Page 7 of The Flesh Remembers
Eleanor recalled that night in the lab when she had heard a noise and became convinced someone was sneaking into the lab to harm her or do something unspeakable to the cadaver she was working on. She grabbed one of the scalpels she had used to dissect the cadaver and crouched down low behindthe table where the cadaver lay, its chest cracked open and the exposed internal organs appearing quite black in the pale light that filtered faintly in from the window. Eleanor had wanted to cover the poor body as it seemed terribly disrespectful to leave it fully displayed in such a way, but she had no time to grab the canvas cloth behind her, for just at that moment, she heard someone enter the lab.
The door's hinges screeched as it was slowly opened, sounding like some terrifying animal cry. Soft footsteps entered the room as Eleanor held her breath. Was she about to come face to face with corpse thieves set on defiling one of the dead bodies in the lab? Eleanor knew she couldn’t let such a desecration occur, so she clutched her scalpel tightly and crept slowly. She had to get to the wall and find the switch for the electric lamps. Though the school had been fully equipped with electric lighting last year, Eleanor had not wanted to bring attention to herself in the lab, for it was strictly against the rules to be here so late, so she had only studied by candlelight alone.
After a few seconds of trying to gather her courage, Eleanor jumped up and ran towards the wall with her arms outstretched. She hit the wall quite hard, sending a painful shock through both palms that radiated up each arm, but she did not stop. Her hands desperately felt around for the light switch, but she couldn’t find it. All she could feel beneath her hands was the smooth, cold plaster wall. Eleanor gave a small cry of frustration, for she knew then that whoever was in here with her had to know she was here now and would no doubt be creeping up upon her any moment.
But then the electric lights flicked on, and harsh yellow light filled the lab. Eleanor gasped and shielded her eyes from the blinding intrusion of light.
“Just stay back!” Eleanor cried out, extending the hand that still clutched the scalpel. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will gut you if I have to!”
“Ouch!” came an amused voice. “That doesn’t sound pleasant at all.”
Eleanor squinted and saw a young man standing a few feet away, his hand still on the light switch.
“I mean it!” Eleanor said in what she hoped was her most vicious voice. “I am at the top of my anatomy class, so I know where to cut you to make you suffer the most.”
The young man threw his head back and laughed, showing his straight white teeth. He didn’t appear to be some sexual deviant come to desecrate corpses. At least not what Eleanor thought a sexual deviant would look like. “I believe you would do it, too,” he laughed again. “Look, if you promise not to flay me alive, I’d like to put my arm down, is that all right?”
Eleanor nodded stiffly, her hand and weapon poised in the air, still on guard. She wasn’t about to be lulled into a false sense of security, no matter how charming this young man might be.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” he said with a disarming grin. “I’m a medical student too. I’ve seen you around the campus. Honestly, I did not know anyone was here tonight. I just came to get some practice in before the exam tomorrow. My name is James. James Sinclair.”
The young man’s boyish grin threatened to disarm Eleanor, and his blue eyes sparkled with mischief as he extended his hand to her.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” he said, “And even more pleased that you didn’t gut me like a fish just now.”
Eleanor lowered the scalpel but still held onto it, not fully trusting this stranger yet. After all, he could say virtually anything to her and she would have no way of knowing if it was true. James seemed to pick up on her skepticism and lowered his hand, accepting defeat. But his smile remained as he shifted the satchel on his shoulder.
“Do you mind if I put these down? You know how heavy these textbooks are. It feels like I’m carrying around boulders.” James dropped the satchel to the floor and motioned to the cadaver on the table behind them. “We could share him,” he said with a sly grin.
“What?!” Eleanor gasped. Her eyes widened at the lurid suggestion.
James seemed confused for a moment. Then, as it began to dawn on him what she thought of him, he doubled over in laughter until tears streamed from his eyes.
“Oh my, you really do think the worst of me, don’t you?” James said as his laughter began to taper off. “Did you think I was offering to…” He hesitated and glanced at the dissected body to his left. “Trust me, the perverts that hunger for the bodies of the dead like them a little fresher than our friend here.”
Eleanor looked over at the body and admitted that only a truly psychotic maniac would get any sexual gratification from a sliced-open cadaver with its internal organs exposed. And though this young man was a stranger, she doubted he was a maniac.
“All right, I suppose I jumped to conclusions,” Eleanor said with a gentle laugh. “But you gave me a terrible fright coming in here. I didn’t think anyone else would be here.”
“Looks like we both had the same idea. Do you want to work together on this body and help each other study for the exam? That’s what I was trying to ask before you accused me of necrophilia.” James gave her that boyish grin, and Eleanor smiled in return, finally letting her guard down enough to get a good look at him. His blonde hair fell softly across his forehead, and he swiped at it with the back of his hand in a haphazard way. A sweet, good-naturedness about him and that sense of mischief and playfulness stirred something in Eleanor. She felt a flutter in her stomach and a stirring within her that she had never felt before. She felt her cheeks flame, her breath catch in her throat, and her mouth go dry. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening to her. But she smiled at James and nodded her head.
Eleanor’s reverie was broken minutes later when Frye loudly cleared his throat and excused himself, leaving the salon door ajar. Lord Blackwood leaned against the mantle again, swirling his wine. “In time, you’ll meet others who share our calling. For now, let the device you wear, and the memory of tonight’s… encounter guide you.” He raised a brow. “You’ll find the line between your devotion to James and your awakened carnality blurs quickly. Embrace it.”
The scandalous suggestion pricked her anger, and she rose abruptly. “I am not some harlot to be toyed with.”
He set his wine down, then pivoted, studying her with an inscrutable expression. “No. You are a woman bound by sorrow, willing to cross thresholds once deemed forbidden. I do not condemn nor moralize.I simply provide the stage on which you perform your final act.”
A silence weighed heavily in the room. She glared at him, wanting to retort but failing to find words. The truth was, partof her recognized a spark in his statement. Shewascrossing lines, step by step. Even tonight’s shocking kiss had fed that hunger within, a hunger that belonged to no one but James. And yet, in a twisted sense, she’d let it kindle under another man’s mouth.
Breaking eye contact, she exhaled, determined not to show tears or weakness. “I will do what I must,” she repeated, voice steadier than she felt. “Whatever ritual of passion is required, I shall… participate.”
A pensive smile tugged at Blackwood’s lips. “Then I expect we’ll see each other again soon. We have aGrand Inductionin the coming fortnight. Until then, Dr. Fairfax will continue your training. After all, you must learn to command your desires, how to channel them, direct them, if you hope to reclaim James.”
He bowed in an oddly gallant manner, then moved toward the door. Just before departing, he paused. “Consider this our pact, Eleanor. Your fiancé’s soul in exchange for your unwavering… cooperation.”
And with that, he was gone, leaving her alone in the candlelit hush. She pressed a chilled hand to her lips, still bruised from his kiss. A swirl of conflicted emotion rose in her chest: a fierce repulsion at letting a stranger’s seduction tarnish her memory of James, yet also a dark craving for the power it granted her. She felt appalled by what had transpired, yet more enthralled than ever by the potential the clinic promised.
She dropped onto the settee, chest heaving as she tried to calm her ragged pulse. The hum of the small disk at her throat reminded her of the line she had crossed.Yes, perhaps she was dancing with devils.But if it meant resurrecting James, she would willingly share in that dance.
