Persuading Father

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I try my very best to avoid Daddy's disapproving gaze as Vaughn shortens the distance between us and our loved ones. Aunt Beth shakes her head a little when she catches my attention. She knows why I did it, but she doesn't like the reason. She and I are aware that there will always be a risk for humans or other supernatural beings to discover my existence. 

Vaughn gently put me down once Miss Lisbeth nods at her son. 

"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" Daddy growls out.

I look up to meet his blazed eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Damn right, you should feel sorry," he roars. "Not only did you disobey me, you left the beach territory and went to town. Those are two things you are not supposed to do. Dammit, Linda, you're grounded."

I should have seen this coming. "Fine!" With that, I turn around and start to stomp my way towards home.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? We are not finished!"

That's when I cannot take it anymore. The loneliness and feeling of something is missing from my life gets to me as I explode out my concern in the form of anger.

"Dad! I didn't choose to be a Siren. I hate that I am one of those despicable things, but there is nothing I can do. The lingering hunger will always be there, but I can control myself. I want to be normal. I wish I can be anything else other than a Siren. I want to feel what other normal people are feeling, and that is by going to a real school," I rant outloud. "It's less riskier for me to enrol in a public school since I am technically as human as I can be. I just want this one and only chance to experience the normal life."

Miss Lisbeth and Mr. Caleb seems surprised at my defiance. This would be one of the rare times I would argue with my father. Valerie glances up at my courageous attempt to persuade my father. 

"When I was in town, no supernatural being thought differently of me. The vampires and werewolves thought I truly was human. They made up the majority of the supernatural population and it's safe for me to linger among them," I reason with a pleading look. "Please let me, Daddy. I won't ask for anything else."

He narrows his dark eyes at me. 

"No" is his curt answer.

Just when I'm about to open my mouth and argue some more, Aunt Beth interrupted me. 

"You can't protect her forever, Augustus," Aunt Beth states knowingly. 

Daddy snarls at her. "Don't you butt into this, Beth."

Aunt Beth ignores his warning. "Do you prefer her just staying at that beach house forever and waste her life away? One day, she will have to live without us around. It's the best time for her to start learning about the cruel world we are living in now, eventhough there will always be a risk. Not to mention, she won't be alone; Valerie will be there."

Mr. Caleb inhales sharply and growls at Aunt Beth. "Like hell I'm going to let Val study with those weaklings."

Valerie's face drops at the clear mention of humans as weaklings. Then, she put on a poker face. 

"It's a good thing I'm going then, since I'm also a weakling," Valerie says angrily, glaring at her father.

He jerks backwards in surprise. "That's not what I -"

"That's exactly what you meant! Dad, I'm not a demigoddess or a Minotaur. I am human, a 'weakling'."

"You don't know yet," Mr. Caleb argues. "Maybe it'll take time..."

"No, dad! This is not going to change. Do you know how much I hate going to school everyday because other girls pick me for not being a Minotaur? Do you know how painful it is everytime PE class is on? It's different for Vaughn since he is a Minotaur and future Alpha. Me? I'm plain old human and you don't want to accept that fact!" she screams. Tears stream down her cheeks as her emotional confession got to her. 

Miss Lisbeth instantly put her hands around her daughter and lead her towards their own home. "We can discuss about this later. For now, let's all go home."

"Thanks for tracking her, Vaughn," Aunt Beth tells the Minotaur who is staring at his little sister with sadness. 

"Can you run along ahead first, Beth? I'll need a word with Linda," Daddy requests, nodding towards the forest. Aunt Beth agrees and disappears towards home. 

"Come on, Linda," he says softly, leading us to the opposite direction. 

"Where are we going?" I ask cautiously.

He ignores my question and walk deeper into the woods. We walk in silence for about five minutes until dad decides to be the first one to speak. 

"When your mother gave birth to you, she made me promise to protect you always. At that time, I only cared about saving her and wanting to kill whoever made her go through the pain. She told me that she didn't care if you were going to be a heartless unemotional being like your biological father as long as I try to save you," dad tells me, cracking a little bit at the bitter memory. 

My heart breaks a little at the thought of my biological mother. She loved me and she begged her brother to keep me alive, even if I ever turned out differently. I silently say thank you to God for not giving me the personality of a true evil Siren. 

"I tried to keep my promise to her. You took two years to hatch and before that, I thought you were not able to make it. I didn't know how long will it take for a Siren-mermaid egg to hatch, at that time. When you hatched..." dad chuckles as he recall what happened. "I've never seen anything like it. You were screaming and trying to bite me with your scary-ass teeth."

My cheeks burnt in embarassment. I was born in my Siren form with raw instincts to taste blood and munch on meat. 

"I thought to myself, I would try my best to raise you even if you were confined to being underwater since you're a Siren and all. Imagine my surprise when you pulled yourself to shore and transform into a human-like baby in your sleep. I knew you were special and I would keep you safe from anything that will cause you at harm."

We then reach our territory and private beach.

"The Siren is part of you, Linda. No matter how much you hate it. So is being human. I'm just trying to protect you from others and I don't like putting you at risk," dad tells me as he plops himself down onto the sand. 

"I know, Daddy," I say softly, hugging him. 

He sighs. "I will think about it, okay? I know that I will also have to train you about the human ways, sooner or later."

"Thank you!" I exclaim gratefully, hugging him even harder out of appreciation. I had expected dad to never budge from his decision, but he came to his senses.

His laughter makes my whole body vibrate. 

The both of us sit in silence on the golden sand as we watch the waves crash against the beach and water moves closer towards my exposed toes. 

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