The Cool Aunt

by Ilona Andrews

  A baby cried. I looked up and saw him, red and wrinkled, smeared with some sort of goo. He had dark hair and he sounded just like a sad kitten who needed to be rescued.

  Suddenly things stopped moving. Nevada slumped on the bed.

  Connor kissed her. “You did it.”

  “Is he okay?” she asked.

  “He’s fine,” Dr. Maier told her. “A perfectly healthy boy.”

  I sagged against the wall. I was never, ever getting pregnant.

  Ever.

  #

  The room was shrouded in comforting gloom. A table lamp in the corner glowed with a soft yellow light. Nevada was asleep on the bed. I saw how much blood came out of her. I still couldn’t believe she was breathing. The first time she dozed off, I had poked her to make sure she hadn’t died.

  Connor slept in a chair. I had a feeling he also thought Nevada was going to die. As soon as she fell asleep, he passed out.

  Mom had gone home. After the baby was born, Catalina came in all bloody and glassy eyed. Mom talked to Alessandro and something bad must have happened to my other sister, because Mom decided to take her home. Poor Mom. First, Nevada gave the apocalypse birth, and then Catalina shuffled in like a zombie. This was one of the rare moments when I was the good kid.

  My nephew napped in the crib next to his mom. He was all cleaned up, and now he sort of resembled a baby. On a scale of angel to hellspawn, yeah, I had seen cuter babies. Obviously, I didn’t say anything, but I did sort of ask Mom if he would look a little less alien later. She told me to give it a week.

  A nurse came in and reached for the baby. Connor awoke. He didn’t say anything, he just opened his eyes.

  “I’ll bring him right back,” the nurse said and carried him off.

  They had been taking the baby out for different medical things, and Connor always went with them. He looked so tired.

  I got up and told him quietly, “I’ve got this one. Rest.”

  He looked about to argue, but I was already moving.

  The nurse hurried down the hallway, two of Connor’s security guys trailing her. She ducked into a room on the left, and the guards turned to follow her and stopped at the doorway, with identical blank looks on their faces.

  Oh no you don’t.

  I sped up, pulling on the blue aspect again. Three people besides the baby and the nurse… Wait a minute.

  Ha!

  I moved silently, sliding behind the catatonic guards. An older man, an older woman, a scary guy in a suit.

  My evil grandmother cradled her great grandchild. The older man next to her practically glowed with pride.

  Well, imagine that. That certainly cleared some things up.

  “What a beautiful boy,” Victoria Tremaine purred. “What a lovely, lovely boy.”

  The older man smiled.

  My evil grandmother rocked the baby. “Look, Trevor, isn’t he the most beautiful child you’ve ever seen?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He is,” the man in the suit said.

  I let them have a few more minutes and walked into the room.

  “Grandmother, Grandfather, scary guy I don’t know, I’ll take the baby now.”

  Victoria narrowed her eyes at me. I held out my arms. She sighed and passed the baby to me. He squirmed and made a cat noise.

  “Support the head,” Grandmother said.

  “I know.”

  “We will not speak of this,” my grandfather said.

  I gave him a big smile. “That will depend entirely on you.”

  I walked back to the room, cradling my nephew. He was so tiny. And kind of cute.

  “Don’t worry,” I told him softly, snuggling him closer. “I’m the cool aunt. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

  The baby looked back at me with big round eyes and farted.