“He can hear you but you can’t hear him so don’t waste your time.”
“Stop listening, you promised.”
“I take it back.”
“You can’t, your word is not to be broken.”
“When it comes to protecting you and my son I don’t care. Besides, you broke trust first.”
“But it wasn’t my fault, she…”
“I don’t want to hear it. You’re lucky you’re carrying my child or I’d turn you over my knee.” Oh really now! I made my way carefully over to his side and tried my hand at being seductive. It comes naturally but I’ve never consciously tried it before, not really.
“Don’t be mad, nothing much happened and I wasn’t afraid, not really. I could’ve gotten out of there on my own but Junior wanted to try his baby dragon wings. How did he do that anyway? And how did you get there so fast?”
“Do you really think that’d going to work? Maybe if it was the elf princess.” Ouch!
He walked away after that low blow and even though I knew he was just saying it to get a rise out of me that didn’t stop me from becoming irate. I picked up the first thing my hand could reach and threw it at his head.
He looked back over this shoulder startled and I decided in that moment that seduction might not be the way, retreat-.retreat. I put my hand to my forehead and dropped down on the floor as if my legs had given out on me. Woe is me!
He was by my side before I could even blink. As he wrapped his arms around me apologizing of all things, I looked down at my tummy. Thanks kid, that was certainly not my idea.
Lucien
After her little fainting spell, which I’m now positively convinced was fake I took her to bed and let her lay on my chest until she fell asleep. She’d scared the shit out of me and it was taking longer than usual for me to get over it. I don’t know how many times I closed my eyes and held her closer, kissing her brow just to reassure myself that she was here, that she was safe.
Once I was sure she was really asleep I added a little something to her mind to make sure she stayed that way while I went to take care of what I needed to. “Damien!”
“Father!” So strong already my little guy.
“Your mother is not to leave this room while I’m gone. If by some chance she awakens while I’m gone, you must keep her here.”
“I understand!” I wasn’t too sure I could trust him seeing as he was the one who’d got her out of trouble earlier by feigning sick.
I already know I’m going to have problems with the two of them, my kid is turning out to be a real mama’s boy and he isn’t even here yet. He’d damn near argued me to death in her defense even though she was wrong. Fine, whatever, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I eased her off my chest and made sure she was resting comfortably against the pillows before pulling the light covers up around her. I might be mistaken but her tummy looks like it had grown since this morning. I put my hand on the hard mound and felt the warmth there. Then my son kicked me and I almost fell off the bed.
“Not funny kid!” He thought it was; I heard his laughter in my head all the way out the door. “Bellaque, with me!” He followed on my heels out the door and took flight with me once we were out in the open.
We landed just outside the grey walls of the dungeon walking in step with each other to the gates. The guards saw us coming and opened the doors to the dungeon in haste. No one is ever comfortable when Bellaque is around. I walked down the dark close hallway of the dungeon that was empty except for the two occupants I’d sent here earlier.
Crime isn’t exactly rampant in the kingdom and most people who come here end up dead since they have to do some really fucked up shit to be thrown in here in the first place. One of my prisoners’ demise I was absolutely certain of, but the other I was still struggling with.
Not because of any misguided sense of sympathy, far from it. I was thinking of the worst thing I could to her, what I could do to make her suffer for the rest of her life. She’d have been better off coming after me instead of my wife and child. By doing that she’d sealed her fate and sometimes there are some things worst than death.
I entered the cell where the hag was being held in the magical chains that it would take her a whole lifetime to break free from and even then it wouldn’t be that easy. My pet stayed in the shadows as I walked deeper into the cell to stand before her.
I wasn’t planning on spending too much time in her presence even though the chains bound her powers making them nonexistent; I just needed some answers. She hissed and rattled the chains with a glare showing no fear at all; no fear and no respect.
“What part did you play in what happened to my uncle?”
I could see from her reaction that the question startled her; she wasn’t expecting it. I had no need to ask her what she’d done here today, I’d seen all I needed to through the eyes of my son, but I needed to know the answers to the questions that no one else seemed able to get after all these years.
“What makes you think…?” I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground with one hand, slamming her back against the wall. The old bitch cackled at my efforts, which is just what I wanted.
I know her strength, that if not for the chains she would try working her spells on me, which wouldn’t work of course, because although I know her strengths and weaknesses, no one can know mine.
“I’ll ask you again. Was it you?”
“Your uncle was weak; it didn’t take much to make him lose control. Just a few well placed words and a little bit of magic and he was easily manipulated. He believed too much in his own abilities.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? Because the fae and vampyre clans have one common enemy, us. If we allow you to clasp hands then where would that leave us? We know only too well that we wouldn’t stand a chance, that you’d do everything to silence us once and for all. But instead of the great bond everyone hailed we brought great discord that has gone on for millennia.” She cackled again in great delight as if she didn’t sense her peril.
“With all of you at each other’s throats, filled with distrust, your eyes have no longer been focused on us have they, you are too busy fighting against each other to care about what we’ve been doing, as it should be.” I dropped her back on her feet and waited for her to stop gagging.
“But you failed this time, so why are you still here?” I’m waiting for her to tell me that she was here to take my wife’s life. Not that I needed justification but I believe in being fair. I want her to know exactly why she was going to die.
“All should’ve gone as planned this time. Had I not been careless I would’ve noticed the child and they’d both be dead by now.” Good enough!
“Bellaque!”
“Sire!” He came out of the shadows and she tried going through the wall to escape, her eyes wild and wide with fear.
“Go!”
“How many?”
“All of them.”
“What does that mean? Where is he going?” She kept a wary eye on my pet.
‘To annihilate your clan. Starting with you!” The words had barely left my mouth before he came flying through the air to strike.