The hallway leading to Professor Thorne's office was lined with portraits of Rearview State University founders, men and women whose painted eyes seemed to follow Julian with silent, judging scrutiny.
Each step Julian took felt heavy, the floor tiles seemingly soft and porous beneath his feet, as if the very building were trying to digest him.
He could smell the office before he reached it. It was a cocktail of old parchment, expensive tobacco, and the sharp, medicinal sting of fear emanating from Professor Thorne.
Julian didn't knock. He pushed the heavy oak door open, his movements precise and restrained. Inside, the room was dimly lit by a single desk lamp, casting long, skeletal shadows across the walls.
Thorne sat behind his desk, his face pale, his hands trembling as he shuffled a stack of digital printouts, the security logs from the restricted wing.
"Close the door," Thorne whispered, his voice cracking.
Julian obeyed, the latch clicking with finality. He didn't take a seat. He stood in the center of the rug, a predator disguised in cotton and polyester.
"The logs are a mistake, Professor. I was in the morgue. I never left my station."
Thorne stood up, his chair scraping violently against the floor. He rushed around the desk, his eyes darting toward the frosted glass of the office door.
"The camera in the morgue hallway was looped, Julian! Whoever set it up did it with surgical precision. But the biometric scanner at the entrance to the Restricted Wing? It didn't lie. It logged your thumbprint at 14:02. You were there, Julian. And you weren't alone."
Julian's jaw tightened. The "hunger" had blurred his memory of the last hour, leaving gaps in his timeline that he couldn't afford.
"Did Edward report this too?"
"Yes," Thorne hissed, the name sounding like a curse. "He's been monitoring your shifts for weeks. He's convinced you're the reason for the recent string of 'accidental' medical supply disappearances. He has taken the logs to the Dean, and they're calling for a full disciplinary review."
Julian felt a flicker of ancient rage. Edward was a nuisance, a small, scurrying rat with a grudge but he was a rat that could burn the house down.
"A disciplinary review involves a blood test, doesn't it?"
Thorne nodded, his throat working convulsively. "They want to check for 'performance-enhancing stimulants.' They think you're abusing illicit narcotics to keep up your pace in the morgue. They don't know what you are. They are just guessing."
Julian paced the length of the office. The walls felt like they were closing in. If they drew his blood, the labs would find things that didn't exist in human biology, markers of an ancient, pre-human lineage that would label him a monster, or worse, a scientific curiosity to be dissected.
"I can leave," Julian said, his voice flat. "I can disappear tonight."
"And go where?" Thorne stepped closer, his voice dropping into a desperate, paternal tone.
"The world isn't as big as it used to be, Julian. The moment you run, you prove your guilt. You become a fugitive. I've spent seventy years protecting your father's legacy, and I will not see it end because of a petty, vindictive student like Edward."
"Then what is your solution, Arthur?" Julian turned, his eyes briefly flashing with that deep, crimson intensity before he wrestled them back under control. "I cannot sit there and let a needle touch my skin. If that blood hits a centrifuge, it's over."
Thorne opened a locked drawer in his desk and pulled out a small, heavy black box. He slid it across the mahogany surface. Inside was a vial of clear, viscous liquid.
"This is a masking agent," Thorne explained, his voice low. "It's a compound my father developed years ago, specifically for your father. It mimics human hematological markers. It will hold for six hours, then dissipate. You take this, you pass the test, and you buy us time to discredit Edward."
Julian picked up the vial. It was cold, unnaturally so. He knew the risk. If the compound failed, the reaction between the agent and his blood would be volatile. It would be a chemical suicide. But the alternative was discovery, and discovery was death.
"Why go to this length, Arthur?" Julian asked, his voice softening just a fraction. "Why risk your career for a creature like me?"
Thorne looked away, his eyes fixed on the photograph of a younger man on his wall, Julian's father.
"Because he saved my family when the world wanted to kill him. I am simply returning the favor."
As Julian slipped the vial into his pocket, a sharp, rhythmic tapping sounded at the door. Knock. Knock. Knock. Thorne froze. "That will be the Dean. Hide."
"Yes," Julian whispered, his senses heightening to an almost painful degree. He could hear the rapid, uneven heartbeat of the man standing outside the door.
It was Edward. He was breathing hard, excited, his scent a mix of cheap cologne and malicious triumph.
Julian stepped behind the heavy floor-to-ceiling velvet curtain that covered the room's only window. He held his breath, his heart slowing to a dead stop. The door creaked open.
Edward stepped into the office, his eyes scanning the room with smug satisfaction. Behind him, the Dean, a stout, stern-faced woman with hair pulled back in a severe bun, followed with a tablet in her hand.
"Professor Thorne," the Dean said, her voice echoing in the small space. "I'm sorry to intrude, but we've had a serious security breach. Edward has brought some very disturbing accusation to my attention regarding Julian Vance, your grandson."
Edward smirked, his eyes flickering toward the desk. "He's been acting strange, Professor. And I think we both know that things have been... vanishing. I think it's time we see what's really under the skin of our star student."
Julian watched from the shadows, his hands curling into fists. The air in the room was electric with the impending collision of worlds.
He could feel the hunger creeping back, fueled by the sound of Edward's arrogant, shallow heartbeat. He didn't need to be told twice. He had the vial, he had the plan, and he had a target. The game had stopped being about surviving; it had become a hunt.
