by E E Everly
MY
STORM SPRITE
My Supernatural Boyfriend 2
E.E. Everly
My Storm Sprite
Copyright © 2020 by E.E. Everly
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in book reviews and articles.
For information email E.E. Everly.
[email protected]
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Front cover image by Sanja Gombar—Book Cover For You
First edition 2020
For Willamina Joylee. Fight for those you love, with all the fire of your heart and soul.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ONE
I waddle out of the obstetrics office, with my phone pressed to my ear. “I’ll be home shortly. Nothing to worry about, Natalia.”
My breath comes out as a frozen cloud. I snug my knit hat down over my dark locks. Pregnancy has made them glossy and thick.
“I vish I could have come. I don’t like letting you out of sight. Killian vould kill me if he knew.” Natalia’s sexy Russian accent tickles my insides, as it always does when she speaks.
A cool breeze brushes my neck, and I look over my shoulder. Why do I always look, hoping I’ll see a certain someone, even though I know very well he’s not actually there? In physical form, that is.
“He knows. Trust me. And he understands.” I sigh as I wave my ghost off. Natalia knows all about my shadow.
Killian hasn’t left me alone since his death over eight months ago. He’s supposed to be at peace, but I don’t consider haunting me “at peace.”
“It’s broad daylight. Relax. Dr. Sullivan said I have two more weeks at best too.” I rub my belly. “This little guy isn’t going anywhere.”
“I suppose you’re right. See you in seventeen minutes, Sasha. No more, no less.” Natalia hangs up.
She has the time from the office to my flat memorized. If I’m a moment late, she’ll panic. It’s not as if she can do anything about it except stare at the tracker for my phone.
I pull my coat tighter around my belly, which is way too big for a non-maternity coat, and fumble in my purse with a clumsy gloved hand for the keys to Natalia’s SUV. She lets me use it during the day since I don’t have funds to buy my own car and since she doesn’t have much use for it then. I mean the windows are UV tinted and would protect her, but the run to the car, brutal. She’d burn to a crispy death.
She is a vampire after all.
I exhale as I close my hand around the car keys.
Being a pregnant college student is rough. But, hey, I managed to finish another semester before the big event.
And I’m not talking about Christmas in four days. I’m due right around the new year. But since I started school in the spring two years ago, my sophomore year will be complete.
College is a temporary thing anyway until I can go home to Belyven—the fae world, where I belong—after I lift the curse on my head.
But hunting down the demon who cast the curse hasn’t been on my list of priorities.
Staying away from demons and vampires is.
Keeping my unborn baby alive is.
I stick the key into the door lock as a man says, “Give me your purse.” Cold steel slides past my open coat and jabs into my side ribs, above my gigantic belly.
I instantly know what it is—a seed demon’s favorite weapon—an ice blade.
How do I know what my attacker is? Because the demon stinks like rotten bacon, and it’s not the first time they’ve attacked in the past eight months.
“Seriously? Right now? In the parking lot?” I huff. Lunch hour just started, so the lot’s pretty empty, but within this cluster of medical offices in the city, a few patients are still out and about as they run to their cars to avoid the cold. “You’d attack a pregnant lady?”
“Don’t take forever. Hand it over.”
He wants my amulet. Though I tried to keep the secret that I’m the one wielding the magical gem, word got out. “I don’t have it on me.”
The air fills with static as I close my eyes. I have two options. One, shock his sorry butt and release the demon from the poor human he’s a parasite in or, two, press the amulet that I do indeed have to his heart and take his demon powers, leaving him stuck inside his human host until the host dies. This would trap the demon on Earth as a spirit without a body.
I rather like the latter. I’ve made it my mission to imprison as many demons as possible in their human form and take their powers. Demons without powers can’t body jump or teleport. They’re basically a non-threat after I’m through with them, which is how I like them just fine.
His knife pinches my skin. “I will gut you right here and your nightwalker spawn will never see the light of day alive.”
“You’re an idiot.” I grip the car door handle while I fish in my coat pocket. The demon’s breath makes me nauseated, and Kili kicks my bladder, which sends spasms through my uterus. I grunt as I hinge over slightly. “Several things are wrong with your plan. My baby is not a nightwalker. He’s human. Human.” My hand closes over the amulet. “And giving you the amulet will be useless unless I power it.”
Didn’t the seed demons know this by now? Why doesn’t he kidnap me so he can force me to wield it?
“Come on. Hurry.” The demon shifts and slides the knife above the bulge in my belly, toward my sternum.
I’m trying not to pee my pants. My heart races. My glove is so fuzzy I can barely hold the amulet. I drop my keys and the purse from my other hand, a distraction that allows me to whirl away from the knife and grab the demon by his shirt. I shove the amulet against his throat as he raises the knife to mine.
We’re face to face, and I’m not liking his putrid breath. I gag as I gasp my words. “Drop the knife, and I won’t take your powers.”
I’m lying. I absolutely will. The demon makes a grab at the amulet, but I rip his T-shirt down by the collar and smash the amulet to his heart.
He shrieks as the amulet glows. His legs buckle, and he goes down, pulling me on top of him. His knife nicks my neck, and then his arm goes slack, and he drops the blade.
I swear in my head. An ice-blade injury—I’m so screwed.
Fresh blood drips onto his face as I continue to hold him. The amulet should ha
ve drained his power, but he thrashes before I can push off him and rocks my round belly that’s crushed between us. A terrible pop reaches my ears amidst the man’s howls, and fluid gushes out between my legs.
“Now look what you’ve done!” I yell. My knee comes up between the man’s legs. He yowls and rolls to the side as he draws his knees up. I topple onto the asphalt beside him, with the amulet safely in my gloved hand. “Natalia’s going to kill me!”
I have one job. Keep this bun in the oven until D-day. Way to screw this up, Sasha.
The man whimpers and starts to crawl away. I grab his ankle and, with my inner storm, send a shock up his spine. He collapses facedown and convulses.
“Let this be a lesson to all your stupid cronies.” I release him and push up to my knees as he pulses with a few more errant twitches. “Don’t mess with the pregnant storm sprite!”
TWO
I huff and puff as they wheel me down the hall on a gurney. I’ve broken out in a sweat everywhere but my neck, which is so cold it burns. “Aw, fetching faeries, it hurts!”
I slap my hands on the bandage the paramedics put over my cut, but I immediately let go. My fingers are numb. “Natalia!” I bellow like a bloated cow.
Where is she? I shiver. I called her as soon as my OB confirmed that Kili was fine and the paramedics had me loaded into the ambulance. Even though it’s daylight, it isn’t impossible for a vamp to travel. Her boyfriend, Dumitru, has a car with tints that block UV rays. All she has to do is park in the deck, and she’ll be fine.
But I won’t be.
I have an ice blade wound, and the pressure in my pelvis is so intense it makes my eyes bulge.
Five people are in the room they roll me into. A woman prepping a baby warmer, another typing furiously on a computer. Two nurses flank me; and a guy hovers near a cart of medical supplies.
A blonde nurse hikes my sheet up and examines me. “There’s no time for an epidural.” She waves the guy near the cart away, but he leans against the wall, watching as if I’m on the nature channel.
By the time they transfer me to the delivery bed, Kili’s crowning. “Why’s this happening so fast?” I gasp and grip the bedrail.
“It’s different for everyone,” a young brunette says.
The pressure and pain increase drastically. Without waiting for permission, I bear down, pretending I’m crushing a melon with my abs. My scream fills the room.
“Don’t push!” the frantic brunette says.
A doctor strolls in, not the least bit frazzled by the room filled with chaos. Before she can calmly slip her gloves on, Kili explodes out of me and lands between my legs. They didn’t have a chance to break down the bed and lift the stirrups.
My head drops back, and I wait for his wail. The doctor is busy with him, down near my knees. Then the doctor flops Kili onto my belly. He’s as purple as a plum while he screeches.
I slide my finger into his hand as the doc clamps the cord. Kili grips me hard. Ouch.
“Congratulations,” the doc says. “You didn’t even need me.” She grins at the nurse. “I wish all deliveries were this easy.”
Easy, my butt! A nurse rubs Kili dry while I hug him to my chest. He shrieks and shrieks, but I don’t care. I kiss his head over and over.
Natalia slides into the room and up to the head of my bed, but no one pays her any mind. She’s wisely not breathing. She doesn’t need to anyway. If she inhales through her nose, the storm sprite blood scent will work her into a deadly frenzy. “I’ll heal your neck wound after they clear out,” she whispers.
“It burns,” I moan.
“It’s all right, honey,” a nurse says. “The doc will numb you before stitching you up.”
I’m not talking about my lady bits.
Natalia brushes my hair from my forehead. “I know. You’ll be fine. I promise.”
About thirty minutes later, I’m stitched and cleaned up. Kili’s tucked into my arms. The room is otherwise empty except for Natalia.
The door cracks open. “Is she decent?” a guy asks.
Natalia answers for me. “Come in.”
A beefy, hot guy walks into the room. Dumitru. His brown hair hangs to his chin, past chiseled cheeks.
“I need you to hold Kili,” Natalia says to him.
Dumitru holds out his hands toward me.
I pull back. “You have to swear you won’t lose it and drink my baby.”
Dumitru laughs heartily and rubs my head. “I love you, little sprite. I von’t drink your baby.”
I’m not little. At least he didn’t call me a pixie.
Natalia works the tape free from my neck as I hand Kili to Dumitru.
“Ve have to do this now. The poison is snaking farther through your bloodstream.” With the rapid speed of a vamp, Natalia opens her bag and pulls out several pints of my storm sprite blood, blood that we’ve stockpiled over the past few months. “You remember how I did this vith Killian? I have to siphon the blood that has the poison, and then I vill replace vhat vas lost.” She works at top speed, whipping around the room, connecting my blood to an IV that the nurses have hung and pulling out disposable chuck pads to absorb the blood she siphons.
I can’t even see her fingers fly.
She reclines me and puts a chuck pad under my neck. Then she hovers over me and enters her trancelike state, whispering words I can’t understand.
My head instantly spins. My words come out slurred like a drunk clurichaun. “You better ’ave ambrosia some’ere. Where you ’iding it, Dumitru?”
He never fails to bring me ambrosia—my vitality booster. Especially when I have a habit of narrowly escaping death.
He taps a plastic foam cup at the bedside table. “Milkshake. Cookies and cream.”
“Wow. ’ere did you get it?” I didn’t see him bring it in. Vamps are so sneaky.
I think I pass out. Maybe. The next thing I know, Natalia has the blood IV running and the chucks cleaned up. I’m at a slight incline. “Don’t sit all the vay up. You’ll become lightheaded. Vait until another pint goes in.”
“How much did you take out?”
“Roughly two pints.” She holds the shake’s straw to my lips, and I suck hungrily. The cold immediately fills my stomach, sending bliss throughout my core, and I groan.
Cream and sugar. Ice cream’s main ingredients. The best stuff in the world, and my one weakness.
I have to have them. It’s a storm sprite thing.
Natalia snickers. “Silly Sasha.”
I grin because Killian used to call me that.
After a few more sips, I’m on a high. “Yes. Oh, yes.” I take the cup from Natalia and suck my shake down in one minute. Brain freeze be damned. As usual, with my ambrosia, I become so relaxed that the hospital could be on fire and I wouldn’t care.
Dumitru rocks Kili near the door. “A nurse is coming. Better take down the blood, Nat.”
Natalia dashes in a blur to the blood, disconnects it, and hides all the evidence that she did a spell to siphon poison from my blood. She sits calmly in the rocker beside my bed. Dumitru steps away from the door as the nurse enters.
“Think you feel like feeding this little fella?” she asks.
My hands go over my breasts. “Now?”
“It’s best to try feeding him soon.”
I glance at Natalia. “Right.”
The nurse looks back and forth expectantly. “Do you need any help? I’ve been trained to assist new moms.”
“Uh. Nope, I’ve got this.”
“All right, then. Let me know how long he nurses or if you need assistance.” She bustles from the room.
Natalia takes Kili and shoves Dumitru out of the room. “I can’t help you vith this. I’ve never breastfed. Never had kids before I became a vampire.”
“How hard could it be?” I say.
I unsnap one side of my gown and take Kili from Natalia. She drifts to a chair in the corner to give me privacy. After a few unsuccessful latches, Kili clamps down on my nipple
.
“Oh my hellfire!” I scream.
Natalia jumps to her feet and brushes over.
“Get him off! Get him off!”
Kili has the suction of a sonic vacuum. The strength of a lion in his jaw.
Dumitru bursts through the door. “Vhat is happening?” He sees my compromising situation and looks away. “Vhat is he doing to you?”
I somehow pry Kili from my poor poor nipple. He breaks into a wail.
“Vamp strength,” I mutter. “Vamp strength. Oh, why? Why?” I didn’t think. Though not a vampire, Kili was born with his father’s stolen vamp attributes. Strength, speed, advanced hearing and smelling.
“Where’s the amulet?” I pull my gown up before Dumitru dies from embarrassment and shush Kili with a gentle bounce. “Where’d they put my belongings?”
“You’re going to use the amulet on him now?” Natalia pulls the amulet from my belongings bag. The red stone has long since been stripped of its setting and chain to make it easy to slide into my pocket.
“That’s what I’ve always planned.” Killian’s vampire powers went into Kili at the moment of conception. It was an unfortunate side effect when a supernatural had sex with a storm sprite. I didn’t know Killian would lose his powers. Without them to continually regenerate his undead body, he was doomed to desiccate slowly.
The plan was to save him by returning his powers after Kili’s birth. Kili didn’t need them.
But we never had the chance to save Killian. We hoped his body would last until his son was born, but Killian was killed before we could return his powers.
Thus my ghost.
Where is he anyway?
A familiar breeze touches my temple. Wisps of hair flutter on my forehead. There he is. “He’s cute, isn’t he?” My neck tingles. “He can’t keep your strength. There’s no way I can nurse him.” I need ice. Not for my privates, but for my chest. I’m afraid to look, but I do. “Oh yelping yetis! It’s turning purple. Kili!”
Natalia hands me a latex glove, which I put on, and lays the amulet in my palm. I can’t touch the amulet with my own skin, or I’ll take the power that’s in it.