him, both brows high on my
forehead.
“I’m not a lunatic.” He rested the back of
his head on the doorframe. “There was a time when Deus would speak
to me, when I was younger. He stopped after the conviction.”
“You were on trial?”
Eros pressed his lips together and nodded.
“It was a discrete hearing. Not even David knows about it, and I
tell him plenty.”
“So why are you telling me?”
“Well,” he said, “you seem to know how to
keep a secret.”
Was he talking about not telling David about
his advances? And what had he been punished for? Could it have been
for what he did to Veronica?
“How long ago was that?” I asked, giving into
curiosity.
“Too long.” We both turned when we heard
footsteps in the hallway. Paulina was carrying sheets to David’s
room.
“Sounds to me like you must’ve really outdone
yourself.”
“I bet you’re itching to know what I did,
aren’t you?”
“Not really. Sometimes staying in the dark is
better.” I swung the door in, attempting to close it, but Eros
blocked it with his foot and pushed it back open.
“You see,” he continued, “there was a similar
circumstance to the one with Veronica. I’m sure David told you the
story.”
“You did the same thing to another girl?” How dumb are you?
“No, my sweet. Not to another girl—to four
others.” He shook his head and let out a laugh, but he looked like
he was about to be sick. “Veronica was an obsession. I understand
that now. The second, third, and fourth loved me, and I felt fond
of them. I thought there wouldn’t be repercussions if I made them
love me—more than anything or anyone. I was wrong. They didn’t die,
but they went insane. The fifth I didn’t love, but she loved me in
the way I ached for—sincerely and wholly. So, I asked her to be my
wife. I told her I couldn’t be with her as a man is with a woman,
and even after this, she accepted my proposal. She was beautiful.
Her name was Iliana.
“It had been only eight days after the
wedding when she told me that men made advances on her when I
wasn’t home. I was enraged, jealous. I thought she would leave me
for one of them. I couldn’t have that. I wouldn’t let her love
anyone else. That same day I began to infuse her with my gift.
“Iliana showed none of the signs of lunacy
the others had experienced; however, her lust was intensified. One
night, after a walk along the edge of the village, she seduced me.
I told her she must never do that again, or I would leave her. She
agreed and kept her word. But she became ill for almost two months,
on the verge of death. I should have known, but I was so ignorant.
Iliana was pregnant. She kept it a secret from me until her stomach
was the shape of a half moon. Five months. She thought she was
giving me the greatest joy. I acted like she was, and I waited for
the birth of the spawn, knowing what I had to do.
“One more month passed when the complications
began. She lay in bed covered with boils, her blood poisoned by the
blood of the Creatura inside of her. Iliana’s body didn’t resist
the poison. I doubt anyone’s body would. On a cold night, she died.
But that thing, it was still alive inside of her, eating away at
her remains. I watched as the Creatura writhed around inside her,
her lifeless body convulsing with its movement. I knew that at any
moment it would burst from beneath her skin and attack me.
“I took an iron rod from the fire pit where
Iliana cooked and returned to the bed. I stood over Iliana’s body
and stabbed the mound under her skin until the deafening screams of
that abomination stopped. When I stepped back, Iliana’s body was
laying in two pieces. The Creatura slipped out from inside of her
and rolled to the floor. I can’t even begin to describe the
hideousness of the two-faced creature covered in blood.” He looked
at me. “I had fathered a monster, and I had killed my wife.”
“I couldn’t believe what I had done. I fell
to my knees on the
forehead.
“I’m not a lunatic.” He rested the back of
his head on the doorframe. “There was a time when Deus would speak
to me, when I was younger. He stopped after the conviction.”
“You were on trial?”
Eros pressed his lips together and nodded.
“It was a discrete hearing. Not even David knows about it, and I
tell him plenty.”
“So why are you telling me?”
“Well,” he said, “you seem to know how to
keep a secret.”
Was he talking about not telling David about
his advances? And what had he been punished for? Could it have been
for what he did to Veronica?
“How long ago was that?” I asked, giving into
curiosity.
“Too long.” We both turned when we heard
footsteps in the hallway. Paulina was carrying sheets to David’s
room.
“Sounds to me like you must’ve really outdone
yourself.”
“I bet you’re itching to know what I did,
aren’t you?”
“Not really. Sometimes staying in the dark is
better.” I swung the door in, attempting to close it, but Eros
blocked it with his foot and pushed it back open.
“You see,” he continued, “there was a similar
circumstance to the one with Veronica. I’m sure David told you the
story.”
“You did the same thing to another girl?” How dumb are you?
“No, my sweet. Not to another girl—to four
others.” He shook his head and let out a laugh, but he looked like
he was about to be sick. “Veronica was an obsession. I understand
that now. The second, third, and fourth loved me, and I felt fond
of them. I thought there wouldn’t be repercussions if I made them
love me—more than anything or anyone. I was wrong. They didn’t die,
but they went insane. The fifth I didn’t love, but she loved me in
the way I ached for—sincerely and wholly. So, I asked her to be my
wife. I told her I couldn’t be with her as a man is with a woman,
and even after this, she accepted my proposal. She was beautiful.
Her name was Iliana.
“It had been only eight days after the
wedding when she told me that men made advances on her when I
wasn’t home. I was enraged, jealous. I thought she would leave me
for one of them. I couldn’t have that. I wouldn’t let her love
anyone else. That same day I began to infuse her with my gift.
“Iliana showed none of the signs of lunacy
the others had experienced; however, her lust was intensified. One
night, after a walk along the edge of the village, she seduced me.
I told her she must never do that again, or I would leave her. She
agreed and kept her word. But she became ill for almost two months,
on the verge of death. I should have known, but I was so ignorant.
Iliana was pregnant. She kept it a secret from me until her stomach
was the shape of a half moon. Five months. She thought she was
giving me the greatest joy. I acted like she was, and I waited for
the birth of the spawn, knowing what I had to do.
“One more month passed when the complications
began. She lay in bed covered with boils, her blood poisoned by the
blood of the Creatura inside of her. Iliana’s body didn’t resist
the poison. I doubt anyone’s body would. On a cold night, she died.
But that thing, it was still alive inside of her, eating away at
her remains. I watched as the Creatura writhed around inside her,
her lifeless body convulsing with its movement. I knew that at any
moment it would burst from beneath her skin and attack me.
“I took an iron rod from the fire pit where
Iliana cooked and returned to the bed. I stood over Iliana’s body
and stabbed the mound under her skin until the deafening screams of
that abomination stopped. When I stepped back, Iliana’s body was
laying in two pieces. The Creatura slipped out from inside of her
and rolled to the floor. I can’t even begin to describe the
hideousness of the two-faced creature covered in blood.” He looked
at me. “I had fathered a monster, and I had killed my wife.”
“I couldn’t believe what I had done. I fell
to my knees on the
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