When I have finished cleaning her, I apply more salve, rubbing it into her skin until she bows her head, as if to say it feels good to have a monster's hands upon her. I rub her longer than necessary and then wipe my hands.

There is still work to be done this evening, and I feel as if I am behind already. But it is no longer at the forefront of my mind when my palm skates down over her shoulder and dips into the silk nightgown, skimming over her breast.

Ivy closes her eyes and leans back into me, unaware of how much it affects me when she melts into me. I close my eyes too, hating her for tempting me this way. Hating her for her name. Her blood. Her sweetness that I want to imbibe, even as she poisons me.

My free hand grazes over her neck, reaching for the rosary, only to come up empty. Her shoulders stiffen, and our eyes collide at the same time. Mine dark and hungry, and hers, terrified.

"Santiago," she whimpers.

I grasp her jaw and squeeze it shut. She swallows audibly, and I lean down to her face, my lips a breath from hers.

"I'm beginning to think you actually like my punishments, dear wife."

20

Ivy

He has me on my feet in an instant. All the tenderness of a moment ago has vanished almost like it hadn’t happened. Like I imagined it.

“Santiago.” Holding my arm at an awkward angle, he picks up the rosary from the nightstand and marches me out of my room, his footfalls sure while mine are silent. “You’re hurting me.”

“I’m being more than patient with you when you seem incapable of following one simple instruction.”

We hurry through the house, and I try to keep up while taking it all in, all the shadowy corridors, the dimly lit spaces, richly textured carpets and curtains, intricately carved wood. It’s out of an old vampire movie, this place.

“Slow down,” I ask when I slip on the stairs he hurries us down.

“Keep up,” he retorts, righting me before I fall.

There’s no one around, and I wonder what time it is. All I can see is that it’s nearly a black night apart for a sliver of moonlight.

“Where are we going?” I ask when we walk through the large kitchen, also dark and ancient looking with only the appliances seeming to be from this century.

He pulls open the door and is about to take a step but pauses and looks at my bare feet.

“Do you ever wear shoes?” he asks, but he’s not waiting for my reply. I don’t even think it’s a real question. But in the next instant, he has me hauled over his shoulder, the flimsy nightgown riding to the tops of my thighs, the wind cool against the backs of my bare legs.