Chapter 3 #2
Creed glanced over to see the trio of women staring at him. “You are right. I do not trust you. How do I know it is not a trap?”
Damikan was wise to question everything he said. “Because your daughter is in my care. If I wanted to hurt her, would I have allowed her to call you? Wouldn’t I have just killed her, or sent little pieces of her body to you? That would have been more effective.”
Most fathers’ love for their child was nothing to mess with, especially when it came to a vampire. Their offspring were few and far between. Only because Damikan bonded with a shifter had he produced not one, but three children.
Damikan sighed. “My mate says to allow you to show us. She is linked to me.”
A grin tugged at his lips. Luna had a way of making the huge Vampire King bow down to her wishes. “Tell Luna I said hello, and I am sorry for the grief I have caused.”
“All is forgiven. It has been hundreds of years. I don’t carry grudges. Not like some people,” Luna teased.
He could easily see her looking at her mate.
The love apparent with every word spoken, and he was happy to admit there were no ill feelings.
“This, I am glad to hear. Now, are you both ready to see inside my mind? I must warn you, I have had many adventures over the course of the past few centuries.”
Damikan laughed. “Believe me, there is nothing you can show me that I haven’t seen or done.”
Yeah, everyone thought they were worldly until they were faced with things they hadn’t been challenged with. “Don’t say I didn’t caution you. Try to focus on the present instead of the past. It’ll be less stressful for you, old man.” Creed couldn’t help the taunt.
He allowed his shields to come down, knowing they’d see what they chose. The good, the bad, and the truly ugly. There were a lot of frightful things many beings were not privy to in their lifetime, unless they were unfortunate enough to be sent to Hell.
“I can see why you thought my mate was yours.” Damikan broke into his thoughts.
“How is she? How did she get into Hell and why?” Luna’s voice shook on the last word. She obviously focused on her child and not his past.
“There is more, I just don’t know if you are ready for it.
Suffice to say, your daughter will be well taken care of.
” Creed brought the wall down for me and the others to hear the last of his conversation.
“Eros, your parents are reassured of your well-being. However, if they have need to speak with you they can.” At least he hoped they were.
There was nothing but silence from Damikan since he’d shown them his memories, other than acknowledgment of understanding.
The Vampire King would have to understand, at least as a man, what it was like when one found his other half.
He met my electric blue stare, feeling me tapping at his mind. Of course, a father would have a hard time accepting his baby girl growing up and all that would entail. He handed the phone to me and watched as I paced and spoke to my parents.
His mind sought mine as well. My porcelain skin and piercing blue eyes were such a contrast to his much darker ones.
He knew I was one of the few who could walk in the sun thanks to my mother being a shifter.
It was a closely guarded secret that the Cordells had worked hard to preserve, and one he had never in all his years thought to betray.
Now, he was grateful his own Chosen could enjoy such things.
“My father would like to speak with you again.” I held the phone out.
Creed rose with the grace of the predator he was. “This is Creed. How may I be of service to you?”
Damikan snorted. “So formal. You can start by explaining how you came to be in Hell.”
Even though he’d appeared the debonair man all those centuries ago, he still hadn’t shown his true self.
A fact he should have realized meant Luna wasn’t meant for him.
“That is easy. It is where I grew up, and the home of my…shall we say, father, for lack of better terms. Although I will say there is no love between the two of us.”
I raised my head to the ceiling. Creed was being purposefully obtuse.
To him, Damikan was not his king. Creed waited for the inevitable explosion, but he was not one to cower to anyone, least of all his Chosen’s father.
Start as you mean to go on had always been his motto, and the last way he meant to go on was licking the boots of a man who was probably younger than he.
Oh, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t respect the man as the father of his woman, but he wouldn’t allow the man to talk down to him.
Hell, his own father ruled the entire underworld with an iron-spiked fist, and Creed didn’t shake in fear when the bastard brought the hammer down on him.
Repeatedly. Even if that meant he would have to regrow the limbs he had lost. Not even if it took him years to heal.
Nope, he was a stubborn bastard that way, in more ways than one.
“I don’t think I like your tone, boy,” Damikan said in a menacing tone.
He made sure the other being could see the image he projected. “I got your boy, boy,” Creed said without heat.
I gasped. “Creed, that is my father. You can’t talk to him that way.” I jumped up, reaching for the phone he easily held out of my reach.
“He started it.”
On my next jump, Creed grabbed me around the waist and held me against him. “And what are you, a two-year-old?” I tried for the phone again.
He looked to Jenna for help, but the woman seemed more amused at the display than anything. “I do not remember being two. Two hundred, maybe. Two thousand, most assuredly.”
The sound of the couple on the other end of the phone gasping had him going still. “Exactly how old are you?” Damikan asked in a measured voice.
“Do you really want to know? Be very sure before you answer, for once you have this knowledge, you can never…well, actually, I can take it away. Although it is painful, I’m told.
” Creed tossed the phone to Jenna as my squirming was demanding more of his attention.
“Deal with that. I don’t need the phone to talk to them. ”
Jenna caught the phone and pressed a button. “Hello again.”