Dark Valentine (Monster High; Book 1 of the DV Duology)

Chapter 17: Kieran's Recollection

Kieran

"It's been too long. Daddy wants to talk to you. You have to answer. If you don't, I know about that boyfriend of yours. You know the one. Hurry up my boy, daddy just wants to talk."

Was he for real? And since when had I ever referred to him as 'daddy'?

Even before I was six, I'd only ever called him 'dad' and after he left I stopped calling him that, too, and I switched to using his given name.

What concerned me the most was the fact that he knew about Jackson. How the hell did he? We hadn't even been dating long.

I couldn't keep this from Jackson and Holt anymore, not when they were the ones being threatened. I wasn't sure whether or not he knew about both of them, but odds were he did. And that scared the shit out of me.

This was also the point that I felt compelled to send a reply to his message. Threatening me was one thing—threatening Jackson was another.

"You want my reply? Here it is, then—stay the fuck away from both of us, you bastard."

Almost as soon as I hit 'send'; I got another message.

"Well, well. He finally responds. What took you so long, Kieran?"

"Oh, I don't know—maybe the fact that I wanted nothing to do with you after everything you've done?"

"And what would you know about any of that? We haven't seen each other since you were six years old. And how old are you now? 1604?"

"I know much more than you think. Just stay away from him."

Immediately after I sent that last message, I called Jackson's cell. He answered halfway through the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jackson," I replied, "Listen, do you think you could come over? There's something I have to talk to you about."

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

"See you soon."

There was a soft knock on my bedroom door some time later. I opened it to see Jackson, who I immediately pulled into an embrace. "Hey."

"Hey," he returned the greeting. "You sounded really stressed out on the phone earlier, is everything okay?"

"I'm not really sure," I admitted, "Do you remember that day when my father first started trying to contact me?"

"Yeah, I do," said Jackson, "Why, is he still trying?"

"Yeah, and he has been since that day," I said, re-opening iMessage and handing Jackson my phone. We were both sitting down by this point. "Here—this is the most recent one."

I watched as Jackson read through the conversation, handing the phone back to me when he was done. "How does he even know about me?" he asked, "This is the first time you've actually responded, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded," I honestly don't have an answer to that question, but I really wish I did. And the first bunch of messages was pretty much the same thing, only they were more subtle and didn't include you in them."

"That doesn't surprise me, based on what I just read," said Jackson, "But wait—does he know about Holt, too, or just me?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "but I figured I owed it to both you and Holt to tell you everything. You know...the whole story. It wouldn't be right to keep you in the dark."

"Thank you for that," said Jackson, "I honestly would feel a bit better knowing who we're dealing with here."

"I would, too," I agreed, "I guess I should probably start by telling you his name, since I've never actually said it—his name is Drystan Valentine. He's an emotional vampire, like my mother and I, but that's about the only thing he has in common with either of us."

"Did he ever...you know...steal hearts?"

I nodded. "And he still does. Unlike Mom and I, though, he's always known he doesn't have to. He just does it out of enjoyment, and because he can. But it doesn't stop there, either. In fact, he makes me look like a saint in comparison."

"Considering the fact that you've changed and he hasn't, that's not hard for him to do, Kieran," Jackson pointed out.

"True," I agreed, "Also, unlike him, I never would have..." I trailed off, finding it difficult to bring myself to continue. It was too horrible.

"You never would have...what?"

I hesitated, but then I continued anyway. He needed to know. "After stealing a person's heart...he'd rape them and then kill them."

"Oh, God..." Jackson seemed to share my point of view on that. "That's horrible."

"I know. I could never have even thought of doing anything like that, and it makes me sick that he thinks it's somehow okay. Hell, even back when I thought I had to steal hearts, I knew for a fact that the other shit he was doing was wrong. I haven't seen him since I was six, but if I had I probably would've killed him for it--or at least tried to."

"So, wait," Jackson seemed to realize something, "Before, I thought the whole stealing hearts thing was more figurative...but from what you're saying it seems like it's a lot more literal than I thought."

"Well, it is," I began, "but it's sort of complicated. We have the power to take a heart from someone's chest but have it continue beating like normal. The heart sort of...becomes enchanted, I guess you could say."

"But it still has to be filled to 100% with love before you can do it?" asked Jackson.

"You don't have to fill it to 100% just to take the heart, no," I explained, "You'd have to fill it in order to put it into a trophy. Like I said—it's a bit complicated to explain. And it's something I never want to do again."

"Knowing all of that makes me wonder what Drystan was like as a father," said Jackson, "He wasn't...I mean, he never hurt you or anything, did he?"

"You'd think," I replied, "But no. He was just never around. He never really said much to me at all; there was no relationship between us whatsoever. I think I preferred it that way, to be honest...I was always much closer to Mom, and up until I turned six I remember even being a bit afraid of him. Then he left, and as I grew older I learned of everything he'd been doing and that bit of fear I had for him quickly turned into hatred."

"Yeah, I think I can understand why," said Jackson, "I hope I never end up meeting him. And I'm really glad you told me all that."

"Me, too," I told him, giving him a kiss. It was then his turn to embrace me. "I don't know what I'd do if he hurt you. Or Holt."