Syrsee swallows and nods her head. “To save me.” Now she meets my gaze. “You left something out.”
“What?”
“When you explained this to me.” She nods her head at Paul. “He’s going to drink. Josep is going to drink. I’m going to drink. At some point you’ll drink. You’ll be…” I wait for her to say ‘fucking me,’ ready to recoil at the vulgarity. But she catches herself. “You’ll be inside me. And when it’s over, I’ll be pregnant.”
“Right.” I nod.
“But what you didn’t say, Ryet, is what comes after that.”
“You’ll be?—”
She puts up a hand to shut Paul up. Doesn’t even look at him. She’s staring straight at me. “I don’t want to hear it from you, Paul. I want to hear it from Ryet. After I’m pregnant, what comes next?”
I take in a breath and let it out in a long exhale. “You’ll have the baby.”
“And then?”
“Then…” I look at Paul. He’s sympathetic, I can tell. But he can’t help me. “Then we do it again. The cycle starts again.”
“Mm-hm.” Syrsee nods. “I’m a broodmare.” Her eyes are locked with mine. She is glaring at me. “I’m a breeder. I’m the blood mother. Is this what you’re telling me?”
I nod now too. “Yes. That’s what you are.” I want to elaborate. To tell her that’s not all she’ll be. She will have a life and… yeah. Not even I believe that shit.
She’s going to make demons and once they are made, she’s going to make more.
Now she looks at Paul. That same stoic expression on her face. “How many? How many times will I be in this cycle?”
“Well—”
“Guess.” She snaps this word out. “If you don’t know, then guess. I want a fucking number.”
Paul shrugs. “Ten or twelve.”
Syrsee exhales loudly. Like it’s a much higher number than she expected. It takes a moment for her to gather herself again, but once she does, she walks over to the massive bed, kneels on the mattress, crawls over to the middle, and then lies back. “Let’s do this then. Let’s get on with it.”
“Where’s Josep?” I’m looking at Paul. Because I agree, let’s just get this over with.
Paul is smiling. Not even looking at me. He’s only got eyes for Syrsee’s naked body on the bed. And when I glance down, I find him already hard for her.
Has he always lusted after Syrsee? Was this his goal all along? I understand that he said he would not be inside her. It would be me and only me. It’s the only way to make this tolerable.
But now I’m wondering if there’s more to it.
He’s crossing the room now too, and when he gets to the end of the bed he kneels down and crawls up alongside her. Fitting his body right up against hers. His hands wandering. Going anywhere he chooses.
She doesn’t stop him. In fact, she closes her eyes and seems to enjoy his touch.
This is when I feel a body slide up behind me and a hand slip around my waist as a face presses into my neck.
It’s Josep, of course. Materializing from nowhere.
I’ve never met him. I don’t even know what he looks like. And oddly enough, I don’t care. Just like Syrsee, I don’t mind what he’s doing. Even when he reaches between my legs and finds me hard for him already, just like Paul was hard for Syrsee.
His teeth graze over my skin, ripping it open just a little bit, right under my ear. “Nice to finally meet you, Ryet. Are you ready for your gift?”
He’s pressing himself into me. He’s hard as well. I manage to open my eyes when Syrsee moans and I see that Paul is already taking her. His fingers are between her legs and his face is hovering over hers like he’s going to kiss her. I want to watch them. I want to see what he does next. But Josep is nibbling on me and I want that too. I want that bite. I want him to pull the blood out of me and take it in his mouth. So I force myself to pay attention. “What gift?”
“The gift of the Darkness.”
