A Tempest In The Night Part 41

I heard Tena One creep away from the dock. I collapsed on the edge of the tub she'd used not too long ago. The smell of her skin lingered in the damp air in the bathroom.

"I don't hate Ilida. I don't hate Ilida," I chanted repeatedly, until I calmed myself.

Alec tried to warn me. That son of a b.i.t.c.h half-brother of mine.

After was.h.i.+ng and getting dressed in my Tyrian guard black, I entered the workroom downstairs. And who should I find in there but my brother and his wife leaning over the computers looking, supervising, getting in the way.

Ilida's finger stalled on the doorbell. He'd had that doorbell for years and she'd pressed it zillion times in the past. It was her gateway to family. The familiar, not always copasetic, but it was her family. Now it was something she could no longer trust. The bell... her gateway to loss. Just like losing her mom, she was losing her father, the one parent who stuck around.

You have to know.

It doesn't make it any easier. She blocked her mental contact with Daedalus and the emptiness was palatable. She pressed the doorbell.

The door opened to Leona, her father's new wife. Her dark brown, big round face always reminded her of a mola.s.ses gumdrop. "Hi, Leona."

"We've been so worried about you."

Leona had a refined Caribbean accent that never failed to make her smile. "I'm okay. Hey, Daddy?" She rushed into his arms hoping to capture what they had three hours ago, a day ago.

He gave her a bear hug then arm-in-arm they walked to the bas.e.m.e.nt door. "Playing pool?"

"Every chance I get," he said as he walked down the steps.

"I heard the news. What happened at the Tilly House?"

"Well," she cleared the steps then took off her coat. "I wanted to talk with you about it. Actually I wanted to talk about my grandfather."

"There's nothing to talk about." Her father's shoulder's tensed as he bent over, racking the b.a.l.l.s. "Why do you want to talk about him?"

The warning in his voice was unmistakable, but since when did she ever heed warnings? After positioning the b.a.l.l.s, he lifted the rack. She picked up her cue stick ready to play.

He continued talking. "Do you know how long ago that was?"

"I know, but it's family history, Daddy. Who was he?"

"Do you remember how to play?"

She sighed. "I remember." Ilida watched him a.s.sume the pool player position: legs parted, one knee bent and leant towards the table. He gripped the b.u.t.t of the cue stick, slightly lifted his right thumb. His other hand made bridge and he moved the cue stick back and forth. He aimed then struck a striped ball. Two b.a.l.l.s dropped in the left corner pocket. "You're grandfather was Greek."

That was common knowledge. She bent down, moved her cue stick back and forth, aimed, and then made her shot. A solid five ball dropped in the corner pocket. "What was his name?"

"It's ancient family history. Leave that nonsense be." He bent down made a shot and missed. "d.a.m.n!"

"I have a right to know." She had more than a right to know and her father knew it. How dare they both keep secrets from her about the family.

"Ask your mother."

"You know she won't tell me. She hates him and I want to know why."

"He got your grandmother pregnant with your mother. He talked your grandmother into giving her up for adoption."

"Why?"

"He was rich and white and wasn't going to help her take care of your mother."

"Not all white men are like that, Daddy."

"Is your boyfriend white?"

"Then what happened?

"And what? What happened to you lately? You've never been demanding like this."

"I guess it's time I changed that."

Her father couldn't stand demanding women. His problem, not hers. She didn't want to be everyone's good little Ilida anymore.

"I thought Kevin..."

"We aren't together anymore and I want to talk about my grandfather. What was his name?"

"Ma.n.u.s."

He bent down again moved the b.u.t.t of the stick back and forth. His shoulders leveled with his ears. Anger beat off his skin. Ilida had to keep pressing. Her relations.h.i.+p with Daedalus was at stake. Her father moved the stick back ready to aim.

"Was he a vampire?"

He struck the ball with great inertia. It shot across the bas.e.m.e.nt hitting the wood paneled walls.

"Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter now. Was he?"

"You need to take a vacation. You sound stressed."

"Was he a vampire, Daddy?"

"Watch your tone. I'm still your father."

"Who's kept something this important from me for thirty years." Ilida held back her scream of annoyance. Every second that ticked by she saw her old life slipping away.

His gait slowed and his shoulders slumped as he moved the table over to retrieve the ball.

"Do I have to read your thoughts to find out?"

That halted his steps. Her powers always made him nervous. It was her trump card.

"He was a vampire," he said gravely. "Who told you?"

Ilida wanted to laugh. She wanted to lose the tenuous control she had left over her emotions. "Someone who has a vested interest told me."

"A man?"

Her chest tightened. "W-was Ma.n.u.s from the Vrykolakas Clan?"

"He didn't want his daughter. He wanted a son. Your grandmother said he was obsessed with having a son."

If they had male babies, they were kept by the Vrykolakas to be raised.

"I have an uncle who's a vampire?"

"Ca.s.sandra would be able to tell you all you need to know."

"He gave her up, too?" Tell me he did. Tell me Daedalus didn't know more than she did.

"Ilida, Ca.s.sandra is your grandmother."

"Wh-what? No, that's impossible!"

"You look like her, Ilida."

"He was right," she laughed bitterly as he walked to the old chair by the fireplace.

"Who was right? Ilida?"

"Ma.n.u.s is dead, you know."

"Good riddance."

"Yeah, sure."

"He did nothing but bring grief to your mother."

"Why did mom leave us? Really?

He made a sound a cross between weariness and hesitancy. "Your mother was wild. She didn't want to be a wife or a mother. She didn't know she had choices. I'm afraid your brother inherited the wild streak from her."

"Do you still care about her?"

"It was exhilarating to breathe the same air as she. Hortensia could charm anyone. She could wake up a crowd, but I settled down after you came along. She didn't. We couldn't make it together anymore. She remained young while I got older. She left."

"Maybe she realized trying to be normal was hopeless?" She'd learned it. She was far from normal.

"It wasn't so black and white. We loved each other."

"Why did she leave me?"

"Your mother couldn't cope with being what she was well. Being a mother made it that much harder."

"You didn't cope well, either. I have psychic powers and it scares you."

"I have my limitations, Ilida. That's why your grandmother stepped in. She had to teach you how to use it."

She stood up from the deep upholstered chair and walked to the fireplace. "That's why I left med school. I was open to too many voices. You never think about how frightened your patients really are, you know."

"You don't know how many times I wanted to tell you."

"Why didn't you?"

"How do you tell your children they aren't human? How?"

"What about Parker? Did you tell him, at least?"

"Your brother knows."

She laughed at the absurdity of it. How could he know and she not? Was he able to digest it and go on with his life? He was resilient that way, while she hoped for normalcy.

"What?"

"I've been running away from what I am. I feel so stupid. Thank you for telling me, now."

"Why don't you stay for some dinner, Ilida."

Ilida hadn't heard Leone come down the stairs. From the look on her face, she knew, also. Everyone knew except her. "Thanks Leona, but I have to get back to my friend's house. I borrowed his car."

She didn't want to eat with them-break bread as if everything was okay. It wasn't okay. It never will be. Her relations.h.i.+p with Daedalus was over. How could she stay with him knowing what her grandfather did? It would take years to scrub the shame off.

"His car?"

"Yes."

"Not Kevin's?"

Her father's dark brown eyes looked hopeful. "That s.h.i.+p sailed and sunk, Daddy."

"I liked him."

"I wish you could meet Daedalus."

"Oh, I almost forgot a woman came here looking for you" Leona said. "A reporter."