by Glen Frost
Before long, she heard more sirens. Probably the cops and firefighters, she figured. Well, Piotr is THEIR problem now…
It came as no real surprise when the two sets of footsteps approached her from behind, moving fast and overtaking her on both sides. Emily and Lydia. What do THEY want?
“You didn’t kill him after all,” Emily offered up as a conversation starter.
“Poor fucker probably wishes you had.” Was Anya mistaken, or was that actually admiration in Lydia’s voice? “That really was something special, sweetheart. A true work of art.”
“It was mindless cruelty,” countered Emily, shaking her head sorrowfully.
“Not mindless,” Anya said firmly. “Not mindless at all.”
“This I cannot wait to hear!” Lydia grinned.
“There’s not much to say. I settled the score with Marko and Piotr. Piotr will suffer far more after tonight than he would have done with a quick death. Every day, every hour, no, every second will be a misery of pain for him. Just as he has done to other girls.” Anya looked at Emily pointedly. “He will hurt nobody ever again. And as long as he is alive…”
“…then you get to stay right here,” finished Lydia. “It’s only staving off the inevitable, you know. We’ll have your soul in the end.”
“I know,” Anya shrugged.
“Then why? What are you going to do now?” The Goth girl sounded genuinely curious. Anya fingered the tiny scrap of paper in her breast pocket.
“I am going to have words with this Mister Guskov,” she said determinedly. “That conversation will go one of two ways.”
Emily raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
“One way means that he will bring my daughter to me,” Anya explained, thinking wistfully of what their reunion would finally be like. The closest thing to Heaven that she could ever imagine.
“And the other?” Lydia demanded.
“Ah. Well, that way means that I will kill him and everybody who works for him,” Anya explained casually. Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, “Oh yes, and I will also kill his friends, family, co-workers, his acquaintances…everybody he has ever known or loved. I will kill all of them.”
“Could take a while.”
“I have nothing left but time,” Anya pointed out. And with that, the frozen prostitute strode off into the ever-falling snow.
