Apartment 73, The Regalway Towers, Southport, New Jersey.....
Savannah sat alone on the edge of her bed for what seemed like the longest time as she stared at the chest her father instructed Ron to bring to his home for her. The man she knew to have been her father left a black journal inside of his handwriting detailing quite a bit of his past to his only daughter, an idea he had gotten from his late wife before joining her in death. Savannah did not know what to do with her father's words. He'd been in so much pain and keeping it all bottled in long before the vampires came and attacked him. She'd been so focused on gaining independence that she had not taken the time to see what was always right in front of her face. Her father was suffering and she ignored it. Tears began to stream down her cheeks once again as she held the black leather journal in her hands and she thought back to all the times she fled out the front door in an attempt to put some distance between them for her peace of mind.
She never noticed how he struggled to ensure she had a happy healthy life despite his pain. She had not even known how he came to meet her mother, who had been more or less a fantasy in her mind than a memory due to the age she'd been when her mother had died. Her father had told her she died in childbirth, but that had not been the truth in reality she'd been killed like he had by the vile intent of a murderous vampire.
The agony she felt when she found him lying in a pool of his blood would never be forgotten. Her rage led her to turn her aggression on Ron Hemming, who had merely been a bystander as she grieved for her lost father in those final moments before her life was forever changed from how she once knew it to be.
Savannah stared down at the black journal for a few moments before opening it to the first page.
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To My Darling Savannah,
If you are reading this, then I have gone to join your mother and you are here alone. Know that it was not my intention to leave you nor was it your mother's, we simply found ourselves outmatched when it came to our true professions and it had nothing to do with wanting to be away from you. By now I am sure I have made some kind of arrangement for you as I could never leave anything to chance...whomever I have entrusted you with, know that I only did so to ensure your safety as per my wish and promise to your late mother.
While I regret that I cannot see you blossom into the beautiful young woman I know you will become or walk you down the aisle if the time has not come for that, I am proud of you. You were the best of me and your mother respectively and the only good thing I have ever had in my life aside from your mother.
Knowing you as I do, you have quite a bit of questions and the familiar look of frustration on your face that I've come to know so well.
Never forget that I love you and so did your mother, while we both attempted to make the world a safer place for you, we no doubt failed in our mission, and for that, I apologize. We did the best we could with what little time we had to be with you and I do not doubt that you will make it through, with your mother's formidable strength and intellect you are very much equipped to take on the world. by now you know that I am or rather was a Werewolf Hunter, born of a prestigious line of hunters who had gone extinct. Your mother Veronica, Slayed Vampires for the greater good, such was the way of her father and she followed in his footsteps as I had mine.
Let me take a moment and assure you now, that whatever you decide to be in your future is up to you, I simply ask that you take care of yourself and don't take any unnecessary risks where there doesn't need to be any. I may be dead and gone, but I am still your father and I want what is best for you, always.
Forgive the ramblings of an old man, but I wish for you to know that you meant the world to me and if I had to do it all over again, I would. Because nothing I have ever done on earth could ever compare to the moment I first held you in my arms. I wish you a long life and abundant happiness and whatever bloke you do decide to settle down with better be worthy or I'll try my best to haunt him from beyond the grave.
Your Nerdy, but loving Wolf Hunter Father,
Victor Harlowe.....Malcolm Rhys Lowell.
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Savannah shook her head.
Even in death, her father managed to crack a few lame jokes. She missed him something fierce as she held his journal against her chest wondering when he had time to write in it while she'd been glad that he did. She noticed that he signed it in both of his names, the legal one and his birth name for the sake of transparency for her eyes only.
She didn't have the strength to read past the first page, not even when she first opened the journal as she was much too afraid of what she'd find out within the pages. It was enough for now to know that he loved her and that her mother had as well. Her resentment of Vampires grew twentyfold as she lay back on her bed clutching her father's journal and trying to recall what his voice sounded like.
He used to drone on and on during his many lectures and she often covered her ears as a result but now she just wished she could hear even one of them for no apparent reason other than to enjoy the sound of his voice. She had no memories of her mother, just a picture in a frame that she looked at from time to time and now a journal written by her mother who had been vastly unaware that her husband hunted Werewolves as much as he'd been unaware until her untimely death about her Slaying activities.
Savannah concluded that her parents made quite a par, a sort of Gift Of The Magi deal when it came down to it. Still, she couldn't fault them for loving her enough to keep her from the worst aspects of their respective lives. She had been thrown through a loop as it was when meeting the werewolf Ron Hemming for the first time. Savannah sighed as she slowly found herself drifting off losing herself in an old memory of her father and his nerdy collection of attire he'd been hanging up after laundry day.
"I love you." his words echoed in her mind.
"I love you too, Daddy." she had replied as she closed her eyes amid more tears.