Page 23 of The Monster of Hotel No. 7
The lump there is what Karia saw, when I had her in my temporary lab.
Her face contorted in disgust, and I imagine she never knew a human could be so vile.
I stand to my feet dizzyingly fast as the rain turns to hail outside and I leap toward the mirror, intending to shatter it with my fists. The silver necklace and purple pendant swings with my abrupt movement. But when I am close enough to ruin the glass of the mirror, more marks visible along the line of my abs, a scar across the right side of my belly from where Stein decided he would remove my gall bladder because he could when I was a child, there is an electronic beeping sound that stops me in my tracks.
Someone is at the door to the suite.
I turn my head to peer down the darkened hallway at the same time a flood of light from the corridor spills into my reprieve.They were not supposed to get here so quickly. I was supposed to find her first. Hide her. Kidnap her away. Touch her. Taste her, more.
But she steps inside.
And she is not alone.
Cosmo is behind her, looming over her like a predator, and their eyes blink to adjust, but there is nowhere for me to run.
It takes seconds for her to spot me as Cosmo turns his head toward the dark bathroom.
Her pale hair seems to glow in the darkness, down now in haphazard waves past her shoulders, to her ribcage.
The skirt, the shirt, her frilly socks, and white Vans.
All back on because I carefully dressed her before I left her in the bathroom. I couldn’t let Cosmo find her naked, even if he has already seen all of her.
She has a flashlight in one hand, but it is not on.
“I’ll check in…” Cosmo’s voice trails off as he turns his head and spots me, too.
Both of them stare at me, half-naked, and I remember it with a startling, visceral pain, that my body is exposed.
I wrap my arms around myself before I can think the better of it, but Cosmo’s greedy green eyes are already roaming over my bare torso, and I wish I would have sliced his wrist to the bone when I poisoned him with the scalpel around my neck.
“Fuck,” he says, his voice a low growl. Then he pushes past Karia, the door falling closed with a heavy thunk behind him. He does not slow as he comes closer in long, violent strides.
“Cosmo!” Karia snaps his name, but there is an undercurrent of fear within her tone. I hear her footsteps as she quickly follows him, and I take an unsure step back.
I could hurt him.
I could kill him.
I could lure him to the patio and toss him over the fucking balcony.
His eyes are narrowed, his cheeks pulled upward in his scowl.
“No,” he snarls, coming toward me with balled fists. “Hedruggedyou, Karia. Hescarredme.”
I want to tell him I could do so much worse but as my pulse leaps to my throat, I can say nothing at all, only squeeze myself tighter and pray his body blocks me from her view.
“You’ve always tried to play with the little freaks and monsters, but they aren’t nice pets.” He says this all as he looks at me, slowing when he is a foot from me, his gaze flicking up and down my body. “He could’ve raped you.” He steps closer and I can smell his sweat, see the perspiration on his temple. “Why did you come back? We all wanted you to stay gone.”
My knees begin to tremble.
I am not scared of him, but the words he speaks…Does she think that, too?
“Cosmo,” she whispers behind him, but his body eclipses hers.
He shakes his head once as he stares up at me. “I’m gonna fucking hit you.” I don’t know why he gives me the warning, but he lifts his fist and his body twists in the way I’ve seen Stein’s do right before he lands a blow.
I make myself stay relaxed because tensing hurts worse and I don’t know yet if I should fight back because if I do, I might not stop.
