“Yes,” she told him flatly. “I want him castrated.”
Cozul choked on the bread in his throat and Nira pounded on his back heavily until he was left in the throes of a coughing spasm.
“And how do you intend to do that?” he asked once he regained his composure. Nira looked defeated.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “But he deserves a fate worse than death and I must ensure that he does not harm anyone else again. I have already allowed it to go too long.”
Cozul nodded and took a sip from his mug.
“I see your point,” he agreed. “Anyway, it is easy enough to accomplish.”
“How?” Nira demanded. Cozul chuckled.
“Nira, no offense to your disposition but I am in possession of a few more tricks than you can imagine. This is not a difficult task to undertake.”
When Cozul looked up again, he saw that the tears had slipped onto her round cheeks.
“Why are you crying?” he demanded in alarm. She wiped her face quickly and shook her head.
“You would help me?” she asked. “Why would you bother?”
Cozul’s brow furrowed as he struggled for an answer but nothing readily sprung to his lips. He stuffed more food into his mouth to avoid replying but the question lingered heavily in his mind.
“Get some rest,” he finally ordered. “We leave at dusk tomorrow.”
Cozul climbed the stairs quietly, stalking toward the toilet. To his minor chagrin, Nira was inside. He waited for her against the wall, wishing he had not waited so long to relieve himself.
I will go in the gardens if need be, he decided but as he stood against the hallway, he realized he could not hear Nira inside.
After a moment, he pressed his already sharp ears against the door, hearing labored breathing from within.
“Nira? Nira are you unwell?” he asked, rapping against the door, alarm filling him.
“Sorry, Cozul. I’ll be right out,” she called back in a raspy voice. A moment later he heard retching, followed by Nira coughing violently.
“Nira! Are you sick?”
The toilet flushed and water ran for a moment before Nira opened the door looking sheepish.
“I think I poisoned myself with my own cooking,” she confessed. “Sorry to have kept you waiting. It’s all yours.”
Cozul watched as she padded off toward her bedroom, his world shattering with each step she took. Suddenly he remembered what he was trying to recall all night; he had bedded a mortal.
“Good morning,” Nira said smiling weakly as she entered the living room. Cozul sat on the deep purple chaise, his eyes fixed on her. She had spent the night racing between her room and the bathroom, vomiting so severely, she was certain her insides were being dislodged. She was pleased to see that Cozul was feeling fine.
I’m glad I didn’t give him food poisoning although immortals can’t be poisoned anyway. I guess northern food doesn’t agree with me, despite it being insanely delicious.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? You won’t get enough rest before we go,” she told him when he did not answer. Cozul continued to bore holes in her with his intense eyes.
“We are not going South today,” he informed her flatly. Nira blinked, her heart sinking into her knees.
I knew it! He’s been lying to me these last few days. I let my guard down and he took advantage of me. You stupid, stupid girl!
She locked her jaw, refusing to let him see her anger and disappointment.
“Are we going another day?” she asked tightly but she knew what the answer would be.
“Yes, but not for several months,” he told her. Nira stared at him aghast.
“Several months!” she cried. “I don’t have that amount of time to wait. What if Delano strikes again? What if he has already attacked another woman? No, I won’t wait. Why aren’t we going today?” She glared at him, waiting to hear what lies he would concoct to keep her his captive.
“I am going today. You are not,” Cozul sighed, rising to his feet. Fury flew through Nira and she lashed out, slapping at Cozul. He grabbed her hand and hissed at her, his incisors extending dramatically. She shrank back, her anger subsiding immediately.
“Do not strike at me,” he growled, throwing her wrist to the side. “I have only been trying to protect you since you arrived.”
Nira scoffed but the look in Cozul’s eye silenced her.
“Why am I to stay behind?” she demanded again but her tone took on a much less accusing tone. Cozul stopped pacing the small front room and turned to stare at her earnestly.
“Because you are pregnant with my child.”
“I must return to my clan with a donor and we have already been processed as being back in the North.”
“Before the Great Divider was fully constructed and security was almost hermetic, the elders covertly covered all corners of the south and reclaimed the babies as they were born to mortal women. They knew that any children of vampire blood would be murdered upon delivery and our way is not to kill our own. There is no room for a hybrid baby in the mortal world.”
“However, due to the fiasco of our unforeseen creation, the law is clear; any vampire caught mating with a mortal will be severely punished.”
Cozul’s words rang in her ears over and over as the beam ceiling spun in desperate circles over her head. She was pregnant with an immortal child, Cozul’s child.
No, she thought, laying on the floor of the living room in her semi-conscious state. That can’t be. We were only intimate two nights ago. There is no way I could be pregnant. It is not possible.
As Cozul gently slapped at her dazed cheeks, Nira’s hands instinctively touched her belly. She knew that he was not lying. Somehow, his immortal seed had hatched a being inside her. She would never be free to return to the South and seek her revenge upon Delano. Her baby would be murdered if anyone discovered it was half vampire but if she remained in the North, she would be slowly depleted of life regardless. Her child would never see the light of day.
But they don’t kill their own, Nira thought hopefully, sitting up.
“They will not kill the baby,” she whispered. “If you can keep me hidden until he is born.”
Cozul swallowed and shook his head.
“You will be pregnant for six months. If they catch you before you give birth, they will certainly kill you, with child or not. Six months is not three days. I cannot guarantee your safety here.”
“Then you must send me back to the South!” Nira shrieked. He put a hand on her to steady her.
“I cannot do that. The stakes have increased substantially. It is far too dangerous for you to give birth in the South. Some hybrids are born with more of the classic immortal features than others. Some develop them in childhood. There is no telling what our child will look like when he is born. If the humans suspect that we are in their midst again, another war could break out. You must remain here. It is the safest place for the baby.”
“You must trust in me,” he told her but her face had contorted into a mask of hysteria.
“You have been saying that for days but now we are in worse trouble than we were when I got here!”
“Nira, I must return to the South tonight. If I do not bring another donor back, we will have far more problems than the ones we have now. You will stay here and rest. I will return by tomorrow night and we will devise a plan. You must think of our child now.”
Nira swallowed, resigning to her lack of options.
“And Delano?” she asked sorrowfully. “What about Delano?”
Cozul studied her face, his expression indecipherable but he nodded slowly.
“I will tend to Delano personally,” he assured her. “He will attack no one again.”
She watched him with hope, a torrent of hope and desolation.
So, you avoided becoming a blood donor to become a vampire concubine. Well done, Nira. Too bad you don’t have any friends to tell about this. It would make a great drinking story.
She had nowhere to go, nothing to run toward. She had no one.
No! She lashed out at herself. You have the baby. And you have Cozul…don’t you?
“I have been summoned to the council again,” he told her, grabbing his jacket. He looked at her sadly. “I must go there before I leave for the South.”
Nira nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. He stared at her, trying to formulate the proper words to ease her pain.
“Know that I will protect you. I will protect our baby.”
He leaned forward and gently kissed her cheek before vanishing out the front door, locking it securely at his back.
Nira dissolved into a sea of tears.
Chapter Thirteen
“Cozul, do you know why you have been summoned?” Jemmy asked, his face pulled into a smug smirk of satisfaction. Cozul glared at him before addressing the council.
“No and I would like to add that I do not appreciate being hounded between trips. It is against code and it will likely affect the outcome of my travels.”
“Cozul, you are not being hounded,” Amaia chided gently. “If it was not urgent, we would not have asked to see you before your journey.”
Cozul scoffed in disbelief.
“Was Jemmy’s appearance at my door urgent yesterday also?” he demanded. “Because his accusations would have been just as irritating at midnight as they were at four pm.”
He watched with silent glee as Amaia cast Jemmy a speculative look.
She did not know he came to see me, he thought with amusement. He will answer to that later. It was a small victory for Cozul but a victory none the less.
“I cannot attest to Jemmy’s reasoning, Cozul but this is imperative.”
Amaia held up a hand, waving at a council member by the door. Ettore opened the portal and three members of the clan entered; Byana, Maxia and Nelo.
Cozul felt himself grow angry at the sight of them.
This cannot be good, he thought, his mind whirling, scheming and thinking of his next words.
“Enter and speak your piece,” Jemmy ordered. Cozul examined them each with contempt, his eyes lingering on Nelo the longest. The Lesser hanged his head, refusing to meet his eyes.
“Maxia, you may start. Tell us of the illicit fornication you have committed with Cozul,” Jemmy ordered.
Cozul rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.
If she testifies to this, she will be just as guilty as me. Byana put her up to this, I can tell.
“I have nothing to say,” Maxia insisted, shooting her former lover an apologetic look and Cozul gave her a small smile.
“Maxia!” Byana whimpered. “You cannot leave me to speak for both of us!”
“Then maybe you should shut your mouth for both of you,” Cozul thundered at her. She shrunk back and Cozul could not help but think of how weak she was in comparison to Nira.
Nira has no immortal blood and yet she has more backbone than any of these vapid females. It truly is nurture over nature, isn’t it? I wonder if our child will be as strong as she. I wonder if he will be as beautiful as Nira.
He forced himself to focus on his immediate situation, staring holes into Nelo as he shifted from one foot to another.
“Well this is a waste of time, time I could have been using to prepare,” Cozul growled.
“Silence!” Jemmy snarled. “And do not threaten the witnesses with your glares. Nelo, tell us what you saw on the morning of Cozul’s return.”
“I saw nothing!” Nelo protested. “I saw him bring the dead mortal to the bank and then escort her to the incinerator.”
“You saw the mortal was dead?”
The Lesser was quiet and Cozul held his fixed stare upon him, sending him a telepathic message.
She was dead, he told Nelo. You are a mere Lesser with no credibility. She was dead.
Nelo’s chin jutted upward and he looked at Jemmy.
“Yes, she was dead,” he confirmed quickly and Cozul nodded appreciatively.
“Why did you not dispose of the mortal yourself?”
“Oh, for all that is sacred and undead,” Cozul muttered. “Am I on trial for disposing of a mortal corpse? This has gone far enough, Jemmy. Whatever you have in your mind is a fairy tale, a fabrication created over your loathing of me.”
Jemmy bared his teeth and stared at Cozul, his green eyes flashing.
“You are about to be on trial for unlawful practices,” he hissed. “You never incinerated the human.”
Flashes of hot and cold coursed through Cozul but his expression remained contemptuous.
“I did!” he argued. “What else would I have done with a dead mortal?”
Jemmy was in Cozul’s face before the younger vampire saw him coming.
“You could not have incinerated the mortal,” he hissed. “The incinerator was not working, was it Nelo?”
Cozul glanced at Nelo who had again averted his stare to his black boots but Cozul shook his head.
“It worked fine when the female went in it,” he responded easily. “It is likely still functional or perhaps Nelo broke it afterward. He is a Lesser, after all.”
There was a murmur of consensus in the study as the council mused over his theory. The Lessers were not known for the intellectual capacity. That was why they were bequeathed menial tasks.
“Are we quite finished with this charade, Jemmy?” Cozul snapped, relief seeping into his body.
“Yes,” Amaia told him. “You are dismissed. Have a good hunt.”
“No!” Jemmy yelled. “He is hiding something, skirting the laws of our clan and our Order. You cannot allow for him to walk away unpunished!”
“That is enough, Jemmy. You are all dismissed. Leave now.”
None of the hybrids needed to be told again and they slipped into the hall where Cozul scowled at them.
“I will deal with you later,” he assured Byana. She yelped as if he had struck her, scurrying away with Maxia on her arm. Nelo disappeared into the shadows and Cozul was left in the hallway, straining to listen.
I do not have time for this. I must return south and get back to Nira immediately.
***
Cozul replayed the scene in the library with Jemmy and the council over in his head, the car racing through the streets absently.
He will never let this go, Cozul thought, a knot in his stomach. He is determined to destroy me and he won’t stop until he finds something to do it with. I must protect Nira and our child but how can I do that with Jemmy breathing down my neck constantly?
Cozul pulled into the parking lot and leapt from the car. It was late and he could hear boisterous laughter as he approached the entrance.
A dashing couple entered High Stakes and the bouncer looked up expectantly as Cozul approached. His eyes narrowed quickly.
“You!” he cried, rising to his feet. “Where is Nira? I saw you leaving in her car a few nights ago and now she is missing! Tell us where she is!”
Cozul felt his body tense in fury as he approached the guard, the syringe plunging into his beefy neck before he knew what was happening.
How dare you speak her name from your vile, disgusting lips? He thought as Delano crumpled to the cold cement.
In the line up, people screamed as the giant toppled to the floor but Cozul wasted no time, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and dragging him back toward his car.
“Nira sends her regards,” he replied, dumping Delano’s unconscious body into the rear of the vehicle.
Her mind was racing, a million jumbled thoughts overtaking her already confused mind.
What will happen now? Cozul is right, I can’t be hidden here for months. I was almost caught being here for a few days. And when the baby is born? How will he explain that? What will they do to him? What will happen to me?
She tried to be calm but her reasoning was askew. There was too much to process, too much to understand.
There is no out. He can only try to
hide me until we are found. We are trapped rodents in a cage, biding our time until the next lab experiment. Our baby will die. I will die. Cozul will meet a fate worse than death.
Memories of another conversation made its way into her psyche.
“Punished how?” Nira asked, slightly annoyed by the response. “You just told me that killing one another is forbidden. You heal yourselves with minimal effort; what could they possibly do to you?”
“There are other ways to punish a vampire,” he assured her. “Ways that make death seem a welcome vacation.”
She jumped to her feet, ignoring the overwhelming sense of nausea wracking her body. The child was already relentless, keeping her bedridden for most of the night.
I will need medical care for this baby; it is not going to be a normal pregnancy. Where would I find that? There is too much that can go wrong, that will go wrong. We are doomed. It is only a matter of time before we are discovered.
Nira touched her newly swelling abdomen, stroking the unborn baby comfortingly.
I’m sorry, little one, she thought, her eyes filling with tears again. I did not want this for you.
From somewhere deep within her, an invisible steel rod slid into her spine.
You are a survivor, she reminded herself, blinking away the water in her eyes furiously. You do not cry or whine or give in. You fight.
Yet Nira had no idea how to do that.
Jemmy crept along the exterior of Cozul’s waterfront cottage, his jade eyes shining in the darkness. He did not care what Amaia thought; Cozul was hiding something, something dark and lecherous.
He is plotting an uprising, Jemmy thought as he peered into the heavily curtained windows. I have always known the hybrids would be our undoing. Cozul is the worst of them all. His cunning knows no bounds.
Jemmy was determined to prove his instincts correct. He was an elder, an original. He knew when something was amiss. Amaia’s affection toward the hybrid was clouding her good sense but Jemmy would make her see the reality.
He has stowed away the mortal in his house. It was all a part of his plan from the start. That was why he had asked for his own space. He wanted to bring the mortals here and stage another uprising. He will not get away with this. I will foil his plans and he will be sent away to a life of purgatory just as the others who have tried before him.
A Secret Baby for the Vampire Page 9
