Vampire 01 - Daughter of Darkness

shoulders softly. I felt completely alienated from them.
    Panic set in as a silence fell over the house. I felt a fluttering in my chest and a trembling in my legs. I took deep breaths and returned to my bed. The minutes that passed seemed more like hours to me. How well would Ava hold up in the cross-examination, even if she wanted to support the story? Would Mrs. Fennel frighten and threaten her until she told the truth? Would my bedroom door open and all four of them be standing out there looking in at me as if I was the biggest traitor the family had ever known, their eyes gaping, their faces distorted with rage?
    Even before I knew the answers, tears began. Why shouldn’t I cry? What other love had I known until thenbut Daddy’s love? He had filled me with his poetry and his music, his vast knowledge and wisdom. I was as much part of him as I was of anyone or anything. He had cared for me, protected me, and placed his faith in me, as I had placed mine in him. In seconds, that might all be gone, and then what would I be? Who would I be? What would I have? The same fear of loneliness and abandonment I had felt all my young life came rushing back over me.
    Anyone condemning me or judging me badly for having this fear would have had to have been abandoned first, would have had to have experienced life without family and friends, and would have had to have known nothing more about themselves than what they had been told. I had found the picture of a woman who could be my mother, but I had not found out anything about her. I had no grandparents, no real uncles and aunts, and no cousins. I was someone without any history except for the history I had been given. That had all supposedly begun the day I was plucked out of an orphanage. When I was sent away, I would have no name. Yes, before anyone condemned me for being so frightened and so upset about what might happen to me, he or she would have to stand in my shoes.
    I heard footsteps in the hallway and knew from the sound that it was only Daddy who was coming to see me. I wiped away the tears from my cheeks and sat up straight, holding my breath until he opened the door.
    “I swear, the two of you will be the death of me,” he said. “Do you know why your sister was late for dinner last night and why she called you? Of course you don’t. You said you didn’t, but you’d never imagine.”
    I waited, yet to take a breath.
    “She was afraid we would move away from here before she had helped you be your father’s daughter. She went and answered one of those personal advertisements through the Internet. Frankly, I never thought of any of you doing that. There’s a potential gold mine there. She had to meet the prospect. I guess I can’t fault her for being clever, but I do fault the both of you for messing up, for being careless and getting yourself in trouble at school,” he added, but not with the violent anger I had anticipated. “Mrs. Fennel’s correct. This is not good timing for something like this, not that there is ever a good time for it for us.”
    I took a breath. “I know Mrs. Fennel hates my saying it, but I can’t help it, Daddy. I’m sorry.”
    He nearly laughed. I felt my body soften and relax. “Well, Mrs. Fennel believes that in a world where no one could say he or she was sorry, fewer mistakes would be made. People would be more careful.”
    He stepped up to me, took my chin in his hand, and gazed at my face.
    “You’re too beautiful not to forgive, Lorelei. I know deep in your heart, you don’t want to do anything that would hurt me, hurt all of us. Soon you will be fully mature, fully realize your potential and purpose, and then you will be unstoppable. This really is the wrong time to be making any mistakes. You’re too close. I think you understand that now. Instinctively, you do.”
    I tried to nod, but he was holding my chin too tightly. I could feel the strength flowing through his fingers and into my face.
    “I’ll go with you to school tomorrow. We have a little more time here yet, and I want you to be all right, for all of us to be all right, until we leave.”
    “Where will we go, Daddy?”
    “We’re going to Louisiana,” he said. “There are many new opportunities there for us since the floods.”
    He was still holding my chin between his thumb and fingers.
    “So, I’m going to forgive you for this mistake, Lorelei. I want you to feel and appreciate my forgiveness,” he added, and slowly lowered himself so he