Chapter 27: An App for What?

Blair carefully reached took the smartphone from Daemus’s hand. She held it by the edges, treating the sleek rectangle of glass and metal like it was a fragile, alien artifact.

Daemus’s eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes! Okay, so to take a picture, it’s the white circle on the—"

"I’m not taking a picture," Blair interrupted quietly, turning the device over in her hands. "I’m just looking at it."

Daemus paused, his enthusiastic grin faltering. "Why?"

"I’ve never actually touched one before," Blair admitted, staring at the glowing screen. "When I saw your uncle with one earlier... that was the first time I had ever even seen a smartphone in person."

Daemus stared at her, flabbergasted. "You’ve never used a phone? Ever?" He let out a breathless chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "Goddess, I’ve broken five of these things this month alone. My grip strength is a bit too much sometimes."

Blair ran her thumb gently over the surface, noticing a fine, hairline crack spiderwebbing across the top corner of the glass.

"Tell you what," Daemus offered casually, leaning against the doorframe. "When this blows over, I’ll buy you one. The newest model. You can finally join the digital age."

"No, thank you," Blair refused politely, handing the device back to him.

"I’m serious, it’s no big deal," Daemus insisted, waving it away.

"And I said no thank you," Blair repeated, her tone soft but firm.

She was already the black sheep among the human population at the academy. The last thing she needed was for her peers to see her parading around with an expensive piece of technology bought by a royal beastman. If she was going to graduate and become a politician, if she wanted to be trusted by the humans she intended to protect, she could not be viewed as a pampered pet accepting expensive trinkets from the very predators she was fighting against. It just wouldn’t make any sense.

Daemus frowned slightly, slipping the phone back into his sweatpants. "Suit yourself."

Blair turned her attention back to the unconscious Crow professor on her bed. She opened the first-aid kit Daemus had brought, pulling out a bottle of sterile saline and a stack of clean gauze.

"By the way," Blair said, uncapping the bottle and carefully washing the blood away from Jack’s deep claw marks. "Your blackmail idea won’t work."

"Why not?"

"Because of the system," Blair pointed out dryly. She grabbed a fresh piece of gauze, applying pressure to the wounds. "Let’s say we do take compromising photos. We threaten Professor Feron. He simply ignores the threat, marches down to the administration, and reports us. What happens then?"

Daemus shrugged.

"I’ll tell you what happens," Blair sighed. "You, the Prince of the Wintercrest pack, get a slap on the wrist. Maybe a sternly worded letter home. I, a human lesser, get immediately expelled and executed for threatening a faculty member. It’s a terrible plan."

Daemus laughed. "Bunny, you worry way too much. We would be smart about it."

"There is no ’smart’ way to commit a felony!"

"Forget trading the photos for better grades," Daemus pivoted, stepping closer to the bed. "Grades are useless. We trade the photos for favors. Favors are the ultimate currency among the nobility."

Blair paused, looking over her shoulder at the wolf.

"But, if we sell or trade a photo to someone, it instantly loses its value. Why would anyone owe us a favor when they can just share the image with everyone else and sell it themselves?" Blair argued.

Daemus looked very proud of himself. A smug grin spread across his handsome face.

"Ah, but I’ve already thought of that," Daemus countered smoothly. "There’s an app specifically for that. It allows you to send an image that only exists for a set amount of seconds before it deletes itself permanently. And if anyone tries to take a screenshot, or use another phone to take a picture of the screen, the app completely blocks it and just displays a black screen."

Blair blinked, thrown off guard.

"I call it," Daemus announced grandly, "the perfect nudes sharing app."

Blair was still on the fence. Since she had zero technological literacy, she couldn’t properly debate the risks. She was forced to just take his word that this "magic app" actually worked the way he said it did.

She turned back to Jack, finishing the bandaging process. She tightly secured the white medical tape over the professor’s chest. The bleeding had finally stopped.

"Is this going to be enough?" Blair asked, her voice laced with worry as she looked at the professor’s pale face.

"He’ll heal just fine," Daemus assured her, pointing out the layer of sweat coating Jack’s skin. "The sweating is a good sign. His body is burning the venom out."

Blair let out a sigh of relief, packing the gauze and saline back into the first-aid kit. At least she hadn’t accidentally killed her professor.

"So, where are we with this idea?" Daemus pressed, crossing his muscular arms over his bare chest. "Because I’ll be honest with you, Bunny, I’m taking the pictures with or without you."

Blair let her hands rest on the lid of the medical kit.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze drifting across the cramped dorm room until it landed on Heather’s messy, empty bed.

The cold knot of dread tightened in her stomach. Heather was missing.

Maybe she could use those "favors" to help her find out what happened to her roommate and learn more about those monsters.

"Okay," Blair said firmly. "Let’s do it."

"Yes!" Daemus celebrated with a quiet, triumphant fist pump.

Blair picked up a cup of water from her nightstand. She took a sip to soothe her dry throat and calm her racing nerves.

"Awesome," Daemus said, pulling his phone back out of his pocket. "Let’s strip him naked."

Blair choked.

She sprayed a mist of water across the floor, coughing and hacking as she slammed the cup back onto the nightstand, her eyes watering.

"What?!" Blair wheezed, her face turning as red as a tomato.