Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny)

by Blakely, Noelle

  He pulled away from her and left her hanging there untouched while he explored the kitchen a little finding a plastic spatula that he thought might make a marvelous paddle. He slapped her ass with his hand first because he wanted to touch her. She squealed, and her cheek showed the bright red impression of his hand. He slapped her other cheek with the paddle, and she yelped again. Her cries were making his cock so hard he wanted to explode. He liked the way she reacted to the paddling, and he kept it up for a while, so excited when he smacked her a few more times that he touched himself rubbing down the length of his shaft to his balls that felt heavy and swollen.

  He had to stop. He wanted to pump his straining rod into her wet depths, but he made a promise and he couldn’t believe after all these centuries, he found himself wanting to break it, even if Aurora was encouraging it. He didn’t want to be in love with this little human, but Aurora brought her into their lives and their bed and now he was losing his control with her. He left her untouched for so long that she called out his name. The sound of her voice made his member jump with need. He went to her and pulled her legs apart, dropping them over his shoulders and bringing her moist folds to his probing tongue. He lapped at her dewy opening and penetrated her with his tongue. He sucked her little bud into his mouth, playing over it with his teeth and tongue. She bucked against his lips and came so hard that she was screaming her ecstasy. He turned his head and sank his fangs into her creamy thigh and drank the sweet blood that burst from her until he was consumed by his own blood lust. He could hardly stand it, and he pumped his own cock in his fist while she was still riding the wave of her climax, and when he knew he could not hold back any longer, he lowered her legs and pressed himself against her, coming on her taut sexy stomach.

  He untied her and let her down and she sat on the little stool unable to move on quivering legs. He heated water in the fire to fill a bath for her and when her bath was ready for her he carried her to it. He was gentle with her now, and she relaxed into his care. When the residual pleasure in her pain wore off, and only soreness was left, he healed the breasts and sweet cheeks, he had abused so that they could start all over anytime they wanted. They were both lazy and satisfied, but there remained a tension between them in the silence. They were both longing for the one thing they didn’t share, and it was weighing on them, even if neither would ever speak of it.

  Thirty-four

  Lily finished examining Aurora, again as she had been every half an hour or so.

  “You are only partially dilated, and things don’t seem to be progressing,” she said. “I am a little concerned for the baby.”

  Ryan, who was hovering in the doorway, came rushing in. “What do you mean?” he demanded, looking decidedly scared.

  Lily spoke calmly. “Nothing yet. It’s just that long labor can put a lot of stress on a baby. Right now her heartbeat is strong, and she seems fine, but I don’t want to go another night with her in full labor.”

  Ryan’s hand was on Aurora again, protectively, and he felt her belly harden and clench with her next contraction. “What can we do?”

  “Maybe a C-section, but I don’t want to go there yet. It’s something I would normally have a doctor doing, not trying here in my house.” Lily shook her head, but she knew the days of having a hospital and doctors as back-up were long gone for the mid-wives. Aurora had been in labor for nearly twenty-eight hours, and she had to consider the possibility that she may have to cut the Vampire. She didn’t say anything to the others, but she was also worried that her own mild contractions were not stopping, and she did not want to have to try delivering Aurora’s baby while in labor, herself.

  Lily had been in contact with an old Were herb-woman that was living alone and secluded between the Were settlement and the human villages. She moved in both worlds as she pleased, passing herself off as human when in the village and moving freely among the Weres when she chose to. Her name was Greta, and Lily had heard that she was around three hundred years old. She never had the courage to ask Greta directly. Greta made Lily a little nervous. Lily suspected that Greta practiced some questionable arts with regard to spells and spirits, and she was cautious around her. But, Greta was the only truly experienced mid-wife around right now to be able to help Lily deliver, and Greta was not far. So, passing a message to Stephan through Ryan, asking him to fetch her, if possible, was not a suspicious request and everyone just assumed that she was asking for help with Aurora. So far no one suspected that she was getting ready to deliver herself.

  As the afternoon wore on, Lily tried to nap a little in a soft chair in Aurora’s room. She also had Ryan bring in a birthing chair in preparation for the delivery. She fell asleep, exhausted, and was panicked when she awoke and saw the afternoon light was nearly gone.

  “Ryan. How long have I slept?” she asked wide-eyed as she was trying to heave her bulk out of the chair.

  “I don’t know. Maybe a couple of hours. Aurora said not to wake you, that you needed the rest.” He began to catch her panic and was on his feet immediately helping her. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

  “I just need to check on Aurora,” she said trying to sound calmer so he wouldn’t freak out.

  Aurora was dozing lightly even in hard labor as she was also exhausted. She was roused by their voices and caught the distress in the sound. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” Lily said, “but, you shouldn’t let me sleep that long without checking on you.” She went straight to examine Aurora again. “Thank the spirits!” she said. “You are finally almost fully dilated, and if we break your water, you can start pushing.” She and Ryan helped Aurora into the birthing chair, and Ryan stood behind Aurora holding her hands as she pushed when Lily instructed. In the middle of the effort, Stephan arrived with Old Greta.

  The wrinkled old woman, did not interfere with Lily, but was there when she asked. She was nearly as fascinated by the idea of a pregnant Vampire as Lily. When Lily held the squirming crying infant at last, Greta moved in, clamped and cut the cord. Lily was cleaning up the baby girl- Aurora had been right about that- and Greta delivered the placenta into a basin, setting it aside and helping Aurora wash up and get back in bed. Ryan assisted them and as soon as Aurora was tucked in he rushed over to hover around Lily and the baby.

  She squalled and shook her fists. “She looks so strong and healthy for such a tiny thing,” he commented.

  “She’s not so tiny for a newborn,” Lily answered. “She’s one of the biggest babies I’ve ever delivered, and her eyes are startling, not cloudy like a newborn, but she looks completely human otherwise. Her heartbeat is strong, and her breathing is normal.”

  Ryan held out his arms to take her, when Lily finished the examination. He held her properly as if he had been doing it for years and as soon as he settled her in the crook of his arm and looked into her tiny face, she quieted instantly. Lily dropped, exhausted, back into the chair she had been napping in earlier. She put her elbow on the arm and leaned on her hand, watching in awe at the interaction between Ryan and the baby. The baby opened her eyes wide to stare at the face above her and Ryan understood what Lily meant about her eyes being startling. Her eyes were an impossibly intense shade of emerald green, and they were perfectly clear and focused, unlike the usual cloudy eyes of a newborn. She was reaching out with her flailing arms and was clutching at his chin as he smiled and cooed at her. Lily listened as he started talking to her again in that language she had meant to ask him about, but never did. If she hadn’t been so tired, she might have noticed Greta stiffen and stare when she heard him talking too, but instead, Greta just gathered up the bloody cloths and the basin and slipped out of the room.

  Ryan carried the quiet girl to her mother’s bedside but didn’t hand her over just yet. He gently ran his finger tips over the baby’s mass of black, shiny hair. The color was so black and glossy that it made his own untidy, black mass look dull in comparison. But her unruly locks were sticking up in an imitation of his
spiky mane. He ran a hand through his haphazard spikes and smiled at Aurora. “She looks just like me.” He was laughing and clearly kidding around, and Aurora smiled tiredly back at him. He continued to talk and rock and touch the baby he’d been so anxiously waiting for and lost awareness of the others in the room until he heard Lily.

  “What’s her name?” Lily was asking Aurora. Ryan looked up, interested to hear the answer too, but Aurora was fast asleep with that smile still on her face.

  ∞∞∞

  Greta carried the bloody things to the kitchen and rummaged around until she found a large mason jar. She tipped the contents of the basin into the wide mouth. Aurora’s placenta and the umbilical slid into the jar, and she sealed it up, putting it in her oversized carpet bag of medicinal herbs and who knew what else. She was just cleaning up the basin after putting the rags in a laundry basket, when the back door into the kitchen flew open, and a large golden Vampire, a small human woman and a young Were burst in.

  ∞∞∞

  They all crowded around Aurora’s bedside, even Tyler loitered in the doorway. He had delivered a lot of messages and spent a lot of time with the odd little family since they moved to the lodge, and he had grown fond of them. Ryan had finally relinquished the baby to Aurora when she woke up. He and Lily had been trying to feed her formula from a bottle while Aurora slept, but she was having none of it. Lily was worried, but she was back in bed, herself, her contractions were mild and far apart, and Greta, thought if she stayed in bed that they might be able to hold out for a few more days.

  Aurora was recovering quickly and was anxious to be up and around.

  Alex brushed strands of her hair from her face with his finger tips and said, “Just rest, Love, I don’t want you to overdo it.”

  “I’m a Vampire, and I am fully recovered,” she replied, but she stayed in the bed, holding the baby.

  “What shall we name her?” Alex was looking at the baby, but he hadn’t tried to hold her yet. He seemed just a little uncomfortable around her.

  “I know her name,” Aurora said assuredly. “Her name is Destiny.”

  Alex and Sara exchanged a wide eyed look, but Aurora went on to say. “Not only do I believe that she is my destiny, but she represents the evolution of all Vampires and maybe even what’s left of the world. She and the others like her may be the destiny of everyone.”

  Sara shrugged at Alex, and Alex smiled at Aurora and said. “It’s a good name.”

  Later, Ryan cooked for Lily again. He brought her a thick stew on a tray and insisted that she eat in bed. He sat with her, she suspected, out of some sense of obligation. As she was finishing her dinner, she heard Destiny start to cry. Ryan heard it too and looked as if he was ready to flee the room and run to her side, but he restrained himself.

  “Has the baby eaten anything yet?” Lily asked.

  “No. She won’t take the bottle at all. Aurora even had us try putting blood in the bottle, in case she fed like a Vampire. Nothing is working.” He looked miserable as if it was his own failure.

  They listened to the wailing babe, and Lily’s swollen breasts began to ache and leak. She tried to wipe up the seeping, then she had a thought. “Ryan, bring Destiny to me,” she said.

  Ryan, who was anxious to get to Destiny anyway, jumped up to obey. He brought her in to Lily. Aurora, Alex, and Sara trailed after him. Lily felt a little nervous in front of her audience, but she exposed her swollen dripping breast and took Destiny from Ryan. Destiny needed little encouragement, and she attached her tiny bow of a mouth to Lily’s nipple and suckled loudly. Lily was relieved, and she brushed Destiny’s smooth cheek with her finger as she nursed. She began to feel drowsy, and she knew that something was odd. She concentrated on the babe at her breast, and for a moment, she could see, clearly, the energy or life force that Destiny was pulling from her and drinking up along with the mother’s milk. She was about to speak up to tell the others, when she felt two little needle pricks sink into the aureole of her nipple. It hurt for just a second or two and then she felt only pleasant euphoria. She could see tiny beads of milk and blood gathering at the corner of Destiny’s mouth, wetting her tiny lips. She closed her eyes, and she could feel the little streams of blood and milk and energy all flowing from her and into Destiny.

  The others were still gathered around her and hadn’t noticed anything until Ryan saw a trickle of blood escape Destiny’s mouth and run down Lily’s white breast. He snatched the baby from Lily, still careful of the way he handled her, and they all stared shocked at the blood dripping from the tiny punctures in Lily’s breast. Ryan ran a finger along Destiny’s smooth gums and found two little needlelike Vampire teeth that retracted just as he touched them. They were all speechless for a moment, then a voice from the doorway said, “That was interesting.”

  It was Greta, and she pushed her way through to the bedside and checked Lily’s eyes, lifting her closed eyelids. She checked her pulse and her breathing before she wiped up Lily’s breast with a cloth and looked around at the horrified group. Destiny was gurgling happily in Ryan’s arms. Greta glanced at the baby. “She’s got a Vampire spirit, that one does,” she said. “But, it weren’t the blood she was after. Well, not just the blood anyway.”

  Ryan scowled at her. “What do you mean?” he demanded.

  “That one was feeding on Lily’s Spark.”

  “Her what?” Sara asked.

  “Her Life Spark. Her energy. Her essence. We all have it, except the Vampires,” she said nodding toward Aurora and Alex. “Vampires have it, but it’s different. It’s not like a living energy, but more like a black hole with them. Not her, though,” she said indicating Destiny. “She shines as bright as anything I’ve ever seen, especially after she’s fed on someone else’s spark.”

  “Is Lily alright?” Aurora asked.

  “Lily will be fine.” And, as if to answer, Lily stirred and opened her eyes.

  “Wow. I think that the baby was feeding on my Life Force,” she said.

  “Your spark, yep,” Greta put in.

  Lily blinked at her. The old ones and witches called it the Spark she remembered. “Spark, Adanata, Life Force, whatever you want to call it, that baby was drinking it in.” she said.

  “Was Lily in danger? Could Destiny kill somebody that way?” Ryan asked.

  “Yes and no,” Greta answered cryptically.

  “Meaning?” Alex was losing patience with the old crone.

  Greta sensed his irritation and gave him a scowl. She did not like to be rushed. “Meaning that she could hurt someone if you’re not careful. Weres have a strong Spark, and Lily would probably barely feel the effects of Destiny’s feeding if she wasn’t so exhausted right now. A Were would be the safest way to feed her. Human’s have a weaker Spark, and she may pose a threat if ye let her take too much.” The old woman sniffled and waited for them to absorb her warning.

  “What about the blood and the Vampire teeth?” Ryan asked. He was the one thinking mostly of Destiny’s well being as opposed to anyone she might hurt.

  “My guess is that she doesn’t actually need to physically feed that much, just like the Vampires. I’m also guessing, by the way, she’s reacted to the bottle, that when she does feed, it needs to be animal. Milk, blood, eventually meat, none of that formula crap. I don’t think it much matters what you feed her as long as she can get the Life Spark along with it.” The old Were squinted at Ryan holding the baby. “You should know better than anyone. You’ve been feeding her your Spark for months, I suspect.”

  The whole group turned to look at Ryan. Instinctively he clutched Destiny a little tighter and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “No, It’s true,” Lily said. “I thought I imagined it, but on the first night you and Aurora were here, you were communing with the baby and passing her energy, but oddly it almost seemed as if she was feeding it back to you and you were stronger for it.”

  “Humph, No wonder you don’t let her out of your sight much. You a
re both sharing your Adanata,” Greta told Ryan. Lily nodded in agreement, and the rest of them looked confused, including Ryan. Greta looked disgusted by their ignorance. “Your souls!” she said.

  He frowned, “I know what the word means.”

  “Then understand what I’m saying. You have been sharing your souls with each other practically since the moment her Spark quickened. You’re soul mates,” she said.

  Lily saw their shocked faces and jumped in. “Not mates in the traditional sense,” she said. “But, you will always be connected.”

  Greta checked Lily’s pulse again. “Well ye know how to feed her, now. “ She looked at Ryan and laughed. “If ye had titties, boy, ye would be all she ever needed.”

  ∞∞∞

  The following day, Lily delivered the twins. Greta was in with her all day, and Sara volunteered to be her assistant. She ran back and forth fetching whatever Greta requested, and it was a long process, not as long as Aurora’s labor, but long nonetheless.

  Aurora spent time holding and rocking her daughter, even Alex held her for a few minutes, but looked relieved when Aurora took her back. Ryan was never far, and he wanted to hold her, but he knew she needed some bonding time with her parents. He was thrilled when Alex decided to go talk to Elvis and the L.T. about finding some way of warning all the other pregnant Vampires about the baby’s needs and the possible dangers. It was delicate because Gates had gathered several of the pregnant Vampires to him and Alex and the Weres were still wanted. The part that thrilled Ryan was that Aurora insisted on going with him, and that would leave him as sole babysitter. When they were gone, he sat alone with Destiny in a rocking chair and just looked at her precious face. Her eyes were big and round and looked right back at him. She didn’t cry or fuss and sometimes she even smiled. Her little hands reached out to pull on his lip, and he talked to her in Cherokee. He hardly knew what he was saying, but the words came to him along with a vague memory of a woman murmuring them to him softly when he was tiny. He thought it must have been his birth mother, but he wasn’t sure. But, Destiny liked it and so, he said whatever came into his head and was never quite sure what it all meant.