by Helen Bright
“Yes love, he’s dead now. He can’t hurt anyone else.”
“I wonder if dad knows any of this Keeley,” said Dan with tears in his eyes.
“I don’t know, but I don’t want anyone to tell him that we know,” I said wiping tears away from my own eyes. “I heard from the rehab place today. He’s doing well at the moment, and they asked us to write him a letter. He’s sending us one too. I don’t want to set him back in his recovery, and as far as I’m concerned, my dad is the only dad I have ever wanted or needed.”
“I agree,” said Dan, also wiping tears away. “He’s my dad and despite his problems, before my mum died there was no better dad in this world. He can be like that again now that he’s getting the right help.”
“You know that this means you are a born immortal too, Dan, so if you were to take human blood you would make the transition from human to born immortal vampire if you wanted,” said Josh.
“But you don’t have to think about that now, Dan,” Freya told him. “Let’s all just get used to this and let the dust settle before any hasty decisions are made.”
Dan nodded and got to his feet. He held out his hand for me and pulled me up before enveloping me in the best brother and sister hug ever.
“You do know that this means you won’t be subject to the same blood lust as a made vampire would Keeley. That means Daisy can come home and stay with us,” said Josh smiling.
And that’s all it took to set me off bawling. Freya joined me in my crying, and it looked to me like Josh and Dan also shed a few silent tears. Gregor was clearly overwhelmed and tried to hug us all over the next couple of minutes, but I could tell seeing Freya, and I cry like that broke his heart.
When I could finally stop crying, we went back into the Manor to find Daisy and Yuri playing go fish. From the amount of cards that Daisy had at the side of her, it looked like Yuri was letting her win. When she turned to look at us, she threw her cards down on the table and jumped up to hug me.
“Mummy, why have you been crying? Are you sad?” she asked.
“Not anymore sweetheart I answered,” hugging her tightly. “Would you like to go home with Daddy and me?”
“Yes,” Daisy said, playing with my hair like she used to when she was a baby.
We said our goodbyes and I hugged Gregor before leaving, telling him that I would pick up my things when I came back to work in a few days. For now, I just wanted to be with my daughter and my fiancé, enjoying the feeling of being able to mother Daisy again.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Josh
Looking around at everyone enjoying our engagement party gave me an immense feeling of hope for the future. All our friends and family were here in the secret garden at the Manor, which I suppose is a silly name for somewhere that everyone knows the whereabouts of.
Gregor had hired a marquee, but since the weather was good, Keeley decided that it would be nice to have everyone in the garden itself, and Keeley always seems to get her own way around Gregor, just like Freya has over the years.
Chloe, the florist, had brought new plants over from the local garden centre and had attached solar and battery powered fairy lights all over the trees and hedges. Daisy loved it and said it was like a magical Queen Ellie fairy grotto.
I could tell that Gregor was loving all of the ladies reactions to the lights, flowers and glittery stuff that Chloe had scattered all over. With every gasp and awed expression the women made, Gregor’s smug grin grow wider.
It had been four weeks since we found out, here in this very same place, that Keeley had been a born immortal vampire and not just a made one. Although I knew the secret of what happened to her mother at the hands of the vampire, Brandr, was a terrible thing, it did mean that Keeley would always be able to walk in the sun and take care of Daisy like any human mother would.
Since finding this out Keeley hasn’t wanted to be away from Daisy, although she’s okay with leaving her with me, or Alex and Julia, Nik and Gina, Sergei or Yuri when she goes to work. There has to be a vampire involved in her care or Keeley just won’t leave her.
This has caused a few issues with Daisy’s grandparents on her biological father’s side. They have been used to having Daisy on overnight visits to their home for a couple of years now. But with Keeley’s paranoia over Maxim’s return, we could no longer let that be an option. So instead, we invited them to our cottage, to see Daisy and meet me.
The surprise and shock on their faces when they first met me was laughable. It seemed that Keeley had failed to mention the colour of my skin. If only they knew our other secrets.
I don’t think they liked hearing Daisy call me dad, but what did they expect? Their own son wouldn’t claim her, so a better man stepped up to the role, and was loving every minute of it by the way. What did impress them was the fact that I am wealthy. That stuck in my throat a bit because it shouldn’t have mattered if I was a multi-millionaire or not. It should have been about my love for Daisy and her mother. But as long as they accepted me and didn’t try to make trouble for us, it was enough for me to let that go.
I took them on a tour around the Night Movers compound at the guy’s request. As he had worked in the transportation/warehousing sector before, it gave us a sort of common ground, and we began to relax in each other’s company.
Keeley and I agreed that later on in the year we would allow them to take Daisy to France on a long weekend. We were desperate to blood bond but knew how insatiable we would be for each other in the first few days, so it was best that Daisy wasn’t around at that time, but we didn’t confirm an exact date until we knew Maxim had been eliminated.
Another obstacle that could have been in our way was Keeley’s father. He had been out of rehab for nearly ten days and was doing really good. Derek was a handsome guy now you could see him without his bloodshot eyes and overly ruddy complexion, and he looked nothing at all like he had the day before he went into rehab.
As part of his program, they were able to offer him access to their facilities once a week for continued counselling. It didn’t come cheap, but it was worth every penny to see Keeley and Dan so happy and proud of their father’s progress.
He had even met a woman while he was in there and that seemed to give him another push to overcome his problems. She was a nice lady who had lost her way after the death of her son in a motorbike accident. I think they were able to offer each other support and understanding because they knew first-hand how hard it could be to fight the ongoing battle of addiction.
They were both here tonight and because of them, Keeley, and I was going to make this a no alcohol party. But her father insisted we didn’t do that. He said he had to learn to say no to temptation, and he couldn’t do that if he were avoiding it altogether.
Derek had just been dancing with Keeley and Daisy and was now walking towards me.
“Derek,” I said his name as I nodded my acknowledgment of his presence.
“Josh, I would like to apologise for my behaviour that day you came to my house before I went into rehab. I’m not racist and obviously haven’t brought my children up to be that way, so I’m sorry that I said those things to you.”
I looked him over before nodding my head once again saying, “Apology accepted.”
He carried on looking at me. It was unnerving, and it took a lot to hold his gaze.
“I also need to thank you for getting me into rehab. I was causing myself so much harm, and in turn, I was upsetting Keeley and Dan. I know you didn’t do it for me, but I thank you anyway, because you did it for Keeley, to make her happy. I would like to pay you back when I get the money together. I could sell the house, and when I’m recovered enough I could get a job and…”
I held my hand up in front of him and stopped him in his tracks.
“There’s no need to pay me back, just make it work for you. As you said, I did it to make Keeley happy, and it was also to give Daisy the grandfather she deserves. Don’t let me down with this, Derek, be the man they
need you to be,” I said as I looked back towards where Keeley and Daisy were now dancing with Gina and Yuri.
The very next thing he said shocked me to the core.
“I know the man that fathered my children was like you…a vampire.”
I turned to look at him and saw the pain in his heart reflected in his eyes.
“My wife Josie and I had gotten married three months before I had to start my new job in Gainsborough, and the company I was working for sent us to where their other depot was for training. As it was in Kent, it was obviously too far for me to travel, so I stayed in digs with some of the others who were training with me. I didn’t come back to Barrowfield every weekend because we needed every penny we could get to put away for our new home, which was a new build just outside of Gainsborough itself. So Josie stayed here in her job until the house was finished, and we saw each other every other weekend.
“It was while I was in my first week's training that he met her. She told me that she didn’t want to sleep with him or drink his blood, but something he was doing to her made her do anything that he requested. He threatened to kill me if she told anyone about him and what he was, so she daren’t report it to anyone or even tell me. Josie wasn’t even sure if anyone would believe her if she did tell anyone. So she suffered what he was doing to her until one day he left the village suddenly.
“She wasted no time in packing up our things and headed to a bed and breakfast near our new home. Josie had sold any furniture we had in Barrowfield and used the money to help pay for her accommodation. When she told me what had happened with the vampire I didn’t believe her at first, I mean, never mind that she was saying vampires existed, she was also basically telling me that she had been having sex with another man, willingly or not.
“I’m ashamed to say that I did think about divorcing her. Josie was distraught, though, and frightened that he would find her. In the end, I started to believe her about him forcing the sex on her; it was when she told me about the reason the guy had come to Barrowfield. He told her that he was watching someone at the Night Movers Company and was waiting until he could hurt them the way that he had been hurt. My sister in law Maggie had been working for them for a good few years by then, and I knew that there was something different about her employers. I asked my brother Dave about it once or twice, but he was very cagey about it and just said that I was better off not knowing.”
Derek sighed and looked back over to Keeley and Daisy before carrying on.
“I knew then that my wife just might have been telling the truth. Josie said that the vampire had told her that he scented a pregnancy on her before he left but she said it should have been too early to tell. Three weeks later the pregnancy was confirmed, and it felt like someone was trying to tear me in two, I hurt so much. My wife cried and cried and promised me she would get an abortion if I would stay married to her, and I agreed. I loved her too much to leave her, but bringing up another man’s child after he had virtually been forcing my wife to have sex with him, was something I just couldn’t deal with. So she managed to get a date for the abortion on the NHS.
“Three days before that was due to happen, Josie started to bleed heavily. We had just got the keys to our new home and had bought some cheap second-hand furniture to put us on until we could afford what we wanted, and we were carrying it into the house. I took her to the local hospital, and they confirmed that she was probably losing the baby. While we were there, she became dizzy and passed out. They said she was really anaemic which was probably because the vampire had been feeding from her for weeks. The bleeding had stopped so they just gave her a blood transfusion. She had needed two pints before she was anywhere near stable.
“After the transfusion they did a scan to make sure the miscarriage was complete, but they found two live embryos’ still in the womb. I looked at the images the radiographer was pointing out on the screen, and I knew that the babies were trying so desperately hard to live. I just looked down at my wife and said, it looks like I better start getting some overtime in if I’ve got to buy two of everything. I think I was won over by those little wonders before she was, but in the end, we both knew that those babies were meant to be born and loved by us.
“The day they came into the world was one of the best days of my life. I had a son and daughter. Two beautiful blond haired blue eyed wonders, and I was thoroughly smitten. I was their dad, despite not being biologically related to them and nothing was going to change that.
“Life was really good for us until we learned that Josie had breast cancer. She had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy and all was going well; then we found it had come back in her other breast. When they did more tests and scans, they found it had spread to her lungs too, and there wasn’t very much they could do for her. They tried chemo again, but it wasn’t doing anything. We had to move back to Barrowfield so Maggie and Dave could help out with the kids along with Josie’s parents; while I nursed the only woman I had ever loved until she took her last breath.”
I put my hand on Derek’s shoulder when I saw him trying to hold back tears.
“Derek you don’t have to tell me any of this,” I told him as I tried to find a tissue in one of my pockets. But Derek found his voice again and carried on speaking.
“When Josie died, I had a full on breakdown. Not only was my wife dead but we were now living in the very same place where the vampire who attacked her last saw her. He had told her she was pregnant, and I thought if he came back he might have been able to recognise somehow that Keeley and Dan were his biological children. I started drinking to try and put these thoughts out of my head, but it never worked. Every now and again I would think it was okay, and I would stop drinking, but the thoughts came back, and I would drown out the sound with whiskey when they did.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about him finding them, Derek. The vampire who hurt your wife was called Brandr, and I had a hand in ending his life last year,” I told him.
The look of peace that came over Derek visibly transformed his features. He no longer had that pinched look on his face, and I saw the tenseness leaving his body right before my eyes.
“Thank you for telling me that Josh,” he said as he looked me square in the eyes.
“Can I ask that you not let Keeley and Dan know that I’m not their biological father?”
I started to protest because they already knew but he cut me off before I could get any full words out.
“Please, Josh, I’m doing well in my recovery so far. I would hate for all this to come out and jeopardize all that.”
What could I do or say to that? I didn’t like keeping secrets from Keeley, but I also didn’t want to harm Derek’s progress and recovery.
“Okay, Derek, I will do as you ask. But I don’t like keeping secrets from your daughter. All I ask is that maybe one day you would consider talking to them about it.”
He nodded his head and said, “Maybe.”
Then Keeley came over to where we stood and hugged her father tightly.
“Come on Dad,” she said smiling as she pulled him back onto the makeshift wooden dance floor, “Just have one more dance with me.”
“You’d better get used to this Josh,” shouted Derek as Daisy grabbed my hand, “If my granddaughter is anything like her mother it will be ‘Just one more dance dad’ until the DJ packs up for the night.”
Epilogue
Sergei
Most of the guests seemed to be up dancing and singing and having a great time, although Alex and Julia had sat at a table to the left of me.
Julia was due to give birth soon, and she seemed to be really tired at the moment. Her ankles were a little swollen, and Alex had them resting on his knees as he rubbed the ache in her feet. I saw her place her hand on her swollen belly and smile as it visibly lifted with her baby’s kick. I watched as Alex leaned forward and placed one of his hands where hers had been and grinned as he felt his child move around. It was a very touching moment and one I felt compelled to wa
tch. But I was soon interrupted by Gina tugging me forwards, so I was in the middle of the dance floor with her.
She seemed a little drunk, and as she had been drinking with Ryan the interior designer/decorator that Gregor had hired to work at the Manor, then it was safe to say she had probably had more than enough alcohol tonight.
I noticed Yuri give me the signal that I had been waiting for all night, and I spun Gina around, so I had a better view of all the guests. I quickly took note of where Keeley and Daisy were, before turning my focus on the very drunk Ryan as he stumbled out of the garden away from the party. The song ended, and I kissed Gina on the cheek before walking over to Nik.
Taking my friends arm and pulling him to one side away from the crowd I said, “Keep your woman close tonight Nik, until you get a call from me.”
“What’s going on Sergei? Is there something I should know?” he asked frowning.
“Just don’t let her out of your sight until I tell you. I have to leave for an hour or two, so I need you to keep Gina, Keeley, and Daisy safe. Be my eyes for me this night and hopefully we can put our fears to rest once and for all.”
He nodded his head, and I walked away to follow Yuri.
I waited in the shadows of the small copse by the coach house cottages. They were fully finished now, with no trace of what had happened on that terrible day. No evidence of Keeley and Gina’s blood littering the walls and floor anymore.
Lights were on inside the property that Gregor’s drunken guest was staying in and after a few minutes I saw the curtains close. I hoped we didn’t have too long to wait tonight, but was glad that the warm night air carried no breeze so our scents would be almost undetectable from this distance. I couldn’t see Yuri from where I stood, but I knew exactly where he would be from the plans we had made, just in case.