7 Nights with the Bogeyman

~12~

When Selina woke up, morning light seeped through the skylight and soft summer rain pelted the glass. Elias lay sleeping at her foot end, curled up like a dog. A big one. The sight of him drawing slow, deep breaths with his eyes closed, utterly relaxed and unsuspicious, tugged at her heartstrings, a most undesirable emotion.

Instinctively, she reached for her head, but she had no headache. Her mind felt airy and light and her body well-rested. She'd been sleeping. The whole night? Holy moly!

This could not be as good as it felt. This was dangerous territory. In what world could they be comfortable enough in each other's presence to just sleep, sleep as if they trusted each other? Had he forgotten about the fork? Had she forgotten about the fangs and claws?

In an instant, she sat upright, sheets clutched high to her chest. "Elias?"

He lazily opened one eye. "What?"

"Did you not ask me about my fears?"

He pressed his wrists to his eyelids and groaned. "You were tired."

"Were you not hungry?"

"I'm always sort of hungry, but I had fed well for five nights in a row, so I figured I could skip one." He stretched and yawned, exposing a strip of clean skin between all of his nightmare stuff. Hmm.

Damn. Fuck. Bogeyman!

"You figured? I told you I didn't need it. How will this affect the seven nights? You won't be strong enough. Lowie is coming back home."

She was freaking out. She knew it but didn't know how to stop it. This situation was spiraling out of control.

"It was my call, my problem. One more night and I'll be out of your hair, promise."

"You can't promise that. What if you're not strong enough?"

"I don't think ..." He scratched his head while she waited for more, her frustration at his lazy, short answers growing. She took a pillow and flung it at his head.

"Bogs, Selina!" He threw it back in a halfhearted attempt that didn't go further than her knees, but at least he was floating upright again.

"What even are bogs? I want some explanations dammit."

"Bogs are bogs and I was just trying to be nice, boggit."

She crawled over to him, ready to punch him, fork or no fork. "You're a bogeyman! You're not nice. What are you trying to accomplish? Is this a ploy? Is that what it is? To deter from our deal? To ... to stay longer?"

"I'm not trying to trick you if that is what you're implying." He rubbed his forehead against hers, playfully. Apparently, he didn't understand she was ready to throttle him.

"Implying? That is exactly what I'm saying. You want to stay, don't you?"

He tilted his head and watched her, really watched her. "Does that scare you, Selina Sardi?"

"You!" She grabbed the pillow and smashed his head with it. Even the nightmares chuckled. Infuriating.

Elias swept the pillow from the bed, his gaze focused on her. "Not so much, does it? Perhaps you're more scared of having to watch me leave?"

The suggestion punched the air from her lungs and she sagged back to the headboard. "That's absurd."

"Is it?" His talon curled toward her cheek. She could feel its proximity, though it didn't touch her ... yet.

His breath was scorching hot on the skin of her neck.

"Too bad I'm not equipped to read your desires. I sometimes wonder what it is you want. But I am equipped to read your fear and there's plenty of it. You shouldn't worry about the night we lost. You're feeding me as we speak. You're always feeding me."

She opened her mouth to object but his nail prevented her, the sharp tip resting atop her upper lip. He continued, "Yesterday, even before you came in, your fears were so out of control that they wafted under the door while you summoned the courage to enter, so don't worry, I'll be properly fed by the time our seven night arrangement comes to an end."

"It's not true. I'm not afraid."

He pulled his scarf from his mouth and dropped his head back, laughing. His mouth hung open and his fangs gleamed in the morning light. She could see them now, her fears, subtle, transparent waves of little, frightened Selina. She could hear him suck and gorge, then watched him smile. "Then why does this taste so yum?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and her stupid lip wouldn't stop quivering. "Because you're a monster, a beast. It doesn't have to make any more sense than that."

"If you would only stop acting like you hate me, we could talk about this."

"I'm not acting. Of course, I hate you."

"No, you don't. You hate being afraid. You hate feeling vulnerable. You hate being attracted to me. You hate the idea that if I might come too close, you might come to need me. You hate the idea that the witch puppet might be right. Are you ... too needy, Selina? Is that why your mom and dad checked out? Is that why it hurt so much?"

"Now you're just being cruel. I would never come to need somebody like you."

"Probably not, but this isn't about me, not just me. It tastes too old for that, too heavy. That fear became a part of you long before we met."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh but I do. You can lie to me about everything but not about your fears."

He swept in close and framed her face between his furry paws, his hot tendrils and sashes embracing her. "I do know. I don't know which fear is worse, needing someone or getting left behind, but they're both there. Thick, salty, and intertwined."

She was crying now, tears-snot-and-trembling-crying, her head locked in place with nowhere to hide.

The devastation.

He was no longer laughing at her but the pity in his eyes was somehow even worse. "Was it Lowie's dad too? Did he abandon you?"

She shook her head for as much as his paws allowed.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, okay? I don't wanna talk about it."

"Nothing?" Elias seemed surprised, his grip loosening. "You didn't let him in either, did you?"

"Are we done for today?" She wrenched herself out of his grip.

He didn't put up a fight, realization dawning in his eyes. "You've never told him."

"Just to be clear," she said, doorknob in hand, "this is six out of seven, one more night and we're done."

"Of course." He nodded quietly and Selina stormed out.

WC 1110 words
TWC 16679 words