Chapter 174 173: Ambiguity and Bloodshed

read lotsstory inpatre** : belamy20

The auditorium doors creaked open under the weight of the crowd already packed inside.

Alessa trailed behind the others, arms full of the snacks Patty had bought her earlier. Soren had let her out of Silent Hill for the night. Leaving her locked in that place day after day wasn't doing her any favors. A kid needed more than rust and fog if she was going to keep developing.

Madison was another story. With her personality and the mind-control techniques she'd been drilling lately, letting her loose at a campus dance was asking for a body count. Better she stayed behind and kept sparring with the monsters.

They took their time cutting through the carnival booths, eating and wandering until the dance was already underway. Most people arrived around the same hour anyway. Showing up a little late skipped the awkward early silence and the crush at the entrance.

Soft music drifted down from the speakers. Students in their best clothes stood in loose groups along the edges of the floor, drinks and plated desserts in hand, talking and sizing each other up.

The moment Soren's group stepped inside, heads turned.

Patty was already one of the better-known faces on campus. Tonight the cream lace mini made her look like she'd stepped straight out of a magazine. Carrie walked quietly at her side in softer colors, the contrast only drawing more eyes.

More than one guy who thought he was smooth tried to peel off and ask Patty or Carrie for a dance. Patty shut every one of them down with a flat stare and a single cold sentence.

The leftover looks that landed on Soren carried open jealousy and a few open threats.

In a darker corner of the hall, Jennifer never took her eyes off them.

Thick foundation and careful makeup couldn't hide the hollow, elderly thinness underneath when the overhead lights caught her just right. A few guys still drifted over, drawn by the body that hadn't wasted yet. She brushed them off without interest.

Her empty gaze stayed locked on Soren's straight back. Young. Strong. Blood still running hot.

For the thing living inside her, he was pure grade-A meat.

She touched the sunken hollow of her own cheek and forced the hunger down. In her current state, trying to pull him in was too big a risk. Even with a body and face she still trusted, she needed to feed first. Restore some of the life that had already drained out of her.

The dance kept rolling. Lights dimmed into something warmer and more intimate. Colored lasers cut lazy patterns through the haze above the crowd. The DJ switched to something with a real beat. Couples started moving onto the floor.

Patty watched another rejected guy walk away and finally lost the last of her patience. She turned, eyes bright.

"Soren. You want to try?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You serious?"

She nodded hard.

He looked at the eager set of her mouth and decided not to kill the mood.

Truth was, in all the years he'd been alive—both of them—he'd never actually done this kind of close dancing. As a regular person it had always felt like something that belonged to other people.

A little curiosity wasn't a crime.

He glanced at Alessa, who was still methodically destroying a bag of chips, and spoke low. "Keep an eye on Carrie."

Alessa's big eyes flicked up once. She shuffled a half-step closer to Carrie without a word. That was answer enough.

Soren stood and offered Patty his right hand. "Let's go."

Watching other people dance and actually doing it turned out to be two completely different animals.

Neither of them knew a single formal step. They faced each other, hands stiff on shoulder and waist, copying the nearest couple as best they could. In the dim center of the floor, though, every pair was the star of their own little world. Nobody was scoring technique.

His hand settled lightly on the narrow curve of her waist. Through the thin lace he could feel the heat of her skin and the way she tensed the second he touched her.

"Relax," he murmured against her ear. "Anyone watching would think I had a gun in your ribs."

Color flooded her cheeks. She punched him lightly in the chest, embarrassed.

They started moving, clumsy and off-beat. Soren's body was far past human. Every time his foot was about to come down on hers he corrected in time. Patty didn't have that luxury—especially not in the little hard-heeled shoes she'd chosen. In the first few minutes he took several solid stomps that would have broken toes on anyone else. Even with his current durability the pain still shot straight up his leg. He kept his face blank and kept leading.

It didn't last. Once one of them stopped trying to lead and simply matched the other, the steps smoothed out. The real danger was both people dancing their own private routines and turning the whole thing into a mutual foot-stomping contest. With the wrong temper that could escalate into an actual fight afterward.

Their feet found a rhythm. The space between them shrank without either of them noticing. The noise of the room pulled back. The air between them warmed.

Patty tipped her face up, watching his eyes. Soft light painted the flush across her cheeks. Her breathing went shallow.

Her lashes trembled. She closed her eyes.

Soren looked at the open invitation and, without quite deciding to, lifted his hand to the back of her head.

Their mouths were a breath apart when the entire hall went black.

A short collective gasp rose from the crowd. In the sudden dark something cool and soft brushed Soren's lips—gone almost before he registered it.

Then the stage spotlights slammed on with a sharp crack.

A wall of distorted guitar crashed through the silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen—give it up for tonight's special guests, Low Shoulder!"

The band members strode through smoke and light to the front of the stage. The floor exploded in screams and cheers.

Patty stepped back half a pace, face still red, as if nothing had happened. Her hand stayed twisted in the edge of his jacket, forgotten.

She took a breath, rose on her toes, and whispered, "I'm tired. Let's go back."

"Alright."

On stage, Nikolai stepped to the mic. He put on the perfect mix of grief and sincerity, scanning the roaring crowd.

"Thank you! Tonight we dedicate this new song to the angels we lost in the fire. They're gone, but their souls stay with us forever!"

While the crowd ate it up, his eyes kept moving, hunting. When they landed on Patty at the edge of the floor they lit with sudden interest. Then he saw the white-haired guy whose hand she was still holding, and the light went cold and ugly.

He looked away, closed his eyes, and started to sing.

Soren and Patty pushed through the packed bodies toward Carrie and Alessa. They were almost back to the quiet edge when Soren's steps slowed. His brow tightened.

A thin thread of demonic aura had just brushed past him.

Patty felt his grip tighten. "What's wrong?"

He turned toward the far side of the hall. "Come with me."

He pulled her into the opposite corridor. The dancers around them shifted out of the way without quite knowing why, bodies sliding aside as if something invisible had cleared a path.

They moved fast down the quieter hallway and stopped in a dead-end corner. Patty glanced around, confused, then noticed the two restroom signs on the wall ahead—one male, one female.

She froze. Color climbed her neck. The almost-kiss from the dance floor was still vivid in her head.

Her eyes darted. Words stumbled out. "S-Soren… this… isn't this a little much? In a place like this… isn't it a bit too—"

Soren's face went flat.

Even if he'd been that desperate, he wouldn't have picked a public bathroom with people walking past every thirty seconds. There was a car outside.

"What the hell are you thinking? You said students were getting torn up by some kind of animal on campus, remember?"

He pointed at the men's room door. "I think I just found the animal."

Patty's brain finally caught up. The flush that had stopped at her cheeks flooded straight down her throat. She looked like she wanted the floor to open and swallow her whole.