Late afternoon sunlight filled the bedroom and sitting in the middle of the rather enormous bed, I try to work out what to do next. I obviously wasn't in my house, or anywhere I'd been before and somewhere on the other side of that door my biological father had clearly lost his mind and kidnapped me. Although, was it counted as kidnapping once you were an adult?

The room was rather empty of well anything more than the bed. My shoes and purse were missing and the bathroom, thankfully, had toilet paper. Deciding I couldn't hide forever, I get up and trying the door, it opened. Plain white walls, the same as in the bedroom greet me. There isn't anything on any of the walls, though the hooks that remain prove that there once had been. The dark wooden floors creak as I walk along them, and I don't bother trying any of the doors as I go by. Reaching the top of the staircase, the house is silent and seemingly vacant of any kind of decor. I wasn't here to judge his decorating skills, so going downstairs I ignore how cold and abandoned the place felt, finding some comfort in the sunlight. Had it been dark, this place would be a million times creepier.

"Hello?" I finally call, after determining the whole lower level was empty. "David?"

Nothing.

The fact he was a vampire and the sun was still out probably had something to do with that, but it didn't really help me at all. Trying the front door, it was locked as were the back and kitchen entry ones. The windows wouldn't open and as I bravely tried to smash my way out of them, I merely ended up hurting my hand as that glass wasn't going anywhere. Breathing in, I caught a whiff of a strange smell, kind of dusty and off yet exotic. It was like a spicy mould if that was even possibly a thing and paying more attention, it was strongest around the windows and doors.

"Magic?" I asked out loud, not really expecting an answer, yet I got one.

"Yes." David emerged from a door by the stairs, that also wouldn't open for me and very obviously looking over his shoulder, I figured it led to the basement. "Good evening."

"Not sure what's good about it." Folding my arms across my chest, I'm not sure what to do now. "Why am I here?"

"I'm fairly sure you know why."

"I do, but why? You could have just stopped by like you have been."

"With him lurking around the place? I doubt you'd want to explain the dead wolf in your front yard to the neighbours." He shrugged.

"You didn't-" I started, unable to ask the question. I'd never considered that he would actually hurt Aiden, or even Gwen, but then again - here I am, so what did that mean for them?

"For now, they remain very much alive. Consider it a christmas gift."

"Considering how my actual Christmas went, that's quite an improvement." We don't move, or say anything else. We just literally stand there looking at each other. "Why didn't you say something? You had plenty of chances!"

"I wanted to be sure."

"When were you sure?" I demand.

"Honestly, the first time we met. You were so, human, I wasn't sure if that should have been possible, but I knew who you were. I've been looking for you and then, there you were, not at all what I was expecting."

The sadness in his voice made my chest tighten as the lifelong battle of never having been good enough returned. "Sorry for the disappointment."

"That's not what I meant, you are not a disappointment to me. Not ever. Not at all." He sighed, looking almost defeated already. "Look at you. You're a beautiful, smart, and funny grown woman, whose life I had to sneak into by trying to create some kind of friendship with as you had no idea who I was! I had no idea what to do once I found you, so that was just easier. To be honest I still don't."

"So you kidnap me?" I don't know what else to say. It's easier to hold onto the slither of anger I still have over him not saying anything than to actually feel for the guy.

"I have missed out on your whole life and-"

"Why now? How did you find out about me?" I interrupt.

"I came home when my father died and found this when cleaning up." He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me.

I didn't want to take it, but after a few seconds I managed to. My hands were shaking as I opened it, my mothers handwriting filling the page as a small photograph taken minutes after I was born was stapled to the top corner.

"She told me she wrote to you." I don't read it, quickly folding it up and passing it back as the tears started. Emotions I had no idea what to do with were forced down and wiping my eyes, I try to stay neutral. "I'm sorry about all of this."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." David's voice is as shaky as mine.

"But I do. I forgave them. They're the only family I know and Aiden-"

"Will be dealt with soon." He growled.

"Why? What's he done to you?" Whatever moment we could have just had was gone as something new and powerful took its place.

"Helped them, hide you for starters." David snapped back. "Don't believe all he tells you. Acting noble protector to the little witch as the pack cries for help which they so eagerly give? Not just any pack either, others have offered much more than they did for the kind of protection they got. He knew those I have killed as well as your parents. You, my dear, are simply a novelty to them. Why do you think I have been so determined to find you?"

My stomach sunk. "I don't understand."

"Sending this letter to me was the biggest mistake your mother ever made. Do you remember the other hybrids, the families that they came from?" I shook my head. The story I had been told was just that to me, a story. "Nobody willingly responsibility of one of you. Once, your kind were simply killed at birth before someone had the idea of trying to control you all instead. A risky job for some, easier for others. They weren't loving homes wanting to help, they were horrible places used to raise true monsters. They didn't want anything to do with your parents, because the shifters didn't want to risk any vampires stopping them as there are plenty who would. Those who made it to adolescence successfully were sold off to the fae or covens."

"You're lying."

"What sob story did that Aiden give you? Fostered by a family that were unable to have children of their own? Grandparents who took him in and raised him as best they could as he mother had abandoned him on their doorstep? I doubt he told you the truth of his childhood or how he really ended up with the good little witches of the east?"

He comes closer, boldly hugging me. "I'm sorry, but knowing what I do about these places, when I realised you could have ended up in one, I went through them all. I told you they aren't as innocent as you'd think. If they had you, I was going to get you back and then one stupid mutt confessed about knowing you and your family."

I push him away. "My life may not have been perfect, but my parents never did anything horrible to me growing up. I know I told you me and Dad never really connected, but there was nothing like what you're implying."

"That is simply because your mother found out the truth and refused to leave you with them. It was your father they were still in contact with, even after all these years. You never showed signs of even being hybrid so it was assumed my genes hadn't fully mutated after my change at your conception."

"Okay, I don't even want to hear about any of that because, no." I quickly interrupted before he gets any ideas on going over my 'conception' further. "You don't know my parents like I do and think what you want about Aiden, but he is my mate. It makes no sense for him to be involved in any of this apart from being Brianna's watch dog and even that seems a little far fetched. She's of the light and-"

"When your parents found out, did they want to pack everything up and leave?"

I struggle to swallow at that. "Well, yes, but-"

Thinking that over, they hadn't wanted to go because they thought someone was out killing hybrids and people they knew. They had wanted to keep me away from my real father. Why?

"Who else did the witch befriend within the pack during her stay? Just you?" He knew all the questions to ask, all the things to pluck out of the last few weeks and really, none of it made any sense now.

I had no idea what was fact and what was fiction.

Someone was lying, but who?

"I needed to talk to you, away from everyone and everything. I'm sorry about how I got you here, but I needed a safe place for us." David speaks softly now, as if he knows just how beaten I am. "A fae friend of mine put you under one of her sleeping spells, the other two as well but the witch was coming so it wouldn't have lasted long for them. I only killed those who deserved it, and your friend did not. The other one, well, our time will come but it was not to be tonight. You're free to go, but I will be around to watch over you. I've lost you once without even knowing it, I won't let that happen again."

"How is Aiden so involved in this too? How can he be helping to hide me if we only met when he came with Brianna."

"I have history with that coven, with him. They took the job because the coven found out what I was looking for and why the others were being killed. So of course they came to help the pack hiding what I wanted."

I hated how his version of events made some kind of sense, but could any of it be true?

"So, um. I can just, go now?"

He nods and I'm not sure if I want to. Then again, staying isn't exactly appealing either.

"Your things are in the cab waiting out front. You can go whenever you're ready."

I don't know what to do. Frozen, I simply look up and wonder if it was worth begging some gods to help me. Charlie had said there were obstacles, was this just another of them?

"This is your parents house?" I ask.

"It was, well my fathers anyway. They divorced when I was young. He never remarried."

"Mum told me about that. You liked to waste your trust fund to annoy them."

He smiles. "Like I said. I was young. Luckily that phase didn't last long."

"Did you still see them, after you were changed?"

"How about I order you some dinner and we can talk some more?" He offers and not sure what I'm about to agree to, I accept his offer.

He took me to talk, uninterrupted and alone so we may as well make the most of the time while we had it. An hour later I'm eating pizza in his basement which is where the bulk of the furniture also resides. The TV is on low in one corner, more for background noise than to actually watch and apart from that, we only have candles to give us light. It's cosy and warm, plus with the addition of food, kind of a nice way to spend a night.

"By the time he died, he didn't know who I was anyway. Years ago he started to suffer from dementia. I told the carers I was his grandson and was able to spend some more time with him. I'm glad I did it." He sighed.

"Why is it so empty upstairs if you've been living here?"

"I plan to sell. There is nothing here for me anymore." I only nod, unsure how to feel about grandparents I never got to meet. "You get to use it as you go on. Friends age, people die, and then one day, you're all alone."

"What will happen to me? Being part vamp, do I get any of those perks?"

"You will age slower, but you will age." He smiles, his somber mood lifting. "But at least we will not be strangers anymore."

"I need you and Aiden to find some kind of truce. He wants to kill you. You want to kill him. It's not going to work for me." I shrug.

"You ask for the impossible." David answers dryly.

"He told me he wants revenge for you killing his grandparents. You say that's all a lie. So why does he hate you so much if not for that?" I quiz, trying to make sense of it all, and perhaps catch him out in the process.

"It wasn't his grandparents I killed, but his mother."

I cough, choking on the pizza. That doesn't make anything any better and the way he can so casually discuss death and murder and those he has killed makes me feel sick. Somehow, just like those few times he visited, we were able to fall into simple conversation. He was easy to be around, I liked talking to him, I enjoyed listening to what he had to say - except for this. This just reminded me of why all the above was a bad idea.

"This was a mistake. I'm sorry, but I have to go." I'm up and at the stairs faster than I thought I could move.

"Don't you want to know why?" He asks.

"No." I had heard too much already. Staying was stupid. Everyone would be worried and here I was eating pizza, just hanging out with the enemy.

"She wasn't changed when attacked. She was changed willingly. Our creator was her one true love, and yet she was already pregnant with anothers young. Sound familiar?"

I had no idea where this going and hesitated on the steps.

"Not all vampires are as forgiving as I am. When it became clear the baby was more pup than human, he wanted them both dead. Before I could do as he asked hybrid hunters picked up the baby and she was more a mercy killing. I do believe she loved him. Them taking the pup, was a failure on her behalf and if I didn't come when I did, she would have killed herself anyway."

If that was true, my heart broke for all of them. Just how much misery can past contain?

"Give us a chance to be happy after so many have done what they can to stop it. Forgot them. Come with me and start a new life. I can give you whatever you want, anything you need!"

"I can't just leave my family, my brothers. For everything you've told me, I can't leave Aiden."

"You can and you know you want to. I have missed many years, but I will make up that time as best I can, be the father you've deserved." He stands at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me. "You don't need any of them. They only hold you back. You pledge your loyalty to him, yet he answers to the coven. Can you ever really trust him to do what's best for you and not just him?"

"Yes." I don't even think about it. There is no faking the connection I feel for Aiden. There is no doubt in my mind that he isn't mine. Home is with him and I know I can trust him with my life.

"That is a mistake. I've known him for years now and-"

"And it doesn't matter. Tell me now, will you let the past be the past and let us all move on together?"

"I can't and in time, you will understand. My offer will always stay open to you Samara."

"I wish I could give you what you want, but I can't. I love my family. I love him. I can't give my life up for you and well, I'm sorry, but this is goodbye David."

His face goes blank as his eye widen slightly. I'm not sure if I should run or what was about to happen and taking my chances, I finish going up the stairs. He is there instantly, yet he doesn't seem angry or hurt or well, much of anything. He kisses my forehead and then smiles.

"You are more like your mother than I could ever expected Samara, and I will tell you, what I told her all those years ago." He pauses, studying my face closely as something unreadable passes over him. "It's only goodbye, until we meet again."

Then he simply walks away, towards the kitchen and I move the other way. I wait for him to stop me, for it to be a trick. I try the front door expecting it to stay locked, only it didn't and the fact there really was a cab waiting surprised me further. I didn't look back as I ran down the steps and getting inside, the vampire driving said nothing as he pulled out onto the street.

"Aren't you going to ask where I want to go?" I ask him, leaning forward to spy the GPS already mapping out the journey to my house. "Nevermind."

Grabbing my bag, I find my phone and sure enough it's flat. Almost thankful of that, I lean my head against the window and stare out at the world. Inside this car, it didn't matter what just happened or what would be waiting for me when I got to my destination. The silence was cherished and yet despite the nothingness surrounding me, there was one question that wouldn't stop going around and around in my head.

What the hell did I just do?