God and the Devil by Anastasia Kogteva

Emil has never missed a meeting of artists,

where everyone placed their easels around a model. It could be a dog, a woman, and even a vase of flowers. For him, these events were his life. Apart from them, the artist was not particularly interested in anything. He had no friends, his family left him, and only the brush, palette and canvas filled his soul. He didn’t have much money, he wore anything just not to be naked, ate bread, and sometimes allowed himself something like a stew, which his neighbour brought out of pity. All this because of his conviction, which sounds like this: "If you can create a masterpiece, why give a damn about anything else, only bread and water, and nothing else is needed."

Today is Saturday. Emil goes with the thought of what awaits him today. "Life, life! To catch it and convey it in all truthfulness, love it as it is, see in its true beauty, eternal and changing, do not seek to ennoble it by castration, and understand that the so-called ugliness is just characteristic features. Creating life, creating people – that's what equates us with God!"

Immersed in his thoughts, the artist comes to the old room, which was allocated by an elderly sculptor. He does not greet anyone and does not even notice the dried clay scattered everywhere and its smell. Emil fixed his eyes on the new model and hurried to spread out his easel and squeeze oil paints onto his worn palette.

Fully settled in, and looking at the girl again, he felt a completely new feeling. Something in his stomach distracted him from the process. Even hunger could not distract the enthusiastic artist, but something unusual happened today. He noticed the look of the model and immediately blushed and hid behind the easel. "What is the matter with me? Is it really the devil in the flesh in front of me?" Emil thought "Well, no! I will not fall for her tricks. I will convey her whole essence in my painting." The artist stood up resolutely, confidently but absurdly walked to the table where there was a single bottle of wine smeared in clay and drank everything that filled it. Having noticed the drunk artist, the girl was embarrassed. "Aha! I got you, the devil! Now you can't stop me from drawing you all!" shouted Emil. But this did not even bother anyone, and the model simply smiled sweetly with her cheeks. He immediately set to work. Paint and a thinner were dropped at his neighbours. He threw an insufficiently thin brush at the collage opposite, almost hitting the beautiful nymph, around whom the demi-gods gathered. The girl could not take her eyes off the enraged artist, her hand tightly gripped the white cloth, which barely concealed her bare chest and stomach.

She was so interested in him that she lasted posing for three whole hours without a break. After some time, Emil finished his work and fainted. The girl ran up trying to help him and at the same time look at the picture. "Monsieur, are you hurt? Would you like some water?" And then she looked at "herself" on the canvas.

There was a woman at first glance, innocence itself, her blond curls were falling over her blond shoulders, which seemed to glow. There was a white airy canvas on her, and under it was a naked body like that of the most beautiful Venetian goddess. But what immediately terrifies? Her green eyes are full of magical power that will enchant anyone and bring them to their knees before her. Sharp black horns protrude from her beautiful hair, as black and sharp as her nails, which have slightly torn the canvas on her.

This picture is so beautiful that she looked at it with her mouth open and forgot about the unconscious artist. Then suddenly he woke up and grabbed her by the hair "Ha, gotcha, devil!"

"Monsieur, I beg you to let go, it hurts," she said. And when he stopped pulling her curls the model said with delight "I have never seen a more beautiful picture of me. You are definitely talented and endowed with divine power."

Emil immediately blushed and ran out, having left all his things and even a picture. The girl decided to keep it for herself so that later she would give it to this great master. However, although she begged to come here as a model, again and again, the amazing artist did not come here anymore.