Chapter 114: He Looks Twenty

Jenny caught sight of the silver Camry pulling through the school gates, her gaze instantly hardening into a venomous glare.

The bus had pulled up to the high school nearly twenty minutes ago. Even if she generously factored in his terrible driving, stalling the clutch, and missing turns, it didn’t take a genius to deduce what he and Rose had been doing with the extra time.

With every wild, graphic scenario that crossed her mind, her mood sank deeper into bitter annoyance. Even the lingering thrill of evolving her rare skill, Silent Footsteps, into the epic-grade Assassin’s Stride was being completely washed away by sheer jealousy. Letting out a sharp, disgusted scoff, she turned on her heel and climbed back onto the bus, aggressively ignoring their arrival.

From behind the windshield of the Camry, Fredrinn caught sight of her sharp retreat and let out a dry sigh. He had just barely managed to pacify an ancient demon... so soothing an ordinary, albeit volatile, human woman should be child’s play by comparison. Right? Right...?

He cast a sideways glance at Rose, who only returned his look with a sweet, knowing smile.

As the car came to a complete stop, Rose pushed her door open and stepped out onto the asphalt. She raised her slender arms high above her head, arching her back in a languid, exaggerated stretch.

Almost immediately, every single male survivor scattered across the courtyard froze in place, their eyes drawn toward her like moths to an open flame. With the acquisition of Greater Succubus Body, her innate charm had spiked to an absurd degree, turning her effortless movements into an intoxicating spectacle.

A similar, subtle phenomenon unfolded the moment Fredrinn stepped out of the driver’s side.

While he had always been exceptionally handsome and physically imposing, his presence had fundamentally shifted. The legendary trait radiating from his core didn’t drastically alter his facial structure, but it wrapped him in a dense, magnetic aura that commanded raw, instinctual attraction. A few of the older female students standing near the entryway took one look at him and instantly looked away, blushing furiously.

Of course, the most drastic, immediate change had taken place beneath his jeans.

Taking advantage of a brief moment when no one was looking directly at him, Fredrinn casually adjusted his waistband, grimacing at the strange, persistent itch humming at his groin. It felt somewhat like the prickly discomfort of a fresh shave, but far deeper and structural. His entire anatomy had adapted to accommodate the massive boost in size and girth granted by the Incubus trait, forcing him to constantly adjust his stance just to keep the fabric from straining uncomfortably.

Before he could properly settle the issue, Vivienne came hurrying over, wiping her damp hands on a clean cloth.

"Hello, Mr. Fredrinn, Mrs. Rose," Vivienne greeted them, her voice slightly breathless. "The cleaning of the bus is completely finished, and it’s been refueled to the brim with all the gas that Max and the others managed to siphon. We even secured the extra cans in the rear luggage compartment."

Fredrinn offered her a warm, genuine smile. "That’s fantastic work, Vivienne. Though don’t you think you’re being a little too formal with the ’Mister’ and ’Missus’ talk?"

A deep, lovely crimson flushed across the teacher’s cheeks. She nervously shifted her weight, the smooth skin of her bare thighs pressing tightly together as she cleared her throat in a flustered hurry. "A-Am I? I’m sorry, I just... I didn’t want to come across as overly familiar or stiff..."

Before her anxiety could spiral, Fredrinn reached out and lightly patted her shoulder. "Relax. It was a compliment."

Vivienne blinked up at him, startled, before a relieved, fluttery smile softened her lips. "M-Mhm."

Standing right beside him, Rose didn’t react with her usual murderous glare, which surprised both Fredrinn and Vivienne.

Fredrinn, however, understood the dynamic perfectly. Rose’s crimson eyes were already tracking Jenny’s silhouette through the tinted windows of the bus. In Rose’s mind, Jenny was the active rival whose scent was still lingering on Fredrinn’s clothes. The busty, polite schoolteacher simply wasn’t registering as an immediate threat on her territorial radar.

Vivienne, on the other hand, completely misread Rose’s silent, unblinking stare.

"R-Right!" Vivienne stammered, frantically changing the subject to avoid offending the demon. "We actually need Mrs. Rose’s help to move Selene. She’s sitting in the back row and completely refuses to acknowledge or listen to any of us. We were too terrified to get close to her because... well, you know... she’s an infected first, and a student second."

"Ah, right," Rose murmured, tapping her lower lip. In the heat of teasing her husband, she had completely forgotten about the blue-haired thrall currently parked in the vehicle. There was also the matter of Charlie, who was still passed out inside the cafeteria.

"Rose will go handle the thrall," she said, her lips curving into a radiant, playful smile.

Fredrinn caught the mischievous glint dancing in her crimson pupils and felt a faint twinge of worry, but he didn’t stop her. Now that she understood that his personal power and survival relied on the women connected to him, she wouldn’t do anything truly harmful to Jenny. A little petty teasing was inevitable, but it wouldn’t escalate into bloodshed.

"Go ahead," Fredrinn told her, before turning his attention back to Vivienne. "Could you do me a favor and gather everyone in the courtyard? We need to get everyone accounted for before we hit the road."

The moment Fredrinn’s gaze locked onto hers, Vivienne felt her heart skip an erratic, violent beat.

An unfamiliar, electric warmth bloomed deep in her lower abdomen, causing her to instinctively press her thighs together once more to steady herself.

What in the world was happening to her?

She had already found Fredrinn to be an impressively capable, handsome young man who made her feel safe, but right now, that baseline attraction felt amplified ten times over. The subtle scent rolling off him, the steady depth of his voice, and the sheer confidence in his posture were completely overwhelming her rational thoughts.

’Is this... what people call love at first sight...?’ Vivienne thought frantically, her pulse hammering against her ribs as her cheeks burned hotter by the second.

He was clearly in his early to mid-twenties, while she was already pushing past thirty-five. A deep, professional shame told her it was inappropriate to harbor such intense, schoolgirl-like butterflies for a man his age, but her primal instincts were completely overriding her shame.

’Younger guys stare at me all the time...’ she rationalized shyly to herself, stealing a quick, bashful glance at his broad shoulders. ’So... it’s not impossible that he might find me attractive too, right?’

’Age is just a number... as long as that number is higher than 18.’ She reasoned inwardly.