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Eve Polastri has been sent on a half-mission, half-vacation for a day and a half to Budapest by Carolyn Martens with one goal only: to gather information.
They have been investigating murders happening around Europe, which they know nothing about besides that all the targets are influential people. Carolyn, who has contacts everywhere around Europe thanks to her high-ranking job at MI6, has been keeping contact with a former MI5 agent, Andrew Varga.
He may have valuable information, but since it’s highly classified, it can only be discussed in person.
So, by this, Carolyn decided to send Eve to Budapest, since the woman has been working night and day to gather more information about the killings, and her stubborn attitude cannot be stopped by anyone if it means getting to know something about the murderer.
Eve is more puzzled by the mysterious murderer, who kills with a style, without a trace. Sure, she wants to know why they kill, but most importantly who kills these people. Are they making them do it? Do they do it on their own? What goes around in their head?
What frustrates her most, is that they don’t have any clue about who the killer might be. No face, no age, no gender, just a simple shadow who lurks around Europe taking lives with an extraordinary style.
~~~~~~~
Eve’s hotel, which was built in a secessionist style like many other buildings in Hungary, is close to the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, the one that will take her to the western side of Budapest, Buda, where she’ll meet Mr. Varga.
Her phone buzzed as she stepped out of the hotel. Warm summer breeze hit her face and chatter of all languages swam around her. It was the end of May; most tourists choose this period of the year to explore the marvelous capital city of Budapest.
Eve took the view in, eyes scanning the tall buildings of downtown, the ones who’ve seen numerous wars, looking down at the people in their neo-classical greatness.
She took her phone out of her pocket to check the message from Carolyn. The man was contacting Carolyn to evade any kind of evidence of them meeting.
Carolyn forwarded the meeting point; the long row of chairs in front of Castle Garden Bazaar.
She typed the place in Google Maps and started walking.
~~~~~~~
10:57
She was 3 minutes early. Eve glanced around the place, only to find a really, really long row of chairs in front of the Castle.
She walked a bit, trying to catch a glimpse of the man who would seemingly look for her. Not noticing anyone who’d fit the description of the former agent, she took a seat.
She examined the building, taking every information in when a tourist guide walked opposite of her:
“The Buda Castle Garden Bazaar may suggest a collection of shops or some kind of market of the Royal Palace, but it has never been one, only in its name. In fact, the Bazaar could be more properly called a Cultural Palace with an Ornamental Garden south of the Buda Castle! The most remarkable features of the Buda Castle Garden Bazaar are worth a visit, such as the Neo-Renaissance architectural complex, which serves as an extension of the Buda Castle Royal Palace, and the fascinating historical stairways leading up to the Buda Castle level of the Buda Hills...”
She couldn’t hear the rest of the thrilled guide’s monologue, due to him being out of earshot.
But her attention was cut off short earlier from the walking Wikipedia when her eyes fell onto a woman in a pink dress.
It was a young woman, her hair dark blonde, maybe honey. Her profile was flawlessly sculpted, her cheekbones high, the golden earrings swaying along her perfect jawline. Her dress wasn’t really a dress, rather a two-piece. Her skirt possessed a darker shade, more of a scarlet color, while the jacket part was a lighter pink. It was separated with a black leather belt.
Her slim, elegant hands were spooning small pieces of ice cream, her eyes scanning the columns of the architectural wonder. She seemed focused, yet entirely inaccessible.
Eve was so deep in the analyzation, that she didn’t notice when a man took a seat next to her.
“Do you have today’s issue?” Eve got startled at the sudden interruption, but continued the conversation with him since he used the code.
“I forgot it at home. But I know the weather by heart.” Eve squinted her eyes when she realized how dumb this actually sounded. Who came up with these codes in the first place?
“Don’t worry, I have it with me.” He slid his hand under his jacket and took out the newspaper. He elegantly handed it to Eve, slowly stood up, nodded his head, and walked away.
And that was it. Her job here was done. The information has been passed to Eve, the message folded gently inside the newspaper. The rest of her stay in Budapest was simply “vacation”, as Carolyn put it, but both of them knew Eve wouldn’t waste these hours without doing a little investigation on her own. She was too invested in this case for that and awfully interested in the assassin.
Anyone working for MI6 knows not to open messages like these in a public area, so Eve simply put it away in her bag, she had time to look at it in her hotel. But her mind wasn’t only focused on the newspaper in her bag, but a woman she saw a few minutes ago. She left behind her empty cup with the spoon inside, the woman nowhere in sight. The dark-haired woman nevertheless was disappointed and headed back to the hotel without the joy of seeing the mysterious woman for the last time.
~~~~~~~
She entered her hotel room and without even putting down her bag, she whipped out the message, which read: “Attila Szombathelyi has been under protection, he may be the next target. He felt unsafe and caught a person following him. Recently he’s been stealing money from the State Treasury, but the government covered it up. The money has been sent to an anonymous account, but in the last 5 days, no transactions have been made. Might be the cause of the possible assassination.”
Eve felt on fire from the information. She felt like there were more to it, especially with the information that contained the part “being followed”. The assassin hasn’t made any contact with their targets, and yet, this politician, who couldn’t cover up the tracks of his wrongdoing was able to spot them. This just didn’t add up, either the assassin wanted to be seen for some reason, or it was a different person. Or this politician was simply being paranoid. She had to dig deeper to find out the truth. And that meant to meet Attila Szombathelyi. She just had to find a way to contact him somehow.
But before she would dive into it, she had another mission, assigned by Elena.
~~~~~~~
Eve was standing in front of a rather large queue that leads to a quite small ice cream shop. Ever since Elena heard about Eve’s mission to Budapest, she’s been nagging her to go to Gelarto Rosa, the notorious gelateria which is famous for its rose-shaped ice cream.
“Please just this one thing, Eve, and imagine that I’m there with you trying out those awfully sophisticated roses!” Rang in Eve’s head, and stepped forward a little as the queue shortened. She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the shop and sent it to Elena. She chuckled softly as she got a prompt, but an undecipherable reply from Elena. The message was half coherent, half keysmash peppered with tons of sobbing emojis.
She was answering Elena’s text when she smelled something extraordinary. A woman’s perfume danced around the modest shop. She slowly lowered her phone, and took a long breath, taking the perfume in as if it was the ice cream itself, clinging to the thread that leads to the woman behind her.
Before she could sneak a glance above her shoulder the scented woman stepped next to Eve, bringing the cloud of aroma with her. She didn’t need to turn her head to recognize the blonde standing close to her. The same woman who she happened to see sitting gracefully under the parasol at Castle Garden Bazaar, in her scarlet-pink dress, eating the frozen sweetness.
To hide her teenage-like excitement of the closeness, she averted her gaze to the prices written on the chalkboard. Couldn’t help but scoff to herself at the overpriced tourist trap. If Elena wouldn’t have been so damn excited about this dessert, she would’ve easily walked away. But at the same time, it wasn’t Elena keeping her here but the enigmatic woman standing next to her.
As if she could read Eve’s thoughts, sensing that the woman was thinking about her, she smugly smiled to herself. Still not looking at one another, they took another step closer to the counter, only two people distancing them from the ice creams.
Those few moments, that felt like hours to Eve, was filled with silence, until the taller woman finally opened her mouth, tilting her head to Eve, but still not looking at her:
“I’d definitely choose the pistachio and the vanilla one. Pistachio for the outer petal preferably.” It wasn’t a Hungarian accent, more Eastern-European, some kind of Slavic language. It took a few moments for Eve to register it as a Russian accent.
“Ah, thanks, I’ll choose those two then,” Eve replied with a friendly smile, turning her head, curls swaying on her shoulder as she studied the side profile of the other woman. The small smile was still playing on the taller woman’s lips. Her hair was down this time, running smoothly against her upper back. She was wearing a white lacy dress with red stripes at the end, matching white earrings, and elegant high heeled shoes. Did she change her fantastic dress to another in an hour? Well someone likes to show off.
The last remaining customers left and it was Eve’s turn, but before she could ask for it, the mysterious woman quickly faced her and said “My treat” and spun around to ask for the flavors.
Before Eve could acknowledge the happenings, the Russian woman took the two scones and handed one to Eve, quickly saying a “viszlát!” to the employees as she walked out of the shop, turning back one more time to look into the dark eyes of Eve, as she disappeared into the crowd with a smirk painted on her lips, leaving Eve bewildered once again.
~~~~~~~
Eve stood there frozen for a few moments more before she realized she was blocking the queue. She quickly stepped out of the shop, once again missing the stranger who happened to turn up here. Such a peculiar coincidence. She certainly wouldn’t be disappointed if they met up once again. There was something about that woman she couldn’t put a finger on.
While she walked on St. Stephen Square, the basilica standing in its glory in front of her, she decided something bold. The only way to contact the politician was through the Parliament, and she just happened to have her identification with her, making it no problem to pass through the building with flashing her MI6 contacts.
She started walking towards the Parliament with a determined smile.
~~~~~~~
“Elnézést, hölgyem, tovább nem mehet!” The guard warned her on a bored voice.
Eve with a smug smile whipped out her card with her face on it, the MI6 glamorously shining on top of it. The guards sneered, as Eve said: “I’m here on an official mission assigned by the MI6, is it possible that I entered? It’s highly classified and cannot be discussed out here under the public eye.”
The armed guards stepped out of the way and let the curly-haired woman in. To be honest, she didn’t have a clue where to find him. Lucky for her the man she was looking for was walking towards her. He was wearing a trench coat, buttoned up to his neck, anyone could guess that he was wearing a bulletproof vest under it. He spotted Eve and his eyes widened, swimming in terror. He turned his head, probably thinking that Eve was the sociopathic killer on loose. Before he could run off screaming she addressed the man.
“Don’t worry, you’re not the one I’m after, I’m with the MI6, I have some questions regarding the person who’s targeting you.”
His shoulders slumped and sighed with relief.
“Oh, thank God, I almost passed out in fear, lady.” He chuckled awkwardly. “What do you want to know? Do you have a lead? Clues? Anything?” He hurriedly asked as he walked up to her.
“I heard that you’ve spotted someone following you.” She replied, studying his body posture. He felt out of place, he was stepping from one foot to another, rubbing his sweaty palms in his coat.
“Yeah, I saw a person, dressed in a black suit. He was wearing a hat, I couldn’t see his face.”
“What makes you think it was a man?” Eve questioned, squinting her eyes. Most people tend to associate assassins with the male kind, but she knew better. She has studied several profiles of female killers, so this possibility wasn’t excluded.
“Uh, well he was wearing a suit, so I assumed… Didn’t look like a female figure in that suit, he didn’t have uh…breasts.” He muttered, feeling embarrassed.
Eve mentally rolled her eyes at this but continued her questioning.
“Do you think that they wanted to be seen? That they wanted you to notice them? Probably as a… a message to you?”
He looked confused, not entirely progressing the question.
“Uh…I don’t know? Why would he do that? Isn’t his whole job supposed to be stealthy? Unnoticed?” He was right of course, that’s supposed to be the point. But he wasn’t thinking the same as Eve.
The assassin had killed dozens of various people, all of them unnoticed, without a clue. Not a chance that they slipped with this one. It was a message, and not to this man, but to MI6. To Eve. The assassin knew that they were investigating her. They must know she’s here.
Eve realized she spaced out, and noticing that he wasn’t giving much information besides what she’s already known, she asked one final time:
“Is there anything that you haven’t told the police that you would tell me now?”
His eyes hit the ground before looking into the eyes of Eve and simply replied:
“I’ve told them everything, and to you too, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get going.”
And quickly walked away. Eve knew he was hiding something, a detail he hadn’t shared and might be helpful. She wasn’t going to get it out of him this way. She took a deep breath and walked out of the Parliament.
~~~~~~~
Google tells everything about anyone known to the public. She scoffed as she found the house of Mr. Szombathelyi way too easily with one click. It was near Gellért Hill where several embassies and ambassadorial residences line the streets.
Eve, after finishing her lunch, checked her watch. It was almost 3 in the afternoon. The time went surprisingly slowly considering how much she has found out. She decided to head to the Hill, but before trying to...to say nicely „look around his house”, she doesn’t want to draw any attention to herself in a time like this. Still, it was considered half-vacation, and the hill, especially the part with the statue, was loved by tourists. She decided to walk around Buda, do a little sightseeing, and around 5 in the afternoon she would finally go in. Not too late and not too early either.
It was exactly 3 when she reached St. Gerard’s statue. The view from there was breathtaking. She could see every part of the swarming city of Pest. It never stopped living. She took out her phone, grimaced when she was accidentally hit with the front view camera. Before she could turn the camera to the backside, she noticed a figure in the corner. Just when she noticed it, the shadow disappeared. She was about to turn her head, her fingers gripping her phone ready for the attack when a voice said:
“Do you know who it was named after? The hill?”
It was her.
The woman walked next to Eve, stood by her side with a smile. It was the first time they actually looked at each other, into the eyes of one another. The woman surprisingly hasn’t changed into another dress from their previous encounter. On her lips, a mischievous smile played, her eyes could look into the secrets of Eve. Her blonde hair was dancing around the air with the light breeze.
Eve relaxed the moment she stepped next to her, her frown disappeared as an enthusiastic smile appeared on her lips.
It felt like an eternity while they stood there looking into each other’s eyes. Eve eventually replied:
“Is it a trick question or are you the local historian?”
The woman chuckled and looked straight ahead as she rested her arms on the rocks and shrugged.
“No, I just checked it on Google. Found out some interesting facts, I was interested if a fellow tourist knew about it.” She looked back into the dark orbs of Eve’s, the smile never leaving her lips.
“So, you’re here for vacation too, huh? And not just following me?” She joked, secretly hoping she would get to know the blonde more.
The younger woman dramatically gasped as she put her slim hand across her heart.
“Excuse me? I was here first, I should say you’re the one following me.”
“Who says I’m not.” Eve fired back, raising an eyebrow and facing the taller woman.
The blonde too comically raised her eyebrows, at which Eve could only laugh. She took her arms off of the rocks and faced the other woman. She crossed her arms and gave Eve a loop-sided grin.
“You’ve caught me. You have the natural talent for following someone.”
Eve smiled back and leaned against the rocks, resting her hips on the cold part of the mountain.
The younger woman started walking, her back facing Eve, and stopped to look at the enormous bronze statue of St. Gerard.
“I suppose you don’t know why this hill was named after him.” She drifted back to their previous conversation. Eve didn’t reply, she knew exactly what the woman would tell her no matter what.
“This bishop was killed, then put in a barrel and rolled down the hill. Fancy way to get rid of someone, right?” The blonde looked at Eve with an amused smile.
Anyone who knew Eve even a little bit knew that the woman was fascinated by kills and murders like these. If she knew this fact she wouldn’t have hesitated to come here the time she stepped her foot on Hungary.
“You seriously wanted to start a conversation with “Hey guess what, a body was rolled down here, that’s why it’s called St. Gerard’s hill!”
The young woman shrugged her shoulders and replied:
“You’re still talking with me so I guess it means it worked.”
Eve chuckled again at the unique humor of the other:
“Honestly? That’s a pretty cool way to get rid of someone.” which earned a snicker from the other.
“What’s your name? It was rude of me not to introduce myself. Call me Villanelle.”
Villanelle. It felt like it was the only name that could fit this strange and unique woman such as herself. She felt like an enigma to Eve, but at the same time, she sensed openness radiating from her. She was honest, Eve knew it. Her mischievous smile disappeared and all that was left was an honest and charming smile. Even her eyes changed. She genuinely seemed interested in Eve’s answer.
“Nice to meet you, Villanelle, must admit I’ve never heard a name like that, would say it’s stolen from fancy Parisian perfume. I’m Eve.” She offered her hand which was met immediately. Her hands were warm but had a roughness to them. She shook her hand with a firm grip, her fingers leaving Eve’s slowly as if she wanted to cling to it more. The dark-haired woman missed the contact the moment the long fingers left hers.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eve.” She said in a low, husky voice, knowing what kind of effect it will have on the woman. Goosebumps ran along Eve’s back as the Russian accent rang in her ears. Trying to ignore the fact what a woman she met minutes ago did to her, she asked:
“What made you come to Budapest? I bet it wasn’t trying to charm unknown women with murder facts on hills.”
“Sadly no, although I wouldn’t mind if my job here was to impress beautiful women.”
Villanelle’s lips turned into a flirty smile for a second, then it disappeared when she continued:
“I’m here for work, an interview. I’m supposed to meet a man in a few hours who wears awful looking ties all the time. Seriously, he mixes dots AND stripes, which should be considered a crime against fashion. It’s a sin to even consider mixing it.”
Eve couldn’t help as her laughter bubbled up at Villanelle’s comment on his appearance. Seeing Eve’s reaction Villanelle stopped talking for a moment, breaking into a grin, flashing Eve her perfect teeth. She was fascinated by Eve, she wanted to know everything about her, so she intrigued:
“What about you? I bet it wasn’t stalking fascinating women like me.” Villanelle paraphrased Eve’s previous question which earned her another broad smile, peppered with an eye-roll.
“Someone sure is full of herself. It’s the job for me too, although my boss basically called it “half-vacation, half-work”. She didn’t lie, the rest of my stay here is gonna be vacation since the work was finished in 5 minutes.”
Villanelle’s eyes started shining as she listened. As Eve finished she quickly and shortly asked:
“Are you free this evening?”
Eve’s breath hitched on her throat as she heard her say it. Was she serious?
“Did you seriously just ask me out? In a country where neither of us is living and will leave in a day?”
“Uh, is that a problem?” Villanelle replied, not knowing what was so strange about her question.
“I mean…no, not really, it was just pretty bold of you. But considering the fact that I have nothing to do here at night besides watching Hungarian TV, not understanding anything from it, I’ll accept your invitation.”
Villanelle smiled, irresistibly. She was so proud of herself at that moment, Eve almost declined. But seeing how happy it made the foreign woman, she had no heart to do it. Besides, she would lie to herself if she did it for Villanelle. She was just as much excited to get to know the other more. She was honestly surprised at her own boldness, how she accepted it. She had no power to say so, she was so hypnotized in by her, like a magnet drawing her closer to the gorgeous woman. She wanted to know everything.
“Let’s meet there on that bridge in front of us. From there we could decide where to go, we could grab something to eat and maybe a little sightseeing if we have the time. I’ll probably finish around 7, so what do you say if we meet at 8?” The Russian woman offered. It was a good spot since neither of them knew the city that much to come up with a different plan.
“Sounds perfect to me. I’ll be there at 8.”
“I’m already looking forward to it.” Villanelle beamed and started walking backward. An hour has passed and neither of them noticed. Time seemed to slow down around them. The interview was coming up and Villanelle had no choice but to leave now to get there in time. She probably had to change once again, Eve thought with a smile.
Before Villanelle disappeared to the bushes, she turned to look into the eyes of Eve one more time, and said in a low voice:
“Til’ next time, Eve.”
~~~~~~~
Eve felt like she was on fire. She stood there for a solid 5 minutes after Villanelle left, still not believing that it actually happened to her. She couldn’t really believe herself! She accepted an invitation to a “date” or some sort with a woman who she had met, officially at least, an hour ago. How was she going to explain this to anyone?
Simply. She won’t tell anyone. Just as simple as that. It’s her night in Budapest and frankly, she can do whatever she’d like to. Even a date with a charming Russian woman with terrible humor whom she had met an hour ago.
She had to clear her head since she had important things to do. For example: breaking into houses. But she still had an hour for that. Sightseeing it is then.
~~~~~~~
The clock on Citadella read 16:53. She had to get going, it was now or never.
The number of tourists had fallen in a rather large amount. Attila’s house was dark, thankfully he wasn’t home. It was Eve’s time to shine.
She walked around the house, checking for the cameras that looked almost like decorations on the front porch. Lucky for her she picked up a few tricks from MI6. A simple gadget that fits on a keychain and with one click turns off all security cameras within 10 feet range. For 15 minutes only, so Eve had to work fast.
Eve picked up the skill of lockpicking during a drunk night with Bill and Elena. Bill was telling a story about how he learned how to lockpick in 10 minutes at the high school they were standing in front of. He was investigating a robbery and came up to three teenagers to question them. They shrugged it off with “anyone can learn to lockpick if they have 10 minutes free time in their hands”. It obviously wasn’t them, since the robbery he was investigating didn’t include any lockpicking skills. But grasping the moment he asked the boys if they could teach him those skills. He wanted to brag about it to his colleagues.
Then Elena came up with the insane idea to bet on whether Bill can teach Eve how to lockpick under 10 minutes. It ended in successfully breaking into the high school after 9 minutes of trying, then running away laughing with Bill waving his newly won 5 pounds to Elena’s face.
The lock clicked and Eve stepped into the house. The shutter was down, the AC was on. Was he trying to make the house as cold as possible?
She squinted her eyes as she tried to navigate herself around the modernly decorated house. Her hands finally found her phone inside her bag and turned on the flashlight.
His laptop was in the kitchen, sitting next to his unfinished coffee. He must have left in a hurry since his laptop wasn’t shut and neither turned off. Eve sighed with relief. She never thought she would be this happy to see a wallpaper of a beach as she was now. She didn’t have to break into his computer, trying to guess all the passwords. He gave her a freeway without even thinking so. No surprise he was caught.
It didn’t take her much time to find the account the transactions were made to. There were coordinates only, no name, no association mentioned. She quickly typed it into her phone’s notepad and continued her search. She had 7 minutes before she had to leave.
She searched through his contacts only to find a dozen of Hungarian names. Just as she was about to give up a message came in through his laptop. There was a hidden application within his hard drive, only able to be accessed by a password. The message was hidden, only the sender’s name was visible. “Tizenkettő”. She quickly wrote it down, she had time to translate it later in her hotel.
Not being able to find any new information, she closed every application she opened and stepped out of the house. Just in time before the cameras would turn back on.
She started walking down back to her hotel to find out more about the information she gathered. She’ll check out the coordinates, she thought, on her laptop, if those really are coordinates and codes for something else. While she waited at the red lamp she quickly typed in the Hungarian word to the translator.
Twelve. The anonymous sender was nicknamed Twelve. Maybe it had something to with the coordinates? If so, the numbers could represent different people, different places, maybe even missions. As much as she was puzzled at the coded messages she was terribly proud of her achievement. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Carolyn’s face when she would tell her that not only she met up with Mr. Varga, she even did a little digging on her own. Of course, she wouldn’t tell her the part where she basically broke into someone’s house, but still.
A self-satisfied smile appeared on her lips as she walked along the Danube on the bridge. She suddenly remembered that she will meet the fashionable woman in less than 5 hours. She also was reminded of the fact that she didn’t exactly pack her bag suited for the occasion. Before she would head back to her hotel she had to get a little souvenir for herself, which was more for the other woman, than herself.
~~~~~~~
It was 7 when she entered her hotel room. She went around the city, ticked off all the sights she wanted to see, and rewarded herself with a newly bought dress. She had time to do a little work before she could get ready for the night with her.
She took off her shoes and flopped down on the chair. This day was exhausting and it hasn’t even ended. She tiredly gazed at her laptop that was resting on the table as she ran her fingers through her mess of a hair. She rested her face in her right hand, the palm supporting her cheeks from falling off. She slid the laptop in front of her and opened it. Started typing in the coordinates she found on Attila’s laptop, only to find it navigated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Her instincts were right, it couldn’t be coordinates, it would’ve been too easy to find. She shut her eyes as her fingers rubbed her nasal straddle. She couldn’t concentrate, her mind kept drifting off to Villanelle. What was it about her that made her so fixated on a woman she had just met? She had been attracted to women before, but whatever made her brain click to Villanelle wasn’t just attraction. It was more of some kind of intense curiosity. She knew that it wasn’t just one sided when she saw Villanelle’s eye’s boring into her soul when she talked. It was as if both women were infatuated with each other, starving to know the deepest parts about one another.
Eve yawned and closed her laptop. She could only investigate when her mind wasn’t foggy with a certain woman and the weight of exhaustion.
She flopped on her bed, put on an alarm clock to block sleeping in too late. She could never forgive herself if she would miss even a second with the blonde woman.
The last picture in her head before she dozed off was Villanelle’s eyes.
~~~~~~~
She was perfectly in time. The dress she wore was a simple, knee-length black dress, with a V-neckline, hugging her curves. The dress was sleeveless but she didn’t mind it. The concrete drank the warmth in, making the city warm at night as the Sun went down. Her hair was down thinking the younger woman might prefer it down.
Just as she reached Erzsébet Bridge from Pest’s side she spotted a figure at the end of it. Villanelle reached the bridge from Buda’s side at the same time as Eve stepped her foot on it. Eve couldn’t help but smile from excitement. Their steps started to speed up walking more and more quickly towards each other. Villanelle wore a black suit with a matching dark vest under it. She skipped out the shirt part and Eve felt herself burning as she thought of it. Her hair was down, golden waves flowing as she walked in a quick tempo, the smug smile never leaving her face.
They met in the middle of the bridge. They stopped facing each other and gazed into the eyes of one another, breathing heavily and chuckling at their impatience.
“Hi, Eve.” Villanelle grinned, eyes glimmering once again.
“Hello, Villanelle.” The name rolled off Eve’s tongue easily as if she’d always known it.
“What do you say we walked around there? It looks wonderful with the lights on.” Villanelle suggested, pointing behind her back. Eve hasn’t seen all of Buda’s side, except for Attila’s house and St. Gerard’s statue, so she was glad the younger woman suggested that.
Eve replied with a “sounds good to me” and they started walking, side to side in comfortable silence.
“You look beautiful by the way.” Villanelle broke the silence after a few moments. She glanced at Eve with a kind smile. She did mean it.
“So do you. I bet you loved changing for the third time this day.” Eve joked realizing it right after that she has blown her cover.
“How could you possibly know that I’ve been wearing a different dress before you’ve met me at the ice cream shop? Are you finally admitting that you’ve been stalking me?” Villanelle grinned ridiculously, theatrically motioning with her hands.
“Dick,” Eve muttered at which Villanelle gasped dramatically. The dark-haired woman chuckled.
“I might have seen you at the Castle Garden Bazaar. I never really thought that you would show up at the gelateria.” Eve admitted.
“I’m glad I did then,” Villanelle replied shortly.
“I am too.” Eve beamed at Villanelle. They stopped walking when they reached the lamp. The lights of the cars illuminated the faces of both women. They couldn’t tear their eyes off each other, light eyes conjoining with the dark ones. The lamp turned green and it wasn’t until a few moments when they realized it.
They walked around the hidden parts of Buda, entering narrow streets from time to time. Villanelle spotted a small shop that was selling take-out pasta only. They used 3 different recipes every single day, Villanelle explained to Eve. She must have heard about this place before, she was so enthusiastic Eve couldn’t help but smile. Eve insisted on paying for both but there was not a chance racing Villanelle to it. The blonde woman ran to the counter and flipped her card out and handed it to the confused cashier. Villanelle maliciously smiled at Eve, smugly rubbing her “victory” into Eve’s face. The Asian woman rolled her eyes at that, the smile never leaving her face.
~~~~~~~
The Moon appeared on the velvet blue sky when they reached the Fisherman’s Bastion. Time felt endless when one was in the company of the other. During that one hour that they’ve shared thousands of thoughts flowed. In other moments the silence felt like a conversation too. It felt like they’ve known each other for years.
The magic was interrupted by Villanelle throwing her ice cream cone into the trash.
The young woman, of course, stopped at an ice cream shop that was about to close. Villanelle stubbornly insisted on getting dessert with Eve trying to talk her off, which ended in Villanelle blackmailing the girls behind the counter that eventually lead to her getting two scoops of ice cream.
“You’re such an asshole.”
“Hey! The shop wasn’t closed and I was a paying customer, they should’ve been delighted to see me.”
“They would’ve been delighted if you’ve left and didn’t blackmail them.”
“Not my fault that those bugs just appeared on the tiles, they should be more careful, there might be people walking around with phones just to take pictures of them.”
“By people you mean you?”
“Eve! You’re so cruel, I would NEVER do that!”
“Only because you got your dessert.”
“You’re not wrong about that, it’s extremely good, shame you missed it out.”
“Sorry, wasn’t in the mood to terrify teenagers.”
“You’re lucky I’ve done it for you.”
“So it was for me? And not for your gigantic stomach that somehow craved ice cream in the middle of the night?”
Eve smiled at their shared conversation not so long ago. Villanelle walked back from the trashcan where the remains of the cone became a part of all the thrown away parts of life.
“The cone wasn’t worth your sacrifice for me?” Eve grinned at the blonde woman.
“It was getting soggy which is a crime against humanity if you ask me,” Villanelle replied, once again, in the most dramatic way possible.
“Life imprisonment for all the soggy cones, huh?”
“Definitely.” Villanelle agreed, smiling sincerely.
A cold breeze hit them from the lake, sending shivers down Eve’s bare arms. Villanelle noticed immediately.
“Would you like to take my jacket?” Villanelle offered.
“Uh, wouldn’t you be cold then?”
“I’ve handled worse.” Villanelle took off her jacket, allowing Eve’s eyes to run through her bare, toned arms.
Villanelle stepped behind her and slowly put her black jacket on Eve, gentle fingers running through the end of her curls, getting them out of the way. Eve was pretty delighted that Villanelle was standing behind her so she couldn’t see the flustered look on her face.
Villanelle stepped away, the wonderful smell of perfume lingering around Eve, forever staying there.
“Thank you.” Eve finally managed to say in a quiet voice. Villanelle’s smile was filled with adoration.
Eve never wanted this night to end, and neither did Villanelle.
But both women eventually had to cut free from each other’s magnetic pull. They were leaving Budapest tomorrow and both of them had to prepare for the early flights. Still, they had time.
~~
After another hour has passed they were left alone in the dark. The city shut off all the lights near the Bastion. Villanelle was in the middle of her storytime when everything went pitch black. Both women jumped at the sudden change, Eve being invested in Villanelle’s hilarious story about her polar bear-looking boss and Villanelle feeling open and free. Their arms brushed together, hands lingering to touch. The worried looks on their faces were washed off by laughter.
“I guess this was a sign to end this night.” Villanelle smiled, her eyebrows knitting together. It was meant as a half-joke, but it came out more bitterly than she intended to. Both of them knew deep down that this night could never satisfy enough. They would just crave more and more nights like this.
“I suppose so. Where are you staying? I never asked.”
“At the Párisi Udvar Hotel, the beautiful building next to the bridge where we met.
“That job of yours really pays well, huh? Prick. That polar bear boss of yours knows how to run a business.”
“That’s what happens when you join international business organizations. The job can get kind of boring sometimes, monotone. But the stuff that comes with it is wow.”
“You don’t even enjoy it? The traveling around? Meeting with all kinds of people?”
Villanelle looked ahead of herself for a second. She looked deep in thought as if she was contemplating what to say.
“I feel bored too often. I can buy whatever I want to, go wherever I want to as long as I do my job. The people who I have to talk to are sooo boring. They are always convinced at the end and I win, not even a challenge.” Villanelle’s eyes welled up with tears for a second. Eve couldn’t see them, it was dark. But she could hear the brutal honesty in her voice. Eve’s heart broke at the young woman. She met this woman today yet she felt like she has known her for years. She would do anything to help her and get her out of this dull life she has. Little did she know that she has already changed the young woman’s life simply by being next to her.
“I think the best time I’ve had in a long time was tonight.” Villanelle looked straight into Eve’s eyes. It sent chills down Eve’s spine.
Villanelle cleared her throat, hiding the vulnerability that she has shown. She hasn’t let her guard down in a long time. But with Eve sitting next to her, wearing her jacket, she allowed herself to be honest for once. She quickly changed the topic.
“Where are you staying, Eve?”
“At Hotel Novotel. It’s close to your fancy hotel. It looks very art nouveau if you ask me.”
“Can I walk you back?” The blonde woman sincerely asked Eve. Eve could never say no to that face.
“Please.”
~~
Most of the walk back to the hotel was in silence. Unsaid words hanged around them.
“It is very art nouveau, you were right. Fits Budapest.” Villanelle said when they reached Eve’s hotel. They were standing face to face.
“It does. It’s such a gorgeous city.” Eve replied, not knowing what to say.
Villanelle didn’t reply. Neither of them said anything, they just stood there facing each other. It felt awkward and meaningful at the same time.
“Thank you for all this. I really enjoyed the night with you.” Eve broke the silence. She wanted to say more, wanted to tell her thousands of other things. She mentally face palmed herself for what came out of her mouth in reality.
“Thank you for making my stay meaningful. It was worth coming here.” Villanelle put her hands into her pockets. At that Eve suddenly remembered:
“Oh, I should give your jacket back!” She started taking it off but stopped when she felt gentle fingers wrap around her wrist. She looked into her hazel eyes.
“Keep it. I have a lot of other more. Keep it as a memory, a gift from this night.”
Noticing that Eve still hesitated, Villanelle continued her fingers guiding Eve’s wrist down to her side.
“Who knows, we might meet again. Then you can give it back.”
She smiled. She felt Eve wrap her fingers around her own. She never felt this happy.
“Deal.” Eve smiled back at her, eyes shining.
They started to slowly part, long fingers clinging to the last thread of contact. Eve stepped backward, still not turning around. She pulled the jacket closer to her body and looked into the eye of Villanelle for the last time.
“Til’ next time, Villanelle,” Eve said it like a promise. She wanted it to sound like a promise. A promise meant something that would eventually happen. And no one else wanted it to happen more than she did.
“Til’ next time, darling Eve,” replied Villanelle, who still hasn’t moved from her spot, standing in her black vest, hands in her pockets, her hair shining even in the night.
~~~~~~~
Eve sat down on a blue plastic chair right in front of the gate that led to her plane and dropped her bag on her lap. Her plane will take off in 30 minutes, all she could do was sit around and wonder about her trip. About her.
She ran her fingers through her messy dark curls and closed her eyes for a few moments. She was wearing Villanelle’s jacket for the ride. The dark piece of clothing smelled of her perfume. She smiled to herself as the smell filled her nostrils, reminding her of the night before. She never thought she would be this captivated by her.
As she opened her eyes, her gaze stopped on the man sitting in front of her. He was reading a freshly released newspaper. The reason why Eve’s curious eyes were fixed on the newspaper was the headline news.
It read: “Famous Hungarian Politician Murdered in His Home Then Thrown Off St. Gerard’s Hill”.
Her heart stopped beating. It couldn’t be… That was too much of a coincidence. Could it be...? No, that sounds crazy.
Underneath the headline, there was a heavily censored picture. There were a few parts visible, Eve managed to make out the main parts. It was a man wearing an awful-looking tie, stripes, and dots mixed, now soaked in blood.
It was Attila Szombathelyi. The targeted politican was indeed killed, as he could already sense it, but what was more intriguing was his death. He was thrown off the hill. That hill.
Eve’s blood was pumping, not knowing whether she was scared or excited. Maybe both. Definitely both. Her instincts weren’t lying. Everything added up. She couldn’t help herself and walked over to that man.
“Excuse me where did you get that paper?”
“I bought it.” The man grumpily replied, not even glancing at Eve. She sighed heavily, trying to calm herself down before she would throw this man off of a hill.
“Would you please land it over to me for a few moments? You know my daughter’s article is supposed to be published this day, I just want to check if this one is hers.” Eve lied easily. She noticed the man had three children with him, so she tried the “I want to support my kid’s career” technique. It worked. The mustached man shyly smiled, blushing from his bluntness from earlier, and handed the paper to Eve.
“Thanks so much, it will be a few moments only.” Eve smiled and quickly walked to the side not wanting to miss even more seconds than she already did.
She flipped it out and started reading quickly. He was choked to death, although he did fight. The blood on his tie was from his nose, the attacker easily broke it. The papers haven’t mentioned his connections with a secret organization, only mentioned that he had hired bodyguards a few days prior to his murder.
But the most chilling part was in the part of the small letters. The police had found a small paper in his pockets. It was apparently put in after the murder, maybe hours after it has happened. The killer went back to the body, risking getting caught just to put a message inside his pockets. It was a short one, written in posh, cursive letters.
“Thank you for the night, Eve. Hopefully, we’ll meet again.”
It was directly addressed to her. From Villanelle. She confirmed Eve’s suspicion. Villanelle didn’t exactly lie when she said that she was working for an international organization. She was too honest with Eve, she said too much information than she should have and Eve had no idea then. Did Villanelle know about Eve’s job? Was she actually looking for her? Was she supposed to get in contact with her? No, Eve was…special.
She sacrificed getting caught just to hide her little message. Eve by this knew that she was special. Villanelle never slipped before, never messaged anyone, but Eve.
Eve’s lips moved into a smile, her eyes shining. She should’ve been terrified, she should’ve been calling Carolyn and the whole department of MI6, telling them that she knows who did it, although she might have some explaining to do at the department. They probably know the news already. Eve eventually will have to face Carolyn.
But she was smiling. Closed her eyes once again and took a long breath, feeling the wonderful smell of the woman’s perfume that soaked into Eve’s hair now.
They announced that the gate was open now and the passengers were ready to get on the plane. Eve opened her eyes, her pupils large, the smile still plastered on her face.
She felt wide awake.