He refocused his attention on Wanda once more to find Arch was now at the foot of the bed, the tuft of hair on his head falling forward, his glasses on, hands at the ready.
“Push, Miss Wanda! I can see the head. Push now!” he ordered in his cultured British voice.
Marty got in close to Arch and cheered her friend on, too. “Push, honey! One more time! You’re almost there!”
Nina placed her hand on Wanda’s stomach as it rolled and moved with the movement of the baby. “C’mon, Wanda, gimme a niece or a nephew!”
With one last scream—a blood-curdling one, if Oliver was honest—Wanda pushed and, all of a sudden, there was a tiny dark head jutting from the end of the bed.
Wanda cried out as the baby entered the world…but there were no other cries as Marty grabbed a blanket and Arch placed the baby on it.
Vinnie let out a small gasp as total silence invaded the room, and then she grabbed his arm and squeezed.
He hadn’t ever seen a live birth of anything, but wasn’t the baby supposed to cry upon entry to the world?
And that was when all hell broke loose.
Wanda sat straight up, letting her legs flatten as she looked at the baby. “What’s going on?” she squeaked, and Oliver saw the effort it took for her not to scream the question. Her eyes were wild, and in an instant, tears began to fall down her face.
Oliver’s heart pounded in his chest as he looked to Vinnie.
Arch and Marty looked at each other for no more than a second, horror in their eyes, and then Oliver knew. He knew what that look meant.
Arch began CPR, pressing his mouth to the baby’s, but the infant’s skin remained blue and mottled.
“No,” Vinnie whispered in horror from behind her hand. “Dear Goddess, no!”
Heath was up and off the bed in seconds, pushing Arch out of the way and reaching for the tiny baby. He instantly began CPR, but the baby clearly wasn’t responding.
Wanda looked at everyone, their faces somber, Marty’s wet with tears, Nina’s stricken with pain, and she threw her legs over the side of the bed, pushing the sheets out of the way as she grabbed for the baby. And when she saw the infant, blue and lifeless, she wailed, hoarse and raw, “No! No! No! Nooooo!”
Nina went to grab her friend by her arms, to keep her from seeing any more, but Wanda shoved her away with such force, she fell to the floor. “Stay away from me, Nina! Let me have my baby!”
Falling to her knees, Wanda scooped the baby up and held it tight to her chest, rocking back and forth and begging anyone who would listen. “Please, please, please don’t take my baby! I’m begging you,” she sobbed as she bartered with the universe. “I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t take my baby!”
In that moment, in that raw, horrific, life-altering moment, Oliver couldn’t bear her pain.
He felt it course through him, rocking him to his very core. His soul shuddered inside him, his legs trembled with a sting so deep, he almost couldn’t stand.
He didn’t know what compelled him to do what he did next. He only knew this woman—this woman and her friends—had stopped everything in their lives to make his livable, to help him cope. To help him when he was helpless.
And he would repay them in kind.
Pushing his way into the room, Oliver didn’t ask permission. He didn’t shy away from the mother and her newborn, and he didn’t worry about what would happen to him when he did what he did.
He went on instinct and instinct alone when he grabbed for the baby, making everyone scream in protest.
Wanda was on her feet in a flash, her eyes hot with anguish and anger as she reached for him, her hands ready to claw his eyes out.
Heath—incensed, judging by the look of death in his eyes—tried to grab him as well, but in some perverse reversal of power, Oliver managed to evade his grasp.
He held tight to the baby, tearing the infant from his mother’s arms and, grabbing its tiny fist, he pressed it against his horn.
The thunder that struck his body ripped through him, brought him to his knees and, while his compulsion was to move the baby away to end the agony, he refused it. He welcomed the pain searing his gut. He ignored the blaze in his chest, the fire in his belly, and the feeling his head would explode in a million pieces.
And that’s when the baby cried.
Thank Christ, the baby cried.
And that’s how Oliver knew everything would be all right, just before he collapsed to the floor.
Chapter 17
“Oliver…good Goddess, you’re an amazing soul,” Vinnie whispered as she lay beside the unconscious man who’d saved the life of a baby, not knowing the risk to his own. She pushed the hair from his face and smiled down at him. “Wanda and Heath have gone off to the hospital, but you did it, Oliver. You saved the baby. It’s a girl, by the way. A beautiful, robust, hollering-like-a-banshee-on-her-way-out-the-door girl, with hair the color of chestnuts in fall. And that’s all due to you.”
He didn’t answer her, of course. After he’d saved the baby, as yet to be named, he’d collapsed and seized until his body calmed. Nina assured her that he was just unconscious, but saving Wanda’s baby had taken a toll on him, no doubt.
She’d also assured Vinnie that he couldn’t do this forever. His body could only take so much before it could take no more.
And that left her heartsick.
Oliver had proven over and over he was the kind of man who’d give you the shirt off his back. But having this healing power, coupled with a soul as sweet as his, could only lead to disaster.
How did you make the choice to hear a story on the news about a child in agony, dying of cancer, and not want to do something, knowing you likely had the power to fix it? What if you came across a car accident and someone in the wreck was dead? How did you walk away?
She’d bet Oliver couldn’t, but his body also couldn’t withstand the kind of seizures he was having for very long before it just gave out on him.
“Hey, you two okay in here?” Nina asked, poking her head in the doorway with Marty right behind her, both pairs of eyes filled with worry.
Vinnie sat up and smiled wearily. “I’m okay. You’re sure we don’t need to take him to the hospital?”
“I’m sure,” Nina said again. “He’s gonna be weak AF when he wakes up, but I won’t say I’m not damn glad he did what he did. He saved that baby’s life. He’ll never want for a single thing as long as I have shit-all to say about it. You understand that? Not a single thing.”
“Same,” Marty said, her eyes tired and still watery with tears. “I saw my whole life pass before my eyes while Heath was administering CPR. Thank the Gods for Oliver. Thank the Gods.”
Vinnie’s heart clenched in her chest so tight, she almost couldn’t breathe. Yes, thank the Gods and Goddesses and whoever was in charge of this thing called life.
“Are Wanda and the baby still okay?”
Both Nina and Marty nodded, their smiles relieved. “Yep. Mama and baby are fine. Safe at the hospital and in a doctor’s care. I don’t know if Heath’s ever gonna recover, but fuck all, that was scary.”
Vinnie nodded. It was right up there with her experience in Hell, and if she had the choice, she’d do that a hundred times over if it meant saving Wanda’s baby. “How’s Arch feeling?”
Marty put a hand on Nina’s shoulder and sighed. “He’s so upset. We tried to reassure him that he couldn’t have prevented whatever it was that happened. He was fully prepared to be her birthing doula, and Wanda did want to have the baby at home. Who knew it would come so fast? I mean, one minute she’s as pregnant as you can get and the next, the baby’s flying out of her life a bullet. She wasn’t due for at least another month—which is why we couldn’t get in touch with the midwife, I guess. But he can’t hear any of that right now. So he’s in the kitchen making bread. Baking always soothes him.”
Vinnie sighed, deciding once she felt better about leaving Oliver alone, she’d find a way to cheer Arch up. “Do the d
octors even know what happened—why the baby stopped breathing? Was the cord wrapped around her neck?”
Marty shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Apparently, our little buddy is a medical mystery. They’re still running tests, but so far, no one has an answer.”
Nina entered the room, giving her shoulder a nudge. “Listen, kiddo, you’ve been up for a thousand years. You look whacked. Try and get some sleep. He’s probably gonna be out for a while.”
Vinnie smiled up at Nina as she slipped off the bed. “I’ll do that,” she whispered as tears began to fall down her face.
“Aw, honey. What’s wrong?” Marty crooned, rushing to her side and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
But Vinnie shrugged and laugh-cried. “I don’t know. It’s silly to cry now. But I think it’s just really hitting me. I mean, the stuff with the baby… I don’t know how you guys keep it together the way you do.”
Nina wrapped an arm around her neck and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s all right, Almost-Goddess. You just need some sleep. You had a shit day, too.”
A vision of Godfrey flashed in her mind, but she clenched her eyes tight and warded it off. “That was nothing compared to tonight.”
“Hey,” the vampire said, frowning down at her. “You’re not afraid Godfrey will try and take you again, are you? Because he knows I’ll fuck him up till the end of time if he does.”
She threw her arms around Nina’s neck and reached for Marty, too, clinging to them. Planting a kiss on Nina’s soft cheek, she shook her head. “No. I’m just really fried, vampire. Thank you for today. Thank you for saving my life—again.”
“It’s just what we fucking do,” Nina said, untangling herself from Vinnie with a thump to her back. “Now get some rest. You need to be sharp for fucking council.”
Marty hugged her tight. “Sleep is the ticket for all tired princesses. Get some. You want me to stay with Oliver?”
There was no way she was leaving this man now. Not when she was so afraid he wouldn’t wake up, despite what Nina said. She pointed to the large chair Oliver had in his room, complete with an attached ottoman. It was big, wide, and puffy, and it looked like a perfect place to snuggle up.
“No. I’ll sleep on the chair or something. I’m short enough to fit. You guys go do whatever you have to do with the kids. I’m fine.”
Marty tweaked her cheek and winked. “All ya gotta do is yell if you need us.”
Nina grazed her cheek with her knuckles. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite, kiddo.”
As they left the room, their footsteps fading, Vinnie sat back down next to Oliver and closed her eyes, resting a trembling hand on his chest, careful to avoid his glowing horn. “Please be all right. That’s all I want. I just want everyone to be safe—especially you.”
With a sigh, she leaned back against the headboard and closed her grainy eyes.
When she woke again, it was pitch black and someone had covered them. Somehow, she was lying on Oliver’s broad chest, her nose buried in his sweater, his arm around her.
Her eyes popped open and she stiffened, horrified she’d been so forward. But Oliver wrapped his arm tighter around her.
“Would you mind staying?”
She settled back against him, not that it was a chore, mind you. “How did I get here?”
“You looked exhausted, and you were sleeping so soundly, but your neck was crooked. I didn’t want you to get a crick in it, so I slid you down, and this is where we landed,” he offered sleepily. “Too soon?”
“No,” she whispered, so content. So safe. So warm. “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”
“Drugged,” he muttered. “I feel like someone tranq’d me. I can hardly keep my eyes open.”
“You spent a lot of energy saving Wanda’s baby. I’m not surprised.”
He stiffened at her words and tried to sit up. “The baby? Is it okay?”
She patted his chest and hushed him. “She’s fine. Wanda’s fine. It’s a girl, and everything’s okay. They’re safely in the hospital, the baby’s doing well. But that’s all because of you. You did a wonderful thing, Oliver. It was amazing. You were amazing.”
She would never forget that lifeless baby. She’d never forget how blue and stiff she’d been. She’d never forget how, the moment Oliver pressed her tiny fist to his horn, she instantly breathed, how she was immediately rosy-pink and healthy and screaming her tiny head off.
She’d never forget how the room erupted around them, or how Heath ran to grab the baby as Nina and Marty ran to catch Oliver. Tears had flown, great gulping sobs had ensued, a hum of pervasive joy spread throughout the room as they packed Wanda up to take her and the baby to the hospital.
All because of Oliver.
He expelled a deep breath at her explanation, his words hitching when he said, “Thank God.”
Snuggling closer to him, she patted his cheek. “Sleep now, okay? Nina said you would be exhausted, but I promise everything’s okay. Baloney’s with Carl and everything’s right as rain.”
“Hey, Vinnie?” he murmured, giving her arm a squeeze as he tucked her closer still.
“Uh-huh,” she replied, feeling drowsier by the second in this cocoon they’d created.
He rested his chin on top of her head and sighed deeply, the sound lingering in her ear. “We’re almost at the end of this. You still up for a castle and some coffee?”
Her cheeks went hot, but she smiled to herself in the dark. “I’ve already looked up moats on YouTube, and as long as you have a crocodile, it’s on like Donkey Kong.”
“A crocodile? What does that have to do with building a moat?”
She tweaked his chest and giggled sleepily. “We have to protect the castle somehow, don’t we? That’s what moats are for.”
He chuckled, his words slow. “Note to self, look up where to purchase a crocodile in Buffalo.”
She could no longer keep her eyes open, and as they slid closed, her heart happy, she whispered, “Night, Oliver.”
“Night, Vinnie.”
The next time Vinnie woke, it was to a bump and a long groan. Her eyes were reluctant, but they opened—and when she saw what was in front of her, she bolted upright, her jaw unhinging.
“Well, shit. Look who’s awake.” A man stood at the end of the bed, wearing a ski mask, with Oliver slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, his horn glowing pink and purple in the dark. “Welcome to the party, Nerd.”
Vinnie squinted into the dark room. She knew that voice. Why did she know that voice?
Instantly, her mind raced. With the past few days rife with demons and vampires, she could only imagine which faction of the paranormal was next.
“Who are you? What are you doing in here?” she asked, her voice trembling as she began to slide off the bed.
“You make a sound and I’ll shoot your fucking face off, and then that cute little rug rat out there, sleeping like a little angel? I’ll kill it, too. So if you were going to call your friends to save you this time, you’d better hope they’re quicker than my little friend here.”
The man in the ski mask held up something shiny, and if her heart weren’t already beating out of her chest, it would be now. He had a gun.
Vinnie’s mouth went suddenly dry, her throat threatening to close as her hands grew clammy and her legs wobbled.
Still, she forced the words from her mouth. “What do you want?”
“What the fuck do you think I want, Nerd? Don’t be a fucking idiot,” he whispered roughly, flashing the gun again. “I want your sparkly motherfucking unicorn. I’d take the hot vampire, too. But I’m all outta garlic, and I bet she’s a biter.” And then he hissed a laugh at his own joke.
Nerd? How did he know who she was? Was this another random attack or something more calculated?
God, why was his voice so damn familiar? “Wait!” she whisper-yelled as he turned toward the French doors off the master bedroom, leading to Oliver’s backyard. Hopping off the bed
, she fought panic and tried to make her brain find a way to reason with him.
But her words just weren’t working tonight. She was sluggish and slow, and as she reached out toward him, she tripped and fell, knocking over a small table with a potted plant. It crashed to the ground and smashed to smithereens.
But it sounded more like fireworks had gone off. The house had been so quiet, but that was all it took to rile Frank and Mario, who began to yap.
The man in the ski mask tucked the gun in his waistband in a flash and reached down for her, his eyes glittering in the dark, angry and hot.
“You’re such a fucking asshole, Vinnie. Still the same old clumsy, misfit dipshit you always were!” he spat, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her upward.
He dragged her to the edge of the patio, her bare feet scraping on the concrete, proving he was no slouch. He wasn’t only carrying Oliver as though he weighed no more than a toddler, he dragged Vinnie, too, and she was no lightweight.
But Vinnie wasn’t going out without a fight. Not this time. She went limp for a moment, letting him tug her dead weight as the dogs barked and Sam cried and she screamed, “Oliver! Oliver!” seconds before she launched herself at him, fingernails ready to rip his face off.
It might be all she had, but she was going to give it her all anyway.
Just as the lights in the kitchen went on, as she heard Nina scream out her name, Vinnie managed to rip the ski mask from the intruder’s head—and it stunned her so badly, she lost her footing.
“You?” she sputtered in disbelief as she stumbled, still managing to somehow cling to his dark jacket.
“Yeah, me, bitch,” he sneered, before he snapped his fingers and everything went blank.
Chapter 18
“Vinnie,” Oliver whispered, pressing the flashlight app and holding up his phone. Though, he didn’t really need to. His alicorn acted as a torch in the dark. “Wake up. You have to wake up. Do you hear me?”
She was slouched against his shoulder, her beautiful pale face bruised, her flame-red hair wild around her face. But she was out of it and he’d been trying unsuccessfully for what felt like forever to wake her.
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