Derrick Vale stood framed by the doorway like a tall, cherubic shadow bubbling in arrogance.
His long hair that was always in a tight bun caught the light, his lips curled in that mocking, grin that never quite reached his eyes.
They had been right to nickname him the Devil's Eyre. Half human. Half Vampire. Full poison.
"Didn't mean to interrupt the… musical rehearsal," he said, his gaze sweeping from Jordan to me and back again. "But I didn't know humans and wolves had started doing duets."
Jordan straightened slowly, his expression unreadable. "You've got the habit of walking into rooms that don't concern you, Vale."
Derrick stepped inside, the door clicking shut behind him. "When they start smelling like trouble, they concern everyone."
My fingers tightened on the piano's edge. Trouble. That was one word for it.
Jordan moved slightly in front of me — subtle, protective, stupid.
"Walk away," he said, his voice quiet but edged like glass.
Derrick's laugh was soft. "Oh, I would. But then I'd miss the fun of watching you risk everything for a human. "
The word again sliced through the air.
My heart thudded once, hard.
"Careful," Jordan said. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, I do," Derrick said, circling like a predator that knew the scent of its prey. "You think you're the first wolf to forget his place? You think you're different? Maren's ashes are still warm, Files. You want your little human to be next?"
My breath hitched.
Jordan's fists clenched.
"Leave her out of this," he said.
Derrick's gaze flicked to me then — deliberate, dissecting. "Oh, but she's in it, isn't she? Look at her. All that trembling guilt. Tell me, Night — what's it like to taste a curse?"
My body went cold.
"Don't," Jordan said, stepping forward.
Derrick tilted his head, amused. "Or what? You'll growl?"
The next moment was a blur.
Jordan lunged — not enough to shift, but enough to shake the air. The piano behind me quivered as his hand slammed into Derrick's chest, shoving him back hard.
Derrick's head bounced on the wall, a trail of blood slipping down the neat, corpse white face. He licked the blood off, smiled then lunged straight at Jordan.
Half breed and full wolf met and the next thing was a blur. I stood half frozen, static sitting rigid on my fingertips, and my chest growling in half spasms .
God. I felt like the idiot here. The human idiot.
"That's enough" A loud voice shouted.
Derrick and Jordan split apart. The hybrid had a slash dripping blood across his face. Jordan had a small tiny cut on his upper lip. I was fidgeting with the sparks threatening to make their way unaided out of my fingers.
All eyes turned to the doorway where the crisp outline of Viviette Tom stood, a mighty scowl on her face.
Her heels clicked against the wooden floor with each step like the ticking of a bomb.
"Seriously?" she said, voice smooth and lethal. "This is a music room, Mr. Vale. Not a battlefield for supernatural wars."
Derrick smirked, dabbing the blood at his face with lean, long, white fingers. "I was just enjoying the show. Didn't realize the Academy was letting wolves rehearse with their chew toys now."
Jordan growled, low and dangerous. "Keep talking, Vale. Maybe you'll end up missing a few teeth."
Viviette's glare sliced between them. "No one will miss a few teeth. And by the way, Derrick, no one is a so called chew toy" She clicked her fingers for emphasis before darting her eyes pitifully to me and back to Jordan and then it rested finally on Derrick Vale.
"Well Maren was chewed by a wolf and today, she's just ashes in a pyre " Derrick snorted, and continued acidly "I think there's still room for another name in the council feed."
Jordan said "You sound like a council dog".
Derrick smiled with all the confidence of a predator "I am a council dog. And I will so enjoy watching your little human kitty burn " .
Jordan unbared his claws and was about to lunge again before Viviette Tom hissed loudly and glared at him so loud the claws became fingers again.
Viviette sighed, the weight of centuries in her breath. "If either of you bleed again, I'll make sure it's your last good performance."
"You say that like you could stop me," Derrick drawled.
Viviette took one deliberate step forward, her eyes glowing faintly — ancient, dangerous. "Test me, Devil's Eyre. I dare you."
Derrick's grin wavered for half a second — then he laughed, low and charming. "You're getting scarier every year, Viv." He glanced back at me, the mockery softening into something that almost looked like curiosity. "Tell your wolf to teach you how to survive this place, Night. You'll need it."
I watched Viviette waddle crisply towards Derrick, then she held his hand. I almost puked at the scene. But Jordan waved a hand for me to stay still and watch. And the next thing I saw made my mouth hang open in undisguised shock.
Viviette's eyes turned blood red, and her voice when she opened her mouth sounded like a note woven in centuries "What did you see, Derrick Vale"
His voice had lost all the composure of his confident arrogance and his eyes too were becoming blood red just like hers "Jordan Files and Night Carter standing by the piano. Too cozy . Too touchy. Suspicious. I think they are having an affair. "
Viviete said in the eerie spooky voice that bore the weight of long years "You saw nothing, Mr. Vale. You remember nothing of this incident."
Derrick repeated after her , clearly in some kind of hypnosis "I saw nothing. I remember nothing of this incident."
God. What was she doing to him.
Viviette released Derrick's hand, and he swayed slightly as if the floor had turned liquid. The red drained from her irises like someone closing curtains on a storm.
My mouth opened, closed.
Derrick blinked, confused, gaze flickering between us. "What… what happened?"
Viviette's smile was polite and glacial. "You came to complain about the humidity in this room. You were just leaving."
He frowned. "Right. Yes. Humidity."
Then, as if his body moved on strings, he turned and walked out, the door shutting neatly behind him.
The silence that followed had teeth.
Jordan exhaled, low and guttural, the kind of breath you could hear vibrating through his ribs. He was still half-shifted — eyes rimmed with gold, claws receding slowly as his pulse calmed.
Viviette turned to him next. "And you, Mr. Files… try not to shred anyone before the term ends. The Board already thinks wolves have anger management issues."
He lunged straight "What was that, Ms Tom. I mean that eye thing and the subtle erasure of Derrick's memory ? That was a bit spooky and scary."
Viviette Tom clicked her tongue "Always expect wolves to be ungrateful. An interrogation was the last thing I expected from you, Mr.Files. Considering the fact that I somehow managed to clear your mess. " Her eyes darted to me "Your very sensitive, tabooed relationship or whatever the shit you have going on with Night Carter ".
Something leapt into my head swiftly. I had read about this somewhere
"I think I know what she did there" I said , trying to steady my nerves "She's a Blood Magian".
The realization sank in slowly.
Our crisp, human Psychometry teacher was a Blood Magian.
Viviette didn't deny it. She just adjusted her collar like someone mildly inconvenienced by the truth.
"Labels bore me," she said coolly. "But yes. Blood Magian, if you must categorize."
Jordan stepped forward, still bristling. "And that means you can just dig into people's minds?"
Her lips curved in that faint, unsettling smile. "Dig? Hardly. I simply… rearrange."
That word made my skin crawl. Rearrange. Like thoughts were furniture.
Like people were furniture.
Jordan's voice sharpened. "You rearranged his memory."
"And saved yours," Viviette said, her tone edged with steel. "Do not confuse salvation with sin, Mr. Files. You two are already walking a line the Council would burn entire towns to erase."
Her words felt like a slap.
The Council. Burn. Erase.
Too many verbs with fire.
Jordan's jaw flexed. "We didn't do anything."
Viviette's eyes flicked between us — a teacher's disappointment, a Magian's omniscience. "Not yet," she said, softly. "But the air around you hums like prophecy. Even someone as unobservant as Derrick Vale can sense the tensed up, raw forbidden chemistry between you two. The wolf and the human. Council dogs like him will stop at nothing to get proof"
I froze.
She knew.
"Stay out of this," Jordan snapped.
Viviette arched a brow. "Oh, believe me, I'd rather. But when two volatile elements start writing their own tragedy, I tend to keep a quill handy."
Then she turned her gaze to me. "Miss Carter, you have the crow''s gift. Dark Magery. But sometimes our own tragedies stay veiled from us. You could be ashes if you don't control this volatile passion. "
My throat went dry.
"I— I didn't mean to—"
"Intent," she interrupted, "is the luxury of the living."
Jordan asked quietly "Why did you save us?"
Her voice was crisp "I didn't save you. I saved her." She glanced at me "She's a fellow Magian devoid of the rashness of a thoughtless wolf. In time she will understand why I did it. But for now, I think you two should waltz out like nothing happened. Principal Scavenger has started addressing the student body."
As we turned to go, Jordan laid an arm on my shoulders, stroking it tenderly
"Mr.Files " Viviette Tom's voice was a half yell "Hands off. I hope you don't intend to get her killed so soon after Maren and Darian's tragedy."
Jordan's hand slipped off me reluctantly.
We walked out in silence, the corridor lights humming low above us — two fugitives pretending to be students, carrying a secret stitched with prophecy.
Behind us, Viviette Tom's voice lingered in the air like a spell that hadn't quite worn off.