Chapter Thirty-Two
“Do you need me to stay with you?” Norah asked as they neared Muriel’s home.
Raven was just about to tell Norah no when she realized Norah was asking because she wanted to stay. After Rand’s death, Norah had become too isolated and didn’t know how to rejoin her friends. At least, that’s the impression Raven got.
“I’d like that,” Raven told her, and she didn’t miss the relief in Norah’s eyes. “I’m sure Jack would like you to visit, too. Do you know Muriel well?”
Norah shook her head. “Not really,” she admitted. “Jack brought her here shortly after I lost Rand. I was in a really bad place back then. I wouldn’t even see Connor, and he’s my best friend.” Norah’s pace slowed and finally she just stopped. Raven hated to see the sadness taking hold of Norah. “They didn’t bring Rand’s body back. The attack was too unexpected, and he was with new troops. None of them really knew what to do, so they panicked. We sent out teams later to recover his body, but they never found it. Since humans attacked, they probably burned his body. Connor asked the Treasure Island settlement to let us know if they heard anything about him. I avoided people because I didn’t want to hear Rand was gone. If I didn’t see his body, I figured I could keep believing he’d come back to me. For a long time, I kept expecting him to just walk in our front door. Some days, I still do.”
Raven nodded her understanding. “I can see why you would have a hard time accepting he’s gone.”
“I almost hated Jack for bringing a human from one of the enemy settlements here,” she admitted with her head bowed slightly. “I kept wondering if her friends or family had killed Rand. I wasn’t exactly a good friend to Jack or anyone else at that time. I know the humans didn’t just attack Rand. The vampires who made it back here said the humans were terrified of them. Rand tried to stop things without killing anyone, but things got out of hand. Still, I hated them for taking Rand from me.”
“I’m sure Jack understands why you were so distant,” Raven assured her. “He hardly seems like the type to hold a grudge.”
Norah smiled and started up the walkway to Jack and Muriel’s home. “Nope, he’s always been pretty easygoing. Even when we were living in that hell hole of a reservation, Jack was pretty upbeat. I’ve really missed him.”
Raven knocked on the door quietly. She didn’t want to wake the baby if he was sleeping. Then she reached over and squeezed Norah’s hand. “You’ll really like Muriel.”
Jack opened the door with the baby in his arms. “I was wondering when the two of you were going to stop talking about me and knock on the door.” His tone was light, but his eyes were heavy with emotion as he looked at Norah.
“He’s also always had really good hearing,” Norah remarked with an amused grin.
“Come on in,” Jack said. “Con sent me a message saying you’d be here for a few hours. Muriel is napping, but she’ll be up soon.”
They followed Jack into the house where he settled into a chair with his son snuggled close to his chest. Not once did he offer to let them hold the baby. Much to Raven’s surprise, Dr. Troll had come to Jack and Muriel’s house to take care of Muriel and the baby so they wouldn’t have to risk travel. Since everything was fine, she’d cut the cord and told them there was no reason to go to the hospital. Connor had given Raven that update when she’d woken up in the morning.
“You know, Jack,” Norah began. “We came here to hold the baby, not watch you hold him.”
“His name is Cole,” Jack told her. “You can hold him if you’re going to feed him. Little demon is going to start screaming bloody murder soon.”
“I just realized I never asked if he’s a vampire or a human,” Raven said and looked over at Norah. “Did they do a blood test or something to find out?”
“He’s definitely a vampire,” Norah replied with an amused grin. “You wanna feed him?”
“How exactly do I feed him?” Raven asked suspiciously. “Does he take a bottle? Muriel isn’t breastfeeding?”
Jack laughed at her. “A vampire baby only drinks milk from his mother for the first twelve hours. After that, he needs blood. To feed him just hold the bag up to his mouth,” Jack explained. “He’ll do the rest.”
“Okay,” Raven agreed. “That doesn’t sound too hard.”
Jack stood up and gestured with his shoulder. “Why don’t you get her the apron from over there, Norah?”
Norah brought over a heavy apron and helped Raven into it. When Jack settled Cole in her arms, Raven’s heart melted. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d held a baby. More humans were deciding against having children. They didn’t want to bring them into such an uncertain world. The ones who had children usually hadn’t intended to. Birth control wasn’t available so people relied on counting days and pulling out.
Little Cole started to fuss as Jack went into the kitchen. Raven nearly swallowed her tongue when she looked at his mouth. “He has fangs!”
Norah laughed. “I could see them under the gum line when he was born. They pop out twelve to fourteen hours after birth. Luckily, they don’t need their mother’s milk after that.”
“Here you go,” Jack said, handing her a small bag of blood.
“What do I do with it?” she asked as she studied the bag and the squirming baby.
“Hold it near his mouth,” Jack explained. “When he opens, slide it in some.”
Raven jerked back a little when Cole latched on to the bag and blood splattered onto the apron.
Jack and Norah laughed at her reaction. “Maybe you should spend more time feeding Cole so you get used to it. I’m not sure if you’ll have wood nymph babies or vampire babies with Con,” Jack remarked, and Norah smacked his arm.
Raven frowned. “Who said anything about having babies?”
“Hey!” Jack put his hands up in surrender, “I know you aren’t planning them now but eventually it’s gonna happen. You two always look like you can’t keep your hands off each other, and I could tell you had that baby urge when Cole was born.”
“I might have to leave,” Raven admitted softly.
“What are you talking about?” Muriel asked as she came down the stairs dressed in sweat pants and a baggy shirt. It had only been a day since Cole’s birth, so Muriel still had the roundness to her belly. Overall, she had the radiant look of a new mother. Raven had always been amazed at how humans felt it was important to get back to their pre-baby bodies right away. When she’d first started living with them and heard them refer to themselves as fat after childbirth, she’d been shocked. Wood nymphs took great pride in the changes to their body from having a baby. They were considered more feminine. A post baby body was a thing of beauty humans didn’t seem to appreciate.
“You look beautiful,” Raven told her friend.
Muriel blushed. “Thank you, but you can’t change the subject, Raven. Where do you expect to go? I thought Connor wouldn’t let you leave, and I thought you were getting used to things here. Why are you talking about leaving all of a sudden? Did Connor do something? I swear that stupid vampire has no idea how lucky he is to have you.”
“Calm down,” Jack soothed, wrapping an arm around his wife’s waist.
“I am calm,” Muriel insisted. “I just want to know what’s going on.”
“Connor thinks the humans at the settlement where we lived might be in danger,” Raven explained. She was grateful for the distraction since feeding a very messy vampire baby wasn’t exactly relaxing. Actually, it might be the most disgusting thing she’d ever done, and she was grateful for the apron, which was now splattered with blood. “He said if there is a threat, I can go back to warn our friends.”
“You want to leave us?” Muriel asked with a hurt look, and then she calmed down and shook her head. “What am I saying? Someone has to warn them if there’s danger, and you’re the best choice. I just hate the idea of you leaving. You won’t be able to come back, will you?” There was a desperate, pleading note to Muriel’s voice.
R
aven opened her mouth, ready to reassure her friend, but she closed it with a sigh. “I think Cole is done.” The bag wasn’t empty, but he was dozing with blood dripping down his chin.
Jack dabbed Cole’s chin with a burp cloth and then took him. “I’d better burp him in the other room. I’m not sure how you’ll react if he spits up on you.”
“That is not an image I wanted in my mind,” Raven said with a shudder of revulsion.
Muriel sat down beside her, and Norah sat in the chair at the farthest end of the room.
“I don’t want you to leave me,” Muriel uttered pitifully. “I’ve been so much less lonely since you got here.”
“I’m not saying goodbye,” Raven assured her. “We don’t even know if it’s going to come to that. They might decide there’s no risk to the humans, or Connor might change his mind about letting me go.” Raven was torn. Part of her hoped he wouldn’t be able to let her go, but she would never forgive herself if her friends died when she could have prevented it.
“I hope our friends aren’t in any danger. Connor won’t want to let you go, but he loves you too much to deny you the chance to help people you care about,” Muriel stated.
Raven snorted. “Connor isn’t quite as annoyed about having me around, and we enjoy sex together, but he doesn’t love me.”
“He does,” Norah argued. “He’s never acted this way with anyone before.”
“He’s never been forced to keep a captive before,” Raven reminded her. “I’m not saying he’d be happy about letting me go. We both really enjoy the sex, but that doesn’t mean he’s in love.” Raven needed to change the subject. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she loved Connor, but she knew it wasn’t reciprocated. Connor treated her well because she was one of the people in his care. He took care of all of his people.
“You should spend more time with Norah,” Raven suggested. “You’ll really like her.”
“I feel like I’m being fixed up on a date,” Norah said dryly.
Jack walked back into the room and settled Cole into Muriel’s arms. “Should I leave you ladies alone to talk?”
Muriel looked up and gave him a loving smile. “You should go upstairs and take a nap while you can.”
Jack nodded and headed upstairs.
“Cole isn’t sleeping very well,” Muriel explained.
“He’ll get the hang of it,” Norah assured her. “Vampire babies are the worst sleepers in the world for about six months. That’s how long it takes their bodies to begin storing the nutrients from the blood. They only need to feed every one to two hours until then.”
“So, six months without sleep?” Muriel asked, sounding exhausted already.
“Pretty much,” Norah replied. “If it helps, Connor won’t expect Jack to do any work until then. It seems like you’ve already got a trade off sleep schedule going. A lot of parents don’t get that down for a week or more.”
Muriel nodded. “It was Jack’s idea. We each do four-hour stretches. He says we can do longer ones once I stop waking up and looking for Cole every few hours.”
“How did they handle feeding vampire babies before bagged blood?” Raven asked. “I’m assuming when the first babies were born, they weren’t provided bagged blood.”
“It didn’t take long for humans to have us all on bagged blood, but the babies were a problem at first,” Norah explained. “From what I’ve heard, some died because they weren’t offered blood. Most took it from a vein. They have fangs, so it’s possible. The problem is they’re messy little buggers, and they clamp down hard. There were a lot of feeding related injuries and fatalities. Some babies weren’t offered blood at all. Either their mother’s didn’t know what to do, or they just didn’t want to. Not all the first vampire babies were wanted, and many mothers thought their babies would be better off dead than living as vampires.”
Raven felt terrible for the poor babies who’d never had a chance at survival. The Moon virus had cost many people their lives, and those who had survived were changed forever. Humans and vampires both continued to suffer decades later.
The rest of their visit was nice. Norah and Muriel got along well. It helped that Muriel was grateful to Norah for helping bring her son into the world. Muriel was also a naturally warm and loving person. As a result, Norah felt more at ease with her. Raven was comforted knowing Muriel would have a friend no matter what happened.
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