Shattered Days (The Firsts Book 7)

by C. L. Quinn

  “They do. They are extremely special. Well, then, I need to let you know that you are one of those unique people who can impregnate a first blood female.”

  Marc had been lying on the bed, his hand sliding down Tamesine’s leg, walking a course to her clitoris. His hand stopped moving and he looked up at her, above him, one of her hands in his hair.

  “What?”

  “We’re having a child. Actually, two. I’m carrying your son and daughter, twin babies.”

  Slowly, Marc sat up, his eyes going to the softly mounding belly that he’d tickled last night.

  “So, it’s not cinnamon rolls.”

  “No, baby, it’s not. I guess it isn’t a surprise, given my history, one of the only known vampire twins, but there are two children growing inside of me right now. Cherise was here two weeks ago while you were finishing conversion. We have a little boy and a little girl that will be here in about four months.”

  Marc shot off of the bed.

  “Holy shit!” Marc, now pacing, fished his fingers through his hair nervously. Then he got back onto the bed and kissed Tamesine’s belly, his hands curved around the growing children.

  “I mean, I love them, you know I will, but…”

  “I know. I’m still as shocked as you. When Eillia came up pregnant after a thousand years, the last thing I ever would have expected was to do the same thing. Marc, you’re happy, then?”

  He crawled up and pulled her into his arms. “Happy is too small a word. You told me that the universe puts people where they need to be, that we have a destiny, something we’re meant to do in this crazy messed-up world. Although you just told me about this, I already know that I am exactly where I should and want to be.”

  Marc held Tamesine’s face again. “I love you, more than I ever thought possible, and I already love my children. You are going to be the best mother ever.”

  “I’ve been insane for hundreds of years. If there was ever anyone the universe should not have given children to, it should have been me.”

  “You’re wrong. You are exactly the right person.”

  “I hope so. There’s a battle coming, Marc, and our children are going to be part of it.”

  “Then we’ll prepare our warriors. We’ll do our duty to life and the universe. In the meantime, excuse me.”

  Sliding down the mattress, Marc kissed along her belly before he lifted her buttocks. “Got a job to finish.”

  Holding on to the pillow behind her head, Tamesine admitted one thing to herself. After the spirit journey, the connection to Marc that helped her accept her pain and her past, she was well and truly no longer insane. Insanely happy, yes.

  And while the future looming just ahead was filled with joy and love, she knew, too, that a storm was coming. These children in their clan and Ahmose’s clan in Africa, were more than soldiers, and she prayed that whatever providence had in store for this next generation of first blood vampires, that in the end, there would be a return to serenity. Chaos had its place and it would come, because entropy demanded it in a dynamic universe. But for her family and friends that stood just behind the front lines of a future yet to be revealed, all they really wanted was for the children to be happy and well. Too, for this man she wanted to love for a very, very long time.

  Tamesine moaned in pleasure because she did believe that this, this love, this hope, this life, was worth the price they paid.

  For now, this moment, she looked down at the man she loved, and grabbed his hair.

  The End

  IN L.A. TWO MONTHS EARLIER, JUST AFTER

  TAMESINE SENT MARK HOME TO WISCONSIN

  The warm Pacific water was exactly what Ahmose needed. He swam under a waxing gibbous moon that left tiny sparkles of brilliant light on the tops of gentle waves. He could breathe again.

  The past year had been one of discovery, excitement, elation, and disappointment. A year that brought ultimate joy, pain and then ultimate joy again.

  He’d almost fallen in love, and in the wake of that bitter disappointment, he’d taken the low road and betrayed his own honor. And he’d been forgiven for an unforgivable act to be granted the joy of his life, the culmination of a promise from the universe to his people.

  After the recent fight with Lamont’s organization, and Ahmose’s dedication to his people that would not allow him to stop before he destroyed the threat, he just needed a moment to recover.

  Here, in a beach house once inhabited by a first blood sister that had forced him to make an awful choice, he was alone, for the first time in…

  Ahmose thought about that while he glided smoothly through the water. Had he ever been alone?

  Thinking back through all of the centuries in Africa with his first blood clan, he realized, he probably never had.

  Overdue, he thought. A thousand years alive, and he’d always been around his people. He loved them more than his own life, but this. This felt good.

  The beach house was just off of the road, but it was a quiet road and right now there were no other sounds than that of the waves rolling around him, and finally crashing into the shoreline.

  When he tired, he walked out of the sea, naked, dripping, and grabbed a towel to dry off. He watched the water and the moon while he rubbed his abdomen with the coarse towel. Koen had said that he needed a vacation and Ahmose thought that he was dead right. Maybe he would stay a while, just a little while. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

  Sighing, he realized how hungry he was and started back to the house. Movement near the road, about fifty yards away, caught his eye and he headed up to check it out. He was still naked, but nudity did not concern him.

  Behind a row of low bushes, Cheeto smacked Moonpie in the mouth.

  “What the fuck?” Moonpie yelled as loud as possible while trying to whisper.

  “Look, he heard you. I told you not to answer your fucking cell. Now, he’s coming.”

  “So what. Claude wants us to whack him anyway. Let’s just get this done.”

  “Not while he’s watching us. He’s too quick. Just shut up and lay down, maybe he’ll go back.”

  The two big men dropped to the ground and tried to blend in with the grass.

  Cheeto kept his nine-mil palmed just in case. His other hand was wrapped around the ax Claude had sent with him. He knew, Claude told him, that once they shot the huge man, they had to behead him, or he’d rise again. Cheeto wasn’t sure he believed it, but he was superstitious, so he wasn’t taking any chances.

  When he didn’t hear anything for several minutes, Cheeto lifted his head. Scanning the area, the target nowhere in sight, he took a deep breath and smacked Moonpie in the arm.

  “I think we’re clear. Let’s get the fuck out of here, regroup, and come back when we have the element of surprise, not him.”

  Moonpie shook his head, and blew a low whistle. “Yeah, ‘cause that is the biggest scary-ass dude I have ever seen.”

  Cheeto puffed his cheeks out. “You don’t know the half of it. Let’s go. Quiet and quick.”

  Moonpie and Cheeto were nearly to their car, left parked for a fast getaway on the edge of the street, when a voice behind them stopped them in their tracks.

  “What, not staying for the party?”

  Cheeto’s blood froze, and, on instinct, he whirled and fired.

  He saw the huge vampire’s look of shock as his body keeled backwards, landing flat on the sand at the edge of the beach.

  “Oh, fuck! That was him! You got him!” Moonpie yelled.

  “We gotta hack his head off,” Cheeto spit out suddenly.

  “Huh? Is that why you have the ax? Yeeks, gross. That’s on you, dude. I ain’t hackin’ off any heads tonight or fucking ever.”

  “Claude says he’ll come back if we don’t. He’ll come back and come after us.”

  “What? Fuck that. Look, you got him right in the middle of the forehead. That dude’s dead for good! Let’s go.”

  “No, I’m going to do this.”

  Mo
onpie waved at Cheeto as he walked away. “Do it quick. I’m gonna be in the car.”

  Cheeto walked back over to the man that Claude had told him was a vampire, and looked down at him. He was the biggest guy he’d ever seen. And ripped to hell and back. A body that perfect, yeah, he might be a vampire.

  He had to do this, he was terrified that if he didn’t, the guy would show up in the dark and rip his throat out. He’d heard of things like that happening.

  Lifting the ax, he started to bring it down when an ATV flew through the sand, bright lights shining right on Cheeto with the ax raised.

  The ATV held at least six young men out for a joy ride.

  “Hey, what the fuck is going on?” A big surfer-type blonde guy in Hawaiian-print shorts was coming towards Cheeto and the dead, maybe dead, vampire. The other guys jumped from the vehicle and followed him.

  Fuck his luck! Cheeto hesitated a second longer, looked down at the corpse, and ran for the car.

  This would have to happen another time.

  As the car threw gravel and disappeared down the road, the surfer guys arrived at the body.

  The blonde guy dropped and looked at Ahmose, naked, lying flat on his back, as perfect a masculine specimen as could exist. Except for the perfect round hole dead center in his forehead.

  “Billy, hey, call the cops,” he said to one of the guys behind him.

  …For thy sweet love remember’d, such wealth brings, that then I scorn to change my state with kings.

  The end of Sonnet 29 by

  William Shakespeare

  The poem on page 257 that Marc quotes is by A.E. Housman.

  Readers, thank you for walking the slow path once again with the first blood vampires and those who journey with them. We live our lives more carefully, because we know that we are all so very fragile and our time is so limited. Luckily, it’s enough if we do it right.

  If you’re inclined, and curious, Ahmose’s story is next, and, as usual, he’s already led you where you need to go. Go to clquinn.com or C.L.Quinn Writer Facebook page for updates.

  Always, Charlie Quinn