Vampire 01 - Daughter of Darkness

for some special time with him, the rest of us were jealous. I was sure that was true for Ava and Brianna, even though Brianna had less reason now. Daddy was doing this only because of the mistake she had made.
    He held my hand, and we walked out to the gazebo behind our house. It was a much colder afternoon than the previous one. I wore my winter coat, but Daddy wore only his turtleneck black knit shirt. Neither the cooler air nor the sharper breezes bothered him. He was comfortable and relaxed.
    “Let’s just sit here a while and talk,” he said when we stepped into the gazebo. He buttoned the top button on my coat. “Warm enough?”
    “Yes, Daddy.”
    “Good.” He smiled at me and looked out at the woods. “Most of the leaves are already gone. Earlier this year,” he muttered, and shook his head as if someone had made a great mistake.
    “The trees died again?”
    “No, not died. They’re just hibernating like bears.”
    “Did you see ever see a bear here, Daddy?”
    He smiled. “A few times.”
    “You weren’t frightened, though, right?”
    “No, it was the bear who turned and fled.” He took my hand and held it between his as he leaned forward, his eyes seeming to grow larger as he gazed into my face. “Now, I want to talk to you a little bit about what happened the other night.”
    “It wasn’t Brianna’s fault that I leaned out of the window too far,” I said quickly.
    “You’re under Brianna’s wing right now. It’s always the fault of the person in charge.”
    “Even accidents?”
    “Even accidents. Everything is preventable if enough thought and preparation are committed. Don’t worry. She’s learned an important lesson. You did her a favor.”
    “I did? What favor?”
    “Never mind all that for now. Let’s get back to what you saw, Lorelei, okay?”
    I nodded.
    “Remember when I brought you out here with me in the spring and we watched a robin plucking worms and bringing them up to her nest?”
    “You boosted me up, and I saw the baby birds.”
    “Right. The mother was bringing them what they needed to live and grow.”
    “I remember.”
    “Well,” he said, keeping his hands tightly around mine. Mine were a little cold, but his were so warm that mine quickly felt better. “I’m not a baby, but I need what I need to live and grow brought to me periodically, too. Periodically,” he continued before I could ask, “means once every month in this case.” He smiled.
    “Mrs. Fennel told me. Virile young men,” I said, and he laughed.
    “She said that? Yes. I need what’s in their veins, only what’s in their veins. It has to do with hormones, too, but don’t concern yourself now with what it all is exactly. Just know that it has to happen once a month.You’ll learn that’s like a woman having her period once a month.”
    I shook my head. Brianna had shown me what periods were when I wrote my first sentence.
    Daddy laughed again. “I see I’m confusing you. Usually, my girls are much older by the time they make this discovery, learn all this, Lorelei. Maybe I should have had Mrs. Fennel continue explaining things to you.”
    He saw the disappointment on my face. This was the nicest, most private talk we had ever had, and I didn’t want it to end. I certainly didn’t want to learn it from Mrs. Fennel.
    “But I think it’s better we have this little talk after all,” he quickly added, and I nodded, happy again. “You know I will do everything I can for you, don’t you? You know how much I love you.”
    “Yes, Daddy.”
    “Good. You and your sisters love me, too, and you know your sisters would do anything they could to help me.”
    I nodded.
    “You will, too, won’t you, when your time comes to do it?”
    “Yes, Daddy.”
    “That’s what it means to have a family, why your family has to be the first and most important thing to you. We’re a family. We’re not like other families, I know, but that doesn’t mean they are better than we are. You will have more. You will be happier than any other girl you know, Lorelei. I will make sure of that. I’m so happy we have you as part of our family,” he added.
    My eyes filled with tears of happiness. He kissed mycheek and lifted me to hold me in his lap. The afternoon was folding into night. Shadows began to grow around us, but I wasn’t afraid. Right then and there, I thought I would never be afraid. Daddy was too strong. Even the shadows seemed to stop before they could get too close to us.
    We sat