Roman put the bowl of cereal down on the table and hovered about, uncertain. Nadia looked up at him with a bored look familiar to the parents of teenagers around the world.

"Spit it out."

"Huh?" Roman said, clearly disrupted in the middle of a thought.

"Your face says 'We need to talk'. I know that look. Spit it out, father."

Nadia had taken, very early, to calling Roman father and Peter dad. Sometimes, Roman felt a little jealous of their relationship. He was Nadia's biological father, yet she seemed to connect more with Peter. He was certain that she loved him, just as he loved her, but their interactions had always been a little colder, a little more reserved than her relationship with Peter. Roman had put it down to the differences in their nature, Peter was just warmer, more approachable, cuddlier. It was one of the things he loved about him. Still, in his lesser moments, he felt like the two of them shared a special bond that he was not part of.

"We need to talk", he said distractedly. Nadia smiled at him and Roman immediately thought how silly his worries were. His daughter loved him, that was what mattered.

"Um", he said. He had given the topic a lot of thought. He did have a battle plan of how to introduce the issue, but now he just drew a blank. Roman realized he'd much rather give a presentation to the entire board than broach this topic with his daughter. He looked at Peter helplessly.

Nadia narrowed her eyes. "You're not trying to have 'the talk' with me, are you? Because let me tell you, there is this thing called the internet where I can look up anything I might ever want or need to know and we can save ourselves the awkwardness."

Roman took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. "No, that's not what we need to talk about. There is something of a 'family secret' that we need to share with you."

"Is it that dad turns into a wolf at every full moon?" She grinned at the shocked expression from her parents, and added, "You know, you two are not the great secret keepers you think you are."

Roman looked over at Peter. "Well, yeah, that's not it, either. That's a conversation for another day." He hesitated, then went on, "It's about me. And your heritage."

Nadia was suddenly very attentive, every trace of boredom gone from her face. "Tell me."

Roman rubbed his temple. "Have you ever noticed a …", he gesticulated with his hands, clearly at a loss for words, "a desire, a craving, a hunger when you saw blood?"

Nadia made a disgusted face. "Are you trying to tell me that you have a blood kink? Because honesty is great and all, but there are some things I really don't need to know. Yuck."

Peter leaned his elbows on the table and looked at her seriously. "Don't deflect. Did you ever think about drinking blood?"

Nadia looked back and forth between them, realization dawning on her face. "Are you telling me, that not only are you a werewolf, but father is an honest to God vampire?" She jumped up from her chair in excitement. "And I'm a vampire too? It's hereditary?"

Roman sighed. "We're called upirs. And no, you're not an upir. Yet. But you have the potential. And a hunger for blood is a side effect of that."

Nadia started pacing back and forth, thinking aloud. "Last week, in chem class, Jace cut himself on a piece of glass and when I saw it I had this strange feeling, but I didn't really know what it was." She stopped pacing and put her fingers on her gums above her incisors. "Do I have hidden fangs that can, like, pop out?"

She stopped short in her exited babbling and the disgusted look returned to her face. "Will I have to bite people? I don't wanna bite people."

Roman knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her arms. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Whatever happens, always remember that you are in control. Your nature doesn't define who you are. You define who you are."

Roman pulled back and sat down at the table slowly. "You have a choice and even though I have a strong preference about which is the better road to take, it is still your choice to make. There are advantages to being an upir. We can live very, very long lives. We're very tough to kill. We don't age. Our strength and speed far surpass that of any human." He paused. "But all of this comes at a terrible price. An insatiable hunger for blood. It can guide your every thought and push you to become somebody you hardly recognize." He looked at Peter. "And if there is nobody to help you, the darkness can consume you. I want you to know that whatever happens, you can always talk to Peter and me. We will support you, no matter what."

Peter, who was standing closeby, put a supporting hand on his husband's shoulder. Roman took a deep breath, then continued. "If I could go back, if I could change what happened to me, I would. It's not worth it. Every day I struggle with the hunger, with the urge to hunt … to kill. I would never want this life for you."

Nadia looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. Then, she stepped forward and held her father in a tight embrace. Roman was surprised at first, then he smiled and hugged his daughter back.