Cold Burn: The Demon Chronicles #1

Chapter 2 - No Regrets

          Silence permeated the air in the space between Caleb and me as I watched the reflective, amber markers in the road pass by as the moving van carried me to an unknown destination. I didn't have it in me to ask where he was taking me, because deep in my gut, I sensed I already knew. But when it came down to it I realized I didn't really care because a strange feeling was welling up inside me. The kind you got when you knew someone else was in the room with you, but you couldn't quite see them; as though they were just out of sight. And as I pondered that, I heard the click of the radio followed by the soft harmony of a saxophone filter through the speakers under a soft hiss of static. As I sat there listening to the rhythmic sound of the tires on asphalt and the melody of the Jazz, it fell into place. He was getting closer or at least I was getting closer to him. Whether my father knew it or not, he was unintentionally taking me closer with each mile to the one man I truly wanted to see.

"I don't suppose your maker told you what to expect?" He abruptly asked and when I didn't answer he sighed heavily. "Sweetheart..."

"Don't call me that," I mumbled.

"I just want to know that you understand what you've signed yourself up for," there seemed to be sadness in his voice. "This isn't something that you can try and then decide you don't like. There is no going back. You're... you're never going to go past eighteen."

"If you're asking me if I regret being turned-- I don't," I replied keeping my eyes on the dark skyline of red break lights.

"You may not now, but there's going to be a point in your life that you're going to," he responded quietly.

"Let me guess, you're going to tell me that at one point in your long, century filled life, that you had to watch the people you love wither and die while you stayed young and forever immortal," I snapped, not wanting to hear anything about life choices from him. Mine or his. I was still mad at him, still angry. Especially more so now that I suspected that he was only trying to make me question my own decision and turn to him for all the answers. But chiefly because he wanted the name of the Master that turned me. Which I wasn't about to give him.

"The daughter of a vampire decides to become a vampire herself. Who else could possibly take care of me, if not that vampire?" I said sardonically. "If that sounded sarcastic, it's because it was."

"Dammit Kristen!" He snapped abruptly, slamming his hand against the steering wheel, making me jump. "You threw your life away and you're too stubborn or stupid to realize it!"

"What did you call me?" I asked indignantly, but was ignored.

"You'll never grow older, you'll never get married or have kids," he retorted. "And if by some strange twist of fate you do get married, you'll have to watch him grow older to only have to either explain what you are and have him turn tail and run or concoct some way to kill yourself off and start anew in a different city under a different identity."

I gritted my teeth, my hands fisted in the pockets of my hoodie. "I'm sorry I turned out to be such a great disappointment to you after all these long years of no contact on your part. I'll endeavor to remember to make better choices now that I'm going to be in the same city as you, Caleb." I said scornfully.

He licked his lips as they pressed together in a thin line on his face. "It's Dad, not Caleb and you're not a disappointment Kristen."

"Well, you'd be one great big disappointment to me if I cared that much about you, but I don't. And it's Caleb, not Dad. That's something you have to earn, like respect. Both of which you don't have from me." I replied condescendingly. "And I highly doubt you ever will." Out of the corner of my eye I watched him wring the wheel with both hands before his shoulders sagged and his hands slid down to the bottom of the steering wheel.