Victor and Adele stood hand in hand near the massive front doors of an ancient gloomy building. Deep night hung over the street, illuminated only by a few dim lanterns.
— Hm... How strange. Less than two years have passed, yet this place already feels so alien... — Victor said calmly, looking over the large building.
Adele squeezed his hand tighter, trying to reassure her brother.
Victor looked at her and chuckled softly:
— I'm fine. Even though I hate this place, in a way it's precisely what helped me become who I am today. Come on, let's go. And don't be scared if you hear someone screaming — that's completely normal around here.
Victor reached out toward the heavy door ring, but Adele stopped him:
— Maybe I should?
Victor thought for a second and nodded.
Drawing her wand and whispering "Alohomora", she unlocked the doors, and they opened silently.
Stepping inside, Victor cast a quick glance around:
— Nothing has changed at all... Except maybe there are more cracks on the walls.
Noticing the two children who had broken in, a heavy-set guard immediately lumbered toward them:
— Did I forget to lock the door again?! Hey, what are you doing here?! Get the hell out before I call the police!
Victor gave Adele a brief look and nodded. The girl instantly aimed her wand at the guard:
— Obliviate!
The man froze in place, his gaze going blank and glassy.
Victor and Adele calmly walked past him further down the hallway. When they had already disappeared around the corner, the guard finally snapped out of it and scratched the back of his neck:
— Huh... What was I doing? — Then he noticed the slightly open front door: — Damn, forgot to lock it again! Good thing I decided to check...
Adele and Victor unhurriedly made their way deeper into the building. There were few staff members inside at night, but the rare duty officers who crossed their path and spotted the intruders met the exact same fate as the guard.
At last they reached an inconspicuous door beneath the staircase. Adele frowned slightly as a long flight of stairs opened up behind it, leading deep underground.
When they descended, a heavy iron door stood before them. Adele quickly unlocked it as well, and they stepped into a dimly lit corridor lined with a tight row of doors on both sides. This place looked far more like a maximum-security prison than a hospital.
— Ugh... — Victor immediately pinched his nose. — It always stank in here.
Every iron door featured small windows with thick grates so the orderlies could check on the patients at any moment. Victor approached the very first door and peeked inside.
— Not this one... — Victor shifted his gaze to the opposite door and shook his head again.
He walked slowly down the hallway, peering into every window. Reaching the middle, Victor suddenly frowned: his eyes caught one specific door. Ignoring all the rest, he headed straight for it.
— Hey, kids! Hey, are you lost?! — a disheveled, emaciated man stared at them from the window of a neighboring cell. — Wanna show me where the exit is? Open the door, and I'll take you home!
Noticing that the children paid no attention to him and kept walking, the patient instantly flew into a rage and began pounding on the door with all his strength:
— COME BACK! COME BACK AND OPEN THE DOOR! O-P-E-N THE DOOR! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! I'M NOT CRAZY! NOT... thud! ..CRA... thud! ..Z... thud! ..Y! thud!
With every word, he slammed his forehead hard against the iron lining of the door.
Victor stopped at a cell near the very end of the corridor. What was so special about it? Simple: it was in this very cell that he had spent several years himself after ending up here. Looking through the window, Victor smiled involuntarily:
— Well, well... So it's true.
— What's true? — Adele asked softly, stepping up beside him.
— That she asked to be transferred specifically to my old cell. You know, in a way it's almost... sweet. Open it.
— Are you sure? — Adele hesitated, listening to the dull thuds of a head hitting iron coming from the adjacent door.
— Of course. Open it.
Adele sighed, nodded, and did as her brother asked.
As the door opened with a creak, a woman in her thirties, who had been sleeping peacefully on the bed, snapped her eyes open. She was devilishly beautiful, though the years and a hard life had clearly taken their toll, and beneath her simple hospital clothes a rather alluring figure could be guessed.
— Ah... Is it morning already? — she sat up drowsily from the bed and rubbed her eyes with her fists. — Children? Oh, I see, it's another dream... But why children?
She casually scanned the pretty girl standing in the doorway, then shifted her gaze to the smiling boy... and in that instant, her drowsiness vanished completely. The woman sprang to her feet, her long snow-white hair spilling over her shoulders.
Adele instinctively tried to shield her brother and tightened her grip on her wand, but Victor gently checked her movement with his palm.
The cell was tiny, so the woman reached them in two steps. Leaning down slightly, she began to peer intently into Victor's face, then raised her trembling hands and started shamelessly feeling his cheeks and cheekbones:
— The same eyes... The same nose, chin... Hair is shorter, but... it's definitely you. You've just grown up.
Victor neatly intercepted her wrists and moved her hands away from his face:
— Hello, Abigail. Long time no see.
Victor couldn't fully grasp what he was feeling right now. Abigail Taylor had been his psychologist. They had never been friends — back then, Victor trusted no one, except perhaps the second Victor inside his head. But this woman had somehow managed to find her own special way to reach him. He could talk to her for hours on end, and it always genuinely amused him how skillfully she pretended to actually believe his strange stories.
And when a constantly screaming cannibal was placed in the neighboring cell, Victor desperately wished to finish him off — just so peace and quiet would finally reign. For that, he had used Abigail... Who could have known that once she crossed that line, she wouldn't be able to stop? Did he regret his decision back then? Perhaps. Just a tiny bit.
— I knew you'd come for me... — She smiled and looked at the cell wall.
Following her gaze, Victor noticed a drawing: full-length on the plaster, a boy was depicted with huge bony wings spreading behind his back. Abigail dropped to her knees before Victor and stared up at him:
— Demon... I'm ready. Take me! — She spread her arms wide and closed her eyes tight.
— What?! A demon again? — Victor looked at Adele, but meeting his gaze, she blushed self-consciously and turned away. — Why does everyone keep thinking I'm a demon?!
Abigail opened her eyes:
— Not a demon?.. Hm-m, I thought about that... Wait a second!
She scrambled up, ran to the bed, and after rummaging through the rumpled pillow, found a simple neck cross. Putting it around her neck with a genuine smile, she returned and dropped to her knees once more:
— Azrael... I'm ready, take me.
— Oh-ho, an angel now! But why the Angel of Death?!
Abigail looked at him in confusion:
— Not Azrael? I'm sorry, I just don't know your true angelic name...
Victor chuckled:
— I'm not an angel. I'm human. Pack your things, you're coming with me. Missy!
The house-elf materialized instantly in the center of the cell. Seeing the strange creature, Abigail shrieked and tried to leap back, but tripped over her own long hair and crashed to the floor in a rather provocative pose, displaying her seductive figure to Victor.
Adele, noticing exactly where her brother was looking, raised her wand threateningly:
— I don't think she'll be of any help to us. Let's leave her here.
— Hey — Victor gently released his sister's hand. — She hasn't even tried yet! Give her a chance — he smirked, seeing his sister's unhidden jealousy.
— Help? — Abigail sat up quickly, brushing the hair from her face. — Can I help with something?! Just say the word, and I'll do anything! — She stared at Victor fanatically.
— Alright, get up and give me your hand.
Abigail stood up. She still cast wary glances at the tiny elf, but was ready to obey any order Victor gave. She didn't know what he was, but she understood with absolute certainty: before her stood something unimaginably terrifying and powerful.
— I'M NOT CRAZY! — the dull scream echoed from the neighboring cell again, accompanied by another thud.
Hearing it, Abigail grimaced and looked at Victor with genuine pity.
Victor frowned at first, not understanding that look, but then realization struck, and he burst out laughing from the bottom of his heart:
— Ha-ha-ha! Well, it seems this place didn't do you much good either.
Abigail scoffed:
— Hmph! This place doesn't help anyone. It only makes things worse.
Victor nodded in agreement. He knew it from personal experience. This place was packed with people who weren't insane at all — they were just trying to play crazy to dodge prison time. But when people treat you like a lunatic for years, pump you full of heavy medication, and surround you with actual maniacs... you inevitably go mad yourself.
Victor stepped aside, clearing her path out of the cell.
Abigail smiled gratefully and walked out into the corridor.
— Hey, you! Want me to let you out?
The man, already curled up in a ball on his bed, leaped up and rushed to the grate. Blood trickled down his forehead, but he seemed not to care at all:
— Yes! Please, I beg you! I'm not crazy! I'm normal!
Abigail nodded with a sweet smile. She unlatched the heavy outer bolt and threw the door open:
— Go on.
— Ah-h-h, yes! Thank you! Thank you, thank you! — the man frantically shook her hands, showering her with gratitude before bolting toward the exit.
However, before he could take even three steps, he felt a death grip clamp around his neck.
— Khaa... Kh-h-a!..
Abigail used her long, thick hair to wrap tightly around his throat. The man fell to his knees and looked back at her in horror, but instead of her previous kind smile, he saw only pure, sadistic rage.
— How I sick of you... — she hissed. — How sick I am of listening to your screaming all day long!
She grabbed a strand with one hand, dug her knee into his back, and tore the neck cross off her throat with her other hand:
— Don't worry... I'll cure you. I'll free you from your suffering!
With all her strength, she plunged the sharp tip of the cross into his neck and yanked it toward herself. And then she did it again, and again. When the man finally stopped twitching, Abigail released her grip all at once.
Drenched in crimson blood, she returned to the cell and placed her hands on her hips with a happy smile:
— All done! I'm ready!
Victor squinted slightly, taking in her blood-soaked appearance, and smirked:
— How were you even allowed to keep a cross in your cell?
— Ha! Don't forget that I used to work here — I still have plenty of friends among the staff.
Victor nodded understandingly:
— Fair enough.
Then he snapped his fingers. A thick crimson smoke instantly wrapped around Abigail: her hospital pants and shirt were replaced by elegant everyday clothes, and all the blood evaporated without a trace.
Victor's eyes widened in surprise — as did Adele's. He stared in shock at his own palm. Just like in the cave! The moment he simply thought about what he wanted, his magic did it all on its own.
Abigail, oblivious to their bewilderment, inspected herself joyfully. She was breathing heavily. She had, of course, believed in Victor's superiority... But pure magic had just happened right before her eyes. Real witchcraft!
She dropped to her knees before him once more:
— Master... Please, command me!
Looking at her submissive posture and hearing the word "master," Victor involuntarily caught himself thinking about how exactly she could be used... However, his train of thought was rudely interrupted: Adele, out of pure spite and irritation, bit down hard on his hand.
Victor looked at his sister and smiled warmly:
— What, are you hungry?
Adele, realizing her bite had zero effect, merely huffed in annoyance and unclenched her jaws.
— Alright, get up — Victor turned to Abigail. — I know the night staff usually ignores this wing, but it's still time to get out of here.
Abigail quickly stood and walked over to them. Victor took her by the hand. Adele held tightly onto his other hand, glaring at Abigail with a look of pure hatred — even in a hospital uniform, it was clear that this woman possessed a quite seductive figure. Now, seeing her in neat attire, it was even worse.
Missy grabbed onto Victor's trouser leg, and with a loud crack, they vanished from the asylum for good.