C:SOD Chapter 13 (Patreon)

later on,

ON THE WAY HOME,

Hermes got so tired he doesn't even have the strength or get bothered to remove Ray off his lap. The two are seated in the back with Ray snoring and hugging the lap of a tired Hermes who is also sleeping on the young man's shoulders. Stuff is piled up in the passenger's seat and the mall will actually deliver the rest of their stuff tomorrow.

Rain fixes the rearview mirror to show the image of Hermes and his brother sleeping. Such a peaceful sight; the teacher finally gave up on pushing Ray away as long as he doesn't grope him. He started being considerate and a little less hostile to Ray, and in return Ray respected his boundaries for the first time. Barely, but it's there.

Rain scoffs, Now Hermes has Ray's drool on his pants. How cute.

When the phone suddenly rings, Rain takes off his mask to get some open air, making sure none will see with tainted windows and unconscious passengers. "Hello?"

"..."

"Yes, we have him."

"..."

"We..." Rain glances at Ray, "... didn't touch him. Strictly business. What, do you want us to bring him to you?"

"..."

"Alright," Rain's tone turns sad. "I'll tell Frost."

They arrived in Carvalle, specifically the Teachers' Dorm. Rain was silent for a moment, uncertain how to wake the teacher. His eyes cast down, feeling a little guilty and bad for this innocent teacher who entered Carvalle and got stained. And now... he's marked by something darker than the devil.

"Guys... guys, wake up... we're here..." Rain was attempting to wake both Hermes and his twin, but Ray stubbornly holds onto Hermes' thighs. Not only that, but someone tapped Rain's shoulder from behind. "Huh? Oh... you're here..."

"Nice to see all of you safe, Rain..." says a charismatic man whose voice strikes fear in the 17-year-old's heart. The older man looks at the sleeping Hermes admiringly, finally this close to him after all this time. "Oh, look at him... so tired. You boys overworked him."

"I'm sorry. I'll wake my brother up and take him home," Rain replied formally, avoiding his eyes.

"Leave Ray to sleep, you know he gets cranky when woken up from a nap." The man warmly smiles, looking at what seemed to be an angel on the backseat. "I'll take Hermes home."

Rain’s stomach just dipped. He never expected this man to willingly interact with Hermes when it’s not guaranteed he won’t wake up. "What if he wakes up? What about his keys?"

At that, the other male pulls out a set of keys from the sleeping Hermes' pockets. "Not to worry. He'll be fine with me."

Rain isn't too sure about that, but he can't do anything about it. He's hesitant to give Hermes to him, but he can do nothing but watch as the man lifts Hermes bridal style to take him upstairs.

"You sure you don't need help?" In reality, Rain fears for Hermes.

"Nope, he'll be fine."

AT HERMES' DORM,

The hallways lights are dim and the light on the camera has stopped flickering. The floor creaks under a man’s shoes as he supports the weight of another. He disliked the familiar hallway and familiar building, but the fact he is carrying such an angel lifts his mood like smoke from an incinerator. The man laughs in accomplishment when he finally unlocked the door, taking Hermes inside his dorm without needing to keep the lights on.

"You're putting on weight, must've been the muscles," he jokingly comments, putting the heavy sleeper to bed. Hermes lightly bounced against it, sinking himself into the familiar space that made him feel safe at last. Hermes’ room is minimalistic with little personalization since he moved in. “Hmm. You must’ve thought you weren’t staying. How correct of you.”

On the other end, Hermes is dreaming of himself as a kid being taken to his room by his sister; despite being tired from her jobs and school, she still tucked Hermes into bed. And because of that, Hermes didn't bother waking up. Thanks, Thena... you're the best...

It translated to the real world the slightest bit, soft mumbles coming from those slightly chapped lips. "What was that, baby? Sleeptalking, huh... you're so cute..."

The other male could still perfectly see Hermes in the dark thanks to the full moon outside. He savors this rare moment of being in the same room as him. He goes to turn on the AC, all in the dark. "Hermes, you're sweating..."

He removes the teacher's hair off his face, then wipes the sweat with his bare hands. He then wipes his neck, collar, then his eyes travel to his chest, breathing peacefully and raising in rhythms. The intruder can’t help but smile at his handsomeness. "I wonder what you'll say when you wake up and see me..."

Tilting his head, the man experiments by unbuttoning Hermes' shirt to make him comfortable. He is sweating after all; it'd be nice to let air penetrate his body.

He chuckles quietly at the thought; finding some dirt at the innocent sentence. But it is Carvalle; from the inside, it's dirty. And his finger... gliding down Hermes' collarbone, then his cleavage where one can feel the delicate breaths of a fatigued teacher. Very dirty. The male in the dark hovered over him, and plants a soft kiss in the corner of Hermes' mouth. Shít... I want more...

"Mmm... Daniel...? Baby?" Hermes mutters in the tiniest of volume. The man freezes for a moment, not intending for him to wake up. He'll get busted and caught; maybe he'll have to knock Hermes unconscious with a lamp or choke him until he passes out.

But no; Hermes giggles and reaches for the man in the dark, pulling him in for a barely awake kiss. "I knew you'd sneak into my room again... but I'm too tired for séx, I didn't prepare..."

"Shh," the man whispers in a volume that doesn't reveal his real voice. "We... don't need to fúck... I can just..."

He leans in to press his face against Hermes' chest, as his hands sneak to unbuckle the belt.

"Mmm, your hands... rough..." Hermes gasps when he feels the texture on the hands that are touching his díck; the person now stripping him. But, he trusts that this is his boyfriend and he is too tired to even think about it; he now remains in the limbo between reality and a fever dream.

I'm touching him... finally… the male thinks while kissing Hermes' half-hard dìck, Shít, he's... he's mine. Tonight. I'm still in the shadows but he's mine for tonight.

Even in Hermes' sleep, moans and whimpers escape his lips when a warm mouth services him down there; giving him a dream of pleasure and satisfaction.

"You like that, Hermes?" The man chuckles, but Hermes didn't respond as expected. While his hands jerk off the half-conscious teacher, he can't help but lean up to where his head is. There, Hermes is kissed fully on the lips.

Hermes smiles, feeling comfortable at what he believed was a familiar pair of lips. He thrusts into the rough hands of his passionate partner, wrapping his legs around his waist. "Mmm... w-wow... you're being... gentle..."

"Shhh," the man whispers, as his hand is indeed slowly teasing that Hermes had to push his hips up for more of a rough sensation. "Relax... go to sleep..."

"But..." Hermes chuckles while yawning, "You're touching me..."

"And you should allow me," he replies, lowering his head down to where his slow yet selfish mouth eats up Hermes' díck like it belongs to him; when it doesn't.

"Mmm..." Hermes moans with a sigh, weaving his fingers through that soft and silky hair.

But, he pauses. His fingers massage the scalp of the person, then the texture of the hair. Daniel's white hairs are always thinner than the black ones, but this hair is consistently thin all the way. It doesn’t feel right… it doesn’t feel familiar. "Uhm... Daniel...?"

He didn't answer. For that, Hermes sits up awake to grab his lampshade, smashing it on the unknown person's head before hopping out of bed. "Who are you?! Don't fúcking touch me!"

That was an impulsive mistake; now he doesn't have a nearby light for him to turn on. Taking advantage of the man trying to recover from the injury, he sprints to the light switch.

"Hermes!" The stranger growls, grabbing him by the waist before he can reach the light.

"Let me go—HE-" His mouth was covered by a thick cloth and tightens around it.

"Scream and I'll suffocate you!" The man angrily spits out, pissed off that his chance is ruined. He indeed presses tightly the more Hermes struggled, so the teacher forces himself to calm down even when he's trembling in the stranger's hold. Once Hermes stopped flailing, he gently whispers, "Shhh, shh... I won't hurt you. I will never hurt you... obey me, and I'll never hurt you..."

Hermes can't recognize his voice. This is a complete stranger in the dark. And worse of all, his hands are crawling down to touch him there.

"No—!" The cloth leaves his mouth to grab onto his neck, and Hermes can feel the man's clothed díck feeling him from behind.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything beyond making you cúm... my patience is long. But patience is hard when it comes to you..." He throws Hermes back to the bed and away from the light switch. He acts fast and tries grabbing the nearest solid object, but the stranger got a hold of his wrists just as his fingers brush the cover of a solid book.

"Trust me... if only you'll be a good boy, no sins... you will be spared..." He gently kisses the lips of a trembling Hermes, who did nothing but reject him. "Do you know what lead to the death of those girls, Hermes?"

It was then that he freezes, both in body and breath. Hermes whispers with the tiniest voice, "You killed them...?" Who is this guy... am I gonna die right now?!

Fight back, Hermes!

No. Not yet. He knows something.

This is the killer, and he sexually assaulted you!

He'll KILL you!

I'll make sure he won't.

Hermes calmed himself down, taking deep breaths.

The man's grip is cutting off his blood flow, and Hermes has to think smart instead of fast.

"Anything you want, Hermes, I'll give it to you..." The stranger says as he leans in to kiss a tense Hermes' neck. "Do you want to know why those girls died?"

So he killed them.

"Evelyn died in the laboratory because she used one of the chemicals to spike Mavis' drink. Sadism." In shock, Hermes didn't react when he's currently being molested by this man in the dark. "The second girl was cutting herself, so she can have something to upload for sympathy. Vanity."

Hermes is starting to sob because of the hands touching him against his will.

"The third one... Francine Lee... she tried to force herself on Au." Hermes opens his eyes at that revelation, heart beating rapidly. "Poor guy... poor coward... didn't want to hurt her so he didn't push her away. I'm sure she died without regrets, getting to suck her idol’s díck before getting killed for her sins. Lust."

He adds, "As you can see Hermes, they deserve it... as do all the others who will soon join them. They taint the school's purity. Their blood keeping them alive should be used for something more worthy."

Killing them is still wrong. Hermes stops himself from sobbing, catching the stranger off guard when he himself leans in to offer a passionate yet forced kiss. Then he pulls away to firmly ask, "...did you kill Thena? Sh-she did nothing. What... d-did she do... to deserve that?"

"Mmm," the man moans because Hermes is currently being submissive, allowing him to touch him wherever. Or else, he'll get hurt, so he doesn't have much of a choice, unlike the other situations where he actually chose to submit. The stranger then reveals, "You think she's innocent? You have a lot to learn my love. She made her own choice. She... killed... herself."

He leans in to seduce him for a kiss, but Hermes whispers against his lips, "No... she... DIDN'T!" Hermes pulls his leg back and kicked the man right at his balls, before headbutting him to throw him off.

"Shít! Hermes...!" He tries grabbing onto the escaping teacher, but he doesn't reach him while bent over in pain. Hermes prioritized getting away from him so he rushed out of the room and into the kitchen where he managed to turn on the light and grab a knife.

In shock, Hermes catches his breath for a moment before slowly walking towards his bedroom, hand outstretched with the knife. Whatever those girls did... whatever my sister did... they don't deserve to die!

He finally gains the strength and courage to open the door. The lack of oxygen from his short breaths catches up to his head and he sighs in defeat and relief upon seeing nobody inside. The man slipped out of the main door while Hermes was in the kitchen.

Shít, he got away! Hermes stumbles out of the door, pants and shirt undone. Nobody was in the hallways. Empty, silent, eerie... he slides down the doorframe in exhaustion, wrist against his nose to prevent himself from crying.

Why is this happening... why did I come to Carvalle... he sobs out, hating every inch of his being because the trauma always hinders his ability to fight back. He feels so dirty and used, and he doesn't even care that he's crying on his doorway. He even fails to keep it in, he fails to be as tough as he can. At the end of the day, he's just a scared young man with no family left to love him for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile,

THE TWINS' DORM ROOM

"Ray, aren't you worried about Hermes?" Rain asks the other male hanging on his back, also refusing to stay awake.

"Yes... more... Hershey's... white chocolate... mmm..." The guy sleeptalks, so the fed-up Rain just dropped him on the floor the second he closed the dorm's door. The Masked Twins’ dorm room is anything but organized, courtesy of Ray who doesn’t return anything to its rightful place. All accessories like curtains and carpets are red, and the walls are a glossy black. Rain is a fan of black candles so the place looks like a goth’s paradise aside from Ray’s colorful BB gun collection.

"Father Daniel quit by simply not following him anymore. Maybe we could do that too. I'm sick of him always bossing us around. Wake up!" Rain kicks Ray right in the nuts and the boy groans with his head back in his skull. "You haven't brushed your teeth yet. Get up."

"Ngghhhh! Raaiiiiiin..." He whines as he stumbles into the bathroom. "You know he will kill us! Have you not learned anything from when I attacked Mavis and he fúcking kicked my àss. That guy's crazy."

"Well, I don't want to work for him anymore." Rain grumpily sits on the sofa and crosses his arms, glaring at the TV. "Hermes could be in trouble. You know what kind of guy he is. "

"Speaking of Hermes, dude..." an unmasked Ray emerges from the bathroom with toothpaste on the corner of his lips. "... he's so cute. Have you seen his smile?! He smells nice and handsome."

"Ray shut up, you're gonna get both of us in trouble," Rain bitterly says. "Think of ways we can escape just like Father Daniel."

"We can't, man..." Ray goes back to the bathroom to put his mask back on, before removing the cloth that covers the mirror. As do all mirrors in this place; covered if the twins aren't wearing the masks. "You know what he has against us. I'd rather die than go against him."

Rain squinting his eyes at his own twin, but he can't blame him. He is a witness to the undeniable fear in Ray's heart whenever they do something he doesn't like. It's just not worth it.

"Ray," he approaches his twin and grabs his face, forcing Ray to face him. Rain removes his mask, making the other male flinch and whine because the mirrors are uncovered. But, Rain kept his head in place to make sure he won't see his reflection. "Ray, listen... we don't have to do this. Listen to me, we don't have to do this, okay? This isn't the only way."

"But Rain..." Ray sniffs, throat whimpering. "He's scary... he burned my stuffed rabbit."

Rain removes his own mask, and Ray had to look at the face he wishes he has. They may be identical, but not quite. "I'll make sure he won't hurt you, or anything you own. Just trust me, alright?"

that night,

Father Daniel opens his door upon hearing a loud, rushing knock that stopped him from his home workout. "Hermes?"

The teacher barged inside in a panic, hiding himself and trembling as if he's been soaking in the rain. But no, he's dry and a little disheveled. He fights nausea and the dread in his stomach, and he feels claustrophobic beyond compare.

"What happened?" His lover asks, forcing him to sit on the sofa and kneeling before him. Hermes is shaking terribly, and it is concerning. "Baby talk to me, why are you like that?"

"I..." Hermes tries to speak, but he notices Daniel being covered in sweat and is trying to catch his breath. "... I was... uhm... what were you doing? Where have you been...?"

Father Daniel is confused. "Oh, I was just working out. Sorry if I'm sweaty and I stink." He goes to wipe himself with a towel, hesitant to leave Hermes alone on the sofa.

"I was attacked..." Hermes confesses, still scared no matter how he tells himself to stop being a coward. Hearing this, Daniel kneels back down concerned, inspecting him for any injury. "N-no, no I'm not hurt. I was sexually assaulted by a guy I thought was you..."

"How?! What the fúck, Hermes?!"

Daniel’s shock and sudden anger startled the already shaken Hermes. "I don't know! Last time I remember the twins were driving me home--no, it couldn't have been them, it wasn't their voice... it was a voice I never knew of! I thought it was you and it was dark so... so I let him do some stuff... but, then I realized it wasn't you! Why do you look angry?!"

Father Daniel is indeed holding himself back. "It's him, isn't it."

"What? Him who?"

"Nothing," Father Daniel turns away and walks to his kitchen where he pulls out raw Jack Daniel's to pour into his throat without ice or a glass. It's not the twins. They're forbidden from entering his room. "Hermes, you should move in here with me. It's not safe in your dorm anymore."

"Why? Do you know that guy who attacked me?" Hermes forces himself to stand up and follow Father Daniel to the kitchen. "Daniel. This time, you tell me what's going on. Please, Daniel!"

"I'll get your stuff from your dorm. But you sleep here from now on," he says seriously, ignoring Hermes' question. He is extremely angry; not at Hermes, no... but that bàstard who is currently punishing Daniel for his disloyalty.

"No, I won't be living here until you tell me what's going on—"

"If I tell you, then you're gonna go after him and endanger yourself more!"

"Who is him?!" The couple is now arguing, Hermes holding back tears and Father Daniel holding back a punch with alcohol. "I know he's the one behind the killings... he said the girls deserved it... he said... h-he said..."

"Forget about him," Father Daniel faces Hermes, holding him by the shoulder and requiring the strength of strengths not to squeeze him possessively. "Promise me you won't go after him, Hermes."

The man scowls at the Priest. "Why. He may be the one behind my sister's murder!"

"He doesn't murder anyone, but he does decide who lives and dies in this place!" Father Daniel is getting frustrated at Hermes' stubbornness so he pins him at the counter and grabs him close by the hollows of his cheeks. "Carvalle... is undergoing a culling. He decided upon it the moment Thena died. He wants to rid this place of sinners. Nothing will stop him, not even the school..."

"Do you even know who he is Daniel?! Tell me, please!" Hermes begs, holding onto his hand to beg for the answer. The grip is tightening to keep him in place.

"I can't... because you'll go after him, and that'll be a death sentence for you."

"Daniel..." Hermes starts to cry, because he can't take it anymore. He's tried so hard, being forced against his will... but being assaulted in the dark is the last straw, he doesn't want to be touched anymore. "Daniel, please... I need to know."

"No, you don't. Stay away from him. He won't approach you in broad daylight or anywhere you can see him. You're moving in whether you like it or not."

"Well, I don't like it!"

"Hermes—"

"I'm not a fúcking child, and I'm not a toy for you men to play with! Give me his fúcking name!" Hermes yells out, hopping off of the counter but Daniel is keeping him pinned there against his will.

"Baby—"

"I want to kill him! If no one's gonna arrest him, I'm gonna kill him myself! He killed my sister and he touched me, Daniel! Let me go!"

"No baby, you don't understand—!"

"I don't care if I die after, I just want to finish the job!" Hermes starts kicking Daniel so he can get away. "I want to finish it because I don't want to be in Carvalle anymore! Fúck this school and fúck its students! I don't fúcking care if I die—"

!!!

Hermes falls to the floor, mouth open and cheeks stinging from the rough slap from the back of Daniel's hand, enough to throw a man to the dirt.

It was silent for the two of them for a moment. Not even Hermes can be heard breathing, because he's not. Father Daniel is so strong, Hermes can taste blood from the cut his teeth made on the cheeks.