My eyes meet his. “Keary. Who areyou?”
He hesitates, but eventually, he says, “Rainer,” and I wonder if that’s actually his name.
“Well, Rainer, I’m going to be honest and tell you that I’m not sure the anti-venom I injected you with is a sure-fire fix. I’m not sure that antidotes exist for some of the beasts out there.”
Rainer frowns. “Why wouldn’t there be?”
“They fuck like monsters,” I tell him with a grin. He’s not impressed with my analogy since his response is to narrow his eyes. “They’re prolific breeders, and they don’t need to stay within their species, so there are hybrids upon hybrids upon hybrids. New beasts appear readily.”
He scowls. “How is that possible?”
“When you’re created in a lab, boundaries don’t necessarily exist as they would in nature.”
I said something that interests him because his eyebrows rise.
“So, on that note, you should probably rest with your leg elevated.”
And now he’s frowning at me again. I kind of want to bite his lip.
“Isn’t that counterintuitive? Gravity will make the poison travel to my heart quicker if my leg is elevated.”
“I’m not a physician,” I tell him. “I’m only repeating things I’ve gleaned over my long life. Also…” I examine his face. “You should wash first. You’re very dirty. Would you like assistance? A sponge bath, perhaps?”
Rainer glares hard at me. Oh, that’s sexy. I wonder if I can create an enemies-to-lovers environment. Perhaps I can makehim hate me yet still convince him to get involved in some orgasms.
I sigh. I miss reading. Back when life was leisurely and boring, I could fill my days with books.
“I’m good,” he says as he struggles to get himself into a sitting position. He looks around. His eyes catch on Drystan, eyeing him warily.
“I bet you’re hungry though,” I say, so his attention comes back to me. “Thirsty?” He doesn’t want to trust me. That’s far more than evident. However, I can see that he’s both those things.
I’m not sure his single nod is him removing the barriers between us. He’s not extending me even a smidgen of trust, but he’s smart. He knows food and drink is the only way he’s going to regain his strength…ifthe anti-venom works.
My eyes drop to where the thin black line has crept up his leg. Is it less intense? Thinner? Has it diluted or retreated a bit? The way my heart races tells me I’m anxious to know the answer. I’m disturbingly distressed by the idea that it might not work.
I don’t have a backup plan. If it doesn’t work, he’s going to die. There’s a very real chance that I may have just prolonged his life by a few hours. A few days.
That’s unacceptable. If it doesn’t work, I’m going to need to bring him to a nephilim. This human, Rainer,willlive.
My determination in that is more unsettling than the fact that I rescued him to begin with.
RAINER
Mama said to never trust a stranger with seemingly good intentions. Everyone wants something—especially if that someone is a monster.
Ieat what I’m given, which very clearly began as freeze-dried or from a can, but it’s not the worst food I’ve had. In fact, I don’t hate the freeze-dried fruit at all.
I watch them move around as I eat and drink the water they bring me in a glass cup. I’m not sure of the last time I saw a glass cup. When I was a child, perhaps? Even then, it sat on a shelf as if it were a prize.
Now that we’re in the light, I can see them more clearly. Keary is definitely covered in gold, but it’s clear that it’s part of his skin. It’s not a reflective coat, but a weird matte one that absorbs light until he moves a certain way, then he glitters.
The man that has glowing cracks is dark skinned with even darker markings all over his exposed skin. I would wager a guess that they cover his entire body. They’re even all over his face,disappearing into his hairline. His eyes are a strange kind of lightness. They don’t look like they glow when we’re in the light, but I remember seeing them shine when we were surrounded by darkness.
I try to make sense of the cracks in his skin. Is there a pattern? Are they flickering in time with a heartbeat or some other rhythm? Why do they glow with a silvery white light—is the color significant?
The third person has long, dark hair that falls to the bottom of his ribs. He’s thinner than most monsters I’ve seen. If it weren’t for the massive horns on his head and his deep red eyes, I might have even said he was a malnourished human rather than any monster at all.
They sit around the room I’m in, which has several options for seating, including the couch I’m on. Silently, they watch me with varying degrees of interest.
