Deadmen's Queen: A dark college reverse harem romance

Chapter Three

The door swung open, and we stepped into the room, only to find an even more horrifying sight. Paige’s room was trashed, her belongings scattered across the floor. The room was covered in a viscous red substance that looked suspiciously like blood, and in the middle of the bed, I could see a dead bird, white feathers scattered over the soaked sheets with a knife sticking out of its chest. I turned, trying to block her view before she saw it, but I was too late. Her eyes widened, and she gasped, stepping back into the doorway.

“Christ,” I muttered. “Who did this?” The red liquid coated nearly everything, and I just prayed it was paint and not blood. This was fucked up on another level. I looked over my shoulder at Paige, who stood in the doorway, staring blindly into her room. Tears filled her eyes and my heart ached for her. Her clothes, her sketchbooks, even some of her paintings. Everything was ruined. She swayed as a sob escaped her throat, and in an instant, I was by her side, wrapping my arms around her as her legs gave way.

“No,” I said, my voice firm. I turned her around to face me, one arm holding her up, the other hand cupping her beautiful face as tears fell down it. “No tears, Paige. Whoever did this want to see you break.”

“But...”

“No.” I wiped away her tears. “We”ll figure this out.”

Kate hovered uncertainly at the doorway, biting her lip nervously as she clutched her phone in her hand. “I... I”ll call campus security,” she offered hesitantly.

Paige nodded mutely; her eyes fixed again on the devastation. I nodded my head and gently guided Paige a little way down the corridor.

“Thank you, Kate,” I said grimly. “Right now, Paige”s safety is my number one concern. Paige?”

She looked up at me, eyes wide. I had the feeling she was in shock. I needed to get her away from here. “Is there anything you want to take now? Anything sentimental or important?”

“My… my bag,” she whispered. Kate darted into the room, grabbing it from where it hung on the desk chair. Thankfully, it hadn’t been hit with the red liquid. Please don’t let it be blood.

“Paige, there’s another note,” she said. She plucked something off the bed and came back into the corridor, handing Paige a small red envelope with her name typed on the front.

“Another note?” I asked, my heart speeding up. “Paige, what’s going on?”

She shook her head, pulling away a little to open the envelope. The paper inside was red too, with typed letters in black, and her face grew paler as she read it. Too impatient to wait, I snatched it away from her and looked down at the message she’d been sent.

So, you like to crawl, Paige? I’ll make you fucking crawl for me. Before I make you scream like they never could.

I looked up at her.

“What is this, Paige?”

“I thought they were from you,” she said breathlessly.

My blood ran cold. “From me?”

“From the Club. There were black roses and these…”

I took a deep breath, my careful control shaky at best. “The roses were from us, but we never sent you messages, Paige. You’ve had more of these?”

She nodded. “Lots.”

“Give them to me,” I said, my voice harder than I’d meant it to be, and she winced.

“They’re in my desk drawer,” she said, looking over at Kate, who nodded and disappeared back into the room.

“How long?” I asked her.

“Since my first week here,” she answered.

Kate handed me a stack of red envelopes, kept together with an elastic band. “That’s all of them. She went to university security, and then the police, but they all thought it was just a prank, after she reported being followed by Reapers.” Kate’s face was neutral, but I could see the anger and the condemnation in her eyes.

Fuck.

“These aren’t from the Club, Paige.” I looked down at the envelopes, her name in simple black type. “How did you get these? They aren’t posted.”

“Under the door at night,” she whispered.

I frowned. “Don’t you have a night security guard?”

Kate nodded, her face twisting into a sneer. “Yes, but he’s utterly useless. You can never bloody find him when he’s on duty. I doubt he gives a fuck.”

“I see.” I looked down at Paige, feeling her trembling in my arms, then glanced over at Kate. “Are you ok here, if I take Paige to stay with us? We have much better security. I’m afraid there’s no extra bedrooms at ours, but I can find somewhere for you to stay if you’d feel safer?”

Kate shook her head. “He, whoever he is, isn’t after me. Paige, are you ok to go stay with Bast?”

Paige turned and looked at Kate, blinking. “Yes.”

“Paige, are you ok?” Kate asked, reaching out to touch her arm.

“She’s in shock,” I said. “Don’t mention this to anyone. I’ll get her home and safe, and then I’ll get some guys over to clean up and look into it. We’ll find him, Kate.”

She raised flashing green eyes to mine. “You do that, Blake. Find him, and beat the living shit out of him for doing this to my friend.” I grinned. I liked this girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mock saluted her, then reached out to take Paige’s bag from her.

“Call me when you’re feeling better,” she said to Paige, who nodded.

“Come on, baby,” I said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

I led her down the hallway, and back out to my car. Her body was shaking though she walked without stumbling. She seemed so small, so fragile. I just wanted to wrap her up in my arms and carry her, but it was getting to mid-morning and more students were appearing around the dorms, and I didn’t want to draw any more attention to her. She was unnaturally quiet, her hands clutching onto my arm with a death-like grip.

Outside, the skies had turned a stormy grey, heavy clouds rolling and rumbling overhead, as though reflecting my dark mood. The wind whipped around us, tugging strands of Paige’s hair loose. My heart pounded and I could almost taste the fury boiling in my veins, but I kept my face calm and my grip on Paige steady as I led her to my car. I opened the passenger side for her, gently guiding her in.

She climbed in mechanically, her body moving without any sign of conscious thought, and settled into the seat. I reached over, pulling the belt across her body and clicking her in.

“Thanks,” she whispered. I touched her face gently, then closed the door. I walked around the car, but stopped as I reached the back end, leaning against the car as I sucked in some deep breaths. Losing my shit wasn’t going to help Paige. Looking down at the red envelopes in my hand, I flicked open a couple. Most were more flattering than the most recent, but I didn’t give a fuck.

I reached for my phone then dialled Nate”s number. It rang just twice before he picked up. His voice was sharp and no nonsense as always.

“Bast.”

“Nate, let them know we won’t be at the meeting this afternoon. Something’s come up.”

There was a pause on the other end. “He won’t like that, Bast.” He being Nate’s father. Anyone else, Nate would tell them to get fucked, but around his father, he was a different man. Not for the first time, I wondered why he was clearly so fucking terrified of a man that he was a foot taller and a foot wider, but right now I had other things on my mind.

“I don’t give a shit. Tell him it”s an emergency. Just let him know.”

“Alright. What happened?”

“There”s a situation with Paige.” There was another pause on the other end of the call, this one longer.

“What kind of situation?” Nate asked.

“She”s been getting threatening messages. Notes under her door at night. She thought they were from the Club. Turns out she has a fucking stalker.” My lips twisted in the semblance of a smile at the irony of the girl we were stalking has an actual fucking stalker.

“What?”

“We just got back to her dorm, and he’s left the word “slut” on her door, and her room’s been trashed. Left a dead bird on her bed with a knife sticking out of it. She’s a fucking mess. I’m taking her back to ours.”

“Fuck. Do you need me home?”

“No, not yet. I’ll be sending you an address shortly. Meet me there. Be discreet.”

“Got it.” His voice turned cold, and I nodded, even though he couldn’t hear me.

“We’re going to track this fucker down, Nate,” I said. I disconnected the call and then dialled another number.

“Tristan.”

“Bast? Shouldn’t you be back by now? Is everything ok?”

“No, not exactly.” I filled him in briefly.

“Shit, is Paige ok?”

“No, I think she’s in shock. I’m taking her back to ours, but I need a couple of things from you.”

“Anything.”

“Did you remove all the cameras around Paige’s dorm?”

“Yes. As soon as we decided she was in, there was no need to keep an eye on her.”

“Fuck, I was afraid you’d say that. Ok, I need you to organise a couple of guys to come over to her dorm, see if they can figure anything out from what he left behind. Then her stuff needs removing, anything not saveable put in storage, anything that can be rescued, get it cleaned up and brought to ours. She’ll be staying with us permanently from now on.”

“Got it, I know a few good guys who’ll be ideal. Is that it?”

“One more thing,” I said, glancing through the window at Paige’s figure and lowering my voice. “I need you to find out the name of the main night watchman for her building and send me his name and address.”

“The night watchman?”

“The letters were delivered under her door at night. He let the fucker walk right past him. If Paige hadn’t stayed at the Club last night, Tris…”

“You’ll have it in ten,” he said, hanging up.

I walked round to the driver”s side and opened the door. Paige looked up at me, clearly startled. I climbed in and shut the door, looking over at her. Her body was still shaking, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

“You”re safe now,” I assured her, reaching out and taking her trembling hand in mine. “No one will ever hurt you.”

“You can”t promise that,” she whispered, pulling away from me as hot tears spilled down her face.

“I can and I do,” I asserted firmly.

She swallowed hard, trying to compose herself. In response, I squeezed her hand reassuringly and turned on the engine.

As we pulled out onto the street, my mind was already whirring with plans and possibilities. Whoever had done this had made a big mistake. They had violated Paige”s space, destroyed her possessions, and threatened her safety. My throat tightened with the thought of them touching her, hurting her. She was one of us, our Persephone, and no one fucked with one of ours. I took a deep breath, trying to force down the rage inside. I hated feeling out of control, and not knowing who was behind this was fucking with my head.

First things first, we needed to establish some ground rules.

“This is going to change a few things, Paige.” I told her as I drove to the other side of campus. “You can”t go back to your dorm. It”s not safe. So, like I told Kate, you’re going to stay with us. We have a spare room, it”s secure, and there will always be someone around.”

Paige looked like she was about to argue, but then she just nodded, seemingly too overwhelmed to put up a fight.

“Okay,” she agreed quietly.

“We’ll get your stuff cleaned up and brought over as soon as we can,” I added. “But I have some clothes in your size already that I bought when we picked you. They’re a bit more… sophisticated than what you’d normally wear though. But it’s just for now.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

I looked over at her. “Paige? You ok?”

“I... I’m scared,” she confessed in a whisper so light I almost missed it.

“I”ll take care of it,” I assured her fiercely. “He won’t be able to get anywhere near you, and we’ll find him, Paige.”

“But the police…”

“Don’t have the resources I have, sweet girl. Trust me.”

We drove in silence for a few minutes, as I ran over the situation in my head. Notes under the door, so he was probably waiting for students to enter the dorm, then slipping in after them. Or he knew the key code. But how did he get in tonight? Unless…

“Paige?” I asked gently. She looked over at me, her face still pale, but her eyes a little more focused. “I don’t suppose your keys have gone missing at all recently? Have you needed to go and get a replacement at all?”

She shook her head. “No, I just keep them in my bag the whole time. Why?”

“There was no sign of forced entry at your door and the window was locked. I think he’s managed to get a copy of your key somehow. Or the master key.”

I didn’t think her face could go any paler, but she went white. “You think he had a key? So he could have been in my room at any time?”

I hadn’t considered that till now, but my insides turned over at the thought of someone letting themselves into her room and touching her things, maybe even standing watching her while she slept. I felt cold and sick at the thought.

“It’s a possibility,” I said, trying not to give away how thrown I was by her realisation.

“Bast... if he had a key, then he could have come inside when he delivered those envelopes. He could have touched my things… oh God, he could’ve been watching me sleep. Anytime I was there alone...”” Paige”s voice trailed off, terror in her eyes. We were less than a minute from the house, or I would have pulled over then and there to take her in my arms. She put her hand to her mouth and gripped the arm rest with the other one. I could see her shaking.

“Nearly there, baby girl,” I murmured.

I swung into the driveway, pulling right up next to the front door, and as I hit the brakes, Paige grabbed suddenly at the door handle. She wasn’t quite fast enough though, and she cried out as she threw up all over herself and the seat and footwell of the car.

“Fuck,” I said, quickly jumping out and running around to her side, yanking open the door.

She was still retching, her body convulsing as she tried to unfasten her seatbelt.

“Shit, Paige,” I muttered, pulling a stray lock of hair back from her face and watching helplessly as she continued to throw up. When she finally stopped, she was shaking badly. She looked absolutely mortified and I could see her hands shaking.

“Here,” I said, reaching over to click open her seat belt. She practically fell out of the car, landing on her knees on the gravel driveway. I knelt down next to her, rubbing soothing circles on her back as she heaved.

“I”m sorry,” she gasped out between retches. “I didn”t mean to...”

She looked up at me, and my breath caught at the sheer terror in her eyes.

“I”m sorry,” Paige whispered, trying to wipe away the tears and vomit from her face with shaking hands. “I”m so sorry, Bast.”

“Hey,” I said softly, pulling a handkerchief from my pocket reaching up to wipe her face. She flinched backwards as I brought my hand up, and I felt cold and sick again, but for a different reason this time. Oh fuck, Paige.

Pretending not to have noticed anything, I moved my hand slower, bringing the cloth up to wipe her mouth.

“It”s not your fault. You hear me? This is not your fault.”

“But...but your car...”

“Screw the car,” I dismissed. “You”re what”s important right now.”

She looked at me then, her blue eyes wide and vulnerable as they met mine. It was a look that tore at my heart and made me feel utterly protective over this woman who we’d dragged into our world without warning.

“Come on,” I said gently, helping her up. “Let”s get you cleaned up.”