by Jen Pretty
“I scheduled the contractor to start the door between rooms tomorrow. If the room isn’t ready, he can stay in our room. I would like that anyway.”
“You would?” I asked. I never thought of Vincent being a hands-on father.
“Absolutely. The two of you sleeping in my room sounds perfect.”
“OK, well, we should be home soon,” I said with a giddy smile on my face.
“See you soon,” he said.
We hung up, and I went back to my snack. I had orange powder all over my stomach by the time we pulled into the mansion. I tried to dust it off, but it was permanent. I rolled out of the van and up the stairs to the front door. It swung open to reveal Andre. He bowed his head. “Lord Vincent would like to see you in the dining room.”
“Lord Vincent,” I said in a mocking tone, “Will have to wait because I have to pee,” I said — too much sports drink. I should have had coffee. I wouldn’t have this problem. Coffee never betrayed me by filling my bladder unnecessarily.
I hustled past Andre to the small half bath tucked away behind the staircase, making it just in time. Damn, being pregnant sucked.
I waddled back out of the bathroom, cursing my expanded waistline and found the foyer empty. So, I staggered down the hall towards the dining room, carrying the tiny crown in my hand. I didn’t want to set it down somewhere and lose it. I turned the corner into the dining room, and everyone yelled “surprise” so loud I was glad I had just emptied my bladder.
They decorated the room better than my birthday streamers. There were soft blue streamers, but also a giant sign that said congratulations in blue letters and balloons everywhere. Elliot did an epic flip, and I got a stabbing pain in my back. Little turnip needed to settle down. Everyone was clapping, and Trevor was taking pictures.
I shook my head at the goofy vampire, but he ushered me forward to a chair decorated with balloons and puffy plastic pompoms. When I sat down, everyone came over and set gifts down around me. This was way over the top.
Vincent came up and stood beside me. “This is from me,” he said, handing me a tiny box.
I looked up at him in his handsome suit and tie and his hair perfectly styled. Then I looked down at my huge belly covered in orange cheese powder. God, I was a hippopotamus.
I took his tiny box and pulled the wrapping off. The box said Tiffany. I took the top off and inside was a gold necklace with a beautiful lightning bolt encrusted with diamonds. It was fitting since I gave him Indra’s lightning bolt that Durga carried around with her.
“Thank you,” I whispered. He took it and stood behind my chair. I swept my hair out of the way, and he attached it around my neck. It was beautiful the way it sparkled.
“Ok, now open mine,” Trevor said, shoving a gift in my lap. I had another sharp stabbing pain in my back and winced then took Trevor’s beautifully wrapped present. It was rather large, and the blue paper had hearts on it that said: “It’s a boy.”
I tore at the paper. Some heckler yelled at me to hurry up, and I looked up to find Peri standing on a table, smiling at me from the other side of the dining room.
I shook my head at her and tore the paper. Inside was something called a diaper genie.
“You put diapers in it,” Trevor said excitedly.
“It’s a magic poo garbage?” I asked.
He nodded and put another present in my lap, setting the diaper genie aside.
I opened several more gifts. Little cute outfits and toys and all kinds of things I had no idea a baby needed, but the pain in my back was getting worse.
“Ok, guys, I love this, and you guys are all too sweet, but my back is killing me, and I would like to go lay down,” I said. “Can we pick this up again later?”
Everyone clapped and cheered as Vincent helped me up from my chair. Trevor had been making me a ridiculous hat from bows and ribbons on a paper plate. I had no interest in wearing it. Shockingly.
As I stood up, I felt a huge gush.
“Shit,” I said.
“Oh my god, your water broke,” Trevor yelled.
I knew enough about birth to know this baby was coming today and that is the moment reality set in.
“I’m having a baby,” I said. The vampires all cheered again. Bunch of idiots. The pain in my back morphed into agony, and I was ready to throat punch everyone who didn’t get out of my way.
“Move,” Vincent yelled, clearing me a path as I waddled out of the dining room. He had his phone to his ear the moment he passed me off to Trevor and Peri, who slung their arms around me and helped me out of the room. They moved me towards the medical room, and I slammed on the breaks.
“No way, I’m having this baby in my bed, not in that room.”
I had seen so many injured vampires in there. Trevor was there when he came home with me and after the rogues attacked him. I didn’t want to have my baby in that cold, stark room.
“Ok, Lark, up the stairs we go. Just take them one step at a time.” I lifted my foot to set it on the first stair but Vincent swept me off my feet and carried me in his strong arms.
“Frankie is picking up your doctor. She will be here in a few minutes.”
I nodded, but the pain was much worse, and I could hardly breathe.
“Lark, breath like me,” Trevor said making a puff sound. I copied him. It sounded ridiculous. Vincent set me down on the bed and tried to kick everyone out.
“Leave them alone,” I moaned. I didn’t want Elliot to be born with his dad yelling at people.
Suddenly, Frankie and a woman in surgical scrubs appeared in my room.
“Hey Lark. This is Doctor Foster,” Frankie said.
The doctor was a vampire. She smiled at me and came to the side of the bed. Vincent watched on from the end of the bed, his body tense like he thought he might have to fight someone.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said before another sharp pain shot through me making me groan. The doctor was speaking, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the pain. Where was Durga now? I could use a little of her magic. This hurt like hell.
“All right, anyone who is staying can stand by Lark’s head. Anyone who is leaving, please leave now, this baby is on its way.” Dr. Foster took control of the room, and everyone did as she asked, even Vincent. It wasn’t long before she told me to push and I pushed for all I was worth.
It seemed like hours. My matted hair stuck to my face with sweat, and every part of me hurt, but Dr. Foster said one last push and Elliot was born. I lay back on the bed and stared up at Vincent, but he looked worried. His eyes were on the end of the bed. I struggled onto my elbows. Realizing everyone was staring at the little bundle the doctor was rubbing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
The blanket moved, and I realized the baby I had given birth to was blue.
“Why does he look like that? Shouldn’t he be screaming or something?” I looked back, and Trevor had his hand over his mouth.
“What’s wrong?” I asked more forcefully. “What is wrong with Elliot?”
The doctor didn’t look up; she kept pressing on Elliot’s little chest. The blanket moved again, and I saw his little face, eyes closed like an angel.
That wasn’t right. I had seen him as a boy.
I panicked. My heart screamed in my chest. He had to be ok. I tried to find Durga or reach Shiva, but they weren’t here. It was just me, and I had no magic. I remembered the words Emanuel said. The gift he needs to grow into a powerful leader of our people.
“The crown,” I said. “Where is the crown?”
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but Vincent pulled it out of his pocket and left my side. He stopped the doctor’s efforts and when she leaned back; he leaned forward and placed the tiny crown on Elliot’s peach fuzz covered head.
The crown disappeared in a ring of golden smoke, and suddenly Elliot took a deep, ragged breath and screamed. His body turned from blue to pink a moment later, and his arms flailed. My body took over, and I scooped him off the bed to ho
ld him on my chest. His screams quieted and his sky-blue eyes locked on mine for the first time. My heart melted into a red goo in my chest. I cradled the most perfect being in my arms. I pulled my blanket up to tuck him in tight to my chest and kissed his beautiful forehead. He was all gooey and gross and perfect. I counted his little fingers and lay back on the pillows. He stared into my eyes while I studied him.
People moved around the room, but I couldn’t have broken my eyes away from the tiny being in my arms if I wanted too.
“Lark,” Vincent’s voice whispered beside me. Elliot’s eyes shifted from me to Vincent, breaking the trance. Vincent was smiling at me. “Dr. Foster would like to check him and you out. I thought perhaps Trevor could bath him while the doctor makes sure you are all right?”
My eyes shot to Trevor. I reminded myself that I trusted Trevor; he would never hurt our baby, but I still had this irrational urge to keep Elliot in my arms.
“I will guard him with my life, Lark,” the Russian accented voice of Ninel rang through the room, and I took a deep breath. Still wary, I handed Elliot to Vincent who held him while Dr. Foster listened to his heart and felt his stomach. I couldn’t see Elliot’s face from my angle, but I saw his tiny hand wrap around Vincent’s finger. A tear tipped over Vincent’s eyelid to run down his cheek, but his smile nearly split his face in two.
When the doctor finished, Vincent handed Elliot to Trevor, who set him down and wrapped him up in a blanket, so he was a tiny sausage. Ninel stood at Trevor’s side. The contrast between the tiny baby and the massive vampire warrior was astonishing. Even though Ninel was still thin, he towered over everyone in the room, and he had a sword strapped to his broad shoulders. I had seen him swing the sword battle and decapitate many fallen vampires. I knew he would keep my baby safe.
Once the doctor checked me out and gave me the all clear, she handed me a couple painkillers and went to get settled into her room. Vincent asked her to stay for a month so that I would have a doctor on hand.
“So, this was really gross,” Peri said, flopping down on the bed beside me but strategically staying out of the bloody mess that giving birth had made.
“It was magical, and you know it,” I said, smiling at her.
“Ok, it was kinda magical,” she agreed. “But let’s not do this again.”
“Agreed.”
“Congratulations, you two,” Frankie said. I had forgotten he was here, he was in the far corner of the room, looking awkward.
“Thanks, Frankie,” I said.
Trevor and Ninel came back a few minutes later with my sausage baby and handed him to Vincent. I could smell the baby shampoo they had used on him. He smelled like baby powder.
“Ok, everyone out, I want time with my family,” Vincent said in a soft voice that somehow lacked none of his usual authority even though it was quiet.
Frankie took hold of Peri’s hand, and the two of them disappeared, everyone else walked out the door. Vincent helped me off the bed to sit me on a chair and set Elliot in my arms. Then he stripped the bed and replaced the sheets and blankets while I stared down at our perfect baby sleeping in my arms.
Then he helped me into the clean, fresh bed. Vincent lay beside me, and I set our perfect boy between us. We both stared at him for what seemed like hours or maybe just a moment. Vincent played with Elliot’s tiny fingers, and I ran my hand over his soft downy hair.
“He’s so perfect,” I whispered.
“You are perfect,” Vincent said, and I looked up to realize he was staring at me.
“No way. I am nothing compared to Elliot. He is perfect.”
Vincent leaned in and kissed me, careful not crush our sleeping baby. Then he leaned down and kissed Elliot’s brow, and we lay there in peaceful quiet until I fell asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Congratulations, young Lark. Your child is quite precious.” I was somehow in Shiva’s temple, Elliot swaddled in my arms.
Shiva’s snake slid forward and stuck out its tongue. I held Elliot closer to my chest and narrowed my eyes at the snake.
“Come now, my serpent won’t harm your child,” Shiva said with a laugh.
“How did I get here, I thought I couldn’t come now that Durga has left me,” I said. Elliot’s perfect little features pulled my eyes back to him. He stared with more awareness then I thought was normal for a newborn.
“Durga hasn’t left you,” Shiva said. “She is just resting and didn’t want to disturb the growth of your beautiful boy. Now that he has come into the world, I’m sure she will make her way back to you. When the time is right.”
A chill ran down my spine. Maybe I wouldn’t have the quiet life of a yoga instructor after all. “When is that likely to be?” I asked.
“Someday. I dare not speak for the goddess. She does not like it when I do.”
I smiled. It was kind of funny that the great God Shiva feared Durga’s anger. Though, I supposed she was kind of scary.
“Come to me when you have problems, I will be available to you. Now goodbye young Lark. Take care of your precious boy. I have important work to do.”
✽ ✽ ✽
I opened my eyes to find Vincent sitting on the bed beside me. He was leaning back against the headboard, his legs stretched out and Elliot in his arms.
He smiled at me, and Elliot made a tiny coo. I sat up and scooted back, so I was leaning against the headboard beside him. Then gazed down at our cute little munchkin. I could stare at him all day. I wondered if all new mothers felt this way. It was actual love at first sight. I had never experienced it before, and it was overwhelming.
“I have to go away for a few days,” Vincent said.
“What? Now?” I asked.
“Yes. Our little guy here has upset the Elders of the magic community. They have a long-standing feud with the elves and aren’t happy that I’m now the father of their king. The magic people think I have joined forces with the elves, and we are planning a takeover. It’s ridiculous. I need to smooth things over with the elders, and then I will be back here with you two.”
“Why do you have to go? Can’t you send Peri? That’s her job, right? Magical liaison.”
Vincent studied me for a minute and then sighed. “You’re right.” He kissed the top of my head. “I hired her for a job. I should let her do it. She has a sense of tact sometimes, and she is old enough they will respect her word. I have a control problem.”
I laughed. “That is an understatement.”
“Do you see what I have to put up with?” he said to Elliot, laughing.
“You will find no sympathy from him. I’m the mom, and I am always right.” I reached over and scooped Elliot out of Vincent’s arms. “Isn’t that right Eli?”
“I like Eli. I was trying to come up with a shorter version of his name. Elliot is as much of a mouthful as Vincent.”
I studied his profile for a second. “Why don’t you shorten your name? Vinny?” I laughed. Oh no, he was not a Vinny.
“That’s why. Vinny doesn’t suit me, but it suits Elliot to be Eli.”
We both watched as Eli swung his hand around like he was casting a spell. God, he was cute.
“All right, I better go find Peri and let her know she will talk to the elders,” Vincent said, pushing off the bed. “I’ll send up food for you. Rest for today at least? Trevor said he would be glad to change diapers and feed Eli.”
“Ok, thank you.”
I watched Vincent stride across the room and out the door before my eyes slipped back to my little bundle. “So, you are all magic and stuff, huh?” Eli cooed again, his little mouth in a tiny circle. “Is that so? Well, just remember that mommy doesn’t have magic, so please don’t make me chase you around too much. Ok?”
Eli smiled. I don’t care what anyone says it was a wicked grin if ever there was one.
I was in so much trouble. I laughed anyway.
This might be the best adventure yet.
✽ ✽ ✽
Peri
The gym in the house was excellent, and the supply of good fighters was nearly endless. Vincent had a good, disciplined workforce.
I jumped into a roundhouse kick, knocking the vampire I was sparring with on his ass. He leaped back to his feet before he ever really settled on his back. Quick. I liked that. I threw an arm out towards his head, but he ducked in time and landed a quick jab to my solar plexus, radiating pain through my core muscles. I swept out my leg, catching his front weight bearing leg, and he collapsed like an old house in an earthquake. A smile pulled my lips as I threw myself down, fist first to his face.
“Stop.” The commanding voice of my new city lord rang through the gym.
Too late to keep my sparring partner from bleeding everywhere, but I pulled the second punch, so the chap only had a bloody lip and a broken nose, not a fractured jaw to go with it.
I stood up and turned towards Vincent. “We were just having some fun,” I said.
The guy on the floor groaned and rolled onto his side. Ok, so I was having fun.
“I see that you have found a way to keep yourself busy.”
“You don’t have any rogues or fallen in the city, just keeping my skills sharp,” I said with a grin. One of my teeth had been knocked out in an earlier sparring match. Not a canine, I would have been angry if he had knocked out one of my good chompers, but it was just an incisor. It would grow back but made me look badass, having the gap, I was sure.
Vincent shook his head. “Can I talk to you in my office?” he asked, turning to go before I answered him.
I looked down at the bloody vampire at my feet. “I better not be in trouble because you are playing dead.”
The other vampire sprung to his feet and laughed as he walked away. Asshole.
I grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off my brow as I walked out of the gym and down the hall to Lord Vincent’s office.
His office was kind of like him, uptight and straight edge. I wasn’t sure what Lark saw in him until I saw the man shed a tear at the birth of his son. Then I caught a tiny glimpse of how different he was with Lark. I wondered if that was all an act or if this tough-stick-in-the-mud Vincent was the act. Either way, I wasn’t sure I liked him that much, so my confusion stands.
