The Book sprouted a bunch of tiny teeth and closed on its own, chomping Lane’s hand.

“Ah!” Lane startled backward but he stumbled on the chair and fell with a dull thud.

“Ow,” He said rolling to the side. When he stopped, Lane lifted his right hand but when he was about to glance at it, he felt it throbbing with pain and looked away.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” He stood up, and started walking in circles on the same spot, with the book still biting his hand. He stopped; his hand was getting cold making him think about his blood running out all over the floor. So he gritted his teeth, and looked at his hand but found no trace of blood.

Still, his hand felt cold and he saw it pale. Then he heard it.

‘Slurp…’

His eyes widened. This, this Book. This fucking book, is, drinking my blood? He thought.

“You! You let go!” he said as he slammed his hand at the table *Bang!* “Grhg…” *Bang!* “Argh…” *Bang, Bang, Bang!*

And the Book stopped slurping.

“Ha,” Lane gasped, “Ha ha ha, take that you glorified doorstop! Ha…” But his smile froze in a rictus when the book started pumping, and he felt something coming into his hand rather than outside.

“No, oh no, you better stop,” He said with a snarl, “You heard me, Book, this is it! The last of my patience!” And he meant it because he strode towards the table pushing his chomped-on hand at the candle with a wild grin, and a pair of frowning eyebrows over his widened eyes.

But the Book refused to let go and stood stoically over the flame. And so, it became a contest between Lane and the Book. Both holding out stoically as the heat grew up. Lane greeted his teeth, holding his right wrist with his other hand. His knuckles were white with pressure and his right hand became paler by the second.

Finally, with Lane’s forehead covered with cold sweat, and his right hand starting to tremble, the Book let go.

‘Hisssssssss’

“Ha!” He swung his hand sideways and the Book bounced on the floor before stopping at the bed’s foot. He looked at his hand and saw that this time the blood was starting to flow down his wrist and dripping on the floor.

“You just wait there, Book,” He said checking on his chest, “rest easy, Book, I will show you, oh yes, Book, you just wait and see.”

After revolting around the stuff on the chest for a moment, he took out a towel and started cleaning his hand, making sure to keep an eye on the Book for good measure.

However, when he finished wrapping his hand with the towel, a knock on the door caught his attention.

*knock knock*

“Not now, Lena!” He said, “I am busy.”

*knock knock*

“Lena, I am busy right now, I’ll go later to your room.”

*knock knock*

“Lena, I’ll pass later by your place, just leave me be for now!”

*knock knock*

For the spirits, why won’t she go away?

He made way for the door and gave a casual kick to the Book while he passed, sending it under the table with a ‘Wheez’ in which it burped a small cloud of smoke.

On the hallway, an annoyed Lady Erin walked in circles, mumbling and throwing an occasional look at the closed door. She stopped, frowned, and walked to the door again, and as she was about to knock one more time, the door spun open.

“What?” Asked Lane, and both stood in silence, staring at each other with widening eyes and gaping mouths.

“I…” She started, but then she looked him over and stopped, mouth agape.

Before her, stood a barefooted, sweaty Lane with his hair messy and wet. For a second that lasted too long, Lane stood there, gasping with his face reddened and his pajamas in disarray. Then, she saw his hand wrapped in a towel and heard his breath coming out roughly. She blushed and took a step back.

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“You, you… I, I will, will come back later!”

“Oh no,” Lane said frowning, “None of that now!” He took two steps forward, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the room.

“Wait, no! Let, let go you, you!”

As they fell in, Lane pushed Erin towards his bed. Then before she reacted, he jumped at the door and threw it close.

“Ah!” At the slam, Erin closed her eyes for a moment, only to open them and find Lane gasping for breath and looking down on her. He took a step closer.

“You, you, you. You deviant!” She said, her eyes tearing, “M-my m-master will hear of, of your debauchery!”

He took a deep breath and pursed his lips. Then, he sneered down at her and let it all out in a single word.

“Look,” he said unwrapping his right hand and showing both his hand and the towel towards Erin.

“No!” She said pulling backward on the bed until she reached the wall. Then covered her eyes with her right hand and took a pinky-sized knife from her glove with the other.

“Do-don't you dare come any closer! You deviant!” She said pointing her knife at Lane, with her eyes still covered.

He looked at her knife and snorted. Without another word, Lane dropped the towel, got on the bed, and grabbed her knife-holding hand. Then put his right hand in front of her face.

“Look,” He repeated, then paused for a moment and took a deep breath, “This is a misunderstanding. I was not, I… Anyway, it is not what you think!”

“Liar!” She said taking her other hand off her eyes to try to push him back. Still, Erin kept her eyes closed, and her efforts to push Lane away were making no results. “Let go! You liar, deviant, you…” And she started sniffing.

“Wait, wait!” He said, but she was trembling now, tiny tears falling from her closed eyes.

“I, I’ll let you go, okay?” he said, “Just don’t cry, I’ll let you go!” And he did, but before he pulled away, she stabbed at him.

“Ah!” He said, “Why, you? You stabbed me!” In his arm, a thin, short line started bleeding. It was barely a scratch though. So he got off the bed and picked up his towel to begin cleaning the blood from his arm, again.

On the bed, Lady Erin sat curled against the corner of the wall, hugging herself with one arm and still pointing her tiny knife at him. Seeing as she was still trembling and sobbing, Lane decided to sit at the edge of the bed and try to calm his breath.

Shit, He thought, this looks bad, just what was I thinking? He pursed his lips, shook his head, and scratched it with his left hand because he had wrapped the right one once more with his now red-stained towel.

This, how am I even going to explain this? Now we are stuck here in this awkward silence… Silence? He turned and saw Erin, still curled at the corner but staring at him with a pair of reddened eyes.

“Ah!” She said, “I, I am warning you! Stay away because I am not afraid!” And she shuddered. “I want nothing to do with your debauchery!”

“This is a misunderstanding!” He said, “Look, I was just cleaning a cut I got when I fell.” And he unwrapped his hand to show her.

“There, there is nothing there!” She said finally looking at his hand, “What cut? You pulled me here, You must… You must be thinking of… of something! ” And lifted her knife higher.

Lane frowned, and looked at his hand to find out she was right, there was nothing there. No cuts, nor blood. Then looked down at her chest, and sneered.

“Something?” He asked, “There is nothing to think about!” And he clicked his tongue.

She startled, saw his eyes, and looked down at herself. For a moment, she just sat blinking, until the edges of her mouth fell downwards.

“Why you! There, of course, there is something to think about! You better think of something!” She said, finally leaving the corner and crawling towards him.

“Wow, stop there all right?” He said lifting both hands, “Just calm down a moment and think!”

And she stopped.

“What?” She snapped, “Think of what? You, you pulled me here and closed the door!”

“I was truly cleaning a wound! Here, there is still blood on the towel!”

And there was.

“I, is it really a misunderstanding? You didn’t lie?” She asked glancing at him sideways.

“Of course not!” He said, “You just jumped to conclusions on your own! What is even going on in that head of yours!”

But when she was about to answer, the doorknob on the door rotated with a screech. They froze and looked at each other eyes.

“Lane?” came Lena’s voice from the other side of the door.

They looked at each other and then at themselves. Their clothes were messy, their hairs were messy, and the bed was messy.

*knock knock*

“Are you okay Lane?”

“Yes!” He said towards the door, and then looked at Erin and made for the door.

“Wait!” She hissed, looking frantically around the room. Then reached him and fixed his clothes as much as she could in an instant.

“You better think of something,” She said between her teeth and jumped under the bed.

*knock knock*

“Lane?”

“I, I’ll be right there,” He answered and walked to the door.

It was only after he opened it, that Lane remembered he had left the Book under the bed.