When cynical addict Rodion Popov makes a deal with the Devil and wagers his soul, his life takes a turn for the demonically surreal. Thrust into a city of shapeshifting sinners and chaos spirits, he must complete five tasks at the Devil's behest in...
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☨ THE DEVIL COMES TO ANGELOVSK 09: The Brothers Popov ——————————————————
Rodion stayed another twenty minutes at the office before Kostya sent him away with the key to his apartment.
Most people wouldn't have assumed anything was wrong between them because after his initial reaction, Kostya's face never again showed revulsion, only neutrality and restraint. A lifetime as the eldest son in the Popov had trained him well in that regard. He was a master of compartmentalizing his feelings in order to retain respect and keep the peace.
But when Kostya had pulled out his carton of cigarettes seconds after he came home, Rodion saw through him down to his tells. They had gone out on the balcony to smoke and listen to Radio Liberty until Rodion couldn't bear the tension anymore and cut off the host's presentation with the turn of a nob.
"Talk to me. Curse me out," he'd said. "Tell me how I fucked up your schedule by showing up and ruining your Tuesday."
"I'm not going to do any of that."
"Then vent. Yell at me. Punch me, if it'll help you feel better. I know you're angry."
"I'm not angry. I'm disappointed," Kostya had replied flatly. "Besides, getting into a fight over something we both know won't improve before going to Gleb's place would jeopardize exactly what you want."
"We're going to Gleb's?"
"That's where the balalaika is, isn't it? I'm not going there alone to fetch it for you. You don't deserve my help that easily. Not after you thought it fair to drag me into a mess I've fought to keep myself out of for years."
Rodion hadn't said a word, hadn't wanted to show just how tense those words made him. They'd packed in the radio and left for Gleb's shortly after, sparing himself from facing down a wave of debilitating stress.
Now, as they rode the lift up to Gleb's fourteenth floor apartment, he was rehearsing what he was going to say.
If talking to Kostya had been difficult, explaining himself to Gleb was going to be damn near impossible. Their last string of interactions had been brutal. Gleb had everything to say about Rodion's addiction, and all the actions to back up his vehement beliefs. He'd thrown every expletive, every scathing insult at Rodion after the corrosive nature of his addiction became apparent. Sometimes the worst of them looped in his head when he was trying to fall asleep: rat, thief, scum, sleepwalker.
Worse was that after Rodion's second relapse, Gleb had completely cast him out of his life. While Kostya dared to send him a little money and made sure he was still alive, Gleb refused to call, refused to check in, refused to do anything but make sure Rodion knew he was a smear across the family name. As part of his defamation campaign, he'd convinced their mother she was better off having only two sons instead of two sons who were clean and one who shot vint.
