“I knew you’d come back,” he said, walking toward her.
I clenched my fists at the smug look on his face. Patience. All I needed was to be patient.
Alora stopped just outside the gates to the house, going no farther. This was all a part of the plan. We needed him to come outside the house, outside the zone of Theodore’s protection.
“My family have fled the city. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to,” Alora said in a purposefully meek voice.
“You’ll always have a place with me, child. I might even find it in my heart to forgive you for what that mutt did to my hand. That is, of course, if you have any good predictions for me.”
Ira growled low in his throat when Ridley called him a mutt, but I placed my hand on his shoulder as a sign for him not to make any more noise. We couldn’t afford for the warlock to discover we were there.
“I’ve had a number of visions over the past few days. I’m sure you’re eager to know what I’ve seen.”
Ridley continued to get closer to her, but when he reached the gate, he simply opened it and gestured for her to come inside. Damn, he wasn’t going to leave the parameter of the house.
I was gearing up to intervene when Roman put a hand out to stop me.
“Patience, Mr Roe,” he whispered. “We need to wait for her to touch him.”
My eyes were drawn back to Ridley and Alora, and I saw that he was holding out his hand to her, the one that wasn’t a hook. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she reached out to take it. The second their palms met, Roman emerged from his hiding spot. His lips moved rapidly as he cast a whispered spell, and a variety of colours streamed from his body. Ridley froze in place when he saw the sorcerer advancing on him. He tried to pull his hand from Alora’s, but she gripped it tight.
“You stole this young lady’s sight, warlock,” Roman announced. “Now I shall take one of your senses to return the eyes you took from her.”
Wait, what? Yes! Go Roman!
“What madness is this!?” Ridley shouted desperately. “I have already lost a hand because of her.”
“That was nobody’s fault but your own. To attempt to steal the power of another is one of the worst crimes a warlock can commit. You must be punished.”
Roman threw a blast of golden magic at Ridley’s face. It slithered right into his ears, and he started to scream. Alora was still holding his hand, still listening to what Roman was doing to Ridley with a mix of horror and fascination on her face.
With only the slightest nod of his head, the magic shot from Ridley’s ears into Alora’s eyes. I’d seen some crazy shit in my time, and now I had another to add to the list. She whimpered and finally loosened her hold. I hurried to her side, catching her in my arms before she hit the ground. She stared at me as I took her in, blinking her eyes as they focused on me.
She could see.
“Hey,” I murmured, rubbing my thumb along the base of her neck.
“Hi,” she murmured back, staring at me in amazement. I smiled, and she returned the expression, eyes wide as she took in every inch of my face.
“Like what you see?” I asked huskily.
“Yes, actually,” she replied, a shy look marking her features. “I do.”
“I can’t hear! I can’t hear!” Ridley shouted, clutching at his ears.
Roman grabbed him and made a motion akin to stuffing a gag in someone’s mouth, and Ridley fell completely silent. A second later, the door to the house flew open and Marcel emerged. He took in the scene before him, his mouth gaping wide.
“What have you done to him?” he asked, stunned.
“Take us to Theodore, or I will end his life here and now,” Roman threatened.
Marcel looked at the sorcerer properly, and his mouth fell open even wider. “Roman Patel, it cannot be,” he whispered in shock.
“I’m afraid it can and it is. Now, take us to Theodore, or you are both as good as dead.”
Finally, Marcel came to his senses and led us inside the house.
Tegan
I wondered if I was dreaming.
I’d been stupid. No, we’d been stupid. Ethan and I had been too lost in each other, too eager to sate our passions and desires that we hadn’t given a single thought to the possible consequences. I was on the pill, sure, but we should’ve been using protection, too. The problem was, after that first time without a condom, we pretty much abandoned the idea altogether. It felt too good not to use one, and now, well, now we were paying the price.
The weird thing was, I didn’t exactly hate the thought of having Ethan’s baby. In fact, the opposite was true. Everything was moving way too fast, but I still felt a weird sense of contentment at the idea of us having a child.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Far from it.
According to Delilah, a high percentage of mothers carrying dhampir babies didn’t survive the birth. And then other times the baby didn’t survive. An overwhelming sense of grief hit me at the thought of losing my child. I’d only just discovered I was pregnant, and I already couldn’t stand the idea of losing the baby. I wasn’t strong enough to deal with that kind of heartbreak right now. There was already so much else to deal with.
I looked up at Ethan, and there was no mistaking the utter joy on his face, tinged with an edge of guilt. He was remorseful that he hadn’t been more careful with me, but his joy was so intense that it outshone the remorse tenfold. He wanted this. He really, really wanted it, and whatever worry he might be feeling that something could happen to me or the child was eclipsed by the sheer intensity of his want. He wanted us to have a family together, and though I was fearful of what might happen, I wanted a family with him, too.
I reassured myself with the fact that I was half-witch. I also had power in my blood. It felt like those factors strengthened the possibility of both me and the baby surviving.
I had to hold onto optimism if I was going to get through this.
Delilah must’ve sensed we needed privacy because she quickly made her excuses and turned to leave. Before she made it out the door, she stuck her head back in and asked, “Um, should I tell the others?”
I shrugged and turned to stare out the window. “Sure, if you want.”
I didn’t really care about them knowing. I was too wrapped up in my own worries. I tugged the blankets tight around myself, my stomach queasy as hell. It rumbled, and a stab of pain shot through my gut. Bloody hell. I didn’t know much about regular human pregnancies, but I had a feeling they weren’t anything like getting knocked up by a vampire. Delilah mentioned something about the foetus forming a lot faster and that it could be faster still, considering I was half-witch.
I didn’t make eye contact with Ethan when I said, “There’s a chance she could be mistaken, right? This could just be a case of food poisoning, or a bug or something.”
He frowned and stood, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. Taking my hand into his, he gave me a tender look. His other hand moved across my chest and down to my belly.
In a low voice, he replied, “Food poisoning doesn’t put an extra heartbeat inside of you, Tegan. I wasn’t paying enough attention before. Now that I am, I can hear it beating as loud as a drum in my ears.”
“You can hear it?” I whispered.