by R. E. Carr
“Are you sure about this, Paige?” Kyle asked as they waited awkwardly in the examination room. The ultrasound device waited patiently for the doctor to return. “I know that Reiko’s been vouched for by Billy and . . . his brother, but bringing in a specialist like this, so soon—?”
Paige nodded, rubbing her burgeoning belly. “I have to know what’s going on, and neither you nor Gail are experts on this. We can’t keep guessing, not when it’s going so fast. How’s the perimeter?”
Kyle checked his phone. “Nadia and Toy have the lobby. Sis and the Black brothers have the parking garage, and the Bloodsucker brigade is in the waiting room in case of an incident, though both of them are looking a little rough. Um, is there any reason why you have me in here instead of—?”
“Because you are a doctor and have the best chance of calling out any bullshit or detecting anything hinky,” Paige snapped. She looked away. “Also, I don’t want to explain another guy with a tail to this Matsuoka. She might be sworn to secrecy over me but explaining Jonathan is a whole other can of worms.”
“Are you sure that is what you want to avoid explaining?” Kyle asked.
Paige snarled and poked at the gauze in the crook of her elbow. The seconds ticked loudly in her burning ears, each tick seeming slower and more deliberate than the one before. Kyle gave her a slight smile. “Try to stay calm, Little Bit. Each time you change, that bun in your oven has a growth spurt.”
“Very wise words, Doctor,” a thickly accented voice said as the door finally opened. “You should listen to him, my dear volchitsa.”
Paige sniffed and immediately popped her claws. Even the usually mild-mannered Kyle snarled and moved to intercept the statuesque woman with frosted-blonde tips. “You!” They both growled.
The doctor, who would have looked far more at home standing by the side of a supervillain, raised her hands in surrender. “I come in peace, my pets—and whether you like it or not, I’m only one qualified to look after you and your cub, volchitsa. Please, let me help.”
“I need to stay calm. Kyle, can you rip this bitch’s face off?”
The Russian took a step back. A smaller woman in a lab coat and glasses rushed to intercept the snarling redhead. “Please, Dr. Antonova is here under my protection,” Reiko Nakano said desperately. “She is bound by the same laws as any other bondsman and has sworn to silence in exchange for the chance to see another live werewolf birth.”
“This woman locked us in cages. She was going to break me, and she experimented on Paige—” Kyle snapped.
“And my experiments clearly worked!” Dr. Antonova exclaimed with glee. “My family struggled for centuries to combat lycanthrope infertility. My formula worked in less than year.”
“You did this to Paige,” Kyle snarled as he took another menacing step. Dr. Antonova raised a brow.
“I am good, but not that good. I suspect that some big, strapping male like you is responsible,” Dr. Antonova replied. She looked over to Paige. “Now listen, I have devoted my life to studying your kind, and want nothing more than to see chubby little werewolf babies—healthy little werewolf babies. We may have started off on wrong foot, but for now, we all want same thing.”
“I don’t trust you,” Paige growled, the hair growing thicker on her arms.
“I was told you were given my notes. Even if you don’t trust me, you have seen my research. You should know that I know exactly what I am doing,” the doctor replied. Dr. Nakano nodded in agreement before nudging her. “You have sheriff’s whipping boy out there. I have heard what he can do. If you think I’m insincere, he can wipe my memory of ever being here. At least let me have chance to make sure little one is alright. I am sworn in service of Lung family, and Lung want you and your baby to live.”
Paige looked over to Kyle. “You read her stuff. Is she full of it or telling the truth?”
Kyle bared his fangs but then nodded his head reluctantly. “I hate to admit it, but she is an expert. However, if you want me to keep studying her notes—”
“You can study all you want, Red, but I have dedicated my life to this. My father delivered only werewolf live birth . . . and birth of Dr. Nakano’s infected son. I was his assistant, and he trained me for over twenty years. Can you beat my qualifications?”
Paige stared at the brute of a woman. She half-smiled at the scars still plainly visible across Dr. Antonova’s face. “What did you do to me?”
“Hormone therapy. I was attempting to stimulate estrus cycle in you and eventually planned to mate you off, preferably to werewolf, if I could find one that wasn’t sterile. We had to use particularly virile Russian men for our previous experiments. Clearly you found someone who fit the bill.”
“Zenya, could we move this along?” Dr. Nakano asked. “I know you have the cover, but—”
“Yes, you aren’t exactly popular with your family, are you, Reiko? Your husband must be upset with your refusal to come home.”
“Your concern moves me,” Dr. Nakano replied flatly. “Now recite the oath and get on with this.”
“I promise to say nothing about what I see or hear in this room,” she began, rolling her eyes as Paige, Reiko, and Kyle stared expectantly at her. “Nor will I document any of my findings, save for my own personal use. I swear, I am only here to help, and if I betray you, I know I am at the mercy of both sheriff and a pack of angry werewolves. Are we all satisfied?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Paige said as she settled back on the exam table. She growled as the Russian doctor pushed up her sleeves and slid on some gloves, bristling involuntarily as Antonova approached again. Paige then looked at the other two doctors in the room.
“I have to touch you to examine you,” Antonova said flatly. “Red was right, you know. Every time you change, or even get stressed enough to partially transform, your body sends potent cocktail of growth hormones to your fetus. If you accelerate pregnancy too much, it will put strain on baby’s heart and could easily kill it. Now, do you want that?”
“No,” Paige acquiesced. She shifted on the table and waved Kyle away. “Just do what you have to do, doc. Kyle, eyes up here, if you wouldn’t mind. This is awkward enough.”
Kyle settled down next to her, taking on more of the role of a concerned friend rather than a doctor for a change. Paige squeezed his hand. After a few uncomfortable moments, the Russian emerged from below and gave a thumbs-up. “Well, at least first glance looks good! Reiko, I’m sure that you’ve already stolen and rerouted bloodwork for me.”
“It’s already been directed to our people. They will give the results to me and me alone,” Dr. Nakano said. She turned to Paige and gave a reassuring nod. “Disobedience in matters of privacy is punishable by death to the Matsuoka. Your secrets will be safe, and we should have results within forty-eight hours.”
“How. . . comforting,” Paige muttered. She grimaced through poking and prodding and a particularly excruciating palpitation of her boobs. Finally, Dr. Antonova turned on the ultrasound machine and adjusted Paige’s robe and gown so that her belly was exposed. Paige gulped just a little bit and shivered as the cold gel touched her tummy. She squeezed Kyle’s hand again. He gulped as well as the machine flickered to life and a pulsating rhythm echoed throughout the room.
Paige’s own heart skipped a beat as she heard that steady sound. “Is that . . .?” she whispered.
“Mmm, this baby has good, strong heartbeat,” Dr. Antonova said. Her smile tightened as a bit of feedback followed the thump of the baby’s heart. Paige paled as she recognized the secondary, all-too-familiar whooshing noise.
“No,” she mouthed as the ultrasound flickered to life. Tears welled in her eyes as she saw the unmistakable outline of a baby, surrounded by an alien shadow. “Oh my god, what is that?”
Dr. Nakano paled slightly. “It’s an immature vampire, Paige,” she said as calmly as possible. “And it’s already integrated with the placenta.”
Paige remained remarkably calm, even as she gripped the
railing to her examination bed with white knuckles. She locked her eyes on the shadow. “What exactly does that mean?”
The two women doctors conferred in a flurry of Russian and Japanese. Kyle squinted and stared at the tendrils extending from the shadow into the central mass of the baby. Dr. Antonova moved the ultrasound baton slightly and the shadow shifted to show a perfectly formed little fetus. “Hey, he doesn’t have a tail,” Kyle noted helpfully as the baby shifted.
“He?” Paige asked, struggling to read the grainy image. “Was that a generic pronoun or—?”
Dr. Antonova pointed to the screen. “No, that is definitely teeny little winky. I already counted ten fingers and toes. Did you know you were impregnated by vampire as well? This is scientific finding of millennium!”
“Zenya!” Dr. Nakano barked. “You can’t just—”
“Just what? Tell me what the hell is going on inside my own body?” Paige snarled. “Go ahead, tell me. Tell me what is happening with me and my . . . my son. Wow, that is weird to say. Just spit it out!”
Dr. Nakano stepped forwards first. “Vampire larvae normally move right to the central nervous system and kill their human host. In rare cases, when the host is too strong, or the vampire is too weak, it will try to recover in the abdominal cavity until either it can attempt another takeover or it dies.”
Dr. Antonova moved the wand around again. She pointed at a darkened spiral of veins. “This one has deformity of central cilia. You can see it clearly here. Reiko, this vampire has already atrophied—”
Dr. Nakano shook her head. “That isn’t atrophy, Zenya.” She turned back to Paige. “Pregnant women taste terrible to vampires, so usually they aren’t feeding targets. In the rare case when a vampire gets over their distaste and tries to turn one, it results in a miscarriage over ninety-nine percent of the time. We are looking at the one percent where an infant vampire is in the process of integrating in a human fetus. You’re feeding both of them, Paige.”
“But will the vampire kill him?” Paige asked.
“I don’t think so,” Dr. Nakano replied. “The vampire wants to survive, same as you and same as your baby. The only other times this happened, an Undying was the result—either with Ivan . . . or with my son.”
“He’s going to be born a vampire?” Paige asked.
“And a werewolf, most likely. The virus is easily transmitted through the placental barrier.”
“What would happen if we tried to separate the vampire from Paige and the baby?” Kyle asked.
“Why would you want to do that?” Dr. Antonova countered.
Paige continued to stare at the screen, tears welling in her eyes. “Just tell me the risks, for everything.”
She listened to long descriptions and heated arguments about potential side effects and developmental concerns. Eventually, it all boiled down to noise and confusion as Paige listened to the steady beating of one tiny heart.
“—vampire is doing everything in its power to keep your son alive, volchitsa. It is probably why you haven’t miscarried through multiple changes. It is really remarkable.”
Paige turned to Dr. Nakano. “And your son . . . was a vampire . . . and then turned into a vampire?” she asked weakly.
“The vampire in Ren died when he was two years old. His father was an Undying, so everything started strange, but other than our family’s condition, Ren was a normal, healthy little boy.”
“But this isn’t the same. Ren’s father was already an Undying—” Kyle interjected.
“I know this, but I studied my brother-in-law as well,” Dr. Nakano said with a sigh. “He was a case when a pregnant vampire bit a pregnant woman. Other than his superior strength and extended lifespan, he turned out rather normal as well.”
“Other than being a traitor who tried to get us all killed in Chicago,” Kyle grumbled.
“You are werewolves. Everyone wants to kill you by default,” Dr. Antonova noted. “Except for me. I’ve always been more of dog person.”
“What do I need to do?” Paige asked, lost in thought.
“You need to let us run more tests. I’m guessing by your pallor that you are anemic—probably due to the extra parasite in your system. I’m going to recommend diet and supplements as soon as I’ve seen your bloodwork. Also, we need to prepare for your next change and try to control it as much as possible.”
“Wait, I thought changes were bad,” Paige said. “You literally just said—”
“Changes are bad, but they are also inevitable with level of hormones in your system. The baby can survive four, possibly five with its extra parasitic protection. Last—and only successful—werewolf was born at four-and-a-half months after three changes. Also, her mother changed during labor. We had to knock her out, so she didn’t kill everyone. These are things we must plan for!” Dr. Antonova pulled the wand away. She motioned dismissively to Paige. “Get dressed and cleaned up. We will need time to look at your numbers. Everyone out. Let the woman get dressed.”
Paige got back into her clothes in a daze. She looked down at her stomach. “Well, at least I know you are a boy baby vampire-werewolf, right?”
She saw a flicker of green out of the corner of her vision. She swayed slightly as she saw a familiar face in the now darkened screen. “Lorcan, what did you do to me?” she asked softly.
She peeked around the door and motioned to the furiously whispering trio of doctors. Kyle reentered the room and put his arm around her as they sat together on the bed. Her tail kept whacking him in the thigh, but for the moment, he seemed oblivious to it.
“Despite all logic and reason, you are in pretty good health, volchitsa,” Dr. Antonova said as she looked at Paige. “You need more iron in your diet. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start craving blood.”
Paige looked away. Dr. Antonova pulled out a tiny notebook from her pocket and scribbled furiously. “Yes, yes, prescriptions will have to be made. Reiko, you can make arrangements, yes? Oh, I think you can get this all over the counter here. Hmm . . . Red, you need to monitor her hormone levels, and we have to keep her as calm as possible for about one more month, then we can instigate change—”
Paige ended up with a scribbled list of recommended foods and supplements. Kyle drove her to a drug store, and then to get something called a Crossfit Power Bowl from a local health food restaurant before he finally dropped her off at the little townhouse she shared with her mom.
“You OK, Paige?” he asked as they both sniffed the mountain of quinoa and turkey in her bowl. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“What am I supposed to say? As weird as it sounds, nothing that the Russian bitch said surprised me. It’s like I knew that . . . that I had a vampire inside me, so what can I do? I’m going to have a little baby bloodsucker and that’s that. I’m just relieved that he’s OK, and alive, and doesn’t have a tail. It’s amazing, the perspective I’ve developed.”
“Paige—”
“We need to know what Antonova is up to. Promise or no promise, I don’t trust her. Can you and the pack follow her or—”
“Toy is already tailing her.”
“Of course, she is,” Paige said softly, fiddling with the lock. She glanced back at Kyle. “Um, I’m just going to get a shower.”
“Do you want me to stick around?”
“I’m OK.”
“I don’t like your being alone. I can get Nads—”
“I’m not gonna be alone,” she said sheepishly. “Jonathan is stopping by once Nadia is back at the restaurant to look after mom.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. “Well, at least I’ll stay till he gets here. Doctor’s orders.”
“Yes, doc,” Paige sighed. She chucked her food on the table and waved towards the refrigerator. “Beer’s in the fridge, help yourself.”
Just as she was getting out of the shower, she heard the door slam. She struggled into one of the guys’ T-shirts and a wraparound skirt before she fluffed her tangle of damp curls. “I look like a balloon,” she moaned as she tri
ed to at least slightly de-emphasize her belly.
“Little Bit, J.D. is here!” Kyle called from the front of the house.
“Ugh, why am I making such a fuss?” she groaned. One more twirl of a curl and she finally emerged.
“Hey!” Jonathan said as he hovered around her coffee table. “I didn’t know you had company. Should I get pizza for him too?”
“No, I was just heading out,” Kyle said quickly. “As for you, Little Bit, make sure to eat your kale, and take your vitamins before pizza.”
Paige rolled her eyes but gave him a hug as she led him to the door. “Thanks, Dad,” she sighed.
“Behave, you two,” Kyle said cheerfully, before he slipped out the door. Jonathan raised a brow. Paige crossed her arms as she felt the full weight of his bemused stare.
“What is that look for?”
“Wow, Big Red totally has a thing for you, doesn’t he?”
“We’re just friends,” she reassured him.
“Um, does he know that?” Jonathan asked with a little laugh. He placed a heavenly smelling paper bag next to her evil power bowl. The heady aroma of peanut butter made her salivate.
“You jealous?” she asked as she settled on the overstuffed pleather sofa they had inherited from one of Maria’s buddies. She shoved a cookie in her mouth before she finally submitted to eating her health food. Paige shuddered and made a terrible face as a slimy green bite slithered down her throat. “Oh god, that was unexpected avocado.”
“Pizza?” he offered.
“Considering I need to eat a metric ton of food every hour on the hour . . . pizza sounds amazing.”
Jonathan smiled broadly. His glistening fangs almost sparkled as much as his eyes. He took care of placing an order on his phone and grinned even wider as he showed the little timer promising delivery within a half-hour.
“So, you want to choke down more of that before I put on a movie? Looks like you guys got a pretty damn good TV. Bernard says it spies on you, so I fell asleep to the lovely sounds of him snoring and the lovebirds rocking the next trailer over. I never pegged big, buff Sam as a screamer, but by golly, he is.”