by J. E Hanson
“How are you feeling, my dear? I know you had a rough five months,” Papa asks.
He receives a loving smile, “We have everything under control now. I no longer feel ill, and it has been a few days since I was last sick. My energy is finally returning.”
He pats my belly, “How is my grandchild doing? There are not enough words to express how excited I am.”
My awkward smile shifts in his direction, “Our baby is kicking the crap out of me right now. I think our baby is excited to be here tonight.”
He pecks my cheek, “Please forgive my manners. I must introduce you to your other great grandparents. This gentleman in the yellow mask is your Great-Grandfather Oberon McCloud Sr., and his lovely wife, Titania McCloud. This is your first great-granddaughter, Jeanne Hunter.”
The tension mounts in the room. I politely nod in both their directions. To top it off, they will become great-great grandparents to the baby who rests inside of me. There is no way what to speak to either of them. Titania breaks the ice, as she walks over to me. She quickly removes my mask, “She has your eyes!”
She clutches me tightly to her, and she sobs, “I have a great-grandchild! Look at how gorgeous she is!”
My great grandfather removes his mask to reveal his matching chestnut eyes. The same gentle appearance my dad used to give me, is now staring back at me. “Do I have any more great-grandparents hiding out somewhere?” I make another joke.
An older gentleman releases his baby blue mask, and he also has long crimson hair.
Papa turns me to face him, “This gentleman is the grandfather to Ember, Michael Adarian. She is also readjusting to her new family just as you are.”
Michael walks over to me, and he nods in my direction, “I have heard lots about you, Princess Jeanne. We expect many great things coming from you in the future too.”
My face flushes, but Papa distracts me, “Shall we have a dance?”
With my polite manners, it is time to excuse myself. Papa escorts me to the dance floor. We place our masks back on. He keeps me close to him, “I am very proud of you, Jeannie. How are you really feeling this evening?”
I scrutinize my new great-grandparents, “I never expected to meet more grandparents. It feels really strange to have my great-grandparents alive and kicking, but my parents are gone.”
Papa twirls me around the dance floor, “I know you are uncomfortable, but you have to give them a chance. They are such wonderful fairies. Your grandfather wants to break the ice, but he has no clue on how to approach you.”
My attention shifts to his crystal blues, “I know my mom and I were never close, but ironically, I feel more comfortable with her side versus dad’s side. It must mean I am more vampire now. Which is so odd how fairies need sun, but we are unable to go near it. I guess it shocks me that my dad married my mom in the first place.”
Papa dips me a couple times, “I will inform you that although they had a very strange relationship, they were happy together. They had a common ground of being what they were since both of them were hybrids. But, they also created a very beautiful granddaughter too.”
“I may be beautiful, but a very pregnant granddaughter too,” I glance at my stomach.
He winks at me, “I am pretty sure my next great-grandchild will be just as beautiful as you are. Now how are you truly feeling? I know you had a lot on your plate with college, being a wife, and now a soon-to-be mother.”
In a distance, my husband is giggling with his friends. Gabriel, Joey, and Christian are relaxing for a change.
“Christian is absolutely amazing. I love him very much, Papa. He is completely wonderful. He worries a lot, but he really hates worrying me. It is my belief, which there is more, than what he is willing to discuss. He must clue me in, before Ava does something else.”
“Christian wants you to focus on college and your baby. Please leave Ava to us. We will find her soon enough.”
The dance finishes, “How many more people will Ava kill—or help kill until she is caught? It worries me with what she is capable of doing next.”
“You must stop worrying, my dear! Enjoy being a newlywed and a mother soon. Leave the politics and Ava to us.”
I politely excuse myself to use the restroom. After a brief touch up, there is a need for fresh air. I walk out of the restroom, and I walk in front of the exit sign, but Ian stops me, “I am not about to let the same shit happen twice under my watch. I will go outside with you.”
Ian holds the door open for me. My abduction took place from almost a year ago to this same balcony. I glare over the side stewing on the fact that my sister remains elusive. How is she able to sneak past everyone on more than several occasions? Now Zane, Leo, and Sam stick incredibly close to me.
Sam waits patiently, “The weather is beginning to have a bite to it. Your husband is waiting for you, Princess. Let us go inside before you freeze to death.”
Leo appears relieved when I take their arms. Christian’s blood reveals to me that he is worrying about me again. He also sent out a few of his Enforcers to keep me in their vison. He continues to talk to Joey about a recent acquisition they both made together. Alexander and his girlfriend Barbie join us shortly thereafter.
Barbie stares at me with disbelief, “How are you feeling, Princess Jeannie?”
Barbie has been a lot nicer to me lately, “I am doing okay. How have things been for you?”
Barbie bites her bottom lip nervously, “After the death of my sister, things have been a little obscene lately. My sister left me all of her shares to our companies. But, I really want to kill your sister in retaliation.”
A long time ago, my stance would have been behind my sister—but now—I have my own vendetta to settle with her, “You, and me both. I would like to kill her myself, so the feeling is mutual.”
Barbie does her annoying chortle. Rosalie walks over with Ember to cut the tension between us, “We chose a name for our baby!”
Ember groans, “You will never believe what they chose to name their baby! I am not surprised, because it is a typical fairy name.”
Barbie rolls her eyes at us, returns to Alexander. I gawk at Rosalie. She has joy on her face, and she is happy with their decision, “We chose to name her Cocoa Fragaria! What do you think? Do you like it?”
She receives a makeshift surprised expression, and a fake smile. “I think it is a lovely name. How did you come up with that name?”
Rosalie seems quite pleased with herself, “I refuse to call her Chocolate Strawberries, and so, we gave her a name that goes with her scent. It is amazing, what you pay attention to in Biology. Have you and Christian chose a name yet?”
This leaves me completely dumbfounded, “I have no idea, what to name our baby yet. I guess I have spent so much time focusing on Ava. I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but we have not begun to work on names yet.”
Ember pats my belly, “You still have time. I would not even worry about it, Jeannie. It is not as if you will go into labor tonight—or any time soon.”
Someone hands me a glass of blood. My fangs slide out, “What are you naming your son?” I casually ask Ember.
She points to her husband, “We are naming our baby Gabriel, but his nickname will be Rider. I am all set to give birth to his namesake,” she points at Gabriel.
“I would think you would want to name him a different name. This whole namesake business sounds rather silly. The nickname Rider, what kind of name is that?” Rosalie shakes her head with disgust.
I flash a smile at Ember, “I would like to name our son after his father too. Which makes things easier than trying to come up with a good boy name. Furthermore, I like the nickname Rider too.” I approve of her name, and nickname for her son.
Ember points to Rosalie, “Your husband would name your baby after himself too! Talk about contradicting yourself! I love the nickname Rider too.”
In an effort to end their fight, “Please stop fighting over names tonight! We can discuss it when the
y arrive. Let’s have a great time tonight.”
Rosalie snaps her head back, “I am so sorry, Ember! I should never have commented on your name choice, but you refuse to approve mine!”
“Cocoa is a little bit unusual, but she is your baby. As long as your baby never gives off a foul scent, then I guess you never have to worry about what I think anyway. Please never comment on the name of my baby, when your name for your baby sounds off,” Ember made a valid point.
Christian notices the squabble, “Is everything okay ladies? I can hear all of you fighting. Do we need to put you ladies in your respective corners tonight?”
Gabriel joins us along with Joey, “Ember has been on a small tirade as of late. I apologize if she offends anyone.”
Ember shrugs her shoulders, “I am perfectly fine. We are having a little disagreement, when it comes to name choices for our babies.”
Gabriel lets out a small chuckle, “Ah… baby names again. Why is this topic up for debate?”
“I have insulted your wife, about her name choice. I am acting irrational, and for which, I am sorry.” Rosalie apologizes to both Gabriel and Ember.
Joey leans in, and he kisses his wife, “I believe all three of you are going through your rough moments. We expect this with your pregnancies. Try to be a little more lenient when it comes to name selections,” he pauses, and he turns to Christian, “so Chris… do you have any names yet?”
Christian and I peek at each other embarrassed, “We actually have not discussed name possibilities yet. We are too busy with security details at this point.”
Gabriel pats Chris on the back with a hard thud, “You better begin soon, buddy. Your baby can make its debut at any time.”
Chris glances at me nervously, “We will discuss names as soon as we find out the sex in a couple of days.”
Joey raises an eyebrow, “What happened to the element of surprise?”
Chris stiffens up, “Jeannie is considered high risk due to the fact of losing the last baby. Which is why she is being monitored extra closely.”
“I had no idea! Why did you forget to tell us?” Rosalie appears worried.
My attention shifts to Chris, and he is just as worried as I am, “I didn’t want to worry any of you. Our baby is fine. Dr. Li plans to perform a full anatomy scan, just to make sure our baby is still okay. I feel perfectly fine, and so far our baby is okay too.”
Ember hugs me, “I am sure your baby will be just fine. We are here, if you need our support. Can we watch your anatomy scan though?”
My lips curve upwards warmly at my new cousins, “Of course you two can see the anatomy scan. I forgot about inviting you two earlier. You will be blown away with the technology they come out with these days.”
My husband wraps his arms around my waist, and he brushes his lips over the nape of my neck. My nerves simmer down. We are getting ready to dance together, but the lights went out.
Chapter 21
We hear a loud boom, and screams of panic. Christian pulls me close to him. Someone snaps their fingers to bring the lights back on in the room. Joey and Rosalie take off their masks. They light up the room by snapping the rest of the lights on together. Gabriel wraps his arms around Ember keeping her close to him. To my horror, a large section of vampires at the east side of the room disintegrates. There are only glops of goo and tar from the dismantled vampires. The Enforcers immediately run over to see what happened. The large blank screen, which remained unlit in the center of the room, lights up again.
Ava sits behind an ebony desk. She has another sadistic grin on her face, “Try not to worry. Those vampires mean nothing to you anyway. Relax, people!”
I stand in front of the panicked crowd, yelling loudly. This stops the crowd in their tracks to see what exactly is going on. The screams die down to nothing, but whispers and murmurs. I take off my mask to face my crazy sister, “WHAT DO YOU WANT THIS TIME, AVA? YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH ALREADY!” I scream at her.
My crazy sister cackles loudly, “Oh there you are little sister. I was wondering if you would show up. Wow! I am impressed! Oh, wait! What is underneath your dress? You look like a huge beach ball, sister!”
My middle finger flips her the bird, “What do you want, Ava? I see that you are back to hurting innocent vampires again. Are you bored yet? Why not just come inside so we can end this once, and for all?”
Ava has raven hair now. The chestnut eyes she once had are dark as coal. There is no soul left, and no more love in her eyes. The person I thought who would always have my back now sits there in a tight leather suit with a huge onyx ring on her finger. Her fingernails went from the perfect French manicure to solid ebony. She taps on her chin for a minute—or two, and then she cackles mercilessly again, “It appears to me that you are still carrying that abomination in your stomach. To my darling brother-in-law, do you enjoy fucking your dinner? Is she really worth it? You can always redeem yourself, and join us. I know you still have those precious vampire tendencies inside you. Come on Chris, what do you say?”
Christian gestures for the BIB to stand around me, “I will have your fangs, Ava! I have one question for you that has everyone puzzled.”
Ava cackles evilly, “Oh… all right! I will play along with you. After all, I do owe you two another wedding present. So… what is your question?”
Christian glances at me, and back at the television screen, “How exactly did your parents die? Did you have something to do with their deaths?”
Papa flings off his mask along with my great grandparents from the fairy side. My new grandfather wants to hear what happened to his only son.
Ava slits her eyes, “Oh… all right! I guess it is time to come clean, since I am on the most wanted vampire list now. I will mention that Jeannie was supposed to be home on the night they were killed. Lucky for your darling Princess Abomination, she was at another house that night. I have sadly miscalculated her schedule. I assumed she would do what she normally does. Which is stay home, and stuff her fat face!” she cackles sadistically while pointing at me.
My fangs descend, “YOU ARE A FUCKING BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR PARENTS?”
“I told them that I have a boyfriend, who is a vampire. They seem to believe it was someone from your pathetic BIB. To their disappointment, they never seemed to approve of Julius. Which is okay, because they died with dignity. He was given permission to enter our old house for a long time. Julius is such an amazing lover. So, all of it was a set up. Daddy dearest would drop everything for you. They always seem to drop everything for you. Everything is for their sweet and precious abomination. Imagine his surprise to see my husband waiting for him, and your darling mother. Reno even helped us out. He was such an amazing man until you killed Reno. We left them for you to see. Did you enjoy it, Jeannie?” Ava finally admits to murdering my parents. My body shakes with fury, and I can no longer talk.
“You are fucking twisted! How could you do that to your own parents? Why did they deserve to die that way?” Christian speaks for me.
Ava beams with pride, “Oh wait! I have a special video of them. Here it is, in case you missed it.”
Ava plays a video. I watch my parents open the front door. Ava is off to the side playing with her nails. They never met the ‘good’ vampires. You can see my dad try to fight along with my mother, and they are panicking. Reno grabs my mom, and my dad begged them to set her free. I watch them rip my parents apart amidst their screams of agony. I can hear growls from the vampires. She showed them being ripped to shreds. Christian tries to shield me with his hand from watching the pure evil unfolding, “You need help! How could you stand there, and allow this to happen? What offenses have they committed to warrant such an evil child?” Christian is equally angry as I am.
Ava raises a finger to point at me, “I was placed in her shadow all the fucking time. Jeannie this, Jeannie that, and oh… we have to be careful of Jeannie burning, by the fucking sun. We can no longer allow silver. We have to keep her inside, and keep her safe a
t all costs. She is the fucking vampire hybrid princess after all! My childhood was put on hold, due to the fact of that abomination standing right over there! There is daddy’s little girl standing there. She is daddy’s perfect little child, who can do no wrong. She was never even allowed to play in the sun. So yes, I harbor some animosity. But, you are unable to help with whom you fall in love with! Julius Khan took an interest in me. He bought me my first car, and he even bought me our first mansion together.”
I attempt to throw her off guard, “Where exactly is that mansion at? I want to send you a housewarming gift. I will even send you an invite to my baby shower. So please… tell me where you are staying at these days. Are you in Romania?”
My sister curls her nose at me, “Why would I want to come to THAT thing’s baby shower? It is so hard to believe that you are still carrying that blasphemy! But, once again, you are a walking, and talking blasphemy.”
“You are cruel! How could you even suggest that about your own flesh and blood? You are truly a monster! Tell us where you live at now! I want to see that mansion you just described! Let us settle this once, and for all!” Rosalie shouts at her.
Ava tilts her head back, “I happen to have a perfect surprise for all of you! Wait right there for it!”
Ava quickly leaves the room, and she returns with a cream blanket, “Try to find me!”
Our deepest fear happens. We hear a baby cry from underneath the blanket. I cover my mouth. Rosalie, Ember, and I hold on to each other tightly.
Ava has a baby in her hands, “Oh be quiet you little… whatever you are! Look! I have a baby too! I wonder what I should do with this ugly little thing,” she cackles sadistically.
She takes the baby out of the blanket. To our horror, she punts it to a large crowd of rogues.
“WHAT DID THAT BABY EVER DO TO YOU?” Ember is incensed.
All the Enforcers draw their guns or swords. There are growls, and snares in the room.
“RELAX EVERYONE! It is just a fake baby from our old home economics class! You see! The baby is not a real baby!” she exclaims while she holds up a fake baby.