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Aiden approached the security team, who still hadn’t released Lukas. “We need to get you out of here.” The men let go, and Aiden put a hand on Lukas’s shoulder, steering him toward the alley’s exit, away from his kill.

They all ran down the alley, moving swiftly across the courtyard and back toward the academy. The dorm building that housed Kai and Mera’s room was closest to the courtyard, so they all ended up there.

Lukas stormed into the room ahead of everyone, jerking off his leather jacket and throwing it across the room before dropping onto the middle of the queen-sized bed on his back, rubbing his face with his hands, smearing blood on his skin.

“Dude… really?” Seth said as he picked up an animal’s skull from the dresser. “Your aesthetic is really screwed up, bro.”

Riley and Mera led Blaire into the bathroom, where Mera used cleanser to clean away the ruined makeup. “I don’t know what to say…” Riley whispered as she dabbed at the cut on Blaire’s cheek with the cool cloth.

Blaire winced. She didn’t know Caleb broke the skin when he hit her, but it hurt more than the time he knocked her out. “There’s nothing you can say… it’s done now, right?”

Mera hummed. “If the professor intends to utilize the academy’s resources to compel him, they can make him believe anything happened. And take away any memory they so choose.”

Blaire still couldn’t wrap her mind around an ability like that. To be able to force someone not to move, to use the power of suggestion to bend them to your will, and to take away their actual memories? It was unnerving.

“I’m sorry I left you…”

Blaire stared at Riley in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

“If I hadn’t gone to the bathroom. If I’d just gotten someone else to come on the dance floor before I did…” She hiccupped and moisture hung in her eyes, her lashes damp. “Maybe… maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Stop that. You didn’t know. I didn’t know. With everything that has happened recently, I wasn’t even thinking of my stepbrother.”

Blaire had become too relaxed in her new life and the safety Blackthorn had given her away from the Wilcox family. With only seeing her stepbrother at the diner that one day, she’d gone so long without his interference that she didn’t think of him. That he would show up at a nightclub at all wasn’t in his nature, but she hadn’t considered someone else telling him she was there.

“I know… I’m just… I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me,” Riley mumbled.

Blaire pulled Riley into her arms. “I could never hate you. Lukas saw me moments before it happened. It happened so fast…” She sighed. “But you came for me… you all came for me.”

Riley nodded and Mera moved to the door, saying, “We should check on Lukas.”

Once back in the main room with everyone, Mera moved to sit with Kai at the foot of their bed. Their room certainly matched their fashion sense with a black iron headboard made of ornate flourishes, black bedding, and a sheer, black canopy attached to the ceiling. The same sheer fabric framed their window. To the right of their bed on the left wall sat a desk with black candles, animal skulls, and incense that filled the room with its aromatic scent. A small lamp with a sheer, black scarf over the top, cast the room in darker lighting.

A large, black dresser sat on the right wall covered in makeup, loose jewelry like spiked collars and bracelets, and lots of black candles. Positioned behind the dresser on the wall, was a large mirror draped in beads and scarves.

The room was cluttered with boots, heels, creepy stuffed plushies, and black clothing in various materials all over the hardwood floor. Every wall was covered in photographs of the two of them, metal band posters, gothic artwork in ornate frames, and other occult oddities. The layout was the same as the rest of their dorms, but it was completely different visually. It was certainly shocking.

Aiden ran his hands through his hair and sat down on the desk chair, staring as Riley led Blaire over to the head of the bed next to Lukas and pushed the pillows back so they could sit next to one another. Riley clung to Blaire’s side, and she wasn’t about to object. She found comfort in her friend’s nearness.

Lukas bobbed his knee up and down, shaking the bed.

“What’s wrong, man?” Aiden asked as he watched Lukas.

Kai shifted on the bed and put his elbows on his knees. “It’s probably the blood. Not only is Blaire bleeding, but he’s got that disgusting animal’s blood all over his hands.”

Lukas growled low in his throat, not able to speak words at the moment.

A tear slid down Blaire’s cheek as she reached a hand to his chest, seeking to soothe him, but not knowing how.

“You need to fight back,” Seth said to Blaire, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the room. “Show the same fucking backbone you did with Lukas when you got here.”

“Shut the fuck up. She won’t be alone with that piece of shit again,” Lukas grated out from his position on the bed. He placed his hand over Blaire’s on his chest. “It was the one and only time.”

Mera looked over at Lukas and sighed, before turning her attention to Seth.

“Despite the fact that Blaire is strong-willed, like we all know her to be, someone who’s been through the kind of abuse and trauma she has, tends to freeze up with their abuser, even when they know they can be safe.”

Blaire dropped her head and began to sob uncontrollably. The shame was too much for her to take. The memories of what happened to her hit her like a gunshot to the chest. Tonight could have ended very differently if not for her friends, who were now witnessing her breakdown.