Chapter 36 OH! YOU SLY MONSTER
LILIAN POV ;
I was still packing up the stuff I used to clean Seraphine’s wound and I took the bloody cotton, scissors, spirit bottle, the bandages shoving everything back into the first-aid box with shaky hands, when a sudden knock echoed through my apartment.
Knock.. Knock..
My eyes flew wide open and panic punched me in the stomach so hard I actually staggered.
“What the hell…”
I dropped everything and rushed to the couch where Seraphine was lying Or where she was lying.
But she was already awake sitting up, alert, eyes sharp like she’d never almost died two minutes ago.
“Did you hear that knock?” she whispered, her voice still strained from the wound.
I nodded quickly while my fingers moved instinctively to tell her stay put.
She just rolled her eyes at me like I was being dramatic. Great timing Really great.
I shook my head absolutely NOT the time to be sassy but fine, she was alive, so that counted for something.
I took a deep breath, walked toward the door, my heart banging against my ribs like it was trying to escape. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind: hunters, neighbors, police, a random stranger who might smell the blood…
I opened the door and I swear my soul left my body.
Of ALL people…ugh!
“Hey ya, pal!” Jonah beamed at me.
He was smiling with a drunk and he was absolutely dead drunk.
I just stood there and shook my head in disappointment, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He stumbled forward without waiting for an invitation, practically collapsing into my arms. His breath smelled like cheap alcohol, sour fruit punch, and bad decisions.
“Oh my God, Jonah!” I hissed. “You’re heavy, move your damn legs!”
He laughed in a ridiculous, loud, childish laugh that echoed around my hallway. Perfect… Just perfect. If Seraphine didn’t finish dying tonight out of embarrassment for him then , I would.
I dragged him inside the house, practically carrying his limp body. He kept tripping over nothing, sliding down the wall, even petting my hair at one point..
“Your hair’s so… woosh,” he slurred.
I wanted to punch him so badly.
If this wasn’t such a terrible moment, I would have knocked the living shit out of him for barging into my apartment like this.
“You picked the worst possible time,” I muttered as I hauled him up the stairs.
He mumbled something that sounded like, “I love pancakes.”
Jesus.
I dumped him on his bed, rolled him onto his back, dragged his leg up so it wasn’t hanging off the edge, and sighed. If he woke up with body pain tomorrow, that was his fault, not mine.
“Sleep, you idiot,” I whispered before shutting his door.
When I came downstairs, the couch was empty.
My heart shot into my throat.
“Over here,” Seraphine whispered. “Before you get a heart attack.”
I exhaled so hard I felt my soul return. She was leaning against the wall near the kitchen, arms crossed, acting like she wasn’t half-dying ten minutes ago.
I walked up to her. “Yeah, I thought you died and vanished. You know vampire shit. Based on the movies I’ve watched.”
She smirked at me. “And the sun-burning stuff too. They exaggerate us like we’re some kind of celebrities.”
I let out a dry laugh and hopped onto the kitchen counter.
“I know, right? There’s this one movie I watched the vampire couldn’t walk during the day. If they did, boom flames and that’s part of why my heart almost stopped when that TrueBlood bit the shit out of me.”
She snorted, grabbed a glass of water, and drank slowly. I watched her like she was an exotic animal doing something human.
Then I asked it the question that had been roaming my mind since she showed up bleeding.
“Do you normally get that urge to feed? Like… if you don’t do it, you’ll collapse?”
She paused, side-eyed me. “Why are you asking?”
I shrugged, pretending to be casual. “I don’t know… just wanted to.”
She took another slow sip before answering.
“Well, it depends. Sometimes it gets worse. Like… I feel like killing anything that has blood in it. Especially humans. And when that urge comes, there’s no restraint. Either I lock myself indoors, or I head into the forest to hunt until I’m satisfied.”
My jaw dropped a little. “Woah, That’s a lot. Restraint was the last thing on my mind when I first turned. I just wanted to… punch anything with blood.”
She chuckled weakly, then set the cup down. But before I could ask something else, she suddenly walked toward the door.
“Um… that’s not the way upstairs, Seraphine,” I said, confused.
She turned and gave me a small, tired smile. “Yeah, I know.”
“So where are you going then?” I asked, stepping closer.
She nodded upstairs. “Jonah might wake up any time… and see me here. Better I leave before that happens.”
I blinked, No. Absolutely not,. Not on my watch!.
I grabbed her wrist gently. “No, Come on, It’s okay i can explain everything to him. You’re hurt. You can barely walk. And outside there is NOT safe.”
She opened her mouth to argue but a loud, sharp CRASH exploded from the other room.
Both our heads snapped toward the sound.
“Oh for Christ sake !” I groaned. “Give me a minute.”
I rushed into the kitchen, expecting a plate broken, a glass shattered, something knocked over but everything was intact. Nothing moved or even fell.
“What the hell…?”
I hissed in frustration and turned to go back to Seraphine.
But the doorway was empty and She was gone.
Completely, utterly gone and that was when I knew…
She tricked me so she could leave.
“Oh you sly-ass vampire,” I whispered through my teeth.