chapter twenty-seven
THE POISONER
“ T here you are, my bitter flower. Have you been hiding?” Silas crooned, stepping into the back room.
“The only thing I wish to hide from is cleaning duties,” I mumbled, scrubbing some of my tools in the sink. It was full of beakers, flasks, stirring rods, petri dishes, and other things I had dirtied in the previous weeks.
He stalked over to me, poking at random instruments as if to pretend he only had a casual interest in walking in my direction.
You are not clever, Creature.
He came up behind me and gripped the sink on either side of me, looking over my shoulder to peek at the contents.
“What are those?” he sneered.
“My tools.”
“What did you use them on to get them in that shape?”
“Leftovers from when I had to break up that body you left draped over the tub like she was a discarded linen.” I rolled my eyes, pushing back against him. I held one of the long bone saws up to his cheek.
I neglected to include the other half of the sink, which contained old, used saw parts that were meant for butchers but were probably for something like water fowl and big game birds instead of humans.
One side of the sink contained the smaller items that were previously detailed.
Some were antique tools that my father had kept hidden for amputations: mallets, curettes, bone nibblers, big sheers, and scalpels.
“You owe me a new blade. The bones wore this one down.” I lowered the instrument back into the sink.
“I take it back. I may be the one who has to hide from you.” He moved away to go lean on the table. “How will you torture me today?”
“Just samples—no torture.”
“I was looking forward to it.” He sighed in disappointment.
“Apologies for not having anything crueler in mind.”
“You are forgiven,” he responded with a small grin.
I grabbed some freshly cleaned flasks and moved next to the apparatus.
Silas had already started rolling up his sleeve, knowing what was coming.
“I’m going to need a different sample this time,” I said as I tightened the tourniquet around his arm, teasing the veins to find one to poke.
“Is that so?” He raised his brow. “Does that also mean I get more samples from you?”
“No.”
“How is that fair?”
“I didn’t say it was, but I’m not giving you more blood for a sample of spit.” I rolled my eyes.
“Open your mouth. I can give you some right now.”
“ Silas ,” I warned, shooting him a glare as I slid the needle into a vein, pumping the apparatus as it pulled the blood.
“How else would you like it?”
“In the glass, preferably.” I reached over and handed him a glass vial.
“That’s not as exciting as my first offer.”
“Can you cooperate? For once?” I asked tiredly.
He mumbled something, but I was distracted by the ringing of the shop bell.
“You didn’t lock the door on your way in?” I pulled the needle from his arm and slapped a cloth on the puncture.
“I must have been so excited to see you that I forgot,” he replied mockingly.
“Stay back here. I’m not finished.”
“I’m hungry,” he hissed impatiently. “Where are you going?”
“To receive clients.”
“How long will that take?”
“A minute, several hours, all day—if you had just locked the door, I wouldn’t have to receive anyone at all.”
With that, I pushed open the door and greeted my clients.
I left it ajar so I could hear if he tried messing with anything he shouldn’t.
I stood at the tall wooden countertop that stretched completely across the room.
The cabinetry facing me must have held over a hundred drawers.
I never bothered to count. I only knew where I kept everything.
“Do you have anything that can ease stomach pains?” a woman asked. She had come with her companion.
“Aside from ginger, there are a few things I could prescribe. Could you tell me a little more about the pain?”
As I was trying to be attentive to my patron’s needs, a rustling of my skirt caught my attention. I glanced down to see Silas sitting between my legs with his back resting on the cabinet drawers facing me. He leaned forward only to disappear under my skirt.
“Is something the matter?” the patron asked.
“No! Apologies—I thought I saw a rat .” I smacked the side of Silas’s face with my knee as he continued his ruse. “Please continue.”
“It started a few days ago—” The client began giving me an unnecessary story for her pain that did not seem relevant to its description.
With Silas between my legs, it was hard to focus anyway.
He began licking and sucking the skin around my thighs and working his way up, but never actually getting near the place between my legs.
“And the pain?” My voice shook. “Is there a particular sensation you can describe to me that could help me prescribe something?”
“Needles, it feels like needles,” she explained.
That was when he did it. He sank his fangs into my thigh, piercing the flesh and holding my legs in place.
“ Oh ,” I mumbled. “Have you tried cannabis? Or laudanum? It is said to ease…nerves. Nerve pain is what it sounds like.” I swallowed hard.
“Miss Lis, are you all right?”
“Yes, I am well, just deep in thought about what could possibly be the cause.” I smiled weakly. Silas bit down harder, and I bit my lip, finally feeling the wave of numbness over the area from the venom. Why did it feel so good? It was like morphine. But I could not ignore the stars in my vision.
“You look pale,” the companion mentioned worriedly. “Should we come by later?”
“That…might be a good idea. Would you flip the sign on your way out? I must be coming down with a fainting spell.”
“Yes, of course! We will drop by tomorrow. Do get some rest!” The woman looked strangely at her companion before they left the shop.
When the bell rang on their way out, my knees finally gave out, and I fell backward onto the floor, pressing my back against the cabinetry on the other side of the narrow walkway behind the counter.
He followed me, and the clicking made his mouth vibrate against my skin, sucking at my thigh as my legs shook in his grip.
I pulled my skirt up, and he glanced up at me from between my thighs, his eyes narrowed in annoyance as I took away his dark cover.
“What are you doing?” I asked, but he only answered by yanking my thighs toward him, making me slouch against the drawers of my cabinet. I could see the blood start to drip past his lips as he fed.
I slapped my legs together sharply, the force making him unlatch from my leg. Though it made his teeth widen the punctures on my thigh as they ripped from the skin. The blood dripped down between my legs, staining some of my undergarments in the process.
“You’ve made a mess,” he huffed, licking over the wound to stop the bleeding and chasing the trail of blood with his tongue between my legs, lapping at my skin.
“Get out,” I snapped.
“I’m not finished.” He glared.
“Why must you be so difficult?” I pushed his face away and stood shakily.
“Because I know that you like it, deep, deep down,” he teased, rising to his feet in tandem.
“ Pest. ”
“ Vixen. ”
“I will see you next week.”
“No, you’ll be seeing me before then. Remember? I get three days.” He winked.
“Right,” I grumbled to myself. “Run off, then, I have?—”
“Work to do,” he finished for me. “I know.”