Anton relaxed against the leather cushions, sipping his martini. Idly his eye wandered around the room. He was always on the lookout for anybody important: friends, enemies, new targets. Some of his fellow demons considered Hollywood parties trivial and a waste of time – he considered them trivial and a waste of time for being so short sighted. Apart from being full of its own set of influence and power, the glitz and glamour also attracted powerful figures from all kinds of other places. He’d attended a charity ball three nights ago and met the CEO of a major worldwide bank; greasing those wheels could lead to all sorts of possibilities.
Then there were the celebrities. So full of insecurities and so in need of validation, they were ripe for the taking. It was child’s play. All it took were some compliments, some seeming concern and a carefully painted veneer of nonchalance about their fame. Few could resist his charm and he enjoyed that. It was a constant source of amusement that they remained so gullible and learned nothing from the mistakes of their predecessors, but more than that it was a brilliant score professionally. They were born corrupters of men, being so idolised, and whenever he managed to coax one under his wing it led to a healthy tally of condemned souls. Hell, his destruction of James Dean had almost redeemed him for losing Michael… almost.
That didn’t matter anymore. Tonight he had a chance to make up for it. Justin Timberlake was finally showing his face in public again and was due to arrive at the very same party within the hour. He was going to have to be cautious, knowing that the avengers had shown interest, but they never would have released him if they had any clue of Anton’s plans for him. His plan was not totally derailed. It had just taken a short detour.
“Anton, darling.”
A long, lithe body slid gracefully down into the empty space next to him, legs crossing delicately. Anton smirked, not even needing to look up from the Louboutin clad feet.
“Delilah. Always a pleasure.”
Finally his eyes looked up to see hers, which were green and oddly cat like. The smile too was feline as she held out her hand for him to kiss.
“Is it just me or is this party achingly dull? I haven’t met one man worth my time.”
“Then you’ll be pleased to know I have a job for you.”
“Oh?” Her eyebrows rose, interested.
“It’ll be more of a slow burn than your usual.”
“Ooh, a challenge. I’m intrigued.”
“How do you feel about boy bands?”
Her face fell, and glossy brunette hair swung crossly as she shook her head. “If you’re going to waste my talents on some sexually confused barely legal puppet with jailbait tendencies I’m going to be very insulted, Anton.”
The left corner of his mouth rose in a mischievous smirk. “I value your talents far too much to waste them, my sweet,” he said as he ran a lazy finger across her thigh. “The name Justin Timberlake mean anything to you?”
That got a much better reaction – her eyes glittered and the tip of her tongue ran over her red painted lips. “What did you have in mind?”
“I want him marked, but I need him primed first.”
“By me or by you?” Her eyes narrowed.
Anton grinned before giving her a teasing kiss on the cheek. “See, this is why I come to you - always so perceptive. The answer is both, Dee. I’m going to introduce myself, gain his confidence, and then I am going to introduce him to you and you are going to bowl him over with your innocent charm.”
“And you can take credit for the match. I see.” She sipped her champagne, gaze wandering across the room the same way Anton’s had. It was a species trait – always looking for a new target. “How slow are we talking?”
“Slow enough to call it dating.”
“My, my. This one must be special.” Delilah shifted thoughtfully in her seat, tapping long nails against her glass. “I take it you want more than the mark.”
He shrugged. “Yes, but not from you. I need his trust and a link to somebody else he trusts will help that along, so you just do what you do and be the woman of his dreams.”
“And who would that be?”
Anton’s face remained still, impassive, but anyone who knew him would see the smug and malevolent glow behind it. “We have a plant in Annabelle Maxwell’s office. The starlet herself is currently in a pointless rehab session, and we’ve concocted a little scheme to have an astonishingly good lookalike pose as her in the meantime. All to protect her reputation, of course.”
Delilah immediately understood. “Thus he lets his walls down because I’m famous too and as far as her people are concerned I’m just doing some damage control and having a helpful PR boosting romance while I’m at it. You know I really don’t understand why you’re still in the dog house Anton because you are deliciously devious.”
Anton preened at her comment. It was genius if he did say so himself – Annabelle Maxwell had a reputation for being all sweetness and light. It was entirely undeserved since she was in truth extremely promiscuous, mean spirited and a raging cocaine addict, but her wholesome image was sure to escape any suspicion. Justin was hardly going to assume a fellow celebrity was a terrorist or stalker or whatever line the avengers had fed him to keep him on his guard.
“Flattery will get you everywhere. You up for it?”
“It’ll be cake,” she said flippantly. “Hardly a challenge.”
“Now, now, I need you to take this seriously.”
“What kind of amateur do you take me for?” She replied impatiently.
Anton’s response was to grab her chin in his hand and wrench her face towards his. He had no time or room for laziness and arrogance in his plans. Her eyes widened slightly; though she fought to keep the bored and unconcerned look on her face she was afraid. The truth was that despite her success rate as a seductress she was a very low level demon – she got men into bed and when they succumbed it marked them with sigils which left them wide open for both infection and full possession. Anton was far more powerful than she was and far more vicious.
“Avengers have been watching him, may still be. I can guarantee that they’ve fed him some story and put him on guard for any new faces so it is absolutely imperative that you do not raise suspicion. Because if you ruin my plans by being indiscreet or slutting it up too much then I am going to destroy that pretty face of yours so thoroughly that you won’t even be able to snare a blind man. Are we clear?”
“Always Anton,” she whimpered sycophantically, trying to mollify him.
With a smile he released her chin, which now throbbed. Luckily the magic which allowed her to change appearance would mask the bruises far more effectively than any make up.
“Good girl. See, that’s why I like you so much Delilah. You always understand. Now go change. He should be here soon.”
Obediently and with a little too much haste, Delilah followed instructions and excused herself to the bathroom. She would have to re-enter the party as Annabelle so she needed to perform the incantation to change her looks and then make another entrance.
In a wonderful piece of kismet, Delilah’s disappearance was perfectly timed. No sooner had she gone than Justin Timberlake arrived. Anton smirked at the idiots who rushed straight over, falling over themselves for an introduction. They were so unsubtle they were practically elbowing each other out of the way. Did they think they were clever? It was so obvious what they were doing and why. Timberlake looked entirely disinterested in the whole bunch of them. Being obviously fame hungry in the presence of a celebrity was not the way to ingratiate yourself.
Anton, however, possessed patience. He waited until Justin had brushed off the leeches. He mingled congenially with other party goers while Justin had a couple of drinks, talked to some people he obviously already knew and relaxed a little. It was an hour and a half later before he saw fit to make his move, during which time Delilah had re-entered and was playing her demure little part to perfection.
Justin was standing at the bar waiting to be served. Anton settled in quietly next to him, not saying a word or otherwise betraying that he was paying attention. A small piece of magic made the bartender do an about turn every time he looked like he was coming to serve them. The bar was packed so there was no shortage of other people to serve. Still Anton waited, watching until Justin started tapping his foot and shifting impatiently before speaking.
“Do you think we’re invisible or something?” He sighed with faux irritation. “I feel like he’s served everybody in the room but us here.”
“Tell me about it,” Justin replied. “He keeps saying he’ll be with me in a second and then ignoring me again.”
“I’m kinda annoyed. I only stood here because I figured he’d rush to serve the celebrity and I could weasel in after. Now I got no chance of pushing in on that side of the bar.”
That elicited a chuckle. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“Maybe he just didn’t like your last movie or his girlfriend likes you or something.”
“Ha.” Justin snorted. “Just my luck. I only want a beer.”
Anton chose that moment to release the magic. Naturally the bartender rushed over, full of apologies and scrambling to fulfil both their orders.
“About fuckin’ time!” Anton exclaimed before turning to face Justin properly. “Nice to meet you, by the way. Though next drink I might wait until a different celebrity’s at the bar.”
“You too. Sorry, didn’t catch your name?”
Anton hesitated. Might the avengers have given him names?
“Alex.” They shook hands.
