She stays a bit longer

Cortney hesitated, her instincts screaming at her to bolt—but curiosity of this diserea woman pinned her to the chair.Cortney hesitated, her instincts screaming at her to bolt—but curiosity of this Desirea woman pinned her to the chair. The air grew heavier, thick with something darker, Jules, ever the thrill-seeker, leaned forward, her grin sharp. "Invitation to what, exactly?" Desirea’s fingers curled around the edge of the table, her black nails digging into the wood. "To see," she murmured, her voice like silk over steel. "To really see." The professor’s gaze flicked to the door—still shut—then back to them. Professor- I'm a hunter of the Occult, unfortunately I fell on my last hunt .

The words hung in the air like smoke, curling into the dim candlelight. Cortney’s breath caught. Hunter? The way he said it—like it was a title, not a profession. Jules let out a low whistle. "No way. Like, supernatural hunter?" The professor’s smile was thin, strained. "The things that go bump in the night? They’re real. And they’re hungry." He flexed his bleeding hand, the wound already blackening at the edges. "I was tracking something… old.

A silence stretched, broken only by the hiss of the candle flame. Then, from the darkest corner of the room, something shifted—a presence unseen until now, moving with liquid grace. "Older than you, hunter." The voice was smooth, ancient, curling through the air like smoke. From the shadows, a figure stepped forward—tall, impossibly slender, with eyes like polished obsidian that drank in the candlelight. His skin was too pale, stretched too perfectly over sharp bones, and when he smiled, the tips of elongated canines glinted. The professor went rigid, his grip tightening on the knife. "You," he breathed. The vampire—because that’s what he had to be—tilted his head, amused. "Me," he agreed, voice like velvet over a blade. "Did you truly think your little hunt ended with a wound? No, hunter., like diserea overheard, you have fallen as a hunter, corrupted by my blood, now you in presence of not only a ancient, but one the high vampires of V as well that run this campus

Cortney’s pulse hammered in her throat. The professor—hunter—had gone deathly still, his wound still dripping black onto the floor.Desirea’s lips curled into a slow, predatory smile as she turned her gaze toward Jules. Diserea- so you was listening to his words and overheard that slip of his tongue then she purred, her voice dripping with dark amusement. "Not just a vampire, little one, you see im his daughter, and he is The vampire who let your professor live long enough to bring you here. Jules’s grin faltered for the first time, her bravado cracking under the weight of Desirea’s stare. "Wait—you wanted us here?" The ancient vampire in the shadows let out a low, resonant laugh. "Of course. The hunter was always meant to be the bait, corrupting him, and particularly converting him was bonus from the encounter.

The ancient vampire in the shadows let out a low, resonant laugh. "Of course. My daughter Diserea is last of V left on campus thanks to this hunter, and we need new recruits His obsidian eyes slid to Cortney and Jules, lingering just long enough to make the air feel heavier. "You two have potential. The hunter chose well—even if he didn’t realize he was choosing for us." Cortney’s grip on the chair tightened until her knuckles turned white. "We didn’t agree to anything." Desirea—leaned forward, her black nails scraping against the table. "You sat down. You stayed., you hit accept on the email..did you not

Jules swallowed hard, her earlier bravado dissolving under the weight of Desirea’s gaze. "That was just a stupid lecture invite. Nobody said anything about—" "—about blood oaths?" the ancient vampire finished smoothly, stepping fully into the candlelight. His presence was suffocating, like the air before a storm. "You humans and your fine print. Always so eager to click ‘I agree’ without reading."