Chapter Text
It was almost time for him to visit his oldest daughter Rebecca. How to explain to her that he could only visit at night now. How to explain why his eyes were a different color. Although sometimes they change on their own, which he thought was strange, but Armand’s eyes do some freaky things themselves.
He was going to give Rebecca half of the money he got from Louis. His girls deserved it. It wouldn’t make up for him being a piece of shit father their whole lives, but it may help when he has to never see them again. Listening to Louis’s story about what happened with his family, Daniel wasn’t going to let that happen. He was a bad father, but his children were never scared of him, and he wasn’t about to let them start being scared of him now.
There was also hope she didn’t notice that he didn’t shake anymore. He pulled up outside her house in his rented Escalade. Before Armand turned him he couldn’t even drive any longer; the tremors had gotten so bad. Hopefully, she would believe he was just on a really good medicine routine.
When he had called her earlier she had sounded less than ecstatic to hear from him. But she at least let him come visit, Victoria, his youngest, had not been as kind. Why would she? He was even less around for her growing up than he was Rebecca.
The thing was, he never really understood what went wrong in his marriages. He remembered both wives accused him of cheating, but he didn’t. He would remember if he had cheated. But there were missing parts in his memory, he always thought maybe he had fallen off the wagon those times and blocked the memories, so much missing time. But there was something niggling in the back of his mind that maybe Armand knew something.
There was something there, he didn’t know what. Sparring with Armand gave him a thrill, much like drugs had back in his youth. Sure, he argued with Louis. That was to get the truth out, he knew Louis was being deceitful. Armand though, he knew he was lying from the beginning too, but it wasn’t about getting the truth out of him. No, it was watching those gold eyes flash and that face of an angel turn to a devil. A sexy devil if he had to admit it to himself and only himself.
Rebecca’s house was a cute little farm style house on the outskirts of Dallas. She’d just turned thirty-six a few weeks ago. He had sent a present but didn’t know if she got it or even cared enough to open it.
Raising his hand, he knocked on the door with three heavy knocks. She was expecting him so there was no reason to call her again. After a moment, the door opened.
She looked so much like her mother. He had known Alice since they were in high school. He was horrible to her but didn’t remember why he decided to find her and apologize. Now he knew, Armand had dragged that horrible, terrible memory up. How sick was it that he started a relationship with her after that? That couldn’t be blamed on Armand, that was all him.
“Dad, you’re looking well,” Rebecca said stiffly.
“Thank you. Can I come in?” he asked. He didn’t need permission like some folklore thought but it was a polite thing to do.
“Sure, come in,” she said, opening the door wider. “I just put Timothy to bed.”
He knew she didn’t want him to meet her son anyway, not that he blamed her. Having a workaholic addict for a father didn’t give her the best childhood. So why would she want that for her child?
“Sorry I had to come so late.” He didn’t offer any excuses; she would tell they were all lies.
“It’s fine. I’m a bit of a night owl.”
“I remember,” he said, smiling at the memory. She would be waiting up for him when he would drag himself in late at night. She did not smile at the memory though; her frown got more prominent.
She waved her hand at a green floral couch. He took the hint and sat down. It was a bit too soft for his taste. If he were still sick there would be no way he would be able to pull himself out of it.
“Do you know I’ve been contacted by no less than four reporters trying to find out if you have lost your mind. Writing a book about vampires being real. Really, Dad, did you need money that bad?”
He hadn’t needed it. When Louis wrote to him and offered the money, all he could think of was giving his daughters something before he died more than a few junk boxes and an almost thirty-five-year-old set of Encyclopedia Britannica with the R and V missing. He still didn’t remember ordering them on the home shopping network, but they had come in.
“I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t think when I released the book.”
“What’s new?” she said coldly. “Also, what’s with the contact lenses and the fingernails? Do you think this will help you sell books? You used to at least have pride in your work. It’s not that I mind the book, I actually liked it a lot but-
“You read it?” he cut her off. He never would have guessed she would have read it.
“Yes, me and Vic both read it. She was surprised with how much gay sex you put into it. I guess she didn’t remember your boyfriend.”
That caused Daniel to stop smiling at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Your boyfriend. I don’t remember him much, but was tall with dark skin and there was something about his eyes that scared me. I can’t remember now what it was. I only saw him twice. Once when mom was dropping me off for one of your scheduled weekends, I saw him leaving your building. I didn’t know he was your boyfriend at the time. The other time was after your divorce to Sharon. I was sixteen and rode the subway and got to your apartment, I had picked up Vic on my way. I thought you may have wanted to see both of us. That’s when I knew he was your boyfriend, you two were kissing up against your door outside. I grabbed Vic’s hand and took off, getting her back to Sharon’s. I couldn’t believe it. Seeing him again, you must have been cheating on both Mom and Sharon with him.”
Her face was getting redder and redder as she spoke.
“I-I never cheated on your mother or Sharon. I was a shit husband, but I didn’t cheat.” At least he didn’t think he did.
“It’s in the past Dad; it’s all just in the past. The funny thing is before I ran away from your apartment building that night. I remember thinking how happy you looked. I had never seen you look so happy. I didn’t even know you could smile if you weren’t tearing someone down. It wasn’t the arguments with Mom that hurt her, she could take care of herself. It was your total lack of caring. Why even marry her if you weren’t in love with her?”
This was the most she had ever said about her mother and the divorce. It made him uncomfortable, but he had exercised Louis’s demons and let the world see them. He might as well do the same in the privacy of his daughter’s home.
“I did love your mother, but I wasn’t in love with her. I construed the two things for a very long time. Same could be said for Sharon.”
“Are you gay? This whole vampire book; was it some kind of coming out?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t ever remember being in love with anyone. I remember loving your mother and wanting to see her happy. I was never going to make her happy.”
“You never even tried.”
He nodded his head. “Yes, I own that. I didn’t. She was my best friend since we reconnected after high school. The most caring and forgiving woman I ever met.” All these years later, even while his daughters refused to talk to him, Alice always answered the phone. She always was kind; it made what he did to her even worse.
“She was happy with Steve, then you had to go and get sick. Now all she does is worry about you.”
“I’ll call her. Tell her that I’m not her responsibility anymore.”
A memory of the interview came back to him. Louis asked him if he wanted to know what Alice thought of him now if she thought about him at all. But he knew what she thought of him, they talk pretty regularly. But he remembered being so upset at what Louis was saying but something felt wrong about it. He did propose to her in Paris, but she said yes, but she wasn’t pregnant. She wouldn’t have been able to fly that late in her pregnancy. Something felt off about that whole memory. He had a feeling a little gremlin might know the answers to these questions. Too bad his maker was in hiding, from Louis or Lestat or someone else, Daniel didn’t know.
“She won’t listen. She’s too much of a caretaker. What did you want? What did you come here for? I’ve got work in the morning.”
“Still work at Douglas, Jackson and Perez?” She just glared at him. So, she wasn’t in the mood to share about her life. That he understood. He stood up and pulled out the paperwork and phone in his jacket. “This. This is yours. The money is in the Caymans but that was because it’s very hard to explain where I got the money from to Uncle Sam. I have one for Victoria too.”
She looked at the phone and bundle of papers.
“What is this?”
“Five million dollars. Yours. There’s five million in a different account just for Victoria. I’m not trying to buy your love. I know it’s much too late for any kind of relationship. I just wanted to do this one last thing.”
Her face paled some and he saw her eyes scan him. “You look fine. Are you getting worse?” Her voice betrayed her stoic attitude.
“I’m fine but we have to be realistic.” And he would have to fake his death sometime. He couldn’t live for a few decades like this, people would notice.
She pushed the papers and phone back to him. “I don’t want it.”
“Put it all away for Timothy then. This money is dirty to me, I can’t explain why but it is. But it’s legal and I earned it. I’m going to send Victoria’s certified mail if you wouldn’t mind telling her. She won’t answer my calls.”
“Vic, she hates being called Victoria.”
“Right, I forgot. Please, just take this, put it away for a rainy day if you must.”
“You act like you’re leaving.” She was on her feet now too.
“I’m not going to push myself in your life or your sister’s life.”
She laughed bitterly. “Nothing changes with you. You never tried to be in our lives. Did you ever even want kids? I guess it could be worse, we could have been like the girl in your story. How in the world did you think up something so macabre?”
“As I’ve told everyone so far, it’s not fiction, it’s real.”
“I think you actually believe that. Okay, Dad, I’ll take the money. I’ll tell Vic you’re sending her some apology cash. But I want you to admit you never wanted kids. That’s all I want. For you to finally say that it was you and not us. You were the problem.”
He tried not to laugh. “Is that all you want? That I have no problem with; I’ve always been the problem. It’s always been me. But I can’t lie and say I never wanted children. When she told me she was pregnant with you, my mind was elsewhere. I don’t even remember now but I remember being so preoccupied that I hurt her without meaning to. She didn’t get angry often but when she did it was a sight to behold.”
“Another boyfriend?” she asked but it wasn’t said coldly.
He had a feeling it was the same person, but the memories just weren’t there. It was like someone pulled things out or changed them. It was feeling a lot like his memories of San Francisco making him almost sure who the guilty party was. But why was the question? And she had described seeing him with Armand, it had to be Armand. Dark skin with something about his eyes, it had to be Armand. In truth it could be Louis too but that didn’t feel right, Armand did.
“I don’t remember,” he answered honestly. She led him to the door after that; he took the silent plea for him to leave. She was holding herself together well, but she was too much like her mother, she would not break down in front of him. Pride, she had it in spades.