It’s okay to have a little fun now and then, Sonya, the words echoed in her head. Her words, her voice.
The moment, she was leaning over a sink and staring at herself in the mirror. Her chest heaving. She had to e up for air. She coughed and wiped her face, gring at herself. Her meical eyes glowed a ferocious hot pink. She reached up and pulled a few strands of hair from out in front of her face. “hua,” Sonya murmured, looking down at her hands, trembling from the iy that had just nearly overcame her. Sonya’s lip curled into a sardonic smile, “She doesn’t even know who I am. We haven’t eve…”
The door opeo the bathroom and Marta slipped inside. She was dressed more for the occasion rather than her maid cospy, a look of fshed on her face. “You’re paler than usual, if that’s even possible,” She said, “Are you okay?”
Sonya looked at her for a moment and then back at the mirror, “Am I allowed to have this kind of fun? Is it okay?” She asked.
Marta gnced around, as if cheg to see if there was anyone in the restroom besides themselves. She stepped forward after a breath, “For someone who keeps calling themselves a Supervilin, you sure have a lot of guilt,” She paused when she saw Sonya wi the ent and smiled, “I know you’re trying to do something important, even if you ’t expin it yet, I’ve figured out that you have a bigger pn in mind. Ohat you ’t pull off without doing some terrible things.”
Sonya straightened and looked at Marta, sho her face.
Marta raised an eyebrow, “What’s so surprising? I’ve taken care of you for how long?”
Sonya looked away and chuckled, “...yeah. You do a lot for me, thank you, Marta.”
Marta feigned a curtsey, “It is my pleasure, Miss ovna,” She turned away, “I o keep an eye on your date, so I’ll be returning to the floor…” She paused and gnced back, “...but to answer your question, yes, have as much fun as you .”
The door to the restroom shut and Sonya looked at herself in the mirror, I’m not the woman she fell in love with anymore. I’m a different person and I’ve itted to that. She let out a breath, Okay.
Her phone buzzed just as she firmed up her resolve ahe weight fall off her shoulders,she gnced down at it and saw a text from Marta. Her gut twisted.
Sonya darted outside, pushing past the couple that had just thrown themselves against the restroom door in their amorousness and gring at them wheried to protest. They flinched away from her neon gaze, taking a step back. She turned her attention to the floor but didn’t see anything amiss on the dance floor. She pivoted to the bar and narrowed her eyes, Marta was standing there o Mikay. She had positioned herself between Mikay and three men and a woman, all of whom were taking hostile poses. Her eyes fixed on Mikay’s face, sullen, hurt, sad.
Sonya grit her teeth and ched her fists, bloodlust boiling in her veins only to force herself to calm down, reizing rage when she felt it. She o use it, not be used by it. You’re not a scout anymore, ovna, act like it. Sonya took a deep breath and walked straight forward, switg to teopathy and gng towards the entrance of the club. A few people nearly got in her way only to catch the look in her eyes and shy back. Sonya arrived at the bar as the woman eaking.
“You seriously think you have any right to work as a designer, four our bel?” She ughed, “Do you think these guys would wear yarbage? e on, Summers, you’re deluding yourself! The CEO would never okay it.”
Mikay shrank a bit more with every word, tears welling in her eyes as she cowered behind Marta. Marta gnced over and made eye tact with Sonya. Sonya noticed how the veins in her neck were throbbing, strained against every instinct to crush the skull of the bit front of her. Marta was a marvel of restraint and self trol, “Thank you Marta, I’ve got it from here.” Sonya said gently, causing Mikay to flind the woman to gnce her way.
“The hell are you?” The woman snarled as one of the men, models from the fashion lihat Mikay worked for based on text, raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Woah! That’s Sonya ovna,” The model said, pointing at her.
“Who?” The woman grunted, Sonya frowned, was this chick drunk?
“You know, that pany that makes monster killer ons for the police?” He said, “Don’t you watch the news?”
“Uh, no, I’m too busy making clothes for you to wear, idiot,” The woman snarled, rounding on him, “Who the fuck cares?”
“Excuse me,” Sonya said as gently as possible, restraining her growing fury, “May I ask what the problem is? Your attitude is going to make the booze taste bad at this rate.”
The woman rounded on her, “My attitude? This jumped-up bitch thinks she just fsh some pretty drawings a into one of the most exclusive circles of designers in the try! Attitude!” She scoffed.
“My date?” Sonya asked, still trying to sound ued.
“Yeah, your date probably just suh-” The woman frowned, fused for a sed, “Your date?”
Sonya stepped over to stao a tear streaked Mikay, “Yes, my date, the girl I am taking out for drinks, on a date,” Sonya tilted her head, looking a little ed, “Are you perhaps simple, miss? Or just drunk?”
The models flushed in surprise while the woman tried to piece through the staccato pattern of Sonya’s speech, when she finally caught up her eyes narrowed in fury. “You little…”
“You know usually when two people talk, they know one another's ypically, do you, do you have a name?” Sonya asked, “If so, I’ve never heard of you. You said you were a designer for Lucci?”
“It’s Ange Sparrow,” The woman snarled, “You watouth.”
“Ange Sparrow! Okay, I think I’m wearing one of your jackets, actually, funny that!” She said and checked the inseam of her jacket, “Yep, there it is, Ange Sparrow colle, wow,” Sonya said and held her tongue, she couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t a good fit or a badly designed jacket, it was great quality to be frank, but as spoke louder than words anyway. She slipped off her jacket and tossed it onto the ground. “Ah, that’s better.”
“You bitch!” Ange snarled just as a hand thrust out in front of her, she nearly spped it away when she looked up to see who had moved to stop her.
“You’re antagonizing the guests, miss Sparrow, gonna have to ask you to leave for the night,” The bouncer said, looming over her ahree models with an unblinking look in his eyes. He turned his gaze towards Sonya, “You alright dies? Miss VIP?”
Ange rounded on Sonya with a look of mixed rage and disgust on her face, Sonya ignored her and smiled magnanimously at the bouncer. “It was nothing, thank you for the timely intervention.”
He tapped his earpiece, “It’s why we have radio’s ma’am,” He said, not adding that he hadn’t reized the voice of the person who had hopped onto the frequend warned him of a potential fight at the bar. He turo Ange and her group, “If you will please walk ahead of me, I o escort you out. Owner’s orders. Otherwise I’ll have to get the polivolved.”
Ange froze and stared at him, wide eyed, as if he was an ihat had the audacity to threaten her. She looked back at Sonya and then spat on the ground, “Fine, I’m leaving. Shitty club anyway.”
The woman stormed off, her trio in tow and the bouncer hot on their heels. Sonya let out a breath and reached up to run her fihrough her hair. Her eyes fixed on Ange’s back. Ange Sparrow of the Lucpany, She itted the o her memory. I am going to-
A pair of arms ing around her from the side brought her out of her moment of lingering bloodthirst, she gasped and looked down, a head of silky pixie cut bck hair buried into her shoulder. The arms squeezed her and she felt herself rex a little, she smiled, l her hand down onto Mikay’s head, “It’s going to be okay,” Sonya said, stroking her hair. “I promise. I’m sorry you had to gh that…”
Mikay just squeezed tighter, “Thank you.” She said in a small voice.
Don’t tha, I’m not nearly done.
–
Bera Lucci had just woken for breakfast, the little aches that came with her seventy years of age b her more than usual this m. The house staff were already hard at wetting things ready for the day and she was enjoying a cup of coffee on the nding looking out over Flore was such a magnifit m. She took in a deep breath, her only regret that she wasn’t fit to walk the beaymore. She’d be permaly wheelchair bound within a few years, acc to the doctors, and soon she’d have to pass her pany on to one of those greedy idiots who could barely articute what the word ‘quality’ eve. If only she knew Jonathan’s secret. He’d refused to tell her st time they met.
One of the house staff stepped up to her table, looking posed as always while holding a cellphoo hold in her palms. Bera could sehe fai amount of trepidation in the way the girls throat tensed. She narrowed her eyes, “What is it?”
“You have a call, madame,” The maid said, ining her head politely, “I believe it is a woman, their name is Ishtar.”
Bera snorted, “Like the goddess? Oh please, why even bother bringing this to my attention?”
The maid swallowed, “The person said that if you refused, to mention Jonathan Adders.”
Bera spun, her eyes wide, nearly knog over her coffee. “Give me the phone, now!” Her heart pounded in her ears, was this it? Was this her turn to taste from the fountain of youth? Ishtar, were they implying an actual goddess was behind all this? Impossible. No, not impossible, she’d watched how the world had ged, seerangeness appearing more and more frequently. It had been just over a month sihat fsh of light from Greece. It’s real.
The maid bnched and quickly held the pho, Bera snatched it up and took a deep breath, posing herself.
“Hello?”
“Bera Lucci,” A voice came from the other end, it was raspy and cold, like a blood-slicked bde scraping across ice. There was a feminine quality there, but it was overshadowed by the otherwise bloodcurdling nature of the tone. “I am Ishtar. I’m calling because I would like to do business with you.”
Bera’s eyes went wide and a smile spread across her lips, “I’m listening.”
“Before we do, though, there’s a matter with an employee of yours that o be addressed,” Ishtar said, her voice menag.
Bera swallowed, “W-what I do for you?”
–
Sonya’s phone fshed with an i stating that the voice modutor was funing normally as she stared out the window of her living room, the moon high in the sky. “I’m gd we could e to an arra, Madam Lucci,” Sonya said softly, “We’ll go over the finer details when we meet in person. I’ve never been to florence, you should show me around when you have time.”
“Of course, Madam Ishtar,” Lucci’s voice came over the phone, “I was a bit worried at first, but you are a shrewd businesswoman. I’m looking forward to seeing how our cooperation develops.”
Sonya smiled, “As am I, Madam Lucci, thank you for your time. I will see you week.”
“ week,” Madam Lucci agreed, and the call disected.
Sonya looked down at the phone, swiping against the voice modutor and gnced over her shoulder. Marta was standing in the shadows. She didn’t even blink at the intense brightness of Sonya’s eyes. She hadn’t ged them from that eerie hot pink. She smiled, “You are ruthlessly kind, Ma’am.”
Sonya walked past her and took a low breath, stopping at the door to her bedroom. She peered i the dark haired form sleeping in her bed.
“Maybe,” Sonya said, “Or maybe I’m just greedy.”