by C. L. Quinn
“If we can survive my wicked father. Did she make it clear to you how dangerous this might get? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I would defend you with my life.”
“Ah, now don’t say that. I couldn’t handle it if anything bad happened to you.”
“I may not be immortal, but I am loyal.”
“Well, so am I, and I want you there to help me take care of this child. So I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“It will be okay, Ms. Park. Now you go get some of this before those pigs eat it all. Manger. Your body has two to feed now. I believe the vampire baby will want very much.”
When she got back out, Bas smiled at her. They’d been doing a lot of that this morning. They had shared the shower and Bas had dropped on his knees with the waterfall jets pounding his head as he hugged her belly. She knew he was still shocked, because she was too. And yet she seemed to want to leave her hands on her belly, gently caressing the precious life so unexpectedly within. Was mothering such an anthropological imperative that even someone so ill equipped to be one took to it naturally? And if that were the case, what the hell happened to her own mother? No, stop it, she told herself. There is no time for bitterness now. That time in your life is past. Bas and this little life growing inside her body…they were the future. A future they would have to fight for…but what in her life hadn’t been?
Park had a plate half full of healthy food and half full of sweets. She planned to eat the sweets first. Today was not a day for diets. Bernie shoved in next to her with a vampire platter-plate. It was already heaping. She felt a twinge of envy because she would be facing a body that she’d need to get back after the baby. While Bernie ate more food in one meal than she could in three days.
“Hey, sister,” Bernie said, far too jovial for Bernie.
“Hey,” Park said suspiciously. “You okay?”
Bernie grinned and pulled her up away from the others back to the now abandoned buffet table. She grabbed half a pound of bacon with the tongs.
“I’m exceptional.” She snagged Parks sleeve and pulled her close to her lips. “Vaz and I fucked like wild rabbits the entire night. I can’t get enough of him. God, Park, this vampire thing, sex, it is indescribable. You should do it. You should let them change you. I wish you would, so we can be together for a very long time.” Bernie shoved three pieces of bacon in her mouth at the same time.
“I got some news for you, too. Why don’t we sit down and listen to Bas.”
“Okay, honey. Just need to get a vat of that brown gravy and biscuits. They smell outstanding.”
Bas called everyone to places, and while they were eating, he let them in on the situation. Cherise rarely came to breakfast meetings, but she was here for this one. Everyone knew now something was up.
“Alright. I’m keeping this simple, because we have a lot to deal with. And we don’t know when or how it’s going to be. So, let me give you a little background on Park. We call her our little human. It turns out, it isn’t so. I knew right away when I tried to compel her, something was wrong. She can’t be compelled. A blood bond doesn’t work on her either. I also discovered she has a certain ability to read people, and that includes vampires. Since then, I found out she also has some ability to move things, objects, by telekinesis.” He decided not to tell them about her blood. That detail could ultimately be the most dangerous thing to her. “I knew I needed to find out what made her different. Cherise, here, provided that answer. It turns out Park is the daughter of one of the first vampires. Yep. You heard me. They do exist and they are capable of breeding. Park never knew any of this.”
“Her mother never told her?” Iain asked.
“No. Parks mother is…not part of her life. However, our Cherise is a pretty special girl herself. She isn’t exactly human either. She says her people are seers, they know what a person is…what kind of a being. Apparently there are quite a few different types of humans we don’t know about.”
Cherise stood up and smoothed down her dress. She was used to being invisible in the background now. She didn’t like this.
“They are called bridge species, because they bridge the space between the human and the supernatural. They are quite varied, um, they have different abilities. But they usually don’t let themselves be known. They like to live normal lives in normal ways. They are…qu’est-ce que…peaceful.”
“Well, because of Cherise’s skill, we know where Park comes from. Here’s the bad part. There are extremely few humans the first ones can breed with, so they really want Park back. We suspect Park, even as a baby, was able to block her life signal from her father and the other firsts. But there’s a good chance he may be coming for us soon. Because, as it turns out, Park is pregnant with my child.” The room erupted. Bas calmed them down. “Yes, I know, vampires are barren. Turns out that’s not true. It’s just that we can breed with only a very, very select few. Cherise tells us though, that Parks first vampire father will be able to track her once she give birth to a child with the blood of the first, as our daughter will be.”
Bernie mouthed to Park, “A daughter…?”
Park nodded, her hands going to her belly again.
“So, here’s the situation we need to disclose. In addition to the war we’re involved with because of the psycho rogue vampire, we now face a very powerful, rage filled original who may show up to claim his daughter. And I won’t let him have her. So, you need to decide if you are willing to stand with me. If not, you will want to go. Let me be clear. We have never faced a threat like this before. There is definitely a chance it could mean your life. I need you, but I will understand if you want to go.”
Iain stood up, and Mick just after him.
“Ya know, we been alive a long time. I’ve been missin’ a good fight. I know me Mick feels the same way.”
“Aye. I consider it an honor to protect your bairn. The first vampire child I have ever heard of. It’s a miracle, it is.”
Jake, Vaz, and Dez stayed seated.
Jake leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. You guys want to come to Rio with me?”
The others grinned, with murmured “yeahs” going around. Bas grinned back.
“It’s going to be really dangerous, guys.”
Vaz leaned back too. “We got that. We have never left your side these many years. It won’t happen now that you need us most. Besides, I’d like to see a first vampire. I’d like to see if he’s really that big a badass.” He stood, his eyes floating over everyone and then landed on Bernie.
“I, for one, think that, if we’re facing nearly certain death, have one thing I need to do. Just one. Maybe all night.”
Mick rolled his eyes. “Like we don’t know what that is. We heard your lady say ya fucked like rabbits all night.” He glanced at Bernie, who was trying to decide if she should look embarrassed. “Just hoped it was gonna be with me.”
Bernie looked down at her biscuits and gravy, took another bite, but she was smiling. Then Bas addressed her.
“Bernie. You’re new. I think you need to sit this out. I think I need to send you somewhere safer.”
She shook her head. “No. No. I’m not leaving. I can help. Somehow. But I think I can be useful. While you’re fighting, someone should stay with Park. Whatever I have to, but…I’m staying. There’s no question.”
He saw her conviction. Bas nodded.
“Dez, do you want to get your baby vamp out of here?”
“I don’t think there’s a safer place for him. The other vampire could get him if he leaves here, just as surely as Parks father could if he stays. No. I think I’ll keep him here.”
“Your call. Okay. We pony up. I’ve already arranged for some serious weaponry to be delivered by tomorrow night…sent out emails and texts to every vampire in the U.S., Canada, and South America about what is happening with the rogue vampire, and a small selection of long known friends and acquaintances who I’ve advised what is happening with Park, our child, and
the first vampires. Several have already responded that they wish to be here and are enroute. Otherwise, Jake will work with everyone as far as preparing us as well as possible for this fight. I’m still trying to decide how to handle Park’s personal protection.”
He looked at her, sitting quietly at their table, her eyes bright with moisture. He knew it killed her to think she was responsible for all of this.
“But I think everyone here agrees, she and the child are worth it, right?”
The room exploded with confirmation. Bernie actually slid in beside her and hugged her. Dez rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. The remaining vampires just clapped or whistled, or did thumbs up. But it was clear, she had their entire support.
Park smiled at them all and said a quiet “thank you.”
The next few weeks would be very, very interesting.
Alvin was pissed. They were way behind in converting new vampires for his attack on Sebastian. Shanks wasn’t as motivated as he originally had been, it seemed, so if he wasn’t very careful, Alvin would have to replace him. Truly, he was getting too arrogant. Alvin hated arrogance almost as much as Sebastian. And hubris. Please, who thought it was okay to consider yourself a god? Even immortal vampires were little more than humans on steroids that made them think they were special. Alvin already knew they weren’t. So, if Shanks continued, he’d shut him down. And here in his sunroom office, used, obviously, only at night, Alvin watched his first vampire convert drop into the seat opposite him with a huge plate of pancakes.
“I like that bitch we got cooking for us. She fucking rocks this pastry shit!”
He was so coarse! Alvin closed his eyes. Give me strength, he begged. “She is a sweet old lady, she is not a bitch. But yes, she is an exceptional cook.” He watched the young vampire shovel the sticky covered pancakes into his face like he was being timed. It made Alvin’s own stomach turn. “Shanks. Have you started the two converts each between you and the other vampires old enough to do it?”
“Yeah, yeah. But we lost two more.” He laughed obnoxiously, snorting, which Alvin found infernally grating. “These humans…they’re weaklings, man.”
He could feel his jaw tighten. “Shanks, do you think it might have something to do with you not attending them properly? Are you not feeding them enough to get the conversion going properly and then making certain they receive regularly feedings to continue the change? Usually, high failure rates have a cause. Shanks, are you doing your job?”
“Whoa, whoa, Sire. Now look, I’m a busy man these days. I got a lot I’m pulling off for you. You sayin’ you don’t like how I’m workin’?”
Alvin sighed. “No. No. I’m saying I need you to be one hundred percent on it. All the time. I have a window, Shanks, and I’m struggling to meet it. You were my first pick, so I need you to take care of everything quickly. Are you doing that for me?”
“Yeah, sure. I guess I could do more.”
“Just…bring me the girl. Sebastian’s girl. Can you get her for me?”
“Well, he’s locked down the place now. I figured when we all went in, no problem. You sayin’ you want her now? Before we storm the place?”
“Yes, I would like her now. I’ve been thinking about it. She has to be something special, to have him lapping after her like a lovesick dog. He’s never been in love, I’ve ever heard. So, I want her, as quickly as you can make it so.”
Shanks looked up at him, nodding his head. Couldn’t speak with his mouth crammed…the final six pancakes on the stack, all at once. Shanks would do what he needed him to do. Just…if he didn’t fucking choke to death first.
Alvin rolled his eyes and left the room.
Cherise came to Bas’s room nervously. She’d never been in his quarters before with him in there. Only alone, as she arranged for its care and cleaning. It seemed smaller with him present. They were alone at first, and although Park was on her way, she was nervous being in the smaller enclosed space with a man who both attracted her and frightened her. He’d always been fair with her, but she knew he was very powerful, physically, and when he fed, never on her, but was almost always female in the past, he treated them well. But there was something she could always read that told her he had the potential to be very brutal. She thought how Park had changed that. Still, being so close, she was uneasy.
“I brought you here to look at this. Park’s mother had it and I wanted to know if you know what it is…if you recognize it…and if it means something.” He held a medallion in his hand hanging from a heavy elaborate chain.
The door slammed open, hitting the wall behind it. Park was out of breath.
“Sorry, guys, we were working on proper stabbing technique. Who knew it could be so complicated. Anyway, I made it. Hi, Cherise.”
Cherise lowered her head and nodded, smiled at Park, and then held out her hand to Bas. “May I see it?”
Park came forward to look, too. Bas laid it gently in Cherise’s upturned palm.
“What is it?”
Bas walked to just behind her, his hand on her neck, caressing the skin. “It was in your mother’s possessions. I asked her what it was. As usual, she wasn’t much help. Just said it was a table near her before she escaped, and grabbed it. She said she thought she might be able to sell it for some money, but realized it could lead him back to her, so she threw it into her bag and never really thought about it again. But it’s old. The writing…it’s nothing I’ve ever seen. Cherise, do you know what it is? Can you read it?”
She’d been quiet since he laid it in her hand. Her eyes didn’t leave it, the medallion laying upturned and unmoved since he put it there. She seemed mesmerized. Park and Bas watched for a few moments, then Park stepped forward, closer to Cherise. She could feel the shock and awe in Cherise, knew her heart was pounding.
“What is it? You know.”
“I do. This is a Spirit Amulet. It is rumored to have great power. Pardon. I am s’etonner. No one I know has ever seen one. But we know they are very rare and very prized. Oh, Mr. Bas, he will be wanting this very much. As much as Ms. Park. We are in grave danger, as I suspected. I wonder…”
She stopped, still staring at it. Park had to prompt her.
“What…what do you wonder?”
Cherise shook her head and frowned. “I wonder he could not find you just from this. It must have a very powerful…um…insigne…um…it would call to him… If it is his, I think. Right at this moment, it pulsates to me…I can feel it burn my hand. Mr. Bas, if he comes, give this to him right away. It will be the reason he seeks Park and her mother…to acquire it.”
“But what does it do? I mean, what kind of power would it have?”
“This I do not know. But it is said this is one of the most powerful things on earth. We always thought it was a myth. I fear it, because I do not know it. Because I can feel something beneath it, something I know I could not control. It knows it does not belong to me.”
Park was staring at it. Suddenly she reached out and pulled it from Cherise’s hand. Almost immediately it began to glow slightly. Rattling the heavy chain, she pulled it over her head and watched it slide down beneath her shirt.
“It’s mine,” she announced. “I know it is. Until I touched it I didn’t know. But it was meant for me.” She closed her eyes and lifted her head. “It’s…ah, Bas, it’s binding me to my ancestry…to the blood.” She suddenly fell forward and Bas grabbed her and swung her into his arms, then carried her over to the bed. She looked up at him with a smile, touched his face with her fingertips.
“It’s alright…don’t worry…we’re merging…”
Then she fell back against the pillow, her eyes closed, unconscious.
Bas was terrified. Was this a weapon?
“Cherise, can you tell? Is she okay?”
Cherise came forward and knelt by the bed, then laid one hand on Park’s chest, the other on her forehead. Her eyes closed, and her head dropped. Bas watched her fingers twitch against Park, her breathing calm.
A few moments later, she pushed back and stood up.
“She is. Okay, I mean. She was right, the medallion was made for her. They are built for an individual spirit, and when worn, they merge. I think…I’m pretty sure…it will strengthen her and the child. Mr. Bas, I believe it is protection. It seems to bind her to the powers of the originals, and increase her abilities. She is a strong woman, a powerful being, sir, and I think we do not need to worry about her anymore.”
“Why is she unconscious?”
“I think the merging is intense, somewhat like the vampire virus merging with a human. Only I don’t think she will be in pain. I felt the baby, she is fine. She is not worried, so we need not be either. You must have faith, Mr. Bas.”
He looked wrecked. She could feel him, and knew he was confused, worried, and felt helpless. An old powerful vampire had serious trouble with all three of those emotions.
Cherise hesitated, then came up to him and put her hands on his forearms.
“She is becoming what she was always meant to be, and that is the best thing for her. For your child. But make no mistake, her father, he will come.”
Bas lay next to her the rest of the night, holding her close. She would respond, roll toward him, wrap her arms around him, sometimes moan, but she wouldn’t wake. Once he actually tried to get her to do so, but it didn’t happen. So he tried not to worry, tried to get some rest, with marginal success, and was still holding her when morning came. He’d had very little rest overnight, and now that morning had arrived, he was more tired than before, so he slipped in closer and fell into the deep sleep that typified a vampire’s day. Unless something extreme happened, he’d sleep until night again. And he did.
As his body accepted it was time to waken, he looked at Park and saw her staring back at him with a smile.
“Hi, gorgeous,” she said quietly.
“Hi, gorgeous,” he repeated back. “Are you okay?”
“I’m incredible. Bas, I know who I am. I know what I want.” She could feel his worry about that. “No, no. I want to be with you, raise our child, and teach her about the world so that she sees it as a happy place. I want her to feel loved and safe every minute of her life.” She didn’t have to remind him that it was exactly what she hadn’t had.