"Aefre?" Frederick asks quietly.
"What?" I rasp, pushing my sweaty hair out of my face, panting heavily. I haven't killed another being in so long (since that whore Tanya), and certainly never with magick. It is a euphoric release that not even the best orgasm of my life could top.
"How do you feel?" he asks with a wicked grin.
"Amazing!" I reply with a feral grin in return, only then remembering that Delinda has just witnessed me killing another creature. My high crash lands like a meteor hitting Earth.
"Baby," I say to her, turning to her quickly.
"Wow," she breathes, having Shifted back to her human form. "Papa is going to love this story!"
Oh, dear. Is he? I just killed his father.
"Delinda, sweetie. What you just saw, it's wrong." I kneel before her, unwrapping the towel from myself and placing it around her and taking her hands.
"You were protecting me," she says matter-of-factly with a one-shouldered shrug. "Papa told me that it's okay to protect those that you love, by any means necessary."
That is a quote if I ever heard one. No way did she come up with that all by herself.
I squeeze her hands, pursing my lips at her. "Sometimes," I say. "You are my daughter and I will do anything for you." I drag her closer to me and give her a big cuddle, hoping that I haven't inadvertently given her nightmares, but she tends towards the bloodthirsty I’ve noticed. Must be the Dragon in her.
I turn my attention back to Frederick. "What are you doing with Pyleah?" I ask.
"Whatever you want me to
," he replies, trying his best not to gaze at my naked body in front of my daughter.
“How did you subdue her?” I ask while I Astral on a fresh pair of sweats and a vest top.
“I have no qualms about striking a woman,” he says darkly.
“Oh,” I say faintly, not happy that he has admitted that in front of Delinda.
“Especially if the bitch is trying to spell me into submission,” he continues with a look of annoyance.
“Language,” I tut, even though I just committed a worse infraction by far.
“Was she trying to take me back to Daddy?” Delinda asks.
“I–err, what did she say to you?” I stammer.
“That I had to go with her. I didn’t want to. I want to stay here with you,” she says. “Where is Daddy? Why didn’t he come for me?”
“I don’t know, sweetie,” I say, at a loss for anything else to add.
“I want Daddy,” she suddenly blurts out, her eyes full of tears.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“I know, baby,” I say, pulling her closer to me again.
I let her snuffle into the towel for a few moments.
“I want Daddy, but I don’t want to go back there,” she says. “Why can’t he come here?”
I look to Frederick for help, but he is useless. He just shrugs and flings Pyleah onto the bed.