Page 101 of Lilies from Hell

“He’s pretty handsome, too. Have you kissed yet?” My breath catches in my lungs.

“Mum!” I blurt out, my cheeks about to flush.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about these things so soon. But you and I need to have a talk.” It doesn’t take a genius to know what kind of talk she’s referring to.

“Grace is waiting for you downstairs.”

“Tell her I’ll be right down.”

As soon as she leaves the room, I take a quick shower. I bite my lower lip, hiding the smile that wants to escape when I see the marks on my breasts that will remain there for days. I used to think that having sex with him would make that desire I felt gradually fade away, but it’s quite the opposite. Now that I’ve finally discovered what sex is, I can’t help wanting to do it all the time.

“Where have you been? I’ve called you a thousand times.” Grace’s voice immediately fills the room as I enter the main hall.

“It’s a long story.” My gaze is fixed on the red box she is carrying in her hands.

“You can tell me later. Right now, I have something much more important.” With a broad smile, she holds out the box, urging me to open it.

“What is it?”

“Just open it.” The second I do, my jaw almost hits the floor. Inside is a red and white cake decorated with a heart and the word virgin in the middle crossed out by a red line, around that heart there are drawings of smaller hearts and… Is that a penis I’m seeing?

“Do you like it?” she asks, without losing her smile. “It’s red velvet, just how you like it.”

“Yes, it looks very… appetizing.”

“I knew you’d like it. I can’t wait to celebrate this new stage with you.”

“I just had sex for the first time, it's not like I'm a whole new person,” I say, furrowing my brow.

“Do you mind if I take a piece? I’m starving.” I don’t have time to react before she snatches the box from my hands and walks toward the kitchen. “And what is it that’s so important you have to tell me?” She asks as she shoves a piece of cake in her mouth.

I lick my lips before telling her everything that happened in great detail. When I finish, she stops chewing and looks at me in astonishment.

“Did all that really happen in 24 hours?”

“I’m worried something will happen to him. I know he won’t let it be. Not even because that man is locked up.” She nods, staring into space, not paying attention to me. Her mind seems to be elsewhere, which is really weird considering how much she loves gossip.

“I have something to do. See you later.” Before I can reply, she has already gotten up from the bar stool and says goodbye with a kiss on the cheek.

33

I lift my sunglasses, looking away from my phone screen when Vlad approaches the deckchair where I'm sitting with a smile. His slightly long hair escaping from his ponytail.

“We’ve got them in the trunk. What should we do with them?”

“Take them to the second floor. I want you to leave Norman on the second floor of the dungeons.”

“The one with the crocodiles?” he asks, his smile widening. I nod, distracted by the memory of Lena's angelic face in my head.

“And fix that fucking mess,” I say, pointing to his hair in a gesture of disdain before looking at her one last time through my cell phone. She fell asleep on the couch by the window in her bedroom, with some strands of hair falling across her face and the iPad on her lap.

Before going down to the underground rooms I put on some pants, leaving my torso bare. I know how much she likes to wear my clothes and I love the smell she leaves on them, so most of the time I avoid getting them dirty when doing any work.

I can hear the screams of the man who is now bound with his hands bandaged and a blindfold over his empty eye sockets as I descend to the second basement. A permanent rag mask is stitched to his face, hiding the damage and raw flesh. You can still see the misplaced pieces of skin under his chin that the idiot tried to fix.

“When you beg for your life, I want you to think about how you rejected my offer to let you live,” I say with a smile.

His new appearance appeals to me well enough to want to make him another of my personal pets. The nameless one I already have seems to be feeling quite lonely and bored lately, but the bastard refused to work for me.