“See you later,” Daniel said, and did as he was told, following Edwin out of the dining room with his plate in his hand. Edwin closed the door behind them, and I turned to Hans.
“Don’t bother with thedon’t ask the questions unless you want the answersstuff,” I said. “I want the answers now, please. Who the fuck is my dad?”
“Edwin can be such an ignorant tosser at times.” Hans sighed. “I was waiting to introduce you properly when the time was right. Your father doesn’t even know you’re back in the village yet.”
“WHO IS HE?!” I shouted. “All I know is that he’s some asshole who fucked off and left Mum and Grandma with me!”
Hans’ eyes were piercing, but he didn’t speak, just let my mind chew over my incoming thoughts.
“That’s another load of bullshit they fed me, isn’t it?!”
“Yes.”
“Like everything else.”
“Indeed.”
I sighed to myself, trying to accept another house of cards tumbling down. I should be getting used to it by now.
“So, who is he then?” I asked. “Do I know him?”
“Not yet.”
My eyes must have been as piercing as his.
“How come everyone else knows who he is? Is he some kind of vampire celebrity or something?”
Hans shook his head. “No. But everybody has two family chains behind them. Yours has a lot on your father’s side, too. They will certainly help with your talents. As we said, you are a psychic, a ghost whisperer and a witch. You don’t generally inherit all of those talents from one side of the tree.”
My pulse was racing.
“My father’s side isn’t on your wall though, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
“So WHY? Just tell me, will you? And if you say fucking PATIENCE I swear I’m going to–”
Hans sighed.
“Fine. He’s the head of the Templar Masons,” he told me. “A senior order of the Western Mystery Tradition.”
I was confused.
“And what does that mean?”
Hans didn’t hesitate.
“It means he’s a high level initiate. The very highest in England, in fact.” He paused as I stared at him. “He’s an occultist, Katherine. An extremely good one.”
I pictured an occultist as some kind of horror movie character, but Hans shook his head.
“No. Think of a wizard and you’d be much closer. Minus the starry sky robe and pointy hat, that is.”
I couldn’t quite picture it. “So, let me get this straight. My father is a head wizard in a group of wizards?”
Hans couldn’t help but chuckle. “Something like that.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh along with him, or freak out, or cry.