AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t touch me!” Lyndsee yelled, but slightly quieter. The reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. She couldn’t do anything unless he allowed it, but she needed some sense of control.
“Ok, I’m sorry,” Mark said sliding a few inches away to give Lyndsee some room. “Let me tell you my story and then you can decided.”
“Decide what?” Lyndsee asked quietly.
“Decide if you want to join me or…”
Lyndsee interrupted. “Or you kill me right!?” The volume in Lyndsee’s voice came back.
“Now why would I kill you? I’ve spent the last seven years doing everything I can to protect you. You can decide whether to join me or forget about me. Forget everything I tell you and quit looking for me. I will leave and never see you again. I hadn’t realized how living so close to you was actually putting you in more danger. But, once you know the truth you will be able to protect yourself. If you choose to leave you will at least know what to look out for. I will even leave you with a name, someone who can find me, in case you are ever in a situation where you need me.” Mark paused and gave Lyndsee time to think this over.
“Fine I will listen but I will never forgive you,” Lyndsee spat back. She hated this man with everything she had. He had taken her mother from her and he needed to pay.
“I don’t need your forgiveness, I didn’t kill your mother. I have come to terms with you hating me and that’s fine, whatever it takes to keep you safe. But I didn’t let you find me because I want forgiveness. I let you find me because you were getting too close to the truth. A very dangerous truth.” Mark looked at his hands, trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind.
“You didn’t kill mom? Then why let me believe it was you?” Lyndsee asked, confused.
“You see there are events in a person’s life. Things that change you so completely that you become another person. I’ve been lucky enough to have several good ones along with the bad. Something most people don’t get, or simply don’t appreciate. The first was when I met your mother. She changed my life so much that I wasn’t the same person anymore. I was happy for the first time in my life. But, little did I know that it was nothing compared to the event that came next. The day you were born. That single event changed my life so much more than any event before or since. I can barely describe the feeling of suddenly being more concerned for someone else’s life. And when your mother died your safety became more important than you liking me.” Mark stopped. He had held this in for far too long. Finally his daughter would know the truth about him.
“Dad?” Tears ran down Lyndsee’s face. She had no idea what to say. Lyndsee believed him immediately though she had no reason to. Every piece of evidence, every witness account, everything said that her dad had killed her mom. But hearing him say he didn’t do it? That all of this was to keep her safe? What else could she believe? He was her dad.
“Now, I’m not a vampire, but I am something. Something you might find hard to believe.” Mark paused. “I’m half angel,” Mark stated. He knew how it sounded but he needed Katie to hear it. It would make his story easier to understand if she knew.
“Half angel? You’re a Nephilim?” Lyndsee asked in disbelief.
“No, you’re a Nephilim, I’m something called Asuune,” Mark said matter-of-factly.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why you are physically stronger and faster than everyone else? Have you ever even gotten a cold?” Mark asked then waited patiently for the answer.
“No, I don’t think I’ve ever been sick,” Lyndsee replied absentmindedly as she went over her life. Strangely this made sense. She had always known there was something different about her. In track she could beat anyone without trying. She always put on the same weights as everyone else in the weight room because she didn’t want to be noticed. As a teenager the worst thing you can be is different. Her foster parents were kind and gentle people, but she could never tell them either. She didn’t want them to change their mind about keeping her. It was hard enough to take in a teenager, she didn’t want to give them any reason to send her away.
“So what is an Asuune?” Lyndsee asked.
“That, like most things in my life, is more complicated than I can explain in one sentence,” Mark replied with a sigh.
“So tell me your story,” Lyndsee said. She was now ready to listen. Her urgency to run away or kill him had left. This was so much better than revenge, her dad was innocent.
Mark readied himself and then began. “I suppose I should start with the day your mother died…”
Chapter 2
Mark Albet sat quietly at his desk staring at his monitor. Occasionally he would use the scroll wheel on his mouse to scroll down a page or two, carefully searching the source code. Mark was the project manager for Sandleton Technologies, a provider of database solutions for large companies. He was in charge of fifteen other programmers and today they were all trying to find a serious flaw in one of their largest client’s code. They had spent nearly a full day trying to figure out why credit card information was being stored without encryption for certain customers of this client.
