It felt as if my chest was contracting, no air would come out or enter, I just couldn't breathe but that didn't stop the tears from streaming down my face, or the constant wave of fear that made my entire tremble, to shake as if my body was dying in coldness.
"Doll, please try to calm down and breath." Ryder told me as he started to worry.
I tried to calm down, to avoid what was already happening but it was useless, my breathing as well as my heartbeat was escalating.
Ryder pulled me to his lap and caressed my cheek.
"Please try to calm down Doll." Ryder whispered to me and I could feel how his body trembled to, if it was out of fear or pain I didn't know.
I made a fist with my hand on his shirt and tried to calm down again but I wasn't successful.
"What's wrong?" My dad asked as they all entered the living room.
"I don't know, she can't calm down and she can't breathe!" Ryder said worried as my body shook and the pain increased.
"She is having a breakdown, she is having a panic attack." Eva said with a small gasp, she knew that whenever I got them they were bad.
"A breakdown; why is Alice having a breakdown, what is causing it?" Mason asked as he looked at Ryder.
"Alice darling, please honey, just try to calm down." Eva said as she got near us.
I nodded slowly with a sob but it wouldn't work, I just couldn't.
"Alice, look at me." Eva said in a concerned tone.
I looked at her, between my tears I could see the concern that filled up her eyes.
"Close your eyes and count slowly, Alice nothing will hurt you or us if we're all together, you're going to be alright." Eva said as she grabbed my hands that were constantly shaking.
I hugged Eva and once I was in her arms I felt better.
"It's alright darling." Eva said against my hair as she hugged me back pulling me tight against her body.
"I, I can't." I sobbed softly to her.
"Just try to calm down Alice." Eva said as she caressed my back.
I pressed my face against her shoulder and was breathing again; I kept my eyes closed, I kept my eyes closed because I was afraid that if I opened them reality would hit me again and I just couldn't handle the weight of the world on my shoulders, not like this.
"Ryder, please take Alice to her bedroom. She needs to lie down and rest." Eva told him once my sobs started to die down and my body slowly relaxed.
I felt Ryder pick me up and carry me upstairs to my bedroom, as Ryder took me to my bedroom I would still give small sobs; I hated this, being so weak and vulnerable. I have always tried to be strong, unbreakable but my own emotions would betray me when I least expected.
Ryder placed me on my bed and covered me with a blanket.
"I'm sorry." Ryder said as he sat next to me.
I shook my head; there was no need to apologize.
"It's not your fault." I said slowly as I stared blankly at the sheets of the bed.
Ryder was quiet for a few seconds until with a sight he got up from the bed and looked at me.
"What can I do for you, Doll?" Ryder asked me, his brown eyes were filled up with so much pain and love it was nearly overwhelming.
I shook my head again.
"Nothing, I just want to be alone for a few minutes." I told Ryder slowly as I licked my lips and stared at the celling and closed my eyes feeling the tears silently roll down my cheeks.
Ryder nodded before he left the room.
Once alone, I stared at the sheets of the bed and felt my heartbeats went back to its normal rhythm until my eyes finally shut.
I could feel my breathing escalate; I could feel the fear increase with each heartbeat. I was in the Academy but something was wrong, something was very wrong. I ran down the hallway hoping that I could find him, find him beaten up or hurt but at least alive, I felt a huge burning sensation on my back that made me fall to the ground, I looked up and stared at her full of fear, now there was no way out of this. I forced myself up hissing in pain when the burning sensation in my back grew. Before I could completely get up I was thrown against the wall, she was too quick and I didn't have time to react not even when the stake pierced my heart. I met her cold gaze before everything around me got dark.
I sat up breathless, I was even sweating that nightmare had seem so real. I looked around in a haze, confused not knowing where I was for a few seconds.
"Are you alright Alice?" My dad asked as he stood by the doorway of my bedroom.
I hugged my knees against my chest and nodded.
"Yes, I just had a bad dream that was so vivid." I said in a low voice as I shook my head, I could still feel the burning sensation in my back.
My dad entered the room and sat next to me in the bed.
"You needed to eat, I brought you this." My dad said as he placed the tray of food down in the bed.
"Thank you." I said with a small smile; even if it was already late, even if I had slept the whole morning and part of the afternoon my body still felt somehow weak and tired.
"How are you feeling?" My dad asked me in a wary tone.
"I'm fine, I'm just not used to having this type of things, and I never thought I could have a breakdown, especially like this so I'm sorry I made you all go through that." I told my dad as I started to eat the food he brought me.
"Alice, you have nothing to apologize for, on the contrary we should be apologizing to you. I'm actually surprised that you didn't have a breakdown earlier." My dad said making me look at him.
"Why do you say that?" I asked him after I finished up eating my food.
"Alice, you are barely eighteen and you have gone through things that no one would ever be ready for, believe it or not Alice you're still a child." My dad said making me smile.
"Dad, don't-." I said with a groan.
"No, Alice to me you are still a child, you're still my little baby girl." My dad said as he hugged me.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and felt a tear roll down my face.
"Alice, are you-?" My dad started.
"I'm not going to have another breakdown, those were tears of joy. It feels so wonderful to finally have a family, to have a dad or in this case since I'm a little girl to you, to have a daddy." I said as I wiped away my tears.
"It's wonderful to have you too, honey. I spent all these years trying to find a way to meet you but each one of them implied risking your life and I couldn't do that to you honey." My dad said as he kissed my hair.
My dad kept right arm around me as I played with my locket nervously; we just stayed like that for a while until I gathered enough courage to ask him.
"Dad, is it-?" I said slowly.
"Yes?" My dad said.
I looked up and meet his gaze.
"I know this might be painful for you to talk about but I had always wanted to ask this to someone besides Eva and who else could know her better than you. Daddy, could you please tell me how mum was like?" I asked him in a small voice, afraid what my question would trigger.
I was a bit afraid of what his reaction could be but instead of getting angry or upset my dad smiled.
"She was just like you, just as beautiful as you. Alice, you look just like her." My dad said with a smile.
I smiled.
"Really, I do?" I asked him.
"You're just like your mum Alice, the way you look, you act and speak all of that is of your mother Alice." My dad said making my smile become wider.
"Except for my eyes and hair, I got that from you." I said as I leaned my head against his chest.
My dad looked at me and smiled.
"The exact shade of stormy gray, like the vicious seas and storms, they're untamable." My dad said making me smile again.
"Daddy, how did you and mum meet?" I asked him after a couple of moments of silence.
My dad smiled at the memory.
"Your mum and I met the exact same way you and Ryder did, your mum had barely turned seventeen and she graduated earlier because she was such an amazing huntress so she was sent to kill the Vampire King who was currently under my protection. When I met your mother, I knew it was her, I knew that she was my mate. Everything about you mother was so perfect and beautiful even though sometimes she was stubborn as hell." My dad said smiling at the memory.
I laughed, that sounded quite familiar.
"Now I know where I got my stubbornness from besides you." I said with a low chuckle.
"And being flirty because your mom was a huge flirt just like you, somehow every guy that met your mother fell for her; she knew how to win their hearts." My dad said as he shook his head.
"Even yours, right she got to you?" I asked with a smile.
He nodded.
"Even mine, even though your mother tried to fight it I was eventually able to convince her, to see the truth." My dad said as he started to play with my hair.
"How did you do that?" I asked, by the way he spoke I knew it had been a large battle for that.
"Ryder's dad, Augustus, he made this party, a dress up party and of course your mother couldn't turn down the invitation because every single of the suspects where there, including me. My job was to make your mum believe that I was the Vampire King just like Mason made you think that he was the Vampire King instead of Ryder, I had to convince your mother of that and I had no objection with that, if she thought I was a vampire she would spend more time with me." My dad said with a smirk.
A gave a small chuckle.
"A dress up party, that sounds fun, how was it?" I asked him.
"It was interesting, some vampire rebels managed to enter the party." My dad said as he looked at me.
"Why? What were they after?" I asked him as I looked up.
"They were after the Vampire King and his mate obviously but they were also after this new British huntress that had suddenly become a huge threat from them." My dad said as he shook his head with an amused smile, I guess he was remembering everything.
"They were after my mum?" I said softly.
My dad nodded.
"Yes, I would never forget that night dear, I have enough reasons good and bad ones to not forget that night especially because I wore a ridiculous costume." My dad said with a chuckle.
"What were you dressed up as?" I asked him suddenly curious.
"Augustus made me get in a prince charming costume; I thought I looked ridiculous in it, well that was until I looked at your mom. She came in wearing this beautiful light blue-purple dress and a crystal crown; she was dressed up as a princess. We danced and all but around midnight I lost sight of her, I looked around the whole mansion for her and I found your mum in the backyard surrounded by a bunch of vampire rebels, they had ambushed her and she was in deep trouble, I had no choice but to protect her but she also fought the vampires off and of course by doing that I somehow ending up exposing myself as a vampire to her." My dad said recalling the memories.
I looked at him.
"How did mum react when she found out that you were a vampire?" I asked him.
I remembered how I had reacted when I found out that Ryder was a vampire, I had freaked out and stormed out of his house.
"She obviously was surprised and then she did what any other hunter would do against a vampire, she tried to kill me with a stake." My dad said with a chuckle.
I raised my eyebrow at him.
"That was sure an act of true love right there, what did you do?" I asked him.
"I defended myself without hitting her, then I managed to knock her down to the ground and to her surprise I kissed her, that was completely insane for me to do but it was worth it when Sophie kissed me back. But when we broke the kiss your mum flipped out because she knew that she was in deep trouble, I knew that you mum loved me as I did and she knew that I wouldn't give up so easy, Sophie knew that I would fight for our love." My dad said with a smile.
I gave a small yawn.
"And you did, right?" I said as I started to get very sleepy.
"Yes, I did." My dad said in a soft voice as I yawned again and closed my eyes eventually falling asleep in my father's arms.
When I woke up I was completely alone in the bed, I looked at the clock and saw that it was pass midnight, I guess after a while my dad left to his room and let me sleep but what I found strange was that Ryder wasn't here in bed with me.
With a sight, I got from the bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen, as I entered I found Eva in the kitchen table with a bunch of papers.
"Alice, why aren't you in bed?" Eva asked me as she took off her glasses.
"I should ask you the same thing." I said as I leaned against the counter looking at her with a smile.
"Not because the Headmistress set up a trail against me means that I'm excused to not do my work." Eva said making me smile.
We were quiet for a while until I decided to speak.
"Eva, can I ask you something?" I said nervously.
Eva smiled as she noticed that I was nervous.
"Anything Alice, you can ask me anything." Eva said as she met my gaze.
I gave a small sight.
"Eva, do you love me as a daughter because you have my mum's essence, meaning that you didn't have a choice but to love me as such?" I asked her in a small voice.
Eva looked at me in disbelief.
"What makes you think Alice? Even if I didn't have your mum's essence I would still love you in the exact same way I do now, you're a lovely girl Alice and I truly love you as my daughter it was my choice to." Eva said as she held my gaze with such warmth.
I smiled.
"And I love you as well Eva, you will always be my mother no matter what." I said as I hugged myself.
"Then why do you ask in the first place?" Eva asked me curious to know my reason.
I shrugged.
"I don't know, with all these secrets finally reveled I got so many doubts, a very special one to be more exact but I'm afraid to clear that doubt because to do that I have to ask you a question and I don't know if you'll get angry at me." I admitted as I bit my lip nervously.
"Alice, you can ask me anything. I won't get angry." Eva said as she set her papers down.
"You promise?" I asked her tentatively.
Eva gave a chuckle as she shook her head in amusement.
"I promise Alice, have I ever given you a reason to be afraid of me or to not trust me?" Eva asked me as she raised an eyebrow at me.
"No." I said softly.
"Then as me with no fear." Eva said as she looked at me.
I gave a small sight before I sat on the counter.
"Eva, when did you started having feelings for my dad before or after you became his second chance mate?" I asked her, there I had said it.
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