Jesus Christ, she thought, suppressing an urge to sigh. Haven’t you just spent the last half an hour flirting with the guy beside you? Leave Dorian alone.
In truth Poppy had no right to be so possessive of the man. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to try and charm Dorian into bed with her whilst they were staying at his facility. But that didn’t mean she would allow Casey to throw herself at him, either.
Dorian scanned over the entire group as Patrick walked over to join him. “There were thirty of you in total, right? I’m counting thirty.”
Fred nodded. “That’s correct.”
“Great. Let’s head inside then. Patrick, are you staying awhile before taking the boat back?”
He shook his head. “I still have a couple supply runs to do. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He grinned at Casey, who tore her eyes away from Dorian for a few seconds to give Patrick her attention once more. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Cassandra.”
She blushed prettily at the comment. “I look forward to it, Patrick.”
Playing him for a fool, Poppy couldn’t help but think as Patrick made his way back to the boat, glowering despite herself. But then she remembered that she should be looking at everything around her, considering Dorian was beginning his tour of the facility. Cursing her lack of an attention span, Poppy focused on what the man was beginning to say.
“I’m sure you’re all excited to try out the equipment we have here –”
“You mean the hot tubs,” Casey interrupted. “Where are they?”
Dorian laughed softly. “We’ll get to them. The facility is made up of the central building we’re entering just now,” he said as everyone made their way through the front doors. He motioned to a set of doors on his left and then on his right. “And two wings to the east and west. The west houses staff quarters and the infirmary so you won’t find yourself in there often – hopefully. The east wing is where you’ll all be staying, whilst the centre building houses the gym, sauna, indoor climbing equipment and social spaces.”
“And the hot tubs?” Casey pressed as the group walked past one of the aforementioned social spaces, the back of which was made up of climbing walls. It was large, airy and entirely glass-fronted. “The outdoor pool?”
But they all saw it as they looked through the glass wall. The pool overlooked the loch itself, the purple, heather-covered mountains an impressive backdrop behind it.“Through here,” Dorian said, smiling, taking the group through a set of doors that led back outside. To the left of the pool was a raised wooden decking area which the hot tubs were sunk into.
Casey squealed with delight. “Poppy, you never told us it was a God damn infinity pool!” She turned to glance at Dorian. “You sure you want us anywhere near this place?”
“That was one of your president’s first concerns.”
“Glad to know you have such faith in the club, guys,” Rachelle joked. “But seriously, Mr Kapros, this place is gorgeous.”
He smiled beautifully for her. “Call me Dorian, Miss…?”
“Rachelle,” she replied as her face flushed. “Call me Rachelle.”
Behind her Poppy saw Fred stiffen at the interaction.
Serves you bloody right for breaking up with her, Sampson.
Though Poppy didn’t want Rachelle flirting with Dorian any more than she wanted Casey to, it was about time her best friend started getting interested in someone that wasn’t Fred. Rachelle and Fred had dated for the better part of two years when Rachelle had first joined the club, but the overarching animosity between Poppy and Fred had caused a strain on the relationship. Fred had ended up breaking up with her, though Poppy was sure he was still in love with her – and blamed Poppy for the break-up.
“How about I show you all to the living quarters?” Dorian suggested. “Then those of you who are sober enough can try out the climbing walls, if you want.”
There was a smattering of laughter throughout the group, though the majority of people were still obsessively looking at the hot tubs and pool.
“Most of the rooms are twins,” Dorian continued as the club followed him, Casey casting a regretful look back over her shoulder that promised she’d go swimming before she went climbing. Swimming was what she was best at, after all; she was the strongest swimmer in the club.
“Ooh, wanna room with me, then, Poppy?” Rachelle suggested.
“As if you had to ask.”
“Actually, Poppy has a room to herself, if that’s okay,” Dorian cut in apologetically. “As do the rest of the executive board. I figured that was the fairest way to split up the single rooms.”
“At least you get your own room too then, Rachelle,” Poppy said. She was glad for the single room, in reality; she didn’t think she could actually cope with sharing a room with someone for two weeks. Though she and Rachelle lived in a flat together, that was as close quarters as Poppy could deal with. She needed her own space.
And if something were to happen between me and Dorian…
Poppy shook her head out of the gutter. She was not here to do something like that. She was here to climb and swim and hike and completely forget about having to decide what to do with the rest of her adult life.
Suddenly remembering Andrew, she pulled Dorian to the side when the group reached the living quarters. “Andrew Forbes is our treasurer,” Poppy explained, “so he’ll be in a single room, too, but is there one close to where I’ll be sleeping?”
“Why, are you two going out?” Dorian asked, amused. “I could always put you in a twin room if you –”
“Oh god, no!” Poppy exclaimed, possibly a little too loudly. The closest people in the group looked at her curiously. She quietened down. “Andrew has autism. It’s his first time away from home for so long. I’d rather I was close by if anything happens or he needs me.”
Dorian smiled in understanding. “Got it. Which one of you is Andrew?” he called out loudly.
Andrew looked over in surprise when he heard his name. “That’s me.”
Dorian waved him over. “Everyone who isn’t on the board – go wild choosing your rooms. Andrew, Poppy, Fred and Rachelle, follow me.”
“And me!” Casey bit out, indignant.
“Of course,” he said. “You must be the social convenor?”
“Casey, yes.”
And so the five of them followed Dorian through a door that led off the main dormitory corridor. “I said these were single rooms but in reality they’re more like doubles. They’re meant to be more expensive,” he admitted. At the end of the corridor was a much smaller social area, made up of two sofas and a couple of arm chairs surrounding a glass coffee table.
Dorian stopped at the door of the first bedroom he arrived at. “Poppy, Andrew – take these two. They’re the closest together.”
Andrew looked at Dorian and then Poppy in understanding. He smiled slightly as he sidled up to her. “Thank you.”
Poppy waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t mention it.”
Dorian turned to the group. “Well, I’ll let you lot get settled, then. Come find me when you want to try out any of the climbing equipment just so I can run through the safety talk; I’ll be in my office in the west wing.” He looked at Poppy as he said this, which she took as a hint that she should be the one to go and find him. Her stomach flipped happily at the implication, though her head knew it was likely because she was the one Dorian had been working with so far.
Poppy didn’t spend long dumping her stuff in what would be her bedroom for the next two weeks, though she did pause long enough to appreciate the room itself. The bed was smaller than a standard double bed, which she was used to, but it gave her more room than a single bed so she wasn’t going to complain. A quick test of the mattress confirmed that it was new and comfortable.
Then Poppy spotted that the room had an en suite bathroom and her heart soared. Knowing that she wouldn’t have to traipse sleepily down a corridor in the middle of the night looking for a toilet left her feeling very happy ab
out the room arrangements indeed.
Then Poppy quickly changed into a sports bra and leggings, flinging her hair up into potentially the messiest ponytail ever and lacing up her trainers, eager to try out the climbing walls as soon as possible. She laughed when she saw her reflection in the mirror, taking a few seconds to fix her hair before bolting out of her room to find Dorian’s office.
She passed by the climbing walls in question on her way over, as well as several members of the club happily snacking on food in the social area Dorian had shown them before.
“You not even going to take tonight off from climbing, Morph?” Nate asked as she passed him by.
She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
Poppy made her way into the west wing, where Dorian’s office was, though curiosity got the better of her and she wandered down the corridor first instead of dutifully knocking on his door. The infirmary was on her left, as promised, as were one or two other very clinical-looking rooms. She tried the doors on her right but each and every one of them was locked.
I suppose if they’re staff quarters then they wouldn’t want people like me snooping about, Poppy reasoned.
The corridor ended with a stairway up to another floor. Wondering what could be up there, Poppy made it halfway up the stairs before she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.
“What are you doing, Miss King?” Dorian asked. He didn’t sound annoyed; rather, Poppy thought he sounded amused.
She turned and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’m really nosey. I came through to get you for that climbing wall safety talk.”
“I gathered. Incidentally, my office is the first door on the left when you enter the corridor; I’m fairly certain my name’s on the door.”
Poppy laughed nervously as she followed Dorian back through to the central building. “I know. I was just…exploring.”
Dorian eyed her curiously. “There’s plenty of exploring to be done outside. I doubt you’d find anything interesting in the west wing…aside from my bedroom.”
Poppy gawked at the obviously outrageous comment. She didn’t know how to reply so she didn’t say anything at all. Dorian laughed at the expression on her face, then the two of them waited patiently by the climbing walls until another four or five people who were interested in trying them out joined, including Fred and Andrew.
Poppy saw Casey, Nate and a few other people make a beeline for the outdoor pool, which wasn’t surprising. Poppy knew she’d probably try out the pool when the sun set; there was something about swimming at night that she’d always loved.
Dorian’s safety talk was short and sweet. He went over how to use the equipment – all stuff that the group was familiar with – before Poppy promptly ignored it all and began nimbly climbing up the wall without any equipment whatsoever.
“King!” Fred exclaimed furiously. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Free-climbing,” Poppy called back simply. “What did you think? I won’t go all the way to the top.”
She was lying, of course. Poppy loved free-climbing more than anything. She never fell, after all.
Except that, this time, she did.
Poppy King had nearly made it to the top of the climbing wall, expertly navigating the hand and foot holds like it was second nature, because it was. But then she glanced at Dorian, curious to know if he was watching her.
He was. Like a hawk analysing a rabbit two hundred feet away, Dorian was watching her.
And she fell.
Poppy landed heavily on her right side, crushing her arm beneath her with a sickening crunch.
For a few seconds nobody spoke. It almost felt as if nobody could breathe. A fall like that meant several broken bones at the very least, but the way Poppy had landed…
When she sat up, cringing in pain and barely able to think or see or hear, most everyone cried out in shock and relief.
“How the hell is she –”
“Oh my God I thought Morph was dead –”
“I’ve never seen Poppy fall!”
“Poppy, your arm…”
Poppy could barely focus enough to look at her arm, but she didn’t need to see properly to know that it was red and hot with blood. Before she had the chance to react, however, someone swept her up into their arms and carried her away.
“I’ll deal with this!” Dorian said. “I’ll call an ambulance if I have to. Fred, Andrew – can I leave it to the two of you to clean up here? There should be some staff members in the kitchen!”
“What happened?” Poppy groaned in Dorian’s arms. “I don’t – I don’t fall.”
Dorian chuckled humourlessly. “Seems like you do, Poppy King.” He kicked open the door to the infirmary and placed Poppy on a bed before hurriedly grabbing everything he needed to clean and dress her arm.
There was so much blood. Poppy had never thought she was queasy but the sight of her own blood was spinning her head painfully. And was that – bone?
Dorian made quick work of cleaning up the blood, brows knotted together in worry as he worked. If she had bled this much then Poppy had likely hurt herself very, very seriously.
But then Dorian’s frown melted into confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Poppy risked looking down at her arm. Now that Dorian had largely cleaned it she could see that her arm was barely even bleeding anymore. The exposed and broken bone Poppy had been sure she’d seen had disappeared. Even as she stared the long slash that adorned her skin began to close up.
She didn’t want to say anything. She didn’t want Dorian to say anything.
Because Poppy knew this would happen.
There was a reason she never fell – that she climbed so recklessly. Because, as a child, when she had fallen, she’d never gotten hurt the way she should. When she realised that cuts and scrapes healed inordinately quickly Poppy learned to hide that she had even been hurt at all in front of people. She knew it wasn’t normal to heal this rapidly.
“You don’t have any broken bones.”
Not a question; a statement.
Poppy shook her head.
“Did you cut yourself anywhere else?” Dorian asked as he began dressing and bandaging Poppy’s arm, for all the good that it would do.
She shook her head again.
Dorian’s frown had returned, though he continued working in silence. Poppy didn’t dare say anything. Then he rubbed a hand against his face, unwittingly smearing some of Poppy’s blood across his lips and chin.
His confusion disappeared to be replaced by surprise.
“Um, Dorian…?” Poppy asked uncertainly. She’d expected him to clean the blood from his face immediately, but he hadn’t. Instead he stared at Poppy as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Considering how quickly she’d healed, he probably couldn’t.
Then he shook his head. “Go clean the rest of yourself up, Poppy. Maybe don’t tell anyone about your…arm.”
Poppy got up wordlessly, wobbling slightly on her feet before regaining her balance. When Dorian didn’t say anything more she walked away. But when she reached the door to the central building, she paused.
What do I say to everyone? Though only five people actually saw the fall, everyone will know about it by now. And I’m barely hurt at all.
She glanced back at the door to the infirmary. She couldn’t understand Dorian’s reaction whatsoever. It wasn’t how anyone normal would have responded to what he saw happen with his own eyes. Poppy was hopelessly, confusingly curious.
Glancing upwards she saw that the ceiling tiles were akin to those found in offices and schools – the kind that could get lifted up rather easily. Judging the height she’d need to get through the ceiling, Poppy kicked off one of the walls to gain the momentum required to grab onto one of the metal rails that supported the tiles. Swinging in place for a few seconds, Poppy then hauled her entire head and shoulders up. Her head bumped the tile, and she winced at the pain in her arm as she put her weight on it.
Poppy pulled t
he rest of her body through the ceiling before her arm gave way, putting the tile back in place as she took a deep breath.
“What the hell am I doing?” she murmured, shaking as she crawled through the ceiling until she was certain she was just above Dorian in the infirmary. She edged up a tile to confirm this; the man was pacing back and forth as he muttered to himself. Something about him seemed different; Poppy wasn’t sure what.
“…fucking blood. Immortal blood! I can’t bid her off. God no. I want her. They can’t know, otherwise they’ll eat her instead of –”
Dorian paused in his nonsensical rambling abruptly. With sharp eyes he located Poppy’s position in the ceiling even though she’d already replaced the tile. Poppy’s breathing was coming in loud, sharp, painful gasps that she could hardly control; something about the situation she was in screamed danger.
Somehow finding the strength to turn around, Poppy made to escape back the way she came. But then the tile behind her came crashing down and Poppy felt an excruciatingly tight, cold grasp around her ankle.
With a scream she was wrenched from the ceiling. She stared up at Dorian, who didn’t look like himself at all. He loomed over Poppy, much taller than he’d been before. Impossibly tall.
The arm that had hauled her from the ceiling ended with short, sharp, midnight-blue claws.
Whereas before Poppy couldn’t get air into her lungs fast enough, now she found she couldn’t breathe at all.
Dorian grinned at her as he continued to somehow change form in front of her very eyes.
“You really are too curious for your own good, Poppy.”
ANDREW MARTIN FORBES
Dorian
She was never supposed to find out. None of them were. And yet Poppy King, the president of the club Dorian had sought so hard to find, had nevertheless found out.
Poppy wouldn’t stop screaming; Dorian bent down and picked her back up, forcing her to stand on her own two feet with the wall behind her for support. He covered her mouth, suffocating the scream out of her. Eventually Poppy got the idea that he wasn’t going to let go if she didn’t keep quiet.
Invisible Monsters Page 3
