Read Vampire 01 - Daughter of Darkness for Free Online

wouldn’t dare ask Mrs. Fennel. I thought about asking Daddy, but then I worried that he would be angry at Ava for telling me that, and then she would be angry at me. It wasn’t pleasant having Ava angry at me. It was actually a bit frightening. It was like having a ringing in your ears and a drill buzzing away just under your heart.
    One of the consequences of the diet Mrs. Fennel prepared for us was that we rarely had an opportunity to enjoy the food other girls our ages enjoyed. We didn’t go to restaurants very often, unless we were on a trip with Daddy. I could count on one hand how many times I had had a slice of pizza or a frozen yogurt, much less any candy. Why, we didn’t even chew gum. We had a candy Mrs. Fennel prepared, if we could call it candy. It was hard, like a sour ball, but would soften almost immediately in our mouths and satisfy some urge. Once, when I was much younger, I gave one to a classmate. As soon as she put it in her mouth, she spit it out, claiming it burned her tongue. When I told Mrs. Fennel that, she went into a rage.
    “You never, never give anyone else what I give you. Never!”
    Of course, I started to cry and was sent to my room.
    After tonight’s dinner, as Daddy had said, we went into the living room and listened to music, beautiful music, especially waltzes. Daddy loved doing the waltz. He said it took him back to more elegant times, grander days, not that he wasn’t having elegant days now, and he fully expected he would for many, many more years to come.
    “And all because of you, my lovelies,” he would say.
    He would dance with each of us. Tonight he chose me first. It always was exciting to be in Daddy’s arms, to move gracefully with him. I could feel my heart synchronizing with his, my blood moving as quickly or as slowly as his blood moved through him. Sometimes I felt as though I were floating and actually had to look down to see if my feet were touching the floor. Daddy’s smile washed over me, and I wished the moment would go on forever and ever.
    I thanked him again for buying me my dress.
    “You really are quite stunning in it,” he said, and kissed me softly on my forehead.
    “I will wear it soon somewhere, won’t I, Daddy?”
    “Yes,” he said, looking to Ava. “You will.”
    It was very exciting knowing that I would finally be permitted to go on a date or to a party, but before I could ask anything more, he reached for her. Instinctively, I knew that pushing Daddy to say or permit something was not wise anyway. Despite the affection he showed me, the gifts he gave me, I always had this naggingfeeling that if I failed him or disappointed him in some way, even something simple, he would disown me. He would send me back to whatever nowhere place I came from, a world in which all discarded children lingered, hoping someday to be given a name.
    I had no memory of it, of course. I was just born and hardly there, wherever it was, before Daddy and Mrs. Fennel came along. The little that was told to me was told the way a parent or guardian might tell a child a bedtime story.
    “Once upon a time, you were born and lay in a cradle alongside other foundlings. You were crying in the chorus, but when we walked near you, you stopped, as if you sensed our presence and welcomed it. Mrs. Fennel picked you up and said, ‘This one, Sergio.’ I touched your cheek, and you turned toward me, and I knew she was right.”
    I had the story memorized. Ava, whether jealous of my joy in hearing the story or simply skeptical, always mocked me when I recited it.
    “It’s a fairy tale, you fool,” she would say. “Mrs. Fennel didn’t tell Daddy that. He told her, but that was after someone dumped you on the front steps.”
    “Is that what they told you happened to you?” I fired back. When I was brave enough to challenge her, she would suddenly take on this impish grin. Unlike other sisters, we didn’t break out into vicious shouting arguments and fights. She could whip me