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CHAPTER ONE
Viya hastily pulled up the sheets against her almost skinny bare chest as soon as the man was in the bathroom. Her smile faded as well. This is boring, she thought. She wondered for how much longer she’d have to pretend and put up with this bastard. Boris was his name. Or Matthias. Or Stanilas. She could barely remember now. Last night was a blur. Where had he even picked her up from? She could only remember that she’d gobbled down large amounts of alcohol as if her life depended on it. Not only because she was fond of alcohol but because she needed to binge on the drink, if she wanted to make her client happy. She had to forget about his atrocious moustache or his mountain of a belly and only the alcohol could help her successfully do that. But most importantly she needed this operation to be a success.
She ran her fingers under the sheets, found her undies and quickly slipped them on. She shivered lightly as she got the chills when she pulled the sheets away. It was after six o’clock in the morning. She yawned resignedly and crinched at the stench of her own breath that hit her. She reeked of stale beer and cigarettes. She pulled the stained sheets up to her face but quickly dropped them again. They smelled worse. The stench was a mixture of protective rubber oil and human bodily fluids.
It was nauseating. Her stomach did a flip in a retching reflex but she forced whatever was trying to come up down again. She swallowed her disgusting saliva and made a face.
Prostitution was so underpaid, Viya thought as she stood up from the bed. Many people thought the sex at least was a bonus for them. But to Viya, that was just a myth. Once it began, she could hardly wait for the session to be over and when it was over, she could hardly remember anything at all.
Which was why it was so disturbing. It was never special. This was the very essence of two people getting together. It was supposed to be...memorable.
Viya quickly shook the distracting thoughts away as she slipped on her now wrinkled skimpy ensemble and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. Now was not the time to think of silly fairy tale get-togethers. Such affairs were certainly not meant for girls like herself, Viya thought.
She had a more important mission to finish here and she needed to focus. She bent forward to buckle her straps and the bed creaked. An annoying sound. One of the only things she could remember from last night. The rhythmic creaking. It was a cheap room from one of those places her friends would call a ‘’ shitty motel’’. The room was small enough to fit just one creaky medium-sized wooden bed, a bed side cupboard on which stood a good news New Testament bible, a plain faced- wall clock and two people. Boris or Mathias or Stanilas had not been able to afford something with a star before its name. He’d said something about everywhere else being jammed. The bastard. She ran her hands repeatedly over arms to warm herself up and wondered how much all this was worth. That was a question that would answer itself in a few minutes.
The toilet in the bathroom flushed. Then she heard water running in the sink. She stood up and picked up her fake designer bag. It was time to act. She rummaged quickly in her bag for any abandoned gum and found a wrinkled one. She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth then she straightened the tiniest skirt she had ever seen, took out her comb and headed for the bathroom.
She paused before opening the door and brushed her fingers slowly against the comb “I did my part baby,” she whispered to the comb. “Now it’s your turn.”
Then she opened the door and asked in her sweetest voice. “Honey what’s taking you so long? It’s getting chilly out here.”
“Oh,” he looked up. “Getting ready for work. Meeting at 8 o’clock.” Even though he’d cleaned up, he looked more hung-over than Viya. He smiled distractedly at her. She observed him as he knotted his tie and tried unsuccessfully to wipe off an incriminating stain lipstick from his cream-coloured shirt. Viya wondered what ridiculous stories they usually told their wives.
He had all the characteristics of a classic cheat husband. The bulging eyes, a protruding beer belly, the sweaty face and bad teeth. He was now trying to brush his hair. Even though the ‘afro’ was on a decline, his seemed to be on the rise.
“Here let me help you with that,” Viya said pulling out her comb and passing it through the thickest ‘afro’ the poor comb had ever seen.
“There you go,” she said looking at his reflection in the mirror and smiling.
“You look sublime-” She paused forgetting his name.
“Donatien.” He supplied “Call me Donatien baby; I will give you anything you want.” His voice was dreamlike. The charm was already setting in. Viya smiled peevishly and licked her lips.
“Just a signature darling,” she said taking out a chequebook from her bag. “That’s all we’ll be needing for now.”
Donatien followed her in his dreamy hypnotic steps as she went into the room and began gathering her stuff.
“Baby are you leaving? I’m here for you.”
“You just stay right here,” Viya said sitting him on the bed. “Me and my little comb friend here will see how much money your shitty account spits out.”
Then she signed a note that said ‘Compliments of Nadine,’ tucked it in his breast pocket and walked away, leaving her hypnotised victim with a stupid smile on his face.
Roman grunted as he snapped shot his mobile phone. His friend Tinsel looked at him expectantly and raised his hands in question.
Roman shook his head, “False alert,” he said.
“Another one?” Tinsel shrieked.
“Apparently he was just another disappointed lover and nothing more,” Roman said.
“Man that’s like the fourth false alarm today,” Tinsel complained. “What if this tale is just a tale after all?”
Roman looked irritated. He was tired of the kid complaining. Tinsel had been bombarding him with all kinds of questions since his arrival. They were standing on the balcony of Roman’s two-bedroom apartment where the reception was perfect. Roman could not afford to miss a call right now. Roman paced back and forth nervously awaiting his mobile to shrill any second. He had done research worth a lifetime to get to this point and there was no way he was giving up now. He knew the Comb of Persuasion was out there. In fact he believed there were a whole lot of enchanted items out there because he had seen and used of them before. The Whistler. It was a whistle that could make you sound exactly like any other person. At first Roman had been in awe of such an object. They only existed in fairytales. Then he’d become accepting of its magic and had even developed greater interest when he learned there were more where it had come from. The Whistler had come in handy a few times. He and his friends had had their share of fun with it but it was nothing compared to what the Comb of Persuasion would do for him. The places it would take him to. The only reason Roman had brought Tinsel in was because the kid was the best code cracker he’d ever laid eyes on. He’d met the kid at the cyber cafe when he’d crashed his laptop and someone had recommended Tinsel the whiz kid to him. Tinsel had remarkably repaired his laptop and restored all the lost files therewith. Though he was only nineteen, Tinsel could crack anything from simple to complex. Hell, he even saw codes and cracked them where there wasn’t any.
Tinsel’s code-cracking ability would come in handy for what Roman needed to do. So the least he could do for the meantime was put up with any kind of nosiness from the kid as long as he didn’t find out too much about how valuable these objects really were.
“What if this is just a crazy goose chase?” Tinsel asked.
“Well we’re about to find out,” Roman replied and lit a cigarette. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. They always did this under pressure.
“What are we after again?” Tinsel pried. Roman eyed him and tried very hard not to cuss. Tinsel’s lanky body was resting on an empty flower pot just against the wall.
“Damn comb,” Roman replied trying to remain calm.
“Oh that,” Tinsel replied. “And what does it do?”
“Hypnotize.”
“Using a comb to subdue people. Cool,” Tinsel nodded. “And why do we need it?”
Roman looked at Tinsel, his jaw bones tightening. He balled his fists and took a long drag from his cigarette. This kid could genius code cracker or whatever but he was definitely dim at times. This made Roman wonder why intelligence was not compatible with practical knowledge and common sense. You can’t have it all after all.
“To entrance people. For example the people with the code,” Roman answered.
“Oh yes, you’re right,” Tinsel nodded. “Then they wouldn’t be able to say no.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Look Tinsel you need to focus and get this straight. This comb will help us get a code from another guy. He has the teddy bear that the code has been recorded in. And he won’t let the doll out of his sight.”
“A grown man moving about with a teddy. That’s a bit odd,” Tinsel remarked.
“You don’t know the lengths some people would go for money,” Roman said before he could stop himself. Why could this kid not shut up?
“Money?” Tinsel’s eyes lit up. “That’s a new development I didn’t know about. How much?”
“Huh?” Roman pretended to be distracted.
“How much does the code lead us to?” Tinsel pressed.
“Not much,” Roman shrugged. “Just a couple of thousands.”
“Thousands!” tinsel sounded. “Man, were you keeping this as a surprise?”
Roman shrugged and dragged on his smoke.
“And you think this guy’s just going to let you comb his hair like that? He probably knows you’re coming and shit like that.”
Roman’s phone rang before he could say anything. It was the private investigator he’d hired to find the Enchantress.
“Just found another man in a semi-charmed state,” the investigator said.
“Sure it’s not another disappointed lover?” Roman asked cautiously.
“No, we think it might be her this time. She left a note.The victim keeps asking for a certain Eva.”
“Where is he?” Roman asked.
“Found him at One on One. You know one of those cheap places around Carrefour Cinq? Not her kind of place but it’s definitely her.”
“Talk to him. He should know where he picked her up from or what she looks like now. I need to keep her in check,” Roman spoke quickly.
“I’ll do what I can,” the investigator said before adding. “Sorry about this, man.”
“Happens,” Roman said and snapped the clapper shot.
“Anything?” Tinsel was standing beside him now. He looked anxious.
“We’re going to Carrefour Cinq,” roman said. “I think we found comb girl.”
“I’m gonna be rich,” Tinsel yelled and ran into the house. His baggy t-shirt bouncing as he skipped up and down. The inscription on his t-shirt read, ‘I Got It 4 Cheap.’
Roman took one look at him and shook his head. He had other plans for this kid that involved him buying clothes that were any better than these.
**********************************************************************************
Viya watched the young lady as she slowly signed the cheque. The pen in her fingers looked as though it was going to fall off any minute. She probably didn’t want to ruin her meticulously manicured nails. An expensive looking diamond ring sparkled in the sun as she tried to push back the smooth strands of hair that had fallen on her face. They were standing just outside the Western Union building in Metroville. Most of the male clients were bumping into the glass doors as they stared rudely at Nadine.
She gave a final swirl of her pen and looked up. Even Viya had to admit Nadine was a stunner. She had all the right curves in the right places. She was undebatably pretty and was what most men would consider a stunner. But still she was too young to be married to Donatien.
“There,” she handed the cheque to Viya. Nadine was trying to look stern and business-like but her good looks were not helping. There was no way she could pull off the sassy bitch look. She came off looking sad.
“That will do,” Nadine said. “Go on and cash that. I’ll be out here.”
Viya turned to leave when Nadine called her back. “He didn’t suspect you, did he?” Nadine asked.
“I already told you that,” Viya said. “We didn’t talk much.”
“Did you both of you do it? I mean did he...” Nadine’s voice faltered.
“I had to please the client before anything,” Viya replied. Good-girl –trying-to-go-bad-Nadine flinched.
“My husband is not your client,” Nadine tried to sound firm.
“We just proved that,” Viya said and Nadine flinched again. What was wrong with her? What had she expected? Viya sighed and went closer to Nadine.
“Look,” she said. “You knew he was two-timing you that’s you sent me after him in the first place. Now that you got him to sign this I think you should just cheer up and...live,” Viya finished unpersuasively. She didn’t sound convincing even to herself. She really was terrible at giving pep talks.
“Our marriage was only almost a year old,” Viya rolled her eyes and hugged the poor disappointed young bride.
“Well if it helps any, with all the money he has, your husband has really poor taste in hotels,” Viya said smiling at Nadine.
Nadine managed a smile and cleaned her eyes. “Are you telling me? For a rich man he’s stiff with money.”
“Well, you’re lucky he made you a signatory to his account. That didn’t turn out bad,” Viya waved the cheque in the air.
“I know,” Nadine said. “How did you manage to get him to sign that by the way? I have never succeeded in doing that.”
Viya shrugged. “We do have our methods,” she said and glanced at the building. “I better go cash this before they close up.” She turned and hurried towards the bank.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Viya was a few millions richer by the time she got home that evening. She could not believe how much luck the Comb of Persuasion had brought. First of all she needed to quit her stinking night-time job and find something less demeaning. She had to stop being a bat and come out more often during the day if wanted to have a real relationship. Next, she needed to get out of this shitty apartment and find some posh place around the Metro Cite locale that would be more befitting for a millionaire like herself. She licked her lips, poured herself another glass of wine and took a sip. The taste of victory was good. Real good. She was tempted to a light a smoke but tossed the cigarette away. She wouldn’t be needing those either. Smoking was a bad habit she needed to break. She added it to her ‘Habits to Toss’ list.
Then her face fell as she thought about the comb. She wondered if it was time to give it up. It had done some good for her but it had also done its fair share of evil. She definitely didn’t need it anymore...or did she? It had become part and parcel of her. Viya reached for her bag and delved inside for the comb. It was nowhere to be found. She emptied the contents of her bag on her bed and frantically tossed them about. Nothing.
Viya could not recall taking out the comb ever since her encounter with Donatien that morning. She tried to retrace her steps mentally but she could not remember stopping anywhere except at...the bank! She had probably lost it there. But she’d only spoken to Nadine.
Viya stood up and clenched her fists as it all came back to her.
The bitch! Nadine had probably grabbed the comb when Viya had hugged her. And there Viya was thinking the whole time that Nadine was capable of no evil. So much for her good and innocent looks. The girl had been pretending the whole time. She and her shitty husband deserved each other. Viya gritted her teeth and found the cigarette she’d tossed away. She was definitely cancelling breaking the smoking habit from her ‘Habits to Toss’ list. She lit the smoke and dragged on it hungrily.
As for giving up the comb, she just changed her mind. They were a lot of things they still had to do together and the back-stabbing bitchy Nadine had come in between them.
Viya took in a long drag. “Pretty pretty Nadine, have no idea what you just yourself into.”
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