The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(45)

“Well, I don’t know why you would ask them to stay away just because I’m here. There is no reason to live your life any differently than you did before,” I told him. Really, the last thing I wanted to do was meet any of his bloodsucking buddies.

“I was concerned with how you would react in a room full of vampires. Now, you are more acquainted with our ways, so it will not be such a shock, and my friends will be coming around more.”

I sensed there was more to it than just my needing to adjust. “Is that the only reason?” I questioned. “Should I be worried about something?

Trevor sighed and pushed his chair out a bit, then crossed his legs.

Curious, I caught his eyes and raised my eyebrows in question.

Finally, he relented and explained. “I simply could not take any chances with you, your mother…”

I felt my spine stiffen. “What about my mother?” I demanded.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, smoothing it down. “Your mother lived with me for about a year. During that time, she was attacked by one of my men. I will not take that chance with you.”

I think I snorted a little bit. “Really? Because, when you had all your goons attacking my family all those times, that was me in danger… that was you taking a chance with me.”

“That is hardly the case, Chloe. I had ordered that you were to be taken alive.”

I felt myself heating up. “Are you crazy? I was still in danger of being killed!”

“Why must you always be so insolent? I simply will not continue to tolerate your attitude. You are here now and must accept things the way they are.”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “What should I wear?”

He looked thoughtful, tilting his head and staring at me as if he were imagining me in a certain dress or something. “There are several dresses in the armoire in your room. You should pick out one of those to wear.”

“Can I go shopping tomorrow?” As much as I hated shopping, I wanted the illusion of freedom and going off the property would have allowed me that.

Alice came back with his wine and sat it in front of him. He looked up at her briefly and then dismissed her with a slight nod. Jeez, what an ass. Alice smiled and nodded at me on her way out of the room.

“No, you cannot go shopping. There is no time. Besides, if you were to leave the grounds, I would want to go with you.”

“Oscar could go with me,” I hopefully suggested.

“Chloe, there are dresses upstairs. You don’t need to go buy one. It’s only a simple dinner party.”

“Fine.” I pouted and looked down at my food. I should have known better, but I also didn’t like him having so much control. It felt awful not having any say in what I was going to wear.

After dinner I went upstairs and opened the armoire. There were four dresses there. I immediately cut the blue one because it was more of a formal gown, all fluffy and stuff. The next dress was red, and even though I looked good in red, I thought it was too flashy for a dinner party. The green one was a color that reminded me of Christina and her hooker dress, so that left the always dependable little black dress.

While I tried it on, I considered showing up in jeans and my Harley shirt. Strangely, I ended up surprised how nicely the dress fit and how appropriate it was. It had a skirt that stopped just above my knees, the neckline was scooped and the straps were about an inch wide. I ran my hands over my hips, feeling the soft cottony fabric beneath my fingertips. It felt good, so I decided to wear it. After digging around a bit, I found a pair of open-toed heels that matched in the bottom of the armoire.



The next night, after the sun went down, Alice rushed around trying to prepare everything for the guests. Hired help prepared food in the kitchen, and I chased Alice around, asking her every two minutes if there was anything I could do to help.

“Stop asking me that and go sit down or something!” she finally snapped at me, pointing at the couch. I was about to do just that when the doorbell rang. Expecting vampire guests, I wandered slowly to the door and pulled it open. It was a complete surprise when I saw Oscar on the other side.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was invited,” he told me and stepped inside.

I closed the door behind him. For some reason, I felt like a puddle of goo whenever Oscar was around. I just couldn’t place the feeling.

“I didn’t know you socialized with vampires,” I said, attempting to tease him.

“When I am invited by one of the most prominent vampires in the supernatural community, I certainly do socialize with them.” He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the tall rack in the entryway.

“Well, come on then.” I waved him into the house. “No one else is here yet, but they should be soon.”

Oscar regarded me with slanted eyes. “You’re nervous.”

I nodded. “Yes, yeah, I’m very nervous.” I paused. “What if one of them wants to eat me or something?”

Oscar laughed “I highly doubt that one of them would try anything like that here, even if they did want to eat you.”

“It’s not funny, Oscar. I’m actually a little scared.”

The back of my neck tingled just as the doorbell rang again. I wondered if that tingling thing was ever going to go away. I glanced at Oscar and raised my eyebrows. Well, there wasn’t much else I could do except get it over with. I turned and opened the door.