Aiden ran through the dark hallways, his shoes clicking against the linoleum in a frantic rhythm. The echo of his running resonated in the confined space, amplified by the particular acoustics of the empty high school. He turned right at the end of the main corridor, then left toward the west wing where the administrative offices were located.
Victoria's scream seemed to come from that direction—near the stairs that led to the second floor. Aiden accelerated further, his heart pounding, his new reflexes and improved endurance allowing him to maintain this pace without getting out of breath.
He passed the library, the guidance counselor's offices, the teachers' lounge. The darkness was denser in this part of the building, only pierced by the faint glows of emergency exit signs.
Finally, he spotted the staircase at the end of the hallway. And what he saw there froze him in place.
Instantly, a familiar sensation invaded him, like a switch being triggered in his mind. [Fear Resistance] activated automatically, chasing away the panic that threatened to overwhelm him and replacing it with an icy, analytical calm.
At the foot of the stairs, Victoria was lying face down, motionless. But what captured all of Aiden's attention was the creature bent over her.
It was vaguely humanoid, but everything about it was wrong. Too tall, too thin, with limbs that seemed to stretch impossibly. Its skin had the color and texture of ancient parchment, stretched over a bone structure that followed no anatomical logic. But the most disturbing thing was its face, or rather the absence of a face. Where features should have been, there was only a smooth surface pierced by two black cavities that pulsed with malevolent light.
The creature was leaning over Victoria, its clawed hands grazing the girl's nape. An aura of dark energy rippled around it, and Aiden could almost see something escaping from Victoria's unconscious body golden light filaments that were being absorbed by the monster.
[Scourge Reading] triggered in turn, and information poured into Aiden's mind:
[Scourge of Stolen Purity - Hunter specialized in young women with pure vital energy...]
But before he could learn more, the creature suddenly raised its faceless head in his direction. It had sensed him.
In a fluid and impossible movement, the Scourge straightened to its full height—nearly seven feet, and literally disappeared into the hallway shadows, as if it melted into the darkness itself.
Aiden didn't waste time wondering where it had gone. He rushed toward Victoria, his knees hitting the hard floor as he knelt beside her.
- "Victoria! Victoria, are you okay?"
He turned her over gently, fearing to discover the worst. Her face was cadaverously pale, her lips slightly blue, but she was breathing. Weakly, but she was breathing.
It was while lifting her slightly to check her pulse that he noticed it: on her nape, just at the base of her neck, a strange mark had appeared. A small black symbol that resembled an inverted triangle surrounded by wavy lines. The mark seemed to move slightly, as if it were alive, pulsing to the rhythm of Victoria's weakened heart.
- "Holy shit," Aiden cursed under his breath.
He didn't have time to examine the mark longer. Victoria moaned weakly and her eyelids fluttered. Aiden instinctively backed away, not wanting her to wake up in his arms—that risked creating an even more complicated situation to explain.
Victoria's blue eyes opened slowly, first blurry and disoriented, then gradually focusing on Aiden's worried face bent over her.
- "Wha... what... what's..." She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness made her waver.
- "Hey, easy," Aiden said, extending his hand to help her stabilize.
Victoria immediately backed away, her eyes hardening despite her obvious weakness. She straightened against the wall, putting as much distance as possible between them.
- "What happened?" she asked in a still trembling voice. "What are you doing here? What did you... what did you do to me?"
The suspicion and accusation in her voice struck Aiden like a slap.
- "Nothing! I didn't do anything! I heard you scream and came to see what was happening. You were unconscious on the floor when I arrived."
Victoria stared at him with troubling intensity, as if she were trying to read his thoughts. Her hands trembled slightly, aftereffects of her fainting or fear, Aiden couldn't determine.
- "You were unconscious," he repeated more softly. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
- "And you didn't... you didn't do anything else?" The question was loaded with implications and barely veiled threats.
Aiden immediately raised his hands in a sign of innocence, offended by the implication.
-"What? No! Good God, Victoria, what do you take me for? I just tried to help you!"
She continued to observe him for long seconds, then seemed to relax slightly. But the suspicion never completely left her eyes.
- "You better not tell anyone," she said, slowly getting up, one hand against the wall to keep her balance. "Anyone, do you hear me? And I hope for your sake that you really didn't try anything... funny."
-"I didn't do anything!" Aiden protested. "And of course I won't say anything. Do you think I want to explain why I was in the school after hours?"
Victoria nodded curtly, retrieved her book that had fallen near the stairs, and headed toward the exit with steps that tried to appear confident but still betrayed her weakness.
- "Victoria," Aiden called out. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you want me to walk you home or..."
- "No," she cut him off sharply without turning around. "I'm fine. And forget what happened tonight."
She disappeared into the darkness of the hallway, leaving him alone near the stairs.
Aiden remained motionless for several minutes, his mind racing. The mark on Victoria's neck, the creature he had seen, the automatic activation of his Librarian abilities...
He finally retrieved his abandoned history textbook and headed toward the window through which he had entered. All desire to study had left him. He could only think about what he had just seen.
The descent was more perilous than the climb, his hands trembled slightly, and he almost missed a branch. But he finally managed to get down and found himself on the solid ground of the deserted parking lot.
The journey back to his apartment was made in a mental fog. He walked mechanically, his brain trying to process what had just happened.
Once home, he collapsed on his couch and stared at the ceiling in the darkness of his living room.
- "Fuck," he murmured. "The Scourges aren't just in the library stories. Shit."
The realization was terrifying. He had thought that his life as a Librarian was separate from his normal existence as a teenager. That the two worlds—Terra-Prime and Earth—were distinct and watertight.
But apparently, he had been wrong.
The Scourges were here, in his world, hunting in the shadows. And Victoria Ashford had just been marked by one of them.
Aiden closed his eyes and tried to remember exactly what he had seen thanks to his [Scourge Reading]. A Scourge of Stolen Purity... specialized in young women...
He had the horrible feeling that this encounter was only the beginning of something much bigger and more dangerous.
And Victoria was now at the center of it all.