Page 26 of Her Vicious Angel

He gave me that curious nondescript stare and said nothing.

I wanted to stay and warn Maria about him, that he was creeping on her dancers again, but Andrei grabbed me and sat me back on the motorcycle, and we were on our way to St. Petersburg.

14

CERISE

“Ihave a very low opinion of Anatoly’s intelligence and managerial skills,” I said in the twilight as we streamed along the road to St. Petersburg.

Andrei’s thighs tightened around me, and I could see his hands clenched around the motorcycle’s handlebars.

“That went like shit,” he said. “I never should have allowed him to have such an easy, painless death.”

I wasn’t sure having your throat slit open counted as an easy, painless death, but the feeling of his thighs on mine was so pleasurable that I didn’t say anything.

“Who is going to manage the theater now?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Maybe you should get someone who knows about the ballet to run it,” I said, “and not a petty, two-bit criminal.”

“The ballet is shit money,” Andrei said. “It’s the blackmail and underground shows that run through that theater that make me the money.”

“Oh,” I said. “If I ran the theater the first thing I’d do is ban Sergei.”

He shifted behind me, and I could feel him frowning.

“And why?”

“He’s creepy,” I said. “He keeps bothering the ballerinas.”

“Sergei has always obeyed me,” he said, his voice final. “I told him to leave and he did.”

I wanted to say more, but we had left the highway and were going through the dark streets of Veliky Novgorod, streaking and buzzing through the industrial section of town. Big dark buildings loomed on either side of us, and we passed seedy-looking motels and bars.

Andrei pulled up a block away from a tiny convenience store that emitted a bright, fluorescent light.

He hopped off the bike and straightened his tie.

“Stay here,” he said.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“None of your business,” he said sharply. “Stay here by the bike.”

“Ok, ok,” I said, irritated.

He turned and his broad shoulders and arrogant head were swallowed up by the darkness.

At first I stood obediently by the bike, looking nervously at the shadows around me.

What made this particular spot so fucking safe? It looked as dangerous as every other nook and cranny of this neighborhood.

The long minutes passed and Andrei did not return.

I was getting jumpier by the second. The shadows seemed to reach out and leer at me, twisting in strange and frightening shapes.

Finally I decided to just pop into the convenience store to wait for him. It was basically the same thing as waiting by the bike.

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