Meeting Clarisse

Claire led the way down to the sitting room and then further on to the dining room. Just as they stepped into it, Garrick froze again. His eyes widened in disbelief; it can't be possible.

There was a young lady sitting at the dining table and stuffing her mouth with food, and Garrick at that moment had no doubt that this was his daughter. It felt like he was staring at the younger version of himself but in a female body, she looked just like he did years ago.

Her long black hair reminded him of his long raven black hair centuries ago, when men still kept long hairs. She had her mother's blue eyes but a fairer skin. Aside from resembling him, Garrick could tell that she was a vampire because her heart was beating very slowly.

The ancient vampire lord would recognize vampire heartbeat and scent anytime and any day, especially when it was from him that it came to be. She had almond eyes like him, so much resemblance.

The girl must have noticed another presence aside from her mother who had walked to the table and stood quietly. She looked up immediately and saw him, she paused eating and curiosity was etched on her face, and then she turned to her mother slowly, obviously hoping for an explanation.

"Clarisse, meet your…" Claire started and then she paused with a little hesitance in her tone. "Meet your father," she then concluded.

There was silence in the room as the beautiful teenage girl glanced from her mother over to Garrick, her supposed father. Her expression said that she had a lot of questions to ask, but she didn't. she just stabbed her cutting knife into the table and stood up with a solemn expression on her face.

"I don't have a father, thanks for the lunch, mom." She uttered and then she walked away from the table, heading for the exit door with Claire following her behind.

Garrick was still standing dumbfounded at how this was possible and she walked past him. He jolted out of the frenzy and turned around to follow her immediately but Claire grabbed his arm and held him back from doing so immediately.

He turned around and faced her, he was surprised that she touched him and her touch still had that electricity surge after all these years, sending the love signal through his body in the form of sparkles.

He lowered his eyes to his arm where she held him and she let go of him slowly while trying to avoid eye contact.

"Let her go, she needs time to process all this. You can't just show up here and demand an audience with someone that hasn't seen you for once since she was born," Claire informed him.

He sighed and nodded softly. "Alright, I will give her time," he said coldly. It is still a mystery how this woman always has his number, she is the ice to his fire, the powerful Garrick Verne suddenly becomes as quiet as a puppy whenever he is around her.

Wasn't he the same man that slayed five hundred men in one night with nothing but a jawbone of an animal? The man whose name made the enemies shiver, one who had lived several lifetimes and feared nothing. She was his weakness; her smile alone made him soft like a big baby and her touch made him feel things that even an extra thousand years can't explain.

"Good," Claire said softly and then she turned to leave the room.

"Claire, wait," he called out and she paused. He became silent as he didn't even remember what he wanted to say.

She turned back to face him and after he tried to speak but failed twice, she sighed and shook her head. "I need to clean your room, give me a few minutes," she said softly and then she walked away.

Garrick could already feel his heart beating faster than the average vampire heart pace, this woman had so much effect on him and it was magical beyond anything he had seen in his lifetime. In the past two to three thousand years of his life, he has fallen in love several times but none of them felt like what he shared with Claire.

What the two of them had was special and she was the only one he thought of getting legally married to, even though he knew that they wouldn't bear children and she would probably die in a hundred years like every other human.

It wasn't about her species because majority of his previous lovers were humans as well, he had watched them live their life and die. He had dated a few of his kind as well, but things always fell apart at a point in time.

Garrick stared around the dining room, he remembered having the first dinner here with Claire, and after dinner, he had carried her up in his arms and taken her upstairs to the bedroom where he had made love to her all night.

It was surprising that she hadn't changed much here in twenty years, the sculptures were still in place and so were the paintings which were used to beautify the mansion.

Garrick thought of all the lost years and regretted leaving. If he had stayed behind, then he would have known of his daughter and it would have brought him and Claire back together. He could have spent twenty awesome years with her, filled with happiness and love, but he had missed out on all that now.

He had missed out on watching his daughter grow up, teaching her how to speak, how to walk, how to pronounce Papa. He would have treated her like a princess and made other girls envy her, he would have spoiled her with his fatherly love and shown her the ropes in terms of her vampirism.

Garrick still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he had reproduced with a human, this was a discovery that would change the way eight hundred thousand vampires in the world thinks, this was nothing short of a miracle.

** * * * * * * * * *

Claire tried to keep the tears away as she tucked in the bed-sheets into the bed frame. She couldn't believe that this was happening; her first lover was back, the man who deflowered her and then betrayed her.

Yes, she still thought of Garrick's actions as betrayal and she hadn't been able to get over it in the past twenty years, she was still mad at him for breaking her and then abandoning her with his baby.

How could he hide such a big part of his life from her? She had thought they shared something special, but everything their relationship was built on was lies. He had lied from the very beginning and she couldn't just get over it.

Garrick had stolen her life from her, her entire youth was hijacked by this handsome fool she had met and fallen in love with. She tried her best in the past years to hate and forget him, but all she could feel was rage and anger. How would she forget him when his child was the first person she sees every day? When her daughter looked just like him, reminding her of the past?

Claire suddenly felt a cold shiver envelop her and goose bumps were all over skin, she could feel the hairs on her arms rising and she recognized that feeling, he was behind her!!

"You can't sneak up on me like that anymore," she said coldly without turning around.

She heard his footsteps as he closed in on her but she still didn't turn, she was avoiding eye contact with him. She felt his fingers caressing her long hair backwards and her heart skipped.

He still had that effect on her like twenty years ago, but what was he trying to do?

"So you still remember?" he asked coldly as he stroked her hair from behind. She could feel his breath against her neck and her heart raced like it was on a marathon. She gulped and closed her eyes, a feeling of butterflies rumbling in her stomach.

"Remember what?" she asked softly with her back to him.

"Well, the good old days I would say. It still feels like yesterday, and that is understandable on my side because it was nothing but a long night's sleep to me, but I can't imagine what you had to go through." He uttered

She turned around immediately and knocked his fingers away from her with a frown on her face. "I didn't ask for your sympathy, and don't touch me again," she flared angrily.

"You still have that fire in your eyes, I always said it would burn us both one day. By the way, you have aged well too, you don't look twenty years older," he confessed.

"Well, I had vampire blood in my body for nine months. I am not a doctor but I am sure that it must have done things to my system. Don't worry, I didn't turn into what you were the whole time, but it just made me age a little slower than normal. Should I thank you for that?" she rattled like a teenager.

Garrick paused and stared at her with a smile, she scoffed at him and she hated that he was enjoying this. She was trying hard to infuriate him but all he did was smile, how was any of this fair?

"No, but I should thank you, Claire." He muttered.

"I don't need it," she retorted and flipped her hair on his face before walking out of the room.

Claire placed her back against the wall the moment she was outside and placed her hand against her chest. She was breathing heavily as it had taken a lot of courage and determination to do what she had just done. She had wished years ago that she would see Garrick again and tell him what was on her mind but now that he was here, she couldn't stay mad for long. She hated the fact that he had such power over her emotions!!

To be continued!!