13. Finley #3
“For once, I’m on the vampire’s side,” Elias muttered. “That man has no idea how lucky he is to be alive right now.”
Turning my back on the man who biologically was my father, I looked at the others. “Zander, it would make the most sense for you to accompany me as I talk to him, but will you be able to control your temper?”
“Yes,” he bit out through a clenched jaw. I gave him a skeptical look, but he held out his arm to me, and I took it. “All I’m going to promise you is that he will leave here alive tonight. Other than that, it would be a lie.”
“At least you’re being honest with yourself,” I said, patting his arm. “Anything else I should know about Eli?”
“He never, ever… I mean it’s a known fact everyone accepts and knows, that he doesn’t come to parties like this.
I bet my life he came to meet you,” Zander shared under his breath.
“He also seems to think it might keep him safe from us lashing out against him. That would be a mistake on his part.” We stopped with a foot or so between us, just staring at each other.
There was so much of myself that I could see in him, and part of me wanted to hate him, to close off any chance of there being any kind of relationship between us.
Yet the moment he spoke, tears pricked at my eyes, having never thought I would hear those words in my lifetime.
“Hello, daughter,” Eli greeted with a slight nod. “You look absolutely beautiful, so much like your mother in how you carry yourself. When you first walked out, I thought I was seeing my beautiful Tiriana once more. She would be incredibly proud of you, Finley. I know that I am.”
Zander scoffed, shaking his head. “Don’t stand there and talk like you know anything about her.
You might have seen her from a distance, but that doesn’t entitle you to speak like you’ve been a part of her life all this time.
Hell, when she was bit and reached out when the job went south, you just cut your losses and wiped your hands of her. Some father you are.”
Instead of being upset like I assumed, Eli just smiled at Zander warmly. “You have chosen well for yourself, although the vampire was a bit of a surprise, but I guess it shouldn’t have been. Nothing about you or your birth was what we expected.”
Zander took a breath, gearing up to let the man have another tongue lashing, but I squeezed his arm and shook my head.
When I was sure he was going to keep his mouth shut, I returned my attention to Eli.
“I hope this isn’t too rude, but what are you doing here?
In the video, you said you were going to leave the choice of meeting each other up to me. ”
“Would you believe me if that was my intention, but when I found out you were planning to be at this party, I couldn’t keep myself from taking the chance? I knew it could go badly, but with no risk, there is no reward,” he answered with a shrug.
I looked the man over as I reached out with my magic and empathic abilities, just trying to gather as much information about him as I could.
Emanating from him was a deep longing mixed with sadness that was old and deep in his heart.
He mourned the loss of my mother to this day, and seeing me look so much like her was a mix of good and bad emotions.
The deeper I looked, the more I found he was holding nothing back.
It wasn’t that I had the skill to bypass his mental barrier.
He was welcoming me in, arms open wide, giving me whatever I wanted to know.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Eli asked. “I’m more than happy to tell you anything, but I understand if you don’t trust me, there’s no reason you should.”
“Not here,” I answered. “Do you have time to meet tomorrow? There are things that I wish to speak with you about.”
He frowned as I talked. “Clearly, not all of them are good things, but I am willing to be fully transparent with you, Finley. Whatever it takes for you to believe that I’m on your side and I always have been, whether you feel like I have been or not.
You name the time and place of your choosing and I will be there. ”
“I have your number. When I have those details, I’ll reach out,” I said and turned to look up at Zander. “I believe it’s time for us to head back, don’t you?”
“Yes, I think we’ve had enough of this party,” Zander agreed. Without acknowledging my father at all, he led me back to the others. “We’re going.”
They all headed for the elevators, with us trailing behind.
My hands were sweating, and I felt like I might be going into shock after speaking to Eli.
Having parents hadn’t ever been something I allowed myself to think about or dwell on at any point in my life.
What good did it do me when I had to survive, and surviving, was what I did best. Somehow now having met the man face to face, there was no denying he was real.
Before, he was the man on the other end of the video keeping enough distance between us. Now, that distance was shattered.