Johnny walked down the cold street. The movie had been over an hour ago, but he just wanted to wander for a while. He didn’t need to feed the wall, and he hadn’t encountered any serious assholes yet, so the night had been free from bloodshed.
The concrete sidewalk clicked under his metal-toed shoes. The sound became monotonous, sending him into an unthinking stupor. The kind that comes from action without thought. When he actually remembered what he was doing, he had missed a turn by about four blocks. He was in a part of town that he had surprisingly never been to. He looked around, and his eyes fell on a small art gallery. It looked like it was about to fall apart, and the sign said it was only open five to eight.
In the window was a picture of a million white candles, burning in complete blackness. He kinda liked it, so he walked in. The ticket was only a dollar fifty and the artwork was twisted. He saw resemblances to the strange paintings that adorned the walls of his basement. Eyes, huge and strange, stared out at him. He noticed many of them were by a woman named Carly P. She wasn’t very good.
He saw a huge sculpture on the ceiling. It was like a million snakes twisting around one another. It blocked a lot of the light. Maybe that was so no one could see the pictures very well. Johnny guessed maybe there was a reason the place was about to go out of business. He was considering maybe bringing some of his paintings here when the name of an artist caught his eye.
Devi D.
The painting was amazing. Purples and blues swirled around white stars. White fireflies seemed to fly amongst the lines. He could swear there was motion in it. It practically glowed compared next to the mediocre paintings around it. Looking around, he soon spotted another painting of the same beauty. There were only two of them in the entire gallery. Of the hundreds of pictures, only two.
Johnny was astounded that she could paint so well. He had known she painted, in fact she used to talk about it a lot, before the…incident. But he had never known she was so good.
Speak of the devil, he saw Devi come in through the door. He hid behind a partition. He saw she had a couple more paintings under her arm. He grinned. Good. This place needed them.
She walked into what appeared to be the office. Johnny stayed where he was. Devi didn’t want to see him, he couldn’t blame her. A moment later, she walked out again. She still had her paintings. A tall young man stuck his head out of the office.
"We’re still focusing on Carly’s art. Try back next month."
But she was already out the door.
Johnny glared at the unknown man. He was probably the owner of the little gallery. Looking around, Johnny located a piece of paper. He scribbled a few words on it, and wadded it up. He threw it into the office, and ran outside.
He noticed the name of the gallery, The Paris Stars, and reminded himself to come back.
There were changes coming.

Devi struggled not to drop the pictures as she carried them around the corner to her house. She cursed under her breath. Anyone with eyes could see she was so much better than Carly. She set them on the ground, and searched for her keys. They had to be here somewhere…
"Devi? Devi!" An unfamiliar voice called out to her. Her hand instinctively went to the mace inside her coat.
"Who’s there?"
A figure stepped under the streetlight. Somehow, he seemd familiar.
"Wow, Devi, it’s been forever. Remember me? I knew you in elementary skool. Spidgey?"
"Spidgey!?!"
"Yeah! Well, I grew out of the nickname when I was 12. It’s Alex, now."
"Um…yeah…"
‘Didn’t Fat say he was dead?’
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah. I just havn’t seen you in a long time. I was just thinking about you the other day. Wanna come in?"
"No, I can’t. I have to get home."
"Girlfreind waiting?"
"No…no, I just have to feed my dog. I’ve been gone all day."
"Ok. See you around?"
"Cool."
Devi turned back to the door. She found her keys in her bag, next to the screws. She pushed the door open and headed for the elevator.

Alex stared at the door. Devi. Wow. He hadn’t seen her in years. Not since the near-fatal athsma attack, all those years ago. He began to walk home. He wondered how she could live so near him, and he’d never seen her. In only a few minutes, he reached his apartment. His golden retriver, Philip, barked eagerly. He grinned, and got out the bag of dog food.

Sometime the next day

Andre paced his office. What was he going to do? No one ever came to the gallery any more. He didn’t have enough money to keep it running another year. And now he was getting treatening notes from… someone…
He re-read the note:
To whom it may concern,
Upon entering your establishment, I noticed the work of a fine painter named Devi. Her artwork glows next to the ‘art’ of the other artists you have here. It’s laughable. I suggest you show more of the work of Devi.
-J.C.

He stared at the note. As he was considering it for the hundredth time, his door burst open. Carly came storming in, flinging a piece of paper onto his desk.
"Did you give my address to someone? I got this today, and,… READ IT!"
He did. There was a point, he agreed, that ‘constructive critisizm’ turned into ‘blatant insults.’ This was on the insults side. It described one of her paintings as a ‘laughable mess.’
"And I know you’re trying to attract customers, but, really, the ‘fake body’ thing doesn’t really go with the place."
"Fake body?"

Agent O’Connel hadn’t seen anything like this in over a week. Where were all the bodies coming from all of a sudden? Most people at least made an attempt to hide the bodies, after killing them. This guy, a veritable Jack the Ripper, just left them on the street. And no one ever saw anything.
Now, this particular murder, she could understand that no on head seen. The tiny art gallery looked like it didn’t see more than two customers a day. There were more now, though. If you think a cop giving a ticket attracts crowds, you’ve never seen an ambulence picking up a body.

From a distant point, Johnny admired his handywork. HE, of all people, knew what crowds bodies drew. Almost as soon as he had cleared the scene, usually. As he watched, a few people actually went into the gallery. He smiled a thin, almost feral smile. Perfect.


It was a few days later when Johnny actually got around to going back. He expected to seeing a whole lot more of Devi’s art. And he couldn’t find it. There were considerably more people here this time. (Publicity is everything.) There was no more art by Devi, although there were a few more pieces by Carly.
Enraged, he scribbled a short message on a piece of paper, and threw it into the office again. He was in a bad mood for the rest of the night. (be afraid)

Andre read the second paper to come into his office in the last week. It was from the same person. The long, scrawling letters couldn’t be mistaken.

Sir.
I have now sent several letters of the most amiable nature, detailing how things are to be done. You have not followed my instructions. I shall give you one. Last. Chance. Devi has more painting out, which I want to replace several of Carly’s.
Should these commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination WILL OCCUR.

Andre glared at the paper.
"I don’t bend to blackmail." He said softly. He tossed the paper into the garbage.


For once, Devi was having a date that wasn’t horrible. Alex was the perfect gentlemen. He held doors, he bought dinner, he didn’t fall asleep at the movie. And the movie wasn’t horrible.
"So, wait, wait, he was on the PIRATES side, and then he switched?"
"No, he was on Will’s side. The pirates mutinied, so he didn’t like them. And the Commadore’s men wanted to put him in prison, so he didn’t like THEM, either."
"But he was gonna give Will to the pirates. Her even told Captain Barbosa to kill him."
"No, he was bluffing. That’s why-"
"This is way too complicated." Devi interrupted.
"Yeah. But it’s fun to talk about."
"I guess."
Alex was driving her home. Since the theater was on the opposite end of town from her apartment, it was quite a ways. They sat in silence for a minute.
"Y’no, you’re the first date I’ve ever had that didn’t end in, like, an attempt on my life, or something." Alex (!) said. Devi stared.
"So you have that problem too."
"Yeah. I can’t help but think it’s an omen or something."
"Perhaps. It’s definatly SOMETHING."
Alex parked in front of her apartment building.
"Do you want to come in?"
"Yes."

"So he was on his own side. And he didn’t CARE about the others."
"No, no, Psychodoughboy, you’re missing the entire point."
"I get it." Said Mr. F. "He wanted to get a ship. And toward the END he cared about Elizabeth and Will."
‘Yes. But he was against the Commadore and the Pirates the whole time."
"And HOW many groups were there?"
"I don’t remember."
"Because you were doing something ELSE during the movie." Said MR. Eff. "You were watching Devi."
"She was right in front of me!"
"So? You’ve avoided her before." Psychodoughboy grinned. "You just wanted to see her boyfriend."
"Oh, shut up."
"She hates you, Johnny. Why don’t you give up on her? Just give up on everything. No one will ever see the light."
"I don’t feel like killing myself right now, Okay? I have something going on."
"Yes." Crooned Psychodoughboy. "Maybe if you keep getting the people at the Paris Stars to put up her art, she’ll forgive you."
"NEWSFLASH! Not much will make someone forgive you for an attempted homicide, Johnny."
"Shut up, both of you. I have an Idea."

The next time Johnny went to the Paris Stars, there was a large crowd. It was an opening night for a new exhibit. Johnny hoped dearly that there was a lot of Devi’s work in it. Because coming up with disasters was hard.
And surprise, there wasn’t.
Johnny looked around for something to do. The more fatalities, the better. His eyes landed on the ceiling. Or rather, the large sculpture HANGING from the ceiling.
A split second later, the cord holding it up mysteriously was sliced in half, and the mass of ‘snakes’ fell onto the crowd. Several were killed instantly. Johnny retrieved his knife, and hightailed it out of there.

"This is a disaster."
"No shit."
"Maybe I should put up more of Devi’s stuff."
"No. You promised ME the main attraction."
"But someone ELSE wants Devi. And they aren’t afraid to commit murder to get her."
"But that’s not FAIR."
"I know it’s not. But I’m sinking here as it is. If anyone else gets killed here, no one will come, and NO one will have any art here."
"But that’s not FAIR."
Andre rolled his eyes. Carly could be so immature some times.

"I have a plan."
"You should plan to kill yourself."
"No. I’m doing something else."

A time later (PS THIS IS THE DRAMTIC ENDING SO PAY ATTENTION!!!!)

Devi slowly came to. She had the sensation of being somewhere dark. Dark, and close. And she couldn’t move much.
"Hello Devi."
She jerked into alertness.
"Johnny?!?!"
"Yes, it is I. I tried to help you, you know. I tried to get them to put up your paintings. You’re so GOOD."
Realization dawned on her face.
"You made that scupture drop… you KILLED all those people, so-"
"Yes. But I did it for YOU. And I’m so, very, very sorry for trying to kill you that one time."
"Have you gorged yourself at last, in your lust for blood?"
"Yes. I have had more than enough killing. But the wall…" He looked at the floor.
"I need to keep the wall wet."
"Let me GO, Johnny. I want to go, and never see you again."
"He said you’d say that." Johnny pointed to two garishly painted statues. "So I made a backup plan. You see, we have a guest."
He pulled down a ragged blanket that Devi hadn’t even noticed. Behind in, also bound was-
"ALEX!"
"Yes."
Alex saw her, and suddenly became very angry.
"LET HER GO! Do what you a want with me, but let Devi go! Have you no pity?"
"I love her! Does that mean nothing? I love her!"
"Show some compassion!"
"The world showed no compassion to me.
"Devi, this is all quite simple. Stay with me. Or…" He gestured to Alex.
"You bastard."
"You, sir, are as good as dead. The only thing that can save you now, is Devi." HE turned back to her.
"Start a new life with me. Buy his freedom. Agree, or send your lover to his death. This is the choice. This is the point of no return."
Devi took one last look at Alex. A single tear trickled down her cheek.
"Let Alex go." She said softly.
"No! Devi, leave! He won’t really kill me."
"Yes, he will." She looked at the floor. More tears came, unbidden.

Good Johnny. See? I told you that was the only way to get what you wanted.
But she isn’t happy. She loves him… not me…
So?

Upstairs, there was a crashing noise. (They were in the VERY uppermost basement.)
"Police! Come out with you hands up! We’ve connected you with the deaths of FIVE people, and we will NOT hesitate to shoot!"

Johnny looked, panicked, at his two captives. With one fluid motion, he cut them both loose.
"Take her. Forget me. Forget all you’ve seen."
Alex made like to kick Johnny.
"Leave me here! Forget all of this." Johnny hurled a knife up the stairs, and an unseen man fell, dead.
"Go now, don’t let them find you!"
He threw another knife.
"Two stories down, there’s a passage, it’ll take you to my neighbor’s house."
He looked up the steps again.
"GO! Go now, and LEAVE ME!!"
Devi ran down a flight of steps, casting one last look back at Johnny. He was throwing another knife.

They soon found the passage, and scrambled through it. Behind them, gunshots echoed.



(FYI , Johnny never uses guns on anyone other than himself.)

Um… yay? I dunno. Words sound cooler with music, I guess.
Review, pleeze.