by A C Warneke
“Now if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I have to coax my reluctant vampire out.” Heaving a sigh, he shook his head in mock commiseration, “If you must know, she’s not a fan of Breeders.”
Not knowing what else to do, Malorie wandered around the small room and tried to calm her racing heart. Maybe Jiro would make a mistake and she’d be able to escape… or not. A mile of rock was pretty hard to overcome. Squeezing her eyes shut, she concentrated on Feryn, trying to contact him through ESP, or whatever it was that bound them. Of course, they had never talked via telepathy before and she wasn’t quite sure how his awareness of her worked.
“I don’t want to go near her,” a woman whined from the hall where Jiro had disappeared moments before. “Her light burns my eyes.”
Spinning around, Malorie gasped as she watched Jiro dragging Ginny towards her. She hadn’t gone home like Malorie had assumed; she had become a fucking vampire! “Ginny!”
The redhead struggled against Jiro and was actually making some progress, at least more than Malorie had made. But then Ginny had vampire strength. In the end, it didn’t really matter as Jiro maneuvered the girl’s body into the position he wanted. Her back was to his front, her head was tilted to the side and his mouth was against her throat.
With dark humor, he looked up and met Malorie’s eyes, “You know? I thought I would have gotten more of a rush from creating vamps but it was a serious let down.”
“I hope you suffer with each loss,” Malorie growled, wanting to rip the smile from his lips. Inching closer, she wondered if she would be fast enough to tear the girl from his grasp, though the only way to save Ginny was to let the vampire drink her blood.
He shrugged his broad shoulders, a hint of wistfulness in his smirk as he said, “If this works, the pain will be worth it. All of it will be worth it.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m desperate,” he returned, giving her the briefest glimpse of desolation in his silver-green eyes. Without another word, he sank his teeth into Ginny’s neck and drank deeply.
Ginny’s eyes rolled back and her expression was one of pure bliss. Her lips parted as a small moan came from the back of her throat and Malorie could no longer watch. Putting a protective hand over her stomach, over the small life nestled within, she turned her back to the sickening spectacle. Unfortunately, she couldn’t block out the sound of Jiro drinking the vampire’s blood, the sound of heavy panting and pleasure, of her own doom.
A soft thud made her spin around. Ginny was lying on the ground in a boneless heap, a languid grin curving her lips. Other than being absurdly pale, Ginny didn’t look like most of the other vampires Malorie had seen. Of course, she couldn’t be more than a few weeks old so maybe that was the reason why. Despite the revulsion and doubts, Malorie knew she was going to let Ginny drink her blood because she wanted to save one of the few friends she had.
Jiro wiped his mouth off with the back of his arm, a dangerous light in his eyes as he watched Malorie rather than Ginny. “The moment she turns, I’m claiming her.”
“I’ll never forgive you,” Malorie seethed. She understood his desire for a Breeder but why did he have to go insane in his quest to get one? Had she driven him to this madness by being at the Aradian compound? He had to watch every day as Feryn’s child grew in her womb, just as he had watched five hundred years ago as Varick grew in another woman’s belly. She wondered if he was the Aradian who had lost his child during the Breeder massacre that had claimed Varick’s mother.
“It’s not your forgiveness I want,” he laughed cruelly. Holding out his hand without taking his eyes from Malorie, he murmured, “It’s time, Ginny.”
Slender fingers slipped into his large palm and he pulled the stunning redhead to her feet. Ginny buried her face against Jiro’s shoulder and violently shook as she tried to avoid her fate. In the end, Jiro scooped her up into his strong arms and hauled her over to Malorie. Setting her on her feet, he glared, “Drink.”
“It hurts to look at her,” Ginny-vampire whined, keeping her face pressed against Jiro’s chest.
He grabbed her beneath the chin and turned her face towards Malorie and growled, “You don’t have to look at her. Just keep your eyes closed.”
“It’s alright, Ginny,” Malorie said softly, brushing Ginny’s silky hair away from the girl’s face. Tears slid down Ginny’s cheeks as Malorie offered a tremulous smile, “It’ll only hurt for a moment.”
A shudder wracked the girl’s frame but she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, which Malorie thought was funny since vampires were dead. Ginny finally opened her eyes and sucked in another useless breath. Her brows pulled together as she recognized Malorie. Reaching out a hand but not quite touching Malorie’s face, she gasped, “I remember you. You were the girl who glowed.”
“That’s right,” Malorie nodded, encouraging the girl to remember that they had been friends of sorts once upon a time. Now she was a vampire, mindlessly devoted to her creator.
“I don’t want to bite you.”
“I know.” Tilting her head to the side, Malorie closed her eyes and swallowed thickly, “It’s okay.”
Slowly, Ginny put her mouth against Malorie’s neck and Malorie had to fight the urge to pull away. As Jiro had once said, it shouldn’t take as much blood as Jack drank to create a Breeder. Jack had been trying to make Malorie a vampire so he had to drink so much more. The swipe of a cool tongue sent shivers of revulsion down Malorie’s spine but she stood still and waited. A slight pinch followed by a sharper pain and Malorie winced as Ginny finally bit her. She held Jiro’s gaze, wanting him to know what he was doing to her.
“Drink until it no longer burns,” Jiro rasped, his eyes lit with zealous excitement as he grinned.
With a whimper, Ginny drew Malorie’s blood into her mouth. Glaring at Jiro, Malorie sneered, “I hope you suffer horribly for doing this to Ginny.”
“Ah, my sweet,” he crooned, stepping forward and running his finger lightly along Malorie’s cheek. “She has nowhere else to go and this is the best thing that could have happened to her.”
“I think being able to stay human would have been even better,” Malorie refuted.
Shrugging his shoulders, he grunted, “Worst case scenario, she becomes human instead of a Breeder but that’s not likely considering your husband was a vampire for a much longer time than this piece of fluff.”
“Then maybe that’s your problem.” She inhaled deeply as Ginny twitched, ripping the skin around the puncture marks. “Maybe there’s too much humanity left to have my Breeder blood change her.”
“Or maybe it’s something in the female blood that changes a vampire to a Breeder.” Pausing, he looked at her considerately, his eyes dropping to her slightly rounded belly. “Or maybe it has everything to do with the fact that you’re pregnant and this may be my only chance to have a Breeder created for me.”
She had to concede that he had a point since it was apparent her blood had started Tari’s labor. However, she wasn’t sure if it was because she was pregnant herself or if she was female. “I’m glad Feryn didn’t cross over after Varick was presumed dead. You would have made a terrible Aradian emperor.”
“Very likely,” he agreed mockingly, laughing at her.
“This isn’t you, Jiro,” she told him softly, her words coming slowly as she figured out what she was saying as she spoke. “Creating vampires has broken something within you, even if you have only created a few.”
“I want a Breeder.”
“Why can’t you just wait a few more years?” she asked dubiously, watching closely and seeing the brief flicker of remorse in his eyes. Jeeze, if wanting a Breeder drove Jiro to this madness, what was it doing to the other Aradians? As Feryn’s brother, he would have been a good candidate for any of the newborn Breeders but he chose this unorthodox route instead. She had trusted Jiro with her son’s life, and if it weren’t for this episode, she’d probably still trust him, but he was desperate. There were far more
unscrupulous Aradians out there and without a guardian the new Breeders could be in great danger.
Without the angel, Hunter would have been in danger. She might have to start training the young Breeders before they learned to walk.
“Why should I wait when I can have one now?” His lip curled in disgust, “Feryn has always been the chosen one and just this once I want to be chosen, even if I have to take matters into my own hands.”
With a slight frown, she managed to say, “You’re jealous of Feryn?”
His expression hardened as he grinned at her and she feared she lost him. “In a few minutes he won’t have anything that I don’t have. Now, shut up. I don’t want to listen to any more of your prattle.”
Malorie grunted, “Please promise me that you’ll make no more vampires.”
He huffed but she saw the uncertainty in his eyes, all four of them. Reaching out a hand, she grabbed onto his arm to hold herself steady, “I think she should stop now.”
Turning his hand over, he held onto her as he ran a hand over the back of Ginny’s head and asked the vamp, “Does it still burn?”
The girl whimpered and nodded her head yes and Jiro shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to Malorie. “It looks like she has to keep going.”
“How do you know?” Malorie asked as black dots began to dance before her eyes.
“It’s what happened to Jack,” he explained. “There was a moment when he was drinking that it no longer burned and he felt a change. Of course, it didn’t register because he was still thinking like a vampire.”
“Let me guess,” Malorie groaned, rolling her eyes. “You drank his blood.”
“Do you expect anything less?”
“Tell me one thing,” she said softly, squeezing his hand to hold onto consciousness.
“Yes, I’ve imagined having sex with you.”
A slight smile curved her lips at his flippant response but that wasn’t what she wanted to know. “Has everything been an act? Was there ever a moment of friendship between us?”
He was quiet for a long moment, considering his answer and she saw the old Jiro breaking through the vamp foolishness. Maybe that was the last of his vampires returning to her human state. Almost as if he were surprised, he slowly said, “I think we could have been friends had you not been so determined in remaining independent. You dangled the possibility of Breeders in front of us and in the next breath you stole it away. You, your son, your brother. If I wasn’t furious, I would admire your tenacity.”
“Toby?”
He huffed out an unexpected laugh, “I like the little booger and your dead husband, too. But then, they’re not as problematic as you.”
“You’re a very confusing man, Jiro,” she said, a slight cramp taking her breath away. When it passed, she panted, “You can be charming when you want something but then you do things like this. You never should have created vampires and I think she needs to stop now, really.”
His brows drew together as he shook his head and tried to follow her words. “You think she needs to stop?”
“Yes,” Malorie said, closing her eyes as a harder cramp seized her belly. Gasping, her fingers tightening on his, she said, “She has to pull her teeth out of my throat and stop drinking my blood.”
Holding her eyes as a slight frown marred his forehead, he asked Ginny, “Does it still burn?”
The girl held up her hand and waved it side to side but she continued drinking.
Malorie’s eyes rolled up into her head as she rasped, “Please, Jiro.”
With one last glance at Malorie, he cupped his hands around Ginny’s shoulders and bent his head next to her ear, “You can stop now.”
With a hearty sigh, Ginny pulled her teeth from Malorie’s neck and ran her tongue over the mark. Tilting her head back, she stared at Malorie and grimaced, “Your glow is fading.”
“It worked,” Jiro said with a relieved smile, letting Malorie go. She promptly crumbled to the ground, no longer able to feel her legs. She could only watch dispassionately as a brilliant light filled the small chamber and Ginny was flung several feet away.
“Why?” she croaked, pressing a hand against her belly as it hardened in an all-too-familiar contraction. Licking her lips, she looked up at Jiro, “Why did you kill her after all of this?”
“It’s part of the transformation,” he explained distractedly, pacing back and forth as he kept his eyes on Ginny’s still form. “I destroyed whatever remained of her vampirism and when she wakes she’ll be a Breeder. I hope.”
“Jiro,” she managed as blackness threatened to swallow her whole, as her body prepared itself for labor. It was too soon and she needed Feryn. “Please send me back to Feryn. Please.”
“Malorie, if I take you back now he’ll know what I’ve done,” he said with genuine remorse. Panic filled his silver-green eyes as he looked at her and realized what he had done.
“He’ll know either way, Jiro,” she told him, breathing through another contraction.
Squatting down in front of her, he pushed her hair away from her face and frowned as he looked at his hand on her cheek, as if something wasn’t quite right. Or he remembered who he was before he created a couple of vampires. Without a word, he ran his palm over her forehead, her cheeks, “Malorie, just wait a few minutes while your body restores its blood supply. Please. I don’t want him to know.”
“She took too much,” she said, staring directly at him. His eyes widened as he finally understood what was wrong but she was too frightened to take much comfort in it. “The baby’s bigger than she had been with Jack and needs more of my blood. Ginny took too much.”
“What are you saying?” he asked. For such an intelligent man, he was being deliberately obtuse.
“The baby’s coming,” she panted, the darkness pulling her under. As she closed her eyes, she whispered, “And it’s too soon.”
Chapter 16
The labor pains were getting more intense but Malorie didn’t want to think about it so she concentrated on the reports that were coming in. Resting a hand over her hard belly, she listened to the latest intel confirming that vampires everywhere had disappeared nearly two weeks before and those that remained were seeking a mutually beneficial compromise with the humans.
“It’s too good to be true,” Gustav growled, marking another area on the map with a black X. “Something’s up and I don’t like it.”
“Maybe the tides have turned and we should be grateful,” Malorie said, shallowly huffing through another contraction. “God knows we deserve a break.”
Her father was silent as he looked at her, truly looked at her. Pity still lurked in his gray eyes but she didn’t want his pity. Jack was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. It was the risk they took every day and she had known that there might come a day when he didn’t return. She had just hoped it happened fifty or sixty years in the future. Besides, if she thought about it too much, she might start to cry and never be able to stop. “Are you alright, Mal?”
She nodded her head, wincing only a little as another contraction hit. “I’m fine.”
His brow furrowed as he continued watching her instead of the map he had been marking. “Mal, are you having the baby?”
Taking a breath, she met her father’s eyes, “It’s a strong possibility.”
“Foolish girl,” he muttered, wrapping his hand around her arm and leading her through the old building to the makeshift infirmary. “How far apart are the contractions?”
“Not too far apart,” she managed as yet another one hit. Stumbling a step, she was grateful for her father’s steadying hand so she didn’t fall. From the moment she had found out she was pregnant, she had read every book she had been able to get her hands on and was fairly certain the baby was going to come into the world within a few hours.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Gustav asked as he got her situated on one of the cots.
“I could handle it.”
Shaking his head in bemusem
ent, he murmured, “I’ll go grab the medic. Stay here.”
She almost smiled at that because it wasn’t like she was going to leave, not with the contractions practically on top of each other. Struggling out of her panties, she had the sudden, desperate urge to push. Terrified, she tried to keep her legs together but it was too late because the baby was coming. God, she wished Jack were there!
“I miss you, Jack,” she rasped, putting her hands between her thighs to catch the baby.
“I’m right here, Mal,” he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
Blinking, she looked around but he wasn’t there and she squeezed her eyes shut. It hurt and there was no one there and the baby was forcing his way into the world. With a primal scream, she pushed the baby out, gently cradling his head while her body was twisted in an awkward angle. Tears of joy fell unheeded as she smiled at her newborn son.
Her father burst back into the room, followed by the medic, and they both froze when they saw her and the baby. Rushing to her side, Gustav grabbed Toby from her arms and carefully held him as the medic cut the cord and checked on Malorie. “Malorie….”
Lifting her gaze from her baby’s face, she saw the love and tenderness on her father’s face, an expression that transformed him from a soldier, a general, into a man. He looked up and met Malorie’s eyes and she was surprised to see the tears glistening there. “He’s beautiful.”
She swallowed the thick lump that lodged itself in her throat because in that moment, her father was a stranger. In all of her years, she had never seen such open vulnerability in the man. It was understandable, of course, but it was unexpected. The past couple of weeks had been so stressful and the birth of Toby was such a huge blessing.
Gustav looked down at the baby and smiled, “I will protect you with my life, little one. I’ll keep you safe from all of the monsters so you’ll never have to be afraid.”
Tears welled in Malorie’s eyes as she looked away, unable to watch her father make such impassioned promises to her newborn son when he couldn’t keep those promises to her. No matter. Even though her father was making the promise but she was going to do everything in her power to keep her son safe.