Only one button was left glowing red. The very top. I was tempted to turn around and go back downstairs instead of confirming Damien was dead, but I’d come this far.
The cloth wrapped around my wrists was soaked through. Little drops of black-green blood dropped on the floor, sizzling as I got off the elevator and walked down the hall. I was singing “That’s Life”. I was no Frank Sinatra, but I could carry a tune.
High-powered vents kicked on as I slid down the hallway. The entire building was rigged to purify the air in case of situations like this one. Not that it did them much help when I was still roaming around, breathing death into the air.
The adrenaline was wearing off. I stumbled into the wall, nearly smashing my face into the golden plaque: Damien D’Bolique. No title needed, apparently. I was so tired. I shouldn’t have sprinted after floor 2 while shooting finger guns at the people I was killing.
“Let’s get this over with.” I peeled myself off the wall and pushed open the door. Shuffling in, I expected to see Damien on the floor, dead. My feet stopped as I looked at him.
Damien was sitting at his desk. Perfectly alive. After I got over the surprise, I realized that it made sense. Of course, he’d be prepared; have his little red eye glasses and oxygen tank.
Except … he didn’t have either of those things. And yet, here he was. Eating. Guess he wasn’t one to miss his lunch break.
Damien lifted a fork to his mouth. Something slimy was speared on the end.
“I’m not sure what to say to you, Baz.” He slid the utensil into his mouth. There was a wet sound as he chewed. My lip curled.
“You’re not wearing a mask,” I said.
“No, I am not. You forced my hand.” Damien stabbed his plate with the fork. It gave a high-pitched scrape as he twisted the remaining food up. At first, I didn’t understand why it made me feel nauseated. Blood loss could be making me think slow, or perhaps, my mind just didn’t want to know what he was eating. But the smell was hard to keep ignoring—salt and rot. The same scent wafted off Levi as he died.
Shuffling forward, I looked at the plate. There was no denying it at that point.
Damien was eating wet human skin.
“What the hell?” I covered my nose and mouth.
“It’s a magic coat. Not very nutritious but very helpful in gaining power.”
I’d always envisioned the magical coat as animal-like. A seal, maybe. That’s what selkies had, right? But Levi wasn’t a selkie, and his coat hadn’t allowed him to turn into an animal. It had allowed him to turn into a man. And therefore, his “coat” was a human hide.
“It’s tough to eat,” Damien said, slurping the final sliver up. He chewed and chewed and chewed. I could hear him masticating.
“What are you doing?”
“That’s right, I never explained it. You see, Levi was an oilliphéist—a very dangerous Irish sea snake capable of appearing human. He owned a human skin suit that he could put on and take off, allowing him to shift between man and monster.” He smiled around a full mouth of human skin. “It’s a very powerful thing. Eating the coat imbues me with power.” He swallowed thickly and set the fork down before getting up.
“Unfortunately, that was the last of it.” Damien rounded his desk and sat against the front, crossing his arms. “I’d have rather saved that for something else. Zero’s still out there, you know. It would have been nice to use the last of the coat to bind the inter-dimensional monster to a cage again. But … here we are.” He gave a tight smile.
“Are Bree, Nemo, and Orson here yet?” I asked.
Damien pulled out his phone. “Almost.” He slid the phone back in his pocket and smiled. “Fate is such a curious thing. Just like how the very magic I was looking for ended up being my mate. And now this, with you.”
“What about me?”
“You always knew you were going to kill them, didn’t you?”
I swallowed thickly. “I won’t.”
“They're almost here, Baz. The moment they open those doors …” He dragged a line across his throat. “I’m all you’ve got left. I’m immune now. Took the last of Levi.”
“You fucking bastard.” I stomped towards him and grabbed his face. His eyes sparkled with entertainment as no veins of venom appeared. I pulled my hand back in shock. I couldn’t kill him. I pushed my fingers through my hair and looked at the empty plate.
“What are you going to do, Baz? Even if you killed yourself,” he said, looking at my wrists, “your venom is all over the place. They’re gonna die.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, grabbing him. A child could fight me off at this point because I was so weak. Instead, he stumbled along beside me, letting me drag him back down the hallway and into the elevator. The doors closed, and I pressed my floor, second from the bottom.
My forehead rested on the doors. My blood dripped on the ground. Damien touched my hand, and I recoiled away.
