rest of the city. The shooters retreated from the center along the narrow streets to the houses of her enemies. To the places where they often go. To the establishments that they own. The whole map consisted only of those places where she was to visit, tracking them down. Here, only the main goals and workarounds were noted. Below are the names of her enemies.
«There are seven of them,» she said aloud.
«Seven?» Damian, busy assembling some kind of homemade weapon, perked up slightly.
«My enemies,» Blaise explained slightly offended. As if he himself didn’t understand.
«And it seemed to me much more.»
«What are you talking about?» Blaise frowned. Did he know something that she did not know.
«Well…» he drawled, as if she herself should have understood everything. «They have families, bodyguards, accomplices…»
«Families… not all,» she recalled three, whose relatives were carried away by accidents, disasters or infections, which in itself looked somehow strange, as if planned in advance.
«So you cannot take from them what they took from you.»
«But what have their families to do with it…»
«And what did you and your brother have to do with it? Why were you touched?»
The picture of the crypt and the seven statues came into her mind again.
«I don’t know,» she shook her head.
«There are several explanations, choose any. First, if someone in the family does harm to others, then his relatives are usually no better. One root, one filth. You can only eradicate everything as a whole. Second: there is rock and there is no escape from it, it is on everyone, on you, your dead brother, your distant relatives… Third: if you don’t want to take revenge on you, it’s better to destroy everyone at once.»
«I think all three explanations are fine with me.» She bent over the map again. «You know the names of my enemies,» she secretly already knew that she was right, but she started repeating it aloud anyway. «Neil is the oldest and most influential. He is the head of everything. The rest always obeyed him. He was almost my father’s equal before he decided to strike. Now he probably feels like in heaven, having received everything.»
«The skies can be dark and empty, especially after the biblical war that took place there,» Damian remarked, as if expertly.
Blaise ignored his remark.
«Then comes Alistair. Not so long ago, he left everything for a church career. And now he is a cardinal.» She plunged the knife into the map, now in a new place. The Church of St. Catherine is his parish. She imagined going there one night. «Holy scoundrel.»
«All scoundrels have always aspired to religion. It is so convenient to do evil under the guise of something ephemeral that hovers in the sky.»
«Yeah,» Blaise thought for a moment. «Etienne is in command of the mafia. But for society he is a prestigious gentleman,» she named the third. «Gerald leads the police, so any crime committed by his friends is so easy to hush up.»
«Your company of seven is comfortable.»
Blaise nodded.
«Angelo is a famous actor. Star and idol of the public. Recently he surrounded himself with such bodyguards that it would be difficult to reach him. George and Thomas are the stars of the ring. Whatever I give to break all their bones. But is it really possible to do this?»
«Anything is possible, baby,» Damian postponed his class for a moment.
«Even with your bare hands?»
«You can crush a wall with your hands, you’re just afraid.»
«I’m not afraid, it’s just that everything you say seems a little fabulous to me,» she raised her eyebrows, already knowing his answer in advance. Anything is possible if you believe in it.
«I want revenge, but look how high these people jumped. The cream of society. Important persons. Cones. And I am nobody. If I say my name now, they’ll think I’m crazy. It is easier for them to believe that I am dead.»
«Don’t call it that. Everything can be solved differently.»
«How?» She raised her tone reluctantly.
Damian shrugged lightly.
«First, it is worth observing them from afar. Rather from the shadows. You see them, they don’t. You tease them, they think you are a ghost and they start to be afraid.»
«Boldly, but how to implement it.»
«It’s simple,» he touched her hand, folded into a fist. «Such graceful fingers, but even boxers from the ring would not be as strong as this hand, if you wake up with an obsessed power. Do you know what obsession is?»
«This is when an evil spirit infiltrates a person. Demon. And the person becomes not humanly strong.»
«That’s it. And I am your demon.»
Blaise glanced at him. What is he hinting at? Do you have to sleep with a demon in order for it to take over your body? Or can everything be solved in a much simpler way?
The gloomy abandoned house that surrounded them seemed to be keeping some secret. But the only real secret she saw in front of her was Damian himself. The sight of him was slightly hypnotizing. As if he was not human at all.
«You let the demon in of your own accord. Your anger does everything for you,» Damian whispered to her. «The awakened anger is an obsession.»
Blaise felt an unexpected surge of energy.
«Do you want to continue your studies now, already without weapons, with your bare hands?»
Did he play with her?
«Why don’t you leave me alone?»
«Because I have no one but you. You’re the only thing I’m hooked on in this world. Your anger is what makes me exist.»
«It would be better if my anger gave birth to a monster that will take revenge on everyone.»
«It’s still ahead,» he grinned, somehow too mysterious and cruel. «Who else is among your enemies.»
Blaise considered. The evening before the fire, there were seven of them, but she knew who else was inciting them.
«Sister Angelo is also an actress,» she drew her name alongside, almost squeezed out. «Evangeline. She was ready to die to kill me. Although I do not understand the reason for such hatred, but now I also hate in return.»
«Great, more…»
«The son of Etienne Ivan, he always wanted to be the only one and at the head of everything. Since my brother did not survive, there is nothing to keep him alive for.»
«Correctly. Your pretty head proves that it has a claim to intelligence
