“Well, Cameron is a vampire now, one runs his own vineyard, and the rest have lives and obligations, like humans are supposed to. I wanted the best for them, and that’s what they did. They got the best. That means they’re too busy to help us, which makes me very happy.”
“And the one with the vineyard?”
“He would come if I asked, which is why I won’t do it. I won’t bring him back here to see us in shambles. I couldn’t bear it.”
“Speaking of which,” Arthur murmured. I glanced up at him and added another signed contract to the stack on my right. “He’s here.”
He? He who? Cameron? Othello? …Knight?
I felt my pulse begin to race and my hope lifted that it might be Knight, stupid as it was. Maybe Alexander had found him, and simply sent him to me to cut out the middle man.
Arthur saw the look on my face and shook his head slightly, making me wilt into my chair. “I’m afraid it’s a guest you’re not looking forward to seeing. James is here.”
CHAPTER 31
MY FEET STRUGGLED TO MOVE forward on the plush red carpet that led to the bigger drawing room. I stopped at the door, my hands clutching the Anastasia book in a sweaty mess. I reached out for the door handle. My hand shook every second until it landed on the cold metal. I gripped it tightly and stood there, hoping the door would open by itself so I wouldn’t have to do it.
“He bit you,” Arthur stated. He knew. He’d known this entire time, even when I mentioned James liked doing that to other vampires, and he never said anything.
“You questioned him when you were hunting me?”
“Yes and no. Yes, I questioned him. No, he didn’t tell me about it. I figured it out. Your behavior, certain things you’ve said, and as if I didn’t need confirmation, you’re scared to death to open that door because he’s behind it.” I dropped my hand and felt my cheeks redden. Arthur had seen me weak many times, but this was different. I still felt shame over being bitten, as if I felt somehow that it happened because I didn’t stop him, or didn’t try. Like it was my fault. “You’re safe.” I looked up at him, his gaze steadfast as always. “I won’t let him bite you.”
I nodded to him and pushed the doors open.
My gaze immediately found James amongst the three people that stood in the middle of the hunter green room. With his back turned, he was admiring one of the large paintings on the wall and pointing at it while saying something to the woman next to him. The woman was Sara, with her pink tipped hair that was longer now and in stylish waves. She was wearing a golden dress that looked like it belonged to an Egyptian goddess, and it emphasized her generous curves. The third person was James’s son Drake, whom I was not expecting to see. His presence still confused me with his human not-human smell. He saw me first and patted James on the arm to get his attention.
James turned to me with a weak smile. His pallor was diminished, and his eyes had sunken in so badly he looked like a drug addict. More importantly than that, that implacable air of superiority I had come to know was no longer in his eyes. This was not the James that had bitten me. This was the James that had written the book in my hands. The one before his binge madness, before his insanity, and before his cruelty.
“Hello, Lisbeth,” he said gently.
The sound of his voice sparked fear inside me again, though it was lessened by the fact that his voice was thin and broken. I couldn’t find any words to say back to him because I hardly knew where to begin. Sara still had her back turned, and my guilty conscience wondered if she hated me now, after how I’d treated her. I hadn’t even bothered to feel bad about it at the time because I hadn’t realized what I’d done until much later.
I tried to call her name, but my voice faltered so I ended up squeaking in her direction.
“What’d you use the 2-dollar bill on?” she asked finally.
I laughed and sobbed all at once. “Pencils.”
She turned and raised an eyebrow at me. “Seriously? Pencils? They’d better be nice pencils.” I tried to convey my despair over what I’d done to her with just the look on my face, because if I started apologizing, James might try apologizing too, and I didn’t know what I’d do if he did. Yell? Probably.
It went quiet again, so I stole a glance to James’s pale face. I couldn’t stop my stomach from twisting into a knot when he met my gaze.
“I assume we’re here because of that.” He gestured to the book I had in my hands.
“I need information on Anastasia.”
“That information is forbidden,” he said, and slid his eyes to Arthur in challenge. “How do I know you won’t have him arrest me if I even speak one word about her?”
“If this was a trick, you wouldn’t have come. Sara would’ve told you.”
“Maybe,” she said with a grin. “Or maybe I’d get him locked up so he’d behave himself.” James grinned back at her and took her hand in his.
Oh.
I froze in shock at the sight of their intertwined hands. A human and a vampire. I mean, Olivier and Renard had been in love for thirty years prior to his being turned, but they kept it strictly platonic. I had a feeling these two had no such qualms. Me loving a werewolf was high on the ick factor. Human plus vampire was not on the ick factor. It was on the ‘you have disgraced your family and your cow’ factor.
“I’ll tell you everything I know, on one condition,” James said. He kissed Sara’s hand and let it go to step forward. “If you forgive me for what I did to you.”
No. That was too much, far too much.
“No. There will be no forgiveness,” I said firmly. A cold terror was forming inside me, and I felt a slight pain in my belly.
“Please, Lisbeth. I’ve treated many people badly in my lifetime, but I’ve never treated anyone as horribly as I did you.” I couldn’t breathe. The more he spoke, the more he sounded like the old James, and the more he spoke about what he’d done, the more my mind conjured up the memories. The agony, the torture, and all the enjoyment he’d gotten from it.
I ground my teeth together. “I said no, James. Respect when someone says no, for once in your life.”
“Lisbeth,” James pleaded, just before he reached out and put his hand on my arm.
I screamed in white hot agony. With his hand on my arm, I could feel remnants of the connection his bite had made, even though it had long been destroyed. I felt sick and frightened all at once. I recoiled and felt something splash against my legs. Arthur caught me from falling and picked me up in his arms. He rushed me out of the room.
“No, I need…” I felt pain in my stomach. “I need to ask him about Anastasia.”
“Your water broke. You’ve gone in labor.”
CHAPTER 32
I was too early. My baby wasn’t due for another month.
“It’s too soon,” I protested weakly from Arthur’s arms. He kicked the door open to the waiting room in the clinic wing. The nurse hopped up from her desk and came over to close the door behind us. “It’s too soon,” I repeated to her. Arthur set me down and the nurse took my other hand to guide me to the delivery room.
“Vampire babies come early. Nothing to worry about,” she comforted.
“That wasn’t in the baby books,” I joked with a wince. My stomach was tightening up and it did not feel pleasant. “My stomach. Oww.” I pointed to it. The nurse had the nerve to chuckle at me as she helped me onto the bed in the delivery room. Haha, look at the cute vampire that’s having a contraction. I will cut you.
“It’s just a contraction,” Arthur informed me. He helped situate my pillows so I could lean back.
“I’ll get the doctor,” the nurse said when she was halfway out the door. The pain subsided and I focused on breathing evenly.
“Shouldn’t the father be here?”
I laughed at Arthur. “He’s not exactly the showing up kind of person.”
As if on cue, a highly potent scent of lilacs washed over me, and I literally almost barfed all over Balthazar when he appeared next to me.
&nb
sp; “Am I late? Is she here?” he asked, looking around for the baby.
“You!” I shouted at him. “You weasel faced giant eared moron – owww – how dare you just show up at the last minute – owww!” I grabbed his hand to combat another contraction and squeezed it extra hard to make sure he knew how pissed off I was. When it passed, I slapped his arms several times in punishment while he tried to fend me off.
“I’m sorry, Lisbeth! I really did try to get here before now. Time moves differently in my homeland.” I continued my assault on his arms. “One hour there could mean a month here. And vice versa. It’s unpredictable.”
“Don’t you make excuses, you walking pheromone factory! You’ve been gone for months! I’ve been by myself. I’ve been alone.” I broke out into a sob.
“I won’t leave you again,” he promised. “I swear, you won’t raise our baby alone.”
I chanced a glance in Arthur’s direction, but he didn’t look shocked at this information, or even of Balthazar’s presence. I really needed to stop being surprised that Arthur literally knew everything about my life.
The doctor chose that moment to come in, just as another contraction hit me. Behind him was Benjamin and Alfred, who took a seat on the plastic couch opposite the bed.
“Lisbeth, how lovely to see you again,” the doctor said pleasantly, like I wasn’t in labor. I tried to smile at him through the pain, but it turned out more like a grimace. “Ah, your Incubus friend is here.” He nodded to Balthazar in respect.
“How long do you – oww – think I’ll be in labor? I kind of have things to – oww – do.” I was partly joking, since questioning James was the only thing on my to-do list.
He chuckled at me too, because I was just so super adorable in my pain. I will cut you as well. “Vampire labor is unpredictable. It’s not like human births, but vampire babies still come out at their own schedule. It could be an hour, it could be five hours.”
After his comforting words, the nurse helped me change into a hospital robe. With the five men in the room facing the other way for it, I realized all of them would be there when I had to start pushing.
“There are way too many men in this room,” I grumbled. The doctor wheeled in two metal stands with IV lines hanging off them, and the nurse brought in an electric cooler with blood which she plugged into the wall.
“For them,” the doctor explained, pointing to Benjamin and Alfred. As soon as my baby was born, I would need to feed to replenish my blood supply and repair my body, and it would require a lot more blood than I normally needed. As per the contract they’d signed, that would be the last time I was allowed to feed from them. There was also a clause about me potentially drinking too much, which could kill them.
The nurse hooked me up to some machines and studied the read-out for several minutes until declaring we still had a long way to go, which was confirmed by a pelvic check that I made the men turn away for.
Only one to five hours to go.
CHAPTER 33
THERE’S A CERTAIN POINT DURING labor when you really wish there was a button you could push to just make it go faster. Cervix, dilate. Baby, enter birth canal. Mommy, push. Voila. Mission accomplished. Except life doesn’t have magical fast forward buttons, and that meant that five hours to the dot later, I was still lying on my back and grabbing Balthazar’s hand every three minutes.
I was tired. I was starving. I was more excited at the prospect of a cheeseburger than seeing my baby for the first time. I jest. I would happily hold my daughter in my arms, while eating a cheeseburger.
Funnily, even though I was in pain every few minutes, that wasn’t the worst part of it. No, the worst part was Marie, and every other vampire that barged in unannounced like I was simply knitting a blanket or cooking dinner, and all they had to tell me was this had happened and that needed my signature, as if this entire Order couldn’t function without my presence.
After I cut the nurse, doctor, and everyone else who strolled into this room, I was going to kill Othello for getting kidnapped like a sap and sticking me with this job.
Balthazar dutifully mopped my forehead of sweat and planted a kiss on my clammy skin. “You’re doing good, sweetheart.”
“Madam Lisbeth,” Marie said from the doorway.
“I swear to god, get the hell out of here, Marie! If you interrupt us one more time, you’re fired!” I clawed at Balthazar’s hand to get through another contraction.
“What is it?” Arthur asked her before she could leave.
“Well, ummm…” She hesitated under my glare. “The Alphas have arrived.”
“The what?” I panted in confusion.
“The Lycans,” Arthur explained. “They’ve come to discuss the alliance with the Council. That includes you.” Of course, I knew exactly what he was talking about, but my brain was addled with pain.
“So, in other words, push that baby out right now so we don’t keep them waiting?” I joked with a wince. He made a face like, sure that works for me.
It was time to focus. This baby was coming out right now whether she liked it or not. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, conjuring up the powers I had during the blood binge. It was difficult without the extra blood to support it, but I managed to connect with the baby inside me. I saw glimpses of her tiny body inside my womb, and felt her coo to herself from the feeling of me connecting to her.
“Baby,” I said out loud, speaking to her directly. “It’s time to come out.” I felt her respond with a wiggle, and then the pain intensified, popping me out of her energy and back into mine.
It was safe to say that what I’d done had worked. Within minutes, I was standing on the cold tile with Arthur and Balthazar’s hands holding me upright, and the doctor kneeling in front of me.
Push. Push.
The more I pushed, the more my hunger grew. The smell of human blood flowing through Benjamin and Alfred’s veins started to override everything else.
“Focus, Lisbeth,” Arthur said as he gripped my hand. “Focus on the baby. Don’t let yourself go into a frenzy.” His words made me realize how close I was to it. My fangs dropped and I felt the tendrils of a frenzy begin to grab me. I’d stopped pushing.
The doctor slapped my thigh a few times. Not enough to hurt, but enough to bring me back to my task. “Push,” he ordered me.
I pushed the blood hunger away with memories of the ultrasounds, and her tiny little hands and feet that she liked to stick into her mouth. I held onto those moments when the pain rose in waves until there was nothing but my screams to keep me from going mad.
And then…
A different scream entered the room. A high-pitched wail came from beneath me and the pressure subsided, making me weak at the knees. The doctor wrapped up what he held in his hands and handed it to the nurse. I couldn’t focus on that little lusty cry that got further and further away. I couldn’t even remember what I was doing or where I was.
“Hold her,” the man in front of me said. I felt two arms intertwine with mine until I couldn’t lift them. The man took a bag of blood out of a white cooler, stuck a straw in it, and held it to my lips. “Drink.” I recoiled from the smell. I didn’t want bagged blood. I wanted to drink from a human. He forced the straw past my lips and squeezed the bag enough so some of the blood entered my mouth. At the taste of it, I didn’t care that it was gross. I sucked on the straw until it made that annoying noise that meant the bag was empty. The man took the bag away and threw it in a bin. He turned back to me and inspected my eyes, then nodded to whoever was holding my arms. They loosened their grip enough to where I could move my arms.
I remembered the doctor, and the two men holding my arms. Everything came back slowly, and I remembered what the little cries I could still hear were coming from. I tried to get away so I could find her, but the doctor and the hands on my arms stopped me.
“You have to feed first,” he told me.
Alfred and Benjamin were standing next to the plastic couch, waiting for me to feed from
them for the last time. The doctor took one last look at my eyes, and with another nod, Arthur and Balthazar let me go.
The doctor had explained to me along the way that a blood frenzy could happen from the loss of blood and the damage to my body, and I’d foolishly thought it wouldn’t happen to me. I was almost embarrassed, but the doctor’s face showed no judgments. He knew it could happen, and he had been prepared.
I fed from Alfred first. My fangs sunk into his deep chocolate skin and with every sip I felt less weary. The pain below my waist got duller, but didn’t disappear before the doctor put his hand on my arm to stop me. Benjamin was next, and he hugged me with a smile before I sunk my teeth into his soft neck. Any pain I felt was gone long before the doctor stopped me again.
Alfred and Benjamin left after giving their farewells, and the doctor stayed to clean the room while I took the quickest shower ever and put on a simple black dress with a jacket. Balthazar gripped my hand with a smile when I came out of the bathroom. The doctor had finished cleaning and was standing with Arthur next to an open door on the other side of the hallway. I could hear soft cries coming out of that room. I almost let go of Balthazar’s hand in my haste to go through the doorway.
The nurse stood in the middle of the nursery room holding a little white bundle of blankets. The room had two cribs on one end and a counter with a baby scale and changing station on the other. The blankets started to wiggle in the nurse’s arms and make fitful cries of frustration.
I walked closer until the bundle of blankets revealed a tiny pink head covered in black curls.
The nurse turned to me and smiled. “Meet your daughter, Lisbeth.”
Daughter. My daughter. She was finally here.
My daughter looked up at me and stopped fussing when she saw my face. I took her from the nurse and held her close to my chest. She was so warm, and so tiny.
“Here,” the nurse said as she handed me a bottle full of blood. “Maybe you can get her to drink.” I pushed the bottle close to my baby’s face, causing her to start crying again. I tried several more times with the same result. The nurse motioned for the doctor to come closer. “She should be feeding. She’s turning the bottle away.”
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