Page 149 of A University of Betrayal

I had my eyes wide open and tried to hit the person, to struggle free, but his grip was too tight. I had no chance of freeing myself.

“Bayla,please.”

The person knew me…

And I couldn’t say anything until he finally let go of me, causing me to stagger back and crash into the closet. It rumbled loudly, and we both flinched.

“Damn it!” the man exclaimed.

I wanted to say so much, but not a word came out. It was only when the large shadow moved towards me that I managed to pull myself out of my shock.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my mother’s house? I’m calling the...”

“You’renotgoing to call the police, believe me.”

The intruder spoke with such confidence, as if it was normal to just break into a stranger’s house in the middle of the night.

And then I realized who was standing in front of me.

“You...” It was one of the men who had been out with the DeLoughrey guys.Bastien.

“Stay away from me...”

I’d only survived one of those bites. And when I thought back to the pain, I definitely didn’t want to feel it again. Even if the pain had been much more intense during the Quatura’s rite of Passage ceremony.

A Ruisangor stood in front of me. A bloodsucker. And there was no reason why he was here except to kill me.

He just laughed dryly and came closer. As always, he was wearing one of those fancy suits. And he was very good-looking, like all the DeLoughreys. Maybe he was in his early thirties. Anyway, he was tall and scared the hell out of me.

“Don’t come any closer,” I warned him in a shaky voice as he took another step toward me. He stopped, and his eyes began to glow. Dark red and dangerous.

“You’re a mystery to me.”

What? Had he seriously just said that?

“You are Diana Adam’s daughter, therefore a Quatura. So how can it be that you survived the bite?”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t even know what to do. My body just stiffened. I had to buy time. “And how do you know my mother?God,why are you even in this room?”

I lost control and, clenching my hands into trembling fists, prepared to defend myself.

“Mr. DeLoughrey, please…”

“Call me Bastien. I hate being called Mr. DeLoughrey by children.”

“Excuse me?”

Had he just called me a child? And besides, how dare he?

He didn’t make a face. He had meant it.

“Fine, then, Bastien,” I began with frustration, “You know that I’m a Quatura, and that your kind and mine are enemies,” I began, as everyone else in this town did.

“You might be wearing one of these crystals,” I instinctively reached for my necklace, which had nothing to do with all the mumbo jumbo in this town. “But you don’t smell like Quatura.” I had forgotten all about that. “Believe me, I know exactly what your kind smells like.”

That sentence wasn’t unsettling at all.

“But the strange thing is that you don’t smell supernatural, or like a human at all, not even like us. Even though you’re one of us now.”

---