Page 42 of Depraved Royals
* * *
“Is it a play you’ve seen before?” I ask.
“No. I don’t know anything about it.”
“Then what makes you think it’s a good birthday surprise?”
“I’m confident.”
I slip off my shoes, my silk jumpsuit sliding along the smooth fabric, and I put my feet up.
Kal won’t tell me what play we’re going to see.
When we arrived at the East Village theater, he led me through a side door and into the VIP area. A word in an usher’s ear, and we were seated in a private box. A wedge of hundred-dollar bills didn’t hurt, either.
There’s a couch and also a velvet chaise. We can summon our usher with a mute button if we need anything.
I sit on the chaise, watching the stragglers take their seats in the stands below.
“I think you don’t give a shit about the play, and you just want to fuck me here in public.”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “You said it,milaya,not me. But if the play is boring, I’ll take you up on it.”
The house lights go down. The commotion in the room fades to silence.
A greenish light begins to rise at the back of the stage, and a projection appears on the stage wall as it grows brighter. It’s a young man writing.
His voice echoes as he speaks.
“3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8.35 pm, on 1 May, arriving at Vienna early next morning…”
I leap to my feet, grabbing the balustrade to see better.
It’sDracula.
Time and space stand still as I watch the classic tale unfold. Literature’s most famous vampire is a source of endless fascination to me, and this retelling is full of symbolism and Gothic atmosphere.
When the curtain falls for the last time, I’m in tears. I realize I didn’t speak to Kal once. It’s not until we are walking to the car that I remember what he said.
“You must have enjoyed that,” I say, “because you didn’t try and do anything inappropriate to me for the whole time we were in there.”
I shiver. It’s a cold night, and my outfit is classy but not exactly warm. Kal removes his jacket, wrapping it around my shoulders.
“I think it’ll stay with me,” he says, “but I wouldn’t have distracted you for anything. I’m not sure I can hold a candle to Dracula. What’s your attraction to him?”
“I guess he’s a classic Byronic lead, much like you.”
He frowns. “What the fuck doesthatmean?”
“A brooding, difficult hero with a dark past and raging, powerful passions. That’s you all over.”
We’re at the parking lot. Kal takes out the car keys and unlocks the car, opening the passenger door for me. I slide onto the seat, and he gets into the driver’s side.
“That isnotan accurate description of me,” he says sternly, starting the engine.
“Yes, it is. What part of that isn’t true?”
He cocks his head for a moment, glancing my way.