“It is, but I’ve had plenty of time to think this through. I’ve made my decision and when I make a decision I stick to it.”
“But this decision lasts for eternity. There’s no going back,” she warned.
“I know,” I said. “Believe me. I’ve thought long and hard about this. It wasn’t an easy decision. Not at all.”
Diana sighed and looked over at me. The pity in her eyes pained me. I had to look away from her and out the window. I felt her cold hand press softly against mine. “You’ll be okay,” she said. “One way or another.”
“I know,” I breathed as she pulled into the parking lot.
“I’ll come with you,” she turned the engine off and dropped the keys into her purse.
“Thanks,” I gave her a slight smile.
I found a pregnancy test that I figured I’d be able to understand and asked to use the store’s bathroom. Diana waited outside the door. A few minutes later she knocked lightly on the door. “Is it ready?”
“Almost,” I explained, pulling my hair into a ponytail. When it was ready I opened the door.
“Well?” she asked.
“It’s positive,” I turned it towards her so she could see.
She smiled hesitantly. “Congratulations?” she said but it sounded more like a question.
I smiled lightly. “I guess I better go see Dr. Crane. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see me again,” I mumbled.
Diana laughed.
“That man is baffled by me,” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s understandable. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Great. Lucky me. I’m just so special,” I said sarcastically. She gave me a sympathetic look as we left the store. “Let me call him though. Maybe he can see me today. I’d like to see him before I tell Jonathon.”
“I understand.”
I dialed the doctor’s number and he answered on the first ring and told me to come right in, anything for his ‘high-risk’ patient. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I told Diana what he said and she drove me to the hospital.
Even now the hospital still reminded me of when my mom had been here. But it really hadn’t been my mom in that bed, instead it was a morpher vampire named Morgina, pretending to be her.
Dr. Crane’s practice was on the very top floor. He dealt mostly with humans, like me, that had vampire soul mates although he did tend to regular humans now and then. His specialty though was vampire-human pregnancies. He had been with Amelia through her pregnancy with Danny and Mason. And now he would be with me on my fourth attempt at a child.
“Ah, Ms. Kylie,” he said by way of greeting. “And Ms. Diana too, I see.”
“Reginald,” Diana hugged the vampire.
Dr. Crane was movie star gorgeous. He had thick black hair, smooth as silk alabaster skin like all vampires, a dimple in his chin, large almond shaped eyes, and a smile to die for. He was too perfect. He was one of the only vampires I had ever met that really looked like a vampire. He was flawless.
“So, let’s head on back,” he started towards the rooms. Diana gave me a reassuring smile, squeezed my hand, and took a seat in the waiting room.
I followed slowly behind. I felt like I was walking to my own funeral.
I sat down on the uncomfortable plastic bed while he closed the door.
“So, another pregnancy?” he asked.
“According to the store bought test, yes,” I sighed, rubbing my face.
“Hmm, peculiar,” he tapped his chin, eyes narrowed in thought.
“What’s peculiar?” I asked.
“Well, you obviously have no problem getting with child the problem is keeping the child.”
“Really, doctor? I hadn’t noticed,” I snapped. I was beginning to question how Dr. Crane was such a good doctor. In my opinion he only stated the obvious and I could do that myself without his help.
He chuckled even though I wasn’t being funny
“Lean back,” he instructed and I did as he said. He rolled my shirt up and pressed his ice cold hands to my stomach. “Your skin is hardening which means the baby is forming its protective shell,” he said more to himself than to me. He got out the jelly and poured some on my stomach before putting the ultra sound device to it. “Hmm, strange,” he mumbled, peering at the screen.
“What’s strange?” I asked.
“Look,” he pointed to the image as he turned the computer screen towards me.
“What on earth?” I asked. The screen was all fuzzy, like static.
“This is certainly different,” his brow was wrinkled in confusion. He looked at the ultrasound device. “Must be broken,” he mumbled. “This time around I want you to go on bed rest. Keep your activity level to the absolute minimum.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
Dr. Crane’s brow was still puckered, no doubt still puzzled by the fuzzy picture. “Here’s some pills you need to take,” he turned to his desk and handed me two orange bottles.
“What’s this one for?” I held up one of the bottles. Inside was a strange shimmery white pill.
He sighed. “Hopefully it will make the baby stronger and you can reach full term. It contains small doses of Jonathon’s venom.”
“Oh,” I bit my lip.
He patted my arm. “I feel different about this one,” he assured me.
“I do too,” I murmured. And it was true. Something was different this time. I could feel it.
Diana stood when I came back into the waiting room.
“He put me on bed rest,” I grumbled.
“Smart man,” she laughed.
“I’m going to be confined to a bed for the next nine months. Please shoot me,” I grumbled. I would do anything to keep my baby alive, including not moving for nine months, it didn’t mean I had to be happy about it though. Plus, I knew Jonathon, and chances were he’d carry me everywhere. By the time I gave birth, if I made it that far, I would probably have forgotten how to walk.
Diana laughed. “You know you’ll do anything to keep that little guy safe.”
“I know,” I rubbed my stomach, praying that my son would be okay. I would do whatever it took this time. “Jonathon might have to chain me to the bed though. I hate the idea of being confined to the bed for that long. I’m a mover and I hate being useless. I need things to do. I can’t just sit. I’m going to go crazy. I guess I’ll have to take up knitting,” I muttered.
“I can teach you,” said Diana. “Knitting is very therapeutic.”
“I’m sure you can. All of you apparently know how to do everything.”
“Maybe this would be a good time for you to learn to fluently speak Italian,” she said as she started the car.
I groaned. This was starting to sound a lot like school. “No, thanks.”
“Come on Kylie. Once you’re a vampire you’ll need to know many languages. Plus, it helps to fight the boredom. It becomes awfully tedious when you don’t sleep often and you have twenty-four hours to fill. You just wait and see,” she pointed a finger at me.
“Well, if everything goes according to plan I already have the next eighteen years filled up.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said with a smile. “When are you going to tell him?” She asked, suddenly serious.
I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. “Tomorrow, I guess, when he gets back from hunting.”
She nodded her head.
“He’s going to be mad,” I stared down at my hands, wringing them together.
“No,” she shook her head. “Not mad. Just worried. Jonathon is about to drive Patrick nuts with worrying about you. You’re all he cares about. And just so you know he’s upset about Matteo too.”
I flinched at the name.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I know you don’t like to hear his name. But you need to know that just because we’re vampires doesn’t mean we don’t care. In fact, we Pulmer’s are an extremely moral bunch. Some vampires don’t retain as many human qualities
as we have. Patrick believes it’s all about who turns you. How pure they are that determines how we behave. Imagine if Selena had turned a criminal into a vampire. That vampire would have already had evil characteristics as a human and then would take on some of the creator’s characteristics as well. And even if that human had been a nun and been turned by someone as sadistic as Selena they still would take on some, not all, of her evil tendencies. But that’s just his theory, keep in mind.”
“It makes sense though,” I shrugged. “But Selena wasn’t always evil.”
“No, she wasn’t. She was a good person. It’s terrible what happened to her. Jonathon still blames himself. It’s in his nature to take the blame for things that are beyond his control. But what happened to Selena can happen to any of us. To me, to Jonathon, to anyone. It’s a terrible twist of fate. We’ve already been dealt a bad car by being condemned to live for all eternity and then to be given the gift of a soul mate and have it taken away? It’s sickening. And the way Selena lost Andrew is the most painful, because it was technically her fault. His body rejected her venom. It’s rare, but it does happen. You know that if another vampire turned you, besides Jonathon, that it would kill you but sometimes the human body will reject even the soul mates venom. That’s what happened to Andrew. His body resisted the change. It’s a terrible way to lose your soul mate. In ways I have to sympathize with Selena.”
I shuddered at the thought of not making it through the transformation from human to vampire. It had been a difficult decision for me to make, to become a vampire. I wanted to stay human but I wanted a child more and I realized I wanted Jonathon forever. It would have been difficult to grow old while he stayed young. But my biggest reason for becoming a vampire, one I wouldn’t tell him because I knew then he would refuse to change me, was his soul. If I stayed human I would die one day and that would lead to Jonathon losing his mind and becoming like Selena. And I couldn’t stand the thought of his brother, or his cousins, or his uncle, or anyone having to kill him because of me. He was too golden to have that fate. Too perfect. I couldn’t do that to him and I knew he wouldn’t do it to me. He loved me more than anything and I felt the same towards him. He was my everything and I wouldn’t hurt him that way.
Diana pulled into the Pulmer’s driveway. I stared up at the massive stone, U-shaped, mansion that was my home now. So many things had changed since I had first seen the mansion. My whole life had been turned upside down. Even though so much tragedy had struck since I moved to Rome I could never regret any of it. The move here had brought me to Jonathon and he was worth any bad that came my way. Some days it was hard to cope but I would never take any of it back. Not for anything.
* * *
“Hey,” Jonathon kissed me as the boys came in the door from their hunting trip.
“I missed you,” I kissed him back. My fingers tangled in the blond hair at the nape of his neck.
“If you’re going to greet me like this I might have to leave more often,” he chuckled, his chest rubbing against mine from the movement.
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t like being away from you. It makes me anxious,” he held me close.
“You don’t need to worry about me. Look, not a hair out of place,” I pointed to my head.
His cold fingers stroked my head. “Looks like you’re right.”
“Don’t worry, Jonathon. Amelia and I took good care of her,” said Diana giving me a significant look. I knew that look. She wanted me to tell him. I knew I had to and the sooner the better. He’d only get angrier if I waited.
I took his hand in mine and laid my head against his stone shoulder. I inhaled his delicious scent to take my mind off of what I was about to do. “Why don’t we go somewhere?” I asked. “Just the two of us,” I added before someone got a wild hair up their behind and decided to join us.
“Sure,” he said. “Wherever you want to go.”
I smiled. I knew the best place to do this.
He got the car door for me like he always did. You’d think by now I would be used to his Camaro but I still found myself expecting his mustang.
“Alright, where do you have in mind?” he asked starting the engine and waiting for my answer.
“Your mother’s garden,” I replied, the nerves creeping up on me.
He smiled. “We haven’t been there in a while.”
He navigated the tiny streets and before long we were turning off onto the obscure road that led to the garden his mother had lovingly created.
He parked his car and took my hand to lead me into the garden. We passed the fountains and he led me to the bench where he had first told me that he was a vampire. I would never forget that day no matter how many millennia I lived.
I took both his hands in mine and angled my body towards his.
“Principessa, what is it? Is something wrong? You look ill.”
I took a deep breath and held it. After a moment I released it. “This is difficult to say,” I began. There was no joy in telling him the news this time. No, now I felt like the guillotine hung above my neck. What should have been a joyous moment felt like a death sentence.
His hand rubbed my back. “What is it? It can’t be that bad.”
I closed my eyes and braced myself. “We’re having a baby.”
Suddenly his hand was gone from mine and he was ten feet from me. “No,” he ran his hands angrily through his hair so it stuck up in every direction. “No, no, no!”
“Calm down,” I pleaded. “Dr. Crane is very optimistic this time.” I hadn’t been thrilled upon discovering I was pregnant again but Jonathon seemed to be close to losing it. Maybe he had taken the loss of Matteo harder than I thought.
At those words he went even more impossibly pale. “This is bad. So, bad. I knew this would happen, damn it! It’s all coming true! What have I done? Why couldn’t I have just died when I was supposed to? Why? Why? Why? This is terrible. This can’t be happening! What have I sentenced us to? I might as well have killed us all with my bare hands? Nothing will ever be the same if it comes true! I can’t let it happen! Why didn’t I just turn you? This. Can. Not. Happen. We’ll all die!” His whole body shook with anger and his eyes flashed black. In that moment he looked like the stories everyone heard about vampires. Evil, strong, impossibly beautiful, and most important, deadly.
Anger coursed through my veins. I stood up. “Jonathon! How can you say that? What are you saying?” I knew he would be upset and maybe a tad angry but I hadn’t expected this. He was beyond angry. He was livid. His fists were clenched and his breathing ragged. He looked like an angry bull about to charge. What was going on? This couldn’t just be about the baby could it?
He growled, grabbed the stone bench, and threw it against the ground where it shattered. Tiny, stray, pieces hit my skin cutting me in places. Small trails of blood dripped down my arms. “Jonathon!” I cried again. “Stop it!”
He threw his head back, his fists clenched, and screamed at the heavens. When he looked back at me his eyes were black and his incisors elongated. I had never felt frightened of Jonathon before but in that moment I was terrified that he would hurt me… hurt the baby.
I ran.
In a way it was comical. I was terrified of my husband. I was running away from the man, the vampire, which I loved. I wanted to hide. I had never thought of any of the Pulmer’s as being dangerous. Not even in the fight against Selena. It hadn’t even frightened me when I’d seen what Jonathon had done to Selena; her decimated corpse. No, none of that had had this kind of effect on me. I knew now the amount of power, of strength, that they all kept bottled up. Jonathon was the most dangerous creature out there. At any moment he could hurt me beyond repair, simply by accident. I had thought he never would but now I wasn’t so sure. I kept running. Past the fountains, past the car, past everything. I just wanted away.
He was my soul mate and I had never let the fact that he was a vampire bother me but right now it bothered me greatly. I thought
he loved me but right now I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t very sure about anything now. Had it all been a lie? How could he act that way towards me?
Finally my legs would carry me no farther and I stopped in the middle of the gravel road gasping for air and clutching my chest. Tears rolled out of my eyes because despite the scene Jonathon had just played out for me I still loved him. He was my soul mate. But I knew things would be different now. He had never before become so unhinged in front of me. His reaction seemed over exaggerated to me. We were having a baby! Not going to hell like he seemed to think! His reaction was ridiculous! Childish even! He’d been so happy when I got pregnant on our honeymoon! When I found out I was pregnant with Matteo he hadn’t been as ecstatic but I’d chalked it up to worry. Now, I knew it had to be something else. This was just too strange! Something else had to be going on! That was it. It wasn’t about the baby. I clutched my stomach and closed my eyes. What was going on?
I heard a noise behind me and jumped. A choked sobbed and then, “Kylie?” I turned around and to see Jonathon standing about fifty feet behind me. “I’m sorry,” he whispered before he fell to his knees with his head in his hands.
I didn’t move. I didn’t speak. I was frozen.
“Nothing can ever happen to you! You are my first priority!” He said into his hands. “I can’t lose you! I can’t sentence us to death! I can’t do it! But I’ve already done it! I’m so sorry!”
I finally found my voice. “Why would you lose me? Why would we die? What’s going on?”
“The prophecies,” he whispered so low I thought I misheard him.
Chapter Ten: The Prophecies
I closed the distance between us and sank to my knees in front of him. I tried to pry his hands from his face but it was useless.
“Tell me,” I pleaded. “What on earth is going on? Stop keeping me in the dark! I deserve to know the truth.”
He began to rock back and forth and I worried that he was having a nervous breakdown. After a few minutes of silence he looked up. “I’ll tell you. But the whole family should hear this too. I’ve only spoken to Patrick about this and it’s time everyone knows.”
Forever (Fallen Series Book 3) Page 12
