Free The Huntress: Becoming a Huntress by Mihaela Gheorghe

I insinuating myself?”
    I shrug, laughing.
    “You are naïve.” I continue, sipping with calm and nonchalant. “Nikos is my mentor, and in very rare moments-my friend. And that’s it.”
    I very clearly hear her heartbeats, which are very fast. Just as well I perceive her increased body temperature. These signs give me to understand that she would not stop to hunt right now, even if the prey is me.
    “That doesn't prevent him to want you!” she squeals again.
    “And that's not my fault.” I cut her short, in a tone that suggests that the discussion has ended. “And even though between me and Nikos there will be nothing, ever, it does not mean that when the time will come, he will not be with anyone. So, if I were in your place, I would do anything in that direction, instead of accusing others of things that they cannot be held liable.”
    Before she can throw the fluid from the glass in my face, my hand shoots, and catch her by her arm.
    “Don't be childish!” I say to her coldly.
    Her eyes cast more flames.
    “No matter how much you might want it, you will never be one of us, can you hear me?” She says as yelling. “You are nothing but a Mongrel, that’s what you are! And I hate you! We all hate you! But, besides that you stole Nikos’s affection from me, the worst is that you have in you vampire blood! Maybe nobody ever told you, but all hunters hate you!”
    Instead of getting mad, I still maliciously smile.
    “Well, maybe not all of them, don't you think?”
    The color of her cheeks fades. Still holding her arm and shaking it with something more than firmness, I bend towards her and tell her slowly.
    “And if you really hate me all that much because of my blood mixture, why don't you do something about this?” I say as I am insinuating.
    “Because the High Priest has not yet given us the order!” "She hissed.
    But her barely hidden grimace shows me that my grip is painful. I tut...
    “No, not because of that. Because it would have been very easy for you to make it look like a vampire attack. So that’s not the reason. Don’t you know what the reality is? The reality is that you are afraid of me! Perhaps you do hate me, and I’m sure of that! But it is equally as certain that you're afraid of me!”
    “Is everything all right?”
    Nikos’s voice makes Cassiopia startle. However, not any of my muscle moves.
    “Of course.” I reply suave. “Why wouldn't it be? I just looked at Cassiopia’s wonderful bracelets.” I say to justify why a have her arm caught.
    And then, toward her.
    “Indeed, my dear, the bracelets are splendid. You are lucky that you found them. You keep it that way! I just hope that the good luck won’t leave you at one point.”
    Her whole body gives me to understand that she had understood the hidden threat. I let her arm. The trace of my fingers is very clear on her dark skin.
    Then, she totally surprises me.
    “Well, if you love so much my bracelets, choose one that you like. Either one you like. I’ll give it to you as a gift.”
    I don't understand her so affable attitude, and something like an alarm bell starts to ring in my head. But, how Nikos is also here, and my hesitation, puzzles him, I fake an interest in her jewels, and I choose a black and silver bracelet.
    “Are you sure you can get rid of this beauty?”
    Cassiopia shook her head with a prettily that surprises me even more.
    “Of course I am. I assure you that it makes me happy to give you any of these bracelets.”
    I look with circumspection from the bracelet at her.
    “Come on, Patricia,” says Nikos, “take it! It's the first time that one of our kind is so open and friendly with you. I am glad, Cassiopia, to see that you're friendly with Patricia. There are too many who aren’t.”
    Cassiopia looks at him with adoration, excited by the appreciation in his voice. This is annoying me, because I know for sure that there is something hidden in her apparently so disinterested gesture.
    “Well,” I