[ TT ] `` Am I a monster ? '' The child asked .

The door opened the door to her room suddenly letting light shatter the darkness. Bespin saw his daughter, Vellis, curled in the corner sobbing quietly. Spilled on the floor between them was the pink stain of her potion, and the mostly empty bottle beside it. The acrid smell of vomit willed the air, and burned at his nostrils. She had taken too much at once. 
 
 As soon as he had heard what had happened in the market place, he had dropped everything, and sprinted back home. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his breathing was in ragged gasps. Seeing that she was safe made the tension ease away from him like dropping a boulder. He had to avoid laughing from the relief. 
 
 She looked up at him. Her pale skin shone with sweat. Hair that was normally carefully tied back cascaded over her thin shoulders. `` I'm sorry.'' she choked. `` I missed a dose this morning, and... and Jace got too close.'' Her breath shuddered. The only sound in the room. `` I could hear his heart beat... I could *smell* that he had cut himself that morning.'' One hand drifted to her front teeth, prodding for fangs. `` Am I a monster?'' The child asked. 
 
 Bespin took a cautious step toward her. When she did not recoil, he took two more. `` The fact that you need to ask that question means you know what the answer will be.'' He knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He had not noticed how much she was trembling. 
 
 `` Am I just another one of the creatures you put down? Like my Grandfather?'' The question stung like a brand. 
 
 He pulled her in close, and she began to sob once more. `` You are not a monster. You would n't... you could n't do something like that.'' If anyone even considered hurting her, then they would have to go through him first. `` You are not your grandfather. There is good in you. Your mother made sure of that.'' 
 
 `` Did you love her?'' She asked. `` You knew what she was.'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' He said without hesitation. `` Yes I did.''
