, but in real life. Death at the end will be real. The dragons on the robes of Atenais hissed in displeasure. They wanted death right now. But in the beginning it will be a whole night. Athenais smeared herself with Kiril’s blood. Blood is the price of any intimacy with a demon, even an autograph. And he came here because he was subconsciously ready to pay this price from the very beginning. The demon called him from the screen. And now this demon was holding him in his arms. And a demon’s embrace can only end in hell and death.

      Payback for self-interest

      A new film was starting somewhere. He will not see this film. Anton got an autograph and ran away. Someone in red was chasing him. Although is it possible to say chased about someone who suddenly grows up ahead of the road, wherever you turn. You run, and he just stands on the sidelines. A monstrous black face with rings in its nostrils looks out from under a red hood.

      Out of breath, Anton stopped. Many screens in the showcase showed fragments of a film about a beautiful demon who subdued the rulers of Ancient Egypt.

      “Kings rule the world, but I rule over kings!” came the cruel voice of Alais. Pharaoh’s torn out heart beat in her palm like a living red flower. Her path was littered with bones and corpses, but she herself lived among gold.

      Probably everything that was said about her was true. And the fact that her bodyguards are not people, but real ifrits. And the fact that the owner of the film studio is not its producer, but its slave. And the fact that she herself is a demon.

      All these stories were so consistent with the plots of her films and ran counter to everyday realities that Anton did not believe them in the least. Usually, he approached for autographs to all foreign stars who came to Moscow. Friends who worked part-time in the crowd helped him get the necessary information about the location of the events. He managed to arrive on time in the lobby of hotels, to the doors of cinemas or restaurants where eminent guests dined. All he needed was a stroke with a pen in a notebook, so that he could then put up an autograph for sale. Many guys earn money like this – they take autographs from famous singers and actors, so that they can then sell them on Avito or on other sites where you can sell used junk from your hands.

      He decided to keep Athenais’s autograph for himself as soon as he saw her, but it turned out that she took something from him. Namely, the blood tax.

      Anton winced, remembering how the ballpoint pen, which he held out to the star, fell into a puddle, and something resembling blades stuck into his fingers. For the first time he paid for an autograph himself. His blood was used as ink. And now he was still being pursued.

      The wounded arm hurt as if it had been torn apart with a float. Athenais’ focus was not at all like taking blood in a medical office. Her nails are the edge of scalpels and knives. It is likely that they are smeared with some kind of drug or even poison. In any case, when she hurt him, it began to seem to him that she really had not a bodyguard behind her, but ifrit.

      It was pouring rain in the center of Moscow. It got stronger and stronger. Streets and highways, oddly enough, seemed completely deserted. There are few cars, there is nothing behind the shop windows. Not typical for Novy Arbat. Many computer centers appeared all around, which he had not seen here yesterday. Monitors, laptops, televisions for sale worked everywhere. A film with Athenais was shown on each screen. And the monster from this movie was walking right behind him.

      Where to go? he wish he could meet or call a taxi. But everything is empty, the smartphone does not work. The battery ran out, as luck would have it. Previously, there were telephone booths everywhere, which nowadays do not exist. Their mobile communication survived. The cell phone is empty and there is no connection with the world. And all around is emptiness. Moscow suddenly turned into a deserted desert of asphalt and concrete buildings.

      “Athenais turns everything into a desert.”

      Did the pursuer say that? Anton nervously turned over his shoulder. The dark-skinned monster in red itself somewhat resembled the shadow of the ancient pharaoh. Why is he so attached?

      Anton was not a believer, but suddenly thought to go to church. There was not a single church on the streets of the center. This is also not typical for Moscow. Many visitors from abroad like to repeat that