Chapter 65: Another Approach

SEBASTIAN.

The events of the last few days have gradually exhausted me. Especially Teresa’s criminal silence. If I tried to talk to her, she either pretended to do something completely different or gave me a deep, hurt look and left in a hurry.

Today, however, there was no time to waste. Luana’s research on this serum had to stop. As I had promised Teresa and to myself, I will not turn her into a laboratory experiment for my own good and for the good of science.

Luana’s reaction remained to be seen when I would tell her. She did come up with the idea, but in the end, I supported all the research funding.

Sometimes Luana seemed too involved in what she was doing. Not that it was a bad thing, only that her involvement meant stepping on corpses and I didn’t like it at all as long as it directly involved Teresa in this entire story.

Liam was waiting for me in the office, curious about what was going to happen. I had called him to talk to him before.

“Hey, bro, I am all ears. Although I think I know what you want to tell me, and I really understand you.” Liam greeted me with his wide smile.

“Yes, the risks are many, including Teresa’s life, not to mention her peace and mine. She is my Luna, Liam. I will do nothing to endanger her. And if we find that this serum would mean that, then the research must stop. One question though I have for you. What do you think about Luana?” I asked him the question directly with no detours, only it took him by surprise.

“Luana? Are you asking me after so many months? To me she seems... dedicated!” he quickly slammed an answer that I realized he didn’t believe in either. “But where does this question come from? Are you having doubts about her?” Liam was still curious.

“Not really ... I don’t know yet. More research is needed, but Vicky and Teague will take care of that. If they come across something dubious, they’ll let me know. Luana Antonov... What exactly do we know about her? That she comes from a small pack from Romania and with which I have never seen her communicate. That she is an expert in genetics and that she insists a lot on using the blood of a descendant of an original vampire, more precisely Teresa’s. Under no circumstances should she find out about Teresa’s identity, understood?” I ordered resolutely, looking outside the window.

“Of course, Alpha! For now, let’s just say she didn’t cause us any problems. I’ve been to the lab many times while you weren’t here. She does her job alright, but I don’t think it’s a problem that we want to know more about her. After all, you gave her a bold project, didn’t you?” Liam concluded calmly, following me to the window. “Teresa’s not coming?” He surprised me with the question because I thought she was already here.

“Oh, I see. She didn’t come today ... it’s normal, as the poor girl went through enough lately. Imagine that I had to turn his only friend into a vampire to save her life!”

“What? What happened?” Liam got quite surprised, especially since the only vampire here was Erik, and he didn’t turn on anyone like that.

“It’s Caroline. A pack of those damn beasts attacked them yesterday, and Teresa could not deal with them all. While dealing with some of them, the others tore Caroline to pieces. We contacted Erik, who helped us. Now he has to stay with her to temper her. She’s dangerous. Imagine she jumped on Teresa’s throat. “

“Dear God! Maybe it’s time to give Luana the threads of hair taken from your wounds. With this news that the serum will have to stop, she may discover who these demons really are and whether they can be defeated. “

“Exactly. Maybe by analyzing the hair, we can find out their origin and weaknesses. I would like Luana to focus on research on a new formula of serum that will weaken these beasts, to somehow annihilate their strength so that we can defeat them. They’re very strong, Liam, you didn’t fight them. Their bite can be fatal. Teresa is barely discovering herself, but I saw she can defeat them quickly with the power of her mind. However, she is only one. Her powers have not yet fully developed. I cannot risk her life like that. So, we need another combination of ingredients to help us.” I concluded hopefully that there might be such a formula after all.

“I agree with you! And you’re right, I haven’t fought those demons yet, but I’ve seen pretty well what they did to you. So, I say waste no more time and go down to the laboratory to talk to Luana!”

With her glasses on her nose, Luana looked up at us from the papers and test tubes. She looked at us in amazement, especially at me, who had come a little around here lately.

“Mr. Gallagher, you in the lab? What a surprise! I still haven’t found a stable formula, but I’m working on it...”

“Luana, it’s okay. Change of plans” I abruptly interrupted her and made her eyes wide while she took off her glasses and approached me.

“What do you mean, I don’t think I understand you? You want to change the approach and implicitly the ingredients…” her interrupted voice amused me a little.

But I had to be on guard with this woman, not to be misled by her shyness.

“No, that’s not what I want. We came here for two reasons, Dr. Antonov.” I explained to her, walking in front of her and her experiments. “I am sure that it will amortize my investment at some point when you create the perfect serum. But, the data on the problem changed a little. The perfect serum does not exist and will not exist either with these ingredients!” I said louder, turning to face her.

I wanted to capture her every reaction.

“I don’t understand you at all, Mr. Gallagher, if you want to be more explicit!” She asked me for more details.

Agh, this innocence didn’t characterize her at all. Calm down, Sebastian, all in its time. Now I had other priorities, namely to get Teresa out of the front line and out of Luana’s sight.

“Of course! We will give up creating the serum you are working on now and we will focus on another one that has other properties!” I said briefly, in one breath.

Luana’s face suddenly darkened. A black wave like I had never seen before fixed itself in her eyes and did not try for a moment to avoid her gaze. It wasn’t exactly the reaction I expected. It wasn’t like I fired her. And yet she weighed her answer a lot.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that. What can I say but comply? But I could ask why you made this decision?!”

“You have every right to ask and anyway if you didn’t ask me, I would have explained it, anyway. For more than a month, these burning demons have attacked Teresa and me and Teresa’s best friend, with power far beyond our limits. They seem to be werewolves, hybrids clearly watching and wanting something or someone. They are twice our size and deadly. I’m telling you all this because their primary target is Teresa, my Luna. No matter how hard I tried to protect her, they still found their way to her and hurt her several times. However, I strongly believe that these demons must have a sensitive point so that we can eliminate them. “

“It sounds normal to me, only that what sort of beasts are these that we can’t defeat ... us ... werewolves?” she added, hesitating a little, but still understanding her point of view and fear.

If those demons hurt us, they can hurt Luana just as easily. Our geneticist will have to be guarded until her research bears out the success we need.

“I hope you find this out with a few strands of hair left behind in my wounds. Liam?” I instructed him to go get the sample.

With quick steps, Liam placed on the table in front of Luana a small container with a few hairs. I intentionally watched Luana’s reaction, which seemed more and more desperate. I wonder what was scaring her so badly? “Don’t be afraid, Dr. Antonov. Starting today, you will not be alone for a moment. On your way to the laboratory and on your way home, two of my most trusted men will accompany you. I will introduce them to you later. You will have access to all documents and resources to create something sustainable that will help us. You will collaborate, if you think you will need to, with the brightest minds in the field of werewolf genetics. “

“And what exactly do I have to do, Mr. Gallagher?” her question came shyly, even cautious.

“It is simple. Create a serum for me, powerful enough to destroy these bastards!”