The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(49)

“Once we have you safe in your room.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little, “Really? Now you want me safe?”

He grabbed me by the arm with one of his strong hands and pulled me up the stairs. When we reached my room, he kicked open the doors and shoved me inside.

I whirled to face him. “What the hell is going on here? What exactly is it that you want me for?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and locked gazes with him.

“Sit down.” He waved the gun at the couch.

“I don’t want to sit. I want you to tell me what the hell is going on here!” My gaze moved to his hands and zeroed in on his gun. “Is that my gun? Seriously, don’t you have your own?”

He didn’t answer me. He stepped just outside the door, leaving the gun trained on me and moved aside one of the photographs on the wall, exposing some kind of switch. He flipped it and a loud clank echoed through the walls.

“What is that?”

Again, he didn’t answer. He let the picture fall back into place, came back into the room just as some kind of metal sheeting emerged from the ceiling, covering the walls and everything on them.

Appalled, I looked up and down, back and forth, watching the metal slowly imprison me.

“You truly thought I didn’t know about your little gift? He pulled out a straight-backed chair from the table and sat in it, crossing his legs.

I continued to stand.

How in the hell will I ever get out of this room now?

My mind raced ahead of actual time. I knew I was going to be left alone at some point, and I needed an escape route.

As though he had read my thoughts, he said, “I’ve fireproofed the entire room, even the furniture and carpet are resistant. Not completely fireproof, but resistant. If you light it up, sprinklers will extract from the ceiling, so using your fire won’t do you any good in here.”

“How did you even know about it?”

“I’ve known since my vampires tried to bring you back once before, the day you broke your arm. Shelia managed to escape you and the other Hunters. She immediately came back here to report why they hadn't returned with you.”

I finally went to the couch and plopped down onto it. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I do not have cause to voice my reasons to anyone. You are no exception."

“At least tell me why I’m here. You owe me that much.”

I leaned back on the couch, put my feet up on the coffee table and waited for him to talk.

He uncrossed his legs and then crossed them the other way. “All right. I suppose I should explain it to you now."

He paused, turned his head away for a moment and stared at a far point on the wall. I refused to break the silence and speak first, so I sat and waited for him. Eventually, he sighed and then turned back to face me.

“Do you remember the conversation we had about what a vampire most desires?” he asked.

I nodded, but stayed silent.

“Above all else, a vampire desires the sunlight. To be able to walk about under the deadly rays of daylight would make any creature of the night extremely powerful, simply because of what he can do. Not only powerful, but I could experience something I have not experienced—and have missed—for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”

“About a year before I met your mother, I came across a book that contained a recipe for a vampire to become a day walker.” He paused and let that sink in. “This recipe called for the vampire in question to drink the entire blood supply of a dhampir, who is also half Hunter, on the day the dhampir turns sixteen. As you know, both dhampir and Hunter are rare to come by. So, instead of searching the world with minimal chance of finding someone with those traits, I found a woman with whom I could make my own.”

I felt my stomach turn over and lurch. I even gagged. “You… you… bred me. You used my mother to make me for your sick desires?”

It took every ounce of control I had not to jump over and strangle him. Like that would do any good anyway, being that he was dead already.

“I did love your mother. I didn’t think I would, but sometimes things don’t always turn out the way you want them to. I never intended to tell her my plans for you. I would have staged an accident to explain your death in order to keep her with me.”

My jaw hung open. I was speechless.

“Don’t look so shocked, Chloe. I never treated your mother badly. I loved her, and if we could have one child, then we could have others. Everyone would have been happy.”

He sighed. I closed my mouth.

“When Felicia found my books and research papers containing all the information about my plan, she ran, escaped with you in her womb.”

I watched his facial expression fade until he appeared to be far away and lost in thought.

“She loved you so much without even knowing you… she ran from me to protect you.”

I planted my hands on my hips and stomped my foot. “I’m tired of hearing all this crap about how much you loved my mother. You are a lying bastard, and I hate you. I should blow us both to bits right now.”

He shrugged, calling my bluff and then stood, challenging me, seeming almost hopeful. “Yes, I figured as much,” he said, actually sounding disappointed when I did nothing but stand there. “You are going to stay in here. If you try any funny business, like trying to burn the place down, you will be removed from this room and taken elsewhere. And believe me, this room is far better than the alternative.”