Bloodborn (sequel to 'Lucky 13')

Chapter 17: Vernon's message

Lily's POV

The next morning, I woke up and noticed Catherine was already awake and clearly deep in thoughts.

I turned my body to her. "Hey," I waited for a response but got none. "What are you thinking about?"

She let out a deep sigh. "I just don't understand," She shook her head a couple of times. "How did he get here? How did he get past my security? How did he escape prison?" She then looked at me. "How did he get to our princess?"

I gulped. I should tell her about the previous encounters but I was so afraid she'd get angry at me. "Catherine," I then looked down, I wasn't able to look her in the eyes when I'd tell her. "Your dad has talked to me twice before coming here yesterday."

I don't know what I expected to happen. Perhaps I expected Catherine to be angry or sad or protective or possessive. But she did nothing. She said nothing. She just took it in.

"He didn't come on to me or Emily in any way," I looked at her again, noticing her look at me with a blank expression. "He... He told us things to look out for."

Catherine turned away, onto her back. She let out a sigh.

"It felt like he was trying to help us." I said but regretted it immediately as Catherine pushed me down and got on top of me.

"He'd never help anyone! He's pure evil!"

"Ok," I gulped. "I'm sorry."

She went off of me again and then laid down on her back. She breathed in and out deeply, as if trying to calm down.

"I'm just trying to say that we have to consider every option here," I then sat up and went to sit on Catherine's hips. "Don't get angry when Emily starts talking about what happened."

Catherine looked away.

"We'd only get her to close up that way," I leaned forward, bringing my body impossibly close to hers. "Calm down, haewa."

Catherine looked at me and then sighed once more before nodding. "You're right," She sat up then. "I'm sorry for being angry."

"I understand," I caressed her face. "I could talk to Emily alone, if you prefer that."

"No," Catherine closed her eyes and sighed. "I have to hear it."

"Ok," I then got up. "Let's get dressed and go to our princess."

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We entered Emily's bedroom quietly as to not wake her up abruptly. We walked to her bed and sat down on it, then smiled.

"She's so beautiful," Catherine suddenly said, smiling. "She looks like you," Her smile then disappeared a bit. "Like my mother."

I got a hold of her hand and squeezed it a bit.

Catherine smiled at me before looking at Emily again. "Hianag," She gently shook Emily awake. "Wake up, we need to talk."

Emily, as usual, woke up pretty fast and without problems. When she spotted us, she immediately looked at me and hugged me.

I hugged her back but noticed Catherine look at us. She was thinking about the meaning of this.

"Hianag," She started, making Emily look at her. "We need to talk about what happened yesterday, in the garden."

Emily looked at me. She seemed unsure, or worried. I couldn't quite make out what it was, and that worried me.

"Did that man came by again?" I asked her gently, to which she nodded. "Did he talk to you?"

Emily nodded again.

"What man?" Catherine asked, she really wanted to hear it. She wanted confirmation that it was indeed her father and not some random person.

Emily looked down, as if she had done something wrong. "Knaoqgog."

Catherine balled her fists, and this didn't go by unnoticed...

Emily scooted closer to me, hugging me. "He nice," She said as she looked at me. "Help me."

"He helped you?" I asked to which Emily nodded. "With what?"

"Surprise you," Emily then smiled and got up. "Come." She jumped out of bed and started walking clumsily towards the stairs.

I got up and followed after Emily but stopped when I noticed Catherine stayed seated. "Are you coming?"

Catherine shook her head. "You go," She looked away from me. "I need to be alone."

I sighed but decided to let it be. I left the room and followed after Emily. She walked us to the garden and showed me a beautiful sandcastle. "For you."

I sat down next to it and then smiled. "You made this for me?"

Emily nodded and smiled proudly. "With knaoqgog."

I pulled Emily on my lap and had her in my arms. "So he was here with you yesterday?"

Emily nodded, then pointed to a certain spot. "There."

"Did he touch you?"

She shook her head. "Help me."

"That's nice," I then started rocking us gently. "Did he say anything?"

Emily stayed quiet then, which wasn't something she'd ever do.

"Honey," I then looked at her. "Did he?"

She shrugged.

I pulled her up and sat her down in front of me, her facing me. "What did he say? Mommy needs to know."

"I promise."

"You promised not to tell me?"

She shook her head.

"You made a promise?"

She then nodded.

"Which is?"

She looked away, she didn't seem to want to talk about it. "Secret."

I sighed and looked away too. "Zaezzes is not happy with this, honey," I looked at her and saw her look at me with a sad facial expression. "She's worried for us."

"No need."

I smiled a bit then, I liked it that she was trying to make me feel better. "I'm worried too, honey," I paused before saying: "I just want to know why he'd come to you and what he told you."

Emily seemed to understand my worries because she nodded. Sometimes I really wondered if she was only two years old... She behaved so maturely for her age, it scared me too. 

"What did he say, honey?"

Emily scooted closer, hugging me. "Protect you."

I looked at her. "Protect me?" At first, I didn't understand what she meant until I linked this message to his previous two meetings with us. I then looked at her. "He wants you to protect me?"

She nodded. "Zaezzes."

"He wants you to protect me from... From zaezzes?" I asked and saw her nod. I then looked away and realized that I needed to speak to Vernon again.