Mine, Bitten

Chapter Nineteen

  Lily

     Lily rounded on him the moment they were alone. She should have been frightened given the circumstances; it wasn't every day you were abducted by a vampire, and she was afraid, but she wasn't going to show him that.

            "I think I'm entitled to some answers." She began, glaring angrily into the broad expanse of his back. "I was set up on a blind date, attacked by four ogre-looking trolls, fed on by an Adonis look-a-like, and tossed over one shoulder too many for my liking."

            He turned around and sparred her with an awry grin, "Adonis?"

            "That's beside the point!" she exclaimed, growing increasingly agitated, "You owe me an explanation."

             Her words touched an aggressive note, for his expression suddenly darkened, the awry grin twisting into a grim line. "Direct your hatred where it belongs, Lily."

             "Are you saying I don't have the right to be angry?"

             He stalked towards her and damn her unwavering courage, she found herself backing away. "If you seek an explanation, then perhaps it is your father you should call upon."

              His dark eyes roamed her face, falling to rest fervently on her mouth.

             "I am the defender of my people. I am bound by oath, sworn to ensure their well-being above my own. I am taking a risk in keeping you alive."

             Her stomach tightened with unease, "Then why have you?"

             His jaw formed into a straight shot of muscle, "You are a liability."

             "Are you using me to get at my father? We both know that won't work."

             His mouth curved into a grin, one that stirred a chill in her bones. "Why do you think those men abducted you?"

             Lily had her own reasons for the goons in the alley but apparently they weren't the right reasons.

            Varian stepped closer, this time pulling a sharp breath from her throat. Why did his nearness unsettle her so?

           "It was a trap." He growled, "That night in the Carpathians. You were bait. I was the bite."

            He reached out and plucked a soft wave from her shoulder, rubbing his finger smoothly over the silken strand. "He knew I would want you, like the beast that I am, your blood called to me. I had every purpose of draining you dry that night I carried you to your hotel room."

            Her heart was hammering so profoundly, she wondered if he could hear it. "Why didn't you?"

            When her eyes connected roughly with his, they had a peculiar glow, a flickering glint of heat, like a dancing flame.

           He dropped his hand and stepped away from her, sweeping his fingers through his black mane. "My people thrive off human blood to survive. We have done so discreetly for centuries, never detected, never suspected-until now."

          He turned around to fix her with a sharp, piercing glare. "Your father has been trailing me. He wishes to use my blood at his scientific disposal." He began pacing the room in long, angry strides. "I have managed to dissuade him, lure him further away from those I am sworn to protect."

         "How does my father know about you, what you are?"

Varian

         Varian studied her with a knowingness that unnerved her. "What all do you know about your father, Lily?"

         The question was deeply unsettling and she felt a blush work its way to her face. She didn't know why that bothered her, but it did. Was it simply because she herself didn't know anything about Ward McDermott, aside from the obvious, that his work was the very reason he breathed? She had vague memories of her father as a child. He had never been present-birthday parties, five o'clock dinners, even holidays, he had always been absent.

        Her silence was telling enough and so Varian continued, "Do you know what year your father was born?"

Lily

       Lily frowned, finding difficulty in how the question was relevant to their conversation. "Of course-1964."

            He stared at her purposely, and she wondered exactly what he had meant by it.

            He surprised her by crossing the room towards a small, mahogany dresser and tugging open the top drawer.

            Her brows knitted together with a mixture of curiosity and confusion as he withdrew a withered, leather-bound book.

            Turning back around, he moved toward her and dropped the book to land with a resounding thump on the table.

            She stepped forward and noticed the book wasn't just any book, but a tattered, forgotten journal. She felt the heaviness of Varian's stare and unable to ignore the impulse, reached out and opened the cover.

            The amount of time transpired since someone had last opened it, showed poorly in the flaxen pages as they crumbled and waned beneath her touch.

            She opened the cover and there at the very top, written in an intricate swoop of script, was a name. She lifted the book gingerly in her palms and focused intently on the bold print.

            Her heart jarred against her chest for the name read-

            1862-Lordship- Sir Ward McDermott-

            Lily dropped the journal and it landed face down on the table. She peered up at Varian, feeling the room spin in a way that made her stomach roll.

            "Your father was born in the year 1833."

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