Chapter 20
Lionel couldn’t make himself turn around right away.
He stood motionless in front of the impossible wall, the doorknob still clutched in his damp palm, his fingertips tingling with leftover shock. The silence around him seemed to hum, thick and pressurized, like the whole room was waiting.
He counted his too quick breaths and heartbeat, trying to decide when he should acknowledge him. When he couldn’t drag it out any longer, he slowly glanced over his shoulder.
Mads was standing right behind him, head tilted to one side as he watched Lionel. Mads didn’t try to touch him; his arms were hanging by his sides, and he didn’t seem to be moving at all. Lionel couldn’t even see the rise and fall of his chest.
They just stared at each other a while, unblinking as Lionel tried to decide what to say, tried to decide if he was even actually awake or if this was just a vivid dream he was going to wake up from soon.
Lionel’s lips parted as he turned fully around, gazing up at Mads and trying to truly look at him.
Mads didn’t look dramatically different; that was what made it worse.
His white-blond hair was still neatly patted down, as if he’d just run his hands over it out of habit.
His skin remained pale and smooth, not splitting at the seams or crawling with something underneath.
His lips were still that soft, familiar pink, relaxed into their usual line.
But his eyes, the purple hue that had always given Mads a kind of soft, strange charm was gone, leaving only a deep red in its wake, and his pupils had stopped shaking, staring at Lionel with an even steadiness that made his skin crawl.
Lionel shivered as he took a step back, and then a second when Mads followed, until his back was pressed against the brick wall behind him.
“I woke up and you weren’t there,” Lionel said, the words tumbling from him in explanation. “I was worried— I didn’t know— I thought you would get hurt going out on your own,” he whispered.
Mads didn’t respond immediately, and for a moment, Lionel thought he wasn’t going to react at all, until a hand reached up toward his face.
Lionel tensed without meaning to. His spine pressed back harder into the brick wall behind him, eyes darting to Mads’ fingertips as they hovered near his skin.
He flinched slightly before he forced himself to go still again.
Mads' fingers passed gently through the sweaty strands of Lionel’s hair, brushing them away from his forehead with a kind of clinical softness.
His touch was light, but not hesitant; just oddly detached, like he was smoothing out the surface of something fragile.
Lionel’s skin prickled beneath the touch, but not from fear exactly. From something else, something colder. Mads frowned, his lips pressing together, eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Lionel’s expression. Mads frowned and asked, “Are you scared of me now?”
Lionel paused, not entirely sure what to say to the hurt expression on Mads’ face. He looked distraught, his nose scrunching up and his lips pulling down as he carded his fingers through Lionel’s hair over and over again. It took a few times for Lionel to realize his hand was shaking.
“No—”
“Then why did you just flinch when I touched you?” Mads asked.
“I didn’t know what you were doing,” Lionel whispered.
Mads just hummed, not looking entirely convinced as he let his hand drop. “I knew you were following me,” he said slowly. “I wanted you to see this.”
Lionel’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips, though it didn’t do much considering his entire mouth was dry. He tried to swallow around it, but nearly choked. “Why?” he finally asked. “You could have just… told me?”
“Because I don’t think you would have believed me,” Mads said, his eyes flicking back to Lionel’s and holding his gaze. “I don’t think you would have actually understood.”
“I still don’t think I understand,” Lionel murmured, the words barely making it past his lips. They felt sluggish and loose in his mouth, like he was still trying to convince himself he’d actually said them aloud.
Mads’ lips tilted upwards at that. “What do you think is going on?”
Lionel hesitated. His jaw worked uselessly for a second before the words stumbled out. “You’re… not human?” He didn’t mean for it to be a question, but it came out with all the doubt and softness of one.
Mads nodded once, slow and deliberate. But he didn’t add anything, didn’t try to elaborate or deny it or guide Lionel toward something clearer. He just waited.
Lionel kept going, the thoughts spilling forward in a half-formed thread of logic that felt like it was fraying as he spoke it aloud.
“You’re… are you one of the creatures? Just…
one that became more human quicker?” He winced a little as the words left him, the theory sounding thinner by the second.
“You appeared when they did—that’s why I’d never seen you before.
I know most of the residents here, but you… I would have remembered you.”
“I’m not one of the creatures,” Mads said, glancing over his shoulder and scowling as he looked around the room.
“These things are the worst of what I have to work with. They’re too intelligent to ignore, but too stupid to actually work with.
They’re no more than a means to an end. They’re irritants. ”
Lionel’s brows furrowed as he considered that. Mads didn’t continue, seeming to want Lionel to take his time figuring things out. His head already hurt, an ache filling up his temples and forehead. “You… work with them?” He asked.
Mads tilted his head each way a few times, pursing his lips as he shrugged. “Almost.”
“You work for them?” Lionel asked. Mads shook his head immediately at that. “They work for you?”
“There you go.” Mads nodded.
“I don’t understand,” Lionel whispered, rubbing a hand over his face. “If you… If they work for you, then why are you letting them kill people? Why did you let them attack us?”
Mads let out a soft hum, something between a sigh and a thoughtful sound.
His eyes flicked away for a moment, toward the ruined edges of the room behind them, as if watching something Lionel couldn’t see.
“Because they don’t always recognize me in this form,” he said, his tone level and almost casual, though there was a current beneath it of irritation.
“And, as I said, they’re too dumb to understand things all the time.
It’s a risk every single time I have to use them.
I told them all, multiple times, not to touch you before this even began, but some of them still didn’t get it. They had to learn the hard way.”
Lionel felt something twist in his gut, sharp and sick. “Before this began?” he echoed, the words feeling hollow in his mouth. “You planned this?”
Mads turned back toward him and, without hesitation, reached out again.
His fingers found Lionel’s wrist and slipped downward, sliding into his palm with a deliberate gentleness that made Lionel flinch even as he allowed it.
Their hands pressed together, Mads’ grip warm and steady, his thumb brushing across the back of Lionel’s knuckles in slow, rhythmic strokes.
“I told you,” Mads said, voice softer now, careful and coaxing. “I’ve been your secret admirer.” He tilted his head slightly, the barest smile curling his lips as he added, “I’ve been interested in you ever since I first saw you.”
“So you’ve been here for a while,” Lionel said.
Mads smiled and nodded. “I’ve been here for a very long time.”
“This building was built in 1901,” Lionel said, “you’ve been here since then?”
“Before this apartment building was made, it was an old mill,” Mads explained.
“And before that, it was a house, and before that it was a forest.” Lionel looked at him blankly.
Mads sighed and continued. “This area is my territory, and because of how my powers work, I have to feed every several years. The easiest way to do that is to close off my area to the outside world.”
“Feed?” Lionel’s voice was quieter now. “Feed on what? Humans?”
“It doesn’t have to be humans,” Mads replied with a small shrug, like it was an unimportant detail.
“But they are the easiest and the most consistent. They’re the ones who settled here, again and again, despite the warnings I tried to give them.
” He gave Lionel a flat look. “They are the ones who settled on my land.”
“Wouldn’t we hear about something like this happening?” Lionel asked, standing up a bit straighter. “Wouldn’t we hear about hundreds of people being wiped out around here? Wouldn’t people notice?”
“It is very easy to manipulate humans’ minds,” Mads said. “I don’t erase history, Lionel. I just… adjust it. Enough to dull the edges.”
“I still don’t understand what you are,” Lionel said, shaking his head. “Are you a demon? A ghost?”
“There isn’t a word for what I am within the human language, even in religion or mythology; you wouldn’t find anything that explains it.
” Mads tipped his chin up, looking at the ceiling for a moment.
“I suppose ‘demon’ would be the easiest word to assign. But even then, demons are human creations. I am not anything associated with humans or Earth.”
“So the creatures—”
“They are apparitions of my powers, or my stomach if that makes more sense,” Mads said.
“I cannot control them—they are sentient to an extent. But, as they eat, my powers replenish.” Mads’ nose wrinkled.
“I got sick of eating by myself very early on. Especially as I got more powerful, the amount I had to consume wasn’t possible on my own. ”
“Then why…” Lionel trailed off, terrified of asking what was on the tip of his tongue. “Why did you not eat me?”