Be Careful What You Wish For

Chapter 44

The moment Helen entered the small, dilapidated house, Tobias started bombarding her with questions.

"What took you so long? Where were you?" he asked.

Seeing his panicked expression she looked around and upon not noticing Cecilia anywhere, she had an idea of what had him so preoccupied as to forget that he was mad at her.

She knew it was selfish, but she almost felt content that he argued with Cecilia, because she was tired of Cecilia always being the perfect one.

It was difficult for someone born and bred in bloodlust to keep up with one vampire who barely had any bloodlust, let alone two. Since the moment Cecilia got better control of her thirst, Helen felt incompetent since Cecilia, a newborn could control herself so well, most of the time.

Helen wondered if that depended on what kind of person you were while alive. Her having been a hunter might have transferred to her vampire life.

However, instead of speculating about why she was the way she was, she did her best to focus on the vampire whom she had raised since he was just a sniveling newborn into a strong vampire that he was now, well most of the time at least.

"I was checking our blood supplies here. Why? What happened?" she asked.

"Well...ahem... Cecilia...ah... we... she..." Tobias said.

He was a stuttering mess because it felt much more uncomfortable talking with Helen about what happened than he anticipated having been able to talk to her about almost everything in the past. However, at that moment he felt as if he was about to tell his mom a bit too much about his private life.

Of course, Helen wasn't his mother, and she would probably not appreciate the comparison, but since she had always been the one protecting him and taking care of him, Tobias couldn't help but feel as if she were his vampire mother.

"I am an adult for crying out loud!" he thought to himself.

Grinding his teeth in desperation he decided to just spit it out.

"We kissed and she ran away," he blurted out.

Helen wasn't surprised that the two had kissed since she had felt the sparks between them for the longest time. Only a blind person wouldn't have seen it.

That made Tobias and Cecilia blind as bats because they haven't noticed the attraction before.

One thing that Helen couldn't understand, however, was why she would run away when she was pretty sure she shared Tobias' enthusiasm.

"Did she not want you to kiss her?" she asked cautiously.

"No! What?! No! She kissed me, but her fangs came out, and she ran away afraid that she might hurt me. I didn't have the chance to tell her it was normal. She ran away so fast. I was hoping you could find her and explain. She is more likely to believe you." He said looking at his feet.

He knew Helen wasn't very fond of overly emotional beings, but he didn't know what else to do since he was sure Cecilia would think he was just trying to make her feel better.

Upon hearing what he wanted of her, decades of putting up layers of the armor of indifference fell only to be replaced by anger. After all, it was his private life, and she didn't want to interfere, especially if it meant 'girl talk' as they called it in the wretched decade they had yet to survive.

It was a while since Helen had been able to access any strong emotions or to connect on an emotional level with someone and even that didn't fully open up her heart.

As far as she could remember, even as a human she was more concerned with reason and hunting than she was with those pesky emotions that could leave the strongest beings a heaving mess.

"I can't believe you are asking this of me!" she yelled.

She didn't make the slightest effort to hide how angry she was to have to deal with a sentimental vampire, something that wasn't supposed to exist as far as she was concerned.

Vampires were vicious predators who didn't go around kissing each other or worrying about each other's safety. Still, she couldn't deny the fact that from time to time she did care about the emotions of others, well mostly Tobias' emotions.

"One moment you are angry with me for doing the right thing and the next you are asking me to do something you know I despise doing," she said.

"I am sorry. You are right. I overreacted and I apologize. You know I wouldn't ask you to do this if I thought there was another way to help her understand, but there isn't. The reason she will listen to you is exactly the fact that it is obvious, even to her, that you are a straightforward, no-nonsense vampire and that you wouldn't try to spare her feelings." Tobias said.

Looking into his eyes filled with sadness and worry she knew that she would cave, she would do what he asked of her even though she didn't want to. Although Tobias was an adult, from time to time, he reminded her of a small child with his puppy dog eyes begging for her to help him.

It was the strangest thing ever. A vampire with so much power, a vicious predator, begging with the eyes of a child and to Helen, it was weirder than the fact that they were all vampires.

How can something so dangerous at times look so vulnerable?

Unable to stand the pain and supplication in his eyes, she lowered her gaze and started moving outside.

"Fine, but this is the last time I interfere in your lovers' quarrels." She said as she disappeared through what was left of the front door.

After she left, Tobias sighed a breath of relief. No matter how much Helen didn't want to do what he asked of her, once she promised that was it. She never broke her promises.

Walking up and down the room nervously, Tobias resigned himself to waiting. Still, one part of his mind was also preoccupied with that life-changing kiss that kept replaying in his mind.

While Tobias was consumed with worry and thinking over the kiss and what it could mean for their future if Cecilia didn't change her mind, Helen followed Cecilia's scent at a slow, human pace.

She wanted to prepare as much as she could, for the unpleasant task of discussing private things with a person she barely knew. If she was being honest, she wasn't good at discussing emotions with anyone, so she was taking her sweet time reaching Cecilia.

Once she finally reached the newborn, Helen felt bad for not hurrying up a bit since it was obvious that the girl was in an emotional turmoil.

Snapping her head up upon hearing Helen's approach, Cecilia quickly lowered her head back down, trying to hide the red little traitors that were running down her face.

"Ahem..." Helen started awkwardly.

She was never good with emotions, but she was even worse with tears, so having to deal with a crying vampire was her worst nightmare.

"So... I ... heard what happened," she went on to say.

Sniffling profusely Cecilia raised her head expecting Helen to be furious at her for almost hurting Tobias' again, but the look on Helen's face was not the one of anger. It seemed like the closest thing a vampire could get to being embarrassed.

"You know...hm... that is normal...ahem... a primal reaction," Helen said.

"I don't understand. How is me, biting Tobias considered in any way normal?" Cecilia asked.

"AGH, I hate this. I am so not good at this." Helen said.

She started pacing around in frustration deciding what the best way was to explain to the inexperienced vampire what she meant.

"Very well, I guess it's another storytime," she said exasperated.

She hated to have to share things from her personal life, but she had a feeling it would be easier than having to explain the logistics behind it all.

So they both settled down on the ground and Helen started telling Cecilia about herself as a newborn and her... primal reactions.