Who: Nikolai Luzhin vor with a sleeping Kenya Rosewater What: Sleep Comes Even for Criminals When: Last Weekend in March Where: An Undisclosed Hotel Location Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Mentions of prostitution, death, violence, and general criminal behavior. Status: Narrative/Complete Upon Posting
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Sleep was something rare for people of their nature. Criminals. Life was dangerous for those who lived the life of a criminal. Vor were thieves-in-law because they chose to live by a code which they would one day die by; Nikolai Luzhin had chosen the life he lived knowing he would die as he had chosen to live.
They were beautiful.
Women who chose to live as strong a life as men.
"You are beautiful. I would to tell you this when you were awake. I would to tell you every day. This is not my place. I am not allowed to have this place with you. If I could have this place? My Kenya? I would take this place. I would take it and I would never give it up until I was nothing left but a corpse."
Kenya slept deeply only when she was too many drinks into the bottle or she had spent her night wrapped around Nikolai. They chose to enjoy one another as they could, as only two people who chose the lives they chose could. It was a dark life, dirty, one which led to blood and death more than kisses and new life. Nikolai tried to show Kenya the best of the world they had at their feet now in America. The Old World was one they couldn't put wholly behind them. It was embedded in their bones. Only people who had lived in that Old World could understand what it was to escape it.
Her hair was black silk across the white pillow. No make-up obscured her fine skin. All Nikolai could see were her lips, swollen from kisses, red at the edges from smiles which were all for him. They were nowhere special to either of them. A hotel away from Orange County which could have been any hotel, could have been in any part of these United States, yet it was special because they shared it together. They had a room with only one door whose entrance faced the parking lot as Nikolai insisted. He was able to block the door easily with the dresser.
Cheap hotels never had the sturdiest of locks, but they could be counted on for furniture which was easily moved.
Nikolai could hear Kenya laughing at him as he moved the dresser to block the door. It'd been hours. Her laughter would echo in his mind for years. Should the day come when he was once again taken to some prison, Nikolai would not go without laughter. Hers was freely given to him and he cherished its gift every time he was a man lucky enough to receive it. Her body might have been for sale, but her laughter? That was something no one could buy from her. Those smiles she gave him? The ones which left her lips swollen and red at their edges? Those were also not for sale.
"This love I have for you is not for sale, my Kenya. I will be here while you sleep and when you wake?"
Anyone could come through those doors for them. They had many enemies even though they were in America. Whores did not make many friends while men in Nikolai's business were only friendly with those who made corpses of their enemies. Kenya fought back her competition with better girls, better merchandise, better offerings. Nikolai fought back his competition by being known for being the man who would do anything at all in order to dispose of anything at all. They were honorable in their own ways.
"When you wake? I will be here."
Chuckling at his foolishness, Nikolai sat back in the chair facing the windows outdoors as much as the bed where his Kenya lay. They would be happy. For this weekend, they would enjoy the life of two people who were not entirely damned. Criminals could count on good sleep when they were able to have someone look out for them; who better to look after them than each other? Kenya would sleep the sleep of the angels while Nikolai kept the devil's watch to keep her safe and they would be together for as long as they were allowed.