I didn’t move, still in a state of shock about Dad’s identity as a hunter as Mom tugged at my chains with a look of concentration. She fiddled with the padlock on them for a second before turning to rifle through the pockets of the two hunters for a key.
“Vampire, huh? That might have been a good thing to know,” she said, finding what she was looking for and holding it up in front of her for inspection.
“I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”
Mom paused in unlocking the padlock. “You’re my daughter. I don’t care if you have fangs or horns. Ultimately, I just want you to be happy and well.”
I sent her an arch look as she helped me lift the chains over my head, her movements gentle. “Are you sure about that? Because sometimes it feels more like you want me to fit your version of who I should be.”
“I know I’m pushy. Especially with you. But it’s because I know what you’re capable of and how easily you fall into a rut. That said, I’m trying to work on that. I’m even seeing a counselor. Had my first session the night of Linda’s recital.”
I blinked in shock, finding a similar level of surprise on Jenna’s face. Dad was the only one who greeted the news as if he’d heard it before.
“I don’t want you to hide yourself from me or put up barriers because you think you’re protecting us,” Mom said with a pointed look. “You just worry us when you do that.”
Feeling a little uncomfortable with how accurately my mom read me, I glanced up at my dad. “Why didn’t you ever say anything? You had to know.”
He nodded. “It was kind of hard not to after the hospital and Linda’s miraculous recovery. Even if I wanted to, it would have been impossible to miss a clue that big or your sudden unwillingness to donate blood. I assume her recovery had a lot to do with either you or your friend from that night.”
Jenna jerked to alertness, her head twisting toward me. “What are you talking about?”
Dad didn’t look at her as he regarded me with a steady gaze. “Vampire blood is a panacea for most human ailments. Linda didn’t get better because of anything the doctors did. She got better because of Aileen or one of her friends.”
There was shock on Jenna and Mom’s faces as they looked from Dad to me.
“Aileen?” Jenna whispered.
“You let me struggle with what I was,” I burst out, more focused on that then Jenna’s questions.
A sympathy that made my chest hurt filled Dad’s gaze. “Baby girl, you were so lost, and you hated yourself for what you had become. I didn’t think revealing I was born to a family that hunted your kind would help your mental wellbeing.”
I fought the stinging in my eyes as I looked away in shame. My self-loathing felt like a weakness. More because he was right.
I wasn’t sure I would have been able to handle learning my dad was part of a group that hated my kind back then.
“Right about the time I thought I would need to push you toward one of the vampire clans your friend Liam involved himself in our lives. I figured things would sort themselves out eventually.” Dad’s smile was small. “I didn’t count on you being so stubborn or it taking so long.”
Jenna’s scoff made it clear she thought he should have.
“We’re going to have a discussion about all this and how you let me arrange an intervention for her later,” my mom hissed through gritted teeth, looking like she dearly wanted to do violence to her husband.
“You didn’t know about this?” I asked her.
“About vampires and hunters and other supernaturals? No. I thought you had PTSD and were trying to bury yourself in your apartment. I may not be the best mother, but I wouldn’t have handled things the way I did had I known.”
Dad’s face was calm as he met her gaze. “As Aileen knows, there are consequences for revealing the supernatural world to humans. For hunters, the penalty is worse considering our history of inciting bloodthirsty mobs. And after Brin, you were very determined not to acknowledge even the possibility of the supernatural.”
Mom’s anger collapsed as her face fell.
“You know about my biological dad and what he is?” I asked.
“In a way, you could say he’s the reason your mom and I met.” The warmth in Dad’s eyes as he looked at my mom held love. “My nephew wasn’t entirely correct. After the accident that hurt my leg, the elders moved me to a support role. Gathering intelligence. Taking care of logistics. I was supposed to be tracking a centuries old target on their list, a Fae, when I chanced upon a woman and her toddler. Those two stole my heart at first sight. I knew I couldn’t return after that so I staged my death. I guess some of my family saw through that ruse, though.”
Confusion was the only thing in my mind as I struggled to process all the revelations. The fact my dad was hunter born was almost as difficult to understand as the fact he’d been in search of my bio dad when he happened across Mom and me.
I guess Jenna’s resistance to Connor’s compulsion last week made more sense now. She was hunter born too. At least half of her was anyway.
“That’s all very important, but let’s discuss this later when my pot roast isn’t in danger of burning.” Mom gave me a questioning look. “Before that, do you need blood?”
