by E E Everly
My eyes fall on a red glimmer. The amulet. I crawl forward in the grass and gingerly poke the metal in case it’s hot. It’s barely warm, so I pluck the amulet up and blow the ash off.
Anya lied about her intended use for the amulet. I’m not surprised. After my conversation with Mother, I agree with Anya’s idea to take powers from demons. I at least have to keep the amulet out of the hands of other vampires who will have the same idea to enter Belyven with stolen demon powers. This will be a mess. No one can know I have the amulet, or I will be hunted for sure. I should destroy it. But that comes with a whole set of other considerations. Deciding on a plan can wait.
I have a lot going on, and strangely, I’m not numb from grief. My thoughts are clear. My chest aches as if a massive hole has been punched clean through. Despite this, I know what I must do.
Become healthy. Don’t let vampires drink from me. This baby needs its mother with a full blood supply.
Wallowing in sorrow can come later.
My future will seriously change. I tuck the amulet into my pocket. I suppose I won’t need to siphon my child’s powers. I don’t see any harm in him or her having Killian’s abilities now that he doesn’t need them. Enhanced senses, strength, and supernatural healing might be nice to have. They’d at least remind me of Killian and keep my child safe.
I didn’t acquire Korbinian’s powers though. I suppose they vanished with Anya’s life.
So I’m still a supernatural treat, without my vampire to protect me. Korbinian didn’t have a chance to lift the curse. I could test it out—see if I become sick—but Korbinian had one of his henchmen cast it. The only way the spell will break is by that demon’s death, unless he willingly lifts it. I might never know who the caster is. I don’t discount hunting him down. Later. After my child is born and I can take the baby to Belyven where it will be safe.
Hang in there, Sasha. You can do this. What’s another seventeen or so years until I return home? I’ll have my mother send a fae guard. She should have done that to begin with. Forget a low profile. Maybe I’ll hire Natalia and Dumitru as bodyguards. I will never doubt their loyalty to Killian. I bet they would be more than happy to help in my quest to suck power from demons.
I rub my stomach. Okay, little boo. We’ll be all right. Eventually. Killian will always be a part of us, just not physically.
My brain tells me I’m being too logical. The clarity racks me with guilt. Shouldn’t I be inconsolable? My level head, despite my sorrow, must be a coping mechanism.
I unfurl my wings, feeling heavy. For a fleeting moment, Killian had wings. My vampire had wings. I would have loved flying with him.
He would have loved it.
I take one last look at Killian. I’ll come back for you. Natalia and Dumitru will help me.
I jump into the sky, turning my back on the setting sun.
EPILOGUE
The room’s dead silent. Warm and comforting. My roommates sleep soundly. The center of the room is lit with a soft glow, and oddly, it won’t wake Lexa and Mandy because they can’t see it.
I’m not surprised to have woken and found myself shimmering beside my bed in the middle of the night. I am surprised to see the person standing in front of me.
I smile.
It’s not my mother.
This visitor is so much better than my mother. And much more handsome. My gut churns with wishing—how I ache to run my fingers through his hair.
I dare take my eyes off my guest as I peek behind myself at the form on the bed. I lie on my side, rounding over the huge bulge in my belly. My breath is steady. I’d have to say this is the best dream, but I’m glad it’s not just a dream. Apparently I can see him when I’m an astral projection.
“The drop in my heart rate can’t be good for the baby,” I say.
My vampire grins. “He has vamp healing to keep himself safe.”
“How are you here?”
“Your mother owes me. Let’s just say we worked something out.”
“From the beyond?” How is this possible? I long with all my heart to hold Killian, but if I have to settle for him haunting me, I will take it.
“Yep, from the beyond.” His eyes brighten. “I didn’t think you could become sexier, but I was wrong.”
I gaze down at my projection. Projections can’t look pregnant. Then I glance at my physical form. “Are you talking about my body, with the basketball-shaped stomach?”
“Yes.” He hovers closer and whispers. “I don’t crave your blood anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t crave you. You’ll always be my storm sprite.”
He winks out of sight, and I’m shoved backward into my body.
I gasp awake, disappointed our visit was so short. With some difficulty, I roll up and curl around my baby belly. I whisper into the morning hours, telling my little boo all about his daddy. As my eyes become blurry with exhaustion, I’m lost to visions of silver-blue eyes. Sometimes they’re black in my dreams. Sometimes the prick of fangs stings my neck.
As I settle back on my soft bed, a shiver races up my spine and folds around my shoulders, like a hug from behind.
I sigh.
My vampire will never leave me. I know this with a surety.
I have just over sixteen years until I can return to Belyven. I wonder if Killian will follow me there. For now, my vampire will help me stay brave.
And that’s all I need.
***
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The first few chapters to the next novel, My Storm Sprite, are on the next page!
MY STORM SPRITE
ONE
I waddle out of the obstetrics office, with my phone pressed to my ear. “I’ll be home shortly. Nothing to worry about, Natalia.”
My breath comes out as a frozen cloud. I snug my knit hat down over my dark locks. Pregnancy has made them glossy and thick.
“I vish I could have come. I don’t like letting you out of sight. Killian vould kill me if he knew.” Natalia’s sexy Russian accent tickles my insides, as it always does when she speaks.
A cool breeze brushes my neck, and I look over my shoulder. Why do I always look, hoping I’ll see a certain someone, even though I know very well he’s not actually there? In physical form, that is.
“He knows. Trust me. And he understands.” I sigh as I wave my ghost off. Natalia knows all about my shadow.
Killian hasn’t left me alone since his death over eight months ago. He’s supposed to be at peace, but I don’t consider haunting me “at peace.”
“It’s broad daylight. Relax. Dr. Sullivan said I have two more weeks at best too.” I rub my belly. “This little guy isn’t going anywhere.”
“I suppose you’re right. See you in seventeen minutes, Sasha. No more, no less.” Natalia hangs up.
She has the time from the office to my flat memorized. If I’m a moment late, she’ll panic. It’s not as if she can do anything about it except stare at the tracker for my phone.
I pull my coat tighter around my belly, which is way too big for a non-maternity coat, and fumble in my purse with a clumsy gloved hand for the keys to Natalia’s SUV. She lets me use it during the day since I don’t have funds to buy my own car and since she doesn’t have much use for it then. I mean the windows are UV tinted and would protect her, but the run to the car, brutal. She’d burn to a crispy death.
She is a vampire after all.
I exhale as I close my hand around the car keys.
Being a pregnant college student is rough. But, hey, I managed to finish another semester before the big event.
And I’m not talking about Christmas in four days. I’m due right around the new year. But since I started school in the spring two years ago, my soph
omore year will be complete.
College is a temporary thing anyway until I can go home to Belyven—the fae world, where I belong—after I lift the curse on my head.
But hunting down the demon who cast the curse hasn’t been on my list of priorities.
Staying away from demons and vampires is.
Keeping my unborn baby alive is.
I stick the key into the door lock as a man says, “Give me your purse.” Cold steel slides past my open coat and jabs into my side ribs, above my gigantic belly.
I instantly know what it is—a seed demon’s favorite weapon—an ice blade.
How do I know what my attacker is? Because the demon stinks like rotten bacon, and it’s not the first time they’ve attacked in the past eight months.
“Seriously? Right now? In the parking lot?” I huff. Lunch hour just started, so the lot’s pretty empty, but within this cluster of medical offices in the city, a few patients are still out and about as they run to their cars to avoid the cold. “You’d attack a pregnant lady?”
“Don’t take forever. Hand it over.”
He wants my amulet. Though I tried to keep the secret that I’m the one wielding the magical gem, word got out. “I don’t have it on me.”
The air fills with static as I close my eyes. I have two options. One, shock his sorry butt and release the demon from the poor human he’s a parasite in or, two, press the amulet that I do indeed have to his heart and take his demon powers, leaving him stuck inside his human host until the host dies. This would trap the demon on Earth as a spirit without a body.
I rather like the latter. I’ve made it my mission to imprison as many demons as possible in their human form and take their powers. Demons without powers can’t body jump or teleport. They’re basically a non-threat after I’m through with them, which is how I like them just fine.
His knife pinches my skin. “I will gut you right here and your nightwalker spawn will never see the light of day alive.”
“You’re an idiot.” I grip the car door handle while I fish in my coat pocket. The demon’s breath makes me nauseated, and Kili kicks my bladder, which sends spasms through my uterus. I grunt as I hinge over slightly. “Several things are wrong with your plan. My baby is not a nightwalker. He’s human. Human.” My hand closes over the amulet. “And giving you the amulet will be useless unless I power it.”
Didn’t the seed demons know this by now? Why doesn’t he kidnap me so he can force me to wield it?
“Come on. Hurry.” The demon shifts and slides the knife above the bulge in my belly, toward my sternum.
I’m trying not to pee my pants. My heart races. My glove is so fuzzy I can barely hold the amulet. I drop my keys and the purse from my other hand, a distraction that allows me to whirl away from the knife and grab the demon by his shirt. I shove the amulet against his throat as he raises the knife to mine.
We’re face to face, and I’m not liking his putrid breath. I gag as I gasp my words. “Drop the knife, and I won’t take your powers.”
I’m lying. I absolutely will. The demon makes a grab at the amulet, but I rip his T-shirt down by the collar and smash the amulet to his heart.
He shrieks as the amulet glows. His legs buckle, and he goes down, pulling me on top of him. His knife nicks my neck, and then his arm goes slack, and he drops the blade.
I swear in my head. An ice-blade injury—I’m so screwed.
Fresh blood drips onto his face as I continue to hold him. The amulet should have drained his power, but he thrashes before I can push off him and rocks my round belly that’s crushed between us. A terrible pop reaches my ears amidst the man’s howls, and fluid gushes out between my legs.
“Now look what you’ve done!” I yell. My knee comes up between the man’s legs. He yowls and rolls to the side as he draws his knees up. I topple onto the asphalt beside him, with the amulet safely in my gloved hand. “Natalia’s going to kill me!”
I have one job. Keep this bun in the oven until D-day. Way to screw this up, Sasha.
The man whimpers and starts to crawl away. I grab his ankle and, with my inner storm, send a shock up his spine. He collapses facedown and convulses.
“Let this be a lesson to all your stupid cronies.” I release him and push up to my knees as he pulses with a few more errant twitches. “Don’t mess with the pregnant storm sprite!”
TWO
I huff and puff as they wheel me down the hall on a gurney. I’ve broken out in a sweat everywhere but my neck, which is so cold it burns. “Aw, fetching faeries, it hurts!”
I slap my hands on the bandage the paramedics put over my cut, but I immediately let go. My fingers are numb. “Natalia!” I bellow like a bloated cow.
Where is she? I shiver. I called her as soon as my OB confirmed that Kili was fine and the paramedics had me loaded into the ambulance. Even though it’s daylight, it isn’t impossible for a vamp to travel. Her boyfriend, Dumitru, has a car with tints that block UV rays. All she has to do is park in the deck, and she’ll be fine.
But I won’t be.
I have an ice blade wound, and the pressure in my pelvis is so intense it makes my eyes bulge.
Five people are in the room they roll me into. A woman prepping a baby warmer, another typing furiously on a computer. Two nurses flank me; and a guy hovers near a cart of medical supplies.
A blonde nurse hikes my sheet up and examines me. “There’s no time for an epidural.” She waves the guy near the cart away, but he leans against the wall, watching as if I’m on the nature channel.
By the time they transfer me to the delivery bed, Kili’s crowning. “Why’s this happening so fast?” I gasp and grip the bedrail.
“It’s different for everyone,” a young brunette says.
The pressure and pain increase drastically. Without waiting for permission, I bear down, pretending I’m crushing a melon with my abs. My scream fills the room.
“Don’t push!” the frantic brunette says.
A doctor strolls in, not the least bit frazzled by the room filled with chaos. Before she can calmly slip her gloves on, Kili explodes out of me and lands between my legs. They didn’t have a chance to break down the bed and lift the stirrups.
My head drops back, and I wait for his wail. The doctor is busy with him, down near my knees. Then the doctor flops Kili onto my belly. He’s as purple as a plum while he screeches.
I slide my finger into his hand as the doc clamps the cord. Kili grips me hard. Ouch.
“Congratulations,” the doc says. “You didn’t even need me.” She grins at the nurse. “I wish all deliveries were this easy.”
Easy, my butt! A nurse rubs Kili dry while I hug him to my chest. He shrieks and shrieks, but I don’t care. I kiss his head over and over.
Natalia slides into the room and up to the head of my bed, but no one pays her any mind. She’s wisely not breathing. She doesn’t need to anyway. If she inhales through her nose, the storm sprite blood scent will work her into a deadly frenzy. “I’ll heal your neck wound after they clear out,” she whispers.
“It burns,” I moan.
“It’s all right, honey,” a nurse says. “The doc will numb you before stitching you up.”
I’m not talking about my lady bits.
Natalia brushes my hair from my forehead. “I know. You’ll be fine. I promise.”
About thirty minutes later, I’m stitched and cleaned up. Kili’s tucked into my arms. The room is otherwise empty except for Natalia.
The door cracks open. “Is she decent?” a guy asks.
Natalia answers for me. “Come in.”
A beefy, hot guy walks into the room. Dumitru. His brown hair hangs to his chin, past chiseled cheeks.
“I need you to hold Kili,” Natalia says to him.
Dumitru holds out his hands toward me.
I pull back. “You have to swear you won’t lose it and drink my baby.”
Dumitru laughs heartily and rubs my head. “I love you, little sprite. I von’t dr
ink your baby.”
I’m not little. At least he didn’t call me a pixie.
Natalia works the tape free from my neck as I hand Kili to Dumitru.
“Ve have to do this now. The poison is snaking farther through your bloodstream.” With the rapid speed of a vamp, Natalia opens her bag and pulls out several pints of my storm sprite blood, blood that we’ve stockpiled over the past few months. “You remember how I did this vith Killian? I have to siphon the blood that has the poison, and then I vill replace vhat vas lost.” She works at top speed, whipping around the room, connecting my blood to an IV that the nurses have hung and pulling out disposable chuck pads to absorb the blood she siphons.
I can’t even see her fingers fly.
She reclines me and puts a chuck pad under my neck. Then she hovers over me and enters her trancelike state, whispering words I can’t understand.
My head instantly spins. My words come out slurred like a drunk clurichaun. “You better ’ave ambrosia some’ere. Where you ’iding it, Dumitru?”
He never fails to bring me ambrosia—my vitality booster. Especially when I have a habit of narrowly escaping death.
He taps a plastic foam cup at the bedside table. “Milkshake. Cookies and cream.”
“Wow. ’ere did you get it?” I didn’t see him bring it in. Vamps are so sneaky.
I think I pass out. Maybe. The next thing I know, Natalia has the blood IV running and the chucks cleaned up. I’m at a slight incline. “Don’t sit all the vay up. You’ll become lightheaded. Vait until another pint goes in.”
“How much did you take out?”
“Roughly two pints.” She holds the shake’s straw to my lips, and I suck hungrily. The cold immediately fills my stomach, sending bliss throughout my core, and I groan.
Cream and sugar. Ice cream’s main ingredients. The best stuff in the world, and my one weakness.
I have to have them. It’s a storm sprite thing.
