Chapter 34 #2
“You probably shouldn’t while sick.” Edith sat next to me on one side.
“It really is fine if you want to delay.” Phoebe quickly sat down on the other side, like it was a race for my neck the minute I assured them that all was fine and they weren’t being selfish in the smallest sense.
False concern from both parties, no matter what they lead on with their words.
I leaned back against the couch, brushing my hair out of the way. “Just do it.”
Edith and Phoebe exchanged looks, a competitive sort of glare as they neared. Phoebe rested a hand on my upper chest, grazing my collarbone, her fingers fluttering over the square neckline of my nightgown.
Edith preened some hair sticking to my skin away, breathing shallowly against my neck.
Phoebe didn’t hesitate to go first, sinking her teeth into one side, more sure of her bite than usual. Like an animal exhibiting resource guarding tendencies that had yet to be trained out.
Edith went next, her bite clean, practiced, relatively painless.
The two of them feeding wasn’t bad if you ignore the blood loss.
Two hits of venom numbed my head and my nerves, except there was nothing to stop the intrusive thoughts.
I could feel my skin heating up, delicate fingers holding me, touching like they wanted a better grip, leaving no room as if someone would steal their piece of meat.
The stars and colors behind my eyelids were so pretty, especially when they changed when someone spoke.
“Edith, enough,” Phoebe’s muffled voice scolded.
“I didn’t take any more than you did,” Edith’s voice echoed.
“Alina!” Phoebe’s voice knocked against the inside of my head, asking me to come to the door to answer, but I did not want to.
The darkness from the corner of my eyes bled over like tightly woven wool. Suddenly, the weight lifted from me, and I was floating, as if submerged. One nice moment of peace. No one wanted anything from me, and neither did I from them. Free of responsibility, such a fantasy to indulge in.
“Alina!” My body shook, snapping me awake. Edith and Phoebe hovered over me.
“Why are you staring?”
“You were having a seizure.”
“No, I wasn’t.” I shoved them both aside to sit up, the scene around me trailing in colors. “I just closed my eyes.”
Phoebe grabbed my wrist, and I snapped it out of her grasp.
“I’m hungry,” I muttered, pressing my palm to my tired eyes.
The two of them threw looks at each other before Phoebe got up to leave the room, jerking her head at Edith. Edith hurried to my side, grabbing my waist and my elbow to lead me.
“I’m not one of your patients.” I yanked my arm from her and departed the room.
“Alina stop—” Phoebe tugged my forearm back.
“Stop touching me!” I raised my voice, but Phoebe didn’t flinch. Her lack of reaction boiled my blood. “You need to get a hold of your jealousy. Biting and gnawing at me to prove some sort of sick point to Edith. To anyone you have to share me with!” I seethed.
Phoebe’s lip twitched, her eyes filling with blood, the green irises stark against the dangerous glare. Unrecognizable to the sweet image of my oldest friend. “I shouldn’t have to share you with dirty little things like her.”
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped.
Edith stood in the doorway, an awkward shuffle as she pushed past us, a quick wipe of her sleeve over her eyes.
“Look what you’ve done now.” I gestured toward where Edith disappeared. “You’re creating a hostile living environment.”
“I did?” Phoebe spoke, slow and venomous.
“I am the one who created a hostile environment?” she repeated, stepping close.
She studied my face, as if my reaction would answer her question.
There were no more replies, no more words of distaste.
Just a smile full of animosity, and a headshake of disbelief as she shoved past me.
I was at the dining room table, unsure when I arrived, and didn’t have the energy to worry about the lost time. I swallowed thickly; my head was pounding like a funeral procession. Every flicker of the candles made me want to pull my own eyes out to stop it from mocking my senses.
Everyone was eating happily, sitting nicely and chatting.
When I looked up, though, I nearly caught a stray glare or two; no one would look at me, everyone pretending everything was normal.
Nothing about this was normal. What were we doing, pretending like our lives hadn’t just been completely uprooted?
Perhaps it wasn’t that they were pretending, and the real reason for their averted gazes was a sinister second option. Plastered smiles, forced chatter . . . can’t bear to even look at me.
I reached for my spoon, and Mary flinched beside me. With a frown, I looked across at Edith, who dug at her bowl, a tremor in her wrist, making an awful chiming noise every time it scraped the bowl. Rebecca steadily watched me out of the corner of her eye.
Fear. They’re afraid.
On the other end of the table, Phoebe didn’t regard me whatsoever, but she was next to Silas, whispering something in his ear as she glanced my way. His unwavering eyes reflected back at me, watching carefully.
“Alina, are you going to finish that or are you going to waste a meal?” Luka joked a few seats down.
I glanced down at my bowl.
Rice.
I shoved my seat back, a horrid screech across the wood floor silencing the table. Not one person moved at the sudden disruption until I whipped the bowl at Luka, and the girls scrambled up.
The bowl hit him in the head, spilling rice across the table.
“Eat well, you fucking pig,” I spit my words like hot embers on the tongue, shoving past a body or two in the crowded dining room to depart. Only when I left the heat of the crowded room did I realize my cheeks were wet, and my throat was sore with an anxious rage.
No matter where I turned, it was hot. I kicked the blanket in discomfort, swamped with air too heavy to get a proper breath, and the unmistakable feeling of being watched. I couldn’t open my eyes, every movement granting me a sinking dread heavy on my chest.
An image made itself known to me. A dark expanse, a sticky, red wetness pooling on the floor. A bottomless echo that vibrated deep within my chest cavity, a growing sense of despair. My limbs were paralyzed.
Around me was darkness, slowly revealing it was more than just a void. There was something there, waiting for me.
The bed dipped beside me, a smoky scent offering some clarity to my sinuses.
Fingertips at the front of my throat. My hair smoothed to the side, the fingers falling to my chest and tracing down my sternum. Then the heat of a body in close proximity to mine, sharing the air around us.
I gasped for air, all I could see behind my eyelids was a dim red light, colored with my blood.
“Shh . . . you’re awake. It’s all right,” a deep voice whispered.
“What’s going on?”
“You were having a nightmare.” The words came out like a rattle, accompanied by a predatory chittering.
“Is it you? My nightmare?”
“What dares to haunt you but me?” Silas whispered, the words floating around in the dark, trapped with me inside my head. I could feel him close. His hands were warm; he wasn’t wearing his gloves. The smell of his cologne and tobacco clung to his clothes.
Every quickening breath was accompanied by small stammers. A cold sweat was heavy on my skin. I closed my fists and opened them. I could choke.
“Relax yourself. Listen to me . . .” His voice trailed off, hands on me, hot trails over my cold body. “Feel me . . .”
My breathing picked up, and it was hard to focus. I couldn’t move. I could twitch my hand, nothing else.
Warmth on my lips, his lips on mine. A gasp was captured by his kiss, like he wanted every last thing from me, even if it was my last breath.
“Silas.” I swallowed, and he kissed me again, harder at the utterance of his name.
“Will you tell me to stop or keep going after such a sweet call of my name, Alina?”
“You call for me so often,” I panted. I could move my arms now, my head feeling like it was finally resurfacing from the dream. “I’m beginning to think you just like the sound of my name on your lips.”
“Maybe I just like the taste.” His words manifested like a snake wrapping around my limbs, ready to devour me whole.
“Careful, cyanide tastes remarkably like almonds.” I reached up without opening my eyes. “It only takes a little bit of sweetener to pass an unremarkable death.”
“Then so be it, my sweetest demise.” His words were almost a purr before he wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me up to kiss me and touch along the back of my neck and down my back.
I kissed him back. As far as I was concerned, this was a dream, and I wasn’t going to open my eyes to make sure.
His hands smoothed down to my hips. “Will you let us be each other’s ruin?”
I silenced him with a long, steady kiss before resting my cheek against his, hugging him tightly. “May it be in another nightmare, my creature.”
I let go, sinking into the softness of my bed.
I didn’t know when he left, or when I went to sleep. I hadn’t the slightest clue of how many hours could have passed.
On my bedside table, he left me a small truce.
A small, simple bowl of sliced peaches, a glass of wine, and a cigarette. His mechanical lighter was placed neatly beside for lighting ease.
I rolled over, the scent of his cologne lingering on the pillow, the sheets, my skin. Or maybe it was just a sensitive nose from being ill.
Figures my one place of ease in a time of need is with the man who makes it his life mission to torture me.