David tensed a little and a small flash of the way he saw me back then—a young girl sitting on a swing outside, hiding her tears from the world—came to his mind.
“I see you have also mastered the ability to read minds,” Dad said to me, smiling between David and I.
I half shrugged, half nodded. “So far I can only read David’s mind—and not always. And once or twice I’ve read Falcon’s.”
“And Jason’s mind,” David added.
I frowned. “No, I—”
“You can.”
“No, he
sends
me those thoughts. I don’t take them,” I said defensively.
David smiled smugly, sitting back a bit. “No. You take them.”
“I do?” My whole face crinkled, eyes blinking to help that sink in.
“Yes,”
David confirmed, but he seemed more amused than annoyed. “Do you know about her telekinesis—particularly in relation to breaking vampire bones?” he asked my dad.
“
I do.” Dad nodded. “I’ve been watching her progression closely.”
“How?” I asked, sitting slightly forward. “And how were you
with me
after the Elysium thing? I—”
“You would have known me, would always have known me, as the white dog you call Petey.”
My initial reaction was a throaty grumble of amusement, until the absolute seriousness on Dad’s face turned that scepticism into a very real dose of stupefaction.
Every moment I spent talking with that dog, playing with that dog, telling that dog off, suddenly came to mind, reloading the face of the man in front of me with a new image of a stinky, slobbering white fluffball.
David sat back, laughing into his hand. “Oh boy.”
Even Dad had to laugh. “Yes, I’ve seen a few things.”
“Nobody ever suspects the dog,” David said, issuing a hand toward my canine father.
“The contract,” I said quietly to David as though Petey wasn’t even in the room. “He was protecting the asset. You. That’s why Petey always watched over you.”
He shook his head. “More over Jason than me.”
Dad nodded to confirm. “You were strong, David—made friends easily. You didn’t need a companion as much as the younger boy did.”
David’s head bobbed in agreement, his eyes still smiling. “We’ve had some adventures, though, haven't we?”
Dad leaned forward suddenly and slapped his own knee, a burst of rather obnoxious laughter filling the room. “Yes, I forgot about that year.”
“What year?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“When Jason and I were boys, maybe ten—”
“Eight,” Dad said.
“Right, it was just after that birthday party at the tavern,” David said. “Jason and I got curious about girls, so we snuck into a … bordello.”
“You didn’t?” I gasped. “When you were eight?”
He nodded, eyes sparkling as he looked over at my dad.
“Boys will be boys,” Dad said.
“We crawled under a bed, waiting for one of the girls to enter in the hopes we might see a pair of undergarments,” David explained. “We had no idea what a brothel was, aside from a house with lots of girls, so we had no idea they’d be bringing clients up.”
“And the client that day just happened to be a well-known man in our town, someone who would go to great lengths to keep his…” Dad laughed. “…fetish a secret.”
“What fetish?”
“Well, let’s just say that this client didn’t enter the room with a woman,” Dad said. “Rather, a man.”
I started laughing.
“Anyway,” David added. “Just as we were about to make a run for it, Petey comes bursting suddenly through the door.”
“Imagine my surprise, after sniffing their trail all afternoon, when I found them at a whorehouse. My first thought was that they'd been taken there, as young boys often were, to feed the desires of sick old men.”
I covered my mouth.
“So this white dog comes bursting in,” David said, “a mess of spit and bared teeth, and drags us out from under the bed, Jason first, then me. You should have seen the look on the Mayor’s face.”
Dad and David laughed.
“When I realised they weren’t in any danger, I was so mad at them that the Mayor’s hand caught me off guard as he tried to
haul me out, and I turned and bit him square in the package.”
“And he starts screaming, right,” David said loudly, like an amused drunk yelling over a crowd in a pub. “And the police came a few moments later, took one look at the dog on this guy’s balls, then at us, and instantly assumed the worst.”
“Their father was called, and Mayor Turney was arrested but never charged.”
David wiped the back of his wrist across his mouth, shaking his head, his eyes so bright with amusement. “My father never looked at us the same again. He refused to have us examined but I know he believed we’d been assaulted.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, I guess it is pretty bad,” David said.
While they continued laughing and reminiscing, I only half-listened, taking the moment to digest everything else I’d heard tonight, then thinking about all the times I’d talked with Petey and how he’d somehow made me feel like everything would be okay. I’d wanted my dad here, so many times it hurt to think about now but, in truth, he’d really been here all along.
I thought back to that first day after I met Arthur on the park bench across from my house, when I turned and saw the white fluffball behind me—thought about how good it felt to see him. “The conferences,” I said out of the blue.
Dad stopped laughing and smiled at me. “Yes.”
“That’s how you got away with being Petey?”
“Yes,” he said again.
“But…” I frowned at his human form, trying to imagine a smaller dog in place. “How can you change size and shape?”
He slid forward on the seat, cupping his hands and resting his elbows on his knees. “You have that ability, too.”
“How?”
He turned his hand and showed me a shining red stone set into a ring on his pinkie—one I’d never ever seen before. “Blood Garnet.”
“Where do you get that?”
“It must be created through a kind of magic Nature offers. This was forged on the Stone by my blood and the blood of my mother, the first Auress of the realm.”
“And how does it work?”
“It allows the body to use the energy of Nature to reveal its spirit form.”
“So, we can just change into a dog?”
“For those whose spirit guide is a dog, yes.”
“Where does your body go? Your human body?”
He looked at the ring, tilting it into the light. “How does a bone grow from infancy to adulthood? What makes a caterpillar change to a butterfly?”
I was about to answer his rhetorical question when he cut in.
“We don’t see the action nature takes. We don't see the caterpillar transform before the naked eye, we only see it once it’s changed.”
“So, you don’t know where the body goes?”
He shook his head. “I do not seek to understand the mysteries of the world. Only to marvel at what I can see with my own two eyes.”
“Can all vampires change like that—or is it just Originals?”
“All vampires that posses a Garnet, yes.”
I turned back and grinned at David. “Where can we get one?”
Dad shook his head. “They must be made by an Auress under a full moon. And I would not recommend making them for just anyone.”
“What about David?”
“That would be fine. But a mask can only hide you from those who do not possess the knowledge of such.”
“Right.” I nodded. “So, keep this Blood Garnet thing a secret?”
“As well as your ability to age.”
I held my hand out in front of me, taking in the youthful skin. “I never thought I’d see myself old.”
“And you won’t,” Dad said with a laugh. “I wouldn't recommend hiding yourself the way I did.”
“Why?”
“Because it requires long periods of blood denial. Ara, anyone who’s been near you first thing in the morning knows that’s a bad idea. You can’t go without breakfast, let alone blood.”
David laughed.
“If you attempted to age, Ara, I’d leave the country.”
I punched him softly in the arm.
He laughed again, inching away as if that hurt.
“The other issue we’ll need to address is Emily Pierce and Nathan Rossi,” Dad added.
“Oh my God.” I covered my mouth. “Dad, Emily is going to freak.”
Dad smiled softly. “I know.”
“Then you know she has a—”
“I know all about Emily’s feelings toward me,” he stated. “But they will no longer be an issue, Ara. She’s fallen for Blade now.”
I wiped an imaginary smear of sweat from my brow.
“She liked the old man anyway,” David added. “She has daddy issues coming out of her ears.”
Dad and I laughed.
“Poor Em.”
“And Nathan,” Dad said, his smiling eyes then moving to David. “You took a great risk turning him, son.”
“I know.”
“Had you been caught—”
“I know,” David said again. “But I had to take a chance.”
“I’m glad you did. I didn’t know it at the time—that you’d turned him—but I remember thinking there was not a more tragic waste of youth than Mr Rossi’s. I look forward to seeing him.”
“How will you keep what you are a secret from them, Dad? They’ll know as soon as they look at you.”
“I won’t,” he said simply. “I’ll ask them to swear a vow of secrecy. As I did with Arthur just now.”
I nodded, knowing both of them would more than happily do that. “And Mike?”
“I’ve already seen Mike.”
“When?”
“I met with him yesterday, in town—asked his advice about how best to break the truth to you.”
Which explained now what Mike meant about leaving me in good hands. Bastard! He knew all this time. “And … what did
he
say?”
Dad laughed. “He was rather amused—after the initial shock and upset subsided. He basically just said good luck, but also confirmed what I already knew.”
“Which is?”
“That you're a strong girl. And you can handle much more than any of us give you credit for.” He looked especially at David then, who sat a little taller.
“So what now?” I asked. “I mean, are you staying for good or—”
“I’ll be here for good. Well—” He sat back comfortably. “Until you no longer need me.”
“So, you’ll be here forever then?” I hinted cheekily.
“I guess I will,” he said softly, as though that would be more than fine by him.
“Then, I guess we need to organise a room for you,” I said. “We’re pretty full but—”
“Arrangements are being made as we speak.”
“Oh.” I slowed the game of Vampire Tetris going on in my head and frowned. “Who organised it?”
“Arthur. At my request.”
“Okay. Great. Did he say which room he’d put you in?”
“The only room suitable enough for a member of the Original Family.” His lip formed a smile on one side as he looked at David. “The Master Suite at the east end of the manor.”
“What?” I nearly fell out of my chair. “Where will David sleep?”
“In the chamber he shares with his wife.”
“But—”
“No buts.” Dad put both hands up. “You two have slept apart long enough. No matter what your intentions toward each other at this time, they are inconsequential. The king and queen share a chamber, and that’s all there is to it.”
Secretly, I was beaming. But David looked pale and breathless.
“Son?” Dad said, waiting until David looked at him. “Thus far you two have escaped the suspicions of the House and the people. But you
know
what they will do to my daughter if they learn the truth about your separation.”
David gave a slight nod.
“Don’t downplay this, son,” Dad said sharply. “I know nothing of your reasons for refusing to acknowledge that you care about her, or the child, but I have known you since you were born, and I am sure you would not see her harmed. In fact, were anyone to try, I imagine you’d be the first at her defence.”
I knew David couldn’t admit that out in the open—there’s no way he would. He just cleared his throat instead, avoiding an obvious movement of his head to indicate his feelings either way.
“Now—” Dad stood. “I will formally announce my arrival and intentions tonight at dinner, and the rest of the kingdom will be notified with an official address at the festival tomorrow night.”
David and I stood too.
“You’re going to the festival?” I asked with a bit of secret dread, thinking about the rather revealing dress Magda made for me.
“Of course.” Dad put his arm out for a hug. “Even packed my tuxedo.”
I shuffled over and graciously tucked my head under his chin, squeezing him tight. “I’m so glad you're here, Dad.”