“Samson stays, dad” Isabella said stubbornly. “What ever it is that you are going to say, you can say it in front of him. He’s not leaving.”
She turned to Samson and said softly. “Please seat down. Remember you promised”
“I don’t want him here” Travis persisted.
This time, Samson didn’t wait for Isabella to speak. “I’m staying for Belle” he said stiffly. “I don’t care what you think or want. I don’t trust you one bit and I’m sure as hell not going to leave her alone with you. No way that’s going to happen”
“She is my daughter. I should be the one saying that. Do you really think that I would do anything to Hurt her?”
Samson scoffed. “You already did.. And you have done enough”
Isabella touched Samson on the arm. Silently urging him to do this for her. He stared at her for a second. He would want nothing more than to strangle the man in front of him, but he loved this woman and he wanted to do anything for her. How could he even say no to her when she was staring at him like that. Begging him with her gaze to do this for her. He took a seat beside her, but he didn’t stop frowning at Travis, who returned the hateful stare.
“Why did you suddenly want to see me after all these years, dad?” Isabella began, starting with the question she had wanted to ask since he had requested for this meeting.
Travis shrugged. “I wanted to catch up. It’s been a long time, sweetheart. Is it wrong that I would want to see you after all this time? And I wanted to check on you. Last time we say each other, you were injured and the situation that moment didn’t let us have the opportunity to say anything to each other”
“You were not bothered about that when you decided leave dad. You left me in the hands of a bunch of nannies. Soon you didn’t even bother to visit at all. So please don’t piss me off by acting like you care about how long it’s been since we last saw each other”. She sallowed hard before she continued speaking.” Did you even for once think about me and how I felt? Did you even think to come back? Did you even care? What was so important that you had to leave and not care about me for so long? I would really like to know the answer to that question”
Travis gritted his teeth. “You might not understand, but I was only trying to protect you” he said, his gaze darting towards Samson.
“Protect me from what?” asked Isabella.
“From the likes of him of course” said Travis, banging his hands on the table and raising his voice. The few people around them turned in their direction to stare at him, wondering what the hell was going on.
“Mind your business y’all” said Travis carelessly to the people around them. “There is nothing to see here”
After everyone turned back to their business, he continued. “You have no idea what your friend here is” he said, pointing at Samson. “You probably don’t even know that you were wounded that night I saw you either. I’m sure that he healed you and made you forget. Just so he could continue to use you for god knows what…. Probably a walking blood bag” He suddenly turned his attention to Samson. “I swear that I will make you pay for what ever you have done to her”
“Stop it, dad” said Isabella, interrupting them. “Samson here has done absolutely nothing wrong to me. If anything all he has done since I met him is protect me and make me happy. I remember all that happened that night and I will not sit here and watch you speak to him that way. If you insist then this meeting is over”
Travis shook his head. “That is exactly what someone who has been compelled would say. Are you aware that he is capable of doing that? Are you aware that he is capable of messing and controlling your mind to do what ever he wants you to do?”
Isabella had had enough of this. She might have told Samson to let her handle this herself, and she knew how hard it must be for him to just sit there and let her father talk about him as if he wasn’t in the room, but there was no way that she was going to let her father continue to talk about him that way.
“Leave Samson out of this dad and answer my question” she said.
“But he is….”
“I know exactly what he is dad” snapped Isabella. “And I’m completely fine with it. And not that it’s any of your business, but I’m not compelled. I stopped being your business when you walked out on me. I love Samson and I trust him”
Travis Stevens stared wide eyed at his daughter like he couldn’t recognize her. And honestly he couldn’t. Couldn’t believe that she was actually saying those words. Couldn’t believe that those words were coming from his own daughter. Not after everything he had done to rid the world of these blood thirsty monsters. Now his own daughter was in love with one of them. It just couldn’t be possible.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I know that you are mad at me” he said, “But trust me, I did what I had to do to protect you. To keep you safe. I had to do something to rid the world of these monsters… At least I thought I could. I wanted revenge for the wrong that was done to me… To us. And at first I thought there were just few of them around. But I found out that there were more
.. And they keep increasing… Maybe even daily. Going around feeding on and turning innocent humans into their kind.”
Isabella seemed confused, and very curious now.” I don’t understand” she replied. “How did you find out about vampires? I didn’t know they existed till I met Samson. And how did it concern us? Why did you feel like you had to protect me or get revenge….? What ever that means”
Travis closed his eyes, as he tried to speak about the most horrible moment of his life. An event that he had managed to push away and not think about for years. The death of his wife.
“Your mother” he said, his voice dangerously low. “Your mother was killed by a vampire.”