CHAPTER 4
A BIG MESS
PERCY was absolutely paralyzed. He couldn't move an inch; his gaze was unwavering. The grey eyes in front of him paused, blinking slowly in his direction, before jerking back. It sounded like they were snapping back into place, like a foot stomping on a branch. Percy cringed, but his face showed no weakness. His expression was blank, unmoving, waiting for the fallout.
The figure moved forward. Their boots hardly made a noise against the old floorboards. Percy could only hear their heels click against the wood, and he swallowed hard. The darkness enveloped the figure like a blanket, until they finally revealed themselves, and the dim light from the bathroom betrayed whatever disguise they once had.
It was the girl from the lobby.
Her hair was in perfect waves, but the ends hung in wet strands, dripping with a red, sticky liquid. Her eyes were hungry, flashing with a sense of darkness that made Percy's heart hammer in his chest. He wasn't sure if he was excited or scared, or maybe it was a bit of both. Her mouth was coated in blood, trickling down her chin and onto the floor. Her whole outfit was stained with blood – his friends' blood.
Her tone was harsh, spine-chilling, as she growled, "You're in my room."
Percy didn't respond. How could he? What could he possibly say in this moment as the lobby girl stood before him with his friends' blood caking her entire mouth? That's why the room originally looked like it had been slept in. Room 66 was her room, but ... why? Was she living in the hotel? Didn't she have a family?
He swallowed down the lump in his throat, wondering if she ate her family too.
If only he knew that wasn't the case, that Hadley was cursed simply because her creator wanted a girl her age. As she looked into his eyes, a part of her wanted to make him understand that she wasn't some monster. However, another part of her wanted to rip the Band-Aid off and just kill him already. But there was something different about this guy. Something that she saw days ago in the lobby; something that she still couldn't put her finger on. When she took another step forward, he didn't run away. He had the ability to look death in the face and not cower.
Her face softened then, causing Percy to blink rapidly.
She knew then. She knew from the moment she saw him that he wasn't like his friends. She noticed it when she watched them walk back from the bar together. Hadley heard the argument before they entered the room. "We need to get them another room," he had said. The friends were perfectly fine with having sex with two women that clearly couldn't give consent. When he didn't agree, one of them had thrown him into the bathroom, locked him up like an animal that misbehaved. She saw it happen while lurking in the darkness. She saw it all.
He had empathy. A kind of empathy that most humans lacked, and something Hadley wanted to experience again.
She stood in front of him, watching him look down at her with the bluest eyes she'd ever witnessed. They reminded her of the ocean she yearned to see. Hadley licked at her lips, and blood dripped from her mouth to his sneakers. She was smaller than him, but the power she held made his eyes widen, but he didn't want to move away. She was enigmatic – a side effect of the curse that was thrust upon her years ago.
Hadley reached out then. Slowly, but surely, her fingers crept towards his cheeks, grazing the blood she had splattered on them. She smelled the copper and iron in the liquid, but she dared not to lick the blood off her fingertips, in fear that she'd scare him even more. For once, she didn't want to scare a human away – or maybe he was just an exception.
He didn't move. His face burned when her skin met his own, and he was pretty sure his heart could be seen thumping in his chest. Hadley placed both hands on his cheeks, feeling the smoothness of his skin. She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered when touching a boy was so innocent, when she didn't feel an aching thirst being near one. The blood smeared on his face and he almost tasted it on his mouth.
Her eyes opened. Percy noticed they were wide with terror, as if she realized what she'd done. "I ..." She swallowed. "I'm sorry."
Percy noticed her tone had shifted. It was softer, gentle and maternal. It reminded him of the calming wind you'd hear on the beach, a complete contrast to the snarl she sent him just minutes ago.
"They were going to assault those girls," she said, voice lowering to a whisper. "I had to do something."
Percy didn't know what to say. He knew she was right, but his body hardly gave him the will to blink. Her hands still rested on his cheeks, thumbs caressing and rubbing the blood into his skin. He understood – he did, he really did – but the words were clogged in his throat. He wanted to say, "I know," or, "Maybe it's what they deserved." That's how he felt, and yet, he was scared to release them into the cold air. Christian and Bobby had been awful, but did they deserve what they got?
In the back of his mind, Percy knew they did.
Hadley pursed her lips, slipping her hands off his face. "I – uh ..." She twisted her torso and allowed her eyes to linger on the corpses now littering the room. Hadley could hear his heartbeat. It was all she could hear when she turned back to meet his burning stare. "What's your name?"
He cleared his throat, surprised when his mouth formed the word, "Percy."
Hadley wanted to smile at hearing his voice, but she decided it wasn't the time to do that, even though his name made her whole body shake. She looked to her red hands for a short moment, before finally nodding, "Okay, okay."
Percy wasn't sure if she was simply talking out loud as she walked to the bathroom. He heard the sink creak when she turned it on, causing his teeth to clamp down on his bottom lip. Percy finally found the urge to move and walked towards the bathroom once again. His eyes raked over her stained clothes until they eventually reached her hands. She scrubbed them with no mercy, mumbling incoherent words under her breath. The white porcelain sink was now streaked with red.
She splashed water onto her mouth, even though she knew it wouldn't do anything. Hadley wrung out her hands, and then wiped her mouth with a towel, but the crimson tint hadn't left her skin. She watched him freeze once again when she looked at him, eyeing the blood masking his face and t-shirt. Placing the towel on the sink, her frown faltered and she gestured for him to come forward. After a long minute, he took a step in her direction.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she assured.
Percy raised a brow, gaining his confidence back, even in the face of a murderer. He wasn't afraid of her. "How can I be sure of that?"
"Don't you think I would've done that by now?"
His eyes shifted back to Christain's body on the floor, watching a pool of blood form around his head. He swallowed and turned back to Hadley, noticing that one brow was now arched in his direction. He finally walked further into the bathroom.
Hadley tugged her hair out of her face and reached to turn the bathtub faucet on. She switched the knob all the way to hot, and when she looked over her shoulder at Percy, she noticed his face was muddled with confusion. "You're covered in blood," she muttered, turning back to watch the hot water fill the tub. "You need to be cleaned up."
She straightened her back, standing so close to him that she could smell the anxiety in his breath. Parting her lips, she lightly grabbed the hem of his t-shirt with her dainty fingertips. Percy noticed her nails were painted a sparkly silver. "Can you ..." Her voice trailed off, tugging slightly on the end of his shirt.
Percy paused for a moment, watching her plead with innocent, grey eyes, and then he found himself melting into them. Her very stare compelled him. He nodded quickly, lifting his shirt up and off his body, allowing it to fall to the floor. Hadley stepped away, looking off as he undressed. Both of them instinctively decided that turning around was a better option, but Percy still felt awkward as he slipped his jeans and boxers down his ankles, wondering if she was looking at him over her shoulder. She wasn't.
"Okay," he said, shocked at the steadiness of his voice. After the horror show he had just witnessed, you'd think he'd be more terrified. But it didn't take long for him to realize that things happened for a reason. Percy glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, studying her back. Blood was clinging to his body in the most uncomfortable of places. "I'm ready."
She pointed to the tub. "Just get in the water."
He followed her instructions. Putting one foot in front of the other, Percy hesitantly slipped into the steaming hot water, allowing a soft hiss to release under his breath. Hadley's acute hearing heard it though, and she felt her stomach implode once it reached her ears. She turned his way and realized that he was staring at her, steam surrounding his gaze. Hadley knelt on the tiled floor and swished her hand in the water, fingertips slightly grazing his leg. She lifted her hand immediately and turned the knob off from behind Percy's head. Her face was dangerously close to his, and he didn't feel an ounce of panic.
Hadley allowed one side of her lips to curl. Her expression was comforting. "Trust me," she murmured, "you want to get this shit off before it stains your skin."
She couldn't stop her stare from moving slightly down, just as he couldn't stop his eyes from lingering on the low-cut of her flannel top. Hadley swallowed down the bile rising in her throat at the sight of his toned muscles. No, she told herself, stop that. You know that you can never be with a human. Of course, she knew that. It was in Elizabeth's fucking rule book, for Christ's sake. Hadley was always scared to be with someone after she was changed, afraid that she'd kill the person she cared about. Even so, she couldn't stop the pull she suddenly felt to this random human, to this Percy.
Clearing her throat, she stood up and began to search the counter drawers for her own toiletries. She found her favorite lavender-scented body wash in the cupboard, as well as a bar of Dial soap. Percy splashed the hot water on his face, rubbing away the sticky substance coating his skin. When his eyes opened again, he noticed the water was tinted a light red.
As Hadley knelt back down and handed him her body wash, Percy whispered, "Can I ask you something?" He didn't give her time to respond, licking his lips before he asked, "Why – Why did you kill them?"
Hadley paused, meeting his curious stare. "You know why."
Yes, he definitely did.
Her eyes shifted, glancing to his neck. His heart was pounding in her ears again. She could hardly focus on anything but the beating. Hadley watched his glowing skin flush under her gaze, and her stare burned into the veins on his neck. They were hardly visible to the naked eye, but Hadley could see right through his skin. She could see the blood pumping in his veins. She could almost taste it on her tongue. How easy it would be to slide her switchblade across his neck and latch her mouth onto –
She hadn't noticed how close she had leaned in until the steam from the water was smacking against her face. Hadley jerked herself back, almost stumbling on her knees, before bringing herself to her feet. She opened her mouth to say something, but words escaped her. Sweat clung to her hands and she tried to desperately wipe it off, mumbling, "I ... I have to go."
Percy watched her run out the door with wide eyes, hearing the lock click in place. Now, it was only him and the corpses of his two friends. She left him in the hot water, and for a split second, he wished she would come back.
•••
"I've made a big mistake."
A single hand slapped down on the pretty, golden bell. Liz and Iris turned in their seats, halting their deep conversation to look at Hadley standing on the other side of the front desk, concern etched across her face. Liz raised a brow, approaching the table and shoving the annoying bell into a drawer. Before she could speak, Hadley lifted a finger.
"Correction," she added, "I've made a big mess."
Iris snorted, placing several room keys in their designated spots. "Nothing Hazel can't clean up."
Hadley shook her head. "Not this time."
"What's got you all riled up, pumpkin?" Liz asked, jutting out a shoulder as a smirk to crept onto her pink lips. Looking down at the younger woman's outfit, she noticed the red patches dotting her plaid shirt. "Did you kill those boys yet?"
"That's why I'm here," Hadley hissed. "It wasn't hard. They were living in my room this whole time."
Iris turned at that, eyes growing wide behind her round glasses. She walked to the desk slowly. "Boys?" She asked. "Three of them?"
Liz's brow creased. "Do you know them?"
Iris gulped, looking at the wall of keys, eyes resting on the empty spot where Room 66's key should be. It was the key for Hadley's room, everyone knew that – even Iris – but somehow, someway ... she fucked up.
"I ..." Iris played with her fingers, causing Hadley to lift a brow. "I might've accidentally given them the key to Room 66 when I checked them in."
Hadley's face flushed a deep red from anger. "Are you kidding me?!" She slammed her fist down on the creaky wood, jaw clenching as she leaned into Iris' face. "If you weren't Donovan's mom, you would be so dead –"
"Calm down, kid," Liz said, settling a manicured hand on Hadley's shoulder. Her jeweled eyes sparkled in the red lighting. "So Iris allowed a few boys in your room, and you ended up killing them. It's fine. Nothing that we can't fix. We'll just throw them down the body chute."
Iris nodded quickly. "How many do we need to dispose of?"
"Again, there lies the problem. There's only two." Hadley swallowed down her pride, eyeing both women before her, who waited for more with anticipation. She bit down on her bottom lip. "I left one alive."
•••
A/N: THE BEANS HAVE OFFICIALLY TALKED!!!!! BELLA AND EDWARD COULD NEVER!!!!!!!!
Their scene was very lowkey modeled after the shower scene in Episode 4 of American Crime Story Season 2, except (and I think it's pretty obvious) Hadley is NOTHING like Andrew Cunanan, but I really liked the tension in that scene and slightly used it as inspiration for Hadley and Percy's first scene together. Again, these characters are absolutely nothing like Andrew and David, but the scene was really well constructed and I wanted to match the same amount of tension in my scene!