Chapter 70: What Are Friends For?

TERESA.

My life took a dangerous turn after I met Sebastian Gallagher. The beasts attacking me, powers that I could not explain even now, and the possibility that I could be the daughter of a 1000-year-old vampire. I didn’t yet fully clarify this aspect, but to be honest, I had almost no doubt about it.

Today I set out to see exactly what I could do, and I talked to Caroline to go to the house garden to practice. She had a busy day yesterday with Erik teaching her various tricks.

And she was going through changes that were hard to believe and live with, too. But we had each other, even though I seemed to still keep her away from my blood with the power of my mind. I didn’t like it, but I had no other solution.

If she would attack me, I would have to defend myself and I really didn’t want to hurt my friend.

“Hey, are you ready?” she asked me cheerfully, sticking her head into the room after knocking slowly. I raised my gaze and looked at her with mixed feelings.

“Ready than I will ever be!”

I wanted my voice to sound happier than that, but the words came out harsh, dull. Caroline let herself in and sat on the bed next to me. Shall I tell her what happened yesterday?

But what exactly happened? I flooded my mind and thoughts with Bash’s face, his daring caresses, his penetrating eyes that followed me all the time. I had fallen.

God knew how many times in his seduction trap, but the part I couldn’t understand was that I regretted nothing. My body still bore the marks of sin and shuddered when it remembered it.

“Terr, I know you have something more than this thing of discovering yourself. Something is happening in your soul and that something has a name — Sebastian," Caroline began hopefully, trying to disconnect me from my dream and bring me down to reality.

Was her attempt destined to succeed? “Look, you may not have been able to tell me that evening when we were attacked, but from what you told me, I understood one thing, that Bash made a huge mistake in using you like that. It’s just that as far as I know, you did use your blood once for him to survive. Am I right?”

Her question completely confused me. On the one hand, she was right. On the other though, Sebastian hadn’t started the experiments yet, so I didn't know what was to come and what he would have in mind.

“You are right, but not entirely. It has been a brief time for him to use me as a guinea pig in his experiments.”

“Did he make the serum? Or someone else did?”

The more I got into this subject, the more I lost my temper. Caro didn’t mean to upset me, just to understand how far he had come with the experiments.

“He is only financing. Someone else is behind the formula and the test tubes. A certain Luana Antonov, as far as I can remember!”

It was the first time I uttered cold shivers all over my body when I said her name. It was clear that this woman had something I didn’t like.

“Luana Antonov? Who the hell is that?” Caro asked, annoyed.

And I didn’t think she was fond of her either.

“I know little about her, just that she is a doctor of science with a brilliant mind and an enviable IQ. I assume she is also a werewolf and I also know that she is from Romania. I do not know more. I attended one of her demonstration conferences and it was clear from her that the mixture of pure iron, werewolf blood, and that of a descendant of an original vampire could mean a revolutionary serum blah blah blah. “

This subject had already brought me to a state of saturation. “Finally, I don’t know what order Luana Antonov received further after what happened lately,” I concluded in a boring tone, thinking that in no case did Bash stop making this serum.

And when I think that yesterday in the library, I fell prey into his net… again…

My cheeks suddenly colored and I could feel them burning God, me, a being with so much power, blushed at the memory of a naked man from the waist down and in heat. But unfortunately, my reaction did not go unnoticed by Caroline.

“Hmmm, your redness betrays something else. My vampire senses yesterday located you in the house’s library, and they also showed me clearly that you were not alone. “Caro smiled broadly, waiting for my confirmation.

“Can’t your vampire senses be wrong? But are you really spying on me, Caro?” I asked with a smile, perhaps as broad as hers, that betrayed all my feelings from yesterday.

“Hey, I don’t need to spy on you to realize you’re madly in love with Sebastian Gallagher. What do I say in love? You are really crazy about him and you don’t know what to do considering his research and his next steps. Why don’t you just ask him?”

“Yeah, easy for you to say. Like, hey, Bash, what are you doing? Do you still have that crazy idea of ​​draining my blood for your good and survival of your species?” I deliberately made fun of the situation. “No, such an approach is definitely out of the question. If he gives up or plans to give up in the near future, then he should attempt to inform me. I will not humiliate myself in front of him. But I’m telling you one thing for sure; neither he nor anyone from genetic will touch my blood!” I shouted with a sigh, perhaps understanding more that if Bash loved me, then he really had to fight for me.

“You know what I think? That Sebastian, in the depths of his soul, regrets, and even now he is trying to correct his mistake.”

I took the position of the astonished woman and stared at Caroline, trying to understand her explanation. Although it was plausible, from Bash, there was no sign to make me think it was exactly as she said.

“Whatever! Look, I don’t believe as much in Bash’s innocence as I do in believing that he regrets what happened. I have said it before and I still support it. Bash is a man of facts “I concluded my thought, thinking of yesterday when also his facts had spoken.

And yesterday I thought the same, and Bash did what he knew best. He made me his in a way that even now made me tremble just remembering.

“Hmm, probably hotter things happened in the library than you want to admit, Terr. But don’t be afraid, that’s love, you don’t have to apologize for it. I understand you!”

It was getting harder and harder for me to hide my tumultuous relationship with Bash. And who was I hiding from? Caroline? God, as long as I didn’t want to admit that I had a relationship as it was with difficulties, then I had no right to complain or deny it.

As it was, but it was a relationship. And to be honest, in this dark world, I came to strongly believe that Caroline was still my best friend and confidant as before, into the only world I knew and left whether I wanted to, that of the humans.

“I’m afraid, Caroline, that my love will not be enough or that his love will hurt me. He already did it once, and I kept falling into his arms, making the same mistake over and over again, loving him. I am aware that the end may be tragic, but I can’t help but repeat the same mistake indefinitely because he does it too. We love each other madly then we regret it, or at least I regret I couldn’t be stronger. That I did not have the strength to say no when I had to; crazy with pleasure, I fell into his trap again and again. That I believed every word that came out of his perfect mouth turning me into the perfect victim, the perfect guinea pig for his experiments? No Caroline, no matter how much I regret my past with him, and even though all my being is constantly shouting for him, I will not make the same mistake twice. I will no longer fall into the trap of the unstoppable desire that even if I don’t want to admit it consumes me daily and I really have to face it so that I don’t fall into sin. In the same sin in which I have fallen so many times and in which, regardless of the circumstances, I will stand with my head held high, and will not be a collateral victim.” I spoke so fiercely, looking for ways for not falling into sin again, that I did not notice that Bash was standing in the doorway, leaning slightly against its frame, his eyes large, sad, and puzzled.

His entire body was stiff and no matter how much he wanted my talking to be a momentary frenzy, my words just paralyzed him.

“Bash...”