The Scientist of Haunt Muren (Stitches and Teeth #2)

Chapter 1

Sullen

My priority is her. There’s nothing else that matters.

After I scrape my teeth against her neck, I turn in the shower to shield her with my body. The sound of the water is only soft, oozing drips in the dark but I’m already soaked, my clothes heavy as they stick to my skin, the contrast with the cool air chilling me to the bone.

I don’t usually shower in my clothes. Certainly not my shoes. But I have before, when I felt Stein was planning some sort of sabotage. When I couldn’t allow myself to feel safe or comfortable in my own house enough to get completely undressed behind the locked bedroom door.

And I know I like Karia. I am infatuated by her.

But I don’t trust her because I cannot let that type of hurt infect me.

At first, when she opened the bathroom door, I felt vindicated in loathing her despite the ways she’s tried to prove her loyalty.

Then she mentioned the darkened hallway, and it was as if she might have…

chosen me to protect her. She asked about the blood on the floor—my own self-sabotage I never intend to explain to her—and she seemed to… care, about me.

I wanted to eat her alive.

Now I want to keep her alive.

She reaches for me, her fingers hooking into the soaked fabric of my hoodie. I hear her frantic breaths, but she doesn’t cry or speak. And above the quietest noises of her fear, I can make out the sound of something rattling. Like a door on its hinges.

I glance up at the low ceiling, imagining the slithering we heard in the pipes.

I think of the man under the hotel, hidden behind a door in the tunnels.

I never mentioned it to Karia because I wasn’t even sure it was real.

After the past few days with her, it feels as if everything is a fiction.

A fever dream. Like any moment I will wake up to Stein looming over me at Haunt Muren and I will never have touched Karia Ven at all.

Another thud, a fist or foot against wood.

The lock on the hotel room door won’t take much more of it, but we can’t stand here cowering in the shower to wait for what’s coming.

I used to do that all the time; I had no choice then.

Now, I know Stein will kill me without hesitation when he sees me again.

It’s freeing, in a way. I can do whatever it takes to save Karia here.

I don’t yank the shower curtain back. It’ll make too much noise and although someone seems to know we’re in here, there’s no need to make it more obvious with the screech of metal on metal.

I push out my arm and nudge aside the vinyl instead, turning to glance at Karia in the dark. Her fingers are still curled into the drenched fabric of my hoodie and the blue of her eyes is focused wholly on mine.

There are so many things I want to say but even if we had the time, I wouldn’t know how to get the words out.

I hope she knows I’ve never been so bare with anyone ever before, and I don’t mean my body.

I hope she knows she is the only person in the world who understands even a whisper of me.

I force myself to tear away from her gaze and step out of the shower.

My shoes squeak on the floor as the pounding outside of the bedroom door grows louder. Water drips from my clothes and body in puddles and I know we have to move slowly if we want to be quiet, and not risk tripping.

I keep the shower curtain parted with my forearm as Karia follows me without hesitation. I could’ve told her to stay there. To cower and wait and hope.

But I already know she wouldn’t. She has not left me for even a single moment since we’ve run.

She’s risked her entire life for me.

I can’t tell her to stay even though I never want to see Stein touch her again.

The revulsion I felt when he brushed against her face beneath the hotel was enough to physically sicken me. I can’t let myself think of what else he would do to her, for all she’s brought on him now.

I push the thought aside and head toward the door on silent steps, water rolling off me and sloshing to the floor.

I sense more than hear Karia following me, but the violent pounding at the door is nearly enough to cover our tracks regardless.

It grows more frantic. I can feel the vibrations under my feet as whoever it is attacks the entrance with frenzy. Any moment, the lock will give way.

I twist the clammy knob of the bathroom door in the dark and pull it open, cold air snaking over my clothed body, combining with my drenched clothes to chill me further.

The room is dim but there is light streaming in through the curtains over the window, and when I blink to let my eyes adjust, I see the door jostled with every thrust of a fist on the other side, but there’s something else, too.

The bookshelf housing many old volumes bound in leather is in the way, pushed up against the door like a barrier.

I lift my brows and I can’t stop the small smile curving my lips as I turn to look at Karia.

She did that.

Her eyes meet mine and she smirks, tilting her head. It’s almost as if I can hear her inside my mind. See? I’m good at everything.

The sudden urge to shove her against the wall and lick every drop of water from her skin latches onto my bones and muscles, winding its way into my heart, but I clench my teeth and resist, knowing even that shelf won’t hold the intruder back.

Is it Stein? Is it someone from the Emporium? Stein’s guards? Writhe? Von, Isadora, Cosmo? If it’s one of her friends, they could talk her into leaving me. They are the most dangerous, when it comes to her loyalty.

My heart races faster and I wish I’d never even thought of it. It just occurred to me now that someone worse than Stein could be out there.

Then what?

Will I let her go?

I turn away from her and head to the window, pushing aside the thick curtains. Although it’s only the second floor, we are rather high up and there is no slanted roof to walk down. It’s a straight drop with trees and shrubs below, forest beyond.

The window itself is old, the mechanism to lift the iron stiles is rusted. It might not work, but if this was a more modern hotel, I don’t imagine the windows would open at all, so at least we have luck in that.

The pounding grows more vivid, more violent, and the lock rattles in the latch of the door. When I glance over my shoulder, I see the bookshelf teetering, wobbly and nearly on its last defense.

“Sullen,” Karia whispers at my back, her voice tentative.

I turn my gaze to her, fingers flexed in fists at my side.

She glances at the door, the window, then to me. “You should run,” she says quietly. “They won’t hurt me. But you…” She bites her bottom lip, trailing off, but her shoulders are rigid, her body tense, turned toward the door.

I shake my head once. “No,” I say quietly, my voice hoarse. “Fuck no.” You are not sacrificing yourself for me, little brat.

Her throat rolls as she swallows, water gliding down her chest from the dampness of her hair. “I didn’t ask you,” she says, her complexion pale with nerves but her voice is strong.

I narrow my gaze and face her fully, then grab her wrist with my bare hand, jerking her toward me. Our bodies are inches apart, her chin lifted to hold my gaze, big cerulean eyes on mine.

“I am not letting you go,” I tell her harshly. “It’s not an option.”

Her lips part, so pretty and stubborn and more than I deserve, but before she can get a word out, a tremendous crash ricochets through the quiet of the dark room. She flinches and I hold her wrist tighter as I shoot my gaze to the door.

The bookshelf falls forward, volumes tilting and sliding and smacking to the floor the moment before the wooden structure collapses facedown. The door itself is still hindered but it’s ajar, darkness from the hallway spilling in like ink.

There’s a gap, enough space for someone to slide inside.

I pivot so my body shields Karia’s.

I hear her sharp intake of breath as I clench my fists, ready to do whatever it takes to protect her.

It’s too late for the window now.

I’ll have to fight.

I take a deep inhale.

Silence echoes in the room.

An exhale.

And someone slips inside, freeing themselves from the shadows.