Page 16 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
He must see the fear in my eyes, the way I jerk my head back, twisting away from him, because hechanges.
“Shh, shh,” he says so softly, bowing his head, his features barely visible with the hood. He has high cheekbones, hollow cheeks, full lips, minimal, dark stubble along his defined jawline. But he is coming close to me with the needle and the nearness obscures some of what I can see beneath his hood. I focus on the barrel of the syringe, clear liquid inside. Panic makes my pulse race and a surge of adrenaline shoots through my body, but I can still only close my fingers into fists.
I try to kick out with my legs but manage just a flutter of one toe before he grabs my face, fingers along my jaw, and turns my head away from him, like he doesn't want me to watch what it is he’s going to do to me.
Then I see it.
What is inside one of the many jars in this room.
No.
There is a white rabbit floating in what must be formaldehyde, pink eyes looking at me, its fluffy body bent and compressed to fit inside the large vessel.
“No,”I say it out loud this time, trembling along the table.
I try to kick again, and this time I manage it, the sheet slipping lower on my body, exposing my breasts.
Sullen grips my face harder and he makes some strange noise in the back of his throat. A groan, maybe.
I feel cold air along my chest, my heart racing in my ribcage.
Then something sharp pricks along my nipple.
I freeze.
Close my eyes tight, so I don’t see the rabbit as I dig my nails into my palms, but I can’t seem to lift my arms. When I desperately kick again, the sheet slips lower, exposing my abdomen.
I am half bared to him, of my own doing.
“Does this hurt?” he asks quietly, still gripping my face, keeping it turned away from him.
I do not know precisely what he means until I feel it once more.
Another prick along my nipple.
Tears form behind my eyes.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, feeling the warmth of my own silent crying streaking down my face. “What are you doing to me?”
He doesn’t answer, but I sense him shift.
Then something warm and wet is along my breast, closing over my nipple, and he issuckingon it.Me.
A whimper leaves my throat as his teeth scrape over my flesh.
He lifts his head an inch and cold air tingles along my skin where he had me in his mouth. “You are…divine, Karia.” He tugs my nipple between his teeth, and I cry out, my spine arching from the table. It doesn’t hurt so much as it is overwhelming, and I don’t know where the needle is and I’m terrified of where he will put it and what it will do to me.
“Please let me see you,” I whisper, even as I keep my eyes closed, his hand still forcing me to look away from him.“Please.”
He bites at me once more, this time his teeth close around the flesh of my breast, then he lifts his head and abruptly pulls my face toward him.
I flash open my eyes.
“Do you see now?” he asks quietly, his pupils enlarged, nearly blending into the darkness of his irises, the sight jarringly familiar although I can’t place why. There are hollows beneath his eyes, purple and black skin, sunken in. “Is this the friend you wanted, Karia?” He smiles, and it is unnerving. Teeth show, but not many. He is missing some, but he has his canines, and they are unnaturally sharp in his mouth. White, thin points, like he could puncture my skin with them. “Is this who you wished to play with, growing up?” He tilts his head and with the movement, the high collar of his shirt shifts, revealing a patch of skin along his throat.
My body grows cold.
There is something sewn inside of it. Ofhim.Something that makes his flesh lumpy and—
