Aiden and Ed intercepted Victoria at the school exit, near the student parking lot. She was walking alone as usual, her bag clutched against her, her face closed and features drawn with fatigue.
- "Victoria, wait!" called Aiden, running to catch up with her.
She turned around with an annoyed expression, but when she saw that Ed was with him, her irritation transformed into suspicion.
- "What do you want? And why did you bring someone else?"
- "Ed knows," said Aiden quickly. "He's helping me look for a solution."
- "You talked about..." She cast a panicked glance around her, making sure no one could hear them. "You talked about what happened?"
- "Only the... watered-down version," Aiden assured her. "He knows there was an assault, that's all."
Ed stepped forward with a smile he hoped was reassuring.
- "Hi Victoria. Listen, we think we found a solution to your problem."
Victoria looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
- "My problem? What problem? And who are you to..."
- "Victoria," Aiden interrupted with a firm voice. "We don't have much time. That mark you have, it's getting worse, isn't it? The nightmares are becoming more frequent, the pain more intense?"
Victoria's face tensed up, confirming his suspicions.
- "How do you..."
- "Because that thing, whatever it is, it didn't finish its job the other night. It's coming back."
Ed nodded enthusiastically.
-"Exactly! In all horror movies, the creature always comes back to finish what it started. It's like a universal rule."
Victoria looked at both of them as if they were completely insane.
- "What are you talking about? What creature? You watch too many movies."
- "Victoria," said Aiden, lowering his voice. "You know deep down that what's happening to you isn't normal. That mark, those nightmares, that pain... it's not psychological."
She opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. He could see in her eyes that she knew he was right.
- "What are you proposing?" she finally asked, her voice barely audible.
Ed pulled a baseball bat from his bag with a proud look.
- "Simple and effective plan. You act as bait tonight in the school, and we wait in ambush. When your attacker comes back - and he will come back - we'll make him think twice about going after high school girls."
Victoria stepped back, eyes wide.
- "You're completely crazy! You want me to go back there, alone, to attract a... a psychopath?"
- "You won't be alone," Aiden assured her. "We'll be hidden, ready to intervene."
- "With a baseball bat?" Victoria looked at the derisory weapon Ed was brandishing. "Against someone dangerous enough to leave mysterious marks?"
Aiden grimaced internally. He had no idea how to eradicate a Scourge in the real world. Did normal weapons work? Could Ed and Victoria even see it? He had so many questions and so few answers.
- "We have no choice," he said with a firm voice that hid his own doubts. "This thing won't go away on its own. And every day that passes, you suffer more."
Victoria instinctively brought her hand to the back of her neck, where the mark must have been burning like a red-hot iron.
- "And if it doesn't work?"
- "It will work," Aiden lied with an assurance he didn't feel.
There was a long silence. Victoria observed both of them, weighing her options. Finally, she sighed with resignation.
- "Alright. But if I die tonight, I swear I'll come back to haunt you."
11:30 PM - Lincoln High School
The infiltration had gone smoothly. Aiden now knew the way by heart, and all three of them had slipped through the science classroom window with disconcerting ease.
Victoria was sitting on a bench in the school's inner courtyard, illuminated by the full moon. She had brought a book - Behavioral Economics, of course - and was pretending to read, even though Aiden could see she couldn't concentrate.
Ed and he were hidden behind the bushes near the main entrance, the baseball bat lying between them. Ed was visibly excited by the adventure, but Aiden couldn't help thinking about everything that could go wrong.
What if the Scourge didn't show up? What if Ed and Victoria couldn't see it? What if the baseball bat was useless against an interdimensional creature?
The minutes ticked by slowly. Victoria was turning the pages of her book without reading them, casting nervous glances around her. Ed checked his watch every thirty seconds.
- "It's been two hours," he whispered. "Are you sure it's coming?"
Aiden was about to answer when he saw it.
A shadow detached itself from the main building, gliding silently toward Victoria. The creature was exactly as in his memories too tall, too thin, with that impossible gait that defied the laws of human anatomy.
- "It's here," Aiden murmured, straightening up.
Ed looked in the direction he was pointing.
- "Where? I don't see anything."
Shit. They can't see it.
The Scourge was approaching Victoria, who continued pretending to read, unaware of the danger swooping down on her.
-"Ed, when I tell you to move, you rush toward Victoria and get her out of there, OK?"
- "But..."
-"Trust me!"
Aiden leaped from his hiding place and started running toward the bench. To Ed and Victoria, he must have looked completely crazy - he was sprinting toward an apparently empty courtyard while gesticulating.
Victoria and Ed's point of view:
Victoria looked up from her book when she heard hurried footsteps. Aiden was running toward her as if he were being chased by a pack of wolves, but the courtyard was perfectly empty.
- "What's he doing?" Ed murmured, totally lost.
Aiden reached the bench and seemed to throw himself at something invisible. He rolled to the side, jumped back up, and began fighting against... nothing.
- "Aiden!" Victoria cried, standing up. "What's gotten into you?"
But Aiden didn't answer. He was dodging something, extending his arms as if catching an invisible opponent, then backing away suddenly as if avoiding an attack.
Ed came out of his hiding place, bat in hand, but he didn't know where to aim. Aiden seemed to be fighting the air, in total and disturbing silence.
-"He's lost it," Victoria murmured, but there was worry in her voice rather than mockery.
Aiden's point of view:
The Scourge was stronger and faster than at Greyhollow. It was struggling furiously, its impossible limbs whipping the air with terrible violence. Aiden barely avoided claws that could have opened his throat.
- "Too... close..." growled the creature in a voice that seemed to come from beyond the grave. "She... belongs to me..."
Aiden managed to grab what must have been the Scourge's arm, but the creature contorted and tried to bite him with teeth sharp as razors. He threw himself backward, feeling the fangs graze his carotid.
I need to activate my Scourge Reading!
He concentrated, letting his Life Flame bloom in his chest. Immediately, information poured into his mind:
Scourge of Stolen Purity - Level 3. Feeds on the innocence and purity of young women. Link established with target Victoria Ashford. Connection: 65% - Critical in 48h.
Link?
Aiden concentrated more, and suddenly he could see it - a thread of dark energy connecting the Scourge to Victoria, pulsing like a malevolent umbilical cord.
That's it! I need to cut this connection!
He intensified his Life Flame, feeling the golden warmth spread through his arms and hands. The Scourge suddenly seemed to fear him more, retreating slightly.
- "No... impossible... you're just a human..."
- "You're wrong," Aiden growled.
He leaped toward the dark energy link and closed his hands around it. His Life Flame came into contact with the Scourge's corrupted magic, and an explosion of golden light illuminated the courtyard.
The Scourge let out a howl of agony that resonated through all dimensions, then began to dissolve like smoke in the wind.
- "This is... impossible..." were its last words before disappearing completely.
Aiden collapsed to his knees, exhausted by the effort. His Life Flame was almost entirely consumed.
Back to Victoria and Ed's point of view:
They saw Aiden fight the air for several minutes, then suddenly, a golden glow exploded around him. Victoria immediately felt something - the constant burning in her neck disappeared at once, replaced by a soothing sensation of coolness.
Aiden collapsed on the ground, panting.
- "Victoria," he called weakly. "How... how do you feel?"
She brought her hand to her neck, stunned. For the first time in two days, she felt no pain.
- "It... it's not burning anymore," she murmured, incredulous. "How is that possible?"
Ed looked at them in turn, completely lost.
- "Can someone explain to me what just happened?"
Aiden smiled weakly from the ground.
- "I think we won."