Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss by Lacey Weatherford Page B

chest. “I had sworn to myself you would never lay eyes on her
again, after I had to sit there helplessly and watch you feed on
her. I was very angry with you. I feel you broke my trust in every
sense of the word that day.”
    I couldn’t take anymore.
    “That was my choice,” I spoke up loudly,
defending him. “He had nothing to do with it.”
    “He could have killed you, Portia!” my mom
complained, throwing her hands into the air. “In fact, he almost
did.”
    “Exactly!” I said, standing up suddenly. “He
almost did, but he didn’t. He was able to stop himself.”
    “After which he basically begged you to
surrender your virtue to him,” my dad reminded me.
    I walked over to the railing, looking out at
the sea before me. I took a deep breath before I spoke my next
words, knowing they would spark a discussion I didn’t really want
to have.
    “If it makes you feel any better, I already
offered to give myself to him. He refused to take it,” I said
softly
    “Uh, no!” my dad said, sitting up straighter
in his chair. “That doesn’t make me feel any better. Why would you
do something like that?”
    I turned around to face them all, as my tears
began to run down my face.
    “I love him,” I said, with all the emotion I
could muster. “I’d do anything for him. Anything! I just don’t want
a life without him.”
    I looked straight at Vance, letting my words
sink in. I needed him to understand the depth of my feelings for
him.
    “So you haven’t been intimate together?” my
mom asked, softly this time.
    I shook my head. “No. It’s not because we
haven’t wanted to, though. Vance feels that part of our
relationship is best saved for marriage,” I replied.
    “I can live with that,” my dad said, with an
obvious sigh of relief.
    He looked at Vance then, who had quietly been
observing our interactions.
    “So what are your intentions exactly?” Dad
asked him.
    “Well, right now pretty much everything in my
life is hinged on the fact that something needs to be done about my
dad. If we can get it all worked out, I would like to ask your
permission to marry Portia before her senior year of high school. I
figured I could look for a job in Flagstaff and we could get a
little place there. She could still drive to Sedona for school,
while I start at Northern Arizona University,” he explained.
    “Before her senior year?” my mom asked with a
little gasp. “And how do you know that you’ll be able to provide
for her adequately, or yourself for that matter? It’s hard to work
and go to school at the same time.”
    “I’m guessing you don’t know about the money
then either?” I asked, with a sardonic smile.
    “What money?” Dad asked, looking
confused.
    “Vance happens to be a millionaire,” I said,
enjoying dropping the bomb on them.
    “What?” they said in unison, looking at
Vance.
    He shrugged modestly.
    “I had a trust fund,” he offered as a simple
explanation.
    “The trust fund Marsha had told us about?” my
dad questioned.
    “That’s the one,” he replied, looking
completely unaffected by the subject change.
    “I had no idea it was anything like that!”
Dad said in shock. “I thought maybe a few thousand ….” He trailed
off.
    “We didn’t want to advertise it,” Vance
explained simply. “We didn’t know if my dad would try to trace the
money. Besides, we were both quiet, down to earth people who liked
living things out in a small, comfortable way.”
    “Wow!” was all my dad said in response, his
eyes wide as he shook his head slightly from side to side.
    We sat together in silence, letting things
sink in, before Dad finally spoke up again.
    “Vance, you’re already like a son to me. It
has been hard to watch you go through the trials that you’ve had to
lately. That being said, though, Portia is my flesh and blood. Our
flesh and blood,” he amended, reaching over to grasp my mom’s hand.
“We want the best for her. I know she wants you, and I know the