Chapter 56: Everything Under Control

TERESA.

It looked like I had dropped a bomb again. Vicky’s face hardened. My statement affected her, but in order for both of us to understand, I will have to relate the facts with all the details that happened from the very beginning.

About Bash’s miracle serum, which I was sure she knew, but maybe not all the ins and outs, that my blood was the key to this whole thing, the changes I’ve been through lately, and there was so much more to discuss that I was sure it was not enough a whole day to talk about.

“For God’s sake, what are you talking about? What tickets? What first row?”

The atmosphere in the pub was becoming oppressive, and I knew my next step would be decisive. My next words will weigh heavily on the direction this conversation will go.

I was suffering; it was true, and the culprit of my suffering was Sebastian. A man who now seemed indecipherable to me. But maybe with Vicky’s help, I could get to know him a little.

She got up from the table again, this time walking behind the counter, and returned with a photograph. She placed it in front of my eyes, pointing to the children in it.

From there, two beautiful little faces were smiling at me, with serene and identical features. “Are you telling me about this, Sebastian? About the man who was more than a brother to me? Who drove away all my fears and stood by me in any situation? About the one who always puts himself last for me to be well? About the one this damn life separated me from for a whim of my father? The person who has learned more from their own life experiences than anyone could fathom. About the man who loves you above all else? Are you talking about this, Sebastian?”

Victoria’s reaction changed from one second to the next. I didn’t even realize that my eyes were swimming in warm tears knotting under my chin. I was exactly talking about Sebastian, only now I didn’t recognize him in Vicky’s description.

It was like another man I wanted to talk about. Which was his real face? Did I misunderstand him? No, I didn’t have to allow my heart to be weak or my love for him to stop my investigation.

I really had no words to answer. The situation in which I had put myself and also Vicky was deeper and darker than I would have imagined.

My goal was to understand how far Bash would go with the lies to have me. My heart sank when I realized he already did. In his vision, what was next? Do experiments on me to see if my blood really works?

“Vicky ... for you to understand why I came; I’m going to have to tell you a brief story about where the leading female is me.” I started confidently that she would feel compassion for me and help me.

“Okay, I’m listening to this story to see if I can accept your behavior, and allow me to tell you, I understand it less and less and it seems to me that it is a little off, my dear! So, start talking, I am all ears,”

And crossing her arms again, she sat in front of me, staring at me with a curious look this time.

“Fair enough. My story begins with a little girl, forgotten on a beach after a shipwreck and a painful memory of her father who went to bring her mother from under the icy waters of the ocean and never returned. Well, that girl was me! A soul left to its fate, taken and raised by strangers…”

Words came out very hard. I had an enormous lump in my throat that kept me from having a normal conversation.

“And what has that got to do with my brother? Make me understand Teresa!” the shock of her question pierced me to the depths of my soul, but she was right. It wasn’t Bash’s fault that my father abandoned me. But that’s where it all started. That’s where my nightmare has begun.

“Bash has absolutely nothing to do with my past, but he has something more to do with the present and the future. It is not his fault that I grew up orphaned, without protection, and although I always had someone by my side, it was as if I was alone. Those people did not fill the void left in my heart by my father. “

As I told this, Vicky’s eyes filled with tears. The strong, untouchable Vicky was now crying. And then she became more human, much closer to me.

“Teresa, you don’t have to tell me about the inability of a child to feel loved and understood by his father, or how you don’t have to tell me about the emptiness in your heart. That emptiness can exist even if you have a father and it’s as if he doesn’t exist…” she sighed for a long time, averting her eyes and wiping away her tears.

Maybe in her perception, tears meant weakness, since she avoided as much as she could to look at me. I wished I could know more about her, that she could open up more, but Vicky was Vicky, and I admired her for her strength.

Even though I had come here to denigrate her brother, she knew how to listen to me and not judge me. But the story was far from being over.

“It is obvious that you went through something similar. It may be more painful to have a father by name than not to have one at all. My adoptive parents were wonderful people, but not enough to feel that they could have fulfilled my life. I always felt like I was more than that. And although in childhood there was no sign, there are now,” I continued, but I stopped for a breath of air, still keeping my gaze on her.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“Vicky, have you heard of the serum your brother creates in his lab?” I pushed things a little further, closer to what I was interested in finding out.

“Of course, I have. He is really proud that he has little left and he created this revolutionary serum, although I knew he lacked some ingredients but despite that, he was very close,” she explained enthusiastically, noticing the playful glint in her eyes.

“Well, he did it!” and so I suddenly disturbed our universe in just four words.

“Wow, that’s great. It means he found what he was missing. But ... What was that thing he needed?”

“Vicky, it was I that I was missing!”

Her face remained motionless and for a few seconds, she stopped breathing as if she understood why I was here and the gravity of the situation. I really didn’t want to blame anyone, especially Bash.

But in the end, he was the one who led this research, swearing that he wouldn’t stop until he found out what was the ingredient.

“Let me see if I understand ... The last time I spoke to him, he told me he needed the blood of a descendant of an original vampire. That means you ... are ... and the only original vampire is Erik Von Hagen…. That makes you…”

“His daughter. That little girl on the beach waiting for her father to bring her mother safely. That father was Erik…”

“How can you be sure of that?” Do you remember your father? God, don’t tell me Bash dared to…!”

“I still can’t know for sure, but the facts speak for themselves,” I interrupted abruptly.

“Facts? What facts Teresa?” Vicky either didn’t know or knowingly ignored it.

“Last night’s attack in which your brother almost lost his life!” I ended up determined to make the light in this darkness that is taking me every day worse.

But Vicky’s face betrayed nothing. It was unchanged and just as amazed. Then I felt like she was trying to connect with Bash again, but it seemed in vain. Bash wasn’t there. Something was wrong. Their connection always existed, only if…

“I can’t connect with him. What is happening, Teresa? Why is he still blocking me?” Now I was the one surprised. Sebastian intentionally blocked her?

“What do you mean, still?” I asked, trying to understand Bash’s reason for doing this.

“Teresa, I communicated with Bash all the time. I knew you were in Wales and in danger. The news of the plane crash and your injury had reached me. I wanted to come with Teague, my Beta, and everyone under Taylor and Laika, an entire contingent to help you. I wouldn’t have left my brother or you in trouble. But Bash assured me he had everything under control, that Liam was already there, so I stayed calm. I never thought his life was in danger!”

“Yes, Vicky, he really had everything under control, he blocked you just in time not to see the vileness with which he used me!!!”