Chapter 29
THE CREATURE
Something disturbed my slumber, some low vibration I could feel deep in my bones. The instinctual crawl of the skin . . . I was not alone.
I sat up, peering at the figure sitting in the chair against the wall, directly in front of my bed.
Tilting my head, I smirked at the delightful surprise. This brought back such fond memories of watching my sweet Alina sleep, and now she was doing the same for me. She really knew how to melt my cold, dead heart.
“Have you come for some witching-hour fun? Here to cast a spell on me, you vile thing?” I bantered. Her figure was still covered in the dark.
A sharp click sounded from where she sat.
My smile faltered slightly. “Is that a gun?”
“Just insurance.” There was a sweetness to Alina’s tone.
“For what? I thought we had moved past this.” I reached over to grab a half-finished cigarette from the nightstand, then rested against the headboard as I lit it. “I would have dressed for you if I knew we had a date. I don’t usually see guests in only my underclothes.”
“I come only to strike our deal, nothing more.”
My eyes flicked up to stare at her, a slow grin crawling across my face as I took a drag of the cigarette. “Based on the weapon, I take it you mean to accept?”
“I want to renegotiate first.”
I gestured around me to an invisible crowd. “I am but a willing audience.”
“No marriage, you agree to keep the tenets and cause of my Nest, and you and Luka live with us,” she mumbled the last one, but I heard her.
“Counter—all of the terms mentioned, and you are my wife.”
“Is that really your dealbreaker?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it is fun to anger you, my dearest.”
She was silent, the pistol on her knee shaking as her restless leg bounced.
“I will not share a room with you.”
I groaned in irritation. “Fine.”
“You have to take on all financial responsibilities of the entire Nest, not just me.”
“I assumed as much.” I lifted a brow at her, waiting for her next inevitable demand.
There was another pause of silence.
“I want an allowance.”
“How much?”
“Three thousand a month.”
“That is all?” I scoffed. “I thought it would be more. You can have access to all my money if that is what you want.”
More silence.
“Alina?”
“Yes?”
“Are you making these terms up as you go?”
Yet another silence from the shadow.
“I want thirteen oranges in my room at all times.”
Now she was just being difficult.
“If you want oranges, I will get you oranges.” I tapped the cigarette in the ashtray. “Come here; do not treat me like a stranger. Negotiations don’t have to be so cold.”
“I have to go back.” Her voice wavered.
“Alina,” I warned, “come here, or I will drag you by your hair. You choose.”
She took a moment for herself, releasing an exasperated sigh. She rose from the chair and slipped through the shadows.
The streetlamps cast faint light through the window, illuminating the omen before me.
Remnants of dried blood, Vipera and human, interrupted the elegant lines of her features. The skin around her eyes was red, and she had fresh cuts on her face.
Tears filled her eyes, her lip quivered, and her lips moved to form my name, but she didn’t have to. Her knees crumpled beneath her, her grief too heavy to carry any longer. It didn’t matter. I was already there, my arms enveloping her, my palm at the back of her head.
Her arms flung around me. Her quivering grip just made me want to squeeze tighter; I wanted so badly to steady her.
“What happened?” I whispered into her hair, the metallic scent of blood and tears burning my senses.
She shook her head and swallowed, her lip quivering once the question left my mouth. “I’m tired of this. I’m tired of bearing the cost of being decent, of being honorable, and only rewarded with hardship.”
Her sorrow was familiar. The rage, the anger, all made from the same kind she threw at me before she left for good. This was it. This was her limit.
“Come here.” I slipped the gun from her trembling hand and pulled her into the bed. I gathered her long legs over my lap and held her head against my chest. “You’re shaking.”
She did not answer me, and I hated it. Silence from Alina was never a good sign.
I smoothed her hair, the crust of dried blood clumping the strands together. I lifted her chin, inspecting the cuts across her face. She couldn’t look at me. There was no spark tonight, an utterly defeated demeanor, no fire in her.
She lifted her eyes to me, waiting for me to say something.
“Could you at least find it in you to be angry with me?”
Her fine brow arched. “If you return my pistol, I could show you.”
I placed it in her hand, guiding her finger to the trigger, and pointed it under my chin, her armed hand between my own, clasped like a prayer.
Every second passed was another I could hear our hearts beat, one of hers was three of mine, and she owned every single one.
She squeezed the trigger, the hollow click of an empty chamber following.
“You did miss me.”
“How could my heart forget a betrayal like yours?”
“I wasn’t aware you had one,” I whispered in her ear, “but it’s good to know it can be stolen once more.”
She suppressed her laugh in vain. It was like music to my ears.
I wrapped my arms around her, burying my head in her shoulder.
“How about we celebrate?” I suggested.
“I am not in the mood.”
“Not with that attitude,” I laughed.
Even with a lighter mood, she was too tired to react. I stroked her hair, then cheek. The sensation of dry clotted blood was an uncomfortable texture to touch. I couldn’t imagine how it felt.
This wouldn’t do, not like this.
“I have another term,” she mumbled between bites.
“Will you be asking for zebras next?” I joked, tilting her chin up so I could carefully remove the shards of shotgun shell from her cheek and shoulder.
I ordered food to be brought to the room, but she didn’t eat anything except the pastries and the wine. We both sat comfortably facing each other in the middle of the bed so she could eat, and I could work.
“I want us to pick a word. One word that if we even so much as whisper it, we both stop what we are doing. No matter what we are doing.”
I squinted at her in confusion. “Interesting. Why would you need that?”
“I don’t trust you,” she explained. “With that being said, if I am going to be with you for this arrangement, it would make me feel better knowing I have one word that will save me from you.”
Hearing her say it hurt a bit, thinking she needed to be saved from me, but I had no room to judge a fair request.
“Which word would you like it to be?”
“Pest.”
“No need for insults, I am trying to be nice.”
“No, pest is the word.”
“It sounds like you thought this through,” I chuckled. “I think you need a different one. You use that one too earnestly.”
She did not speak for a while after that.
The collar of her blouse stuck to her skin.
I opened it slowly, unsure of how dry the blood would be.
Her shoulder was mainly dry, but the pieces of shotgun shell were still wedged in the skin, cutting more with each movement.
I picked at the pieces as best I could to remove them, running my tongue over the wounds after to close each one.
She flinched, but then her shoulders slumped when she realized I wouldn’t bite.
I smirked at her reaction, grabbing her face gently and licking the wound on her cheek.
She glared at me.
“You don’t want it to scar, do you?” I winked.
Her bloodshot eyes made the blue of her irises look so beautiful. Her eyebrow twitched as she knit them together. Her fingertips feathered against the side of my face, and I flinched.
“Is this treatment temporary?”
“I do not know what you mean.”
“Will it go away once you have everything you want?”
“I have always had what I want, no matter the expense,” I scoffed. “You’re worth much more than that.”
To me, I wanted to say. You are worth more than that to me.
She thought about my answer, playing with a misplaced piece of my hair before brushing it back. A subtle clicking chittered in my throat at the feeling of her nails against my skin.
“Can I stay with you tonight?” she whispered
“You need not ask.”
“I don’t think I can handle seeing that crowded house right now.” Her eyes darted away, though the tension in her jaw couldn’t be good for her mood.
“That reminds me.” I tugged my shirt on, copping my trousers as I tossed her coat at her, then her shoes.
Her eyes followed me with a cocked brow as she caught each boot thrown at her.
“Get dressed,” I said. “I have something for you.”