Chapter 149 A Life for a Life

Chapter 149 A Life for a Life
A Life for a Life

Liam’s POV

I had promised Rosalie that I would do everything I could to help Dylan get better. That promise stayed with me as I walked out of her office, my mind already racing through all the possibilities. But the moment I stepped into the hallway, I stopped.

Vivian was standing there with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her face was tense, and the look in her eyes told me something was seriously wrong.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked over to her.

“Follow me,” she said quietly before turning around without waiting for an answer.

I frowned and reached out, gently touching her arm to stop her.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter first,” I said. “I don’t think we should have this conversation here.”

She looked at me for a second before giving a small nod. Without another word, we headed to the car.

The drive was painfully quiet.

I kept stealing glances at Vivian, hoping she would say something, but she remained silent. Every few minutes, she looked into the side mirror, staring at her own reflection for longer than felt normal. Then she’d start biting at her nails so hard that the skin around them had turned red and raw.

She looked nervous and scared.

Whatever was bothering her had been eating away at her for a while, and I could see she was struggling to find the words. I wanted to ask, but something told me she would speak when she was ready.

When we finally pulled over at a quiet spot far from the house, she let out a shaky breath and turned to face me.

For a few seconds, she just sat there, staring at her hands. Then the walls she’d been holding up finally crumbled.

She told me she’d gone on a date not long ago, hoping things would feel normal for once. At first, everything was fine. But then her thirst for blood had hit without warning, so strong that she had almost lost control.

As she spoke, her hands trembled in her lap. Fear filled her eyes, and her voice shook with every word. She looked completely overwhelmed.

Then she looked at me and asked the same question she’d clearly been asking herself ever since it happened.

“What if I can’t control it anymore?”

She swallowed hard before whispering it again.

“What if this is who I am now? Is there any way to turn back?” she asked. “Can I stop being a vampire, Liam? I don’t think I can keep living like this.”

I wished I had the right words to make everything better, but I didn’t.

I tried to comfort her anyway, telling her that things could change and that she wasn’t beyond saving. But every word sounded empty, even to me. Vivian wasn’t looking for comfort. She wanted answers, and I didn’t have them.

“How have you survived this?” she asked, her voice rising with frustration. “How did you keep going after everything you’ve lost?”

I was quiet for a moment before answering.

“I felt exactly what you’re feeling now,” I admitted. “I hated myself. I felt empty all the time, and there were days I didn’t think things would ever get better. I kept wondering if this was all my life was ever going to be.”

I lowered my eyes and let out a slow breath.

“It didn’t disappear overnight. I didn’t wake up one day feeling okay. The only reason things started changing was because I met Dylan. He gave me something to fight for. He reminded me that there was still a part of me worth saving, even when I couldn’t see it myself.”

Vivian’s eyes filled with tears, and I felt my own beginning to sting.

For a long time, neither of us spoke. We just sat there in the silence, carrying the same pain in different ways. I knew exactly what she was wishing for because I wanted the same thing.

If only we could go back.

Back to before the blood, before the fear, before the guilt that followed us everywhere we went. Back to a time when life was simple and none of us had any idea how quickly everything could fall apart.

But life didn’t work that way.

The past was gone, and all we could do was keep moving forward, no matter how much it hurt.

After a while, I finally told her about the conversation I’d had with Rosalie. I explained the plan I’d been thinking about and the woman Rosalie had warned me to stay away from.

I expected Vivian to tell me I was being reckless.

Instead, she looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I’m coming with you.”

I sighed and opened my mouth to argue, but the determined look on her face stopped me. I knew that expression well. She wants to save Dylan as much as I do.

In the end, I simply nodded.

Nearly an hour passed as we drove through roads that became quieter and more deserted with every mile. According to the directions Rosalie had given me, we were getting close.

When we finally arrived, I frowned.

This was the place?

The place looked old and neglected. The walls were cracked, weeds had taken over most of the yard, and the building looked like it had been forgotten by the rest of the world. It was nothing like the place I’d imagined when Rosalie mentioned it.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, an elderly woman standing near the entrance fixed us with a hard, suspicious stare. She didn’t smile or greet us. She simply watched us as if she already knew we didn’t belong there.

I forced myself to stay calm and walked a little closer.

“We’re looking for someone named Betty,” I said politely, doing my best to keep my voice steady despite the uneasy feeling growing in my chest.

The old woman didn’t answer my question.

She simply turned around and started walking, expecting us to follow. Vivian and I exchanged a confused look before trailing behind her. She led us across the property toward an old warehouse tucked away at the back. The building looked abandoned, its wooden walls weathered with age, and the rusty metal roof creaked softly in the wind.

The moment we stepped inside, I realized how wrong I’d been.

This wasn’t someone leading us to Betty. She was Betty.

The old woman turned slowly to face us, her sharp eyes studying us so closely that it felt like she could see every secret we were trying to hide.

“What do you need?” she asked calmly, though there was something unsettling in her voice, as if she already knew the answer before I spoke.

I took a deep breath and told her everything.

I told her about Dylan, about what had happened to him, and how every day that passed seemed to pull him further away from us. I explained everything Rosalie had discovered, our growing desperation, and why we had come all this way looking for her. I didn’t hide anything. There was no point anymore.

When I finished, she kept quiet for a while, then she laughed.

It wasn’t a laugh of amusement. It sounded more like someone who had heard the same story too many times before.

“Rosalie sent you, didn’t she?” she asked with a faint smile. “She wants to look into the past again.”

I immediately shook my head.

“No. I came here on my own. She doesn’t even know I’m here.”

The smile disappeared from Betty’s face.

She stared at me for several long seconds, and the air inside the warehouse suddenly felt much heavier. Even Vivian, who had been standing quietly beside me, seemed to hold her breath.

Finally, Betty spoke.

“The price for what you’re asking is deadly,” she said slowly. “If you choose this path, someone may not come back. It could cost a soul.”

A chill ran down my spine.

My heart began to pound as I searched her face, hoping I’d misunderstood.

“What do you mean?” I asked quietly, my chest tightening with every passing second.

Betty didn’t answer right away.

She kept her eyes fixed on me, as though she was measuring whether I was truly prepared to hear the truth. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, but the words landed like a hammer.

“It’s very simple,” she said. “A life… for a life.”