the most powerful man in his world and he couldn't manage to scrounge up one silly plastic fashion doll. That was the year she realized there was no Santa Claus.
Their father was cold, the polar opposite of the mother they'd lost. He made Tessa nervous. Her sisters all seemed to be Daddy's girls, but Tessa stood apart. She didn't see Victor as a hero, he was the villain. Maybe it was how broken his relationship with her was that saved her sisters from the constant training. Or, he might just have decided they didn't have lost time to make up for, but the other girls had an easier childhood. If she had to pick one thing about Victor Dark that redeemed him, it was that. Tessa would always be grateful that her sisters hadn't suffered as she'd suffered trying to fit into Other World. She remembered her humanity, whereas all her sisters but Talia embraced their demon sides. It didn't make the evil or bad, just more suited to their father's realm.
Every Christmas the girls made a trip to the human world to go skiing at a beautiful resort. Because it was tradition she never missed it; even if she spent the entire holiday reining in the mischievous imps. Tessa suspected she had been the main reason for the trips. When she was seventeen and desperate to leave Other World, her sisters had begged for the trip. Seeing how important it was to the girls, Victor had begrudgingly allowed it. For the others it was the first time they could remember experiencing their mother's world, for Tessa it felt like coming home. It was her best Christmas memory since she'd come to Other World. She'd visited the resort with them for the last three years, but her sisters complained about her not going to the castle for Christmas with Victor. This year she'd finally given in because Talia had personally come to her and begged her to join them. Talia was her favorite; Talia was the only one to have lived with her during her college years.
When Talia became pregnant Victor blamed Tessa for allowing it. As if she'd have been able to stop her sister, the girl was of age. That was the main reason she'd not gone to see her father for three years. Talia had announced her pregnancy just before they'd left the castle for the ski trip. Victor lost his human glamour in his anger and he'd morphed into his very scary true self. Screaming at his oldest daughter Tessa had screamed right back. Everyone else in the castle had fled in terror, even Talia. For over an hour they'd screamed at each other. Tessa let all her resentment out and told her father just how much she hated his world and him. Before she'd left he demanded she give up playing at being human. He informed her that she was going to be the mistress of Other World after his death. Why he wanted to doom her like that was beyond her comprehension. She hated his world, why would he decide she should rule it?
Dragging her mind away from how much she didn't want to see Victor she looked out into the darkness of the street again. Streetlight hit the glittering falling snowflakes as they fell. She tried to focus only on the pretty and delicate sight, but soon her rebellious brain brought up the other subject she tried not to dwell on. At twenty-nine, Tessa despaired of finding Mr. Right. What kind of man would want a half demon wife? Only the kind she didn't want – Other World men; or, more accurately, monsters! What her mother ever saw in her father, Tessa would never know or understand.
Tessa worked as a secretary for a chiropractic office. Located in a small town in New York she loved how very average it made her feel. She treasured the city for its picture perfectness and all American flavor; she loved the job and the people who came in to see Dr. Everest. Everyone asked her about her unique accent. She lied and said her father was a military man stationed all over the world, and her accent was a result of that experience early in life. She had told it so many times she almost believed it herself. At least if father was in the military he'd be human.
Tessa Dark. People made a big deal about her last name and were always curious and questioning. When she had gotten her driver's license in the human realm, she had considered changing her name, but it felt strange just randomly picking out a new name. She'd kept the name. She felt almost positive that her mother's last name had been something common, yet she wasn't sure and she had no one to ask. She'd even tried to find records on her mother, without luck. She wasn't even sure if she had a birth certificate. Other World had strong connections in the human world, so it would be easy for false records to be forged. With his abilities, she sometimes wondered if Victor hadn't tampered with her memory, stealing her mother's last name. Tessa kept her father's last name out of necessity, not pride or love.
Victor didn't like that his daughter lived in the human realm, held down a menial job, and refused to use her powers unless pressed. He considered his progeny above such a life. In the Other World, half-humans stopped aging on their twenty-fifth birthday; unlike in the human world. It irritated her father that she would let her life escape day by day. Equally human and demon, she chose her mother's heritage. Movie monsters were fun on Halloween, but every other day of the year it was a pain in the ass to deal with them.
Tessa missed her sisters, but the thought of staying forever in the nightmare her father called home terrified her. Every visit, rare as they were, her father would threaten to forbid her return to the human realm. When he made the threat it frightened her, because she knew he could do it. This anxiety was one of the reasons that she didn't return more often.
Christmas brought her back each year, only because her sisters begged her to join them. She spoke to each of them daily on the phone, texting and emailing too; but seeing them was much better. They would spend one terrible -for Tessa- night in Victor's castle, and as soon as brunch finished, they would leave.
Having magic and a long life ensured that Victor was very wealthy in the human realm as well as Other World. He had wise financial managers in both worlds. As much as he hated coming into contact with humans, having a foothold in each of the two worlds was unavoidable. Her mother had been a young bank teller who'd caught his eye. The years he'd spent with Hannah were the only years he took frequent and regular trips into the human realm, or so she'd been told.
He constantly offered Tessa cars and money and she always refused. If the man had taken a personal interest in her as a child, even for a moment, it would be different. He'd been trying to buy his way into her heart since she'd come into her full abilities on her eighteenth birthday. She could do some scarily powerful stuff. Knowing that her father only cared about her because of her talent bothered her. She hated the sight of the man. Taking his gifts would be hypocritical, most assuredly. She accepted one gift from him each year -buying out all the rooms at a chic ski resort in Aspen for a week- and that was a gift to all six of them.
She refused every wrapped box from him under the tree. It infuriated the triplets, because they adored Victor; in their eyes he could do no wrong. If they didn't love her they would most likely disown her. It surprised her a little that she always saw so many gifts under the tree from her father. After years of refusing them, she wondered if he'd gotten wise to her feelings and just had empty boxes wrapped for show. The idea made her a bit curious, but not curious enough to let down her guard and accept anything from the man.
She tried to be a good person, but forgiving the person who'd crippled you emotionally was hard. Her sisters had never dealt with the same kind of pain and abandonment she'd experienced. She was almost thirty and she still slept with a nightlight to keep the terrible nightmares at bay. The first two years she'd lived in the castle had been filled with fear and confusion. No one understood that she wasn't used to monsters popping up everywhere. No human father would've assigned his daughter a werewolf as a bodyguard or a zombie nanny. Victor forgot she'd been raised by humans. The blue woman was the closest thing she'd had to a normal caregiver. She'd been afraid of monsters under the bed before she'd meet her father. After going to live with him she was afraid of the monsters who
Chapter 2
The throng of waiting sisters quickly crushed Tessa in a group hug as she entered the warm, lavishly decorated main hall of her father's home. Talia looked a bit forlorn; her son was with his father for the Christmas holiday this year. Tessa missed hearing his cheerful little voice. She had brought gifts for the servants and all of her sisters, and even one for her father. It was Christmas after all; and her mother had taught her about the importance of giving.
Mutely supervising her return from a dim corner, her father nodded to her levelly in a pathetic excuse for a welcome. She returned the nod with equal casual coldness. A tall zombie helped carry in all of her packages. He gave her the creeps, but she attempted to graciously thank him for the assistance. His throaty growl quickly caused
