chapter thirty
THE CREATURE
“ T his is certainly a step up from your cave.” I stared up at the large archway that led us into the courtyard.
Grecian-style architecture made an imposing statement as it towered above the square. I had not seen the King’s College campus since its conception, though it was the perfect place to hide bodies when it was built many years ago.
“There was no longer a point in using old samples. It’s easier just to bring you here,” Alina said quietly. Her slouched demeanor made her appear shorter, weaker.
She clutched her satchel strap and twisted it between her hands. The crease between her brows might become permanent if she continued on like that.
I stepped in front of her, her head bumping into my chest.
“You’re distracted.”
“I’m just thinking is all,” she muttered, trying to move around me.
“Which is distracting you.” I blocked her way again.
She let out a heavy sigh and tipped her chin up at me, a tight tic in her jaw.
“Are you… all right ?” I asked, the words not feeling natural. The texture of the words felt awful. I wanted to spit them out. However, I was making an effort to behave well and be kind .
The bitter taste was worth it, as her eyes softened but also held some confusion, mostly heedfulness. Any change in her mood other than seething anger was a win in my books.
“I am well, aside from the arms I had to bury this morning.” She threw me a side-eye as she passed.
“Right.” I nodded as if I understood her euphemism, though I did not. I had come to terms with the fact that I might not be able to understand all of her quirks.
A tall echo bounced around the hallways as bustling students scurried around. We must have arrived between periods because there was far too much scuttering. The farther we moved into the building, the stronger the scents of stress and desperation.
I did notice the wide eyes as we passed. The whispers that bounced around us.
Under normal circumstances, I would say they were looking at me—but I knew that was not true. They were looking at her .
Alina was not one to shy away from the looks.
I liked that she was unapologetic about taking up the room.
Either that or she was suffering from that infamous myopathy and did not notice the curious eyes to begin with.
In every room she entered, she did not ask for attention; she demanded it.
Her pretty face was only the surface of it.
The air around her became sharp like a barber’s razor.
She was always calculating—like a bird of prey.
It was absurd to remember how I called her a fawn when I first met her.
We both knew that describing her as anything meek or small would be a horrible lie.
We finally reached the lab. Unlike the hallways, it was empty except for a few students gathering the remainder of their things from the workbenches.
We descended down a short flight of stairs from the viewing area and down to the main floor.
This was exactly the type of place I expected her to spend her free time.
The space was much brighter with larger windows, much cheerier than her cave.
“I am afraid to ask what sorts of experiments you want to do that require any of these instruments,” I mumbled, spinning a dial on one of the tools. They were more like torture devices, which made my blood flow to surprising places at the thought.
“I just need fresh samples,” she repeated dryly before opening her journal and setting up her notes.
She seemed less excited to experiment today, but not on my account. Her scent was off, less sweet than before. It was like someone forgot to add salt to a broth. She just smelled watered down. I could not judge her paleness well, but she did seem to have a less rosy undertone today.
I felt a pinch in my gut. My appetite had had enough teasing for one morning. I pulled out a cigarette, flicking my lighter to burn the tip. The tobacco was the only thing holding me over for now. Without it, I wasn’t sure where I would be, hopefully not biting into something less than savory.
“Silas!” she scolded me.
I frowned and leaned on the side of a workbench. “What?” I mumbled with the tab between my lips.
“No smoking! We are in a proper lab. You can’t just light whatever you want in here. There are combustibles.”
I held my hands up in surrender and plucked the cigarette from my mouth, going to put it out in a small glass dish.
“No! Those were just cleaned.” Her jaw clenched as she paused her journaling to watch me.
I squinted at her and went to ash it on the floor, though her eyes told me that it was the wrong move.
I let out a sharp breath from my nose in annoyance, opening my mouth and putting the cigarette out on my tongue before hovering it over a garbage receptacle. “Can I throw it away in the bin, or is this also a special science bin that you need to keep clean?”
She rolled her eyes at me and returned to her task.
“Make the draw quick. You just made me toss away my breakfast,” I grumbled, sitting beside her on one of the stools.
“Arm.” She held her hand out without looking at me.
“‘Please, Silas. Thank you, Silas. How are you, Silas? You look so handsome today, Silas,’” I teased, rolling up my sleeve and putting my arm in her hand.
Alina’s touch was always cold. Do not misunderstand, it was a pleasant sensation, but I thought I ran too hot, temperature-wise.
Even hotter after feeding. Her fingers on my skin were like ice, a simple chill to calm my ever-heated nerves.
I often imagined them touching places that ran hotter than the rest, but I kept those images to myself.
She wasted no time, an efficient little bee she was. The tourniquet was tied and looped around my arm, and her long, nimble fingers pushed the curved needle under my skin. This part always excited me, possibly because I knew I got to feed after. She got quicker every time she did it.
“Oh, a present for you.” I hastily pulled a flask from my pocket and slapped it on the table.
“I don’t need booze right now, though I may take you up on it later.” Her eyes dialed in on my arm and the apparatus, though I saw a small tug at the corner of her lips.
“I wish it were liquor. No, it is saliva.” I gave her my cockiest grin.
She looked at me, then at the flask. “You filled an entire flask with your spit?”
“I didn’t have anything else to put it in. You asked for it last time, and I took a bite of you without asking. So I decided to give you the extra sample you asked for. We are even now.”
“You don’t get to decide when we are even.” She tore her eyes from me and lifted the full flask. “But fine, we are even,” she mumbled.
She almost seemed impressed as she picked up the flask. It took a while to fill. It was admittedly the oddest thing I had given her, and that was saying quite a lot. The difference was that she actually wanted this oddity.
She pulled the needle from my arm and wiped the puncture. My stomach fluttered from her touches—but mostly because I was hungry. So hungry. I’d stopped eating anything else once I sunk my teeth into her. She was the only one I wanted to…
“Alina!”
Who in the living hell was that ?
A tall, dark-haired man with the most foolish wire glasses rushed down the stairs, elated at the sight of my shadow.
She was smiling at him. So bright and full of life. I could even see a small tint of pink dust over those ivory cheeks. I only now realized how much geniality she kept far from me. She only reserved her coldest for our time together.
Looking at her, I could feel something inside me snap—or maybe it was a tooth cracking from clenching my jaw.
I hated it.
I wanted to crush her in my palm like a lightning bug and watch the light go out.
The man approached. His body went rigid, those dark eyes clocking me.
“Silas, this is Viktor! I told you about him the other day,” she said, an accusatory look in her eyes as if to add, The one I told you not to kill, remember?
Her voice was muffled by the sound of my blood rushing. I could only see red.
“Yes, I remember.” I stood up and circled the desk, holding my hand out to him. “Silas Forbes.”
“Viktor Kaskov.” He gripped my hand.
Mr. Kaskov stood about my height, our eyes level.
His demeanor was friendly, but my spine itched at the contact.
I might be biased, but I already hated him.
His energy didn’t match. His scent was metallic, like wet brass, the smell of warm wood and spicy leather attempting to overpower it. What did she see in this fool?
Alina picked up the apparatus and moved it to the back of the lab, away from the two of us. It was a mistake to leave us alone.
“How do you know, Miss Lis?” Viktor asked, leaning against the opposite desk to watch me like I was some thief in a bakery. While he appeared cordial and friendly, there was an unmistakable accusation in his tone.
“Courtship,” I said, my eyes tracking Alina across the room.
“So she is?—”
“My intended,” I said flatly, looking over at him. “Why so many questions?”
An amused scoff came from Viktor. “Because I know that is a lie. She has no interest in men, of all things. If you know her, you would at least know that.” He laughed, flashing a dimpled smile at me. “How do you really know her?”
“Can’t fault a man for trying.” I answered him. “We run in similar circles.”
“That seems more plausible than courting.”
“Even so, I have better odds than you.”
“Are you certain of that?”
“I am absolutely certain.”
“We will see.”
Our banter was interrupted by Alina’s reappearance, this time with her journal and no torture devices. She looked sickly. There was red around her eyes as if she had been rubbing them.
“What brings you to the lab?” That thick Russian accent cut through my thoughts. His haughty tone was grating against my eardrums.
“Alina tells me she might have a study for me to invest in.” I politely smiled, but I couldn’t help a small sneer. “Not unlike my father, I like to put bets on many horses. Pharmaceuticals are almost as good as property nowadays.”
“That’s good news!” Viktor was trying too hard to keep up an elated facade about my being here, which brought me some joy. “You must be excited.” He looked at Alina, his eyes drifting over her.
Watch where you linger, boy.
“Yes, it’s all very exciting,” she said, though she’d stopped watching us. Her eyes were closed as she pressed her palm into her eye.
“Alina?” I leaned over. “What is it?”
“Jus’ a ’eadache,” she slurred, her body suddenly tense.
“Alina!” Viktor shouted as her knees buckled.
I wrapped my arms around her, slowly lowering her to the floor as her body shook violently.
Her skin turned almost a pale yellow, and her eyes rolled farther back than I thought possible.
I held her head on my lap as Viktor turned her on her side.
Muffled sounds came from her as her head was forced upward so forcefully that I could see the veins in her neck throb.
“She’ s having a seizure,” Viktor said quickly. “Don’t move—I’m getting Dr. Hayes.”
Her spasms began to slow by the time he left. It was only around thirty seconds, but it felt like so long while it happened. Feeling her body tense like that in my arms made me realize how tightly I held her.
She slowly stopped moving, her breathing returning to its peaceful rhythm. It was like nothing had happened, peacefully asleep as she was now.
I stared down at her, the pink returning to her cheeks and the blue of her lips fading now that she was breathing steadily.
The only things still shaking were my hands.
I lifted one to inspect it. The tremors jittering and vibrating from my fingers through my arm were as involuntary as the clicks in my throat.
I wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, moving the stray hairs that stuck to her cheek as I watched her seemingly return from the dead. Perhaps I should stop jesting with her about being a specter, or she might decide to become one to escape me.
“I will not forgive you if you die without my permission,” I whispered. While it was supposed to be a joke, it was also truthful.