His Doom and His Light.

Loud music drowned out the conversations of the guests. Dim light, the chaotic flickering of bulbs, cigarette smoke that filled the room. The man was sitting on a spacious sofa with his legs crossed, his hand was thrown to the back of the sofa. With an indifferent expression on his face, he was watching a girl dancing on the podium in front of his table, gracefully demonstrating her seductive curves, which were covered with thin pieces of cloth that only remotely resembled clothes.

She made every possible effort to enchant this important guest with enviable persistence, and her inner voice rejoiced, confident that the man was bewitched by her since in the last ten minutes he had never looked away.

But she didn't know that his reaction would be exactly the same if some wild monkey was jumping in front of his eyes instead of her. He didn't care.

"Mr. Taubert, what do you say? How do you like it in our club? Girls are trying very hard to make guests feel pleased when they leave this place. Business is growing rapidly, as are revenues. If you agree to support us so that the police do not scare our employees very much and invest a couple of millions in our growth, our club will become a very profitable part in your income. Don't you think that this is a tempting offer?"

The director of the men's night club filled Marcus's glass and his own with whiskey and offered the man a drink. He had to pull not a single string to reach this person, known on the black market for his bad temper, but also famous with his great generosity in terms of finances.

Marcus Taubert lived as if his every day was the last. Rumor had it that he ordered wild animals such as tigers and cheetahs, and entered into fights with them with his bare hands as an entertainment. But the club director believed that this was most likely an exaggeration, since not one, even the most powerful person, would survive in a fight with a wild beast.

Another entertainment of this strange person was extreme sports. One of the club owner's acquaintances told him that once Marcus jumped out of a helicopter without a parachute, but after some deliberation, both men agreed that this was also another rumor.

But that was the unambiguous truth, so that this man possessed enormous financial resources, the source of which was unknown to anyone.

Marcus finished the whiskey with one gulp and didn't even frown, his mood was terrible, "Do you think the income from your club will interest me? If I needed additional finance, I would be engaged in the sale of something more profitable. For example, weapons."

The club director immediately realized that this unpredictable man was a hard nut to crack, so it was wise to play with him correctly,

"Sir, you are right. This is not something that might interest a person like you. Anyone who can afford to buy whatever he wants won't be seduced by standard entertainments," he moved closer to Marcus and added half a ton lower,

"You can become our honorary guest. Girls will happily make your wildest fantasies come true. Relax tonight in one of our VIP rooms, and in the morning we'll discuss business over a cup of coffee."

The man waved his hand at the girl dancing on the podium, and she, like a graceful panther, went down to them. "I have to leave you. But I'm sure that Vivian will brighten up your leisure time, she is the best in it," the man winked at Marcus competently and disappeared from sight.

The girl, with a seductive smile on her face, and no less seductive movements, sat down on the sofa next to Marcus and clung to him with her practically naked breasts.

"Good evening, sir," a hot beauty purred in his ear, "You were looking so closely at me that my body is in fire now. I don't even know what to do," she ran her hand down along Marcus's chest and laid a hand on his hip, stroking the man's trousers provocatively. The girl's lips touched his neck, "Can you check me out? If you want, I'll ask my friends to join us... Ouch!"

Vivian screamed in pain, Marcus squeezed her hair in the palm of his hand and pulled the girl's head back even harder, "Who gave you permission to touch me?!"

"B-but, I thought-"

"If there was a brain in your head and you knew how to think, then you would not be sitting naked in front of a stranger, trying to seduce him," Marcus hissed through gritted teeth.

He could hardly restrain himself from strangling her here and now, but the girl was not to blame. These were his personal problems, which even he himself did not want to admit.

This Vivian was undoubtedly a very attractive woman, few would refuse to enjoy the body of such a beauty, but neither her dance, nor her body, nor her touch caused anything in Marcus except... disgust.

Disgust.

It was the only thing he had experienced for six months now. The sensations were so vivid that he preferred to abandon any sexual life altogether than to touch women. In the end, in the few decades that he managed to live, even such pleasures eventually lost their meaning.

And the endless life ahead every year was losing its color. He tried everything that was enough of his imagination. Unless he jumped into the volcano, although such an idea occurred to him.

And now, even physical pleasures were disgusting to him.

And he guessed what the reason was.

Marcus pushed the girl away, got up from the couch and walked quickly to the toilet. He physically felt a trace of her lips on his skin, and he wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, as from some kind of leprosy.

The man washed off the imprint of lipstick, washed his face and looked in the mirror. Drops of water were flowing from the ends of his hair, his breathing was heavy.

"Idiot, you can't run away from this forever," he cursed at himself. Six months have passed since that day, but he did not dare to visit his only friend. At least, this woman called herself that, and he did not really argue with her.

Marcus left the club and headed for his car, the driver immediately opened the door for him and bowed respectfully.

"I'll take a walk, you may not wait for me. And one more thing, tell my secretary to shut this viper down."

"It will be done, sir," the driver nodded his head, waited until his boss was out of sight, got into the car and drove away.

Marcus was walking slowly along a dark street, not knowing why. His friend's house was not very far from the place where the club was located, no more than a kilometer or a half. By and large, Marcus agreed to meet with the club's director only for this reason, but the man himself did not admit it.

He stopped in front of a low carved gate, it barely reached his waist, and looked at the house. The light was dimly lit in one of the windows; he knew that this room was a bedroom. There was no car near the house, which means that one of the owners left.

Well, that was better. Yes, even if they had known each other for many years, Marcus did not want to create an awkward situation.

He himself was embarrassed by the fact that he dragged himself here at two in the morning.

"Damn, it is so stupid" the man ran his hands over his face, he could not remember that he had ever felt like such a fool in his life.

His heart was beating at a frantic speed, faster than when he fell from a height of a thousand meters without a parachute or when a tiger was ready to bite off his head. Why wasn't he afraid in those moments, and now he behaved like a cowardly hare? It was so unlike him.

These damn visions are to blame!

If he had not seen his future, he would have lived calmly without thinking about anything. But those stupid pictures for more than thirty years periodically surfaced in his head, and he shuddered waiting for the moment when they became a reality.

The man took a deep breath and disappeared into the air.

A small nightlight, standing in a corner, illuminated the room with warm light. The shadows on the walls resembled birds rushing into a long flight.

Marcus looked around, there was nobody in the room. Next to the large bed was a tiny cradle.

The man hesitantly, afraid to make even a little rustle, carefully walked over to the crib and looked inside.

"Haaa," a breath of relief flew from his lips. And what was he afraid of?

In the crib, curled up, the baby was sleeping. She already had light curls on her head, she was sniffing softly, saliva was dripping from the corner of her mouth.

'So small,' Marcus thought to himself. Looking at a sleeping baby, in his life he would not have believed that she could be dangerous for him.

At this moment, the baby twitched, and the man twitched with her.

She rolled onto her back, stretched out and opened her eyes. The next second, an innocent smile lit up her face.

Marcus petrified.

He stopped breathing, thinking, hearing. All his feelings, all his nature was swallowed by a pair of clear brown eyes, looking at the man so steadily.

The baby emitted a joyful screech and pulled her arms toward him.

Marcus, as if hypnotized by this tiny little thing, himself did not notice how he raised his hand and touched her.

As soon as he touched her tiny hands, the man's body was enveloped in warmth and lightness. He had never experienced such a thing. Even before that fatal experiment. He had never felt so... alive.

The man fell to his knees next to the cradle, tears streaming down his cheeks.

He understood why he was so afraid and was waiting for her.

Only she in the whole world could give him freedom or subjugate him to her will, exalt him to heaven or forcefully throw him to the ground, kill him or make him alive.

She was his doom, his curse and his salvation.

His hopelessness and his light.

And her name was Amelia.