Bonds of Blood (15 page)

C
hapter 23

Kat stared at the man, her breath catching in her throat. 

The man smiled at her.  “Hello, Katarina.  You are as beautiful as your mother was.”

Alec gave her a firm squeeze, as he said, “I’ll leave you two alone for a moment.” 

With those words Alec bent to retrieve Damien’s limp form.  Hefting him over one shoulder, he turned and walked outside. 

When Kat simply looked at the man that was her father, he continued.  “I am sorry about your mother’s passing.  She was an extraordinary woman.”

“If she was so amazing, then why did you leave her when she was pregnant with your child?”

“I didn’t want to leave you or your mother, but the rules of my kind are absolute.”

One eyebrow arched.  “I thought the rules included no children, but that didn’t stop you from breaking that one?”

He looked away.  “What you say is true,” he admitted. 
“No children have ever survived from such a union.  Not until you.”

When she didn’t reply, he continued. 
“But to answer your question more completely, I didn’t expect to fall in love with your mother.  I’m afraid it was a complication that neither one of us could foresee.”

She pulled her lower lip beneath her teeth to keep it from trembling.  “Is that what I was? 
A complication?”

His eyes met hers and
he started to come closer, but she took a step back her gaze steady.  “You were a miracle Katarina.”

“
My whole life I wondered why you left us, why you didn’t want me?   Now I know that it was to save your own skin.”

He closed his eyes as if her words hurt more than he could bear.  “It was a decision I made to protect you even if
it didn’t always seem that way.”

Alec walked in, keeping position by the door.

“As you have seen, my world is dangerous.  I never wanted that for you.  I only wanted you to have a normal life.  It is obvious by what happened here today that that is not to be,” her father explained.  He turned to Alec.  “How many others know the truth?”

Alec shook his head.  “I can’t be sure.”

The two shared a look before Tarquin turned to look at Kat.  “It is no longer safe for you here Katarina.  If Damien knew of your origin, I’m sure others do too.  You must come with me to a place where you can be guarded.”

Her gaze shifted between the two
men.  “Alec is my guard.”

Tarquin
offered a patient smile.  “He is but one, and I have many at my disposal.  I am thinking of your safety.”

She shook her head.  “I don’t belong in your world.  You made that clear when you walked away.”

Alec crossed the room to stand beside her.  “I can stay with Kat…to protect her.”

One eyebrow arched as
Tarquin took in the pair.  His gaze shifted back and forth between them, his eyes widening for a minute before they narrowed.  He looked like he wanted to argue but instead he simply nodded.  “Very well, then.  Alec, I will need to discuss a few things with you.”

When
Alec turned to look at her, she nodded.  “It’s okay.  I’ll wait in your room,” she agreed, walking past them.

“Katarina,”
Tarquin called after her.

She
turned to look at him, and he smiled.  “I will wish to see you again before I return home.  Would you be agreeable to that?”

She gave him a reluctant nod.

His smile broadened.  “Good.”

****

Alec watched the tense exchange nervously.  Knowing how Kat felt, he knew he had no right to interject.  This moment was between father and daughter, and no matter how badly he wished they would make peace, it wasn’t his place to force the conclusion. 

Once Kat was gone, he turned to face
Tarquin.  His maker continued to stare toward where she disappeared.

“She is even more remarkable than I imagined,” he mused.

Alec grinned.  “I know.”

“I assume that is what drew you to her.”

The words were spoken low but Alec heard the implication loud and clear.  “I did not intend for this to happen,” he confessed softly.

Tarquin
turned to pin him with a serious gaze.  “But it did.”
              Alec met his gaze head on.  He would not apologize for the feelings he had for Kat.  He could say that he had only formed a bond with her to negate the one that Damien forced, but the truth was he had hungered for her for years.  All he needed was a justification to take what he craved. 

During the time they spent together, his feelings had grown from pure intentions to develop into something he could never
have dreamed.  Those feelings were as undeniable as his origin, a simple fact that could not be changed.

“Yes,” he
said.  “It did.”

Tarquin
let out a heavy sigh.  Despite the mirage of youth in his features, Alec could see the pain of the years he had lived in his eyes.  “I did not want this for my daughter.”

“She has known she was different for years
.  It is no coincidence that she sought us out,” Alec pointed out.  “It was only a matter of time.”

Tarquin
shook his head.  “Perhaps it was wrong to send you to watch her, to meddle in her life the way I did.”

“She would have been defenseless had I not been here.  Damien would have discovered the truth with or without our presence.  All it would have taken was a single taste of her blood to confirm his suspicions.”

Tarquin’s eyes met his.  “He was not the only one to taste my daughter,” he said, his tone holding a hint of anger.

Alec looked away.  “No,” he agreed.

The gaze Tarquin fixed on him unleashed the full fury of his rage at the confession.  Pain speared through Alec’s mind as the power of their bond snapped and clawed at him.  Doubling over, he reached for the doorframe to stay upright.

“Tarquin, please,” Alec managed.

The throbbing receded slowly easing out of him as
Tarquin broke the gaze.   Drawing in deep breaths, Alec slowly straightened.  He could never underestimate the power his maker had over him.  It was there in every aftershock of pain.

“Don’t defy me again.”

Alec nodded.

“On the phone you spoke of a tracker?”

“One of Damien’s men hired a tracker to find us
,” Alec explained.

A look of disgust twisted the line of his mouth.  “Foul creatures, trackers. 
Any idea where this one went to?”

“No, but I will find him before he does any further damage,” he vowed.

“Good,” Tarquin replied.  His gaze shifted to the back of the house where Kat was waiting.  “I don’t like the idea of leaving her here.”

“I promise I will defend her with my life.”

Tarquin’s gaze met his.  “I have no doubt of that, especially after recent developments.  But I worry that if things become too volatile that might not be enough.”

As much as Alec wanted to disagree, he knew he couldn’t.  Not after what happened here tonight. 
If Tarquin hadn’t arrived when he did…

“I will leave another man in the city to keep watch,”
Tarquin decided. 

“If you think that is best,” Alec conceded uneasily.

He didn’t like the idea of having someone stay in town especially because he knew that person would be watching the developments of Alec’s attachment to Kat.  Still, after what happened recently, there was no choice.

This was about Kat’s safety and two guards would always be better than one.

“I will have him contact you once he is in place.”

Alec nodded.

Tarquin glanced toward the back of the house.  “She will never forgive me for abandoning her.”

“You did what you had to do to protect her,” Alec reminded.

“She will never see it that way.”

“She does not understand our ways yet.  But she is learning.”

Tarquin’s eyes met his.  “Too quickly I am afraid.  And in a way that is much too dangerous for my liking.”

Alec
knew that Tarquin’s fears were as much about his relationship with Kat as they were about others learning of her true origin.  Still, he wouldn’t apologize for the way he felt about her.  He cared too much for her to do that.  He would pay for his sins, of that he was sure, but he would not lie about his feelings. 

“Protect my daughter,”
Tarquin ordered.  “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

Alec gave him a quick nod.

“And don’t let me find that my trust has been misplaced again.”

With those cryptic words, Alec watched his maker walk away.

Chapter 24

Kat sat on the bed in Alec’s room, her arms folded around her middle.  She was still shaken from everything that happened tonight.  It wasn’t just what happened with Damien…meeting her father had definitely thrown her off.

After all these years, all the years of wondering what he looked like of thinking about him, and then there he was.  The fact that he was a vampire didn’t help matters.  In all the fantasies she had concocted
, that certainly had never been one of them. 

A knock at the door mad
e her jump.

“Come in,” she called out, eager to have Alec’s arms around her.

But it wasn’t Alec who stepped through the doorway.  It was the man who called himself her father.  All of the air in her lungs seemed to evaporate in an instant.  His long black coat seemed to cling to his lean frame.

“Hello Katarina,” he greeted with an easy smile.

“Hello.”

“I am leaving.”

Funny how after all this time those words could still make her chest ache.

“May I?” he asked indicating the spot on the bed next to her.

She inclined her head in silent agreement.  The bed dipped slightly with his weight.  With him so close she could see so many resemblances.  His high cheekbones matched her own, the narrowness of his chin.  It was strange to see a similarity in someone you knew almost nothing about.

“I know that you do not understand the choices I made in the past.  There are things about my world that are not pleasant, as you have witnessed.  Living by the rule of the Order has not always been easy for me.  What happened with you and your mother is one of the greatest examples of that.”

“Alec said it was forbidden.”
              His eyebrows lifted for a moment before lowering.  “It is forbidden.  But what happened between me and your mother was something neither one of us could fight.”

Drawing in a steadying breath, she asked the one question that had been plaguing her.  “Did you love her?”

He looked away, but not before she saw the flash of pain that darkened his face.  “More than I thought possible,” he confessed softly.  “It was not an easy thing to leave her, to leave you, but if I had stayed I would have risked your safety.  I couldn’t allow that to happen no matter how deep my desire to be with both of you.”

For a few moments they were both silent. 

Suddenly, Tarquin’s dark head lifted.  “I must leave.  The sun is coming up.”  He drew in a deep breath.  “I regret that our time together is so short.  I am very curious about your life.  Perhaps one day soon you will find it in your heart to visit me in Italy?”

“
Maybe,” she conceded.

He turned to head toward the door.  When he reached it, he turned back to look at her.  “I assume you
want Alec to stay here with you?”

She nodded. 

“Then, it will be done,” he said.  “Be safe, Katarina.”

And just like that he was gone from her life again. 

Kat curled up on the bed pulling her knees up against her chest.  Closing her eyes, she tried desperately to hold in the tears, but they would not be contained.  For all these years, she had hated him, hated him for leaving them.  But faced with the truth of the situation, she couldn’t deny that even if she couldn’t forgive him, she at least understood him better.

Still, no matter what their genetic link, he was still a stranger.

For now.

****

Alec walked into the bedroom a few hours later to find Kat asleep in his bed.  She looked so young and fragile curled up in the covers.  He leaned back against the door.  So much had changed in the past couple of weeks.  After years of watching her, waiting, everything was out in the open.  He could only imagine how she was dealing with everything.  To find your father after years of thinking he was dead was a big enough shock, but to find out he was a vampire was something few people could accept. No matter what brave front she put on, it had to be devastating.

Luckily, Kat was stronger than she would ever give herself credit for.  He had witnessed that during his fight with Damien and his men.  She had stood with a gun ready to defend him. 
The moment of selflessness meant more to him than she would ever know.  That fire within her would serve them well in the coming months when they had to deal with the tracker that was still on the loose.

Alec looked away.  He had said goodbye to his maker a little while ago. 
Tarquin and his men would be heading back to Italy, and he and Kat would be alone again.  Selfishly, he couldn’t help but feel a little satisfaction with that fact.

Glancing over, he stared at the woman sleeping peacefully in his bed.   So much had changed
for him because of her.   Despite everything they had faced, she had stood beside him.  For some reason that thought comforted him beyond measure.  He no longer felt as he had so many years ago when he was her member of the Vigilate.  Now, he felt like they were both warriors who would stand together to face whatever may come in the future.

She stirred, her eyes fluttering open.  “Alec?”

He crossed the room to slide into bed next to her.  “I’m here.”

She turned to snuggle against him.  “I was so afraid,” she confessed, her voice a mere whisper.

He rested his chin on the top of her head.  “It’s over now.”

“He’s gone?”

He didn’t have to ask who she was talking about.  He already knew.  “He left an hour ago.”

“Will others come for us?”

After what they had just faced together, he couldn’t lie to her.  His hold on her tightened as if he could ward off the fear.  “If they do, we will be ready.”

For a moment, she was silent.  But when she spoke it was with a conviction.  “Yes,” she agreed, leaning back to meet his gaze.  “We will be.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes.  He closed his eyes feeling the subtle movements of her body as she breathed.  No place in the world had ever felt as right as being by her side.

“Thank you for staying,” she said.

The corners of his mouth curled up.  “There’s no where I would rather be.”

And there wasn’t.