Lovers: Boarding School Vol. 2//The First Reset

_pool

Violet hurled sludge-covered insults at the man in her mind as their paths began to intersect in the landing. Idiot, Scumbag, Shits-for-brains-Idiot-Scumbag--

When they were at their closest, Violet turned away from him, not wanting to be reminded of the odious words of hate that had severed their tenuous relationship. Asshole, Shithead, Creep--

Violet's mental disparaging paused when the man took one step to his right and blocked her way. Annoyed by him and the sight of his pinstripe dress pants and Italian dress shoes, Violet took one step to her left to evade him. But the man stood in her way again, preventing her from escaping him.

A flush of intense anger singed across her face. What the hell does he want?

Gritting her teeth, Violet finally looked up at the man and growled, "What do you--"

But her fierce words and their eye contact were cut short when Violet glanced the strangely calm smile on Gabriel's face. The blazing inferno of her victorious high and fiery rage wilted into a flickering candle flame when a familiar, icy fear breathed down the nape of her neck. Oh god no.

Cautious, Violet kept her eyes on their feet, hiding her alarmed expression by using the thick fringe covering her forehead.

"Ex-Excuse me, Mr. Reinhart," Violet said, hoping the fear lingering in her voice came off as timidness. "I've got to head to--"

The sharp corner of Gabriel's book tilted her chin upwards, catching her off guard. Instantaneously, Violet was petrified, her eyes glued to gently smiling demigod that was galvanizing her reaction with amusement twinkling in his intense emeralds.

"Acting is not your forte, Ms. Leigh," he said, digging the corner of his copy of Oedipus Rex into the triangle of flesh below her chin.

Violet couldn't speak, or breathe, or think; she was a cornered mouse that was staring up at the serpentine eyes of a cat.

Leaning in close to her ear, Gabriel dragged the corner of his book down her body as he spoke.

"Little Bird, Little Bird," he whispered as the book's corner traveled down her throat to the crevice between her breasts. "I could taste the fear off your skin." The corner of the book sliced down her stomach before it hit the thick band of her skirt, stopping there.

Then, as if satisfied by the reaction he got from her, he straightened his posture, smiled at her one more time, and walked right past her like he hadn't noticed her at all. She heard him climb up the stairs afterwards, but she didn't dare look back until his presence felt far, far away.

What was that? she thought, her breathing jump starting again as spritzes of fear-induced adrenaline kicked in. How was she meeting him this way? Didn't Gabriel-Gale say that he had more control over him during the school scenes?

Trembling in her patent black Valentino heels, Violet looked up the stairs and was startled a second time when she saw Gabriel standing at the top of them and smiling down at her with that unassailably serene smile of his.

How did he--

"You don't want to be late for your Geography class, Ms. Leigh," he said in a teasingly friendly before he turned around and went his way.

Violet could feel her knees buckling underneath her. With most creatures, living and virtual, the girl could sense instinctively if something meant her harm or not. But with 'Gabriel' the serial killer, any hint of that intuitive sense of danger was absent, only emerging when she recognized which Gabriel, or what 'Gabriel', was interacting with her. It was terrifying already knowing that 'Gabriel' could brutally kill her at any moment; but what was more terrifying was knowing he could slip under her radar and her defenses so easily.