Odessa sleeps for hours on the living room couch. Using only the TV lighting, I memorize every curve of her delicate face. She opens her eyes just after the dull sunlight illuminates the room. I don’t look away when her gaze finds mine. Odessa frowns at me, but I refuse to bow to her will. If she doesn’t want me to look at her face, she can cover herself with the blanket.
“Did you sleep at all?” she asks, sitting up.
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“Did you at least get to recharge your batteries?”
I don’t react, but Odessa grins at her snide remark. She’s quite pleased with herself when she stands up.
“What now?” she asks.
I remain in my chair a bit longer, forcing her to wait. Once I finally get to my feet, she smiles as if she’s won.
“We should look at repairing your room. There’s no telling how long we’ll have access to the outside of the cabin.”
“Okay,” she says, following me down the hall.
I unlock the bolt on her room and swing open the door. Behind me, Odessa gasps and backs away.
The room is splashed with a reddish green liquid. As I step through the door, Odessa grabs my arm.
“Don’t go in,” she whispers. “Just close and lock the door.”
“It’s clearly gone,” I say, wrenching my arm free. “There’s nowhere for it to hide in here.”
“It could be in the hole.”
I walk to the gaping exit in the wall and lean down to look inside. “It’s empty.”
“What was it?”
“A nocturnal creature I’ve never seen before.”
“I’m not sleeping in here again.”
“I’ll block the exit.”
“I’m still not sleeping in here.”
I find Odessa with her arms crossed and a defiant expression in her green eyes. When I step closer, she flinches, and I smile at her fear.
“You cannot have my room,” I tell her.
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to sleep where Tom kept his victims.”
“I don’t care what you want.”
Odessa studies me. Though afraid, she refuses to back down this time.
“This is a female trick to convince me to give you my room and have me take the couch.”
“Yes, my flatly stating I will not sleep in that room is part of my devious plan. You’re very astute when it comes to the female mind.”
“I can’t sleep on the couch. It’s too short, and I’m too tall.”
“I don’t want your bed. It’s Tom’s old bed, and I don’t want to sleep where he slept. I’ll take the couch.”
“You’re lucky to have a place to sleep. I hear some Death Dealers keep their cattle hanging from the ceiling.”
“Cattle?”
“Trophies, cattle, dolls, meat. Each Death Dealer has their own term.”
“What’s yours?”
“Complication.”
“Since I’m a Death Dealer, what shall I call my companion? Oh, I know, you’re the tallest, darkest, and most handsome robot in all of creation.”
“Mine is catchier,” I say, surprising myself with a hint of a smile.
In the room, the blood left behind doesn’t smell human. The pungent odor reminds me of rotting flesh. The creature explored every inch of the room. I even spot goop on the ceiling. Did it crawl up there?
“It smells like my grandmother’s stew,” Odessa says from the doorway.
I like how she won’t enter. Timid is preferable to blind courage. Mary became fearless before she finally snapped. I recall how she stood in the fading light and dared the wolves to take her.
Odessa watches me move around the room. Every time I glance back, I find her studying me rather than the mess. Her expression is relaxed until I hold her gaze. I can’t read the new emotion in her eyes. I only know it puts me on edge.
“What?” I ask when she won’t look away.
“I was thinking that of all the faces I could be looking at while stuck in hell, yours ain’t so bad.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re an attractive man, Quill. Did they not tell you that during your robot training?”
“Stop calling me a robot.”
“Stop acting like one.”
I storm toward the door, sensing Odessa might consider locking me inside. She only hurries away until her back is against the wall.
“You don’t understand what awaits you if my hospitality ends.”
“Suffering, torture, death. Am I close?”
When she doesn't look away, I wrap my hand around her throat. “You should never make extended eye contact with a predator,” I say, pressing my body against hers. “Most won’t allow you to live the way I do.”
Odessa stares up at me, and I relish the fear in her eyes. From the corner of my vision, I notice her hand moving upward. Once again, she prepares to break the one rule I’ve set down since the very beginning.
Her fingers slide over my cheekbone before returning to her side. “Eyelash,” she casually says.