Chapter 5 - D.O.R.I.A.N

Dear Diary…

Troy looks up from her diary, sitting in a classroom full of bored students, all listening to the same dull, mechanical voice.

Dorian. Dorian. She scribbles over the page.

He makes her think of smoke. He is difficult to get a grasp on. Difficult to place. And as such, difficult to know how to lure into her trap.

How would she get into his mind deep enough to screw him over if she can't grasp how it works?

 

She starts scratching his name again. Over and over, filling the margin until the ink runs thick.

D.O.R.I.A.N

He knew she was lying about her name. Even said she smelled different. What was up with that?

So many intricate puzzles to solve. So little time.

The professor's voice sounds like a poet bored with his own poem, a dull hum echoing off the classroom walls.

Troy taps anxiously on her notepad with her head in her hands. Then, doodling a picture of a full moon with heavy clouds… then more tapping.

“Am I boring you, miss?” The professor looks up from underneath his glasses.

Troy sits up straight immediately, looking at the people around her. Some giggle, some look equally bored.

“No, sir,” Troy says and clears her throat. Trish is in the same class. Luckily. And even she looks at Troy with a question.

Troy shrugs her shoulders, offering a small, innocent face.

“That's good. Now pay attention, please.” The professor looks down and searches for where he last read, muttering to himself.

As more silence fills the room, the seconds tick on slowly.

The first day in this supposedly posh University drags by so slowly she might have to drive a pen through her own neck this time, never mind Dorian’s.

Maybe doing everything in her power to get in here, to get close to Dorian, would prove to be a mistake. A fatal mistake. Killing her with boredom.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

But then a commotion breaks out outside of the classroom. First softly, then people start screaming. The sheer volume rattles the closed door.

The professor puts his papers down and lets out a painful grunt that screams I'm done with this shit.

Then he storms out the door, and after him, all the students eagerly follow, shuffling over the desks. And so does she.

Finally, something is happening.

As they step out of the room, Troy immediately sees what's going on, pushing past a few shoulders to get to the front of the hallway crowd.

And the horror greets her in waves. Two guys are fighting right there in the hallway.

This time, not just any two men.

It’s Dorian and another guy she hasn't seen before—strikingly handsome with dark hair and green eyes, just like hers.

And they are literally trying to rip each other apart.

The crowd goes wild. Some people war-cry. “Dorian…Dorian…Dorian”

While the others cry for the green-eyed godlike man. “Calian…Calian…Calian”

Another puzzle piece to fit somewhere. An obvious enemy. Just as ripped and muscled as Dorian himself. Crazy shit.

Blood splatters in the air as Dorian punches Calian while sitting on his chest, holding him by his neck.

The crowd around them is yelling, backing away into the lockers as the two roll across the floor.

Before he can bring down the next punch, Calian lifts his body with a smooth motion, flipping Dorian backwards into the air.

The movement is explosive.

But Dorian lands on his feet with one hand on the ground, sliding backward for a few inches. His braids whip up as he swings his head in the direction of Calian.

 

"Where is she?!" Calian yells, already pouncing in for the next move, teeth bared.

But Dorian weaves away, leaving Calian grasping for air.

Calian slips past him but slides a hand under his front foot, sending Dorian caving forward, landing face-first with a thud on the floor.

He practically growls, his upper lip twitching as his eyes search for Calian. His eyes seem murderous, almost non-human, as if that part has been turned off entirely.

What the hell are they doing?

But Troy stands back against the wall, folding her arms over her chest.

Without trying to think about it too much, she admires two well-built guys throwing down with each other.

Calian grabs Dorian's shirt and tears it off like toilet paper, the fabric ripping right down the middle.

Dorian responds with a brutal elbow to the face, sending Calian straight back into a row of lockers with a deep elbow cut over his eyebrow. Blood streams over Calian's face.

 

Dorian tears the rest of his shirt off his ripped, sweat-glistened upper body and whips it onto the floor in anger, flexing his jaw.

Oh my… That is spectacular. She wasn't deceived last night.

Too bad she has to destroy him.

The crowd goes wild.

But Calian’s eyes find hers straight out of the crowd as if he recognized her. But before he can finish the frown growing on his face, Dorian grabs him around the neck.

In the same second, a straight, high-pressure stream of water from the hallway fire hose sends two godlike creatures crashing from their feet and onto their asses, sliding a meter down the hall in a wet mess.

“I’m sick of your shit!” The professor now screams the exact words she thought he would, holding the heavy nozzle tightly. “Next time this happens, neither of you will finish your degree here. Do you understand? And why don't you send your daddies here? I want to talk to them.”

The professor turns to walk, but stops again and points a wet finger. “You’re both banned from tonight's bonfire. If I see either of you there, you're expelled!” Then he turns and walks away, dropping the hose with a loud clatter.

People giggle and talk under their breath, dispersing back into the hallway.

Both men are wet as a drenched stray cat and look over at each other. Whatever drove the aggression spell seems to have moved on, leaving them blinking in confusion. They are bloody, wet, and both almost ripped apart. Dorian’s silver hair now almost looks pink from the blood mixing with the water.

Troy presses her lips together, trying not to laugh. Pink hair. Oh my god.

Trish nudges her hard in the ribs, leaning in close. "Holy crap, Poppy, did you see that? They are completely unhinged."

"Yeah," Troy murmurs, keeping her eyes on Dorian as he wipes the bloody water from his forehead.

"Well, at least the bonfire tonight will be peaceful without those two psychos running around," Trish chuckles, pulling at Troy's arm.

“Right. But who really needs peace in this day and age?”

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