A New Meaning to the Night

Chapter Three: Your Father

They were just passing the park when Sam came into view. Though both mother and grandmother drew in deep breaths of relief, Sam barely spared them a glance. Cori had been asked to wait at the house. "You can relax now; they're not here to kill me."

When she would've continued to walk past them, Kaitlyn latched onto her arm, yanking her to a halt, angry and worried tears on her face. "What could you have possibly been thinking? You didn't know who they were or what they wanted. They could have killed you!"

"I told you before that you didn't rule my life. What makes you think that's changed?" There was no love lost in the look she gave her mother, only cool indifference. "I had questions. They had answers."

Rebecca could see when fighting and yelling wasn't going to solve anything. Neither Kaitlyn nor Sam could see or be bothered to acknowledge the pain of the other. Laying a gentle hand on each of their shoulders, she ignored her own hurt when Sam jerked away from her touch. "Now is not the time for this. She's safe and we need to go home. We can talk about this when we're all safely inside."

Sam shook her head, "I'm not going home right now."

"Don't be ridiculous, Samantha," Kaitlyn snapped, grabbing for her daughter's arm again. "You aren't safe—"

Sam's eyes flashed, finally a sign of emotion, and she stopped her mother from making another grab at her arm with an icy glare. "I don't care what either of you have to say to me at the moment. I don't want to be around you."

"Samantha, you can't just—"

Rebecca cut Kaitlyn off and pulled her away. "We can't control her actions, Kaitlyn. Let her go and have her time alone. She'll come back." Kaitlyn wanted to argue, but Sam was already heading away, toward the park.

She paused just before she was out of earshot, turning her head to the side, but not looking at them. "You should have told me about him. I deserved to know," she said softly before continuing on her way toward the pond and the edge of the woods to the right of its banks.

"She doesn't understand," Kaitlyn began, trailing off with a half sob.

"We never gave her the chance to."

***

He had better things to do with his night. There were bars he could be getting drunk in, girls to charm, plans to make...much better things to do with his time...but she was crying. Not those obnoxious sobs the girls sometimes did, but there were tears. Quiet ones that no one was meant to see. You had to give a girl points for not using them to her advantage.

"You've got to stop stalking people," she said quietly, without looking in his direction. "You're not very good at it."

He was surprised and grudgingly impressed that she'd known he was there when he stood in the shadows more than a hundred feet away, his vampiric hearing the only reason he caught her words at all. Damien closed the distance in a matter of seconds. There was no reason to pretend he was anything other than what he was. It was refreshing to be able to simply be without hiding his abilities. "I didn't know your father."

Glancing up at him, Sam laughed and leaned back against the oak tree behind her. "What a coincidence, neither did I. You may as well sit down if you're going to be here anyway."

Taking the offered space beside her, he leaned back against the tree as well and looked out at the pond, following her lead. After a minute, he glanced over. She had high cheekbones and a slim-looking nose. He'd written her off as reckless and not a little oblivious, but looking at her now, he could start to see what William had. Her intelligence shone brightly in those emerald eyes of hers; taking in their surroundings and calculating. "I didn't know him, but from what I've heard, you're a lot like him."