Page 67 of Claiming Her Vampire

“Is that so hard to believe?” He blinks and moves closer.

“Uh..yeah,” I look back at Ryker to see him bend the bars of the cage and step out casually. “Waiting for me?”

“Always. You came very quickly. I’m proud of you.” He kisses the side of my head.

“You could have gotten out at any time?” my father asks, bewildered.

“I’m a vampire,” Ryker simply says. “I had to wait for Serenity. I’m sure she has questions.” He wraps his arm around me, calming me.

“You killed all those people?” I ask my dad in disbelief.

“Yes,” he says.

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Do you have any idea what it feels like to be underestimated your whole life? To be pushed aside, stepped on, used, and betrayed?” he asks. His face contorted with pain.

“Remember who you're talking to.” I cross my arms and glare.

“I love your mother. She meant everything to me. So beautiful and graceful. You should have seen her dance. It was magical. Her parents never liked me, so we had to sneak around to see each other. She loved me and wanted to get married someday. I felt like the luckiest man in the world with her by my side. I would have done anything for her. I worked as much as I could to save money for our future. I finally got enough money set aside that I felt comfortable asking her to marry me. I planned it out, got a reservation at a fancy restaurant, and picked out a ring. I went to pick her up, and she told me she got accepted to a college to dance. It was out of state. But I didn’t let that stop me. I got down on one knee, told her what she meant to me, and asked her to be my wife. She told me to get up. I was embarrassing her; she had a future that didn’t involve me,” he spits. “She threw it back in my face. She told me we were over.

“I went home heartbroken. I was good enough for her until she got a better offer away from me. She left three days later. I thought she would change her mind. I called her over and over again. But she never answered. None of the time or late nights meant anything to her.” He paces in front of us, lost in his misery.

“A week went by with no word from her. Then suddenly, she calls, sobbing.

She found out she was pregnant and couldn’t dance anymore. No one wanted a pregnant dancer. It destroyed her. She gave in and married me. She couldn’t be a single mother. Her parents pressured her to keep you and marry me. The whole time, she complained and bitched about everything. I didn’t do anything right. I worked too much, or I worked too little. I wasn’t there to wait on her hand and foot. She had no one else to rely on. Her parents would have disowned her if she gave you up. They would have rather had a famous dancer for a daughter, not a young mother with a working-class man.” He looks at me with hatred. “You ruined her life!” he yells.

“It sounds like you ruined her life,” Ryker points out.

“You both made the decisions. I didn’t ask to be born,” I say.

“She called me ordinary,” he shouts. He is unhinged in his fury. “I was an ordinary man, in an ordinary life. She wanted more. More fame and fortune, out of that town.”

“What brought us to this place, with the dead, half-turned bodies at your feet?” I ask. My stomach turns.

“I didn’t want to be ordinary anymore,” he said, spreading his arms. “I found out what she was doing in the group of hers. Forcing shifters out of our town, threatening them. I found out about the animals and the vampires. She was obsessed with them. She had pictures of them. She was always talking about them. She got that new job and met her boss. She was always flying off with him everywhere. He could do no wrong. They started the group together. He was always right, always there for her.

“I wanted that. I wanted to be needed like that. So, I researched as much as I could. I read her notes from the meetings. My eyes opened. If I could figure out a way to become one, she would be able to study me. Be interested in me,” he pounds his chest. “I wanted her to give a shit about me.

“I got lucky one night. I saw a coyote person. I had taken some drugs from her stash and tested them out. I bought him a drink and slipped one in it. I pretended to help him out to his car but instead put him in mine. I had made silver cages. He was my first captive.” He hums, pleased with himself. “The next night, I took a woman too drunk to drive and forced him to bite her. It didn’t work as I planned. She had a hard time changing. It didn’t matter how many drugs I gave her. She screamed in pain. So I had to kill her to shut her up. I couldn’t have anyone find out what I was doing until I was successful. So I tried again and again. It failed every time. I just need more time to get it right. Then I started taking men, hoping having a woman turn them would work better.”

“How many shifters did you take?” Ryker asks. The disgust for my father was written all over his face.

“Five. It became more difficult to trick them. I used a concoction of different drugs to control them. I had to keep experimenting. They would burn off the wrong combination. I was never able to get a vampire. You are suspicious by nature,” he glares at us.

“What about Tom? Why did you kill him?” I ask.

“I loved Tom. He was the son I never had. He wanted you back, and you would rather be with a vampire. So, I thought, why not turn him into something you would want? I chose the lion. He would have loved that. But it didn’t work.”

“Was my bartender, John, working with you?” Ryker asks. “What about Greg?”

“Yes, both of them. John wanted to be turned. I made a deal. When I figured out how to do it right, I would turn him. He helped me with the humans. He stalked them for me and helped me contain them. Greg was the perfect partner. He knew the club, the people in it. He saw things. Shifters and vampires let their guard down with those that they trust. It was easy to learn about you. I needed a vampire. My goals aligned. Keep attempting the change and also get your attention. I didn’t know that my own daughter would be your mate. It helped keep everyone guessing.”

“John was talking to your wife last night,” Ryker throws fuel on the fire.

“What?” he screams.

“I saw it. They were having an intense argument. We thought she was the one killing the humans.”

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