A Fallen Angel

Chapter 6 - Hiding a secret

---Ethan’s POV---

“Told you not to worry.” Leo laughed softly as he motioned his head towards Caitlin and Lilith, both overlooking the lake as the wind played with its surface. I let out a relieved sigh as I slowly nodded. My heart knew that Lilith was safe as long as she was on my territory but my head had swarmed with possible scenarios of where she was when I had walked in her empty bedroom before finding an equally empty room of Caitlin.

Now it turned out that they had taken a stroll around the lake, judging by their scent that flitted through the grass and the trees. Closing my eyes, I took a large lungful of air before I opened my eyes again, slowly feeling my heart calm down to its normally slow rhythm.

Lilith stirred in Caitlin’s arms and looked over her shoulder before spotting us. A soft smile slipped on her face as she waved at us, causing my heart to skip a beat. My feet dragged me towards them until I was standing beside Caitlin.

She was looking over the lake with a far-away look in her eyes, the brilliant green faded to a dull color while her eyes scanned the lake, probably without seeing it. A frown slowly appeared in my face as I overlooked her whole posture before realizing that she was utterly distressed; whatever she was thinking about was turning the whole atmosphere around her rather gloomy and depressed.

I reached a hand out, intending to give her some comfort, no matter how small it was, when Lilith wriggled out of Caitlin’s arms and jumped in mine with a brighter smile on her face. “Morning daddy.” She softly whispered in my ear while her cold cheek rubbed against the stubble on my cheeks.

Forgetting my initial movement, I smiled and hugged her closer. “Morning cupcake. I’m glad you seem to be feeling better.” The muscles of my face pulled in an unfamiliar motion, making me realize that it had been a long time since I genuinely smiled at someone.

Lilith shot a look towards Caitlin and smiled secretively before nodding slowly, “I’m getting there.” She smiled up at me as Caitlin turned around and stood up, the wind playing with her long hair as she watched us.

Realizing something, my smile dropped from my face as I sighed, shaking my head at myself. “I just realized that I never thanked you for being able to get Lilith to live again.” I hugged Lilith once more as Caitlin shook her head with a smile.

“I should thank both of you actually, for freeing me from the slave house and in a way, helping me process the recent events. Lilith has been a great help for that, sir.” Her answer surprised me in more ways than one. My daughter was helping her?

Leo asked the question that swirled through my head by tilting his own in confusion and asked, “What do you mean, ‘Lilith has been a great help for that?’ And what are you processing?”

Caitlin turned her attention to Leo while her eyes clouded for a moment as she said, “Obviously, I’m in a world I’ve never been before, I lost my family and I have no way of ever going back, even if I was allowed to.” The walls around my heart cracked slightly at the broken tone at the end of her sentence before I mentally scolded myself.

“Why couldn’t you? I mean, Ethan might be a vampire but he isn’t cruel; he would allow you to go back to check on your family. I don’t see the problem here.” Leo stated, scratching his head as he walked a bit closer. I rolled my eyes at him as Caitlin turned her head to look at the lake.