Page 47 of The Nightmare's Kiss

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Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Nightmare and I curl up, exhausted, on the floor. The room is drenched in gore, and the stench grows by the minute; Ethan’s unconscious body is still sprawled near us, along with the director’s headless corpse. It’s all a bit gross, but I am too tired and too relieved to move. Somnus’s darkness both cradles me and drapes over me, like a warm blanket of shadow. I half doze against his broad chest while his claws stroke my hair. The more time we spend recovering like this, the stronger he becomes.

Too tired to speak, I gaze up at him and raise my uninjured hand in a simple sign:I love you.

He raises his large, clawed hand and mirrors the gesture. Then his palm closes over my fingers and he draws my hand to press against his heart.

I’m not sure how much time passes until we hear the door open. I jolt upright and then scramble to my feet, heart racing. It’s hard to feel afraid with the Nightmare looming behind me, his hands gripping my shoulders to reassure me that he’s here.

As soon as I hear the telltale click of heels, I relax, and gesture to the Nightmare to stand down. I can sense his puzzlement, but he listens anyway, draping over my shoulders and nuzzling against my neck.

Dr. Wright enters the room first, wearing her reclaimed heels and looking far more composed than anyone should be in this situation. She stops short as she enters the room, eyes flicking from me and the Nightmare at my back, to the headless body of Director Ramsey on the floor, to Ethan’s unconscious form slumped nearby.

Her alien companion is close behind. X is covered head to toe with blood, with the gore especially concentrated around his mouth. Dr. Wright is splattered with it as well, though less than I’d expect. Thankfully, neither of them appear hurt.

X moves between her and us when he spots us, but Dr. Wright’s expression is relieved.

“You actually did it,” she marvels, and shows a rare, thin-lipped smile.

The alien, however, bares his teeth in our direction, letting out an inhuman rattling sound from somewhere deep in his throat. Dr. Wright reaches out a hand to soothe him, but the Nightmare is already rearing up at my back in response. The room darkens as he spreads out and responds with his own low growl.

“Hey, now,” I say, reaching behind me. Shadowy fingers twine with mine, and I squeeze reassuringly. “It’s all right. We’re all on the same side.”

The alien speaks in a language made up of mostly strange clicks and thrums I couldn’t possibly replicate, and then spits out in English, “Foul creature. Demon.”

“X.” Dr. Wright puts a hand on his shoulder, and though he doesn’t relax, his eyes do slide away from the Nightmare to meet hers. She gives him a pointed look. “I assure you that X-13 is neither a demon nor any threat to us, and that is quite enough posturing.”

X slowly closes his lips back over his teeth and turns away, sulky. Somnus relaxes as well, though he stands closer than before, clearly on edge.

Dr. Wright and I exchange an exasperated look.Men, I’m sure she’s thinking, just as I am.

“We don’t have much time until the new wave of security forces arrives,” Dr. Wright says, nodding her chin at the director’s body. “Let’s proceed with the plan, X. It’s messy, but it’ll still work.”

He nods and steps forward to kneel next to the body.

“Please look away,” he says in his curiously toneless voice.

“What are you going to do?” I ask. I can’t help myself, even though I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.

“I must consume him,” he says. “Do not worry. I do not make a habit of eating humans. I find it unsavory to eat intelligent creatures. However, this is necessary.”

Dr. Wright takes my hand and turns me gently away. “Trust us,” she says.

I swallow back nausea, nod, and shut my eyes. A moment later, I wish I had covered my ears, too, since the wet crunching that follows is probably going to haunt me forever. But a couple of minutes later, it’s over. When I turn around with Dr. Wright again, all that remains of the director is a scalpel sitting on a bloodstained floor. The Alien straightens up, and his form shifts again, bones shifting and skin rippling as he changes into the spitting image of the director.

I gasp with the realization. “This was your plan. He’s going to replace Director Ramsey, permanently.”

Dr. Wright smiles, looking immensely satisfied. “Yes. This is why we couldn’t proceed until Ramsey was gone. Having two of them would have been suspicious.” She steps forward and touches the Alien’s new face. He leans into her touch in a distinctly un-director-like way.At least he’s objectively handsome,I think queasily, though I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to shed my association with the real man.

“I admire your dedication to setting your Nightmare free,” Dr. Wright continues after a moment, looking at me. “But as I mentioned before, it is not as simple as that. Most of the subjects here are not ready for the outside world, and the world is certainly not ready for them. Some, like my X, and your Nightmare, have experience with humans, and the skill sets to blend in or hide themselves from the public. But others, like the Siren you met, are not so lucky. And they are no less deserving of freedom from the director’s barbaric methods. I could not bear the thought of leaving them to suffer at his hands.” She looks down at Ethan and wrinkles her nose. “And that protégé of his, I’m sure, would be no better. But setting them free would lead to disaster.”

“So instead, you decided to take over the whole operation,” I breathe. She must have put so much time and thought into planning this, patiently awaiting an opportunity…and then I came along and blew it all up.

“Precisely,” she says, and smiles at me. “Together, X and I will change things around here. Run it our way. We will seek to rehabilitate the subjects rather than torture them in the name of science. I believe many of these so-called monsters are like X or the Nightmare. They can think, and learn, and feel, and eventually live alongside humans peacefully. But first, they need to meet the right person to teach them that humanity is not merely something to fear, or to prey upon, as the case may be.” Her smile has a sly edge. “If ours are any indication, it seems that the gentle touch of a woman, rather than a man with a scalpel, may be enough to do the trick.”

I blush. I always had an inkling that she knew more about the nature of my relationship with Somnus than she let on, and this just about confirms it. Then again, judging from what I’ve witnessed between her and the alien she calls “X,” it’s only because she’s a kindred spirit with her own…experiences, shall we say.

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