Present Day

The coolness of the bathroom tile comforted Evonne. She sat on the marble floor and pressed a wet cloth to her leg. The words from her father’s story played over and over in her mind, sounding like a CD tracked set on repeat. This one “track” became irritating. But as hard as his words were to grasp, she felt a veil begin to rise. Alex had feared death to the point were he manipulated his own flesh to avoid such fate. He was beginning to appear even more selfish.
     Evonne dipped the cloth back into a ceramic bowl. She rang out the excess water and placed the cloth to her leg. The cut looked worse than what it was. With a fine coating of a triple-antibiotic ointment and a bandage, she would heal quickly, leaving only a small scar.
     Her mind switched to Zachary. Keelan had mentioned him in passing, letting her assume that he was an old acquaintance of Alex’s and nothing more.
     It wasn’t that she had been lied to that upset her, it was the fact that nearly everyone in the manor knew about the secrets. She saw no real reason to trust her father anymore. If Zachary had hoped the truth would spare her the same anguish that befell him, then his hopes were in vain. The wheels were already set in motion. Evonne’s life in Eden would never be the same.
     “How are you doing?”
     Evonne looked up to see David standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a casual shirt and dark jeans, something she rarely saw him wear. Evonne went back to cleaning the wound.
     “I’ll heal.”
     “I’m not talking about that,” he said, stepping inside. He took a seat on the edge of the tub.
     She gave a sarcastic laughed at what he meant. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
     David thoughtlessly picked off the pieces of lint from his pants as he spoke. “He felt that you weren’t ready to know.”
     “But he thought that the other things weren’t hard for me to understand,” she scoffed. “With everything else I was raised to believe, I wouldn’t have made any judgments.” She looked at him. “He doesn’t trust me, does he?”
     David met her eyes. “Where did you go?”
     “I asked you a question first.”
     “Answer mine and it will answer yours.”
     Evonne looked away.
     “You were with him, weren’t you.” He said it as a statement, rather than a question. “Look at me.”
     Her eyes slowly found him. “It’s none of your business what I do.”
     “It is my business when I see you placing yourself in danger.”
     “No, David. It’s not,” she coldly replied.
     He moved onto the floor to sit beside her. “I cannot stress the danger you’ve placed yourself in.”
     “I’m home and safe now, aren’t I?” she reminded him as she repositioned the cloth.
     David leaned forward and brushed the hair from her neck, looking for any new marks. Evonne pushed his hand away and moved the hair back into place, feeling violated by his action. But it was too late. He had seen what he was looking for.
     Silence fell between them.
     “Alex doesn’t know about this one, does he?” David asked.
     Evonne said nothing.
     He tried to catch her distant gaze. “I’m going to ask you this again. Did you take any of his blood?”
     She answered, meek, childlike. “Yes.”
     “And on the first night he came to you?”
     Evonne didn’t want to lie anymore. She felt that inner voice ordering her to say no, to send him away and crawl into her warm bed.
     “Yes,” she said.
     David ran his fingers through his hair. “Evonne, you know what it means to do that to yourself.”
     “Yeah, I know,” she forcefully admitted, “it means that he knows where I am at all times. But it doesn’t last long. Only for a week or two.”
     “I’m not talking about that,” David corrected. “He has claimed you. To other vampires, you belong to him. And within a week or two, he will return to reestablish that claim. Do you see now the danger you’ve placed yourself in?”
     Evonne turned the question around. “What about the danger you are in?” She continued speaking when he didn’t reply. “Gabriel was here to warn my father about the attacks, but it was Zachary who sent him. This is about the two werewolf packs he attacked fourteen years ago. They have patience on their side, and my father has too much arrogance. His not taking this seriously, is he?”
     He looked at her oddly. “How do you know about all of this?”
     “From someone who isn’t afraid to tell me the truth.”
     “Zachary?”
     “No, from someone else. I was raised to believe that vampires were nothing more than mindless animals. But now, I can’t keep telling myself that.”
     David narrowed his eyes at the statement. “Would you listen to what you’re saying! You are defending those monsters.”
     “If they are monsters, and my father wished to kill them all, then why are some of them working for him?”
     “Gabriel doesn’t work for us,” he tried to explain, his voice starting to show his impatience. “But there are some werewolves and vampires who have become well respected hunters for SEVEN. These are special cases and shouldn’t be compared to the real mission. Out there in the world, it is even more dangerous than you can imagine.”
     “So I’m better off to rot in here than take my chances out there?”
     “It is your heritage that binds you. That is why you wouldn’t be safe out there. Even if you are growing sympathy for those creatures, they will not hesitate to turn on you. You must remember who your father is to them.” He then gestured at her neck as he continued. “And maybe this is a part of his game, to lure you out and away from the safety of the estate.”
     “If so, then why didn’t he kill me last night? You’re going to tell Alex that I was with him, aren’t you?”
     David dropped his gaze. “Does it even matter anymore? You honestly don’t care that we’re trying to protect you.”
     “You need to protect the manor first. These aren’t just threats my father has been receiving. These are the real deal.” She paused, gauging the gravity of everything that happened in the past two weeks. “I don’t feel safe here any longer.”
     David stood up, ending their conversation. He heard all he needed. “Do you need anything for your leg?”
     “I’m fine.”
     “All right. I’m going back downstairs.”
     David calmly left the bathroom. Unlike his previous promise, he chose to say nothing to Alex about her whereabouts or anything that happened during her absence. The thought of informing Alex made David’s stomach twist. He wanted to be a good friend to Evonne. And in this course of action, he was willing to lose favor with Alex. Evonne was more important to him.