Gothikana

And she was the student again.

She kind of hated him, really hated him, for the ease with which he slipped into his role after they got back to the castle. With a gruff ‘good night, Miss Clemm’, as though he hadn’t spent the last hour buried inside her, as though she hadn’t been wet with his seed, he had dropped her off in the driveway and gone on his merry way.

Kaylin Cross, the woman she hadn’t really seen in months, had been waiting for her in the tower foyer. She had asked Corvina if her trip to town had been alright and if Mr. Deverell had been cordial with her. Corvina had smiled and assured Kaylin that he had been very kind, while ignoring the heaviness in her pussy. It had sent a secret thrill through her though, pretending that her muscles weren’t dying from the sexual exertion while having an absolutely contrary conversation.

That had been two weeks ago.

Two weeks, and her soreness had disappeared. Two weeks, and things were normal to the point where she wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing. 

Corvina made her way with her sandwich to the end of the dining hall, finally able to walk without even a twinge between her legs. Jade and Erica sat over the morning-lit windows on their usual table with Troy, Ethan, and Jax, chattering about something. She weaved between the other tables, her skirt flowing around her legs like liquid.

As she reached them, Jax shifted to the side, making space between him and Erica like he usually did, offering her a seat. Corvina gave him a small smile and slid into the space, her body sandwiched between the two on either side. 

“I can’t believe they’re doing this!” Jade muttered, stabbing her plate of fruit with a fork.

“What?” Corvina asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“The castle is opening up the Vault,” Troy said from his seat beside Jade. 

“The what?”

“It’s what they called this small dungeon underneath this building, but they locked it up years ago,” Jade informed her, sipping on her coffee. 

Corvina raised her eyebrows, waiting for her to explain. She didn’t have to wait long.

“That was where the Slayers were first found doing some dark shit,” Jade told her. “It’s after the university shut the place that they moved into the woods.”

“Why open it now?” Corvina asked, nibbling on her sandwich, her appetite low for some reason.

“Mr. Deverell convinced the board,” Troy supplied, his mouth half-full. “Said it would make an excellent recreation room, from what I’ve heard. And I don’t actually disagree with him. We don’t have any space for just chilling, you know?”

Corvina ignored the little stutter in her heart at his name. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“With the Black Ball in weeks?” Jade shook her head. “The timing just feels… off.”

“It’s not like the school stops people from going anywhere, Jade,” Jax pointed out. “Locked or not, if anyone wanted to use that space, they would. People wander around here all the damn time. No one cares.”

“You’ll learn after a little while how much power the legend actually has here, Jax,” Troy corrected. “That’s the major reason the university doesn’t have a rule for students not wandering around at night or going into the woods. Nobody who’s heard of them would dare to anyways.”

“Not unless you’re Mr. Deverell,” Erica chuckled. “I’ve seen him around at night from my window, and we all know he goes into the woods. I wonder why though.”

“It can’t be for fresh air,” Ethan theorized. “We already get plenty of that. And not for exercise either, since most of the faculty walks around the campus or go to the fitness room.”

“Wait, there’s a fitness room?” Corvina asked, surprised since she’d not seen it on her map.

“It’s in the Staff Wing,” Jax said from her side, eating his sandwich. “You know the building behind this hall?”

Corvina nodded, her own mouth full.

“They have a fitness room on top of their tower.”

“You saw him in the woods once, right Corvina?” Troy mused. “What was he doing in there?”

Smoking a cigarette. Fixing an old, damaged piano. Kissing the breath out of her.

She shook her head, her answer half-honest. “I was at the lake when I saw him. He told me not to be in the woods alone and then he left.”

“Damn,” Erica chewed on her food. “He’s so weird. Fascinating. But not gonna lie, I’m lowkey scared of him.”

Corvina could understand why. He had that air about him. But she’d learned years ago not to be scared of what she didn’t understand, and until she understood him, there was no room for fear. He’d had multiple chances to harm her, and for some reason, he’d made her feel safe instead. And Mo had told her something along that line.

As though she’d conjured him, she felt the weight of his gaze on her front.

She looked up from the sandwich to lock eyes with him for a moment before he looked away. He tried not watching her much anymore, not the way he’d used to. Maybe he was over whatever had pulsed between them after their one time.

She wasn’t.

After that box had opened, Corvina just had to think of him and feel the desire pulse in her blood. She would sit in his classes and watch him teach and feel her breasts get heavy. She would watch him tap the marker on the desk and remember the way he’d tapped her pussy. One time, she’d gone to the staff room to give her history professor a paper and found her silver-eyed devil reading in the corner, wearing a pair of square black-framed glasses she loved him in, and almost jumped him before stopping herself.

Yeah, she wasn’t over him.

She was attached, and she didn’t know how that boded for her. 

She saw his eyes flash to Jax beside her and realized she was sitting pressed to his side, something she hadn’t even thought about. Suddenly, she was hyperaware of it. She saw his eyes take in the places where she and Jax were pressed together before his eyes came to hers.

The silver was molten.

“Can I take one?” she heard Jax’s voice from the side, her eyes ensnared, her heart beating hard in her chest.

Mr. Deverell turned and went to the food.

Corvina inhaled, closing her eyes for a second to regain her composure, and extended her plate to Jax. “Sure.”

They all ate and talked about the classes. Troy and Ethan were seniors in their second year, so they had different classes and schedules, which kept the conversation about other faculty members interesting. Corvina liked how no one ever broached the subject of anyone’s past. It made her relax and open a bit more because all conversation with them rooted itself in the present or prospects of the future. She really, really liked that.

She also really liked how comfortable she had begun to feel with the boys. Having never really interacted with the male species in her previous life, she had been pleasantly surprised to find they were pretty nice. They loved to joke at each other’s expense and pull legs but they were genuinely nice people.

After breakfast, they all made their way back towards the towers in the bright sunshine. Troy stopped to tie his laces, telling them he’ll catch up, and Corvina stayed back with him, taking the chance to peek inside the windows.

Her eyes went to Mr. Deverell taking his wrapped sandwiches. He never ate in the hall with everyone else. A young female professor wearing a simple blue sweater and jeans, her blonde hair in a ponytail, approached him. Corvina watched as she laughed at something he said, resting her palm on his bicep, and something hot, ugly took a hold of her insides.

“What are you staring at?” Troy asked back on his feet, following her gaze.

“Just that professor,” Corvina replied, shrugging like her insides weren’t on fire. “I haven’t seen her before.”

“That’s Dr. Harbor,” he supplied helpfully like the endless source of information that he was. “She’s in the history department. She and Mr. Deverell had a thing a while back.”

God, how many women on this campus had he been with?

She gulped, glaring down at her boots. “Are they still together?”

Troy shrugged, unconcerned. “Probably. Who cares?” he said before suddenly his gaze sharpened on Corvina. “You care.”

The denial flew from her lips. “Nope. Not at all.”

Troy, the jovial boy who loved to tease her, looked at her with seriousness beyond his age. “Look Purple, what you do is your business,” he told her quietly, his attention on her. “And not that I have any issues with Mr. Deverell. He’s always been cool with me. But just so you know, that’s not a guy I’d ever want to be alone with on a dark night. Not to mention, it’s against the rules so don’t tell anyone. Just be careful, okay?”  

Her throat tight, Corvina nodded, not really knowing what to say.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” he reassured her, giving her one of his side-hugs. “But damn Purple, you had to go find the devil of Verenmore, didn’t you?” 

Troy shut up as they joined the others, giving her his trademark grin. “Let’s get to class.”

Corvina waved him off. “I need to go to the library.”

“I’ll come with,” Jax said from her side. “I have to return a book.”

Nodding, Corvina started cutting through the garden to the side of the Academic Wing that led to the dungeon library, the wind extra cold on her face. It was a foggy morning, the white mist heavy around the castle and its occupants, humans shivering in the cold as they went about their day. She wondered for a moment if she should worry about Troy knowing, and then discarded the thought. She trusted him and he’d been nothing but good to her. He was her friend.

“So, you’re done with Deverell’s paper?” Jax started in the way of conversation, his cheeks ruddy in the wind, hands in his jacket pockets.

Corvina nodded, grateful for her fitting black woolen skirt and dark purple sweater that broke the wind, her legs encased in her thigh-high warm boots. “Finished it last night,” she told him, gripping the strap of her bag. “You?”

He slid her a grin. “Almost.”

“We need to submit that today, you know?” she reminded him as they rounded the corner of the academic block. The heavy double doors of the dungeon with their wrought iron frame were open, a set of wide stone steps leading down to the entrance.

“I’ll get it done before class,” he assured her, taking the steps four at a time. 

Corvina rolled her eyes, a smile tipping her lips at him showing off his athleticism for no reason.

“That was very unnecessary,” she told him, descending at her normal pace as he waited.

“Did it impress you though?” he asked good-naturedly. “Or should I add a backflip next time?”

A chuckle bubbled out of her as they entered the library, few students already in queue to return books in front of the desk. Corvina wasn’t surprised. Monday mornings and Friday evenings had the most traffic in the library since Mrs. Suki was on leave on the weekends.

Jax took a book out of his bag, heading towards the queue as Corvina turned left towards the shelves.

“You aren’t coming?” he asked loudly, earning a “Silent, young man,” from Mrs. Suki at the desk.

Corvina indicated the shelves at the back, telling him she needed to borrow some books quietly, and he nodded, going to stand behind a few students.

Corvina headed towards the literature section, hoping to find a few novels to read over the week. She passed a girl perusing a book in the History aisle and finally turned to her destination. Mrs. Suki had told her one day about a special shelf where she’d stashed all her romances, unbeknownst to the university – vintage romances from her day, erotic romances, historical, and even some paranormal. Corvina was a sucker for those. 

Fingers skimming over titles, she plucked out two small shifter romances, continued skimming, paused over Jane Eyre, and took it out as well.

Armed with her three books for the week, she left the aisle and began walking out the short corridor that led out in the main library area.

Suddenly, an arm shot out from the Philosophy section and pulled her in, slamming her against the shelves in the dark corner of the aisle.

The scent was the first thing she noticed, amidst the smell of old books and musty library, that scent of crisp burning wood and brandy. Heart pounding, she tilted her head back, catching a glimpse of the silver eyes before his mouth crashed on hers.

The taste of him jolted her senses, her entire body electrocuted by the pressure of his mouth on hers, coming alive after weeks of slumber. She opened her mouth under his, welcoming the assault of his tongue as he pressed her deeper into the shelves, her hands barely holding onto the books, his hands holding the sides of her face to keep her still as he ravaged her like a maniac given free rein to the madness in his head.

Her heart fluttered as their tongues met, his taste consuming her, his arms keeping her protected in a way Corvina never wanted to leave. She wanted to suspend time and live in the feelings he elicited in her, a warm, beautiful riot of colors in her dark heart.

After consuming her, devouring her, ravishing her for long, long minutes, he pulled back, letting her come up for air, his mercury eyes flashing as he gripped her face.

“He fucked you yet?” he muttered the question against her lips, flicking the corner with a soft lick at the end.

It took a second for the words to penetrate her foggy, lusty brain.

And then they did.

A swift wave of anger took a hold of her. She grit her teeth, pushing against him, and he let her face go, putting his hands on either side of her, trapping her between him and the shelves.

“You have some nerve,” she spat out in a low voice, the rage in her body making her shake. “You tell me not to expect anything, that you don’t get attached. You fuck me and ignore me for weeks, and then you corner me and demand to know if I’ve been with anyone else like you have some kind of right?” she hissed. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Her chest was heaving by the end of her tirade. She had never been as furious as she was right then, her entire body warm, her palms itching to inflict some hurt on him to ease the turmoil inside her.

He completely bypassed her words. “Has anyone else been in that pussy?”

Corvina glared at him. “As many as have been on your cock,” she spat out, pushing against him. “Now let me go before Jax comes looking for me.”

He leaned forward, the danger rippling off his body crashing into hers, making her push back into the shelf. “He wants you.”

Corvina stayed silent, shooting daggers at him with her eyes, her heart crashing in her chest.

He came closer, planting a soft kiss on her nose piercing. “He can’t have you.”

“I’m not yours,” Corvina reminded him, slightly breathless, severely pissed. “You don’t get to decide that.”

The corner of his mouth twitched before he pressed a hard kiss to her mouth, making her pulse skitter before lowering his arms. “Does Mo get to decide, hmm?”

She was ten seconds away from doing some serious damage. “Let me out.”

He pressed another hard kiss to her mouth. “Your lipstick tastes good. Pomegranates?” he mused, licking his moist lips. “Wipe it off me.”

Corvina stared at the little of her purple shade that had transferred to his mouth, getting whiplash from his constant back and forth, and shoved him, creating enough space to walk away. “Wipe it off yourself.”

So much for smudge-proof lip colors.

**

He came to the class as Mr. Deverell again, not Vad, the untamed, uninhibited man she knew existed under that cold, controlled veneer. It was like two different sides of one man, a social self and a shadow self. 

His mouth was its usual, pomegranate-free color.

She hated him slightly for looking at her casually, like he hadn’t tasted her, demanded her, possessed her again, while her insides floundered. But she must have been good at pretending too because Jade sat by her side, chattering about her elective, not suspecting a thing.

“Alright,” Mr. Deverell clapped his hands to bring the class to attention as he sat on his desk. “For this semester, you have to study a play and a classic. I’ll give you options for both.”

He hopped down and uncapped the marker, dividing the board in two with a vertical line, writing in big bold letters with his left hand on top of each section.

PLAY

CLASSIC

He went back under the ‘PLAY’, and wrote in his crisp, bold strokes:

MACBETH

DOCTOR FAUSTUS

He turned to the class, tapping the first play with his marker. “A tragedy about the political ambition of power.” He tapped the second one. “A tragedy about a man who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge.”

The girl from the front who always raised her hand, Ria, raised her hand. “Why both tragedies, Mr. Deverell?”

“I’m a tragic kind of guy,” he quipped with a straight face, and Corvina snorted, slapping her mouth with her hand when his eyes swung up to her, along with half the class.

“You find that particularly amusing, Miss Clemm?” he asked her, his face expressionless.

Corvina felt her face burn at all the eyes on her, and looked down at her notebook, willing herself to disappear and everyone to simply resume the class and ignore her.

“I asked you a question,” his deep voice echoed in the classroom and Corvina took a deep breath, ignoring the flush she could feel on her face. She equally loved and hated when he used that tone on her. She just didn’t want to be around people when he did.

“No, Mr. Deverell,” she said quietly, keeping her eyes on her notebook before looking up. “It’s just that I prefer happier endings. Tragedies are beautiful, but they always take more than they give. A story can be tragic but it doesn’t have to end as one.”

“Ah, a romantic.” His silver gaze gleamed on her as a corner of his mouth twitched. “I see.”

Corvina gripped her pencil, wanting to throw it at him as he turned to the class again.

“Those who want to study Macbeth, raise your hands.” A few hands went up in the air.

“Those for Doctor Faustus,” he said, and Corvina raised hers, along with the majority of the class.

Mr. Deverell went to the other side of the board, writing under ‘CLASSIC’:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

DRACULA

He looked at the class, pointing to the titles. “They’re both extremely well-written classics that established an entire subgenre of literature. I’m sure you must have heard of them both.”

Almost everyone in the class nodded.

“So which one?”

Same as before, a show of hands followed. Dracula won by a majority.

Corvina lowered her hand just as Mr. Deverell’s eyes came to her, his tone level. “It doesn’t have a happy ending, Miss Clemm.”

Corvina stared him in the eyes, knowing he would understand the subtext of her next words, “It has a devil in an ancient castle falling in love. What can be more interesting than that?”

His eyes blazed. “Indeed.”

The bell rang soon after and he left, taking whatever air was in her lungs with him. Corvina slumped slightly in her seat to find Jade watching her in concern. Giving her a reassuring smile, Corvina picked up her bag, ready to get through the entire day without thinking about him.

**

‘The tower, Vivi.’

Mo’s voice made her hand pause over her notebook, her muscles tensing. She looked up and around Dr. Kari’s class. It was her last class on Monday, and most students were jotting down notes as Dr. Kari gave his lecture, the sunlight muted as evening approached.

Something was wrong, more wrong than it had been before.

Corvina didn’t know how she sensed any of these things, she just did.

A shadow flickered in the corner of the room near the door, floating along the wall towards the exit, and paused. Corvina blinked, shaking her head, trying to clear the trick of the light. It had to be a trick of the light.

‘Can you hear me? Help him.’

Two strange, foreign voices resonated inside her head, bringing the metallic scent of blood with them. Phantom ants crawled over her skin and Corvina shuddered.

What the hell?

The voices had been quiet. The shadows had disappeared for weeks. Why come back now?

“Are you alright, Miss Clemm?” Dr. Kari’s voice jolted her out of her head, making her aware of other students who turned to stare at her. “You’re muttering something.”

She was?

God, no, no, no. Not here.

Swallowing, Corvina shoved her notebook in her bag with haste and headed towards the door. “Please excuse me, Dr. Kari. I’m feeling unwell.”

Without waiting to hear his response, she broke out into a run as soon as she was in the corridor, needing to get outside. It was a long way down from the fourth level of the tower, but Corvina flew down the stairs, her braid whipping behind her, her skirt trailing behind her, her nerves shot as the shadow moved a few paces ahead on the wall.

Tears tightened in her throat, her eyes burning as she ran down.

No.

It couldn’t be happening.

She’d been okay for weeks. She’d thought it was done and everything was fine.

It couldn’t be happening. 

Just as she turned on the third-level staircase, she smacked into a hard wall.

“Fuck,” the expletive in that deep voice she recognized in her marrows reached her muddled mind a second later, making her blink down at him as he stood two steps below her, balancing her body from falling with the tight grip on her arms.

Corvina steadied herself on him before taking a hold of the railing, her eyes moving to the shadow that hovered behind him, her heart pounding.

“Miss Clemm?” She felt him shake her. “Corvina! Look at me.”

The harsh authority in his voice had her eyes going to the silver, and she took a deep breath to center herself.

“What’s got you so spooked?” he stepped up, bringing their faces on the same level, his gaze searing her.

“I just need to get to the tower,” she whispered, her eyes going back to the lingering shadow.

He turned to look behind himself, seeing nothing but the castle walls, lights already turned on in their rusty holders and the stairs that went down. He probably couldn’t see that shadow flickering under one of the old lamps, waiting, beckoning.

“What do you see behind me?”

The way he phrased the question made her pause. He asked what she saw, his tone implying he knew she was seeing something.

The shadow began to move, and an urgent need to follow filled Corvina.

She shook off the hands holding her, and ran down the stairs again, aware of his pursuit behind her.

His longer legs had him catching her before she could exit the Wing, tugging her into one of the alcoves and imprisoning her between his arms. His eyes, those mercurial eyes, were dead serious as he considered her.

“What do you see, Corvina?” he asked her again, enunciating each word with patience she didn’t have at the moment. God, she couldn’t tell him. Best case scenario, he’d think she was crazy. Worst case, he’d tell her she was crazy. She wasn’t. No, she wasn’t. Or maybe she was. She didn’t know. Her own mind was unreliable.

His scent engulfed her as her stomach twisted with both dread and desire watching him. He wanted an answer.

“A shadow,” she told him, her voice barely a whisper, her eyes on his neck. He had a nice Adam’s Apple. “I need to get to the tower right now,” she locked gazes with him, beseeching. “Please.”

He considered her for a long minute, before removing one arm, giving her the space to leave. She ran out again, realizing the gardens were completely empty. Why were they empty? There was always someone or the other loitering around in them, especially at this time of the day.

Muscles and lungs burning with the exercise, Corvina hit the cobblestoned path on the side of the wing that led to the towers, not knowing why she needed to get there, just that she did.

Legs pumping, she finally made it to the clearing in front of the tower and saw a crowd gathered further up ahead. Dread pooling low in her belly, Corvina slowed down a bit, trying to understand what was happening.

“Oh god!” she heard Jade scream.

Adrenaline filled her veins and she cut through the crowd, trying to get to her friend.

“Jade, what-” her words cut off abruptly as the scene unraveled around her.

Every single person in the large crowd was looking up, Erica holding Jade as she sobbed, her eyes somewhere above them as well.

Corvina turned, tilting her neck back.

Her heart stopped.

There on the roof of the tower, Troy stood alone, appearing so small that up high, not even looking down at the people yelling at him to stop and come down. He didn’t even flinch, just staring vacantly up ahead, unhearing of the calls for him.

A gasp left her lips.

What was he doing up there?

“Troy!” she heard Jax call very, very loudly, so loudly she knew his voice must have reached up top. But Troy didn’t respond, didn’t even move from his perch. Chills covered her at the sight.

“Jesus,” the curse from behind her made her realize Vad had followed her to the tower – of course he had – and then he was running to the building.

“He’s locked the door to the roof, Mr. Deverell,” Ethan shouted, running up to Vad. “We’ve tried going up and getting him to open it but he’s not responding. There’s no way to break the lock.”

Corvina watched Vad grit his teeth. “There’s another way to the roof,” he told them, and Corvina wondered for a split second how he knew that.  “I’ll need you guys to talk him down. Come on.”

Ethan and Jax followed him without another word, speeding up behind him. Corvina wrapped her arms around herself as the crowd thickened in the area, gasps and shouts ringing out as more and more people realized what was happening.

“Troy!” Erica yelled. “Come down, please!”

He didn’t look down.

Teachers hurried in the clearing, being told different versions of “Mr. Deverell has gone up”, and waited on pins and needles. Students watched, riveted and terrified for a boy who was liked by all.

The sky darkened rapidly overhead, Troy’s white jacket standing out in contrast against it as Corvina held her breath, not understanding why he was doing this. He had spoken to her that very morning, and there had been nothing about his happy behavior that could point to this.

Why this? Why now? What had happened between breakfast and this moment to drive him to that roof? And why did Mo tell her about it?

Troy took a step closer to the edge and a collective gasp rose up from the crowd.

“Oh god, Troy,” Corvina cried out, her hand covering her mouth, unable to contain her fear for the boy who had become her good friend, a boy whose company she loved, a boy who had accepted her in his made family like a long-lost sibling. Her heart clenched, eyes burning as she willed him to come down and talk about whatever was bothering him. Should she have asked him that morning when they’d been talking? Could she have done anything to prevent him from going up there?

As though he heard her voice, he looked straight down, right at her, and gave her a smile that chilled her to her bones.

Then he walked off the roof.

Her scream drowned in a sea of others as his body succumbed to gravity.

It happened in one split second.

One second he was on the roof, the next second he was on the ground in front of the tower, blood spreading out under his head, pooling around him, the boy full of life gone.

A few students ran forward.

Corvina stood frozen to the spot, shaking, silent tears streaming down her face as she saw the body of the happy, jovial boy who’d been her friend lying broken on the hard ground.

No.

God, no.

Was this how her father had been too? Had he once been a man as full of life as Troy, and then gone without explanation? 

Something moved over his body, light flickering around a shadow. Corvina held her breath, her eyes widening as she saw the shadow hover for a moment before it disappeared, right before she heard his voice in her head.

‘Purple.’

Impossible.

‘Tell my brother.’

Tell his brother? What? He had a brother?

She stared at his body, shock filling her system as she processed his voice in her head, just calling her what he always called her. She shuddered, looking around to see if anyone else had seen the shadow or experienced anything bizarre.

Shock, sadness, and tears surrounded her. She heard Jade wailing on the side, and her heart broke all over again for her friend, who’d had to lose someone close to her in such a ghastly way again. Wiping her cheeks with her sleeves, she went to Jade, pulling her into her body. Jade turned to her, clinging to her as her body heaved with her broken sobs, and Corvina felt her own tears fall again at the collective pain around her.

More of the faculty poured into the area, processing their shock as they tried to get the students to go back to their towers. Two people from the staff came to the clearing with a sheet and a gurney. They covered his body with the white sheet that stained red within seconds, and placed him on the stretcher, taking him away.

Corvina wondered if Troy had any actual family who needed to be contacted, disregarding the voice in her head, or if he was on his own like most people at this cursed castle.

Something had driven him, a boy who was afraid of heights, up to a roof that usually stayed locked. Something between the morning and the evening, something that had made him almost catatonic up there. But he had looked at her, almost as though he’d been waiting for her to witness the tragedy.

One of the women from the medical room came to Jade.

“C’mon, honey,” the elderly lady took her away. “Come rest at the medical room tonight.”

Jade hiccupped, looking at Corvina with swollen eyes. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

Corvina rubbed her shoulder. “I promise I’ll be fine. Go rest for the night. You need it.” In truth, they all did, and she knew the administration wanted to keep an eye on Jade overnight since she was already a flight risk. Jade nodded and left with the lady, leaving Corvina standing beside Erica.

“I’m scared, girl. What the hell is going on around here?” Erica spoke out loud to herself, processing like everyone else.

Corvina was processing too.

Troy was gone.

It was hard for her to wrap her mind around that, even though she’d witnessed it with her eyes. Her heart kept telling her he’d come out of the woods grinning at everyone he’d fooled. He’d give her a side-hug and say ‘I was just messin’ with you, Purple.’ Her heart couldn’t accept that he wouldn’t ever do that again.

Why?

For over an hour, she observed the activity around her until people slowly began to leave and return to their rooms, just a few lingering around like her, looking slightly lost.

The hair at the nape of her neck prickled. Corvina stilled, looking around surreptitiously, finding nothing and no one out of the spooky ordinary. She turned her gaze up to the roof.

And standing against the backdrop of the dark night, clad all in black, stood the silver-eyed devil of Verenmore at the exact same spot Troy had been, looking down at her.