Greg had been mulling it over for a while. He had wanted to wait a while longer before saying anything, but now that Trish was pregnant, potentially with a dhampir child, he felt she needed to know. Thinking further on the matter, he approached Eric.
“After Stephen goes to work, I want you to contact your mother for me.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t talked to her since the reunion. Dare I ask what you have in mind?”
Greg shook his head. “Not now. Just call her, and put her on the phone with me.”
Eric nodded, and kept to himself until Stephen left, mainly by keeping in contact with his wife, who was debating coming out to Willow Creek, seeing as how Eric had been there so long, putting his counseling degree to good use at the outreach center. She missed him, after all. Stephen had just come downstairs after Eric ended his Skype call with his wife.
“Dad, I’m going to be working late tonight.” he paused for a minute. “I’ll be free for the next poker night, if you want me.”
Greg smiled. “I have no problem with that. To be sure though, I’ll check with the others. I don’t know where it’s being held this next time either.”
Stephen nodded and pulled on his coat. “Later Dad.”
“Goodbye Stephen.”
Greg watched out the window as his son climbed into his truck and pulled out of the gravel driveway, then turned down the road, headed for the police station. He got up, pausing by Eric on his way to the kitchen.
“Call her now.”
Eric nodded, and watched as his “uncle” went into the kitchen. There was an air of authority in his voice that spoke more of his true heritage then the facade he wore, and Eric did not deign to displease the man. He pulled up his contacts list to see if his mother was available, and as luck would have it she was online. After a brief message to see if she was available, he placed the call.
Moments later, a gorgeous blonde came into view. She appeared young, and certainly didn’t look like anyone’s mother, let alone his.
“Mother. It’s good to see you.”
“Eros.” she smiled. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
“Well, I haven’t talked to you for some time, and I try to keep in touch, so I thought I’d call now.”
“It’s good to hear from – ” she paused, looking at something over his shoulder. “Where are you that there is such godawful decor?”
Eric looked over his shoulder, then around the house. True, it wasn’t to his mother’s taste. Greg’s house had a rustic country charm to it, and it rather suited his current facade. He knew it had been put in place by Emily, Greg’s wife and mother of Stephen. He was about to answer when Greg came up, sat, and turned the laptop around to face him. He looked stern.
“Ares.” she said, her voice neutral. “You had Eros call me, didn’t you?”
“I did.” she opened her mouth to debate the point, but he interrupted. “Stephen isn’t here.” she looked relieved.
“What is it that you want?”
“I want to talk about Trish. You know, your daughter.” he’d never really forgiven her for abandoning Stephen and the baby that was Trish after she was born, though he understood her reasoning.
“What about you?”
“I’m going to tell her about her heritage.”
“Father won’t like that.” she warned.
“To hell with him. There are other who would support me, especially if they had met Trish.”
Aphrodite’s expression softened. “What is she like? Has she had a good life?”
Greg smiled. “She’s a sweetheart. But as for her life, no, not really. Stephan has been too strict with her, and it caused her to rebel young. She fell in with a bad crowd, and got exploited for it. Recent events caused her to get emancipated, and now she lives in her own place, attends university, works at a nightclub, and has some good friends, and a good man in her life.”
“I’m sorry. I – I never thought Stephen would be strict. Why the emancipation?”
“Stephen hit her. She wanted to leave before things got more violent. Stephen got a suspension from the force for a while, until he finished a course of therapy. Now Trish hardly talks to him, and he doesn’t seem to want to bother her about it.”
“Why didn’t you step in?”
“What makes you think I didn’t make my voice heard. I told Stephen all the time he was being too harsh, and he always told me to butt out.” Greg sighed. There was a moment of awkward silence.
“So…this man she’s with…do you think he’ll be a good father?”
“I think he’ll do fine. He loves Trish, that’s plain to see, and he’s had his own hardships. It’s an especially good sign of character, I think, to stay with her and help raise a child that isn’t his.”
“Not his?”
“No. Trish is….well, let’s just say she’s a bit free when it comes to matters of lust. Not unlike someone else I know.” he said, giving his sister and once wife a side glance. She blushed a little.
“She’s like me?”
“Not exactly. She doesn’t have your aura. Men don’t stop in their tracks to fall all over themselves to gain her favor like they do with you. But she is well-loved by a certain sect of people here, and they’d do anything to protect her.”
“That’s good. So, who is the father of her child, then?”
“A local vampire, by name of Vincennt Dracmore. You should remember that name – you apologized to him over the phone.”
“Oohhh, I did, didn’t I? Well, I was just doing my job! Besides…I didn’t know he was a vampire. he shouldn’t have been able to get her pregnant anyway! So what’s the deal?”
“He didn’t know he could get anyone pregnant either. Artemis is the one who determined it was his. She wasn’t sure – it could have been any of three at the time.”
Aphrodite smirked a little. “Like mother like daughter, I suppose.”
“As for how he got her pregnant, we suspect because he’s only half a vampire.”
“Half? I didn’t think those existed.”
“Apparently, they do. And Trish’s child might have some of those traits. We won’t know for sure until after it’s born.”
Aphrodite was silent for a while. “This is all well and good, but you didn’t have Eros call me just to tell me you were going to tell her about her divine heritage.”
“You’d be right on that account.”
“So what do you want?”
“I want you to come here. As Alice, and meet your daughter.”
“I can’t.”
“You can, and you will. Trish deserves to know her mother, and why you left her.”
Aphrodite winced. The tone in Ares’ voice was harsh, judgmental.
“What about Stephen? I don’t…I don’t think I could face him.”
“If Stephen sees you, he sees you. But if it really makes you feel better. should he see you, I can look into having that memory of you taken away. One of the vampires here is adept at that.”
Aphrodite thought on it a while as she bit her lower lip, then finally nodded. “Keep her safe. I’ll be there as soon as I can. As Alice.” she said.
“She’s safe. Someone is always watching out for her.”
“Who? I deserve to know that, at least.”
“A man named Jasper. He’s one of the race of Angels that was created after us.”
“Ah, I see. A fitting protector then.”
Greg nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I’ll be there.”
Greg reached over and ended the call. Then sighed.
“Are you sure that was wise?” Eric asked.
“Not entirely. But it’s fair to Trish, and that’s all that matters.” he got up, and stretched.
“Vince won’t be happy.”
“No, but there’s precious little he can do about it between me and that aura of hers.”
“Should we even tell him?”
“If he finds out, he finds out. But I’m not going to tell him directly, no.”
“I still don’t think having her here is a good idea.”
“Well, what’s done is done, now isn’t it?”
Eric backed off. He knew that tone, and didn’t feel like facing Ares’ wrath.Greg left the living room and headed back into the kitchen. His sister would pack and leave today, he knew. She’d arrive either late tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow being Sunday, that would be a good day to visit Trish, since she wouldn’t be working or at school. He planned on making his sister stay several days – Trish deserved that much. Now it remained to let Jasper know the plan – if he knew, he could be that much more effective at keeping an eye on things.