Evan's breath rasped in his throat.
The worshipper lay twisted on the carpet, skull partly caved in where Evan's empowered fist had struck, dagger imbedded deep in the chest. The room was silent except for the faint hum in Evan's chest.
And Mei stood in the doorway.
Her wide eyes locked onto his.
They didn't move.
They didn't speak.
They just stared at each other, frozen across the ruined office and the broken body between them.
Mei wasn't screaming.
Wasn't trembling.
Just… staring.
The silence stretched until Evan felt it crushing around his ribs.
He swallowed hard.
"Mei," he said, his voice hoarse. "Mei, look at me."
Her eyes flickered, barely.
"We have to go."
She didn't answer. Her throat bobbed, but no sound came out. She kept looking between the corpse and Evan.
"Mei." He stepped closer. "We need to leave… now."
Something in his urgency finally cracked through her shock. She blinked, her breath catching as reality flooded back.
"What… what happened?" she whispered.
"I'll explain later," Evan said, too fast. "Right now we—"
He stopped.
Because the corpse was fading.
The worshipper's body dissolved into wisps of dark, shimmering dust. The blood sank into the carpet and vanished. The shattered desk knit itself back together, splinters sliding into place. Cracks in the walls sealed over like wounds closing.
Mei stepped back so hard she hit the doorframe.
"Evan… what… what is this?"
"Kaira," he said under his breath. She was probably somewhere in the room, invisible like she was on that day.
"Evan…" Mei whispered. "What's happening?"
"I'll tell you," He promised, heart hammering. "I swear I will. Just… please… right now we need to go."
The last trace of the body evaporated from the air. The office looked untouched. Perfect. As if nothing had ever happened.
As the last trace of the body evaporated and the office repaired itself, Evan became suddenly, horribly aware of something else.
His shirt.
A long, ugly tear ran across his abdomen from where the blade had gone in. The healed skin beneath was visible through the shredded fabric. Anyone looking even vaguely in his direction would see it instantly.
Panic jolted through him.
He grabbed the edge of his jacket and yanked it closed over the damage, pressing his arm to his stomach as if he were cold. Mei, still in shock, didn't seem to register the torn cloth, she was too busy staring at the spot where a corpse had just been.
Just in time.
"Sorry for being late today, had a bit of business I had to take care of."
The advisor.
He appeared in the doorway, eyebrows raised. "We had meeting today. What's going on?"
"Ah, sorry!" he blurted. "We were just leaving. There was an emergency, and Mei had to grab me before I missed it."
Mei, still pale, nodded automatically.
The advisor frowned at their expressions. "Are you two… alright?"
"We're good!" Evan said with a forced smile that definitely looked like a smile from someone who was not good. "We're fine. It's just the suddenness of the situation."
Mei let out a very unconvincing "Yes."
The advisor opened his mouth as if to press further, but Evan had already grabbed Mei's wrist.
"Sorry! I'll reschedule!" he said, already pulling her down the hall.
They bolted down the corridor, past office doors, past the stairwell, past a pair of students who gave them strange looks. The moment they were outside, Evan released Mei's hand only to realize hers was shaking.
But so were his.
They stopped in the shade of a tree, catching their breath, the cool air doing nothing to calm the storm between them.
Mei stared at him.
Really stared.
"Evan," she whispered, "what did I just see?"
He grabs her hand again, but gently this time. "Not here. My room. Now."
Evan didn't wait for her to agree.
He squeezed her hand, gentle, a plea more than a pull, and led her across campus. Mei followed without resisting, but every few steps she glanced at him like she was trying to confirm he was real.
They didn't speak.
The air between them felt stretched thin, as if one wrong word might rip it open.
On the way, his mind spiraled.
That guy…
She told they couldn't influence this place anymore.
The wrongness in me…
Maybe… maybe that's why…
But every thought ended in the same dead end.
Nothing made sense.
When they reached his dorm, Evan fumbled with the key, hands trembling harder than he wanted to admit. The second the door shut behind them, Mei backed away, putting distance between them as though she needed space to breathe.
Evan locked the door.
The click sounded too loud.
Mei pressed a hand to her mouth, steadying herself. She finally looked up at him with eyes full of fear, confusion, and something worse.
Something like betrayal.
"Evan…" she whispered. "You need to tell me. Right now."
Evan swallowed. His mouth was dry.
"Okay," he said quietly. "But you have to sit down first."
She didn't.
She stood rooted to the floor, shoulders tight, like her body was preparing for whatever might come next.
"Start talking," she said, voice thin. "Please."
Evan ran a hand through his hair, pacing once before forcing himself to meet her gaze.
"That wasn't a normal person," he began. "He was after me."
Mei flinched. "Evan, you killed him."
"He tried to kill me," Evan snapped before he could stop himself. Immediately he softened. "Mei, I didn't want to. I had no choice. But if I hadn't fought back, I'd be dead. That guy… he wasn't human. Not completely."
Mei wrapped her arms around herself.
"You keep saying 'he wasn't human.' But I saw him. He looked normal to me"
Evan nodded slowly.
"I guess he must've been human once." he said. "But… he probably came into contact with something he shouldn't have. Something that changed him."
Mei's breath shook. "Changed…? Evan, listen to yourself."
"I know how it sounds."
He lifted both hands, palms open, pleading for her to understand.
"But you saw it. You saw the body disappear. The room fix itself. You saw him. No human could've done what he did."
Mei's jaw trembled.
"I don't know what I saw."
"Mei—"
"I don't!" she snapped, voice cracking. She pressed her palms to her temples. "I walked in and you were—there was a dead body—and you looked like—"
She swallowed hard.
"Evan, you looked like you were about to die."
Evan's chest tightened.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I was."
Mei stared at him, really stared, as if searching for any sign he was lying.
"…Then why aren't you dead?"
Evan hesitated.
He took a slow breath.
"There's something… in me. Something that keeps me alive."
Mei's expression tightened with a flicker of fear.
Fear of him.
He took a step back, giving her space.
"I'm not dangerous to you. he said quickly "I swear. Whatever this thing is, I can—"
He stopped.
Her breath stuttered.
"You can't," she whispered. "You're shaking. You can barely stand. You're not in control at all."
Evan opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Because she was right. His hands were trembling. His legs felt like they were made of stiff wire. The aftershock of the fight still coiled painfully inside him, pulsing with each heartbeat.
"I…"
He swallowed.
"You're right. I'm not in control."
Mei shut her eyes for a moment, as if steadying herself. When she opened them again, something in her gaze had hardened, a slow, dawning realization.
"Show me," she whispered.
Evan blinked. "What?"
"The wound," she said. "The one on your abdomen. Your shirt was soaked with blood. I saw it. If this thing inside you is real… then show me."
Evan stiffened.
His shirt, of course. It was torn, and the blood had only just finished drying when the body vanished. He'd turned his torso away from her the entire time, hiding the damage. And on the way out of the office building, he held his jacket over the tear, pretending he was just cold.
Even the advisor hadn't noticed. Students in the hallway probably thought it was just a sloppy fall or a ripped seam.
But she'd somehow seen it.
There was no way to hide it anymore.
Evan slowly lifted the hem of his shirt.
Mei sucked in a sharp breath.
The fabric was ripped through in the exact place the blade had struck. The edges were frayed, stained faint brown where the blood had dried. But the skin beneath was perfect. There wasn't even a faint line indicating he'd even been cut.
"Evan…" Her voice broke. "You were flung across the room. I saw you fall. I saw—this doesn't—this isn't…"
"Tell me," she said, voice trembling. "How long has this been happening?"
Evan lowered his shirt, feeling suddenly cold.
"A few days," he admitted. "Since… since the red moon."
Mei stared at him, the weight of his words sinking in.
"You've been dealing with all of this… alone?"
"I didn't want to drag you into it," he said quietly. "I didn't want to hurt you. And I thought…"
His voice shook. "I thought if I just pretended everything was normal, maybe it would be."
She pressed a hand over her mouth, taking that in. Then she shook her head, not in disbelief, but in something closer to heartbreak. "Evan," she whispered, "I already was in it. I've been in it since the moment you stopped looking me in the eye."
Evan froze.
Her voice was soft, but it struck like a blade.
"You don't get to protect me by lying to me," she said. "Not from this. Not anymore."
Evan sank onto the edge of his bed, hands clasped so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Mei… there's more," he said quietly.
She didn't move from where she stood, but her posture stiffened.
"What more?" she whispered.
He drew in a slow, fragile breath.
"I'm being hunted."
Mei's eyes widened, but she didn't interrupt.
"There are beings," he said, choosing each word carefully, "from outside this world. I don't know what they are, I don't even know what they want. People like the one today… they're not acting on their own. They're following something bigger. Something that wants me dead."
Mei stared at him as if the floor beneath her were shifting.
"Evan…"
"And this thing inside me," Evan continued, voice shaking, "It heals me. It keeps me standing. But I'm not immortal. I'm still able to die."
A beat.
"I just… won't die easily."
Mei stared at him as if seeing him clearly for the first time.
Then he added, quietly:
"I'm not even going to age."
Her blood drained from her face. She swayed, gripping the back of his chair just to stay upright.
"You're… you're not going to age?" she breathed.
He shut his eyes.
He saw Kaira's haunted expression. Her warning like a knife to the heart:
"Everyone you love will grow old, will change, will fade. You will live through all of it. These attachments… they will bring you only pain."
He opened his eyes again.
And the words that came out hurt more than the stab wound had.
"Mei," he said, voice cracking, "I'm leaving."
She froze.
"What?"
"I have to."
He forced himself to meet her gaze. "I can't stay here. I can't go to class like nothing happened. And I can't keep pretending this place is safe."
Mei shook her head once, sharp. "No. No, Evan, you can't just—"
"You saw what happened today," he cut in, his voice breaking. "You saw how close I came. There will be more. They won't stop. Not until I'm gone."
Tears finally broke through her stare, spilling silently down her cheeks.
"Please don't," she whispered. "Please don't leave me like this."
Evan's chest tightened so hard he thought it might tear.
"Being near me…"
His voice trembled.
"Being near me will only bring catastrophe. You said it yourself, I looked like I was dying. And next time, it might be you instead. Or Lucien. Or someone else."
He looked away, unable to hold her gaze any longer.
"Don't go looking for me," he said. "Not ever. I'll disappear before anyone else gets dragged into this."
Mei took a step toward him.
"Evan—"
He stepped back.
"Please," he breathed. "Don't make this harder."
The silence that followed felt like a wound.
A deep, clean cut that neither of them would ever fully heal from.