Hannah stood there staring at me for a few moments but then she looked towards Necro who only nodded his head with a smile. I hated that because I feared she might still be under his control.
"Take him with you to the living room and have a long chat with your 'Father'." He emphasized the word Father while looking me up and down like some street punk. I wanted nothing more than to rip his head off right then and there but I kept it in check.
"Thank... You..." I was able to muster out between gritted teeth and a fake smile and then soon turned to wave the others onwards.
"Oh no, they will be looked after while you have a chat with my lovely bride to be, don't you worry I will take good care of them Vexsus." Necro then waved his hand as two corpse brides emerged from the ground.
"These lovely ladies will lead your party to their rooms, don't worry boy I will make sure nothing harmful befalls them. Now hop along and go have a talk before the wedding starts, I have to go get ready." He turns and walks into a nearby shadow and seems to meld seemlessly into it before vanishing.
I look back at the group and they just smile and nod at me to reassure me before following the corpses. I then take a deep breath and turn back around to look as Hannah leads me into the castle and into a nearby room. As the door opens it reveals a large room filled with a variety of things, shelves upon shelves of books, different board games like chess or even a wierd version of necromancer monopoly from what I could gather.
"This guy sure has a uh... unique taste." I said as I looked at all of the gothic decorations that surrounded us. The windows were covered in thick blackout drapes, there were stones mounted on the walls that gave off light and were encased in a glass bulb.... Isn't that just a lightbulb? Like literally? The furniture was atleast comfy looking as it was a thick large couch that could recline back, there were a few other seats scattered around in a central area that looked like a good place for afternoon naps after a good read.
After we sat down me and Hannah just stared at eachother for a few minutes until I worked up enough courage to speak.
"How are you?"
"Really? That's all you have to say after what you've done to me? How are you?" She said with venom laced in every word.
"I'm sorry ok, I did alot of shit and didn't expect this to happen, I was hoping to see you and then all the words would just flow out of my mouth and everything would be solved. But no, because that's not the way this works. So I'm here looking like an idiot while feeling like the biggest piece of shit in the world because he let his daughter fall into the hands of possibly the second biggest threat the world has right now."
"Necro isn't a threat Vexsus. He saved me when you didn't, he kept my soul alive while you were off galavanting and fucking women! OOO I bet you're so happy Kitsoma and Mara are getting along and even are accepting your new little bear pet but in the long run how many times do you think they will be ok with this Hmm? You lost the trust of everyone you loved. Sondar, Sylvania, Shorunt, Konna, Liosa, Howy, The Twins.... Me. I'm sure even some of your sons and daughters don't believe in you the same way as they did before, not to mention the few stragglers like that spider queen or the human boy you picked up."
She kept slamming me with guilt with critical blows but the more she spoke the more something came to be realized.... The things she talked about happened when she wasn't there and while Necro had her... Which meant that Necro had been spying on me this whole damn time. That's the only way she could have known about some of these things...
I ground my jaw in frustration and sat there as she vented her anger at me. I deserved it.
"To top it all off, you even came here knowing I didn't want you to come? Why? Because you hoped that I would forgive you for basically forsaking me and leaving me in the hands of Necro? Well tough fucking shit father, because doing that was probably the best thing you could have ever done for me. Necro loves me! He has taught me so much about Necromancy and has shown me so much! He treats me not like a little girl but like the grown woman I now am. Did you know that time moves differently for souls? Yea, see souls have a direct connection to the life stream and in exchange for helping Necro gain access to the stream he gave me power. We also fell in love during that time, There is nothing you can do to stop this wedding from happening Vexsus! NOTHING!" She screamed at me and for a moment the room itself seemed to vibrate with her power.
I just looked at her as she huffed and puffed, I got up and walked over to her and knelt down once again and this time when I reached for her hand she didn't back away. I didn't know if it was because she had a momentary lapse because of the yelling or something else but I took that chance.
"Hannah, you are and always will be my daughter. I gave your birth parents my solemn vow to look after you back in that dungeon and I will continue to hold myself to that vow, I may not be perfect and I will fall short in carrying out my duties as your father, but just know that no matter how much you hate me I will never stop loving you. I hate myself so much for not protecting you when I should have, I had so much to look after and as a leader sometimes I have to look after the lives of many versus the few. That doesn't erase the hatred I have for myself or yours but I'm here today because I want to be a better father to you. I want to be the kind of father that you want."
"If you need me to leave and never return... than I will, if you want me to hug you and tell you everything will be alright than by all means I'm right here. Just know that I'm here now and in the present. You have my blood flowing through your veins Hannah. You are my daughter whether you want to be or not, It's a choice that I made to save your life when I was an idiot. I gave you my bloodline and turned you because I wanted you to survive and become stronger than what a normal human could ever hope to become. You have that power inside of you, no one, not me, not Necro. No one. But you holds the potential to draw out what power lays within you. I have to go get ready and I'm sure you do aswell... I'm sure the big day for the bride is filled with tons of stuff to prepare after all haha..... I'll see you soon honey... I love you."
I got up and walked out the door, as I left I turned back to look at her one last time and saw her just staring at the same spot I was and even touching her hand that I held. I could tell she didn't really hate me but she had some things to work out and it wasn't my place to be here when she did.
Turning back around I left the room and was met with a corpse bride that was dressed in a purple gown, she bowed before turning and with a hand waved me to follow her. She led me to a room that opened up to a central living area that held a small kitchen a bathing area and even a central fireplace surrounded by chairs and the like. Then on the outside of that area were doors that led to rooms that each had a pair of beds for my people. The bride opened up a door that was slightly different than the others and this one led to a room with a huge bed that could fit an entire football team with reserves on it. And on it sleeping without a care in the world was Lula while Mara and Kitsoma were off to the side sitting on opposite sides of a chessboard playing.
I thanked the woman that led me and walked inside. As the door closed the ladies paused their game and came up to me.
"How was the talk? Did Hannah forgive you?"
"Haha, yea no... There is probably going to have to be a cold day in hell before that can happen. We did talk a little and I hope that I gained some headway and maybe made a dent int that spike covered wall she put up, but right now we can only hope that she is happy here and go with the flow.... But besides that, care to explain what's up with beargirl sleeping in enemy territory like she's not in any danger whatsoever?"
Mara and Kitsoma started laughing at that and they both looked at Lula.
"She said and I quote. 'If I was in any danger than Vexsus would protect me, plus I'm stronger than the creatures around here anyways.'" Than she laid down and within seconds started snoring." Mara chuckled again after saying.
I just nodded my head and kissed both of them. "I think it's time we started getting ready. The woman that led me here told me the ceremony was going to start in a couple of hours now that we arrived. I'm going to go talk with the others and let them know. Will you wake up miss sleepy and help her?"
"Will do honey." Kitsoma said with a mischivieous look in her eyes as she looked at Lula like a predator would a prey. I saw as Lula's body shivered slightly but soon kept snoring, I chuckled before leaving.
I walked around and knocked on all the rooms and told the rest of the group to start getting ready and to dress up or atleast try and look presentable the best way they could. We aren't really humans afterall so dressing up in clothes doesn't really fit our style as much. Although the demi-humans and Beastkin did, I could however see Kitsoma in some skin tight cut-off jean shorts that just barely covered her ass, and maybe even a hoodie that covered up below that with a shirt that revealed her stomach underneath? As much as she didn't want to show it and act proper I can tell she loves it when I stare at her and even sometimes goes out of her way to show it off to me when she walks.
Ehhh... I had to shake my head to get those images out of my head and focuse on the upcoming ceremony. I returned to my room and when I did I was introduced to a wild Lula running at me with her hair in twin tails and bright eyeliner that clashed against her deep brown eyes.
"VEXSUS! STOP THEM THEY ARE TRYING TO COVER ME IN NASTY TASTING STUFF!" She yelled as she jumped into my arms.
"Lula get back here. It's only makeup, it's meant to be used to look prettier on special occasions like today. Don't you want to look pretty in front of Vexsus? Especially if you're going to meet his daughter for the first time?" Mara said as she came over with a huff and her hands on her hips. Kitsoma was in the background chuckling as she watched. I looked down and Lula was just staring up at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Lula, this is something special today. Plus you're not supposed to eat the makeup." I then leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Your very pretty already but this makes you look dazzling and gorgeous beyond belief, if we didn't have something so important to do right now I would make you mine right here and now."
I raised my head and looked back at her and saw as her face was bright red. "If you think I look good like this... then fine, I'll do it." She got down from my arms and went back with Mara to finish up while I walked over and sat on the bed, I didn't bring any fancy clothes but I was thinking of something as I looked down at my new body/armor. 'What if it could transform like it did but turn to look like clothes?'
I closed my eyes and imagined a purple tux the same color as the armor is now to keep it simple and imagined as it slowly morphed to fit my body, Even my feet would turn into fancy ballroom shoes, I used those old timey movies from earth as my reference because that was the only ones I could think of.
"Oh gods! Vexsus, I didn't know you could do that!"
Kitsoma's voice startled me as I opened my eyes and looked at her but was stunned into silence. There she stood with a red dress down to her knees that gave ample room for movement and gave a slight glance at her cleavage, around her neck was a light silverchain that came down to end at her breastline. Her hair was up in a bun and her tail seemed fluffier than ever and made me want to stroke it.
"Vexsus? Are you ok?"
"Yea, he is, he's just stunned by how hot you look right now. Thank gods that we are going to be in a room with undead or he might have to fight off advances from some assholes who want you hehe." Mara lightly elbowed her as she came up and it was like a second bombshell went off.
Mara stood there with in a dark teal dress that was backless and tied around the neck. Her cleavage was more or less on full display depending on how she moved and she wore a golden small chain necklace that imitated Kitsoma.
"Well good to know I can get that same reaction hehe. But now is the finale, come here Lula, let's see if you can deal the final blow." Mara said as she waved over Lula and from behind the two girls came a woman with her head down like she was shy. She was dressed in a blue dress that flowed down from her hips like and formed petals around her knees. She didn't wear any jewelry but the entire time she was nervously looking at the ground.
'AHEM' The girls cleared their throats at me and they narrowed their eyes at me and then looked at Lula. I took the hint and quickly rushed over to her.
"Lula... Just wow, you look.... just wow, I have no words right now. You look gorgeous." I said as I knelt down and looked up at her eyes.
"Do you really think so? I never did anything like this before and I really wanted to impress you all.... especially you Vexsus." She said as her cheeks got redder.
"I think you look amazing, I thought you looked pretty before but boom there you go blowing my expectations out of the water. Today may be my daughter's wedding but you 3 will be the next prettiest girls there. I guarantee it."
By that time I heard a knock at the door and a deep slow voice voice echo through the room.