"Good Morning, Cinderella. How was the Valley Fest?" Dad said cheerfully, as Sky shambled her feet into the kitchen the next morning. He was sitting at the table, with his larger-than-life coffee mug, reading the paper - but when he glanced up and noticed her looks, his eyebrows shot up on his forehead.

"It was okay," Sky said, pretending not to notice his shocked expression.

She might have a hickey or two on her neck. Okay, more than a couple. In fact, there was a whole swarm of them, starting from the spot under her ear and going all the way down to her collar bone - deep purple marks showing exactly where Hawk had feasted on her neck the night before.

There were more hickeys on her too, but luckily the rest were in places Dad couldn't see.

Silently Sky grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee, added a generous amount of milk and sugar, and sat down at the table opposite of Dad.

"You know, went to a lot of rides, didn't puke once. Ate a crazy amount of fried stuff and cotton candy," she told him, stirring her coffee. "Oh, and Hawk won me a cute plushie. It's in my room, I'll show it to you later."

"How nice of him," Dad said with a tone that told Sky he didn't think it was nice at all.

"Yeah, actually," she replied. "He's awesome that way."

A short silence followed. Dad glared at her over his giant coffee mug and then placed it down on the table letting out a long sigh.

"So, are we going to talk about your neck?" He asked with a rather dry tone.

"No? At least I hope not."

Dad was quiet for a moment, spreading orange marmalade on his toast with slow, deliberate moves. Sky busied herself with picking a couple of toasts onto her plate - the Nutella jar was already on the table waiting for her, so she took it and started scooping it onto the pieces of bread. The silence lingered on between them for some time, and Sky's appetite was quickly diminishing, but she started munching her toast nevertheless. Dad always got worried if she didn't eat breakfast, and she didn't want him any more worried or pissed than he apparently already was.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Dad asked, and Sky's glance shot up from her plate.

"Dad!" She blushed fiercely. "No! It wasn't like that."

"Okay, then." Dad replied. "That's all I need to know. Now we can both go back to pretending you don't look like Dracula's bride."

"Gee, thanks," Sky rolled her eyes. "Cause that's the look I was going for."

"Date a vampire and that's what you get," Dad replied dryly. "Now, eat your breakfast, Mina."

Sky swallowed her mouthful of Nutella toast and took a sip of her coffee, her cheeks burning. Dracula's bride indeed. Their little exploring the night before had left her neck in quite a state, but no matter what Dad said, Sky didn't want to cover it up. Seeing the evidence of Hawk's lust on her skin made her still high-headed and horny. The purple markings on her tanned skin were like writing that told everyone clear and loud that Hawk loved her.

That she was deserving of such love.

It was something she often struggled to believe, so it helped when she had it written on her skin by his lips.

After their escapade in the car, he had driven them outside the city. Since they had left the Valley Fest quite early they had still had plenty of time before Hawk's car would turn back into a pumpkin, and they had made good use of that time - outdoors, under the black velvety sky full of stars, the sound of the waves drowning her cries of pleasure Hawk had made love to her so fucking slow and hard that Sky had come twice on his cock.

She had told him she didn't quite know what she liked sexually, but some things were certain. Apparently, she liked outdoors sex.

And - she realized, her blush deepening because she was thinking about this while having breakfast with her dad - she liked it a bit rough. Who would have thought? When Hawk's hips were snapping into her hard, ruthless and his fingers gripped her curves so that nails dug into her skin, Sky came like a dying star.

It was because he wasn't really being rough with her - not like Matt had been. Matt had only thought about his own pleasure and it had hurt, whereas Hawk always thought about her pleasure and comfort, and when he was being rough it was only because he wanted her so fucking bad, and because he knew she liked it too.

Remembering the things they had done the night before, Sky's heartbeat quickened. She still felt a bit sore between her legs - and yet she was aching for more.

Today, she thought in her mind, absentmindedly stirring the coffee with a spoon. His parents are at work and the house is empty. Before Karate or after that or maybe both–

"So, what are you planning to do today?" Dad asked, making Sky plummet down from her heated dreams.

She cleared her throat and took a sip of coffee before replying, but still, her voice came out a bit shaky.

"I'm gonna go to the dojo."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Dad asked - if he noticed her state of mind, he didn't comment on it. "It hasn't been two weeks yet."

"I'm sure, don't worry." Sky rolled up the sleeve of her oversized My Little Pony T-shirt that she used as a nightgown and revealed the phoenix. "It's fully healed, see? And I promise I'm gonna take it easy. No crazy stunts today."

Dad looked skeptical but didn't argue. He leaned his elbows to the table and gave Sky a quizzical look with furrowed brows.

"Is John Kreese going to be there?"

"Kreese?" Sky asked, arching her brows. "I don't really know, but yeah, I guess. Hawk says he's been there every day."

A short moment of silence followed. Dad looked down at his plate and then back up at Sky, letting out a long breath, as if pondering on what to say and suddenly Sky felt nervous.

"I don't like that man," Dad said with a stern, sincere voice.

Sky put down her coffee mug.

"Why do you say that? Is there something I should know?"

She knew dad had met Sensei Kreese at the dojo the day he had gone looking for Sensei Lawrence, but as Sky had been sick and feverish, he hadn't burdened her with the details. Now she realized she had no idea what had happened between the two of them, and it bothered her.

Dad glanced down to his plate, to the toast that lay untouched in front of him, then back up and his green eyes were full of shadows.

"What do you know about him, exactly?" he asked.

Sky shrugged. "That he was Sensei's Sensei. And that he's been in the army."

"And how is he - as a teacher, I mean?"

Sky remembered the blazing hot sun high in the sky, the sweat that ran down her neck, gluing the shirt to her tattoo which was throbbing with pain. She remembered how small and how ashamed she had felt in front of Kreese - but also how she had wanted to prove herself to him, and that had pushed her to spin a fucking cement truck, which was something she never would have thought she could do.

"Tough," she said. "A bit too tough, maybe," and then, after a short silence, "Why do you ask?"

Dad tilted his head to the side, his throat bobbed.

"Because I'm not sure what that man's agenda is," he said slowly. "But I think he is untrustworthy and dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Sky asked, something tightening in her chest. "What? Did he do something to you?"

"No, no, don't worry," Dad said, shaking his head. "Nothing happened. It's just... the vibe I get from him."

"The vibe?" Sky arched a brow.

Dad Shrugged. "Intuition, sixth sense - call it what you want."

"Right," Sky said with a frown, feeling somewhat uneasy.

She knew that many people took one look at Dad, and seeing his lanky frame, his glasses, and his kind eyes, thought that he was a nobody, that he was softer than a baby's ass. But Sky knew better. Dad was like a rock, he was the toughest guy Sky knew and he sure as Hell wasn't easily scared. To see that Dad was nervous about Kreese, made her very uncomfortable.

"So, what are you saying?" she asked, meeting Dad's eyes over the table. "Are you telling me I can't go to the dojo anymore?"

Not that she would obey if he did, but still - she needed to know where they stood.

"No. All I'm saying is, be careful." Dad replied. He cleared his throat and swallowed before continuing. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

There was something raw in Dad's voice, and it hurt to hear it, it forced Sky to look away from him and pick up her coffee mug with her trembling hands. For a couple of heartbeats, she was back in the hospital, waking up after her suicide attempt and Dad was there by her side, crying his eyes out. The sound of the ragged, violent sobs that left his throat, had burned its way into Sky's brain and she knew she'd never be able to unhear it, no matter how long she lived.

She sipped on her coffee, tasted the sugar, the milk, the cardamon. The familiar flavor grounded her and eased her restless heartbeat.

"Don't worry, Dad," she said when she could trust her voice again. "I'm not gonna get hurt. The way I remember it, Dracula's Bride was a badass bitch."

But Dad didn't laugh at her joke. They finished their breakfast in silence that weighed on Sky even more than their talk and covered her with memories she would have wanted to shed.

It wasn't like she went looking for trouble, but no matter what, it seemed to find her every damn time.

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