Kitabı oku: «Film About the Demon. Daughter of the Dawn», sayfa 4

Many-faced tree

Usually reporters rush to the scene of hot events: terrorist attacks, hostage-taking, fires, robberies, events of political and social significance. The paparazzi besieging the stars is a myth invented by the stars themselves to fuel popularity. None of the paid press and television workers will run after famous actors and actresses of which there are innumerable. Many journalists give free tickets to movie premieres to friends because they don’t want to go to them after working day. If only there is no additional payment from the film studio, then no one will write positively about the filmmakers. Usually the actors themselves besiege the press, not the other way around. But this time it turned out differently. No one paid Rik any extra money. Nevertheless, he began to run after the star, and he himself could not understand why. He despised movie actors with their cheap morals (what a decent person would be for money to stand naked in front of the camera and act in erotic scenes), but Rick fell in love with Athenais at first sight. Now he walked through the forest, looking for her and cursing his own stupidity. He took it into his head to do work that the authorities would not pay. After all, no one ordered a report about a movie star. This can only be assigned to novices and journalists of the lowest standard, and it was usually sent only to the place of especially important events. He talked with politicians, with the military, with representatives of the secret services. Stars are just pawns. So his boss loved to repeat. A decent journalist should not stoop to pass off the flaws of stars as merit, unless paid for it at the highest rate. Film studios’ money often changes attitudes towards their offspring.

After crashing his car on the freeway and nearly drowning in a muddy swamp, Rick began to wonder if something unique had happened. One of the pawns from the film studios suddenly turned out to be for him at the price of a queen. In any case, for her sake, he made his way through the thickets, sparing neither new trousers, nor a jacket, nor even his own skin, scarred by branches. And he almost did not regret that he had wandered into the thicket after her.

The only question that haunted him was: why did she come here herself, and all alone. They said in this very forest, there is a section where people most often commit suicide. Probably, the site was fenced off here for shooting the next horror film with Athenais. In such a wilderness, you can neither pay rent for a place, nor get a special permit. There is no one to control it anyway. The nearest police stations are miles away. The place has too bad a reputation for anyone from the surrounding settlements to wander here.

Didn’t it seem to him that Athenais was heading here? Her golden head had long since disappeared from sight, and he wandered at random. The brushwood crunched underfoot. How many fallen branches all around!

“It would be nice to make a grand fire here to cleanse everything with fire,” someone whispered over his ear, and immediately there was a long dull sigh. “Although not worth it, the first time he fire did not clear anything, only infuriated.”

Rick glanced at the screen of the extinct iPhone. He did not vibrate. The sounds are definitely not from an audio device inside the phone. They rang out from above. Above, only the crowns of trees and a glimpse of the sky, illuminated by a crescent. There are not even birds. Did he hear only a whisper in the rustle of leaves? There are also auditory hallucinations. True, he still did not suffer from them, but fatigue could provoke them. You can’t go that long. He rubbed his feet with blood and calluses. How did Athenais not get tired on the way? A couple of hours ago, he saw from afar her silhouette and how easily she varied between the trees, as if she were flying.

The flashlight in the iPhone went out. Probably out of charge. The total darkness scared him a little. Rick groped forward. A faint light flickered somewhere far away. It feels like roaming lights have settled there. It’s good if they don’t lead to the next swamp.

The shimmer led to a huge, spreading tree that must have taken up tens of meters. Probably, this is a whole group of intertwined trees, and somewhere inside the interlocking crowns, a ghostly light seems to flicker. Carved faces, horned heads and groups of angelic figures stand out along the perimeter of the huge trunk. So this is not a tree, but a dummy for shooting! And the star is here! Rick noticed from afar the curly back of Athenais’s head. The curls of her hair sparkled like solar threads. It couldn’t have all the flicker come from them.

Why is he surprised? There is nothing natural about movie stars. False eyelashes, dyed hair, skillful makeup instead of a beautiful face. So the thicket, where the star mysteriously sneaked into, actually turned out to be a film set. Where are the filming cameras? There is a backlight. But where does it come from? Not from above, as it should be when shooting such scenes. From somewhere inside. Really from the inside of a tree. Or does it just seem so?

“I still love you.”

Athenais was caressing someone who was hidden by a dense century-old trunk. So she has a secret love date here? Who would have thought? It’s a pity he doesn’t have a camera with him. Although the iPhone has a camera. Quality, not very good, but worth a try. The iPhone cracked right in his hand. Why did he become so fragile? He must have touched something sharp with his jacket pocket, and the protective glass on the screen shattered to smithereens. How fragile expensive things are!

Athenais was in no hurry. There were no bodyguards or escorts with her. She’s not scared here alone? And who is this with her? How to consider it and not attract attention to yourself? A branch snapped so inappropriately underfoot, but Athenais did not even turn around. She was too carried away by her lover. Or lovers? A whispering, polyphonic choir was heard behind the tree. Probably an echo. Although where does it come from among the dense branches? Maybe someone has Internet connection on their cell phone in their pocket, and voices come from some audio program. This can explain the fact that they are somehow unnatural.

From the side it seemed that Athenais was gently stroking the bark of a tree with her hand. The gestures were touching and seductive. What would he not give for her affection! But she was not caressing him. Some stranger.

“I love you very much. Do not consider yourself abandoned and forgotten,” she repeated, as if she was reciting the prayer by heart.

“Before you didn’t love anyone,” a handsome male voice was like the rustle of ash.

“Since the tragedy happened, I realized that I really love you,” Athenais pressed her clean forehead to the charred tree bark. Or to someone’s shoulder? Rick rubbed his eyes. He began to see poorly. It was getting darker all around. Only the curls and skin of the movie star, who wandered into the forest, continued to flicker, as if she was all illuminated from the inside.

“What a score! If you had not lost the war, I would not have understood the depth of my feelings. When you really love someone, you realize this, not when he shines in the sky or, for example, even on a modern screen, but when he, burnt and tormented, falls at your feet.”

Rick shuddered. What is she talking about? War? Burns? It seems like it was a long time ago. Her lover returned from Iran, from Chechnya? Where is the war going on now? Stop, lost war. Lost by whom?

What if the movie star is confused with terrorists? Then she and her friend pose a danger, and she herself has nothing to fear. This is probably why she behaves so freely in the thicket at night. Any normal person here would tremble with fear. And on love dates, no psycho will come here. You can expect anything from movie stars. They scurry around the world, communicate with politicians, build intrigues, can become someone’s political pawns.

The dialogue did not resemble a learned role. Every word trumpeted danger. In addition, Athenais spoke without any expression, as if she was remembering pain.

“You were tortured, you were burned, but you became more desirable to me as monsters than you would be angels. Monsters can protect, and they are true. But Michael and Gabriel were not faithful, but our era is coming. I will release you soon. Remember that my love is enough for all of you. And the sacrifice is already coming.”

Athenais leaned over and kissed either the bark of a tree, or someone who had been hidden from Rick by the branches.

“I’ll come again and bring you some stupid guys from the studio: cameramen or extras. Young and pretty. Old flesh is not healthy or tasty.”

Several voices seemed to laugh back at once. Laughter is like the rustle of leaves or the rustle of ash in a cold fire.

“Better bring your fans. The tastiest of all are those who imagine themselves to be the likeness of your first army.”

A knowing smile lit up Athenais’s beautiful face. She understood what it was about, but Rick did not. But no one invited him to participate in the conversation. He was listening because he accidentally wandered in here. He must leave before they find him. Suddenly, her guys will really be bandits or terrorists, armed to the teeth. Too often they talk about struggle and torture. The report would have come out excellent: “a star meets villains.” But life is more precious than a sensation.

It’s time to wash away, but Athenais was already leaving by herself, and oddly enough, no one followed her. Rick waited ten minutes. Not a sound, not a word, not a rustle, not a sigh. There is nobody in the thicket near the huge tree. Emboldened, he came out of hiding, took out a tiny flashlight attached to the key ring. There was definitely something engraved on the trunk of the tree, like on a memorial stone. Some kind of inscriptions, patterns, even images of faces. You need to come back here in the afternoon, and consider everything in detail, even take photos. This is not a tree, but a whole work of art. You might even think that it is not real, but stolen from the museum, if not for its size. Such a whopper cannot be stolen, and the powerful roots, even though partially stick out from the ground, have settled tightly in the soil.

Rick touched the prints with the faces of horned demons, monsters, and evil fairies. Sumptuously! Top class images. What genius carved them right in the bark? And why are they black? After all, the cut tree becomes light. The engravings seem to be sprinkled with ashes. So a dark mark remained on the hand.

Rick walked to where Athenais stood. Was she really talking to a statue made on the trunk in full growth? All movie stars are a little crazy, but not nearly as crazy. Although the statue was amazing. He wanted not only to talk to him, but also to get closer. What is it like to have sex with such a beautiful, albeit terrifying creature? Although you have to be ashamed of your thoughts. After all, in front of him is an angel carved in the bark. His wings and body are halfway into the tree, as if he were in captivity. The frozen face is striking in beauty.

So beloved AtHenais, but he is not alive. He cannot answer. And there are many wooden angels like him here. They are carved in the composition between the monsters, here and there. Rick grew bolder and ran his finger along the graceful lips of the angel he already liked. The bark of the tree at hand was suddenly hot, like red-hot coals. Rick didn’t even have time to be surprised, but he managed to scream at the top of his voice in pain. Woody lips closed on his hand, biting through the flesh and breaking all the bones. Blood spattered onto the roots, bright even in the dark. And they seem to have absorbed it greedily.

The effect of evil

An operator in the studio was not required. Waynes was wasting his time. The cameras seemed to be filming themselves. The setting of the horror movie was too realistic. One day, looking into an empty set, Waynes saw something hunched over and clawed, wielding cameras. Claws touched buttons, untangled wires. And Athenais just walked along the site, decorated in the form of a luxurious Roman colonnade. Where did the massive antique columns come from in the film studio? Waynes even touched them with his finger. Real! Not a fake! It is as if an entire ancient palace was fabulously moved into a modern pavilion.

Waynes heard something about the studio going broke not long ago. Now it flourished so much that it could afford any acquisitions. And all thanks to the star like an angel. At the sight of her, Waynes’s heart rate increased. Athenais, without bending his heart, could be called the most beautiful actress in the history of mankind. But that didn’t explain why Waynes felt like he had been burned up close to her.

Because of this scalding effect, he could not look at her for long. It seemed that she was the scorching sun, and he burned up in its rays and crumbled ashes at her feet. Her beauty was overwhelming, deprived of will and reason. In which case a woman is said to be divinely beautiful. When you want to die at her feet.

Waynes was never a romantic. Like all operators. His work at the studio is purely technical. Let scriptwriters and novelists enjoy the poetry of feelings. His job is to shoot the scene from the desired angle and adjust the scaling. He is the best specialist in his field. Therefore, Honor hired him. The owner of the film studio, which yesterday was on the verge of collapse, and today flourished, was himself a gloomy and nervous man. He drank a lot, looked around the corners, as if in search of house spirits, and was not at all happy about the enormous profit that he was hitting. Either money corrupted him to madness, or the difficult path to wealth cost him a mental breakdown.

The second is unlikely! Honor did practically nothing. The entire burden fell on the fragile shoulders of Athenais. She did not leave the set day and night. That’s really who made himself a star with his own hands. Waynes had long suspected that the large-scale action films that conquered the public were entirely her merit. From somewhere she recruited actors, unknown to anyone, but brilliant. Invisible helpers also grew out of the void. Waynes heard their footsteps, but did not see them. But he once watched how Athenais herself edited the films and did some tricks with the camera with her own hand. She stood behind the lens, dressed for filming. Dark angelic wings seemed to grow from her back. She filmed an empty room on camera. What for? Waynes never got it. Athenais told him to get out, and he obediently got away.

At Honore’s studio, he used to be silent and do nothing. On the one hand, it is a solid lafa to receive money for work that you do not do. On the other hand, a terrible secret beckons you. Waynes just sat in the studio for working hours and, if possible, watched Athenais. Once he saw how the cameras, placed in a close circle, filmed her by themselves and some monster that hugged her with claws. The black devil’s claws looked creepy against the lily-white skin. But the beast and the beauty seemed to be acting in tandem. The angel and the demon gave the impression of a single organism.

Later, he saw this scene in the film “Angel of Dawn” and could not comment on anything to friends who bombarded him with questions about how it was filmed and who was involved in the special effects. All former colleagues were sure that he was the main operator of Athenais. And therefore, he knows all the secrets of how the film was created. How wrong they were! But to admit that he sits in the studio and does nothing, Waynes did not dare. Let them consider him the star’s assistant. If he starts raving about ghosts, demonic claws near cameras and contracts with blank columns for employee names, no one will believe him. Everyone will decide that he is chattering incredible for the sake of a publicity.

Waynes himself did not understand why they were keeping him in the studio, a couple of secretaries, and even some black cripple named Eric, who could hardly walk on crutches. Erik was practically crawling, not walking. What’s the use of it? What is the point in contracts for films, where there are no names of actors and working filming, except for one name – Athenais!

Waynes suspected he was being hired for show. He knew that there were money laundering scams, but could there be a scam to launder a contract with ghosts? If so, he was hired to do just that. One living name among the many dashes in the treaty acts already looked like an excuse. Since there is one live employee at the film studio, it means that not all of it still belongs to ghosts.

Waynes knew a little about financial gambling. Before Honore, he worked with people who used movies and various celebrity charities to launder money from the left. Complete immorality and even criminality was often hidden behind the chic screen of stardom. But Athenais was above that. But her dishonest competitors from ruin were not saved by their adventures.

Waynes stealthily crept into Honore’s office, cracked the codes on the safes, looked through all the reports. No shameless transactions and double-entry bookkeeping! All revenues came exclusively from films. Not even an advertisement! It looks like a fairy tale! Typically, movie stars survive on promotions. Movies don’t make much money. Even if they turned out to be very successful, after the deduction of a share to the distributors and taxes, the creators have only a tiny percentage of the profits left. Athenais became an exception to all the rules. She ripped off the entire cash register. She paid no taxes at all, probably because of her connections with politicians. And the entire network of the latest fashionable cinemas with the mysterious ancient Egyptian name “Akhetaton” has long belonged to her. So who was the owner of the film studio with her? Everyone knew Honore as her sponsor. But is it really so?

There were no guards around, but someone here was definitely guarding everything. Waynes chickened out at the shuffling footsteps and hid all the documents back. He did not take anything with him and did not copy, however, someone started violent attacks on him.

With the onset of dusk, the empty film studio became scary. Someone was crawling along behind Waynes in the dark, and not only on the floor, but also on the ceiling. A couple of times the guy was caught in a black sticky web, which he hardly managed to break. And once, some creatures pounced on him in the dark and brutally tore them with claws. He woke up all in scratches, and for a moment it seemed to him that the same crippled Negro was crawling along the ceiling, which was running like a shadow for Athenais. He looked like a huge, shapeless spider, clinging to the ceiling with deformed limbs. He was angry, but the vision only lasted a moment.

It’s time to get out of this studio! He was not going to endure all this horror for the sake of one salary. Let all these are just the effects of lighting and editing, but after them there is a risk of ending up in a psychiatric hospital.

Several expensive cameras cracked and blackened in the lens, and the tripods felt like fire.

“She was filming the fire of Rome,” a creature lurking in the darkness explained with a snide laugh. “As if we haven’t seen enough of this before, but you haven’t seen it yet…”

Waynes did not answer him. He was not going to communicate with someone who was not officially listed in the staff of the film studio. So you can get confused with a gang of mafia. You never know who brought the diva to the shooting. A success like Athenais’s was probably based on something very risky.

The strange hunched creature twisted the cameras with its claws, as if it were the operator itself. But the broken lenses are no longer removed. It was necessary to warn him about this, but Neil did not waste words on the stranger. In addition, he behaved so self-confidently, as if he knew that broken cameras would be filmed for him, as if by magic.

The time was late. It was already possible to go home, but Waynes decided that he would write a letter of resignation right now. A muted orange light was pouring from the studio head’s office. So Honor is now at his workplace. Fine! And then he rarely appears here.

Waynes stopped before knocking. The door was ajar. Through the gap formed, one could see the golden head of Athenais. What is she doing at such a time in the studio of the owner of the film studio? Is it really the old fashioned way, as is customary in the world of show business – a star and a sponsor lover? Does not look like it. They are separated by a massive walnut table. And at the head of the table is Athenais, not her employer.

Everything around is somehow strange, as if special effects are about to turn on. The tension in the air is growing noticeably. The owner of the film studio is very nervous and scratches his own hands with nails until they bleed. Some unusual black animals are crawling along the curtains. And not cats, and not monkeys, but their skins are like coals. They seemed to be taken out of the oven. And their claws are like knives. There were obviously some special effects. Although why did they give up in the office. They usually negotiate here, not make films. Even a manual camera is not visible nearby.

“Did you really think you could keep the demon under control?”

Athenais’s voice was calm, not in the least mocking, but somehow it seemed that she was about to burst into laughter.

“There were plans…” Her boss was shivering.

“The king of Persia Kambiz also had. He wanted to see miracles, I showed him hell. It all began with the fact that his magician Gaumata reported to him that a deity lives in the desert that can be taken under control. I was poorly oriented then. I woke up for the first time after wearing in Egypt.”

Why is she retelling the plot of the film with her participation? He watched this movie. It was called “Daughter of Sunset”. There was a beautiful scene with King Darius on a bloodied bed after the ritual. He, like his predecessor, sought the love of a fallen angel. Alais was gentle with him, but cold: “I love you, but my passion burned out along with the beauty of my fallen angelic legion,” sounded in the frames. What if she repeats this to anyone who tries to get her favored off-screen? She seems to have gotten used to the role a lot. The sinister demonic makeup has not been washed away yet. Her face looked like smooth alabaster without moles, without wrinkles. What kind of powder does her make-up artist use to achieve this effect?

What she was saying now sounded like a monologue from some new script in the old style of mystical horror. But why was the owner of the film studio playing along with her?

“I, of course, apologize to you,” he fidgeted in his chair, “but I was told that summoning the devil is the same as a genie. There are certain rules.”

“There are no more rules!”

Did Athenais smoke? Somehow it doesn’t look like it. Fire escapes from her lips, not smoke. Neither a lighter nor a pack of cigarettes are visible on the table.

“And they were once? Was there any way to hold you back?” the sly notes in the voice of her interlocutor were hard not to distinguish.

Athenais smiled wryly. How good she is! Despite the pallor and inexpressive features. Her face was like a perfect mask, on which only eyelashes and eyebrows stand out in bright gold.

“You counted on this when you summoned the demon to raise the rating of your ruined film studio? When was blood poured over the Fall Memorial? When were you looking for a many-sided tree in the forest?”

This is no longer a dialogue, but most likely a plot for the next film. Then why does the owner of the film studio look so ashamed?

“Why did you miss the blood of former stars? Did you want mine from the start? Is it only the blood of the one who calls that matters?”

“Your call was hard not to hear. It was filled with such despair. People go crazy for money. And your studio is almost ruined, as well as many others, but only you called me. It doesn’t matter who advised you. You approached me voluntarily, but I did not respond. I wanted to sleep. I didn’t want to return to this world where everything is so gray and unattractive, except for my films. You didn’t need to wake me up. Then these films would not exist. The door to my world would not open through them. And your world would stand for a couple of centuries longer. This is what the Taor society and then the Templars fought for. It was so important for them to knock out this little at the cost of the lives of the elect – to postpone my coming to power by a century or two. They treasured the existence of humanity, no matter how tired and plain it was. And you called yourself. Here is the business risk. Making a lucrative movie for you is more important than saving the planet.”

“Don’t judge people! You are from a race in which they do not know what it means to have a fragile vulnerable body, to grow old, suffer, starve, suffer from thirst and endure the attacks of creditors.”

“Hungry and thirst, perhaps, unfamiliar instincts, but we know what it is to suffer,” Athenais nodded at the creatures that climbed the curtains and even on the ceiling. “And we know what it means to burn alive.”

“Those creatures inside the tree… Will they eventually break free and start acting in your films as burnt angels falling from heaven? Or will they break free for another? Someday one movie will not be enough for you. And they are hungry. They will easily finish off all those whom your films have not yet seduced.”

“The passage from world to world is not a tree of many faces, but screens of cinemas where my films are shown. If so far not all have watched them, this does not mean that it will also be in the future.”

Pass! A door! He felt that someone’s teeth, sharp as needles, closed in the palm of his hand. He looked down. Was the fancy keyhole molded in the shape of the manticore mouth malfunctioning? Couldn’t she bite him? It turned out to be impossible to free the hand.

“I smell blood!” Athenais’s voice caressed the ear. “It is a pity that not near the tree. It would be more reasonable there.”

He expected to see her next to him now. Her scarlet robe was already sliding down the aisle, but something black, scorched and winged, appeared near the door, as if it had come off a movie screen. It was tall, like a giant, with limbs like powerful tree branches. His cracked skin looked like the bark of a scorched tree. It reached out to him with dry black fingers, but there was nowhere to run. The keyhole caught the hand like a trap. And the creature at the door, alas, was not a special effect. And the smell of blood attracted him very much.