Chapter 94: Mauricio

POV: Carly

She knocked three times and got nothing.

She waited. Knocked again, harder this time, more deliberate, the kind of knocking that said she was not going anywhere until someone answered.

The door swung open.

Mauricio stood in the frame, blinking at her in genuine surprise. He was still dressed, which told her the night hadn't wound down on this side of the building either.

"Carly." He said.

"Hey." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

He shook his head. "Vampires, remember? Nocturnal." He flashed her a quick, easy smile before it faded into something more cautious as he registered her expression. He stepped slightly forward, pulling the door mostly closed behind him. "Not to be rude, but why are you here? Is everything okay?"

"That's actually what I'm trying to figure out." She said. "I was looking for Niko."

He swallowed. Visibly.

"We were at the sports banquet together tonight and things got strange when his mother showed up—"

Mauricio's eyes went wide. "Isabel Monroeson was actually there?"

Carly noticed the way just the name landed on him. Like a headline. "Yeah. It clearly caught Niko off guard. He got really distant afterward, and then he left the event and said he'd come back and never did. I've called him multiple times and he hasn't answered any of them. I just need to know if he's okay."

Mauricio's fingers fidgeted at his sides. He looked down the corridor. Back at her. Away again.

She watched him very carefully.

"Mauricio." She stepped slightly closer, keeping her voice even. "You're a bad liar. And I know you're lying to me right now."

He let out a short, uncomfortable laugh. "Carly—"

"Don't." She said. "I know you're his friend and I respect that. But I care about him and I'm worried. Really worried. Not just girlfriend worried. Something was wrong with him tonight before he left and I need to know he's okay. I'm not leaving until you tell me something real."

He looked at her for a long moment.

She held his gaze and did not blink.

"He's gonna kill me." Mauricio muttered under his breath.

"Probably." Katy said from behind Carly's shoulder.

He looked at Katy. Then back at Carly. Something in his expression shifted from reluctant to resigned.

"Okay." He said. "Yes. I know where he is. Come on. I'll take you there myself."

Carly exhaled so hard her shoulders dropped an inch.

He grabbed his jacket from just inside the door and stepped out into the corridor, pulling the door shut behind him. He wasn't saying anything as they fell into step together and Carly noticed that immediately.

"Where is he?" She asked.

"The Hole." He said simply.

She frowned. "Why would he go back there tonight?"

Mauricio was quiet for one beat too long. "When he came back from the banquet he was already in a bad place. Enzo and Aurora were there."

Carly felt the familiar tug at her chest. "Aurora's with him."

It wasn't a question. It landed like a fact she didn't want confirmed.

"She knew about a feeding party tonight." Mauricio said carefully.

"A what?"

He glanced at her sideways. "Some humans seek out vampires voluntarily. They offer themselves up. No threading required, no force. They want it."

Carly turned this over. "That's actually real?"

"More common than you'd think. There's a whole community of them. Some are curious, some are convinced it means something, some just want to feel something different." He paused. "We don't really ask questions. We just show up."

She pressed her lips together, working hard to keep her expression neutral.

"Aurora thought it would help him decompress. Let off steam." He said. "After the banquet."

"And you're only telling me this now because—"

"Because you asked." He said simply. Then, quieter: "And because I think you should probably know."

She looked at the side of his face.

He wasn't giving her easy reassurance. He wasn't telling her everything was fine. He was telling her something real and letting her decide what to do with it, and she found that, in this moment, more valuable than any comfort would have been.

They reached the entrance of The Hole. The music wasn't audible from outside at this hour, but the building had a specific quality of energy to it, that particular charged stillness that meant something was happening within.

Mauricio stopped, turning to face her fully.

"Before we go in." He said.

"I've been here before." She said.

"Not during one of these nights." He said. "It's different. Niko knew which events to bring you to, and this wasn't one of them. There's going to be a lot of blood. It might be intense. I just want you to know that going in."

Carly looked at the door. Then back at him.

The more he explained the worse the picture in her head got. She didn't know exactly what she was about to walk into, but she knew she wasn't leaving without seeing him.

"Open the door, Mauricio." She said.

He studied her for one more second.

Then he knocked.

Author's Note:

Mauricio O'Neil quietly telling her the truth when he didn't have to and then asking no questions about whether she could handle it is actually one of the most decent things anyone has done for Carly in a while.