Daughter of Darkness by V.C. Andrews

to get to first base became belligerent as we gathered up our purses. Their remarks were nasty, crude.
    “What, do you have some tricks to throw on the street?”
    “Going to the dyke club?”
    “Last chance to experience a real man, girls, or are you really both virgins and saving it for marriage?”
    “Leave them be,” Buddy said. He nearly got into a fight with one boy mouthing off, but I could see the frustration was defeating him as well.
    “Let’s go,” Ava whispered.
    “Hey,” the big young man who had been with us from the beginning called out. “Your car turning into a pumpkin?”
    There was lots of laughter trailing behind us.
    “I’d love to bring him home to Daddy,” she muttered, but we continued out.
    “Hope I see you again,” Buddy called.
    I smiled back at him. I would never tell Ava, but I hoped I’d see him again, too.
    “How do you feel?” she asked me when we got back into her car.
    “Like I could go on and on for hours.”
    She laughed. “That’s good. We have the energy,” she said. “You did well. You had that one hooked and could have reeled him in anytime you wanted. And he knows nothing about you, right? You didn’t talk too much out there on that patio?”
    “No. Nothing but the name you invented,” I told her.But in my heart, I thought,
He knows my smile. He’ll see me in his dreams.
Actually, I thought I would see him in mine.
    As soon as we were home, Ava went to speak with Daddy. I knew she was giving him a report about me. I was nervous, of course. I couldn’t help worrying that despite what she had told me, she was going to tell him I hadn’t done well. It was the old sibling rivalry at work.
    I didn’t know it then, but Ava was more concerned now about her own future than she was about my rising above her in Daddy’s eyes. Her destiny was calling.
    Before I went to sleep, Daddy came to my room. I didn’t hear him come in. I was in the bathroom washing off my makeup. When I stepped into the bedroom, he was standing there, smiling.
    “Ava tells me you passed your first test with flying colors,” he said.
    What test?
I wondered. All I did was go to a dance club and flirt with some young college men, maybe one in particular.
    “You followed your orders well,” he added, perhaps seeing my thoughts on my face. “You understand how you must behave. That’s important, Lorelei. You understand restraint and the importance of guarding our personal lives.”
    “I’m glad you’re happy, Daddy.”
    “Oh, I’m happy, but I always knew I would be,” he said. He embraced me, kissed me at the top of my head, stroked my hair, and then held me out at arm’s length. I could feel the power in his arms, but also I could see the love in his eyes. He looked at me with such intensityI felt as though he really could look into my thoughts. I couldn’t help wondering if he could see how much I had been attracted to Buddy. “I can see how alive this has made you. You can feel the power inside you.”
    I hadn’t thought about it as being a power, but I knew what he meant. I nodded. “I do feel different, Daddy, older.”
    I wanted to add that I felt what it could be like to like a boy, maybe even love one, but I knew that would not make him happy. Most fathers felt ambivalent about giving up their daughters, but in Daddy’s case, that would be tragic, probably for both him and me.
    “You are different now, Lorelei. You’re closer to being one of us, and I have the best daughters any father could hope to have,” he said softly. He kissed me on the cheek and then turned and smiled just before he left, closing the door softly and leaving me standing in the afterglow of his enormous love.
    Maybe my instincts weren’t as sharp and developed as Ava’s were, but instinctively, I knew I would either grow because of that love…
    Or drown in it.

5
 
Morning After
    Had something really happened to change me? Was I different now, older, almost overnight?
    I knew I felt