Blood Stain: Book Three of the Blood Type Series (complete)

Team Blake

"He broke up with you?" Olivia exclaimed as she sat down on the bed next to me.

My eyes brimmed with tears as a fresh stab of pain pierced the center of my chest. "He actually slammed the door as I walked out. Can you believe that?"

Olivia was spending the night just like the old days. I could almost pretend we were human again, talking about boys and clothes and life after high school. I experienced a sudden sense of déjà vu from when we had hashed out the details of yet another break-up.

"But John is in love with you," Olivia argued. "Has he gone completely mental?"

With a deep sigh, I gave Olivia the condensed version of the story Josiah had told me earlier that morning, though it felt like a lifetime ago now. "John said that until I can accept that his feelings for me are real, we should take a break."

"Wow," she said, shaking her head. "I thought the two of you would be together, like, forever."

I swallowed the lump caught in my throat, determined not to cry. I had done enough of that already. "He let me taste his blood," I said, my voice wavering. "He was about to taste mine. It was such a beautiful moment." I glanced at her through a veil of tears. "Was it even real, Libby?"

Olivia's mouth turned down as she patted my knee. "Some might say you deserve it."

I swiped at a tear, anger instantly replacing grief. "Why would you say something like that?"

"I'm not the one saying you deserve it—I don't think you do—only that some people have been calling you names behind your back."

My mouth popped open. "Like who, and what sort of names?"

Olivia's shoulders rose and fell. She wouldn't meet my eyes as she pawed through the basket of nail polish sitting between us. "Let's just say I'm a nice girl, and nice girls don't use that kind of language."

"Whatever."

She shrugged again. "Well, you have been sort of witchy to everyone lately. People at school have noticed."

"People at school don't realize I'm trying to save their human asses. I'm seriously stressed out."

Olivia finally looked at me. "You're stressing out because that's what you do best. You have this, I don't know, God complex or something."

"What?"

"It means you have an inflated sense of self-worth."

"I know what it means, Libby! And you couldn't be more wrong. If anything, I'm constantly doubting myself."

I flopped back against my pillow, throwing my arm over my face in hopes of blotting out the world. "Why are you psycho-analyzing me anyway instead of just listening to my problems?"

"I really liked that psychology class I took as an elective last year. I'm thinking about declaring it as my major in college."

"It was a rhetorical question." I glared at her, silently marveling at how she could even think about college when we had an entire town to save from the likes of Conrad Abernathy and his crazy daughter.

"Anyway," she said. "As much as you're entitled to your feelings, John is entitled to his. I mean, can you blame him for being upset? It's gotta suck to find out that you've been compelled to make someone fall in love with you, all for the sole purpose of fulfilling some diabolical plan. John's convinced his feelings for you are real, but at the same time, he knows what Margaret is capable of. I'm sure he has his doubts, you know? And then there's this whole thing with Josiah."