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I left the car parked up at the top of St James Park, noticing two sang hovering around. I knew what they were doing. They were clearly on the lookout, which tells me something big is going on. However, I know London like the back of my hand. Every side street and back alley. I know this area well. I was a part of the team who helped renovate an old factory into an office building, two streets away, before I became a blood sucker. I’ve seen the plans of the area.
I’ve made it outside the new apartment Liz has moved into. I skulk around the corner, by the iron railings, and stop to take a look. It’s not as pretentious as The Shard, but still it’s a statement. An upper-class renovated Victorian building, which says, I’m richer than you.
I’m not sure how to do this. It’s 2.30a.m., not the greatest time to pay a friendly visit. Adrien, he’ll be up, like me he doesn’t need sleep. But Liz, well, her little human body will probably be away in the land of nod, so hopefully I might get some answers without upsetting her.
I make my way to the black door, noticing one of the apartments lit up. That has to be the place.
It starts to drizzle as I press the intercom for apartment two. I roll up my shirt sleeves, noticing the surveillance camera over my head. He’s probably watching me right now.
He doesn’t answer, so I buzz again. He’ll be waiting for me to walk away, but it isn’t going to happen. He should know by now I don’t give-in easy.
I look up at the camera again, holding out my arms to tell him I’m staying put until he opens the door.
I wait as a guy suddenly staggers my way. He’s wasted and can see me standing here, but the asshole stumbles by and budges right into me.
“Watch it,” I bark.
“Watch what, you fuckin shit-head.”
I have my hands gripping his collar before the next insult is thrown at me. I could hear his remark before it left his festering mouth. I lift him off the ground, easily. He’s around two hundred and fifty pound. Way too heavy for the old me to lift.
“Name’s Stevens, right?” I read him as I launch him across the street. “Wrong place, wrong time, pal.” I flit across to him as he begs not to be hurt. “Sobered up now have we?”
“Sorry.” He cowers. “Look, I’m pissed-up. A mess.”
“You want to be careful.” I grin, kind of enjoying this too much. “Lots of sinister creatures out at this time.” I’m trying not to laugh at him, but damn, it’s hard. “Give me one good reason...”
“Look,” he cuts me off, shaking some keys at me. “I live just over there.” He’s pointing to the black door I need to get through.
Smiling, I pat his back and help him up to his feet. “Well, looks like it’s your lucky night Stevens. Because that’s exactly the building I need to get into.”
“But...”
“No buts, okay.” I say, crystal clear.
He doesn’t question or speak further. He hurries across the street, opens the black door for me, and scurries up an impressive staircase.
I take a look around, trying to tune into Liz, but I pick up nothing. Which means she must be asleep.
I knock on the white door. There’s light shining through the bottom and I can hear movement, so I bang again, harder. The latch clicks and the door opens slightly.
I scowl. “Sara.” She slinks out into the hall and closes the door behind her. “Do you live here too?” I snigger. “Oh shit, not disturbed some kinky ménage à trois, have I?”
“What are you doing here?” she hisses in an aggressive tone.
She’s wiping her hands on something behind her back. It’s no good me trying to break her shield. She is what we vigore call a blank. In other words, her shield is permanent and impenetrable.
“Is that blood?” I frown.
“Yeah. I dropped my supper,” she says, sarcastically.
“I need to see Adrien.”
“Well tough. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.” She looks like she’s going to pounce on me. “Adrien is dealing with business. Urgent business.”
“My flight is tomorrow, and I need to see him now.”
“Well call him when you land then,” she yaps.
“Do you know about him being an assassin for the order?” I hum, watching her nostrils flare in annoyance. “My best friend is in there, and I want to know she’s safe before I go back to France. Adrien has fucked-up her life enough. And now, I believe he’s married her without telling anyone!”
Sara grabs my arm and starts to yank me to the front door. I peel her fingers off me, smiling. I think she forgot that I’m no longer human for a moment, and her frustration is hilarious.
“Had my Weetabix with blood today,” I say in a snigger.
I hear a loud crash come from inside the apartment and my senses go into overdrive. I glare at Sara, hearing a low cry while my nose picks up the scent of blood. Liz’s blood. I charge toward the door. That was Liz, and it wasn’t a normal sound, it was painful.
I stride through the door to see bloody towels and needles all over the kitchen. What the fuck are they doing to her?
My fangs are out and my vision heightens to maximum, ready to rip him apart. I inhale the air from all directions as Sara jumps on my damn back. But I easily manage to fling her off me, as I race toward the strong odour of Liz’s blood.
I hear her screams as I burst through a door, growling with a protective instinct. The prick is bent over her, and she’s chained to the fucking bed. I flit across the room and grip his throat, feeling his windpipe pop.
“Nathan... Nathan!” Sara shouts. “Stop.” I hesitate, hearing Liz moaning in pain.
Adrien gets free of my hold and tackles me to the floor. He punches me hard, over and over, but I don’t care. He’s giving me his all and it pales in comparison with what I’m going to do to him.
“Adrien!” Liz screams out, rattling the chains.
As Adrien turns his head to look at her, I grab him and roll over. Now he will feel my rage before I tear out his throat. I lift my hand, my fist tight and ready, as Liz calls out my name in a loud terrified gasp. With my hand only an inch from his face, prepared to pound down, I stop. This doesn’t feel right. Something is so off in this room. I can’t hear Liz’s thoughts, and she is by no means an expert at shielding.
Adrien pushes me away and returns to the bed. My fangs retract as I jump up to my feet. I gaze across the room at Liz, to see her eyes are pure black. Vampire black. He’s fuckin turned her. I hang my head down with my eyes closed. The one thing I didn’t want for her was this. She’s that part of my life, I needed to remain the same. I’m fucking fuming. Adrien swore to me he wouldn’t do it.
“Liz, you need to push hard now,” Sara yells over Liz’s agonising cries.
I look up to see Adrien on one side of the bed, and Sara on the other. Oh god, Liz’s legs are spread wide open and there’s blood everywhere. If I were human, I’d be curled up in a ball in the corner right now, trying not to vomit.
Liz expels an excruciating growl. The darkness of her eyes hit me as my view moves down to her belly. Her fucking very pregnant belly. This is not possible.
“Push Liz... push!” Sara brushes Liz’s hair from her face.
“Push what?” I demand to know, but I’m ignored. “Push what!” I shout as loud as my voice box allows.
“Shut up, or get out!” Adrien warns me.
He clenches her hand as the sweet girl I knew lies in blood and chains, with vamp eyes, and God knows what else happening to her.
Sara moves to the base of the bed and looks between Liz’s legs. Holy shit, there is no way this is happening.
“The head is nearly out Liz,” Sara yells. “A few more big pushes.”
Liz’s teeth suddenly latch onto Adrien’s forearm. Even when I was going through it, I wouldn’t drink vamp blood the way she’s doing right now.
“Sara... another bag,” Adrien roars.
With real slow steps I move closer to the bed as Sara tosses a blood bag to Adrien. Immediately Liz’s teeth rip into the bag. As soon as the blood is gone, she calms and her terrified eyes become that pretty innocent green again.
Her human eyes find me and in distress, tears flood down her face.
I look at Adrien. “You’re going to pay for this,” I threaten him, meaning every goddamn word.
Liz’s eyes blacken again and she starts to writhe around in pain, bouncing on the bloody mattress like she’s been possessed. Sara is crouched between her open legs, and I can see it all unfolding. This is one hell of a screwed-up horror show.
“I... I can’t do this Adrien!” Liz screams in agony.
“Yes you can,” he yells.
Something inside tells me I have to help her. I hurry to her side and take her hand in mine. She’s crying, gasping, and panting. Her hand is dead cold, stained with dry blood, squeezing my fingers hard.
“Liz, remember when you got to the final in the trampoline competition at school.” I sigh and smile as her frightened eyes look to me. “And just before, in your practise, you went flying across the gym like a bird.” She hangs her head to her chest, grunting deep. “And you didn’t want to do it. What were my words of advice?” I wince as she grips and claws my arm. “Do or die, Liz. So whatever is going on here...” I growl as her fingernails scrape through my flesh. “You can do it!”
She screams, roars, and pushes.
“That’s it Liz... One more,” Sara yells.
Her fingers snap away from me suddenly and she drops back onto the bed, wheezing in exhaustion. I look at Adrien, who’s fixated on Sara. Shit, there’s a real baby in her arms. She snips the cord as I stand gawping at the wiggling bloody bundle.
“What the hell is going on?” I guess I’m asking myself, because no one will tell me a thing in this room.
I feel like I’m having some messed-up dream. I know I don’t dream, but perhaps I had an out of date feed or something, and now I’m having some kind of very realistic hallucination.
Sara wraps the baby in a towel and hands the child to Adrien. He gazes down into his arms with a strange look. Not a look of love or care, but detachment and disbelief.
Sara rushes around the bed and tends to Liz.
“Elizabeth.” Adrien holds the baby out to her.
She shuffles up. Her eyes now green, drained, and she’s forcing a smile on her lips. How can she be happy about this?
“Daniel Nathan Knight.” She kisses his head. “Hello my beautiful boy.”
“What the fuck,” I utter, shaking my head down.
It’s very sweet, naming her secret baby after me. But the fact she’s a vampire, and has just popped out a kid when it’s impossible, is kind of outweighing my glee right now.
Adrien kisses Liz’s hair as she stares into her son’s eyes. Is that supposed to be an apology for fucking her up? Dick.
“You turned her?” I say through my teeth.
“Sara, see to Elizabeth and... and Daniel,” he orders, handing Sara the baby. “You, out of here, now.” He waltzes by me, and I gladly follow.
I glance around the place as Adrien takes a bottle of bourbon, and two glasses out from a cupboard. He fills them both to the rim and demolishes one, before pouring another.
“Here.” He slips a glass my way.
I should be ripping his limbs off, but I’ll have a quick drink before I do it. I glug down the fine whiskey, and slam down the empty glass. He pours me another.
“What was that?” I ask.
He finishes the last drop, then ejects the glass across the room so it shatters against the wall. The piece of shit is genuinely screwed-up about this. He rubs his chin, face, and hair, as I wait for his explanation.
“You were right, Nathan.” He eyeballs me. “I regret it all. Pursuing her. Loving her. Goddammit, marrying her!”
“So you turned her, then somehow knocked her up.” I frown. “How the hell does that happen when you’re dead?”
“That child would have killed her. I had to do it. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” He strides the length of the kitchen.
He’s really pissing me off. There is always a choice, and he made the wrong one the moment he met her.
“The child, we both know it’s impossible,” he snaps. “That is down to Selene.”
“How the fuck did she get Liz pregnant?”
“Oh, you clearly haven’t been around long enough.” He pulls another glass from the cupboard, and pours himself another drink. “That child is a dhampir. Neither fully vampire nor human. That baby.” He waves his glass toward the bedroom. “Is like an eternal fountain of power to Selene.”
“How the hell is a tiny baby all powerful?”
“She probably wants him as her new play thing. I don’t fuckin know,” he yells at me.
I smirk, amused. “To replace you I suppose.”
“You’re about as funny as you were, when you were trying to get back into Elizabeth’s pants.” I’m still smiling at him. I can’t help it. “Don’t push me, Nathan.”
My lips straighten out. “Or what, you’ll kill me.” I lean over the kitchen worktop. “I don’t give a toss. I’m already dead. The reason I’m here, is Liz. So what are you going to do about this?”
“Get them away from here, and do what I should have done a long time ago.”
Sara strolls through the lounge area, holding the baby. Adrien doesn’t want to be anywhere near him. He’s got that freaked out Daddy vibe going on right now. He charges out from the kitchen, rolling up his bloody sleeves as he heads back into the bedroom.
With wide eyes, I watch Sara. She actually looks to be enjoying cradling Daniel. I frown as she rocks her arms, side to side, all motherly. Shit, she’s being so weird. I’m used to the hard-faced cow who loves to dominate, inside and outside of the bedroom.
She moves by me, as though all that matters is what’s in her arms. Humming, she opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of baby milk.
“Milk?” I frown.
She holds the baby out to me. I can’t hold it. I’ve never held one before. And this is no ordinary baby. I step back, kind of freaked out by the little creature.
“He’s a baby Nathan. He’s not going to kill you.” She plonks him into my arms.
Oh god, what do I do with it?
I glare at Sara as she washes her hands then takes off her shirt, so she’s standing there in her skin-tight trousers and lacy white bra. Why the hell would she strip off? She has her stunning boobs out, and I’m holding this tiny creature. It’s immoral on all levels. She quickly pulls a green t-shirt out of the washing machine, and threads it over her head.
I haven’t looked down yet. I’m apprehensive. A vampire baby; human baby; whatever it is, it’s too quiet. Come to think of it, it’s not made a single noise since it came out of Liz. I’m sure that’s what new-born babies do, cry.
“Nathan, he won’t bite. He has no teeth.”
I grumble and look down into my arms to see no black eyes, or fangs. He’s a chunky little fella, and he’s staring at me with his mum’s eyes. I move toward the back of the couch with him. I’m looking for any signs of evil, but all I see is a warm, pink, cute little guy, with a tuft of light fine hair on his head. He clasps his tiny fingers together and sucks on them, blowing a raspberry. I smile with this strange warm feeling inside.
Sara catches me pulling one of those stupid baby faces, I thought I’d never pull. She slips her hand under the blanket, and takes him away for a feed. She perches on the couch and pops the teat of the bottle into his mouth. Wow, that is one hungry kid.
“Milk?” I ask again, confused.
She places the now empty bottle on the floor, sits him upright on her lap, and starts to rub his back.
“Yes Nathan, milk.”
“Not blood?” I drop down onto the sofa’s arm.
“He’s never to have blood.”
I can’t take my eyes off him. He’s sitting on her knee like a cute humpty dumpty on crack. Sorry, shit description. What I mean is, he’s so alert, taking everything in.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I ask.
“He’s a special little man, and will have special abilities when he grows up. Abilities Selene wants.”
I bite down the tension in my fangs. I’m angry, and actually really worried about this kid. I think it’s dawning on me that Daniel is an innocent in this. He’s Liz’s Son, and she was also innocent until she got involved with that prick.
“He needs to be kept safe. Away from Selene. And for now, Liz,” she says.
“Because you think she’ll feed on him?” I scowl. It’s unthinkable. She wouldn’t.
“A sang awakening is very different from what you went through. Blood is all she’ll want.” She beams down into her arms. “So I’m going to take him.”
What a completely stupid idea that is. How the hell is Sara going to protect him from Selene, alone?
I nod my head in fury as Adrien emerges. I eye him up and down. Does he actually want this baby dead? Seems that way to me.
“You’re not seriously going to let her take him away?” I stride to Adrien, but he completely ignores me. “Are you listening?” I grab his arm.
“Do you think Elizabeth can just walk out of here with that baby?” He pushes me away. “I tell you what, why don’t we all go now, and I’ll drive. Be like some big old family vacation, hmm.”
Sara moves, patting Daniel’s back over her shoulder. As she gets closer to Adrien, he shifts quickly, refusing to even look at his son. What an asshole.
“Selene will be watching,” Sara says. “We’re going to carry on like nothing has happened here tonight. If she gets wind that Liz has been turned and given birth, we’re as good as dead.”
Screw this. I’m going to see Liz. What does she want? This is about her son after all. Awakening or not, I’m not going to let these idiots decide for her. I march toward the bedroom.
“She’s resting,” Adrien barks.
“Just try and stop me,” I warn and carry on.
Adrien was right, she’s in that bed with her eyes closed. She’s been cleaned up and is wearing a white nighty. She is still chained to the bed, but looks peaceful. She still looks like my Liz.
I lower my head in shame. I should have stayed here. I should have never gone to France. I’m supposed to have her back; to protect and look out for her. I’m just as bad as Adrien. I should have dragged her away from him, kicking and screaming if I had to.
“Nathan.” I lift my head to see her sweet eyes half open. God, this is so hard. “Nathan,” her weak voice calls me again.
I slowly walk to the bed and sit down by her feet. Her skin is so pale and her lips are as red as the blood I drink.
“You could have told me, Liz.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I should have been here. Too wrapped up in myself like always.”
“It all happened so fast. How’s Daniel?”
I smile because as strange as it sounds, I’m proud of her. “He’s fine. Hungry. But fine. Look Liz, what do you want; do you really want Sara to take him?”
“I have no choice Nathan. He’s not safe around me.”
“Liz, please think about this.”
“Adrien knows what he’s doing. I have to trust him, now more than ever.”
She suddenly begins to shake violently, like every muscle in her body is conducting electricity. Her arms fling back against the headboard as her eyes change to vamp black. I jump up and lean down to her face as she reddens and cries in pain. As I hold her head to prevent her banging it further, Adrien rushes into the room, holding a syringe. He flicks her bicep, then injects her. She drops back and calms almost immediately, breathing deeply as her eyes roll into the back of her head.
“See now,” he says to her, stroking her hair. “I’m here Elizabeth.”
My mind is made. I’m not going to run away this time. Fuck the vigore council. I can’t let Sara leave alone with Daniel. I have to do something. And if I can’t be here for Liz, I can sure as hell make sure her son is safe.
“I’m going with Sara,” I say, determined.
His eyes narrow on me, wondering whether to trust me or not. It’s a mutual feeling, because I certainly don’t trust that he has Liz’s best interests at heart.
“Fine. Sara will brief you.” He turns his back on me, stroking Liz’s hair.