The Champion

by H. P. Mallory

  “I brought you something,” he said, reaching into the deep pocket of the big, black overcoat he was still wearing. He handed me a small stack of books.

  I read the title to the first one out loud. “ What to Expect When You’re Expecting .” I looked up at him. I wanted to laugh, but he appeared so serious.

  “I read these when Jolie was expecting Emma,” he said, “So I could be fully prepared for all outcomes. You could say I am quite the expert.”

  “You! Expert! I was the one who had to deliver Emma while you hid on the roof of the cave!”

  He frowned at me. “I think we both know I was not exactly hiding.” Essentially, he’d been hiding, because all the blood was too difficult for his vampire constitution to handle, so he’d removed himself from temptation.

  “Might as well have been hiding, for all the help you were to me.”

  “Now, that is hardly fair, my little tempest. I distinctly remember shouting instructions at you through the hole in the roof of the cave.”

  We looked each other directly in the eyes and both burst out laughing. God, I loved his laugh. So deep and gravelly. He took my hand.

  “May I?” He was looking at my belly.

  I knew immediately what he meant. I nodded silently.

  He gently laid his palm across my navel. I could feel the ice of his skin through the material. We sat there for the longest time. It almost felt as if time stood still. I broke the silence eventually.

  “It’s too early to feel the baby kick,” I said.

  He nodded. “I can hear the child’s heartbeat, though.”

  “Really?!” I clasped my hand on top of his.

  “Not through my hand, silly,” he reprimanded with a big smile. “I can hear it.”

  “Is this the first time you’ve heard it?”

  “Yes.”

  “What does it sound like?”

  He laughed. “Like a heartbeat.”

  “Sinjin!”

  “Ba-dum.” He mimicked. And again. “Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.”

  I laughed, too, then almost immediately started to cry. I tried unsuccessfully to hide my tears and began sniffing and swiping at my eyes.

  “It is all going to be fine, Bryn.”

  Sinjin used his thumb to tenderly wipe a tear from my cheek.

  “No one knows what’s going to happen, Sinjin,” I answered in a worried tone. “With anything—the baby, Luce, Luce’s people…”

  “I will be here at all times to protect you and the sprog.”

  I smiled up at him, and his eyes met mine. He leaned forward and ran his fingers down the side of my face.

  “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,” I started.

  He raised an inquiring eyebrow.

  “Do you want to find out if the child is a boy or girl?”

  “No, I do not,” he answered immediately, appearing stern. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “Why? Do you?”

  “I wasn’t sure, but if you feel that strongly about it, I’m fine keeping it a surprise.”

  He inclined his head. “Thank you, Bete Noir .”

  “Can I ask why?”

  He was quiet for a few seconds as he apparently considered the reasons. “When you get to my age, life does not hold many surprises anymore. I would dearly love the birth of my child to be one of them.”

  “I understand,” I said softly, trying and failing, yet again, to imagine what if must be like to be Sinjin Sinclair, six-hundred-year-old master vampire.

  He was staring intently at me again.

  “What you said earlier, about my life being lonely,” he started.

  I nodded.

  “It is not lonely any longer.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Bryn

  The way was finally clear. Dureau’s curse had been lifted, and the threat that had been Varick was gone forever. The time for waiting was over, and the time for action was on us.

  I rushed to tell Sinjin the news, bursting into the Green Room excitedly. I knew I’d find him there, pondering strategy, as he always seemed to be doing lately.

  “Guess what?!” I asked.

  He looked up from his maps and papers.

  “What is it, Bete Noir ?”

  The look on his face when he saw me gave me the shivers. It made me feel so … wanted. As if to prove it, he was suddenly inches away from me, causing me to jump. But the feeling wasn’t unpleasant. More thrilling. Sinjin wrapped me tightly in his arms. I could feel his supernatural strength, but he was careful not to hurt me. He buried his face in my hair, which was loose and freshly washed. He inhaled deeply.

  Luckily, it was just the two of us in the room. Of course, I half-wondered, if someone else had been here with us, would it have stopped Sinjin? I doubted it.

  “There is no scent quite like yours,” he murmured as he stroked the back of my neck and caressed my cheek with his own. I’d almost forgotten what I’d come to say when he pulled back abruptly.

  “What did you want to tell me, my darling heathen?”

  “Um. Right. Jolie thinks it’s time for Dureau and me to infiltrate the dreams of Luce’s tribe.”

  “Hmm,” he answered, and didn’t seem exactly thrilled with the idea. “And what is the plan, exactly?”

  “Something very similar to when Dureau and I met Monsieur D in his dream.”

  I watched his face turn to thunder. “You mean you have to lie in bed and hold hands with that fop again?”

  “Sinjin, it’s only …” I started with a smile. His jealousy was… kind of cute, I had to admit.

  “I will not have it!”

  “What do you mean, you will not have it?” I said, my smile beginning to fade.

  “I swore to myself that the time with Monsieur D was the last time you two would be in bed together.”

  “We weren’t in bed together!”

  “You were lying side by side.”

  “In the most non-intimate way possible,” I corrected him.

  “With a man who has been pining after you since he made your acquaintance,” he grumbled.

  “Sinjin, I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life.”

  “Ridiculous, am I?”

  “Yes,” I answered, growing annoyed. His jealousy wasn’t as cute as I’d thought. “You don’t own me. You don’t get to say what I can and can’t do!”

  “You are my girlfriend and you are carrying my child.”

  “I’m carrying our child. And my mind is still my own. And so is my will,” I answered as the anger continued to grow. “As I have a duty to my queen and our people, I’m doing this, whether you like it or not.”

  With that, I flounced out of the room, slamming the door so hard that it rattled on its hinges.

  Sinjin

  Six hundred years is a long time for one to get to know oneself, but I must admit that I was baffled by my own behavior. Logically, I knew there was nothing going on between Bryn and Chevalier and that the frog was no longer a threat to our relationship. And I knew that this course of action, planting seeds in the dreams of Luce’s tribespeople, was eminently worth trying. It might even save countless lives. It was not as though Bryn and Chevalier would be alone in bed together. The room would be crammed full of observers, including myself, if I so chose. And, of course, I would. I had seen it all before. I knew the setup. So why was I behaving in such an irrational manner?

  Baffled, I decided to seek out Mathilda, on the pretext of seeing how preparations were going. It was she who initially prepared the dream potions, mixing the magical plants and probably adding all sorts of secret, unappetizing ingredients. Mercedes then imbued the potion with further, even more powerful magical properties.

  I found Mathilda busily mixing away at her extraordinarily messy kitchen table. She looked up and smiled upon my arrival.

  “Sinjin! Pull up a chair, my dear.”

  I did as I was bid and waited patiently for her to finish what she was doing. Finally, she wiped her hands on a
multi-colored cloth and gave me her full attention.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “This ceremony. Is it really necessary for the dandy and Bryn to hold hands?”

  “The dandy?”

  “Chevalier,” I muttered.

  “Ha,” she laughed and then shook her head. “Naughty, Sinjin.”

  “Always,” I grumbled.

  She began to nod. “Aye, it is necessary for them to hold hands, dearie. It helps them considerably in staying together in the dream world, and especially in arriving together. Otherwise they might land in separate parts of the dream and not be able to find each other. Or find their way back.”

  “Very well. I accept that. But what of the bed? Surely that is an unnecessary prop? Why can they not sit on chairs?”

  “Well, technically, they could, I suppose,” she said as she worried her lower lip. “But they would not be nearly as comfortable. A bed is more conducive to the deep sleep needed to penetrate the dream of another.” She frowned at me. “What’s this all about, Sinjin?”

  “I do not think it is fitting that Bryn should lie with another man.”

  A tinkly laugh ensued. “You’re jealous? Is that it?”

  “Jealous? I can assure you I am not, good lady,” I grumbled before taking a deep breath in order to explain. “I am merely attempting to ascertain the most efficient way for the dream ceremony to be carried out.”

  “Hah.”

  She appeared to find this even more hilarious. I was beginning to regret coming to see her.

  “Sinjin, my dear. Can’t you see what is happening here?”

  “No, I cannot. Pray tell, what is happening here?” I was aware I sounded testy.

  “The fact that Bryn is carrying your child is making you… act in ways you ordinarily wouldn’t. In fact, I would go so far as to say it has made you territorial.”

  There was a certain amount of sense to the argument, I had to admit.

  “But you have to remember, Bryn is an independent being,” she said as she held up her index finger, as if she were a teacher and I an insolent student. “Being protective is one thing. But dictating her actions is quite another. Bryn does not strike me as the type of young lady who appreciates overbearing men.”

  “You can say that I again.”

  Mathilda chuckled.

  “So, you just have to trust her. And be there for her and believe her.”

  I nodded, feeling most contrite.

  “But don’t be too hard on yourself, dearie. This is all new to you. You’ve never experienced impending fatherhood before. I’d imagine few vampires have, if any. No one can tell you what’s normal and what is not in the circumstances. You and Bryn must find your own way.”

  As usual, Mathilda’s special brand of wisdom was spot on. “Thank you, Mathilda. You feel like my grandmother, even though I am considerably older than you are.”

  She chuckled. “Probably because you’re wearing a bit better than I am. Anyway, I’m finished here. Let’s go to the ceremonial room. You can help me carry a few things.”

  “The ceremony is happening now?”

  “Why, yes. In about half an hour. We’ve waited long enough.”

  “All right, then.” I held out my arms, and Mathilda loaded them with all manner of pots and containers. At least I would be present in order to keep an eye on the frog and ensure that nothing untoward was going on.

  Bryn

  “Who the hell does he think he is?!” I yelled as Jolie found me on her doorstep.

  “Let me guess? Sinjin?”

  “Who else? He thinks he owns me now, if you can believe that.”

  “Would you like to come in?”

  “No, I would not!”

  “Okay.”

  “Sorry,” I said as I realized I was taking my anger out on the wrong person. I inhaled deeply and faced her with an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just. That man! He is so infuriating. You have no idea, Jolie.”

  “You think? I want to kill Rand at least twice a week.”

  “Really?”

  I was genuinely amazed. I considered Jolie and Rand to be the perfect couple, so much so that they were practically nauseating.

  “So, it’s normal, then? To want to kill your partner?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Jolie said this with such a sweet expression on her face that I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Only yesterday, he forgot to put Emma’s nappy on under her onesie, then took her for a walk in her buggy. You should have seen the mess. Poop everywhere.”

  “Nappy? Buggy?” I repeated. “It sounds like you’ve become fully British, minus the accent.”

  She laughed as she nodded, pulling the front door shut behind her. “I guess it does, doesn’t it?”

  It was a beautiful day in Kinloch Kirk, sunny and not a cloud in the sky—good for everyone except vampires. The sun beat down warmly on our heads, and birdsong filled the air.

  “Nervous?”

  I could feel Jolie looking at me.

  “Not really. Dureau and I have gone over this a bunch of times already. We know exactly what we want to do. I don’t consider it high risk.”

  “Me neither. Which is why I’m allowing you to do it. But I don’t think I have to tell you to never underestimate Luce.”

  “Noted. Hopefully, he won’t even know we’re there.”

  “Hopefully.”

  We walked around the main house and headed into the forest before taking a quick detour that led into a meadow. Within the meadow was a small building that had been erected for magical séances and ceremonies. It was here that the dream ceremony would take place. When we entered, I noted that Dureau had already arrived. He was sitting on the side of the queen-sized bed, talking animatedly to Audrey in French. It was good to see him looking so well again. Mercedes was floating around, lighting candles and muttering to herself. There was no sign of Mathilda yet. Or Sinjin. I told myself that I was glad. The last thing I needed was him trying to order me around.

  I had lied to Jolie. I was nervous. So much depended on this going well. I wanted to avoid bloodshed if possible. I shook my head slightly, marvelling at how much I’d changed since my arrival as a prisoner in Kinloch Kirk. In those bad days, I’d regarded myself as nothing but a warrior. Killing was second nature to me then. Now, I was more about bringing life into the world. I smiled and held my hand discreetly against my belly.

  Another cause of nervousness was the knowledge that I might soon be entering the minds of men who had physically violated me. Fellow Elementals who I had previously regarded as my brothers in arms. I knew that some of them had enjoyed brutalizing me. I was relieved it would not be up to me to decide which of them should live and which should die. That decision would be given to the women of Luce’s tribe—those who had endured far more than I had, and for longer. My heart ached for them. More than anything, I wanted to end their suffering. I hoped that I would soon get my chance.

  The door opened to reveal Mathilda, all floaty and glowing with happiness as usual. My heart double-skipped when I saw she was closely followed by Sinjin. I hadn’t really expected him to come, although I’d been hoping. He looked almost comical, playing the part of Mathilda’s lackey, laden down with so many different containers.

  “What a lovely day for it!” Mathilda proclaimed in her sing-song voice before joining Mercedes in her preparations.

  Sinjin half-placed, half-dropped the containers on the nearest surface. Then he looked over towards me, his expression sheepish. He approached slowly. I instinctively straightened my back and folded my arms defensively across my chest.

  He cleared his throat. “Good day, Bryn.”

  He was in serious mode—obvious by the fact that he’d used my actual name.

  “Hello, Sinjin.”

  “I believe I … what I mean is … I must apologize for my unseemly outburst earlier. I do not know what came over me.”

  “An attack of stupidity, maybe?”
/>   “You do not make it easy for a man to apologize, my dear tempest.”

  I shrugged.

  “Do you accept my apology?”

  “As long as you realize and admit that you’re not the boss of me.”

  He smiled. “I can assure you; I am very well aware that I am most definitely not the boss of you, my darling pagan.”

  “Good. I accept your apology then.”

  “Okay, people, gather ‘round,” Mercedes said as she clapped her hands and moved to the center of the room.

  Everyone else stopped what they were doing and focused on her.

  “The preparations have been completed and we are ready to proceed with the dream ceremony. I don’t have to remind anyone of the importance of what’s about to take place. Therefore, I would ask for absolute silence from everyone. We don’t want to risk disturbing the dreamers’ quest. And I would also ask that the door be locked for the duration of the ceremony.”

  Damek, who had slipped in a few moments earlier with his mother, Rachel, bolted the door behind him then nodded at Mercedes.

  “Very good,” she said. “Now, if we are all clear, let us take our places and begin.

  “I’m going to get on the bed now,” I said to Sinjin.

  “I know.”

  “With Dureau.”

  “Yes. I know.” It sounded as if his teeth were clenched. I could see his jaw twitching.

  I grinned at him. “Just so we all know where we stand… or lie.”

  I sat down on the bed beside Dureau.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “ Bonjour. ”

  “Are you ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “So, we stick to the plan. And I’ll meet you back at the flame.”

  He smiled. “I’ll be there.”

  Mercedes handed us both a goblet containing a goopy-looking solution. We clinked glasses.

  “Bottoms up,” I said.

  “ A votre sante .”

  We both knocked the contents back, knowing it wasn’t likely to be tasty.

  “Ugh!” I said as I swallowed the last of it and wiped my mouth with my sleeve. “That’s absolutely gross, Mercedes!” I shook my head as the ghost taste continued to haunt me. “Can’t you do something about the taste?”

  “Repugnant,” agreed Dureau.