Tattooed Vampire

CHAPTER 24

"Remember your promise, my darling." My mother whispered in my ear as she hugged me tightly.

I laughed and held her as tightly as she held me. "Don't worry, I won't break my promise."

We pulled away from our hug then and she gripped my shoulders, holding tightly to make sure I was looking at her. "You don't need to hurry too much though. Enjoy yourself, be happy with you're..." She trailed, looking at my father from the corner of her eye to see if he'd caught her slip. Fortunately, he hadn't.

She'd told me earlier that she wasn't going to tell my father about Nathaniel and me. She would wait until I was ready to tell him. Although he was the one who had planned most of my wedding, he hadn't exactly dealt with me not being his 'little girl' anymore yet. I could tell by just looking at him that he didn't want to leave like my mother did. As long as I'm hereshe'll be fine, I was sure that had been his thoughts.

If Maddox and Keri had been told, I'd be surprised. Since my mother hadn't told anyone that would mean Nathaniel would have told them and I was sure that after his reaction that morning that that was a big no-no. Just because I had accepted this it didn't mean he had. Maybe he was in denial. Hell, maybe this was completely one-sided and he didn't want to hurt me by saying he didn't have any feelings for me like I did for him.

No, I refused to think that. I knew he had feelings for me, he'd admitted that, but that didn't mean he thought I was his soul mate.

Far from it.

Sometimes during these past five days I'd find myself trying to figure out why he cared for me as much as he did. Why did he even bother? I wasn't use to it, someone actually liking me.

Frankly, I wasn't use to anything that was going on in my life at that moment.

Nathaniel was standing a few feet away from me with his parents, speaking in low tones. I wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. They could have been talking about the weather or even cheese for all I knew, but I had the distinctive feeling that whatever they were talking about had something to do with me.

"As you know, Tony is already gone to our new home, but he will be coming here to check on you very often." My mother informed me.

I nodded and turned to my father just as he stepped forward, giving an even harder and longer hug than my mother, if that was even possible.

"Be careful." He whispered. I wasn't exactly sure if he was talking about safe in a 'don't go get killed' way or the other way...

I simply nodded, insuring him that whichever one he'd meant, I would be as careful I could be. He stepped back and grabbed my shoulder as my mother did, but the look in his eyes was more penetrating, like he was trying to stick something to my brain.

"If anything happens, anything that you need our help with, call us immediately." He said after a few moments. "If the—Jaxon shows up, call us. We don't want you fighting him alone."

"But we aren't going to fight him." I argued. "We're going to make him realize how wrong he is."

The look on his face told me he had his doubts, but then he said, "Alright. I believe in you, Kat." A bit hesitantly, but nonetheless, he meant it.

He put an arm around my mother's waist and looked up at the house with a smile. "We've been here a very long time."

She smiled in return. "Yes, we have, but it's time to go now."

Nathan came to stand beside me, his conversation with his parents finished. Keri came to me and gave me a tight hug. "You're the daughter I never had."