“Dude, can you turn that thing off now? It’s too early for this, and that’s coming from me,” Jonny whines from the comfort of his bed, and he covers his ears with his pillow. It’s tempting to throw it at his noisy roommate, who’s hardly slept a wink since Friday’s incident.

Instead, Thanatos has been sitting at his desk, playing the phone recording on loop. Unlike the neat red “X” marks crossing every other date on his calendar, the past three have been furiously crossed out. Jonny surmises today’s date, when Thanatos inevitably crosses it out, will be just as frantic if the smell of excessive dry shampoo and too many cups of coffee are anything to go by. He winces when the detective’s head hits the desk far too hard.

“I’ll get it eventually,” Thanatos mutters. “Any moment now, it’ll click, and I can fix everything.” He forces himself back up, takes in a deep breath, and plays the recording again.

Dawn is only now breaking.

Jonny resigns himself and rises for the morning. It’s too early to get breakfast from the dining hall, so he opts to whip up some scrambled eggs while the coffee maker is brewing yet another pot. He sets a full bowl of it in front of Thanatos, and it’s lovingly mixed with leftover fried potatoes from the night before plus cheese and some hot sauce, and Jonny watches it hurriedly devoured. He smiles.

He brushes his teeth, straightens his hair, and swaps out his contacts. Sleeping in them never feels good, but it’s too hard to avoid Thanatos’ expert gaze long enough to leave them out. A couple of eyedrops keeps the discomfort at bay, though.

The entire time, Thanatos continues to play the recording, and every time he listens, Jonny swears the male voice gets more and more familiar. He’s heard it somewhere! He’s certain! He drags his hands down his face. Mondays have never been good for thinking.

“You should take a nap before class, dude,” he advises as he leaves the bathroom, but when he looks up, Thanatos is still holding the fork for his eggs as his arm remains awkwardly propped up on his desk. His head is down, cradled by his other arm, and his breathing signals the blissful peace of sleep. “One step ahead. Nothing new, I guess!” Jonny takes the fork from him and covers him with a blanket.

Jonny does wake him in time for class, though, and he helps a yawning, zoned-out Thanatos get dressed and out the door. He’s paying attention enough to walk to his first class, but his mind is otherwise going over every fact, every detail he can recall.

This remains so even as he sits through class after class. It helps he knows most if not all of this high school drabble, but what isn’t helping is all the incessant noise. The teachers are too loud, and the girls in the back keep whispering. He swears he feels a boy from the brooming team magic a crumpled up letter to the boy sitting in front of Thanatos, whomst reads and promptly blushes at the thing— from what he can see, it’s an ask to the school dance. Keeping up these appearances. . . there’s hardly any point anymore, isn’t there?

The bell rings, and whatever train of thought he’d finally gotten a ticket to left the station without him. Before he can rise, he’s tapped gently on the shoulder, and his head whips around with no restraint of irritability. The boy responsible swallows almost visible nerves; he clutches a paper in his shaky hands.

Thanatos eyes him up and down. He’s a nervous thing, shaking in his shoes, and his appearance does him no favours. His dirty blond hair is in a short, messy, bowlcut with several unrestrained strands. To pair are down-turned, dark grey eyes. The boy’s skin is almost like Thanatos’ save for its slightly paler and somehow ashier appearance. Upon his face and fingers are brightly coloured neon bandages. He blushes when he watches Thanatos’ gaze travel.

“F- For—” He speaks in trembling whispers, and Thanatos feels his jaw clench in restraint. “Um, this is— I’m—”

That restrain doesn’t last long. “Spit it out already!” he commands too harshly, and he winces at his own mistake. The boy jumps in his place, slams the note on Thanatos’ desk, and bolts out of the classroom. It earns Thanatos a few quizzical looks, but he pays them hardly any mind.

Has he been asked out as well? Not that the idea isn’t flattering, but. . .

He shakes his head.

The note isn’t as romantic or floral as that. Instead, it’s just a club room number, a phone number, and a website. Judging by the url, it’s the site for the school news; he’s well acquainted with it by now having used it for research prior to the case, and with at least one death public, being questioned about it makes sense. Getting help doing the mediocre footwork wouldn’t be so bad, either. With that idea in mind, he exits in pursuit of the news club.

The club room is rather large, especially compared to their dreadful supplies’ closet of a space. There’s plenty of desks with working students, some recognizable from his classes and others not. They type at their computers while some operate digital print presses, feeding blank tablets into the machine to download the latest article for limited physical release. He peers over the shoulder of one student to find them editing footage of something.

However, the most interesting part is the one person constantly moving around: a short young man with down-turned grey eyes and dirty blond hair, but unlike the one from before, this one’s hair is longer and kept in an incredibly tiny ponytail. He also sports no bandages, but his skin’s colour is much the same as that of the boy from before. All in all, he’s a handsome one. He notices Thanatos’ quickly, and with great ease and grace, approaches.

“Ah, the one and only detective Thanatos Briar! I assume you got my brother’s note, then?” Thanatos holds it up, and his smile grows wider. “Excellent!”

“Brothers, then? He never did give me his name, too busy stammering.”

He laughs, “Ronan’s just shy, is all; he’s bad with words.” He leans forward into Thanatos’ space, and it takes a beat for Thanatos to actually lean away. “Thanatos— can I call you Thanatos? —you look exhausted; coffee?”

Thanatos rubs at his eyes and sighs. “Actually, coffee would be lovely.” As would some peace and quiet, he leaves unsaid.

“Perfect. I’m Regan Bell, current President of the School News Office.” He gestures forward with an arm. “This way, please!”

They enter a side room reformed into a plain but neat office space, and Regan offers him a seat in front of the desk. He practically slumps into it and Ronan, bashfully, serves him a heaping cup of coffee. It takes no spare moment to down the whole thing.

Regan takes his own rightful place across from him, and he props his legs on the desk with a practiced ankle cross. He, too, accepts a coffee cup from his brother, but he instead takes his time with it.

“So, Thanatos, as the current residential school detective, it makes sense you were at the forefront of Friday’s incident!” Regan twirls his finger, and two shots of creamer open themselves and pour into his mug. “To think we had such a scandal going on at our school, well, to be frank, I had a feeling.”

Thanatos’ brow raises. “Is that so?”

“Of course! Especially that teacher, he’s always been on our radar, but the headmaster doesn’t like it when we look too hard into things outside of standard teen drama and the weekly cafeteria menu.”

“In that case, I assume you want an exclusive.” Regan’s eyes light up, and he nods. “I’ll give it to you.” The smile gets wider, brighter. “But I want something in return.”

Regan’s legs move faster from the desk to the floor than Thanatos’ could currently keep up with, and coffee would end up splashing everywhere if it wasn’t taken from his hands by Ronan with what appears to be a habitual motion. “Brilliant! A quid pro quo!” He leans on the desk, bent over like a right angle and propped up by his elbows. “What shall it be then?”

“Do I have your guarantee this is off the record?”

“Absolutely!”

Thanatos briefly glances at his empty mug. “I would like the news’ office’s assistance in solving a pesky case. I don’t have time anymore for less immediate info gathering, but if you’re as good as you act to be, then perhaps such an arrangement can be fruitful.” He sets it on the desk. “In exchange, you will be the first outlet I speak to when the case is solved and public.”

The brothers share a gaze, and while Ronan aggressively shakes his head, Regan rolls his eyes and sticks out his hand. “Deal!”

They spend a few minutes writing out details before the bell rings again, and Thanatos is promptly ushered out. Regan leaves him outside the door with a few pats on the back before shutting it. He stares at the business card in his hands, frowning.

“What a noisy fellow.” And yet. . . His spine straightens, and he runs down the hallway.

Jonny chokes on his pizza upon being grabbed at the collar and pulled upwards from his cafeteria seat. Edward and Mason frown, but they say nothing, even as their confusion turns to amusement. “H-Hey!” Jonny finally gets out. “What’s the big idea?!”

“I’m borrowing him,” Thanatos tells the other two, and they snicker in full as their friend is dragged away.

Once they’re outside, he lets go, and Jonny gives a few good coughs. “Dude! I wasn’t done yet!”

“Shut up. I have an idea regarding a lead.”

“Oh.”

“So take me to the meeting room.”

Jonny snorts and shrugs. “Whatever you say, boss.”

When they get there, Rebecca is already inside waiting for them, and she stands upon their arrival. They waste no time getting to their rightful spots, but none of them have the will to sit. Thanatos holds himself upright at the desk and forces his eyes to remain open.

“The School News Office’s President and I have stricken a deal, and we’ll be working with them from now on. His—” He shuts his mouth. No, that familiarity should be kept to himself for now, lest these two rush into something. “His brother, himself, and I will be the only ones cooperating on this for now, so don’t bother with that. They’ll be doing legwork for us while we stick to the main mission.”

Jonny cracks a hesitant smile. “That’s. . . good?”

“They're fairly adept, but how would they help us now?” Rebecca asks, hugging herself.

Thanatos rubs at his eyes. “I can feed them false information to spread, keep the culprits on their toes. Plus, if there’s busywork needed, they can take care of it. Most importantly, though, they’re the primary promoter of this month’s premier school event: the Halloween ball.”

“Listening to that call all weekend, our mystery boy sure is weak to the ladies, so maybe that’s a good angle to work from!”

“Takes one as such to know another,” Rebecca quips. Jonny sticks his tongue out, but the mood hardly shifts, and their attempt at humour soon dies. She sighs, “But he has a point.”

“I was thinking the same,” Thanatos admits. He pulls out his phone and quickly scrolls through it. He taps one one of his contacts, and the phone begins to ring as the dial message projects itself blue and brilliant into the air. It picks up quickly, and a loud Scottish accent burns their ears.

“Ato! What can I do ya for?” yells Jack, clearly away from his phone but still loud enough to cause pain. “Not often you call me outta the blue!”

“Jackson—”

“Also, aw, are those your friends? Cute!” He finally comes back into the view, and the phone’s projector displays his face and upper body. Jack is a thin man, especially in his face, and his incredibly unkempt grey hair is kept back from his face with a headband; it leaves them all with a mad scientist image. His eyes are sharp, golden, and his hair is a dark brown. The most notable things, though, are his pointed ears and sharp fangs. Rebecca gasps.

“A vampire! A real vampire!” she mutters in disbelief. Jonny licks his own canines and frowns.

“That’s so cool,” he mumbles.

Jack gives a lazy, wide smile. He’s dressed in a white button down paired with a red and yellow flannel shirt hanging loosely around him at the elbows. He covers his yawn with his hand. “You’re sure calling me early! Lucky for you, I was pulling an all-dayer.” He leans into his camera and squints. “Speaking of you, that’s what shit looks like.”

“So I’ve been told,” Thanatos groans. “I need your help, are you free or not?”

Jack kisses his teeth. “Afraid not, Ato. Our lovely captain friend has me working my rear off on somethin’ new lately. Only free time I have is for eatin’ and sleepin’, something you should learn.”

Thanatos flushes. “I get it! I get it!” He rubs his temples.

“Um, so,” Rebecca starts, speaking up. “Why have we called a vampire to assist us?”

“This is that guy Sib mentioned,” Jonny adds in, elbowing Rebecca. “Jack, right?”

“That’d be me! Tell Sibby I said hello.” He sips on a red juice pouch with a little yellow straw. “Whatcha needin’?”

“Advice if not your help,” Thanatos replies. “The only solid lead we have right now is a voice, but interviewing every male student takes too much time that we don’t have, so how would you do it?”

Jack hums and starts to type rapidly. His eyes dart, looking at things invisible to the phone’s camera, but judging by the light, it’s likely his many computer screens. “While voice recognition software has been a thing for quite some time now, gathering that much data at once is tricky to get done quickly. You still use that janky old laptop?”

“I do.”

“Well, shite.” He rubs his head. “I’d send a program of mine to you, but it’d brick that thing before an error could pop up.”

“What about a wireless phone tap?” Thanatos asks. Jack shakes his head.

“Too many phones, your computer would shite itself. Again. And I’d have to fix it. Again.” Jack gives the biggest puppy dog eyes he can muster. “When will you let me build you a new one?”

Thanatos rolls his eyes. “That one works fine. I’ll figure something out.”

“All of those reach out to the students directly.” Rebecca walks closer to the camera, and Jack rests his chin in his hand and sips as he tracks her. “What about something that lets them come to us?”

“Oh! Good thinking, redhead!” The pouch squelches and squeaks as it’s emptied, and Jack tosses it offscreen. “If you can get these students to come to you, you could record the calls at once and listen to them manually.”

“I could send them to you, instead. Faster,” Thanatos says. His expression falls, and Jonny squints. “Unless you’re too busy?”

“Aw, Ato, I swear I would any other time but this—” Jack vaguely gestures to the air. “—is the most I can do for ya right now. I’ll send you a special something to help with the cause that your shitey junk can run, a quick thing, but you’re on your own this time.” Thanatos’ expression falls further, and he sighs.

“Thank you,” he says, and Jack sends an air head pat through the projection.

“There, there! Your friends are still watching, y’know! It’s so cute but very pathetic to see you sad.”

Immediately, Thanatos flushes harder and stands up straight, flustered. Again, he rubs his eyes. “Silence. Goodbye.”

“Visit soo—”

Thanatos hangs up, and the projection dies. Jonny busts out laughing. “He called you cute! Cute! Dude!” Even Rebecca joins in with muffled, restrained giggling.

“Truly a new low for you,” she adds in. “But pathetic is right. Like a kicked dog.”

“You’re both insufferable!” he retorts loudly, and his voice cracks at the end to put the final nail in the coffin and then dump that coffin into the River Styx so he could drown alive. “Pathetic, you call me, but perhaps, then, Miss Hawthorne, you’d be enlightened to know the feeling.”

She stares at him, unfazed and still amused. “How so?”

“You’re going to be our bait, and you’ll have no complaints about it!” He pauses to think, and then he points accusatory at her. “We’ll get the boys to call in by offering you as a prize at the dance!”

All the fun drops from her, and it’s her turn to flush red as her hair. “What?! No! Absolutely not!”

Jonny sputters, “W-wait, guys! Hold on!”

“Miss Hawthorne, we’ll hold an impromptu contest for the boys’ chance to win an exclusive dance and dinner date with you at the Halloween Ball!” Rebecca attempts to speak up in refusal, but both she and Jonny pause at Thanatos' large, determined grin. It almost looks crazy when matched with the dark circles and tired bags under his eyes. “It eliminates men not interested in women or dating in general, and since you’re a redhead, you fit the bill close enough that our culprits might use this chance to test your ability to fulfill their needs.” He hurriedly tucks his phone away. “And with the News Office on our side, we can promote the contest quickly and efficiently!”

“Do I get any say?!” Rebecca finally asks. Thanatos pauses, and the grin quickly flips into a serious frown. He nods.

“If you absolutely don’t wish to, then no, I won’t force you.” He blinks heavily a few times, patting himself on the cheeks. “But it’s worth a shot, isn’t it? For once, Miss Hawthorne, truly think of what’s at stake here; two lives were already lost, and wasn’t it you who said no one else can die?”

She has! She has thought of what’s at stake so many times, but the guilt pulls at her every vein, vessel, and nerve, played and plucked like a sad strings’ ensemble. She can hear the voice in her skull, mocking her, that of Estelle’s. She looks Thanatos dead in the eyes and, after only another moment of hesitation, nods firmly.

“Fine. I’ll do it.” She hugs herself. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“I’m not asking you to like it, Miss Hawthorne,” he responds.

Rebecca looks between both of the boys. “Will this really work?”

“I mean,” Jonny starts. “It sounds like a solid enough plan for something shouted out of spite and revenge so sure? Why not?”

Thanatos yawns and wobbles. “Then let’s get to it.” Jonny catches him and holds him upright.

“You need sleep!” Jonny scolds. Rebecca nods in agreement.

“Certainly.” She tucks some hair behind her ear and looks away. The strings pull harder. “How about. . . You’re both excused for the day; go back to your dorm, and I’ll cover for you until tomorrow.”

They haven’t a moment to question it as Rebecca pushes past them and exits their club room. Thanatos watches her glazedly, but when he squints, he swears he can see someone else with her as she walks through the door. However, when he attempts to rub the sleep from his eyes once more, the image disappears along with Rebecca.