by Rena Marks
“My blood.”
My head snapped up at the suggestion. I’ve had the benefit of that rich fluid on more than one occasion when I was sick, and the thought of it even now made my mouth water.
Leo nodded, the tiniest semblance of hope returning to light his features. He reached for Luc’s little hand and held it with his much larger one.
Julian’s fingernail grew out, and he punctured the tip of his own pinkie with it.
Carefully, he placed his finger into the little mouth and let the blood drip.
Instantly, Luc opened his eyes, staring directly up at me. His face was confused. Then his tiny little mouth began to move, the most energy we’d witnessed in days.
He suckled for blood with the voracious appetite that he used to show for my milk.
Finally, he pushed Julian’s finger out with his tiny tongue and began to wail, his voice strong again and his skin pink.
I cuddled him close to me, and he began to root once more for my now rock-hard breast. They were so swollen he hardly needed any effort to nurse, the pink-tinged milk pouring like a faucet into his tiny throat as he made up for lost time. He stayed awake the entire time and nursed from both breasts, relieving the swollen pressure in I carried.
My baby was well and I didn’t care about the consequences of vampire blood for him. I didn’t care that Leo and Julian whispered in hushed voices around me. I didn’t care about anything but the fact my son was healthy.
One month later we were at the mansion again. I called Julian once more when Luc began to refuse the breast, coincidentally around the full moon. This time, Julian tested him by inserting his finger into the little mouth without puncturing it first.
Tiny, bright-white fangs slipped from the baby gums and my son bit his daddy’s finger himself.
“Holy shit,” Leo said.
“It can’t be,” Julian echoed. “Vampires can’t procreate. It’s impossible.”
After two months of thinking that Luc was Leo’s son, was it possible that he was somehow from Julian’s seed? That the whispers of the vampires were correct? It didn’t matter to me, he was all mine in either case.
I reached for Leo’s hand, squeezing it. Please, please, understand. He looked into my eyes and smiled. I knew it would be all right. Leo still loved Luc as his own.
Perhaps it was better that we found out this way, with Leo loving Luc as his own son first. His wolf instincts never had a chance to reject Luc and his human instincts never had the chance to resent him.
For how could you not love the tiny infant with your mate’s genes and your very own eyes?
The vampires were ecstatic. My heart broke for the wolves. Still, like Leo, they loved Luc as their own.
Six months later, I woke at the mansion. It was after midnight, the night of the full moon. Leo and the wolves were out on the hunt. I automatically rose to check on Luc, but didn’t find my baby in his crib.
Instead, there was a tiny, wolf cub chewing on the sidebars.
His amber eyes focused on me as I stood frozen across the room, and he whined for his momma.
The soft, mewling sounds snapped me to attention. Mentally, my mind crossed paths with both of my lovers. I sensed when they connected with me and let them see through my eyes as I hurried to Luc.
My hands automatically stretched out to pick him up, then paused in midair as I wondered how to do it. Like a baby, or a pet? From a distance, as though I was watching someone else, I saw my hands tremble indecisively. Then the cub whined again and I reached automatically for him.
His fur was incredibly soft, like the finest silk. He was a black wolf, the color of Julian’s midnight hair. I held him to my chest and his tongue licked my jaw and neck.
I moved to a rocking chair, afraid my legs would collapse with the shock I’d just received. I sat with my son and rocked, until Julian burst into the French doors of the bedroom after flying onto the balcony.
“Anjelia,” he called, dropping to his knees before me.
Luc squirmed, wanting to lick Julian too. Julian laid his head across my breast, allowing Luc to play with him.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I think so,” I said, but I wasn’t sure. “Didn’t we decide he was vampire?”
“We discover new things each day, don’t we?”
“Whose son is he?”
“Ours, my love. Yours, mine, and Leo’s.”
Another image snapped into my brain. Leo was forcing his body to change into a human form early. It was extremely painful. He shut his mind from me as he did it, wanting to shield me from the pain. I knew he wasn’t far away.
My thoughts were confirmed a few minutes later as he strode into the room nude, his skin glistening damply from the change. He stopped and stared at the sight of Luc as a cub.
“My God. It’s true. I thought perhaps it was a dream or a misunderstanding.”
Julian stroked the soft baby fur. “It is true. It appears Luc really does have two daddies.”
Like Julian, Leo dropped to his knees in front of me. Luc turned his head toward him, sniffing the air at the familiar scent of his other father. Leo buried his face in the neck of Luc’s fur.
We let him have a minute, and then I asked the question on the edge of my brain. “Will he change back or stay a wolf?”
“I don’t know, love. This has never happened. Ever.”
“When Desiree was born wolf, she stayed that way until puberty. Then she changed to a human form.” I remembered.
Both men were silent. We all wondered if Luc would change back to my sweet little baby.
“Would it be so bad?” Leo asked softly. “He’s the same person, no matter the form. Just like I am, love.”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I guess I’m just confused.”
“You’ve had a shock,” Julian soothed. “She’s wondering once again where the human portion fits in,” Julian said to Leo. “He drinks blood, he has my hair. Your eyes and now he changes form.”
Leo’s eyes softened. “He’s still our baby, love. Still our son. Here, take him.”
I awkwardly cuddled the wolf. I was at more of a disadvantage than most people. I had never been a pet person. Never owned one, never been around any. Consequently, I felt clumsy. I didn’t know how to pick him up and should he wear a leash? I panicked when I suddenly thought of something.
“How will I feed him?” I said.
Leo reached out and stroked my cheek while Luc played with Julian. “We can pump your milk and feed him, love. Or I can try to force him back to human form. We’ll see.”
His voice was vague and I knew what he meant. Luc could be weaned, especially in his wolf form. One more slice through my heart.
My baby left my awkward embrace for Julian’s touch again. I watched jealously. There were no feeble attempts to cuddle on Julian’s side. He handled Luc as gracefully as he did everything else.
“Do you want to hold off on coming to Bang’s tomorrow?” Julian asked.
I thought about it. “I really don’t know.”
Julian’s face was slightly disappointed, and I knew it was the wrong answer. Of course he didn’t want me to waste any time with him. Two weeks wasn’t much when it was all you had for the month.
“It will be more normal to come, I guess,” I said slowly. “Luc needs to get used to coming over the morning after the hunt.” I nodded, making up my mind. “We’ll come. But I don’t know which form he’ll be.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Julian said simply, and rose. Leo attempted to rise, and Julian held up his hand.
“No, don’t bother. Really,” he said wryly, avoiding looking down at the naked form. “I’ll see myself out.”
A brief kiss to my forehead, a pat to Luc’s wriggling head, and he was gone.
Luc began whining for his other daddy as soon as Julian left. Leo held him to his chest, pulling me up from the chair. “I’ve got him,” he said.
I smiled and headed to the bathroom, listening to the fa
int growling sounds from there.
I washed my face in cold water, collecting my thoughts. My arms ached with the need to cradle my son. I wanted to change his diaper. I wanted to smell the sweetness of his skin, feel the softness of his hair.
Entering the bedroom again, I was surprised at the newest sight that met my eyes. Leo lay supine on the bed, with our naked baby son asleep on his chest. He watched me with his amber gaze while I registered that Luc had changed back.
But he was different now. Bigger, as if the change had aged him. I ran my palm lightly over his tiny back, across the soft, pink curve of his sweet baby buttock. He didn’t stir.
“He’s exhausted. Two changes in one night,” Leo said. “And he grows. Maybe that’s why your gestation was shorter. Perhaps he changed in the womb. He seems to age as he changes.”
“Is he all right, though?”
He nodded, and I curled next to them. “Take your clothes off, too, love,” Leo reminded me. I should have remembered. Wolves need lots of touch and lots of skin contact.
I pulled the gown over my head, and curled myself next to my mate and my baby. I placed my head on Leo’s shoulder, and felt my eyes grow heavy.
I awoke to my son suckling at my breast. Leo was gone, but only just. I heard water running in the tub.
Luc kneaded the side of my breast with his small fist. I looked into his eyes tenderly. “We need to think about weaning you, little man. Especially if you’ll start changing more and more often.”
He almost broke away from the breast long enough to smile at me, but then decided he was still hungry and finished his breakfast.
“Ready for a family bath?” Leo asked from the doorway. “You guys are leaving me today. I’ll spend the morning with you before you go.”
I picked up Luc and whipped the diaper off him. Leo must have put it on sometime during the night.
Luc giggled, and said in a loud voice, “Ma-ma-ma.”
“He’s a happy baby today,” Leo observed.
“Da!” Luc said, raising his arms for Leo’s nuzzle. Leo took our naked son while I got into the warm water. Together, his father and I bathed him, our soapy hands working suds into the folds of baby fat, spreading the tiny toes and making him gurgle with laughter.
I loved my life. With the bright sunshine, and Leo awake for my last morning at the mansion, I wasn’t worried about my son’s form.
Leo dropped us off at Bang’s later that day. He was heading to the hospital anyway, and it gave us an extra twenty minutes to be together.
Thankfully, I no longer had to pack separate clothing to keep from mingling the different species scents.
I kissed him goodbye, instructed him to call me during the mornings because I’d miss him, and gathered our son.
I stepped into Bang’s, Luc in my arms. Julian was standing near the blackened windows, which kept the natural sunlight from pouring into the bar yet didn’t impede the view out. He watched me approach with a sultry, golden gaze, the same look Leo often gave me. He bent his head to me to kiss me lightly, while Luc reached repeatedly for the daddy he’d missed. Julian controlled his shock at the rate of Luc’s growth spurt, taking it in stride as if it were perfectly normal.
“Are you feeling all right today?”
I smiled. “Fine.”
“It’s good to see you back in this form.” He kissed Luc, and the baby gripped both of Julian’s cheeks in his chubby hands. Then he planted a wet one squarely on Julian’s mouth.
I heard the hint of laughter in Julian’s voice. “My son, did you learn that slick move from your other daddy?”
Luc nodded happily, having no idea what he was agreeing to.
Anna approached with Rhett, kissing my temple. She didn’t need to say anything. I knew she was offering her support at this new development.
“Come see Auntie Anna, little man,” she said, taking Luc from me, who willingly locked his tiny arms around her neck. “Uncle Rhett and I are taking you to the new park the wolves built for us.”
I knew about the plans to build the “park.” A baby playground, enclosed with a carefully-covered patio, so the vampires could enjoy the day with their newest member.
Julian and I watched as Anna and Rhett walked across the bar to the back door, Rhett’s arm draped around her, and my son on her hip.
“We have a free half hour,” Julian whispered.
I nodded, distracted. Then it dawned on me what he wanted. I held my arms out and he stepped close, lowering his head to mine.
I caught a glimpse of fang which excited me even as his mouth covered mine. He kissed me until I moaned and then he swept me into his arms. As he carried me downstairs to our quarters, I hid my face in his neck after noticing the smiles on the usual vampire voyeurs.
“They’re watching,” I whispered into his ear before I gave up and nipped his earlobe gently between my teeth.
“They hear also,” he reminded and quickened his steps.
Chapter Ten
I woke, and like always, for the briefest moment wondered which home I was in.
A single solitary sound echoed throughout my bedroom from the monitor on the nightstand. My son called to me, forcing me out of bed.
The lack of light should have been a dead giveaway. Had my brain been working first thing, I would have known that meant it was my time at the vampire quarters.
For once, I grabbed the red silk robe that was draped over a chair, and flung it around me. It drifted behind me as the bottom caught the breeze of my rapid walk across the room, and then floated gently down to the marble floor.
I was never really alone at the vampiric quarters.
Lots of times, curious vampires would hear Luc cry and come to investigate the enigma of a real, live baby. Lucky for me, their attention was usually affixed to him only and didn’t notice my attire much, because lots of times I forgot the robe.
This time, however, Luc and I were alone.
He raised chubby arms when he saw me, and I lifted him onto my shoulder. I rubbed his back soothingly, humming the French lullaby that Julian always sang to him.
The familiar song soothed him, and he molded his head into the crook of my neck, and then sniffed me, using his wolf senses to track my scent.
Again, I felt amazement at my son. He was a genetic miracle. A mystical blend of species, a magical cocktail of races. The only combination in the world of vampire, werewolf, and human.
He looked a normal human baby. Ivory skin, with his vampire father’s black hair, he fed monthly from Julian’s blood and still nursed daily from me.
His diaper was soaked. I quickly changed and dressed him, and then opened the front door to my quarters with Luc in my arms.
I knew a vamp would be lurking about on the other side.
Chen waited in the hallway, probably too shy to knock and ask for Luc but just waiting for a cry so he could burst in to “help.”
“Would you watch him so I can shower and dress?” I asked, even as the vampire’s muscular arms reached out. Often times, Chen doubled as my body guard and during those times, I was grateful for the muscles.
“I’ll just take him out to the playground,” he said, his voice carefully neutral as he tried to control his excitement.
The vampires loved playing with Luc in his shaded park outside. The werewolves had built it for them about a year and a half earlier, enclosed from the sun for vampiric use. It was the gesture of peace between the two warring species. They were constantly adding to it, and it had turned from a simple swingset and slide to a full grown park. I wondered how long it would be until it rivaled Disneyland.
Luc giggled as Chen spoke to him in Chinese. I hid my smile, knowing Chen wouldn’t appreciate if he knew another of my magical mishaps caused me to understand the nonsensical words his deep voice rumbled.
I showered and dressed, made the bed and the crib. Finally, I headed upstairs to Bang’s.
The living quarters were hidden behind a magical doorway, the entrance invisible to a
ny eye not vampiric. I stepped through the doorway and felt the room rock and sway, as though I were aboard a ship during a sail over the ocean. Being human, the feeling nauseated me. However, it only lasted until I stepped over the magical threshold, and it was over.
An amber gaze settled on me as soon as I entered the bar, and a thrill of excitement shot down to my abdomen and back up again.
Julian studied me from across the room, and I returned the stare, stunned at his beauty. As usual, he dressed in black, leather slacks molded to perfection over his muscles. Today he wore a mock turtleneck, a shiny black material that made him appear tempting and unattainable. I wanted to lift and pull it over his head.
I blew him a kiss, and he dismissed the vampire he was talking to. Then he used vampiric speed to reach my side for a real one.
Cool lips descended over mine before I could even blink. His lips moved deftly, stringing kisses along my jaw, and then back again to my lips as they slowly slid over mine.
With the powers of witchcraft coursing through my psychic body, I had sensed his superhuman speed even though I physically couldn’t see his approach. I kissed him back fully and felt the hunger that lingered just below the surface of his kisses.
I broke away to murmur, “You need to feed.”
“It can wait, my sweet. You and Luc must have breakfast yet.”
I smiled. I was a living experiment to the vampires, who didn’t need to eat. “What is on the menu?”
Julian insisted on choosing my meals, since he had the ability to taste what I ate when in close proximity. I’d had to draw lines over what I wouldn’t touch, however.
“This morning I feel like having an omelet. Johnny is already preparing them, and I will signal for Chen to bring Luc when they are ready,” he said.
He led me to our private table behind the state, closed off with billowing curtains. It was in this very spot that I’d shared with both Julian and Leo the news of my impending pregnancy some twenty months earlier.
Once we were seated, a high chair was carried over by a female vampire that I hadn’t seen in a while. Gigi was a dainty, elegant Asian woman who wouldn’t give Chen, the only other Asian vampire in our area, the time of day. For some odd reason, it was rare for people of Asian descent to become vampire. It was even more rare for two to be in the same vicinity as each other. I suspected that Gigi tired of Chen following her around over the decades and was slowly giving in. I'd missed her, she was my regular employee at my gym.
