"Girls? You know we are in the middle of a mission, correct? You can stare at all you want later, but first, we need to get this over with."
Lucian just smiled, his hand still remained in his pocket and the glow in his eyes faded.
And...
Every single mber of the hunting party blinked in surprise.
"What...?"
Yes, they were expecting him to fail, he did not, but this wasn’t what surprised them so much. Every Blood-Altered Human had difficulty controlling themselves, even experienced hunters were no different.
Even if it was an experienced hunter instead of Lucian, in a position such as this, even though he would be able to control himself, there would still be... signs.
Slight trembling, glowing eyes, uneven heartbeat, anything—
There should be at least one reaction.
But Lucian...
Other than the initial pause, he did not show any reaction at all.
None at all.
Was that... even possible...?
Even soone like Darius couldn’t help but wonder.
And Lucian—
"Hellooo?"
He just tilted his head and called them out with a grin and Darius—
He blinked, coming out of his reverie.
"Let’s move."
He ordered, looking at Lucian for a second longer than normal. He still had no idea how Lucian did what he did, but for now, he decided to bury that line of thought in his head. The rest of the party mbers were forced to do the sa, but every single one of them was now looking at Lucian and the Human Incubus, he just grinned playfully and didn’t say anything.
As the group continued walking, Mara, still looking at her tablet, pointed at one of the rooms.
"Residue is comparatively stronger inside, though it is still in the normal range."
Darius nodded, he glanced at the receptionist and—
"That room is currently in emotional release therapy, the client has signed full consent and is sensitive to interruption."
She tried to reason.
But—
"Open it."
Darius ordered, the receptionist paused for a mont, then, with the sa smile—
"Of course."
She touched the panel beside the door, the lock clicked and the door opened.
The instant it did, warm air flowed out, the room inside was beautiful, soft cream walls, a large bed-like chair in the center, low golden lights, velvet curtains, a table with tea, water, folded towels, all that fancy stuff.
A woman was lying on the chair, dressed in loose white clothes. A staff mber sat beside her, holding her hand and speaking in a low voice.
The woman was crying, like soone who had held sothing inside for years and finally let it break.
The mont Lucian and others walked in, the staff mber looked up with a frown.
"Inspection."
Darius waved his hand.
"Continue if safe."
The staff mber nodded as he montarily stared at the receptionist.
Lucian, on the other hand, was focused on the woman sitting on the chair. Her eyes were red, but there was a smile on her face.
"Please, don’t stop it."
She whispered weakly as she turned towards the staff mber, her fingers tightened around his hand.
"Please. I can sleep after this. I can finally sleep."
She practically begged.
And Lucian...
When he saw her state, he narrowed his eyes, the smile he had on his face all this while had now faded away.
"How long has she been receiving treatnt?"
Darius questioned.
"Three weeks. She’s dealing with severe grief and hasn’t been able to sleep. There’s concern about self-harm as well."
The staff mber answered calmly.
"Are there dical records?"
"They are available under restricted review."
Darius nodded, he didn’t find anything odd. Lucian, however, was different. After all, with his enhanced senses, he could ’see’ things others could not.
Things like how her heartbeat was unnaturally fast, like how every ti the staff mber’s thumb moved over her hand, her breathing settled, and every ti the touch stopped, her breathing beca erratic and panic rose.
This was... not comfort.
It was... conditioning.
But Lucian did not say anything, not right now. He realised he needed to observe more.
So, they moved to the next rooms, but the more Lucian watched, the more he really saw what was happening, the more his face changed.
At first, each room looked different.
One had a tired man in an expensive suit, another had a small group sitting in a circle, another had two clients lying on soft chairs with warm blankets over them.
But Lucian began to see the pattern.
The Velvet House was not simply giving pleasure, it was giving... relief in the most dangerous way possible.
People ca here because sothing inside them hurt too much.
Grief.
Loneliness.
Sha.
Addiction.
Fear.
Guilt.
Desire.
The Velvet House took that pain and softened it—
For a while.
Inside the Velvet House, a grieving woman could sleep, an addicted man could feel free, a lonely girl felt wanted—
It softened any type of emotional pain, so well that clients returned ti and ti again.
And that was the trap.
Usually, victims begged for help, for soone to put a stop to the harm that was being done to them, but here, the victims didn’t even know they were the victims, they instead begged the team not to interfere with their ’treatnt.’
They clutched at staff mbers, they shouted about the consent forms they signed, how the Velvet House saved them, how they had no right to interfere.
And the staff used those words like shields.
No one was forced, everyone ca here willingly, so of the clients were people who would have killed themselves if the Velvet House hadn’t taken them in—
The worst part?
A part of it was true.
The Velvet House was helping, just... not fully.
These monsters found people who were already breaking apart, then, through supernatural ans that they hid behind the na of their advanced treatnt, they gave them a taste of peace and then—
They made it so the clients’ normal life felt unbearable without that peace.
These monsters weren’t ’healing’ their clients, they were... training them.
Every session made them weaker outside the building, every treatnt made them more... dependent.
Mara’s scanner continued to show low desire residue, nothing obvious enough to justify violence.
Every single thing was very smartly kept below the line.
And Lucian—
He felt disgusted.
"We need to tear this place down."
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