Chapter 35 Aeri
With everything going on, my period had been just about the last thing on my mind, but with the way Bast reacted, I wonder if maybe I should have been more mindful of it.
Ruin stands with his back to me as I undress, and something about the gesture has me feeling warm and fuzzy.
What a gentleman.
“It’s not a big deal, Aeri. It’s not like he’s a vampire, he’s not going to attack you and drink you dry, but demons can and do drink blood, so the appeal to him is probably there.
I can’t say I’ve ever dealt with it myself, but I’ve heard it’s only bad if they’ve tasted the mortal's blood, so you should be fine.”
The way he so casually just mentions a vampire makes me curious, but it’s the other part that really makes me pause—my leggings right below my ass—as my head snaps up to look at his back.
My silence must be telling because he whips around to meet my eyes, his wide with understanding.
How was I supposed to know that him tasting my blood was a bad thing?
He holds my gaze for a moment before he seems to realize that I’m in the middle of getting undressed, shirtless, and damn near pantsless. The only thing that stops me from being fully on display is the fact that I’m bent over, but there’s no way he’s not getting an eyeful of my tits right now.
I see his throat work as he swallows hard, his chest rising and falling much harder than it was a moment ago.
I should probably cover myself, but I can’t bring myself to do it. If he has an issue with seeing me like this, he would turn back around, right?
Only one way to find out, I guess.
With confidence I wasn’t aware I had, I continue to undress, letting my leggings and underwear fall to the floor and stepping out of them before turning and walking around the giant bath.
I feel his eyes as they roam over every bit of me.
Five minutes ago, I would have been embarrassed, but for some reason, his attention only seems to fuel something in me.
Ruin watches me as I walk down the steps, the water slowly swallowing me up until it covers me up to my neck, and his eyes snap to mine as if broken from a trance.
“I… I’m, um, I should go and check on Bast.” He’s out the door, almost tripping over his own feet as he goes, not so much as giving me a second to respond or a glance.
Well, that will do wonders for a girl’s confidence.
I move to the bench on the wall that I only know is there because Bast showed me last time.
The water is the perfect temperature, just cool enough not to burn the skin from my bones and warm enough to ease the cramps I get as my monthly reward for being fucking awesome.
It’s nice and relaxing, but it only takes me a few seconds to slump down against the wall with a pout because it’s also super boring all alone.
I sink further into the water, blowing bubbles and kicking my feet because what else am I going to do? I don’t have any other clothes, Ruin said Bast would bring me some along with the painkillers. I also don’t see any soap or shampoo, and mine is in my shower back in my room…
Alone, I get the chance to really look around. The glass dome overhead is beautiful if not a little intimidating, but I get the feeling this castle has been here a long time; I doubt it’s going to suddenly crumble now.
A ripple in the water pulls my attention from the glass, but I don’t see anything.
It could be anything: a jet, a drain, the fire that heats it.
Whatever it is, I don’t want to think too hard about it when I’m here alone, so I move from the bench to swim closer to the steps to look at the statues.
They remind me of the statues you would see in relation to mythology, but instead of grays and whites, they’re all black.
Sleek and shiny, each is a different mythical beast: a minotaur, a centaur, a gorgon that I assume to be Medusa, and a hydra.
Not too long ago, I didn’t know that demons and angels were real, so does that mean these creatures are as well?
Despite the heat of the water, I feel the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I look at the details sculpted into them.
Fuck, I hope they aren’t real because they look terrifying.
A scream rips itself from deep in my lungs as I stumble back, almost going under in the suddenly too-deep water.
Something touched my foot.
I thought I saw something earlier, but I’d brushed it off. This isn’t like that, though. I know what I felt, and it was big and…
My chest heaves as I try to pull in a deep breath, but between my panic and the water, I’m not getting more than shallow pants.
I back up until my legs hit the invisible bench, and suddenly I’m sitting. I might be splashing and making waves, but the ripple that is coming toward me is not from me; I’m one hundred percent sure of that.
The fucking stairs are behind it, and with the way it moves, I know I have no chance of getting around it.
Looks like I’ll be climbing out the side.
I don’t give myself a second to think about it, instead trusting my instincts. In case I was ever curious, I’m definitely a flight and not fight kind of person, though I guess that was kind of obvious with the way I ran from Rome.
Scrambling out of the bath, I scrape my knee on the edge of the stone but don’t give it a second thought as I push to stand.
I’m out of the water, but it doesn’t feel like enough; I keep moving.
The floor is a lot slicker when you're terrified and dripping wet, moving like your life depends on it because it very well might.
For the first time since I woke up here, I’m afraid of where I am.
This is Hell after all.
Fuck, where is Bast, or Ruin?
I move to the edge of the room, my back to the wall. The door is to my right, on the far side of the room. The wall of windows and sculptures to my left.
Do I run out into the hall naked?
Can I outrun whatever it is in there? Somehow, I don’t feel like I can.
My mind is going a million miles a minute, picturing all the things that might come out of that water, but none of it prepares me for what actually does.
A snake.
Or at least I think that’s what it is, because in my mind I think of snakes like the ones at the pet stores or the small ones in the backyard. This is nothing like that.
This snake is so big I’m not sure how the fuck it even fit in there without me stepping all over it.
I want to scream, yell for someone, anyone, but I can’t. Panic chokes me, and I’m left staring into the eyes of this snake, who I’m about ninety-nine percent sure is about to make me a snack because I’m not even big enough to be a damn meal to the thing.
Ruin had warned me about the hounds, but not this thing? If I get a chance to haunt someone, it’s totally going to be him.
The snake continues toward me, and frozen like the coward I am, I do the only thing there is left to do and close my eyes.
Fuck, of all the ways to die, I never thought it would be from a snake.
Honestly, for a while there, I really thought it would be at the hands of Rome, and given the choice, this is definitely better, so at least there’s that.
Except it never comes…
Seconds tick by into minutes, and I give in to the curiosity and confusion enough that I crack an eye open to look around, only to almost swallow my fucking tongue as I choke on a scream.
I’d dared to dream the snake was gone, but it’s still very much here, only a breath away.
I can’t possibly look away, not with it right here, but as I stand looking at this massive creature, I can’t help but feel like something about it is almost familiar.
Its scales are dark, and the light in the room isn’t great, only candles in the tall candelabras in the corners of the room, but I swear its scales look almost green. There’s no mistaking the green of its eyes, so bright they almost look radioactive as they seem to look through me.
My breath catches as I realize why I know them, where I’ve seen eyes that color before. The monster-sized reptile chooses that moment to stick his tongue out, and it ghosts over my cheek.
Kai, this beast is Kai.
I don’t know how I know it, but I’d bet my life on it. I can feel it.
“Kai?” My voice is embarrassingly quiet, the panic clear as I try and swallow down the fear that threatens to choke me.
I’d never been a fan of snakes. I didn’t hate them, but I was never one to seek them out, and I’ve never been this close to one of any size. Though I’m not sure if it would have helped if I had been, does anything in life prepare you to be the center of attention to a fifty-foot snake?
Despite the fear that keeps my feet glued to the floor, my hand seems to have a mind of its own as I slowly, so fucking slowly as to not startle him, reach toward him.
I want to feel his scales.
Do they feel the same as his wings?
That night drifts back to me, the way he was near feral when I touched his wings, fucking me into the mattress, into a dreamless sleep, only to wake deliciously sore the next day.
His tongue flicks out again, and I swear the slits of his eyes narrow even further.
Oh shit, don’t tell me his damn snake can smell me too!
These demons are going to be the death of me, and not in the way one would think.
Something touches my ankle, and I jump. The hand that I’d been reaching out with flies to my chest as I try and keep my heart from escaping.
His tail moves behind me, nudging my ankle, and damn, his scales are cool on my overheated body.
It shouldn’t be calming, but somehow it is, until it begins to wind its way up my leg, higher and higher…
With every inch, my heart beats faster, and I feel like I’m on fire. No, that’s not quite right. It’s more like fire flows through my veins, warming me from the inside out.
I think I’m about to have a panic attack or something.
The door slams open, and Talian stands there, eyes wild as he takes in the scene before him.
For a moment, he looks confused, and I can’t say I blame him. It only lasts a moment, though, before he shakes himself and is across the room, moving to stand between me and Kai.