by Lane Hart
"Well, I guess we should head on over there? You think they're home?" I ask my parents.
My mom glances at the clock on the wall. "Oh yeah. They should both be home by now."
"Okay. Well, we're going to be in town a few days," I tell them. "And if it's okay with Chase and Conner, we want to get married in the garden."
My parents look surprised, glancing over to Jason then back to me, and more specifically my stomach.
"What's the rush? You're not pregnant are you?" my mom asks with a smile.
"Actually, I am."
"What?" my dad exclaims.
"We're not getting married because she's pregnant, I promise you that. That was the plan before we decided to get pregnant. We just had to wait until we could get back here," Jason explains.
"Uh-huh," my dad mutters, unconvinced.
"That's the truth. We got pregnant with in vitro."
"Seriously?" my mom asks.
"Yes. This was our decision, not an accident," I explain.
"I'm sorry the marriage didn't come first, but our daughter will never know the order," Jason assures them.
"Daughter? You already know you're having a girl?" my dad asks, even more shocked.
"Yes."
"Wow. This is a lot of news to take in," he says rubbing a hand over his face.
"Sorry to drop everything on you, and sorry it took so long to let you know what's been going on," I apologize, as I stand up to leave.
"So it was good to meet you Jason. Take care of our little girl. Nice meeting you Joselin and Tom," my dad says, and my mom hugs me before we make our way to the door.
"If Jason survives Conner and Chase let us know when the big day is," my mom teases.
"Oh, they'll be fine. I'm twenty-five years old but the two treat me like I'm still a crazy teenager."
"You were a crazy teenager?" Jason asks with a grin.
"Ah, let's not go there. Come on," I say, grabbing his hand to lead him back to the SUV.
After we all climb in and buckle up I give Tom directions on how to get to my grandma's old house.
"So that went well," Jason says, giving me a quick kiss.
"Yeah. My parents are…well, they worked all the time when we were little and we hardly ever saw them. My grandma raised us, and we basically lived with her most of the time."
A few minutes later we pull up in the driveway and we’re ready to face the firing squad that is also known as my brothers.
"Don't let them get to you okay? Just remember how you were with your sister with Tom," I tell Jason.
"I'm as cool as a cucumber," he jokes.
"Right," I say, knocking on their front door. The door suddenly lurches open under my knuckles.
"Cyn! Where the fuck have you been?" Conner, my oldest brother yells, picking me up in a bear hug. He carries me down the hall to the kitchen where Chase is standing cooking…who knows what. "Chase, look who it is!" he starts to toss me to my younger older brother.
"Go easy, damn it! I’m pregnant!" I yell before I leave his arms.
"What the fuck?" Chase exclaims. Then he looks behind me. "Is that the asshole that knocked you up?" he asks. After Conner sits me down carefully on my feet, they both advance on Jason before I can respond.
"Oh no," I groan. My brothers are both big guys, naturally around six-two and two hundred pounds, but ever since they became firemen they've bulked even more. Now they’re making a meat-head sandwich out of my boyfriend.
"Guys stop!" I yell, but of course they ignore me.
"You stupid motherfucker. What the hell is wrong with you?" Conner asks right in Jason's face. Jason's smirk isn't helping.
"You want the list because it's a long one?" Jason asks. "But the list of what's right is much shorter. I love your sister and we decided to get married before she had in vitro to get pregnant. Sorry the order got screwed up but that was our decision, and I didn't want to marry her without her family's permission and presence."
"Is that true?" Chase asks me from behind Jason's back.
"Yes, now get away from him."
"I think it's hilarious. Jason deserves some payback. He threatened to kill me when he found out I was seeing his sister. And he probably would have if his sister hadn't made him promise not to," Tom laughs from the sidelines. "How many times did you punch me in the face?"
"I lost count, but it still wasn't nearly as many times as you deserved," Jason responds with a smile. "He knocked up my sister while he was still married to another woman, and didn't mention that little detail to my sister," Jason explains to my brothers.
"Holy shit. That's bad," Chase says.
Jason offers his hand to Conner even though he’s only inches from his chest. "I'm Jason Maddox. Are you Connor or Chase?" he asks.
"Conner," he responds and reluctantly shakes his hand.
Jason turns around to the man almost pressed against his back. "Chase?" he asks, and my other brother nods before shaking his outstretched hand.
"These are our friends Tom and Joselin," I introduce them and my brothers nod in their direction, but don't step away from Jason. "Jason was a police officer for like eighteen years, and that’s how we met. He's a good guy, and uh, he helped me get away from my abusive ex."
"Abusive ex?" Conner asks at the same time Chase asks, "Eighteen years?"
"Yes, Mitch hit me and treated me like shit, but I couldn't get away from him. Not until Jason responded to a fight our neighbor heard."
"I will kill that son of a bitch," Connor mutters.
"Oh, I didn't kick his ass that day, but I finally got my chance. Knocked the bastard out cold," Jason tells them, and Chase smiles.
"Hell yes."
"From what Cyn said, he had inadequacy issues," Jason laughs. "I hate I never got to call him on that shit."
"You call her Cyn too?" Connor asks.
"Since the first day we met. I told him he reminded me of you guys since you're the only ones that've ever called me that."
"You might be okay," Chase admits. "But why do you look familiar, and how the hell have you been a police officer for eighteen years when you don't look much older than that?"
Jason glances over at me, silently asking what he should or shouldn't say. I trust my brothers, so I nod. He can tell them however much he wants.
"I'm forty," Jason admits.
"You're forty what?" Connor asks.
"Years old, Connor," I tell him with a sigh.
"No fucking way," Chase says.
"I haven't aged in about twenty years," he tells them, moving out from between them to stand beside me as they stand frozen thinking that over.
"Why the hell not?" Connor asks.
"Because I'm a warlock who’s wanted by the D.R.A., and I used a spell to prevent death and aging," he says leaning over to kiss my cheek.
I look around Jason to my brothers who've both paled even lighter than their usual ginger shades, and look like they were going to pass out. "You guys okay?" I ask.
"No. No, we're not okay. Are you out of your fucking mind? They'll kill you, Cyn," Connor says as he collapses down in a kitchen chair. Chase sits at the other end.
"If everything goes as planned there won't be any 'they' left in a few weeks," Jason tells them.
"You…you've been blowing the offices up?" Connor squeaks out the question.
"I've been with the guys doing that, but no, I didn't plant the bombs."
"There's a reward for you. Like $50,000 or some shit," Connor tells him.
"Damn, I'm worth $50,000? That's awesome," Jason jokes, but it only concerns me more because they’re so desperate to find him.
"Wait," Chase says. "Are you…is your baby going be one of them?" he asks. He is the smarter of the two.
"Yes," I admit, not bothering to explain it’s actually a different warlock's baby.
"Oh shit!" Connor exclaims and lays his head down on his folded arms.
"So guys, the reason we're here is to ask to use the garden to get married this wee
k," I tell them.
"Could you give us a fucking minute to digest the fact that you're pregnant, by a warlock, who's wanted for taking out a federal agency first?" Chase asks.
"Fine but the longer we're in town the more likely it is someone will notice us and report us," I say, then smile. "But that's why we brought Tom and Joselin. They're both vampires."
Both men scramble out of their chairs to face the innocuous looking couple.
"Holy hell…why do you look familiar?" Chase asks Tom.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I used to be a D.R.A. agent until my daughter, who's a witch, outed us and convinced me to help her vampire boyfriend escape D.R.A. custody by blowing up their truck and killing agents. Then they posted our pictures on TV for weeks. You remember any of that?"
"Yeah, yeah. I think that's it," Chase responds with a nod, and a gulp.
"So, what have you two been up to?" I ask after a few minutes of silence.
"Nothing even close to the shit you're in."
Jason's phone dings and he pulls it out of his pocket, then smiles. "L.A. office just got leveled. Thirteen more to go."
"Did they call in the bomb threat this time?" I ask.
"Sebastian said they did. Huh. He also said, 'Save two lives with one spell. Remember, even unborn witches can't be turned.''"
"Turned into what?" I ask.
"A vampire," Joselin responds sadly, looking at Tom. "Witches and warlocks can't be turned into vampires."
"What does that mean? The babies?" I ask, and Jason shrugs.
Chase heads for the living room, I’m sure to watch the TV for breaking news, while we try to figure out what Sebastian meant. I turn the oven off before they forget it, and then we all follow him.
After a few minutes, the headline comes across CNN.
"Holy shit," Connor mutters.
"Bathroom?" Joselin asks urgently while covering her mouth.
"Second door on the right," I tell her, pointing down the hall. She immediately runs that way.
Chase looks at me curiously with a raised eyebrow.
"She's pregnant too. With twins," I told him.
"Vampires can have babies?" he asks.
"Ah, no. She's pregnant with witches."
"This is all too fucking strange Cyn," Chase says with a shake of his head.
I laugh. "You have no idea. We have a big happy family down in Mexico with a mix of vampires and warlocks. Three of us are pregnant with witches, since they're almost extinct."
"Extinct?" Chase asks, while Connor sits in silence.
"Yeah. Right now there are only two left that they know about, and only one can conceive. Since witches are the only ones who can give birth to witches…"
"So you're…you're not even the mother of the baby you're pregnant with?" he asks.
"Nope, and Jason's not the biological father, but she's ours."
"That is…this is bizarre Cyn. If I hadn't seen it on TV I'd swear you're making all this shit up," Conner tells me.
"Yeah, sometimes I wonder if it's real or just a crazy dream," I reply. "So, ah, we're going to head on to our hotel and get some rest. See you both tomorrow afternoon?" I ask.
"Yeah. And of course you can get married in Grandma's garden," Chase says with a smile and a hug.
"Thanks," I tell him, then hug Conner who’s still quiet as he tries to wrap his head around everything.
...
Jason
"I like your brothers," I tell Cyn when we settle into our cozy hotel room.
"Really? Even though they said all that shit to you and threatened to kick your ass?" she asks with a beautiful smile as she sits on the edge of the bed. She looks exhausted, but no less gorgeous.
I go stand in front of her, running my hands through her soft red hair "Yeah. It just shows how much they love you," I tell her, before lifting her chin so I can kiss her lips. "Are you too tired for me to make love to you?" I ask. She shakes her head before pulling her shirt off, then reaching for mine which I quickly remove. Pushing her back down onto the bed I climb on top of her and look into her beautiful emerald eyes.
"I love you, Cyn," I tell her. “So damn much.”
"I love you too, Jason."
Even though we've done it so many times before, making love to her has never felt so good. In a few days she’s going to be my wife, and in a few months we’ll have a daughter. After forty years of loneliness, I’m finally happy for the first time in my life. When my mom and sister were alive I’d spent those years looking for what was missing. A piece of me. An important part of my soul. Now that I’ve found her, I have everything I’ve ever wanted or needed.
...
Cyn
Joselin and I are working in the back yard of my grandmother's house, decorating the white gazebo where Jason and I are going to get married tomorrow.
"This is going to beautiful," Joselin says as I grab the white lacy gauze and start winding it around the wires.
"Yeah it is," I agree. "Shoot, I left the scissors inside."
"I'll get them. Kitchen counter?" she asks. I nod as I finish the first side.
I’m admiring our work and imagining how perfect everything is going to be when a hand slaps over my mouth.
"Keep your mouth shut. I knew you would show up here eventually. You're only way out alive is to leave with me right now," the voice of the man I despise says into my ear. I would’ve known it was him just by the smell of alcohol on his breath.
I shake my head to tell him I’m not going anywhere with him.
"They're coming for them, and no one is going to come out of that house alive," he says. I couldn't breathe as the panic takes over. My brothers, Jason, Joselin and Tom are all inside. I elbow Mitch in the stomach making him move his hand from my mouth.
"Jason!" I scream at the top of my lungs. But it’s too late. Police cars are suddenly screeching to a halt on the street in front of the house, and the one behind the house. A second later there’s gun fire. "No!" I scream as I keep fighting him. When I finally break free I run for the house. I smack into Jason's chest just as I reach the door. His arms go around me as I sob. "We have to go!" I tell him.
"We can't," he says grimly. "We're going to have to take them out before we can leave."
"Oh God," I whisper as fire blazes through my upper back, taking my breath.
"Cyn? No, no, no!" Jason says as he pulls me into the house and eases me down on the floor. There’s blood splattered all over the front of his shirt.
"You're hurt," I say as I try to reach for him, but I can't make my arm move.
"Joselin! Tom! Cyn needs blood now!" he screams. I don't understand, since he’s the one bleeding.
Tom appears with a gun in hand, firing it out the back door before kneeling on the floor in front of us. "Oh no," he mutters. "I can give her my blood, but as much as she needs it might turn her."
"I don’t care! Just give it to her!" Jason yells.
"The baby," Tom says. "I don't know if she'll survive."
"She's going to die if you don't!"
"She might not, and you might be able save her and the baby if you do the spell. Sebastian said save two with one spell, and witches can't be turned. This is what he meant!"
I’m trying to follow the conversation but it isn't making sense, and I’m so exhausted I can't stay awake.
My eyes close and the next time I open them Jason’s above me, tears streaking down his face.
"Cyn, I love you and I can't lose you. Please just do this for me. For the baby."
"I don't understand," I tell him.
"You…you've got to take his life to save both of yours."
"What?" I ask, so weary, and confused.
"I'd do it for you if I could but I can't. Baby, please. Do it for me and for our daughter," Jason begs as he puts a vial of red liquid in my hand and covers it with his. "We don't have much time. Please Cyn!"
I look over and see Mitch unconscious beside me and finally understand. I’m dying and he’s the o
nly way to stop it. Glancing back up at Jason, all the hurt and pain in his eyes as he begs me to stay with him breaks my heart. It’s unfair that he's had so much loss in his life, first his mom, then his sister. I'd do anything for him. And our daughter.
Closing my eyes and with Jason's help, I tip the vial, spilling it onto the man beside me and praying fate wouldn't be so cruel as to take me from Jason too.
…
The next time I open my eyes I’m sitting in the sand watching a beautiful sunrise. It’s a dream, I’m pretty sure, but it’s a nice, peaceful one.
"This is my favorite place," a woman I hadn't noticed says from beside me. She looks familiar. She’s young and beautiful, with long, dark auburn hair, a stunning smile, and gorgeous teal eyes. She looks like Kate.
"She does take after me, which is probably a blessing and a curse to Jason and Tom," she says, and her smile slips. "I'm Elizabeth, her mother and the grandmother of your daughter. Jason's twin sister."
"He misses you, and your mom," I tell her.
She nods and looks out into the ocean. "I know. I should've told him what was going to happen, but I was afraid he'd try to save me."
"You didn't want to have to kill someone else to live?"
"I didn't want to have the choice, because I would’ve likely given in for a chance to stay with my daughter."
"Did I make the wrong choice?" I ask her.
"No! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to imply that you did. In your situation I would have made the same decision. The cruel man, Mitch? He was mortally wounded by gunfire and wouldn't have survived anyway. You only expedited an ending to his suffering, and in exchange saved yourself and my granddaughter. My circumstances were entirely different."
"So I'm going to make it? And the baby?" I ask.
"Yes, thankfully. Jason couldn't have handled your loss, and he shouldn't have to. After all this time, all his suffering, he deserves a happy ending with you."
"So this is all just a dream?"
"My granddaughters’ strength helps me cross over into dreams. Yours, Kate's, and now Joselin's while you're all carrying them. Madison's always, and soon three more little girls. It's nice to be a part of my family's life in some way. To know Kate and Tom are okay, and now Jason," she says with a smile.