Chapter 6

(A Special Birthday)

Katie's point of view

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Angel run around with Raquel as we cleaned up from her birthday celebration. They had become practically inseparable within hours of our first day with the pack. They openly cared about each other and were quick to defend each other. Angel had defended her new friend the day after we'd arrived against some older male wolves that belonged to the pack.

I could still remember her grabbing the older boy away from Raquel and sending him flying into a tree. I had been shocked by her display of strength. I'd seen her fast but Angel had never been a physically aggressive child. When the boy had caused Raquel to cry out it was as if something in the redhead snapped.

The look in her eyes was unforgettable. Angel might have blue eyes but I learned that day if she got angry they would turn purple. She also became still and gave a look that would stop anyone in their tracks. The look on her face reminded me of her father's face when he got angry; it sent chills down my spine. I had gone to correct her but Tyler and Reth had instantly stopped me. It was then I began to realize why being here was important for Angel. The one thing I was relieved about, however, was that unlike Dracula. Angel maintained control. She didn't try to do something worse to the other boy. She stopped him and warned him.

Memphis hadn't seen the incident as he was and is still confined to a bed. I had been concerned how he'd react but, like anything else with my daughter, he took it in stride. He assured me that her self control was an important difference between my daughter and the count.

A frown crossed my face as I thought about the secret I was keeping from him. Memphis knew Angel was Dracula's daughter, but he was not aware that Dracula had survived. I wanted to tell him and warn him but whenever I tried I was promptly removed from the room, and on one occasion I'd ended up confined to my room.

"Mom." I snapped out of my thoughts and immediately looked at the birthday girl.

"Hey sweetheart," I said smiling warmly at her.

"Can I ride with Raquel and her dad back to the house?" She asked. "Please?" The two girl's begged in unison.

"Sure," I told them.

"Yeah!" Both girls lunged at me giving me hugs of thanks; almost knocking me over. I laughed and watched as the two headed off with Raquel's father, Isaiah. We gave each other a nod and then I went back to cleaning. I didn't worry about Angel with Isaiah and his wife, Whitney. I knew they would take good care of her.

Reth and his pack was very good to Angel. They were even good to Sasha and I. My only concern about the pack was what would happen once Dracula came for us. I worried about what would happen to Memphis.

Angel's point of View

Raquel and I arrived back at the house and neither one of us could wait to break out the laser tag game that Raquel's parents had gotten me.

"Yeah!" Raquel said. "Come on. We'll get the other stuff later!" She told me.

"Okay!" I said every bit as excited.

"Oh no you don't. Take what's in the car and put it away in the bedroom," Isaiah told us.

"Dad!" Raquel complained. "You're so mean!" she pouted.

"My mom would say the same thing," I told my best friend. "Come on. We'll be really quick and your dad can get the equipment ready while we do." I looked at Raquel's father. "Please?" I asked and gave him a puppy dog face.

He laughed before nodding he would. "Thank you!" Raquel and I grabbed the gift bags holding my birthday presents and quickly headed toward the house; narrowly missing Tyler.

"Slow down you two!" Tyler called after us. We only giggled and headed inside and down to our bedroom.

Raquel and I were supposed to originally have our own rooms, but since we wanted to share and kept going into each other's rooms, my mom and Raquel's parents had finally given up and allowed us to share a room.

"Man, where are we going to put this?" Raquel asked as we looked over our crowded room. The dark skinned girl turned and looked at me. "We have way too much stuff."

"Shush!" I hushed her. "Someone might hear you!" I warned. She just looked at me. "If you want the drum set for your birthday, you better not let them hear you say that."

"Oh yeah , good point." She replied. She looked the room over. We had two dressers full of clothes and two toy boxes also full of stuff. Even our cubicle set Tyler and Isaiah had put together was over flowing. "Um, under the bed?" Raquel suggested.

"We filled that after Christmas," I reminded her.

Raquel shook her head. "No, we didn't." She walked over and pulling out the drawer that was supposed to be a hidden bed she frowned. It was completely full. Raquel looked back at me. "I hate it when you're right," The dark haired girl complained. I giggled and she narrowed her eyes for a split second before rolling them dramatically. "I hate you."

"No, you don't." I dropped my bags and walking over I draped myself over her back and hugged her from behind. "I make your life more interesting."

"That's not always a good thing," Raquel informed me.

"When is it bad?" I asked.

"When you got us stuck on the roof," She reminded me. I bit my lip and gave an agreeing shrug. She had a point. The first time I had accidentally jumped my vampire abilities had caused me to go to high; it was not the best thing that had happened. Raquel hadn't expected me to go to high and had grabbed me to stop me. Unfortunately, all that happened was we both ended up on the roof. Worse yet we ended up there for a while because Tyler had fallen asleep and no one else was home.

"I make things memorable?" I offered.

"That's one way to put it," she said with a laugh. "Closet?" I shrugged and we walked over and opened the closet. We both gave a sigh. Our closet was…not the most organized thing and was definitely full.

"Let's leave it in here anyway and shut the door quick. My mom will figure it out," I suggested.

"Sounds good. We threw the stuff in the closet and closed the door. It was put away in the only place we could find.

"Angel."

"What?" We both said as we jumped hearing and seeing Tyler standing in the doorway of our room.

The wolf instantly raised an eyebrow at us. "What are you two up to?" He asked crossing his arms and looking at us.

"Nothing," we said in unison.

"Uh huh. Tell me you haven't snuck some creature in here again," he said warningly.

"When have we ever done that?" Raquel asked. That caused even me to look at the brown eyed girl. "Angel!"

"Sorry." I turned and looked at Tyler. "To my knowledge there are no hidden creatures in this room."

"To your knowledge?" Tyler questioned.

"Hey, last time I didn't know about the frog," I said defending myself. Tyler nodded and looked at the girl that was practically my twin.

"Nope, not this time."

Tyler gave a nod and then looked at me. "Come on. I have one more surprise for you." Raquel and I looked at each other and followed him out of the room. I couldn't wait to see my surprise. I had gotten everything I wanted so what could possibly be left.

"Raquel, wait here," Isaiah said as we entered the living room.

"But…"

"No, Raquel. Not this time," The dark skinned man said firmly. Raquel gave a huff but stayed there.

"Come on Fox," Tyler said. I didn't argue and followed him out of the house. I was surprised when we walked out of the interior back gate and out past the pool into the garden.

As we approached the large fountain at the far end I noticed a man with shoulder length brown hair turned away from us. As we got closer I sensed he wasn't human.

The man turned and smiled warmly at me. "Hello Fox."

My eyes flew open wide. "Daddy!" I launched myself at him.

Dracula's point of view

I couldn't help but chuckle as my daughter launched herself into my arms. I held her close. I feel as much as sense how pleased she was to see me. It felt wonderful to finally hold my daughter for the first time.

"You didn't tell me you were coming for us!" She said excited.

"I came to see you but I cannot take you with me yet." I watched as she instantly looked sad and looked down. I gently lifted her chin to face me. "I cannot take you with me yet but I couldn't wait any longer to see you. It will not be so long this time." She nodded and then wrapped her young arms around my neck once more.

"I missed you daddy."

"I missed you two Fox," I told her. Keeping my daughter in my arms I walked over to a nearby bench and sat down.

The pictures of Fox were wonderful but seeing her in flesh and blood was so much better. There was no question the girl had Katie's beautiful eyes. Her red hair, however, threw me off a bit. Katie and I both had brown hair. I ran my hand over one of her pigtails before I realized I'd never seen a human with hair like this before. Granted my daughter was not completely human but it was such an unusual color of hair. It wasn't red like many humans. It was a rich dark red. I'd seen humans with unnatural hair color like this but not natural.

"You're surprised by my hair," Angel said knowingly.

"Indeed. It is not a natural color for human hair." She looked at me and chuckled. "Yes, you are only half human but it is still unusual." Seeing a look of annoyance I almost laughed. "It just shows how special you are."

Fox smiled and reaching over kissed my cheek. "I love you Daddy."

"I love you little one," I told her. I told her the words but as I did I felt a strange sensation I had not felt in centuries; not since Despina had lived. Any love died for me after she killed herself believing I was dead. Holding my daughter, however, there was no mistaking the feeling I thought I would never feel again. I loved Fox.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Why is mommy afraid of you?" She asked innocently. "I asked Tyler once but he wouldn't answer me."

"Let's take a walk." With a nod she got up and taking my hand we headed for the gate.

"Angel!" I heard someone scream. I looked back to see Katie in a blue button top and a navy blue long skirt standing there. Instantly she began making her way towards us; her eyes never leaving Fox.

"Look Mommy, its Daddy," Angel said excited as she got closer.

Slowly the mother of my child looked up at me. "Do I at least get to say good bye?" she asked.

At first I was confused by the request. Then sensing fear and tremendous sadness from her I began to realize what was happening. Katie thought I was going to take Angel from her.

"Fox, would you give your mother and I a few minutes alone?" I asked her.

"But…"

"I will call on you after I have spoken privately with your mother," I assured her.

"Why do I have to go?" she asked disappointed to be sent away. "Why can't I stay?" She complained. "Are you still going to…" Angel turned toward her mother and said, "Why are you so afraid of daddy?"

Katie was surprised by the question but remained calm. "It's complicated," She told her.

"How?" she asked clearly wanting the question answered.

"I took her," I said finally. Katie looked at me surprised I'd actually told her.

"Took her?"

I looked over at Katie. I knew she would lighten anything to protect our daughter. Even against me she would put things gently and not as harsh as things had actually been. "She will learn the truth eventually," I told her. I looked over at Fox. "You will not like what you hear. Are you sure you want to know now?" Seeing her nod I said, "Very well. Sit back down."

"Okay." Her red pigtails bobbed as she returned to the bench and sat down. "Come on Mommy." Reluctantly Katie went and joined our daughter on the bench.

"I had gone to the theater to watch a play, Midsummer's Night Dream,"

"MacBeth," Katie corrected.

I looked at her and confess I didn't doubt she was right. "It wasn't the play that had my attention that night," I told her. "A beautiful brown haired woman in a pink dress had my attention." Katie looked away and I sensed she was trying not to blush.

I looked over at Fox to see her smiling. She too had caught the sense from her mother. I knew she was smiling because she expected some romantic tale as I had been told she liked. It somewhat made me disappointed to have to tell her ours was not such a tale.

"You saw mommy."

"Yes I did," I admitted. "I saw her and decided one way or another I would have her."

"One way or another?" Angel asked. "Didn't she want to be with you?"

"You're mother was with another man that night," I explained. "I waited and watched. Your mother didn't want to enter an alleyway but her boyfriend insisted so she did. I made my appearance and gave Sam the opportunity to walk away."

"You killed him," Katie said flatly.

"Did you?" Angel asked becoming a little unsettled.

"I gave him the opportunity of leaving but he was foolish enough to believe he could keep your mother from me," I said without apology. "Yes, I killed the man that was with your mother and then I took her."

"You kidnapped her?"

"Yes," Katie confirmed. "I lost consciousness after Sam was killed. When I woke up I was in a strange place."

"I laid claim to your mother." I watched as Angel lowered her eyes as she clearly thought over the information she had learned. "Your mother did not wish to submit to my authority and fought against me."

Angel looked at her mother with sad eyes. "He hurt you." Katie didn't answer with her voice. Instead she gave a small nod.

"You hurt mommy!" Angel said angrily. "Why did you hurt her?" She demanded.

"Because she fought me!" I said becoming angry. "She ran from me and went with my enemies at the first opportunity! She…was with one of them!" I felt my anger becoming intense at the memory. I looked over and noticed Fox had scooted closer to her mother.

"I was angry when she refused to submit to me. I loved her strength and her determination but I did not like her refusal of obedience. So, yes, I hurt her. After getting her back from my enemies I hurt her again," I openly admitted.

"I thought you loved her," Angel said confused.

"I was obsessed with having your mother," I told her. "I became so blinded with what I wanted nothing else mattered. Even…"

"Even what?" Angel asked.

"You were not an accident Angel," I told her. "I used leverage over your mother so that I could take pleasure with her. When the opportunity arose that a child might be created I took it."

"You…"

"I agreed to what your father wanted so that your father would protect Danielle," Katie said calmly.

I sensed Fox's sudden rush of emotion just before she suddenly rose to her feet. Before I could even react Katie took hold of the girl. "Angel, listen to me," Katie pleaded. "Yes your father took me and yes he hurt me at times but not all the time." Gently she cupped Angels face and turned it to make Angel look at her.

"I love you Angel. Your father was not cruel to me when you were created," Katie assured the upset child. "Your father treated me very well; once I stopped fighting him." Katie wiped a couple of tears from our daughter's face. "I do not regret you Angel. I always have and I always will love you."

"Do you love daddy?" Angel asked with almost hope in her voice. Listening to the girl even I hoped the woman held feelings for me.

"There are a lot of things I feel where your father is concerned," Katie said very carefully. Hearing her words I felt disappointed but didn't comment.

"You miss him at times. Can you learn to love him?" She asked with sad blue eyes.

"I don't know," she replied and released our daughter.

"Can you try?" She asked.

"Angel, I don't know what the future will hold for us," My brown haired beauty told her gently.

"We will be together," I added. Katie glanced at me but didn't agree or disagree. "I have things to do but when the time is right I will come for you and your mother and we will not be separated again."

"You can't hurt mommy anymore!" Angel said very firmly.

"What does or does not take place between your mother and me is not for you to decide," I told her firmly.

"No!" She countered quickly. "You can't hurt her anymore."

"Angel," I said becoming commanding.

"Don't you dare!" Katie snapped putting herself between Angel and me. "I have worked for years to protect her and I would die before I let anything happen to her!" Katie's eyes held a warning I had never seen or felt before. Standing before me now was not a human woman standing her ground. Instead it was a mother who like any wild animal would protect her offspring at any cost.

I had always found Katie to be strong in the past but it seemed time had only made her stronger. Watching her now I couldn't help but wonder if my blue eyed obsession could become vicious. I was somewhat tempted to try but decided against it.

I looked from my firm bride to our just as firm standing daughter. I was almost amused to see our daughter was in almost the exact stance as her mother. "I'm sure your mother and I can come to an agreement."

"Mommy?" Angel said.

Katie's point of View

"Sweetheart I think you should go play with Raquel now," I told her. I saw the uncertainty in her eyes, "Isaiah is probably done getting the laser tag stuff ready. I know Raquel is probably restless waiting for you."

"Okay." I watched as she looked toward her father. "Will I see you again?"

"I will call on you before I leave," The count told her. Angel nodded and giving me a hug she was off to play with her friend. I watched as she went through the garden gate and passed by the pool before ultimately heading through the back door and into the house.

"She looks very much like you," Dracula commented from behind. "She's a beautiful child."

"Yes, she is," I agreed before turning to face the man that from time to time haunted my dreams in one form or another. "I thought…"

"You thought I was going to take her from you," He finished. I didn't deny it as I nodded before looking down at the ground. I felt him lift my chin to look at him. "The day will come that I take our daughter," He told me. "When that day comes I will take you as well. You both belong to me."

"Even now you won't give me the choice?" I asked him; challenged him.

I know my heart sped up as he leaned in closer to my face. "You may have choices Katie but not on whether or not you will belong to me." He released me then and surprisingly walked a few feet away.

"When?" I asked. I had no doubt he'd come and then he'd control everything I did. I just wanted to know how much time I had left to have some say in my own life.

"If you try and run…"

"There is nowhere I could go that you wouldn't find us," I told him openly honest. I watched as the vampire turned to face me. "I know you speak to our daughter from time to time. She would tell you where we were. Besides you already proved you could find me even in hiding."

"We need to come to an agreement Katie."

"What agreement?" I asked. "You've already declared you will show up in the future and take us. What agreement?"

I was surprised to see the count actually frown at me. He was silent for a few moments and then said, "I do not wish to hurt you again."

"You seemed to enjoy it a lot the first time!" I retorted. I expected him to lash out at me either with words or actions but to my surprise he didn't.

"Do you still bare my mark?" He asked. "When the time comes and I look for my mark, will I find my mark where I placed it? Or like Danielle have you covered it?"

I knew he was referring to when he had branded me. I looked away. "It's still there," I said quietly.

"You haven't aged," The count commented.

"I know. I think it's because I was breast feeding Angel when she started teething. Her tooth cut me. I haven't aged since. I think it did something," I replied now looking at the ground full of rocks before me.

"She marked you." I looked at him. "Unintentional but yes our daughter marked you.

"So, I'll never age again?" I asked him.

"You will age by her mark but at a far slower rate," He replied. I gave a nod I understood. "Show me."

"What?"

"Show me where our daughter marked you."

"I was breast feeding; I think it's obvious where her mark is!" I said putting my hands on my hips. Did he really think I was going to just show him? I gasped. Before I could react, my shirt was unbuttoned and he was looking at the mark Angel had given me. His touch was gentle but it was not intimate. At least it was not meant to be.

"Look at the mountain."

"What? Why…" he silenced me with a warning look. Reluctantly I did as he'd instructed. "Is there something I should be…" I couldn't stop from crying out as his fangs sank into me where our daughter had marked me so long ago. I couldn't have stopped the tears of pain for anything. I grabbed at his hair trying to pull him off of my chest but he didn't budge at all.

Finally he released me. He cleaned up the blood and looked at me as he licked some blood off from his fangs. I held my shirt closed as I couldn't stop myself from shaking.

"Why?" I asked.

"Daddy!"

We turned and I almost jumped as Angel was suddenly there. The redhead didn't even think and immediately attacked her father. Her fists were small but she pounded against her father as hard as she could. "You hurt her!" She screamed at him; still beating on him.

"Fox," he said. At first he was gentle but finally he grabbed both her arms and lifted her into the air. "I did what was necessary to keep her! You don't want to lose her do you?"

"Lose her?" Tear stained eyes looked at me. "You'd leave me?"

"No baby!" I assured her.

"If I had not done what I just did against her own will she'd have eventually left you." That made both of us look at her father. "You're mother is human. You marked her and slowed her aging process, but I have eliminated it. She will never age again and will forever be with us," He explained. Calmly he set the child down.

"I must go. You and your mother are now both secured until I return. When next you see me I will have come for you," Angel's father told her. He looked down at the upset girl and said. "I know you are young and there is much you still have to learn. What I did just now I did to safeguard your mother for us. Pain is a part of life and at times necessary; just as punishment is sometimes necessary. These are things you will learn in time. Be good for your mother and I will return as soon as I can.

"Okay." Angel and Dracula exchanged a hug and after she'd kissed his cheek he released her and she removed herself from our presence.

"You and Fox will remain here," Dracula ordered. "I will of course stay appraised of things where you are both concerned. Though it will be easier now." I wondered what he meant but decided not to ask keeping my eyes away from him and quickly buttoning my shirt again.

Feeling a gentle hand on my cheek I looked up. "You truly are very beautiful Katie. I cannot release you. It would break Angel's heart not to have you; as it would mine." The count reached over and to my surprise gave me a very light feathery kiss. "I may not show it the way human men do but…"

As he fell silent I saw there was something he wanted to say but seemed unsure of how to say it or if he should. "What?" I asked.

He cupped my head in his hands. "You started out as my obsession Katie; a beautiful woman to possess and have dominion over." He looked up and away for a moment and then back to my eyes. "As difficult as it is for me to understand, I do not expect you to believe me, but I do love you." Dracula kissed me passionately and even I could not resist him as my eyes closed in submission of his kiss. Then it was over. I opened my eyes and he was gone.