NO TIME TO DIE◦𝒔𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓

chapter forty seven.

"You got silver in there, right? Holy water?" Reese asked, nudging his head towards the bag.

"I should," Birdie said, raising a brow in his direction. "Unless you switched them while I was out."

Reese frowned, shaking his head. "Just look in the bag, kiddo."

"Stop calling me that," Birdie said, shooting him a hateful glare. Reese's face faltered at her harsh tone, but he nodded understandingly. He didn't blame Birdie for not believing him. In fact, he would've been concerned if she did. Easily trusting someone was not a trait hunters had and he and Serena taught her to be weary of everyone she met.

Birdie ignored the hurt on his face and slowly opened her bag, pausing as a thought occurred to her. She felt for her necklace​ that dangled around her neck━━━the one Reese had given her━━━and then looked over at the man. She pursed her lips together and stood up, carefully unclasping it from around her neck. It was made of real silver. If he couldn't bear to touch it, then that would give Birdie some ideas of what he could've been.

And. . .it would prevent Birdie from getting her hopes up that just maybe her father was actually still alive somehow.

She cautiously walked forward, holding it out to him. Reese looked at the necklace and then back to Birdie. "Touch it," Birdie instructed, nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. "If you're who you say you are. . .then there shouldn't be any problem."

Reese let out a sigh, offering Birdie a tiny smile. Then he lifted his hand, wrapping his hand around the end of the necklace as he looked at Birdie. "On the back it says July, 84. The month and year you were born," he said, completely unfazed by touching the silver.

Birdie huffed under her breath and yanked the necklace out of his hand, taking a few steps back. She sat on the edge of the bed, quickly clasping it around her neck so she wouldn't lose it again. "Fine. So you're not a werewolf, revenant, shapeshifter, skinwalker, wraith. . .but that doesn't cross off everything."

"Well, I'm not a ghoul, vampire, p━━━"

Reese blinked, keeping his eyes closed as a liquid was splashed onto his face without warning. He lifted his hand a couple seconds later and slowly wiped it from his eyes, spitting some out as he met Birdie's eye. She pursed her lips together and closed the lid of the flask, tossing it back into her bag.

"I'm not a demon either," Reese said, wiping his hands off on his pants.

"Fine," Birdie said, folding her arms over her chest. "But that doesn't mean you're not━━━"

"Birdie," Reese softly said, raising his brows as Birdie just glared at him, "If I was a monster, don't you think you'd be tied up or somethin' right now? You think I'd risk you gettin' free? Or that I'd even be trying to prove I'm not a monster?"

Birdie shook her head, standing up and walking off to the side of the room. She turned on her heel to face the man, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought for a few seconds. It just didn't make any sense. That couldn't be her father sitting in front of her. If her father was still alive, he would've come back to her. He wouldn't have left her all alone for all those years━━━he wouldn't have made her into an orphan. Reese wasn't like that.

Serena was never someone that anyone could count on, but Reese was. He was a kind, loving, and nurturing father. She had him wrapped around her finger and he was perfectly okay with that. He did everything he could to make Birdie happy, even if knew his wife would snap at him for it once she found out. He didn't care. All he wanted was to keep his daughter happy and safe like every parent was supposed to do. He would've come back for Birdie. He would've found her wherever she was and taken her all the way to California to teach her to swim just like he had promised. And then. . .they could've started over.