Chapter Thirty-Six

"I'm not going," Ella snapped, slamming the front door shut as she stormed into the house behind her father. She had been silent all through lunch, but as soon as they'd arrived back at the house she had let rip.

"Gabriella," Marcus said in a warning tone. "That's enough, you're acting like a child."

"I don't care!" she screamed back at him. "I'm not leaving Mystic Falls! You can't make me!"

"I think you'll find that I can. I'm your father and you're a minor, you go where I go," he stated calmly.

They were in Marcus' study now, standing facing each other the desk between them. Ella's pretty features were contorted in fury, her father didn't understand what would happen if he tried to take her away from Jeremy. She was able to control her powers most of the time, but when she was angry the control slipped. Taking her from Jeremy would make her very angry. She dreaded to think what she would be capable to doing to her father.

"Father? Father?" she snarled, unable to stop herself. "Some father, a father wouldn't leave his child alone for days, sometimes weeks, only checking in when it was convenient for him. A father wouldn't take her away from a home she loves or the only friends she's ever had! A father wouldn't spring something like this on his daughter in the middle of a crowded restaurant right in front of her boyfriend. A FATHER would try to make his daughter happy, not miserable. And a father certainly wouldn't have to ask 'isn't that what father's are supposed to do', because they already KNOW what fathers are supposed to do!"

"Ella calm down," Marcus warned. He was still calm, his hands stretched out toward Ella, palms facing her.

"Go to hell," she fumed back, her blood boiling, fists clenched tightly at her side. She wanted to strike her father, wanted to stop him, she had to fight the urge.

"That's enough. Go to your Ella, you're grounded."

"Like hell," Ella laughed, the sound cold and hollow. "I'd like to see you try and keep me here Marcus."

"This is why we need to go Ella. This place, it isn't good for you, it's changed you. You'd never speak to me like this before we moved here. I'm doing this for you."

"You're lying," Ella growled. Everything was becoming clearer now, it was all falling into place now. "You never cared about me, you don't even love me. Your carefully construed façade is slipping Marcus and I can finally see you for the cold and unfeeling monster that you truly are."

Marcus opened his mouth as if to argue, but thought better of it. He shrugged and the last of the mask fell away. "You're stronger that I thought you would be. I'd been led to believe as a teenager your abilities would be unstable, but you demonstrate quite a lot of control. I wonder if it has anything to do with you finding your 'soul mate' or if it's just because you're an abomination."

"You know?" Ella gasped, shock replacing her anger. "This whole time you knew I was a Fae and you didn't say anything?"

"Of course I knew!" Marcus laughed. His stance was more relaxed than Ella had ever seen him. He seemed to be enjoying himself now. "Your mother told me everything. I really did love her, even though she wasn't human, even though she could never love me. You probably know that though, don't you? That a Fae can only love one person?"

"Yes." Ella's voice was barely above a whisper now, her eyes were wide as she stared at her father in shock.

"I thought so; I saw the way you oriented yourself with Jeremy. It's a shame really…"

"What is?" Ella demanded, her brow puckering in confusion.

"That he's going to have to die," Marcus shrugged.

"What?!" Ella yelled, backing away.

"It's funny," he continued, ignoring her outburst. "In nearly eighteen years you've never once bothered to ask what it is I do for a living. The man you thought to be your father and you never care what it was I did when I left you. That's very selfish daughter behaviour."

"What do you mean?" Ella whispered. She was scared now because she could feel the hate and the anger bubbling up inside of Marcus, see it reflected in his dark eyes. "What do you mean by 'thought to be your father'?"

"I'm. Not. Your. Father." He answered, enunciating each and every word and taking pleasure in the affect they had on Ella.

"Wha-? I don't…I…" Ella stammered, shaking her head. "How-?"

Marcus was laughing again. "Your mother was already pregnant when we met," he explained.

"Then…who…?"

"Who was your father?" he questioned, taunting her. "A disgusting, vile creature. The very thing I was raised to eradicate."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't you stupid little girl," Marcus snapped. He had stepped around his desk now and was moving toward her. "Your father…was a vampire."

TBC…