It's a man. Whom has clearly been dead for some time, standing in front of Mona and Nero, successfully blocking their escape. His jaw half hangs off of his face revealing sharp and pointed teeth like Patricia's. The smell of burning flesh and rotted meat seeps out from his body and it makes Mona gag. Where his eyes should be are soulless black pits that look like they have been pecked clean by crows.
Immediately, Nero pulls the gun out at his hip. The woman behind him is shaking uncontrollably. When the rotting corpse enters her living room more completely, she realizes how tall he is. At least seven feet tall. She whimpers Nero's name and hates how weak she sounds. As soon as the 'o' escapes her, the corpse throws its head back and laughs. It sounds like water hitting a scalding hot pan before evaporating into air.
"Who are you?" Nero demands.
The corpse smiles with decayed lips. "I am Sitri." He moves his right hand to his chest and bows deeply, his left arm extending out to the side of him.
Nero narrows his eyes as Sitri takes a few more steps into the room. He puts his right arm back and keeps Mona behind him as he turns in the room, making sure that Sitri is always at his front.
"Hello, Mona. You are a pretty one, aren't you? Oh, how I'd love to rip into that soft, dark flesh of yours. I'm sure you bleed a pretty shade of red. I bet it tastes like Heaven." He licks his lips slowly. "How I could make you scream, Mona. How I could make you moan. Better than he can, I assure you." His laugh is cruel.
Mona swallows hard and clenches her jaw. The way he says her name makes her skin crawl uncontrollably. It feels like–
"Like spiders crawling on you, does it? How do you know there aren't actually spiders crawling on you?" Sitri clicks his sharp nails together and smiles at Mona.
She looks confused at him until he gestures for her to look down. When she does she screams and steps away from Nero. There are dozens of spiders crawling all over her arms and legs. She swipes at them furiously but they just keep coming. Nero keeps his eyes on Sitri, not willing to risk taking them off him. The rotting man laughs uncontrollably as Moan shrieks and screams.
"I'm only playing, sweet Mona. They're not real. They're all up here," he whispers and taps the side of his temple.
Mona looks down again and all of the spiders are gone. Nero takes his hand off of his gun and claps sarcastically for Sitri.
"Good job. You managed to do a parlor trick. Is that all you can do? Summon imaginary spiders?" Nero gasps, "Are you Satan's jester boy?"
"Parlor Trick!" Sitri's voice gets six octaves higher and offense drips off of his question. "Parlor trick?"
Mona stiffens and keeps behind Nero. It wasn't just a parlor trick for her. They were real. She could feel them crawling all over her.
Nero shrugs. "No need to get pissy about it. It's a very good one. I'm sure you'll score a lot of birthday parties." He examines his nails in a bored fashion.
"I will show you a parlor trick, boy," he spits it in an accusation. Next, he looks at Mona, smiles so wide it rips the rotting flesh up to his ears.
She tries desperately not to vomit at the side of it. Her hand covers her mouth and she backs up further away from him. Nero looks around the room for a way to get them both out of there safely and without taking down the entire building.
"This one here is a naughty one," Sitri slithers as he points to Mona. "Oh, the things I could tell you about her! So many SEcretS this one has." He circles the room, always facing Mona. "What shall I tell him, Mona? Shall I tell him about your childhood bed wetting problems?" He ponders for a moment. "No, not interesting enough. Let's find something really juicy. How about that kiss you shared with your roommate in school? What was her name again… Oh yes, Maria. No, that's not nearly good enough."
She listens to him with wide eyes. What else did he know?
"Oh! There it is! Oh, how wonderful!" Sitri claps his hands enthusiastically. "The things this one thinks about you and your companion, Nero. Such naughty things!" he giggles in pleasure before he continues, "Shall I tell him, Mona? Shall I tell him how you've thought about giving him a blowjob?" He turns and looks at Nero, "She's thought about it sooo painfully often, Nero. I could count how many times she's thought about crawling into your bed with you while you're sleeping. And how she wishes you would just crawl into yours while you're sitting there," he reaches forward to touch Mona, but she jerks back, "watching her sleeping. Which is so incredibly sweet by the way. You trying to protect her from us. Being there to soothe her when she dreams of us."
"She's thought about how your lips would feel on hers. How that interesting hand of your would feel on her quacking thighs," Sitri watches Mona squirm as he humiliates her.
In a flash, Nero draws his sword from his back and swings it in an arc in front of him. Sitri is caught off guard, giving Nero the advantage. Sitri's severed head flies across the room in front of them, his cackling still echoing in the air. Mona falls to her hands and knees behind Nero. Her face burns red with humiliation. Of course, she found him attractive, who wouldn't? But she had only ever entertained the notion of sleeping with him. Only brief and flittering little snippets of 'what-ifs'.
Nero wraps his hand around Mona's upper arm and starts to pull her to her feet.
"Don't touch me," she jerks her arm out of Nero's grasp and stands, "don't touch me."
Quickly, she grabs her purse off of her desk, where she left it the morning she was attacked.
"I thought you wanted me to touch you."
Mona reaches out and slaps him before she can stop herself. Her hand stings sharply after it connects with the side of his face. Before tears can fall from her eyes, she quickly leaves her apartment.