Seraphina finally regained a semblance of balance, she realized she wasn't in her room, neither was she on the ground.
She was sitting on a chair. No, she was tied to a chair.
She shakes her head like it would stop the heaviness she was feeling in her head.
She lifted her head and two figures stood before her. They weren't strangers, they were faces she had seen at school. Damon's friends or perhaps errand boys.
The boys had brought her somewhere quiet within the school, an old lab covered in dust and cubwebs, far from the street lights and students.
Damon sat in a distance, his expression was calm, unreadable, but the cold in his eyes was enough to freeze her blood.
"You saw something a few days ago," he said, standing and stepping closer.
"Something like what?," Seraphina said.
Her voice was steady, but fear fluttered beneath her ribs, but she forced herself to meet his gaze.
Damon didn't move immediately. He tilted his head, studying her, trying to read the flicker of emotion she couldn't hide.
"Are you lying?" he asked, closer this time, closer. "Or are you saying the truth"
"I…I don't know what you are talking about…I didn't see anything," she repeated.
His jaw clenched. He reached for her bag, pulling her phone out and flipping it open with a swipe that made her stomach drop.
He searched every folder in the phone, went through every text message and every chat but saw nothing that could prove him right.
He inputted Lucien's number but it didn't pop out in Seraphina's contact list.
Damon stared at the screen, his fingers tightening around the device. His mind raced, trying to piece it together, trying to figure out if she was brilliant, or if he had misjudged her. Slowly, doubt crept in again.
Maybe she hadn't seen anything at all. Maybe she wasn't the one behind the tree that night.
He let out a long, slow breath, and leaned back slightly.
"Maybe you didn't see anything," he muttered more to himself than to her.
Seraphina's chest rose and fell rapidly, but she didn't speak. She didn't move until he stepped aside. The boys untied her and nudged her forward.
"You're free to go," Damon said quietly, almost reluctantly.
"But if you breathe a word to anybody about what just happened, your journey here as a student will be an incomplete story," he added, voice cold.
Seraphina didn't wait. She bolted toward the exit, heart hammering, tears threatening. She didn't look back—not at the boys, not at Damon.
In the shadows, just behind the old lab curtains, Lucien Volkov watched in silence.
A trusted informant that fed him information concerning Damon, had gone missing for the past few days and he knew who exactly was capable of making people disappear without a trace but he needed evidence.
He had been monitoring Damon and his Loyal dogs, just to find a lead.
Perhaps he has found more than a lead.
His lips curved into a slow, deliberate smile.
***********************************************
Seraphina's hands wouldn't stop shaking.
She folded a shirt, then unfolded it again. The edges didn't align the way they should. Nothing did, not even her thought.
The walls felt too close, like they were going to suffocate her.
"He could have killed me"
The thought came uninvited. She pressed her lips together and shoved the shirt into her bag anyway.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the next one.
"You're fine. You're alive. Just pack and leave"
But her mind wouldn't listen. It dragged her back to the way they had grabbed her, the way her voice had almost failed her, the way Damon had looked at her like she was something to be figured out…or erased. Her chest tightened.
"I shouldn't have gone there. I shouldn't have looked. I shouldn't have recorded anything"
The memory alone scared her.
She could still hear his voice, calm and cold "You saw something"
"I didn't," she whispered to herself, even now.
But the truth wasn't that simple anymore. Because whether she had seen something or not, she is a suspect. And that was enough to cost her– her life.
Seraphina zipped her bag halfway, then stopped. Her hands hovered over it, unsure.
"What am I even doing"?
She stared at the bag like it could answer her.
She had come here for one reason. One clear, simple reason– To study, to survive and to build something better than the life she had known.
She remembered the long hours. The exhaustion. The countless small jobs that barely paid enough. The nights she had gone to bed hungry just so she could save a little more. Everything had led her to this school, this one one in a lifetime opportunity.
It was her way out.
I didn't come here for this. I didn't come here to get dragged into someone else's mess.
Her heart raced, tears threatened to fall.
The door opened. Her whole body jerked.
"Sera, you are back" Emily said..
Seraphina forced herself to act normal.
Emily stepped in fully, her eyes scanning Seraphina's face immediately. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you."
Seraphina's mind scrambled. "Damn! , say something, anything!"
"I… I just went out," she said, her voice steadier than she felt.
Emily frowned. "Out where?"
Seraphina shrugged, avoiding her gaze as she turned back to her bag. "Nowhere important."
It wasn't a lie, but it just wasn't the truth.
Emily stepped closer. "Sera… are you okay?"
Seraphina paused. For a moment, she almost told her everything that was going on.
But the words stayed locked inside her. "If I say it out loud, it becomes real"
"I'm fine," she said instead.
Emily didn't look convinced.
Seraphina forced a small smile. "I just… I think I need a break. I want to go home this weekend."
Emily blinked. "Now? It's late."
"I know," Seraphina said quickly, grabbing her bag. "But I can still catch the last bus."
There was urgency in her voice now. A quiet desperation she couldn't hide.
She needed to breathe somewhere that didn't feel like danger was waiting in every corner.
Emily hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." The answer came too fast, but she softened her tone immediately, "I'll be back before classes. I promise."
Emily studied her for a moment longer, then sighed. "Okay… just text me when you get there."
"I will." Seraphina didn't wait any longer.
She picked up her bag and headed for the door before Emily could ask anything else or maybe… Before the fear in her grew louder.