Vampire 01 - Daughter of Darkness

your impulsive person.”
    I turned and looked at him. “It occurred to me that you should have more time.”
    “More time?”
    “To meet my younger sister, our housekeeper, and even Ava. That way, you’ll be more comfortable when you meet Daddy.”
    He nodded. “Sure.” He leaned toward me to kiss me.
    “Let’s go,” I said, walking away and into the house.
    He followed quickly. “You certainly can be confusing,” he said when I opened the front door. “First, you were adamant about keeping me away from your house, your father, and now you can’t wait to bring me to him.”
    I turned to him. “Yes. I know. I’m sorry.”
    “Nothing to be sorry about. I’m just amused. You’re full of surprises.”
    We headed for his car.
    I’m sorry
, I repeated, but only to myself, and under my breath, I whispered, “I don’t think I have the strength not to bring you to him.”

20
 
Tomorrow Forever
    Buddy couldn’t stop talking as he drove. I knew that my abrupt decision to leave immediately disturbed him, even though he agreed it made sense to go to my house and spend some time with my sisters before my father arrived. Try as I would, I couldn’t pretend to be as enthusiastic as he was about our future relationship. I knew most of his effort was going toward getting me at least to sound half as excited as he was.
    “Now that I’m going to meet your family, you’ve got to meet mine. Maybe next week, we can take a drive down to Long Beach. You’ll love my mother. She’s pretty hip and very pretty, if I may say so myself. Most of my friends tell me she looks more like my older sister than my mother. She dresses in up-to-date fashions, likes a lot of the music I like, and has a bubbly personality.”
    “Bubbly?”
    “Yeah, you know. She’s always up, and if something unpleasant happens, she always seems to find something positive to say. You know the type.”
    “No, I don’t,” I said.
    “Why not? Your father doesn’t sound like a depressingguy. May I ask if he’s seeing anyone? Romantically? I know he’s had some tragedy, with his first wife dying and the mother of your younger sister deserting him.”
    I didn’t answer. It was much darker now. Twilight had thinned away, and shadows found every vaguely lit place to invade and occupy. To me, it felt as if they were closing in on us. A sliver of the moon flashed between buildings and trees. For some reason, when the light from cars passing us in the opposite direction illuminated the inside of Buddy’s car, I looked at my reflection in the window and, instead of myself, saw the face of the woman who could be my mother. I imagined her whispering,
How are you going to live with the sound of his scream?
    When we made a turn onto Sunset, he asked me what street he should turn on to get to my house.
    “Just keep going,” I said.
    “Yeah, but with this traffic, I’ll need some heads-up. Don’t suddenly shout ‘Turn here!’” he warned.
    “I don’t want you to turn. Just keep going.”
    “If we keep going, we’ll be in Pacific Palisades, and then we’ll be at the ocean, Lorelei.”
    “Good.”
    “Good? I don’t get it. You were in a hurry to get home only a little while ago. Now, what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
    “I want to see the ocean at night.”
    He shook his head but smiled. “Women,” he said. “Can’t live without them and can’t live with them.”
    “You have no idea how right you are,” I said. I was thinking it and didn’t realize I had spoken.
    “What’s that supposed to mean? Man, you’re like a
tangram
all of a sudden.”
    “What’s that?”
    “A Chinese puzzle. Pretty hard to figure out most of the time. It’s a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, always seven, called
tans
, which you have to put together to form shapes. You’re given a specific shape only in outline or silhouette, and you can’t overlap any of the pieces. My father likes to do them. He picked it up when he was stationed in Hong Kong. I’m not bad at it,” he said. “Makes Dad proud and happy that his son takes after him, I guess.”
    “You sound like you have a very nice family, Buddy.”
    “Good as any I know and better than most I know,” he said, nodding. “Which is why they’ll love you.”
    No, they won’t
, I thought, but this time, I didn’t say it aloud.
    We drove through Pacific Palisades and came out on the Pacific Coast Highway.
    “Where should I go?”
    “Any place you can