Diary of An Unnatural (BOOK #2)

Daddy Issues

William's POV

         "There's something you should know."

I leaned forward curiously wondering what could possibly come out of Ava's mouth. Her eyes were wild after her tossing turn of unconsciousness. I wanted to put my arms around her and never let go, but there was something so odd about the expression on her face.

"Why did you ask about my mom?" I asked her.

She swallowed. "I...I had these dreams. They seemed so real. In the first one, I saw Val and Bernard meeting at some gala. He was part of a group of vampires called the Red Barron League. Then I saw you...and your father. The day he turned you away..."

Now it was my turn for my throat to tighten up. "How...?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "I don't know. It was all so vivid, like I was actually in the moment. Then...and then I saw something else. With Derek." She opened her eyes now, blue shining with intensity. "There is so much he's not telling us. I knew it—I knew something was up. Everything he says, it only brings more questions. There has to be another explanation though. For all the impossible. There has to be..."

Her gaze drifted over my shoulder.

"Ava, please tell me what's going on," I told her. "You—you're scaring me. What did you see? What do you think it going on with Derek? Just tell me."

"He...I... He's here for more reasons than we think. It's not just about the Hunters and the vampires. There is another, bigger reason he wants to help us. And I don't think t's just for me...It's you."

"Why would he want to help me?"

She remained silent and dazed for the following minutes. I tried bringing her back to me, but whatever she'd dreamt about—whatever Derek's reasoning had been—she was out of reach. Shielded by something I couldn't detect, that I couldn't predict.

She finally looked back up at me, eyes unchanging from their blurry hold. "I...I think...He's your father."

†††

"Derek! God so help me!"

I barreled down the staircase with Ava stumbling at my heels still under her delirious state. But I couldn't care for her at the moment. One thing possessed my mind. It was of the man whose words had always been bizarre and whose story was unbelievable.

"He's not making it up!" Ava shouted behind me. "He couldn't have been! I saw it, William. And you—you should've seen his face when he told me about your mother—Estella. How he talked about meeting her and falling in love and how he had to leave and how heartbroken he was. How she died and how he wanted to look out for his son. You."

I shook my head, now taking the steps two at a time. "Ava, you don't understand. This isn't impossible. Even...even if he was. He's a Hunter. Hunters are still human. He should be dead by now."

"But he's not."

"I know," I snapped at her. "And...all these years I've believed my father—the man who slapped me around and kicked me from his hold—didn't love me. That my mother died because of me. That I had no family. Not until I met Bernard and Jacqueline. Not until I found my place here with them. And now..." I shook my head, pausing on the last step and lowered my voice. "Now this man we know nothing about who looks twenty-five but has been traipsing the globe for a hundred some odd years claims to be my father. A man who claims to have truly loved my mother and contributed his DNA."