I gently opened the message.
It was me.
A video from yesterday where i was half-naked, my skin flushed and my body exposed in a way that made my stomach twist violently. My voice filled the audio, soft and broken, each breath and sound unmistakably mine. Every moan echoed like evidence, like something stripped from me and turned into spectacle.
But Darius's face…
It was never shown.
Not once.
A sharp, strangled breath caught in my throat as my knees buckled beneath me. My arms trembled uncontrollably, and my phone slipped from my fingers, clattering loudly against the floor. The sound seemed too sharp, too final, as if it had shattered something inside me.
No… no, this can't be real…
I bent down quickly to retrieve it, my hands shaking as I tucked loose strands of hair behind my ears, trying to steady myself.
A heavy foot came down hard on my fingers.
Pain shot through my hand instantly, forcing a gasp from my lips. I froze.
I knew that scent.
Cold vanilla, laced with something sharp like steel in winter.
Olivia.
Before I could react, her hand twisted into my hair and yanked me upright. A cry tore from my throat as the roots burned, strands pulling loose under the force.
"You filthy whore," she spat, her voice loud, sharp, and deliberate enough to carry through the hallway. "How dare you seduce Darius? I know you're not his type. Just look at you."
Laughter erupted around us, immediate and merciless. It spread quickly, feeding on itself as more students turned, phones already raised, cameras recording.
Always recording.
"Olivia… p-please…" My voice broke as tears burned behind my eyes. "Please… let me go…"
"Oh, she's begging now," Olivia mocked, tightening her grip in my hair and dragging me forward. "Where did all that fake courage from yesterday go, huh? Little whore."
My feet stumbled helplessly as she pulled me through the crowded hallway like I weighed nothing. My shoes scraped against the floor, barely keeping up with her pace.
The noise around me blurred into a cruel chorus, laughter, whispers, the faint clicks of recording devices capturing every second of my humiliation.
She dragged me toward the back of the school, past the main building and toward the open area behind the gym. The ground there was uneven, soaked from last night's rain, a filthy stretch of mud that no one ever bothered to clean.
It was worse than I remembered.
Before I could brace myself, Olivia shoved me forward.
I hit the ground hard.
Cold mud swallowed my hands, my knees, my uniform. It soaked through instantly, clinging to me as I struggled to breathe. The taste of it filled my mouth, gritty, metallic, suffocating.
I barely had time to push myself up before.
Crack.
Her palm struck my cheek, snapping my head to the side. The force sent me collapsing back into the mud.
Gasps rippled through the crowd followed immediately by laughter.
Another slap.
And another.
Each one harder than the last, driving me back down, forcing my face into the filth until it coated my skin, my lips, my lashes. My hair clung to my face, heavy and soaked, my uniform ruined beyond saving.
I couldn't fight back.
I didn't.
Because something in me had already gone still.
This wasn't new.
Not the pain.
Not the humiliation.
Not the silence.
My father had sent me here for this, to break me, to "tame" me. To force me to exist among humans who could never understand what I was, what simmered beneath my skin.
While his favored children walked freely in the elite vampire academies, I was left here, buried among mortals, learning how to endure them.
Another shove sent me backward, my spine slamming into the brick wall behind me. Pain exploded through my back, stealing the air from my lungs.
For a moment, everything blurred.
Then slowly, I lifted my head.
And I saw him.
Darius, My Darius.
Hope hit me instantly, I pushed myself up, ignoring the way my body protested, and stumbled toward him, mud dripping from my clothes with every step.
"Darius—!"
The crowd reacted immediately.
"Ooooh!" someone shouted. "She's still running to him!"
"So shameless," Sasha hissed with disgust. "stupid fool…"
Only one person didn't laugh.
Maria.
She stood at the edge of the crowd, tears streaming silently down her face, her hands clenched tightly at her sides as she watched.
"Darius…" I said again, my voice breaking as I reached him. My eyes searched his desperately, clinging to the smallest possibility. "Please… just tell them… tell them someone recorded it… tell them—"
Tell them this wasn't what it looks like.
Tell them me you didn't do this to me.
Tell me I wasn't just nothing.
But no, he didn't look at me the way he had yesterday.
There was no softness.
No warmth.
No recognition.
He walked past me as if I wasn't even there.
Straight to Olivia.
And before my mind could catch up, before I could even breathe.
He pulled her close and kissed her.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Possessively.
The world tilted beneath my feet.
When he pulled away, his gaze flicked toward me, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
"You said she was a virgin, right?" he said, his voice carrying easily across the crowd.
He paused for a second. Then.
"Well… she's not anymore."
The laughter that followed was deafening.
It tore through me, louder than the slaps, sharper than the fall, heavier than anything I had felt before.
Something inside my chest didn't crack, it collapsed entirely, leaving nothing behind but emptiness and noise.
I swallowed hard, but it didn't stop the tears. They slipped down my face, carving clean lines through the mud.
I turned.
And I ran.
I didn't stop until I reached the bathroom.
The door slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing violently against the tiled walls. It felt too loud, too final, like something sealing me in.
I barely made it a few steps before my legs gave out.
I collapsed onto the cold floor, my back hitting the tiles as my body shook uncontrollably. My hands flew to my mouth, trying to contain the sound building in my chest, but it broke through anyway, a fractured, helpless sob.
"It was a setup…" I whispered hoarsely, my voice trembling. "It was all a setup…"
Olivia.
Darius.
The video.
Every second of it planned.
My chest tightened painfully as the realization settled fully into place, heavy and suffocating.
I dragged my hands through my hair, smearing mud and dampness across my skin, then slammed my head back against the tile.
"You're so stupid," I muttered, my voice cracking under the weight of it. "You're really, really stupid…"
Again.
The dull impact echoed softly.
As if I deserved it.
As if I needed to feel something worse than what was already inside me.
A sharp knock broke through the silence.
"Ivy! Open the door!" Maria shouted.
"Ivy, what are you doing? Please—open up!"
"Go away!" I shouted, my voice raw and uneven. "Just… leave me alone!"
"I'm not leaving you, just open the damn door"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Silence followed. I could hear smell her sitting across the door.
My breathing slowed slightly, but the shaking didn't stop. Slowly, I lifted my head and looked toward the mirror across the room.
My reflection stared back at me.
Filthy.
Bruised.
Eyes swollen and bloodshot.
Broken.
For a long moment, I just stared.
Then something shifted inside me.
Deep in my chest, beneath the pain, beneath the humiliation something darker stirred. Something colder. Steadier.
My fingers curled slowly against the tile.
"They think I'm nothing…" I whispered.
A pause.
My gaze hardened, just slightly.
"They think I'll just take it…"
I sucked the blood on my lips.
"I won't."