His only response was a smile.
After a few moments of quiet, I asked, “You really want a baby with me?”
“Of course, I do. I adore you. I love you. Knowing you are with child makes this one of the happiest days of my life,” he answered fervently.
“Well, that’s certainly high praise considering just how many days you’ve been alive,” I joked half-heartedly to distract myself from my inner turmoil.
Ethan laughed softly. “It’s rude to remind a vampire of his age, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” I grinned. “That’s why I did it.”
A tinge of sadness entered his gaze. “I should have been more careful—”
“Don’t,” I interrupted. “There’s no point in that kind of talk. I have your child inside me now, and all we can do is try our best to ensure its survival. Besides, it does take two to tango. I was careless as well.”
He moved deeper onto the bed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You continually amaze me with your strength,” he said tenderly before his expression sobered. “I’ll arrange for a vampire physician to come and examine you. We need to know how far along you are. It can’t be more than a week or so, but I want to ensure you’re at optimum health.”
“Okay, that sounds like the responsible thing to do.”
I drifted off for a nap, Ethan’s arms around me a reassuring comfort. I was woken up a few hours later by Delilah, who gave me an uncharacteristically gentle smile that held too many emotions. I wished she’d stop. I couldn’t handle smiles like that right now.
“Dr Hendricks is here,” she said softly. “Is it okay for him to come in?”
“Sure.”
She returned quickly with a young-looking vampire with brown hair and dark eyes. He introduced himself and congratulated me on the baby. I didn’t know how to react to congratulations just yet, so I didn’t say anything. It was kind of weird being congratulated when both you and your child had a slim chance of surviving.
Dr Hendricks asked me an endless number of questions before examining me.
“How long does this take?” I asked, and he quirked a curious eyebrow at me. “I mean, how long am I going to be pregnant? Is it nine months like human births?”
He pursed his lips and began packing away his stethoscope. “No. Dhampir gestation periods are usually between three and four months. Development is much quicker in these … sorts of cases. That’s why there’s already a heartbeat.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? It means I won’t be the size of an elephant for too long,” I said, trying to inject some humour into the conversation that I definitely didn’t feel.
“May I speak frankly?” he asked, and I nodded, my nerves building. I sensed I wasn’t going to like what he had to say next.
“Vampire babies take just two months to be born from the date of conception. Dhampirs take longer because you are essentially putting a vampire foetus in a human body that is not equipped with the proper genetics to carry it, which is why both mother and baby often … do not survive.”
“Yes, I know that already.”
He grew quiet for a moment, almost like he was hesitating over whether or not to say something else. “I’ve been informed of your, shall we say, powers. Perhaps there’s a way you could channel your magic into the foetus?”
“I wish I knew how to do that,” I told him honestly.
“Are there any female relatives you might consult with?” he suggested.
I bit my lip, thinking of Emilia. The chances of her giving me pregnancy advice were slim to none. “No, sadly not.”
At this, Ethan entered the room and asked how everything was going. He and the doctor stepped away, speaking in hushed tones. I tried to follow their conversation but found my mind drifting off. I’d never considered myself to be a particularly maternal person, but all of a sudden, I felt like I’d die to protect this tiny little being that was growing inside of me.
I felt almost primal in my need to protect my child, to ensure its survival, and the instinct was incredibly jarring. Yesterday, I’d barely given having a family a second thought. Now here I was, desperate for both me and my baby to survive. I’d do whatever it took.
And that included getting down on my knees and grovelling to Emilia to help me find a way to save it.
14.
Finn
Marcel marched into the house like a moody housewife whose visitors had shown up before she had the chance to make the place presentable. Roman still had a hold on Ridley, who was seething with barely contained rage.
I almost felt sorry for the bloke, but then I remembered that this was the same man who set fire to Rita and Noreen’s house all those weeks ago. He was also the same man who kept Alora locked up in his house like a prisoner.
Yep, not feeling so bad for him anymore.
Inside, there was barely a scrap of furniture to be found, just white walls and beige carpets.
“I really love what you’ve done with the place. Minimalism is so hot right now,” I joked, and Marcel narrowed his eyes to slits.
We walked through the house and out to the back. It seemed that all the effort to jazz up the place had been put into the garden. There were swings, monkey bars, and a variety of playground toys amidst the perfectly segmented flowers and bushes. While Theodore hung upside down by the legs from one of the monkey bars, Rita was perched on the swing set wearing a long black dress. Rebecca was standing perfectly still on a large, brightly coloured box by a blossoming rose bush. The little girl’s eyes were closed, as though she’d been induced into a magical slumber, and there were tubes coming from her arms with blood flowing through them.
Okay, what the fuck?
I half expected Emilia to be lounging nearby with a glass of lemonade in hand, but she wasn’t. She was sitting on a bench, her arms tied behind her back with duct tape, and the same went for her legs. She must have been crying at some stage because her mascara had run down her face.
I stared at Rebecca again and understood exactly why Emilia had been crying. The little girl’s blood was flowing through the tubes and out of her body, where it floated in the air in the shape of a rose. Theodore swished his hands at the blood when he saw me looking, and the shape changed into a monstrous face. I jumped because he did it so quickly. He giggled, and the face dissolved and transformed into glittering star shapes.
“This blood really is a wonder,” he mused, seeming not at all bothered by our sudden presence. He swept his hand out in front of him, and the blood stars turned into glittering red rubies hovering in the air. Rita continued to swing back and forth, taking us in with no reaction. Roman, on the other hand, stared at her with interest.
As the blood swished through the air around Rebecca, I saw that she was standing on a human-sized music box. The blood began to whistle as it moved rapidly through the air, creating a shiver-inducing tune. Rebecca’s body started to turn around in circles, and Theodore clapped in delight as he watched his horrific creation. He was playing with her blood, entertaining himself with the power it contained.
The sorcerer’s eyes flicked to Roman. “I felt your presence return to the city, young Roman. Welcome home. It’s been a while.”