Terraformed Skies

by Anna Lewis

  * * *

  Kai

  I was doing it again. Staring at my car keys. I don’t know how many times I picked them up and walked to my car, wanting to get to Sophia. We left without exchanging a way to get in touch with each other. If I just showed up at her coven’s house, I’d be surely slaughtered. Then I’d start an entirely new war and…well it just wasn’t smart. I sighed heavily and got up to grab a beer from my fridge. The buzzer sounded and I went to see who it was. The intercom had a little video feed so I saw who was at the door. Standing outside was Kevin, my Second. I pressed the button to let him in. He knocked on my apartment door a minute later.

  “What’s up?” I asked after answering the door. Kevin looked like he just got back from a patrol. He was in hiking pants and a t-shirt. His sandy blond hair was disheveled and hanging in his face.

  “Ah…had a weird encounter today while on a run,” he said. I offered him a beer and he took it.

  “What? A Hunter surrendered to you, rolled over and called you daddy?” I asked. Kevin cracked up.

  “You’re stupid man. No, I came across a vampire in our woods. She was completely alone and not in that leather combat crap they wear. It was midday too. She was fine in the sun,” he said. My brows furrowed and my heart rate picked up. But I was kind of afraid to hope it was Sophia looking for me…because, why would she? If she came looking for me she risked the same thing I did in going after her. Kevin took a seat in the living room while I got another beer for myself.

  “She was hot too. With the black hair and icy blue eyes. I swear she was Kate Beckinsale’s twin,” he said.

  “You and your Kate Beckinsale obsession…” I joined him on the couch. “So, what did you do?” I asked.

  “She wanted to talk. So, I shifted and she asked for you,” he said. My mouth dried up then, it was Sophia.

  “Did she give a name?” I asked.

  “No, she just wanted me to tell you to meet her on the Wildwood Trailhead. Today at five,” he said. I stared at him, I didn’t know what the hell to say. Kevin sat forward and studied my face.

  “What’s that about?” he asked.

  “Ah…I’m not sure. We were holed up together in Gifford Pinchot Forest,” I said. “She’d talked about the possibility of wolves and vamps working together to take out the Hunters,” I said. “I told her that if we made it out working together, then maybe it could be possible,” I added.

  Thankfully Kevin’s gaze cleared and he nodded in understanding. “That would be something. Vampires and Wolves working together…how did you manage to survive even though everyone else died?” he asked. I’d only given my father a brief report on what went down in that safe house and forest.

  “We worked together. We had to. We actually came up with pretty good formations and strategies to get out of the situations we were in. Of course, only two of us made it out alive because the forest was saturated with Hunters. But if our numbers were evened out we’d have decimated those bastards,” I said.

  I surreptitiously checked the time. There were three more hours left before going to meet Sophia and I could hardly wait. My muscles twitched under my skin just waiting for the hours to pass.

  “I don’t know man, I can’t see our kinds working together on a large scale,” Kevin scoffed.

  “When the situation is dire enough…you’d be surprised,” I said.

  “Do you think the Hunter war will get that bad?” he asked.

  “It already is Kev. Dad is calling a huge gathering for next week. Maybe I’ll have some shocking suggestions to put forth,” I said.

  “Ephraim would bite off one of your ears man. Do you think he’d agree to work with the vampires? If maybe this chick can convince the rest of her kind?” he asked.

  “Sophia’s the vampire princess, so I don’t think it’ll be as hard for her to reason with her kind. And I don’t think the wolves would be so hard to reason with. We’re facing more and more slaughters around Gifford Forest. The Hunters are bold, believe me,” I said.

  “I believe you,” he murmured. “So, I met the vampire princess? I didn’t even know it,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s hot, I have to admit,” he said. I had to clamp down on the growl that threatened to rip up from my chest. “Course that’s for a vampire anyway,” he added quickly. I was sure he took my scowl for disapproval at his finding a ‘vampire’ attractive.

  “She said she’d be meeting me alone?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but I can flank from a distance if you need,” he said.

  “No, I’ll be cautious. If it looks like more than just her, I’ll hightail it out of there,” I said.

  “Whatever you say, oh fearless leader,” he said. I sat back on the couch and grabbed the TV remote.

  “Wanna play Madden?” I asked. Kevin picked up the Xbox controller as his answer. The time passed quickly then. Kev kept my mind from being consumed by thoughts of Sophia. I couldn’t help but wonder how she looked, if she was all healed up, or still trying to get back to normal. I wondered if she missed me the way I missed her. Which was crazy, our affair had been short and quick, like a comet streaking through the sky. Even though I wanted her, I doubted I’d be able to have her like I did ever again. For all I knew, she really did want to speak with me about getting our kind to work together in taking out the Hunter army trying to cleanse our region.

  Whatever was her reason for seeking me out, I planned to bring up the ‘us’ thing with her. There was some part of me deep in my chest that had latched onto her and I just couldn’t shake it.

  * * *

  Sophia

  My feet were set on pacing even though I tried to keep myself in check. It was five minutes until five and I hadn’t caught whiff or heard any sign of a wolf’s presence. That wolf Kevin assured me that he’d relay my message to Kai…but how much could I trust a wolf that I didn’t know? Kevin owed me nothing. It was completely up to him whether to set a trap for me or actually give my message to Kai. The anxiety clawed up from my chest. I was stupid, I’d probably just set myself into a trap of my own doing.

  Just as I was about to turn and leave, I heard footsteps approaching me from around the bend in the trail. A few seconds later, Kai stepped into view. Odd warmth diffused through my chest and entire being. He looked just like I remembered him, yet also much more. He didn’t have the shadow of battle on him. His tanned skin was clean and his golden eyes bright.

  “Kai…” I breathed. His name was like relief on my tongue.

  “Sophia,” he said, smiling. “How are you? Are you alright?” he asked. I didn’t track his movements. All I knew was that he’d been three feet away from me, then was within a breath’s distance. I didn’t think to be cautious. I slid my fingers up along his muscular forearm and stretched up to brush my lips lightly over his.

  Kai cupped a hand under my chin and deepened the kiss. His tongue slid past my lips to caress mine. I leaned into him, absorbing his heat and letting him settle me a bit. I felt up in the air and unsure of everything since finding out about the baby. But being in his arms…he tethered me.

  “I didn’t know if looking for you would work,” I said. He let me pull back slightly.

  “I kept wanting to drive up to your coven’s house and throw pebbles at every window until I found yours…or died,” he said.

  “Don’t say that…I couldn’t bear it if you ceased to exist,” I said. Kai studied my features for a brief moment.

  “So, are you ready to head to Canada?” he joked.

  “Perhaps…” I said. I wasn’t sure how serious I was. But something had to happen.

  “Sophia, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I’m pregnant, Kai.”

  “You’re pregnant with a hybrid?” he asked.

  “Yes, ours,” I said. I was almost surprised with how well he took the news. He was staring at me intently, but I didn’t see any panic in his gaze and he wasn’t tensed to run either.

  “You’re pregnant with a hybrid…” he breathed. It
was more a statement than question that time.

  “I’m pregnant with…our child,” I gently corrected. Kai took a deep breath and then held my hands together in his.

  “You’re pregnant with our hybrid child,” he repeated. I pressed my lips together and let him take the time he needed for the news to sink in. He stared down at our joined hands for a long time.

  “We can’t stay here,” he finally said.

  “Or at least the child can’t,” I said. Kai looked up and searched my gaze.

  “The baby won’t have a pack, and he won’t have a coven. We’d be all the family he has…and we should be a family,” he said. His conviction was quiet, but fervent and there in his gaze.

  “But Kai, how can we simply disappear from our responsibilities and what we were born into?” I asked.

  “It’s easy, we just go. We find some place safe and start a new kind of life together,” he said. “What were you thinking?” he asked. His tone wasn’t accusing, simply curious.

  “I was thinking of making a place for him and having someone look after him, hidden away,” I mumbled.

  “Don’t you want to be there for your own child?” Kai squeezed my hands involuntarily.

  “In a perfect world—”

  “In a perfect world, we might never have met. But we’re here now and I say let’s raise him together.”

  “You think it’s going to be a boy?” I asked, a small smirk touching my lips.

  “I guess…I don’t know ‘he’ just keeps coming out,” Kai chuckled. “Guess I want a boy,” he added.

  “You…really want the child?” I asked slowly.

  “Yes, I do. So much of our purpose in this…excruciatingly long life is to make things better for the future, right? Well our future is that baby and I don’t want him to grow up hiding or being hunted. Who better to protect him than us? We can…build a new tiny coven pack. Who knows…maybe we can have a brood of hybrid babies,” he chuckled.

  I stared at Kai, baffled. His response was not what I guessed it would be in the slightest. He wanted his own family? He wanted more than one child? And with me?

  “You look dumbfounded,” he chuckled.

  “I am. I truly, truly am,” I said. He laughed outright and then guided me to a boulder many had used as a seat before us. The top was smoothed into the perfect bench.

  “I mean—don’t you want those things?” he asked.

  “I never thought to consider such a…life,” I said.

  “You don’t want to leave your coven,” he said. It was as if he were trying to take hold of what I wasn’t saying.

  “In such fragile times…I do worry about my kind. But this is our baby and I do…I do want a life for him,” I said. I was completely torn. The thought of turning from centuries of all that I knew was no easy thing to consider.

  “How can you be so ready to give up your pack Kai?”

  “The thought of breaking away—being a lone wolf and all—it’s tough. But I think my connection to you and the baby is quickly overpowering the ties I have to the pack,” he said.

  I couldn’t deny the bond I felt with Kai, it had latched the two of us together the moment I laid eyes on him and that was undeniable.

  “It’s scary, but Sophia I swear I’ll always have your back,” he said.

  “Okay…” I whispered. Kai tilted my chin up and he kissed me. His lips were firm with his promise. He pulled back and we glanced around at the darkened forest.

  “I had to tell my second, Kevin, that if I wasn’t back in an hour to come look for me. He was nervous about me going to meet a vampire alone in the woods.”

  “We need to speak again,” I said. A subtle rising panic at having to part from him rose in my chest.

  “We will. I have an apartment no one from the pack knows about. It’s in the city, further away from the forests,” he said. Instead of ask me, he caressed each of my jeans pockets until he found my cell phone in the back.

  “You could’ve asked for that,” I said, smiling.

  “That wouldn’t have been as fun,” he said. He put his cell phone number and address into my phone, and saved it under ‘BD’.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “Baby Daddy,” he said confidently. My laughter bubbled up out of me and he joined in with an endearing throaty laugh. “Call me when you get back and we’ll make a real date to talk further about things,” he said.

  “Okay, I will,” I told him.

  “And hey, thanks for seeking me out to tell me,” he said.

  “Of course, how could I not?” I said.

  He kissed me again and returned my phone to my back pocket. When I opened my eyes, he pulled away and slowly returned to the trees. It felt as if half my chest followed him. How I’d become so irrevocably bound to him, a wolf, was certainly beyond me.

  I drove back to the coven in a slight dream state. I couldn’t stop imagining the future with Kai and our child, and perhaps more than one child. I hoped he would be born to look just like Kai; with warm tan skin and golden eyes.

  I returned to the house just as the usual night activity was picking up. Alexis intercepted me as I was on my way to the kitchen.

  “There you are, I’d been looking for you for the better part of two hours,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, I was tending to an errand,” I said. We were in the small alcove just off the kitchen’s double door entrance. Alexis was studying my clothing with a skeptical expression.

  “What errand were you tending to before dusk?” she asked. I didn’t appreciate her tone. She seemed to be forgetting her true role while taking on my duties just a bit longer. It was certainly time to remind her of her true place while I remained head of the Portland Coven.

  “It doesn’t concern you or the coven what I do in my private free time,” I said.

  “Forgive my offense Sophia. I’m simply concerned, you’ve been…running these private errands for three days in a row now,” she said.

  “I am careful in my whereabouts Alexis. Do measure your next words carefully. I won’t tolerate needless suspicion,” I said.

  “I apologize…Sophia,” she said slowly. “But you had just come out of a tragic situation and you are pregnant. I simply believe you should be recuperating instead of constantly leaving the house,” she said.

  “I’m not some wounded victim Alexis. I am perfectly capable of making sound decisions. I am aware of my own pregnancy and I know my limits. Do not treat me any differently because of what I went through in that forest. I’ve lost battles before and I know how to recover from them,” I said. Alexis’s gray eyes turned to slate, but she glanced down.

  “I’ve had enough time ‘recuperating’ as it is. I’ll be resuming my duties as leader of this coven and I would greatly appreciate less skepticism from you,” I said, biting back a hiss.

  “Of course, Sophia,” she said in a much humbler tone. “If I may help you come up to speed in the goings on of the coven?” she asked.

  “Fine,” I said. I turned to head to my study, and she followed behind me in silence. I could feel her mind churning, thinking up explanations for my absences up explanations for my absences. For living such a long amount of time, vampires were often creatures of habit. Any action out of the ordinary certainly went noticed. Then, as history proved, any difference in a vampire’s routine—especially those sitting in positions of power—usually meant something bad or unfortunate would follow. By not even giving her an excuse as to what I could have been up to, I may have just marked myself for mistrust.

  “Many in the house are waiting for your official announcement of offspring under your Vasilek line. Or will you choose to announce the child under Damien’s name?” she said. In all my worries about the safety of my child and speaking with Kai, I’d completely forgotten about following through with the excuse of Damien being the father. Damien came from an ancient line of vampires, traceable back to one of our race’s elders. By Prime Coven law, my child would have to be
announced as the next pureblood child in either my, or Damien’s line.

  “Yes, I’ve been pondering whether to continue Damien’s Romani line. They’ve all died out with him,” I said.

  “I would continue the Vasilek line. It would be only fitting as you will lead Prime Coven after your father,” she said. “There are other ways to honor Damien. The child can have as many names as you wish to give it,” she added.

  “Hardly, I wouldn’t want to damn the child to mockery in its formative years,” I scoffed. Though I made sure to behave as I’d be expected to, I wondered what Kai would want to name our child, and whether it truly would be a boy, or turn out to be a girl. “Other than that, our house continues to run smoothly?” I said.

  “Yes, though I wanted to go over our blood bank territories. We’ve lost two to Hunter patrols. We’ll have to start going farther out in order to collect blood. That, or let our people go out looking for hikers again,” she said.

  “Certainly not. The woods are more dangerous than the blood banks. If we must send our runners farther out, then we will have to do so,” I said. Alexis nodded.

  “We’ve also been contacted by the Vancouver Coven. They’ve lost nearly all staked blood banks. They’re requesting permission to collect blood from our staked locations,” she said.

  “Permission is granted. Send them our collection schedules and request the aid of a few of their fastest runners. They should be willing to help us find blood stores free of Hunter presence,” I said. Our Washington neighbors were only fifteen minutes away, so sharing blood banks was hardly an issue. I walked over to my old mahogany desk and found the declaration of offspring documents sitting on it.

  “It will take me forever to settle on a name for him…” I murmured. My hand found my belly. Already I felt a bump between my hips.

  “Well, you have six months to come up with it,” Alexis said. I almost snorted. I didn’t know where I’d be come six months’ time. I wasn’t even certain I’d live six more months what with the Hunter’s saturating our region.