Lyre (12 page)

‘I want her skull!’ he bellowed.

Yuri froze.  There were more shouts and cries surrounding the car and a screech of metal as someone else managed to kick in the far door.  No-one was even glancing at the muscular monster barely fifty metres away.

‘Give me her skull!’  He lifted up one massive foot and slammed it back down onto the cement.  The ground shook underneath.

Far off in the distance, sirens began to sound.  He snarled, bunching up his gigantic fists.  He took a step forward, bloodshot bulging eyes becoming visible as more houses lit up the dark street.  It didn’t matter how many doors opened, however, nobody seemed to notice him.  Screaming fear ripped through Yuri.

‘We have to run,’ she shouted.  ‘Everyone you have to run!’

A couple of heads turned in her direction.  ‘She’s right,’ someone said by her side.  ‘The car might explode.’

‘No,’ she moaned.  ‘The giant…’

‘She’s in shock.  Come sit down, dear.’

The monster’s head swiveled in her direction.  Someone took hold of her arm.  She tried to shake them off but they were insistent, pulling her away from the twisted heap of the car.  Unable to rip her eyes away from the vast figure filling the street that only she seemed able to able to see, she saw him raise up one tree trunk of an arm and point in her direction.

‘I’ll be seeing you later,’ he grunted.  Then he twisted round and was gone.

Struggling for breath, Yuri gulped in air, her chest rising and falling in unalterable panic.

‘Ozzy,’ she gasped.  ‘Ozzy!’

There was a sudden hush.  ‘I know, Yuri,’ he said, his voice dulled with pain.

She looked over, following his gaze.  Slumped down in the backseat, a lethal shard of glass penetrating from her throat, were the lifeless eyes of Brittani.  The sirens screamed louder, flashing blue lights appearing at the far end of the road.

‘Finally,’ a woman muttered.

Ozzy shook his head, unable or unwilling to take his eyes away from Brittani.  ‘It’s too late.’

Yuri had barely been sitting on her chair for ten seconds when it started.

‘Hello, darling,’ Judy purred, draping himself over her cubicle divider and laying her head on his arm.  ‘Is he as fabulously gorgeous in the flesh as he is on film?’

‘Get lost,’ she said amiably.

Her eyes widened dramatically.  ‘You’re not going to tell me he’s actually only five feet tall, are you?  Please,’ she begged, ‘he has to be at least taller than Tom Cruise.’

She gazed at her in exasperation.  ‘He’s not an object, you know.  What does it matter whether he’s tall or not?’

A slow smile curved across Judy’s face.  ‘Yuri Tateno.  You’re smitten.’

Her cheeks coloured.  ‘No, I’m not.’

She jabbed a finger at her.  ‘Yes, you are.  You’ve fallen for the rock star.  Miss ‘I only date men with PhDs’ has got the squirmies for a musician who left school when he was sixteen.’

‘He was seventeen,’ she snapped, then realised her mistake as Judy’s eyes widened in delight.  ‘And besides, when I did say that about dating?  I go out with lots of different men.’

Her eyebrows raised.  ‘Oh, yes?  What was it you said about the last one?’ She tapped her mouth thoughtfully.  ‘That if you had a penny for every dumb thing he said you’d be able to fill a sock and smack him round the head with it?’

Yuri looked away.  ‘He was a special case.’

‘Really,’ Judy drawled, sarcasm dripping so obviously from her voice that it was almost pooling into Yuri’s desk tidy.  ‘And the one before that?  Ben?’

‘He was obsessed with his phone.  I don’t need to spend time with someone who thinks checking his email is more important than talking to me when I’m right in front of him.’

‘Alistair?’

Yuri scowled.  ‘He spent too much time at the gym.’

‘You’ve been holding out for Mr. Right.  Who, apparently, is also every teen girl’s wet dream.’

‘I’ve got work to do.’  Yuri immediately started tapping furiously on her keyboard.  It was somewhat unfortunate that she’d not yet turned her computer on.

Judy leaned further in.  ‘Did Oz put out?’

‘I am not having this conversation with you.  It’s incredibly unprofessional.’

‘Yuri!  There you are!’  Cam’s floated from the other side of the office.  He walked over with purpose and joined Judy.  ‘Tell me all the juicy gossip from last night?’

‘And when’s the photo shoot?’ Judy asked eagerly.

Yuri rolled her eyes.  ‘Today,’ she muttered, her cheeks warming at the thought of seeing him again.

Cam nudged Judy and winked.  ‘Our little Yuri is playing coy.  You know what that means.’

‘Cameron, sweetie, she’s only mortal.  Who wouldn’t want a piece of that kind of action?  He’s on my cheat list.’

‘Cheat list?’

‘Pre-agreed with hubby.  He has five.  I have five.’  Judy licked her lips.  ‘And guess who’s on top?’

Cam snorted.  ‘No wonder you want to know when the photo shoot is.  Are you thinking of tagging along?’

‘Oh, I don’t tag.  I stalk.’ 

He laughed. ‘Unfortunately, darling, unless you’ve morphed into a supermodel overnight, I don’t think you’re going to get much joy from that corner.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Yuri, get your arse in here,’ Don yelled from his office.

‘Anais Arletti,’ Cam said under his breath.  ‘And don’t say I don’t ever help you.’

‘No!’ Judy breathed.

‘It’s true.’

‘What?’  Baffled, Yuri glanced at both of them.

Cam tutted.  ‘You need to pay more attention to Twitter.’

‘Yuri!’ Don yelled again.

She got to her feet, frowning. 

‘Is there photographic evidence?’ Judy asked.

‘Au natural, mon ami.’

Throwing the pair of them intensely suspicious looks, Yuri left them to it.  An uneasy feeling was starting up in her gut. 

‘I don’t have all day.’ Don glared at her.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered, moving past him and into his office.  She perched on the chair and hoped he wasn’t about to say what she thought he was.

‘When’s the shoot?’

‘This afternoon.  I’m going to do the interview straight afterwards.’

Don rubbed his hands together.  ‘Excellent.  This is perfectly timed.  Did you get an answer from his people about the relationship question?’

‘Um…’

‘Either way, it doesn’t matter,’ he said dismissively.  ‘All bets are off.  You need to find out exactly what happened after the gig last night.’

Her worst fears confirmed, Yuri stared at him.  ‘Anais Arletti,’ she whispered.

Barely noting her reaction, Don nodded.  ‘Indeed. I’m pleased to see you’re taking an interest in your subject.  Have you seen the photo?’

Yuri couldn’t speak.  Her body felt frozen, apart from the odd stab of pain deep in her chest.

‘Yuri?’ Don prompted impatiently.

She raised her eyes up to his face, focusing on the greasy spot just to the left of his nose.  Mutely, she shook her head.

‘Hm.’  He frowned at her as if displeased, then swung his monitor towards her.  The screen was filled with a shirtless Oz and half-naked woman. In glorious heart-breaking technicolour, her almost bare breasts were inches away from his mouth.  From the angle of the photo, it looked like he was about he was about to bite.  The dark gleam in his eyes suggested desire and lasciviousness in equal measures.  Yuri swallowed and looked away.

‘She’s only been in town for a few days.  As I’m sure you already know, she was fired from the set of that Austen film.  It seems she’s in no hurry to get back to the States though.  Now we know why.’ Don pulled his computer back towards him and tapped on the keyboard.  ‘You must press him for an answer on this, Yuri.  We need details.  If those two are together, they’ll be the biggest power couple since the Beckhams.  Get him to commit.  Be pushy but not rude.  If they get hitched, we will still want to bid for the wedding photos.  Don’t mess that up for us.’

She clenched her fists.  ‘Okay,’ she answered quietly.  What else was there to say?

Don beamed at her.  ‘Excellent.’  He clicked on his mouse and focused back on the screen. 

Yuri stood up, moving towards the door, her shoulders stiff and painful.

‘Yuri?’  There was an odd note in his voice.  She paused.  ‘What can you tell me about this?’

Turning her head, she looked back at him.  His jaw was tight and his eyes were trained on her.  Confused, her eyes darted towards the monitor.  It was a photo of her walking nervously into Nemesis. 

‘I…’ she stammered.

‘You were there?  In the audience?’

‘Not exactly.’

Don folded his arms. 

‘I was backstage,’ she whispered.

‘At whose behest?’

Yuri stared at him. 

‘If you’re going to tell me that Oz O’Connor invited you to watch his set and you missed the after-party and what happened with Arletti…’  His voice was grim.

‘I wasn’t invited to the party.  I left when the band came off.’

‘Did you even try to gain entrance?’

Yuri had no sensible answer.  How could she tell her boss that she’d been so flustered by Oz and his words that she’d needed to escape from the constricted chaos of the club? 

‘I know you’re new at this, Yuri, but you need to start using some initiative.  You were there.  We could have had this photo on our own website instead of being forced to play catch-up.  It’s not too late for me to put someone else on this story.’

Something deep inside her hardened.  She wasn’t going to let her career as well as her heart suffer thanks to Oz fucking O’Connor.  He could have the supermodel if he wanted.  Yuri wasn’t going to let him mess with her though.  She looked her boss in the eye.  ‘That won’t be necessary.  I’ve already met with him and his entourage.  I won’t let something like this slide again.’

He watched her for a moment, assessingly.  Finally, he heaved a sigh.  ‘Alright then. But don’t let me down again.  We can’t afford to have any dead weight around here.’

Yuri bit her lip.  ‘Yes, Don.’  Head bowed and face flaming yet again, she made a swift exit.

*

Feeling briskly resolute, Yuri strode down the busy pavement towards the building which housed the record company for Orpheus.  The steaming humiliation swirling around inside her would be more than enough to see her through the upcoming afternoon.  She didn’t care whether Oz thought she was receiving her just desserts for actions long since committed against him.  No-one had the right to treat her that way.  She’d not imagined the look in his eye when he’d approached her as he’d come off stage.  The thought that he’d been acting made her fury and pain explode to epic proportions.  And that damn song … her face twisted.  Tilting her head up, she gritted her teeth.  She was a consummate professional.  Dealing with an egotistical rock star, no matter what had gone on between them in the past, would be a piece of cake. 

Yuri was so lost in her own daydreams about verbally squashing Oz to the floor like a bug that she almost didn’t notice the woman hovering in front of the large glass doors.  When she did, her mouth dropped open and she rushed towards her.

‘Medusa!’

Enveloping her in a hug, while the snakes surrounding her head curved their necks towards her and darted out their tongues in seeming affection, Medusa smiled.  ‘Yuri.  It’s good to see you.’

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, pulling back.

Medusa shrugged.  ‘I was in town.  I thought I’d pop by to say hello.’

‘You look great,’ Yuri said enviously.  In fact, she didn’t look a day older from when they’d first met in the zoo. 

‘You look like hell.’

Yuri’s hands self-consciously flew to her hair and she smoothed it down.  ‘Yes, well,’ she muttered.  ‘I’m having a bad day.’

‘Come and have lunch with me.’

‘I can’t.  I have to work.’  Yuri jerked her head towards the building.  ‘I’ve got a photoshoot to oversee and an interview to do.’

Medusa didn’t blink.  ‘With Ozzy.’

‘He calls himself Oz these days.’

‘Don’t.’

‘Don’t call him Oz?’

‘Don’t go and see him again.’

The earnestness in Medusa’s voice gave Yuri pause.  She shot her a curious look.  ‘Believe me, I’d rather not.  But it’s my job.  It’ll be done by five o’clock and then I never have to see him again.’

‘You can’t do this.’

‘You’re here to stop me,’ Yuri said slowly, comprehension dawning.  ‘Why?’

Medusa’s eyes sparked. ‘It’s not going to end well.’ 

‘It’s already not ended fucking well,’ she muttered.  ‘I bloody told Sibyl not to try a divining.’

‘She did it for him.  Not you.  Although…’

‘No.’ Yuri said, stepping back.  ‘I don’t want to know.  Whatever it is doesn’t matter anyway.  I meant what I said.  Once I’m done today, I’m done for good.  He can go back to playing the smarmy music hero.  This is my career, we’re talking about.’

‘Yuri.’

‘Leave it,’ she snapped.

In response, the myriad of green snakes writhed and spat in her direction.  ‘No.’  Medusa eyed her.  ‘Did I ever tell you what happened to me? How I ended up like this?’

Yuri blinked.  ‘You know you didn’t.’

‘I was seventeen and starry-eyed.’

‘Can we do this after?  I’m sorry but…’

Medusa snarled.  ‘Shut up and listen.  You owe me that much.’  Yuri stilled.  ‘As I was saying, I was seventeen.  I thought I had the world at my feet.  Most of the time I did.  I may not have had your exotic looks but I was beautiful.’  She cast a wry look at Yuri.  ‘You didn’t think I was born like this, did you?’

‘I…’

Medusa waved a hand in the air.  ‘Never mind.  Just understand that I could have had my pick of any man.  They were beating down my father’s door.  Frequently, my suitors would challenge each other to duels outside my window, partly because of masculine bravado and partly to impress me.’ Her face softened.  ‘There was one man who I thought was different to the others though.  He refused the fights and instead stood in the garden day and night reciting poetry.  He had a lovely voice.  His poetry was a bit vague, but that didn’t really matter.  It was the emotion he conveyed that counted.  I listened to him for hours on end.  Then I started to sneak out and meet him by moonlight.’

‘What was his name?’ Yuri asked, spellbound.

‘David.’  A smile traced over Medusa’s mouth.  ‘He was truly special. You have to understand that those were very different times to now.  We didn’t even touch.  But I didn’t need to feel his warm skin or his soft lips to know I was in love and we’d be happy forever.  I agreed to let him talk to my father.  He was from a reputable family so there was no real concern that my father would refuse his suit.  Just to be sure, however, I went to the temple to make an offering to the gods.’  Pain flickered across her eyes.  ‘It doesn’t hurt to hedge your bets.  At least, that’s what I thought anyway.’