Especially when Phoenix starts to cry, “No, no,no!” and starts shoving past the people exiting to get to the double doors.
But it’s a mob of panicked bodies.
I move in front of Phoenix since I have wider shoulders. I push through the crowd like a battering ram until we have a clear path to the door. There’s a bottleneck of students trying to get out all at once. I yank several people through the opening. When more fill up the gap, I shove into them and hold them back until Phoenix can follow behind me.
They shout at us angrily, but I ignore their protests. I let go of the flood of people only once I feel Phoenix safely at my back.
Together, we thread our way through the panicked, pressing mob.
It doesn’t take us long to figure out what has them fleeing in terror. We’re in the building with the large round atrium and research displays behind glass in the center apex of the structure. There was a model display of an early religious temple behind the glass when we visited last time.
Now, there’s a dead body displayed there instead.
Not just any dead body, either. Blood is everywhere across the floor and walls. The body is severed into pieces, arranged outwards symmetrically in a circle from the chest. It’s exactly like the crime scene we saw in the dorm room. I don’t feel like I have to even look closely to know that the heart is missing.
Around the room, there’s a handful of other fallen, bloodied bodies, eyes vacant. They all look young, like college students just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Phoenix is right.
We’re too late to prevent whatever this is.
She runs right up to the glass of the atrium. A gasp of horror comes from her throat as her hands slap against the glass. But then she backs up quickly with a hand over her mouth. “It’s not him. It’s not John Paul.”
Her head swings to me wildly, voice choked. “Do you think he’s still in his office? Maybe he already left the building?” She looks toward the fleeing students hopefully.
I nod while trying to think. “He had to have heard the commotion happening, right?”
“His class is at nine-fifteen.” She looks down at her phone screen. “We still have five minutes before it starts. He might not have heard it all. Sometimes he works up to the bell with his headphones on. He says it helps him get in the right headspace for teaching.”
“Where’s his office?” I ask urgently.
“Come on,” Phoenix says over her shoulder, already taking off for the stairs at the edge of the large, circular space. The crowd behind us is finally thinning as more students manage to get through the doors. They must have all gotten out of their eight o’clock classes and discovered the gruesome murder scene.
Someone wanted this to be very public.
Anyone who could hear the screaming would have followed the mass exodus down. Which explains why it’s so eerily empty when Phoenix and I reach the second floor. It looks like people got the message and evacuated in a hurry. Chairs are askew at desks. Computers have been left on with screens still glowing. Doors to offices stand open.
But there’s a light coming from under one door that’s still closed at the end of the hallway. Phoenix hurries toward it with determination. She doesn’t bother knocking. She just yanks the door open hard.
Right in time to find Professor Rossi on his knees before Ammit.
He looks up at Phoenix with terror on his face.
“Help!” he cries desperately.
Ammit turns at the same time. Her eyes go wide when she sees the two of us standing there. She lifts a hand toward us, and I feel the churn of lust for Phoenix hit immediately.
But this time, it’s bearable. My cock goes stiff, and I’m distracted by my overwhelming need for Phoenix. But I’m still satiated by everything we did in the limo on the ride over. I can still actuallythink, mostly clearly, and remember what we’re here to accomplish.
I see the surprise register on Ammit’s face as Phoenix lifts her hand toward the goddess. Ammit suddenly stops moving. Not a single muscle twitches as Phoenix paralyzes her body through blood magic, freezing her in place.
“We’ve got to get her out of here before anyone sees,” I say quickly while looking around. “The police will be crawling all over the place any second now.”
Someone downstairs had to have called emergency services. Yes, Vlad might own the police department, but it’ll still get extremely messy if hisgranddaughteris discovered at the scene when they arrive. Especially if she does whatever it is I know she reallywants to doto Ammit in front of witnesses. With the magical murders downstairs, it all might be too big for even Vlad to keep properly contained.
Phoenix nods grudgingly in agreement. “We’ll have to deal with her elsewhere.”
“What are you doing?” The Professor grabs frantically for his phone. “It’s her! Ammit! She’s the murderer. We need to call the police immediately! She was about to kill me!”
