Wolf's Bane

Human Nature

The next day, she agreed to meet Andrew in his office. She took a seat across from him, not knowing how to start a conversation.

"I wanted to compliment you on how well you did last night," he told her. "I know Peter made an effort to get a rise out of you, but you managed to maintain your composure. That was impressive."

"Impressive?"

"Yes. I know that must have been difficult for you, seeing those things," he explained. "It's clear Peter was trying to upset you and you didn't give him the satisfaction."

Desiree stared at him, her hands balling into fists in her lap. "You think his main goal was to upset me?"

"That appears to be the case."

"You don't think he was trying to upset anyone else?"

"While it's possible he wanted to mess with Sebastian, I think you were his primary target."

"Why would he want to mess with me?"

"To get to me."

"Right." She considered that for a minute. "Do you not think he was trying to upset you last night?"

"I suppose he might have been," Andrew admitted. "Obviously, seeing you upset would bother me."

"And that's it? The only about last night that bothered you was me being upset?"

"Have I said something wrong?"

She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. "Did you know about what he did to Sebastian?"

Andrew's eyes darted around, as if searching for the least distressing answer. "I knew enough."

"He locked Sebastian in that coffin, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"A lot?"

"I believe a fair amount."

"And when he wasn't locked in the coffin he was being tortured for the sake of Peter's twisted art."

"I'm sure that wasn't the case all the time."

"But it happened and Peter played all sorts of mind games with him," she said. "You can see that in Sebastian's room. He even hung those paintings to remind Sebastian. He'd lock him in that coffin and the first thing Sebastian saw when he got out was paintings based on his torture. Am I wrong?"

"I don't believe so."

"Did you know he did that kind of thing before you made the bet?"

Andrew hesitated before replying, "Yes. As I said before, I knew Peter was cruel to him. That's why I wanted to get Sebastian away from him."

"But you said you mostly wanted your friend back."

"I did."

"You saw the sick things he did to Sebastian and you still wanted to be friends with Peter?"

"It's more complicated than you realize."

"The friendship of Sebastian's abuser was more important to you than protecting Sebastian. Am I wrong?"

"No, but-"

Desiree stood and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Away from you," she replied before walking out.

However, he wasn't having that. He followed her out of the room. "Don't walk away like that."