by Kallysten
Could the baby sense how troubled Virginia was? She rested both hands on her belly, telling herself to calm down. As if echoing her thoughts, Anando said, “Don’t fret so much,” as he entered the room and came to give her a sweet kiss.
Don’t fret? She was a long way past ‘fretting’ already and well into ‘terrified’ territory.
“I shouldn’t have told them,” she muttered, holding her hand out to him in a silent request for help. She could still stand on her own, thank God, but being helped up and then wrapped in Anando’s embrace had its charm. “I should have waited until the baby comes, and then they’d have been too enthralled to ask about anything else.”
Stroking her back, Anando kissed her cheek. “Everything is going to be fine,” he said, each word full of confidence. “You’ll see, by tonight you’ll be calling yourself silly for worrying so much.”
Tonight seemed like a long time away, and in the meantime Virginia would still have to confront her parents. She pulled away from Anando, suddenly annoyed. “Don’t tell me you’re not worried about Mary dropping by next week,” she accused. “I bet you’ll ‘fret’ just as much as I do.”
When he raised his eyebrows at her in surprise, she realized how she had sounded, and she groaned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
He drew her into his arms again. “It’s all right” he said. “I understand. Try not to snap at them.”
Right as he finished, the knock on the door that Virginia had been dreading finally came. She took a deep breath and pulled away.
“How do I look?” she asked him.
He assured her she was radiant. Moments later, her parents said the same thing as they came in and offered her hugs. The next few minutes passed in a whirlwind. Anando shook her father’s hand before taking her mother’s fingers and kissing her knuckles with a little bow that caused Madeleine to laugh and blush a little.
Virginia wanted to scowl when Anando excused himself to return to the kitchen and finish preparing dinner. She had offered to help him several times, but he had insisted on preparing the whole Thanksgiving feast on his own, with the help of a few recipes he’d found on the internet.
“Why don’t you show the house to your parents?” he suggested, and now she wanted to kick him for leaving her alone with her own parents. The nerve of him!
Hiding her annoyance along with her jitters, she played hostess and showed them the house then the yard, glancing back every so often toward Anando and wishing he was at her side.
“It’s a beautiful home,” Tom said in his usual gruff voice while he peered back in through the open French windows. “But a pool? With a small child? That’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Before Virginia could reply, Madeleine patted his arm, as always tempering his mood.
“I’m sure they’ll put up a gate or something when the time comes,” she said with a smile at Virginia. “Won’t you, honey?”
“We haven’t talked about it yet,” Virginia admitted. “But we’ll figure something out.”
Her father’s light snort might have meant just about anything. In truth, of the two of them, Virginia was most worried about his reaction to the news that Anando had fangs. If she could get her mother’s support first…
Dinner was a big step in that direction. Anando won Madeleine over with his cranberry sauce, and she made him promise to give her the recipe before she left. Tom had second helpings of everything, Virginia noticed, but he did mutter about the lack of a proper dining room.
“This breakfast bar thing, that’s good and well for breakfast,” he grumbled. “But a family needs to sit down at a real table. It’s already a tight fit for four. And what about when you have more children?”
“Dad, we’ll figure that out too. We have time.”
He dropped his chin to look at her over the rim of his glasses. “You don’t have that much time. Things start going awfully fast when—”
His stopped talking when Madeleine patted his arm.
“Well, we could help them get ready,” she said with a wide grin. “How about we take them shopping tomorrow and find them a nice dining set?”
Virginia groaned. Black Friday shopping had never been her favorite way to spend time with her mother.
“Mom, I’m not up to standing for hours. Or for redecorating the room to find space for a table.”
In truth, she could already sort of see how they could push the sofa closer to the fireplace and move the shelves to open the way by the French windows, but that was something she and Anando could take their time and discuss.
“You won’t have to do a thing,” Madeleine said with a small wave of her hand. “You can stay home with your dad tomorrow, rest, and watch the game, and Anando will take me shopping. Won’t you, Anando?”
Anando’s deer-in-headlights look wasn’t something Virginia often had the chance to see, and she would have enjoyed it in any other circumstances. Now, though, all she could see was the opportunity to put everything—or almost—out in the open.
She took Anando’s hand on the table and held it tight. When he glanced at her with one eyebrow raised questioningly, she gave him a small nod. She’d been about to out him, but he did it first.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to go shopping with you,” he said in a gentle voice. “It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow, and I can’t go out in the sun.”
Madeleine frowned, taken aback. Tom’s expression was inscrutable.
“You can’t?” Madeleine said. “Is it an illness? Will the baby—”
“The baby will be fine, Mom,” Virginia intervened, unable to wait for her parents to figure it out or for Anando to say it more plainly. “Anando is a vampire.”
She held her breath then, waiting for a reaction. She didn’t have to wait long.
And it was worse than she had feared.
* * * *
The instant Leo noticed the woman, he thought she seemed familiar. He watched her from the corner of his eye as he served his customers, two young women on a girls’ night out, giggling and blushing like schoolgirls when he flirted back at them.
He prepared tall cocktails that they took to one of the tables around the bar, and one of them left a slip of paper along with her tip; her number, Leo supposed, though he discreetly disposed of the paper without so much as looking at it.
His next customer was a man who ordered two drinks. He turned to the back of the room while Leo prepared them, waving once at a woman in a booth. Leo worked quickly and efficiently, a small part of his mind still trying to remember where he had seen the woman now seated at the bar.
Blond curls framed her porcelain features. Discreet make-up accentuated her pale eyes. She moved with a grace that reminded Leo, of all people, of his Sire. It was only when he approached her that it dawned on him why: she was a vampire. He still couldn’t figure out where he knew her from, though.
“What would you like to drink tonight?” he asked with his brightest smile. “Alcohol, blood, or a mix, maybe?”
She wrinkled her nose. It looked rather cute.
“I’ll never understand how you younglings can drink those awful mixes,” she said, drumming her nails on the counter. “Blood, if you please. And warm.”
Leo nodded and stepped away to pour her drink. While it heated up, she asked, “You’re Leo, aren’t you?”
Before he even answered, she glanced around and added, “Are Brett and Lisa here?”
An uncomfortable feeling slowed Leo’s movements when he faced her again. It was no secret that the owner of On The Edge was in a relationship with two vampires, and that one of these vampires stood behind the bar on most nights, but few people knew all of their names.
“They are busy,” he replied in a neutral voice. “Any reason why you’re asking?”
She gave a delicate shrug. “I’m trying to understand how you three mesh with my Anando and his pet. It seems like an awfully complicated situation.”
“She’s not a pet,” Leo answe
red without thinking.
A sharp smile curled her lips, and now Leo knew where he had seen her before. ‘My Anando,’ she had said. He’d seen her at Anando and Virginia’s party more than a year ago.
“You’re Anando’s Sire,” he said, wariness filling his words.
“I am, yes.” She held out her hand to him. “Mary.”
He shook her hand, using the pretext of giving her the cup of warm blood to keep the touch as brief as possible.
“Anando told you,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.
The only other person who could have said anything to her was Virginia, and Leo couldn’t imagine that. The woman intimidated him, and he was a vampire. He could guess how scary she was to Virginia, especially if she went around saying things like ‘my Anando.’ Were they that close, though? Leo had never heard him mention her, but why else would Anando have told her about the situation?
“Of course he told me,” she said, her tone implying that anything else would have been ludicrous. “My Childe knows better than to try to lie to me or hide things from me. Particularly something as important as me becoming a grandmother.”
Her brow wrinkled at that, and her mouth twisted when she took a sip of blood.
“I’m still not sure how I feel about that,” she muttered when she set the cup down again. “I’m much too young to be a grandmother.”
Leo didn’t know how to take that last claim, or any of it in fact. When sparks lit her eyes, he realized she was joking and relaxed a little.
He’d visited Virginia and Anando two days ago and heard from him about the debacle of her parents’ visit. Her mother had demanded to leave as soon as she had been told Anando had fangs, refusing to even talk to him and offering Virginia no more than reproaches. Virginia’s father had apparently not been too thrilled either. With Virginia upset about her parents’ reaction, the last thing she needed was for Anando’s Sire to cause trouble.
Noticing a customer on the other side of the bar, Leo went to serve the man, but when he was done, he drifted back toward Mary. Once again, he was reminded of his Sire. It wasn’t a feeling Leo liked much, but the pull she had on him was undeniable.
“I was expecting him to get over his issues and turn her,” she said, continuing right where she had left off. “I never saw this coming.”
“I don’t think anyone expected this,” Leo interjected.
She inclined her head, conceding his point. “And you three are at peace with the situation?”
Had anyone else asked, Leo would have told the intruder to mind their own business. It was a personal matter, and the fact that there were five of them involved didn’t change that fact.
When he didn’t answer right away, however, she raised an eyebrow at him, intimating with her expression that she not only expected a reply, but also Leo was being rude by taking his time providing it. It was such a ‘Sire’ thing that he found himself blurting out an answer by sheer reflex.
“It hasn’t been easy,” he admitted. “But we’re getting there.”
She looked at him for a little while, taking small sips from her cup as though savoring fine tea. Eventually, she nodded.
“I guess that is to be expected,” she said in a quiet tone before adding, louder, “Do you foresee any threat to the child?”
Leo tilted his head, confused. “A threat? I’m not sure what you mean.”
When she set down her empty cup, her movements were slow, even dainty, but the fire that lit her eyes spoke of strength and determination. “I am happy for my Childe,” she enunciated, each word precise and clipped. “Not every Sire would be. Not every Childe, either. Is there anyone from your clan or the girl’s who might be displeased by such an odd association with humans?”
How old was she, Leo wondered, and what had she seen in the past to think of asking such a question now? Leo had never learned much about vampire clans and history. His Sire had been more interested in being obeyed by his Childer than in teaching them.
“There is no clan,” he said, keeping his voice blank. “It’s just Lisa and me. No one will come to ask questions.”
The flames in Mary’s eyes flared, then died, leaving gray ashes behind. She set a couple of bills on the counter, then stood. “I see,” she said, and held her hand out to Leo.
He shook it as warily as he had earlier, but when he was about to pull free, she held on to his hand.
“It was a pleasure meeting you,” she said with a smile that bared her fangs. “Be sure to give my regards to Brett and Lisa.”
She squeezed his hand once more, then released him and left. As he watched her go, Leo wondered if he had imagined things or if he and his lovers had just been warned—or even threatened.
* * * *
With only the light of the stars falling on the yard, Anando’s wine seemed as dark as blood. He took a sip before resting the glass on his thigh. He was lying on a chaise lounge, waiting. He’d much rather have been in bed with Virginia.
Lights flicked on inside, and soon Virginia came out, a terrycloth robe belted around her. She came to him barefoot on the grass, her lips set in a pout as she gestured to the glass in his hand.
“Not fair,” she protested.
With a half smile, Anando sat up and turned away, pouring what remained of the wine in the grass behind him. He set the glass down next to the bottle at the foot of the chaise lounge and scooted to the side, making room for Virginia.
She took the hand he was offering her and sat down, settling right alongside him with her head on his shoulder, her belly pressed against him. His hand, still entwined with hers, settled there. The other one, at her back, held her close.
Virginia made a little sound in her throat, halfway between a moan and a purr.
“That’s better,” she murmured. “You’re a lot more comfy than my pillow.”
Anando chuckled. “Hard to believe but if you say so.”
They remained curled up together for a little while, with nothing to break the silence of the night except Virginia’s heartbeat and their child’s. Anando started to think she had fallen asleep when she asked in a murmur, “Nervous?”
“Not nervous,” he replied, stroking her back. “Terrified.”
She raised her head and looked at him with a deep frown. Unable to keep a straight face, Anando broke into a grin. She rolled her eyes when she realized he was joking and settled against his shoulder again.
“Silly man,” she muttered. “Why would you be terrified? It’s not like it can go any worse than it did with my parents.”
Anando’s smile faded at once. He inclined his head to press a kiss to her forehead and held her closer still. A ‘sorry’ burned his lips, but he held it in. It wouldn’t help anything at that moment.
A few more minutes passed, punctuated by the rumbling of a car down the street.
“How do you think she’ll react?” Virginia asked.
Anando had asked himself the same question ever since he’d briefly talked to Mary over the phone, but he had yet to come up with an answer. Once, he had known his Sire as well as he knew himself, well enough to predict everything she might do or think in a particular situation. It had been a long time since he had spent more than a few weeks with her, though. They had both changed.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Why don’t you ask her?”
As he finished, the footsteps he had heard coming through the yard grew nearer. He watched Mary step around the pool and approach them.
“I knocked on the front door,” she said, no trace of apology in her voice. “No one answered.”
Anando acknowledged her words with a nod while Virginia turned around, pressing her back to Anando’s chest. Mary sat in the second chaise lounge, propped on one hand behind her, her legs crossed and one foot kicking lightly in the air.
“You had a question for me, Virginia?” she asked, a faint smile on her lips.
“Just wondering where you shop for shoes,” Virginia said without missing a beat. “Those a
re gorgeous.”
Mary twisted her foot to show off the red sole, sky-high heels, and hint of lacquered toe peeking behind black leather.
“I got these in London. Have you ever been there?”
“I’ve never been out of the country.”
Mary tisked. “Clearly an oversight. You will all have to come and visit when the baby’s here.”
The small sound that rose from Virginia’s throat could have been agreement. It also could have meant ‘not in a thousand years.’ Anando suspected that Virginia still felt somewhat threatened by Mary, if only because of Mary’s role in his life and how long they’d known each other. There was little he could do to comfort Virginia now other than holding her close and pressing a light kiss to the back of her head.
“You’re back in London, then?” he asked Mary.
She nodded. “For the time being. Although I might move closer if you need a babysitter. I saw the house next door is for sale and—”
“No,” Anando said as sternly as he could. “You are not buying the house next to ours.”
Mary’s little smile could have meant anything. Anando would have to make sure she didn’t go through with that hare-brained idea. He liked his Sire. He was very fond of her and would have given his life for her as readily as he would for Virginia. Mary had always been there for him.
Still, some geographical distance seemed needed for them to get along the best, like family members who loved each other but too easily got on each other’s nerves.
Virginia had tensed against Anando when Mary voiced that thought, but her tone was merely curious when she asked, “Do you know anything about babies?”
“Not the first thing,” Mary admitted. “But I’ve always been a fast learner. And I’m not too bad at raising kids. Look at how Anando turned out.”
“Kids?” Anando all but sputtered, but his protests died when he felt Virginia’s body shake with a silent laugh. Mary winked—at him or Virginia, Anando couldn’t have said, but he was nonetheless grateful that Virginia was relaxing again.
“It’s getting late,” she said, pushing herself up to a sitting position. “I’m going to say goodnight.” She pressed a lingering kiss to Anando’s lips before murmuring, “Don’t be too long.”