“I’m sorry, Zander.” He looks at her and laughs slightly.
“You’re not the first witch in labour I’ve been near. Try to calm down Aileen; if you get anxious or worried or let the pain pull you down it’ll cause your magic to slip. You won’t have control over it. When you get your next contraction really try and concentrate Aileen, relax and breathe, count down from twenty and remind yourself that the pain will end.” He kneels next to the bed and lays his hands on her stomach, immediately lifting them and shaking his head. “You’re boiling,” he explains.
“The babies, I can sense them being uncomfortable, Zander, and I can feel their magic too.” He nods slightly as Cayson walks in with the whole bag. Of course he didn’t know what to bring.
“Right, Cayson, I need your nails.” Aileen looks at Zander, shocked. “If he can pierce through your skin to your vein, we can get meds into you. Your skin is strong; the needle won’t go through it.” He looks at Cayson. All they need is a few seconds after Cayson makes the hole, then he can put a drip in.
“Okay, where?” Cayson walks over, Zander explaining it, his eyes on Aileen.
“Remember what I said Aileen, count down, remind yourself it will stop. Don’t let it take control of you and your magic.” Cayson sits holding her hand as she cries out, her head shaking as she tries to control herself, the pain passing slowly. “Good, once we get this in it will take the edge off… I hope.” His words quiet at the end, he has no idea if it will make a difference. She isn’t a witch, werewolf or vampire. Zander nods to Cayson. Cayson kneels down, his eyes glancing to Aileen; he knows it will hurt her but it’s for the best. His nail pushes against her skin, watching as it cuts into her. Zander shakes his head. There’s no way he’ll be able to get a drip in her; she’s healing far too fast and it won’t work. He has to just give her the medication as an injection.
Grabbing the syringe he pushes the needle through the cut and into her vein, slowly injecting her with the medication before pulling Cayson’s hand away, his eyes watching as she heals almost immediately. “I have no idea if it will work, or how well or for how long, Aileen. If it works even a bit let me know, if you feel it wears off, let me know. We can give you as much as you need, you won’t exactly die.” He moves back sorting everything out, Cayson still sat by her side holding her hand.
“You’re boiling, Aileen. Zander, is this normal?” He looks at Aileen worriedly.
“Define normal, Cayson. How do we know what’s normal in this situation? We don’t, so all I can do is assume everything is normal. It is Serliciaus’s plan, so I assume it is fine. Let’s just keep the witches and werewolves from breeding together in the future and then we won’t have to deal with this again.” He laughs slightly, that isn’t possible. Even he knows that once everyone settles down, the witches and werewolves will be how they used to be and they will date. He glances to Aileen confused.
“No pain anywhere, Aileen? You should have had another contraction by now.” Hell she should have had two?
“Yes, and it fucking hurts Zander but I put a spell on myself to stop me screaming!” She tries taking a deep breath; her screaming is what causes her to lose control more. She calms herself as best she can as the contraction stops, Zander checking her again. His head shakes.
“Aileen you should be ready to push, don’t you feel that?”
“No, just pain, Zander. Really bad fucking pain.” She shakes her head slightly, she needs to calm down.
“Okay, when you get your next contraction you need to try and push, even if you don’t feel like you should. You have to, Aileen; I can see one of the heads.” His head shakes at her; maybe it’s the spell stopping her from feeling that part? Cayson turns and looks to Zander.
“Why has this gone so quick, Zander? It has been maybe half an hour.” Labour takes hours doesn’t it? He thinks back to those he’d known throughout the years; they’d all said labour had taken hours.
“Maybe because of her body, I don’t know, Cayson. She went from like 4cm dilated to the baby’s head being there. I don’t know, remember that I trained with people, not one of- whatever she is.” Zander shakes his head. He’s starting to get stressed and he needs to calm down. Aileen glances between them worried; she can feel the heat radiating from her own skin.
“Right, Aileen, you need to push. I can see your stomach tightening, so push.” Zander kneels, guiding her to deliver the twins as Cayson holds her hands. She spends the next five minutes pushing, Zander wrapping the first baby in a towel and placing her in the crib as he quickly returns to help her deliver the next baby. His hands place the baby in the crib as he goes back to Aileen.
Sorting her out, he watches as Cayson picks up the babies, Zander’s head shaking. He is never doing this again, ever. A slight laugh escapes his mouth as Cayson shouts Gwenael through. He watches as Gwenael walks to Cayson, glancing to the babies and then to Aileen.
“Is she okay?” He steps forward slightly; Zander now looking at her, his hand moving to grasp hers. Turning, Zander looks towards Cayson confused.
“I can feel it and sense it Zander, what the hell changed?” He places the babies down and walks over. He can feel it; it is like she’s now becoming Monventla. He looks at Zander waiting.
“If she is, she’s dead. We can’t risk it, Cayson.” Gwenael looks at Aileen, he doesn’t care if it breaks laws, he’ll kill her. They just can’t take that risk. His head shakes as he looks at Cayson and Zander realising they’re not going to, he moves to walk forward, Zander pushing him back.
“Give her time, I can’t feel her magic. Give her time, Gwenael, she just had the babies, her body needs to stabilise, give her a damn chance before you rip her apart.” Zander looks to Aileen. She will come back, he knows she will.
“Gwenael, take the babies downstairs just in case.” Cayson turns to look at him, if for some reason she has turned fully he doesn’t want her near them.
“Not a chance, you want me to touch them after this? What if they turn like her? Absolutely not.” He snorts and steps back towards the door.
“You will. It’s an order, Gwenael and I swear if anything happens or they get hurt you’re dead. Take them down.” Cayson turns and looks at Aileen, how is she asleep? Monventla don’t ever sleep. He sees Gwenael taking the babies, turning he looks at Zander.
“All I can guess is that she’s worn out, mentally and physically from giving birth. Everything in her body right now needs to fix itself and figure out its place. She’ll be fine, Cayson, she just needs time.” Zander’s words quiet. He doesn’t even believe what he’s saying; how can he when right now he can’t feel her magic, just the sense she’s Monventla?
“Can you not just- do anything? Wake her up; force her magic back, Zander anything please.” They stay stood back from her, Zander shaking his head at Cayson.
“No, I’m sorry Cayson but there’s a chance this was the plan. Maybe she wasn’t the one to save us and the babies are; maybe her purpose was this, only this, and then she became one of them?” He can’t ignore it, pretending everything will be great isn’t good, especially if it turns out the opposite.
“No, I saw everything, Zander. I saw her shift into a wolf, I saw her ahead of the vampires taking control. She can’t turn into one of them.” Zander shakes his head at Cayson’s words; his belief in her will be his downfall if she doesn’t come back from this. What happens when she does wake and is a full Monventla? Gwenael won’t just stand by and watch her kill everyone, even he knows that.
“Go to the babies, Zander, I don’t trust Gwenael. I’ll sit here and wait and see.” Cayson sits down watching as Zander walks out. His eyes remain fixed on Aileen as she sleeps, he can’t feel any of it anymore. Her magic, the werewolf curse, nothing, just that she is Monventla; he can sense it and smell it. His head shakes as he sits for hours, just watching. The door opens as Gwenael walks in.
“Don’t. I swear I’ll kill you, Gwenael.” He needs to wait, things could change. She could change back.
“I was thinking, maybe everything has been stripped back and hidden, Cayson. Vampires heal quicker than anything, so maybe that’s why? Giving birth took so much of her mind and body, maybe this is just her way of healing.” That’s the only thing he can think of, if that’s wrong then they’ll have to face the fact that she’s gone and they can’t bring her back.
“It’s fine, she’ll be fine, Zander.” Cayson’s words are flat but firm as Zander nods and walks out. Cayson doesn’t leave her side, his eyes eventually slipping closed as he falls asleep waiting for her to wake up. She hasn’t slept this long since before she was turned.
9 THE PLAN
Cayson sleeps on the chair, Aileen moving and finding herself waking up. Her eyes glance around the room and then down to her stomach, seeing it flat. Her eyes settle on Cayson, asleep, and then notice the hands on the clock. Did she really sleep for the whole night and day?
She climbs out of bed, walking to Cayson and sitting on his lap, her arms wrapping around his body. “Cayson,” she says quietly as she tries to wake him.
Cayson. His mind hears her word, his body running cold as he sees her as a Monventla, a tear slipping free from his eye. Cayson, wake up. The words confuse him, his eyes opening as he looks at her, the feel of her magic radiating from within her again. He moves to hug her.
“God, Aileen, it’s you, it’s really you.” His arms stay wrapped around her as he cries openly, Aileen trying to look at him, confused. “I thought you were gone, God, even Gwenael did and he was getting ready to take action.” He looks at her, seeing her confusion.
“Cayson what are you talking about?” She looks around the room, it is no worse than before so she didn’t go crazy again.
“You passed out and everything was silent, there was no magic, Aileen, I couldn’t sense the werewolf curse in you. It was like you were a pure Monventla; I thought we’d lost you. Can you not remember anything?”
“No- well yes, but not much. I remember feeling like I was on fire, really bad though before I passed out. Then cold, pure ice, like I was sitting in a freezer, and then everything just went normal again.”
“As I said, everything hid so she could heal. She was burning up, Cayson, too hot to the touch and that isn’t normal. Clearly it wasn’t about to stop so she somehow managed to let the Monventla side take control and as they’re cold, it stabilised her and helped her heal.” They both turn and look at Zander as he stands by the door. “Back on the bed please, let me check you over once more. Although with your healing abilities you should be fully over the whole pregnancy by now, to be honest.” He walks to the bed, Aileen walking over and lying down as he checks her one last time, a few minutes later he nods.
“As I thought. Totally healed! If only all women healed this quick after labour. The babies are fine, beautiful and healthy, Aileen. How are you feeling now though?”
“Fine, like before I went into labour. Absolutely fine, but starving. I need food.” Cayson laughs at her words.
“Right, well I guess I won’t order you to be on bed rest. Go downstairs and see your daughters, and Cayson can cook for you.” Nodding she gets changed and walks downstairs, Gwenael looking at her concerned.
“She is fine, don’t do what I did. You saw it last time when I didn’t, Gwenael, you can again.” Gwenael nods.
“Still a worry though, if it can all be hidden like that how do we know it won’t happen again? Or that the babies won’t?” He can’t ignore the risk.
“Gwenael, stop. She was healing; she was burning up so much that she would have burned herself from the inside out. Pulling that side forward saved her. Look at the babies, that are just like her, but cuter.” Zander laughs slightly; it feels weird watching someone give birth. His head shakes. He has to admit, it was amazing though. The loud knocking has them all turning to the door.
“That’ll be Azalea. I’ve told her to wait several times today but I’m guessing she’s given up waiting.” Zander walks over and opens the door letting her in. Aileen moves, glancing to the babies in the small crib. They look so big already; she can hardly believe she’s only been asleep for a day.
“Oh my…!” Aileen glances to Azalea, laughing slightly as she walks over to the babies. “Can I hold them?”
“Later Azalea, I just got them to sleep.” They all sit, staying quiet. No-one talks, no doubt because everything that has happened is in their minds right now.
“I’ll stay for a bit, I know it’ll be weird but I can track their growth, see if they grow at the rate of a witch, werewolf or something else.” He glances between Cayson and Aileen.
“Fine with me, then after that we can work out what happens going forward from here. Gwenael, you can get going if you want. Go home; get some sleep and thanks for finishing the room.” Cayson smiles at him, watching as he leaves, Azalea sat next to the crib looking in at the babies fondly.
“Can I hold one of them yet?”
Aileen laughs at her words.
“I haven’t even held them yet Azalea, but Zander said he just got them to sleep, so let’s not right now, okay?” Azalea sulks looking at her.
“How about you feed one of them? Aileen feeds one and you feed the other baby? We need names at some point; we can’t just keep calling them babies one and two.” Cayson laughs slightly. Aileen nods in agreement, she hadn’t considered names. “What do you think?” Cayson asks Zander.
“What do you mean, what do I think?” Zander glances to him confused.
“What name do you think? If it wasn’t for you, Zander we would have no had no idea they was due. No help, no support, nothing. So I’m happy to go with a name you choose if Aileen is.”
“That’s fine with me.” She smiles at Zander.
“Really?! Well if you want to know which girls’ name I like, I like Arini and Alicia, so go with your own names.” He laughs slightly, Aileen smiling in return. Strangely enough, she likes them both.
“I actually like them both, I prefer Arini though.” Cayson nods in agreement.
“Yeah, so I guess we have one name.” He laughs and runs a hand through his hair, his eyes glance to Azalea.
“Well, if he gets to pick or at least suggest, can I suggest two?” Azalea looks at them waiting.
“You can suggest, but it’s doubtful we’ll agree. I heard your suggestions before remember.” Cayson laughs, she nods and smiles.
“Well, I actually really like Ziva and Seraphina.” She giggles at Cayson’s expression.
“Okay, Seraphina is nice, really nice. But Z-I-V-V-A? Zi-Va? What?” He raises an eyebrow, confused by the name.
“You pronounce it Zee-va, Z I V A, Cayson; listen to how I said it.” She laughs slightly, she likes the name Ziva.
“I like Seraphina, it’s different and it matches Arini.” Aileen smiles: Arini and Seraphina. Her smile grows as she says the names in her mind.
“Okay, now how do we choose which name for which?” Cayson moves to sit next to Aileen, his eyes on them as they make tiny gurgling sounds in their sleep.
“Well, I think Arini sounds like someone powerful, and Seraphina sounds like a drama queen. I guess the baby on the right is more a drama queen based on how she’s been using her lungs all day today.” Zander laughs, his head shaking. The other baby has been fairly settled, only crying a little, but she had just screamed loudly.
“I think he is right, sure they look exactly the same but something tells me she is Seraphina.” Cayson laughs, pointing towards the baby. “By the way we’re going to need name tags or something, because if you swapped their places now I wouldn’t know.” Cayson laughs harder. Aileen glances down, her head shaking. She can see the differences, they’re very slight but she can still see them.
“If you look, Seraphina’s hair i
s slightly thicker, and her eyelashes are slightly longer. It’s only a small difference but it’ll help.” Apart from that they really are identical’ those are the only differences she can see.
“Just think, in a few years they’ll be standing in front of you giggling and trying to get you to mix them up. You’re going to have so much fun,” Azalea grins; holding a hand out and letting Seraphina grasp her finger before her head drops. She wishes she had sisters or brothers.
“You okay?” Cayson looks at her as she nods slightly. “Really?”
“Yeah, it just sucks that I never had sisters or brothers; that’s all.”
“You did, you had all the witches in the house Azalea, and all the ones who visited as well.” Zander smiles at her; blood isn’t everything.
“You have me and Aileen, and these two as well. They can be your sisters, just don’t go tainting their innocence too quickly,” he laughs, nudging her.
“I know. When are you taking them outside?” Azalea looks at them waiting.
“Not yet, we’re giving everything time. Some werewolves and witches still think Aileen is dead, or should be. Her own family can’t see her either until everything is sorted. Plus, we have no idea at what rate the twins will grow, so we’ll be checking on them regularly until we know.” Everyone sits quietly, the twins becoming unsettled and crying a short while later, Aileen moving to picking up Seraphina, her eyes glancing to Azalea.
“Go on, pick Arini up and Cayson can grab their bottles.” Azalea nods and smiles, picking up Arini like Aileen had said. She sits down carefully, cradling the child in her arms and looking at her with the biggest doe eyes Aileen has ever seen. Cayson walks through handing them the bottles and they feed the twins together, Cayson and Zander talking as they do. Aileen glances to them confused; they are keeping their voices down.
“What is it?” She looks over at them concerned.
Night Shadows Page 28
