I blinked away the blur of my vision, staring at Silas.
How could you let this happen?
“I’m sorry.” Silas cupped my face, a pitiful expression plaguing his features. Then, his needlelike teeth pierced the other shoulder, granting me some relief from Luka’s bite.
The sound that came from me was pitiful, a whine like some injured kitten as the ravens plucked at its wounds. To feel utterly helpless and at the mercy of not one but two animals was enough to bring tears to my eyes. My situation just kept getting worse and worse the more days that went by.
“Get off me,” I cried, though I had no more tears. I had cried for days alone in my prison cell of a chamber. I tried to sit up.
Luka’s jaws clamped down harder as his arms wrapped around me.
They let me sit up, one to my front and one to my back, but they did not relieve me of their deadly grasp. I swallowed and stared up at the ceiling. The cracks and indents were subtle against the eggshell color of the paint that attempted to cover them.
My arms covered my bare chest and whatever I could.
Nothing was mine anymore. Not my body, not my words.
I tried to curl up, but they wouldn’t let me become any smaller than I already was.
Luka’s hand ventured too close to Silas. He pulled away only to bear those bloody, twitching fangs at Luka as he hissed. Luka let go of my neck to hiss back, making me flinch between the two.
Their greedy hands grabbed me and held me between them as they drained me. I started to see stars against the ceiling, my vision narrowing until all I could see was blackness, but I couldstill hear the sounds of them consuming me, their teeth in me, their hands on me.
I awokein that small room while the maids buzzed about cleaning me up and putting me back together that morning. This fussing over the Host bodies made more sense to me as I thought about how sick or injured livestock would harm the consumer’s health. I realized now that they were indispensable, which meant I might have leverage on those two animals. From what I could tell about the dynamic, feeding was a privilege, not a right, in this Nest. Which was why they had no issue keeping me from the others. Who were they saving me for?
Why did everyone look so panicked? They were shocked that I was awake. When I tried to sit up, the maids all jumped at the action and insisted I stay still.
I brought my hand to my shoulder and flinched. Both of them were so tender.
What happened the night before came rushing back to me. I could feel my face grow hot with anger and embarrassment. Thoseselfishanimals.
The creak of the door brought my attention back down to earth.
“I am not interrupting, am I?” An older man entered the room, tall and lanky like a scarecrow.
I wanted to cry.
“Dr. Hayes?” I whispered.
“Ah, Alina, I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to see you again.” An awkward smile tightened across his face. “Leave us be,” he instructed the maids, and they filed out one by one.
“You knew,” I snapped. “You knew this whole time, and you did not tell me.”
“Please get a grasp on your emotions. I know it’s an adjustment for you.” He pulled over a stool and sat at my bedside. “I heard that you had a rough night.”
I ignored him. “Why wouldn’t you warn me? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to run you off your train of thought, but you were too stubborn,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I even tried contaminating your little experiment. You are the reason that you’re here. You chose to poke around.” He glared before moving my hair to check my neck. “I see that you got quite the welcome.”
“You’re just as bad as them.” I pushed his hand away. “You willingly work for them.”
“They pay me to make sure their food source isn’t in pain, won’t be injured, and is in the best health possible,” he explained, ignoring my protests and checking the other side of my neck. “I am curious to see what you define as cruel.”
“They kidnapped me.”
“You’re the only one, Alina.” He sighed, sitting forward and placing the buds of his stethoscope in his ears. “These Hosts are here because they chose to be,” he explained, placing the cold piece of his instrument on my chest. “You should have stopped poisoning people when Luka nailed the madam to your door,” he continued. “Now breathe in and out,” he droned on.
I complied with his request.
