Page 75 of Bad Demon

“It appears you’ve soiled yourself, Estelle.” He licked his lips as he slid his scalpel from the small table beside him and sliced through the sides of my underwear. Pinching them between his gloved finger and thumb, he dragged them off and dumped them in the trash. “You’ll have to go without.”

I lay there, utterly naked in every way there was, while he cleaned between my thighs and down my legs. He hummed to himself as he continued to clean me, waiting until he removed every trace of blood and piss before he finally rested his hand over my ribs. Magic pulsed from his palm, and I choked back a scream when my ribs snapped back into place, followed by my shoulder jerking back into the socket.

Taking a small pot from the table, he dipped his finger into the salt and began the process of rubbing it into each and every new slice, whispering a spell as he did it so that when he used his healing magic, I’d still be left with a scar. He liked seeing the scars. He’d once told me I was a living, ever-changing piece of art. A map of his tests and trials, and that with every mark on my skin, I became more beautiful. Which was why he left the sigil open and raw, it wasn’t from one of his experiments and would mess up his living, breathing canvas.

Again, when he finally finished, he checked my ankle restraints, tightening them. I didn’t fight it, and I didn’t resist because there was no getting away, there was no escape.

“I have a new virus to test on you, but with your rapid healing abilities, we’ll need to hinder your body’s natural immunity further.” He wheeled his table closer, placing another empty dish on top. “For that, we’ll need to remove your liver. From past experiments, we know it regenerates fairly quickly, but this way, the virus will have more of a chance to take hold.”

Oh gods, no.

There was no fighting down the panic inside me this time. I yanked at my restraints, squirming and gurgling through the blood in my mouth and spilling down my chin.

His eyes brightened. “Fighting will do you no good.” He placed a hand on my ribs. “Let’s begin.”

Searing pain burned my stomach, and I gasped, choking on my blood as he sliced me open.

When the incision was long enough, he shoved his hand up under my ribs, found my liver, and sliced it from my body. I screamed until my throat was raw, then I passed out.

When I came around, he’d already sewn me up and salted the wound.

“You’re back,” he said as he wiped my bloody mouth. “Nearly done. My new virus is transmitted through sexual intercourse. So, I’ll need to place it inside you.”

He picked up a large needleless syringe filled with a yellow substance. Pressing one gloved hand down on my stomach, he positioned it, and looking at me with twisted glee in his eyes, pushed it inside me, pumping me full of his poison.

“If administered correctly, you should feel the effects of this one within a few hours,” he said, his voice lower, as he slid the syringe from me and tossed it back onto the tray. “But you’ll need to stay like this to make sure it works, I’m afraid.”

His gaze moved over my naked body, then back, locking on mine. “You know why it has to be you, Estelle,” he said, faux contrition rearranging his hateful face. “No one else can handle my experiments like you can.”

No, most were permanently disfigured or went mad, and if the virus didn’t kill them, Grady did.

“You’re special. That blood in your veins is special, there’s no one else like you. I tried, you know, many times to replace you.”

His voice grated over me while I tried not to writhe in pain.

“Most recently, in the city you made your home. I found an abandoned building, an old boarding house, and Grady brought me test subjects, but alas, they all died. So many females died because of you, because you left me. You won’t leave me again, will you Estelle?”

Nausea made my empty stomach cramp and the horror of what he said was a tight band around my throat.

“You won’t leave me again, will you, Estelle?” he said more sharply.

I forced myself to shake my head.

“That’s right.” He shivered and rubbed his tented trousers against the gurney. “It is extremely good to have you back, Essie—you have no idea.”

He rounded the gurney, moving to stand above me, and pushed it through the double swinging doors and into the hall. The things that walked these halls—his creations, like patchwork marionette dolls controlled by magic—followed his orders without question. But their eyes said it all; if they could, if his hold on them wasn’t so strong, they would kill us all. They turned their beady eyes on me now as I was wheeled by, naked and exposed. Their crude, garbled taunts filled the hall; their grasping hands bruised my flesh, and claws scraped over my skin.

The Chemist let them, and instead of taking me to my cell, he wheeled me into a large room that smelled like rotting flesh. This was where the creatures slept. He was going to keep making me pay for leaving him, for running away. His monsters followed, surrounding me, growling and salivating.

The Chemist turned to them. “My dears, I would like you to take care of my patient. You may come close, but you may not touch her in any way with any part of your body. If she vomits blood, come and get me.” Then he walked out.

As soon as he left, they swarmed closer, so close that I could feel their breath on my bare skin, and their stench choked me. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the perverted things they said, and opened the door I’d told myself I needed to keep locked because if I didn’t, I would break completely. Instead, I let my mind take me away to a room underground that was warm and smelled like everything good and safe.

In my mind, Relic lay beside me, his strong arm around me, his voice telling me I was going to be okay. It hurt—gods, it fucking hurt—but I let it. Better that than reality.

Better a fantasy that was lost to me now than what surrounded me.

If this was madness, I welcomed it.

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