Conversion Book Three: 'Til Death

by S. C. Stephens

  She lifted her head, her eyes brimming with tears; Julian in my arms sniffled. “I want Grammy Lina.” Seeing her lip start to tremble in the telltale sign of an exhausted breakdown, Teren shushed her, rubbing her back soothingly and encouraging her to lay her head back down on his shoulder.

  I mimicked the action with Julian who was starting to share Nika’s emotional reaction, as he felt her disappointment through their bond. Kissing his head, I told them, “She’ll come in and see you when she gets here.”

  Nika looked over at me, a tiny tear dropping to her cheek. “Promise?”

  I nodded, walking over to kiss away the moisture on her skin. “Yes…I promise.”

  Imogen, her long, black hair neatly pulled up into a bun at the nape of her neck, walked over to them and simultaneously rubbed both of their backs. “I’ll make sure that she does.”

  The twins nodded, tiredly slumping against our bodies. “Goodnight, Grammy Immy,” they muttered together.

  Imogen shook her head, clear amazement and pride in her grandmotherly eyes. “Goodnight, my angels.” She tilted her head as she watched their eyes start to close. “Sleep well.” She clasped her hands in front of her and sighed contently.

  Alanna stepped up as we shifted to head out of the living room. “Teren?” she asked quietly. He twisted back to his mother, a small smile on his lips. She glanced at the bundle of Nika in his arms, her breath low and even as she drifted in and out of consciousness on Teren’s chest. Looking over at her husband, Alanna shrugged. “Can Jack and I put them to bed?”

  Teren’s father smiled widely at his son, his eyes on Nika as well. His hair was more silver now than when I’d first met him, his stomach maybe a little more padded, but the eyes were warm and alive, the mind behind them still young at heart, if not in body.

  Stepping forward, Teren slightly extended his arms out to his father. “Of course.”

  Jack smiled as he gently took the huddled form of Nika from Teren. She stirred a little as she was separated from Teren’s cool embrace. Blinking, she looked up at Jack enfolding her in his arms. “Hi, Grandpa,” she muttered, twisting to cling to him as surely as she’d been attached to Teren.

  The burly man sniffed back his emotion and kissed her head. Jack got a little uncomfortable, showing what he was feeling, but it was obvious to just about anyone that he adored his grandchildren. Rubbing her back, he nodded a goodnight to Teren and me and started to head out the glass double doors that led to the staircase.

  I watched him leave with my daughter, then turned back to Alanna and handed her my son. Smiling warmly at him, her cool arms brushed against me. He looked up and yawned as she effortlessly shifted his weight over. Julian immediately closed his eyes and snuggled into her body. I smiled at the comfort and love between them.

  Alanna closed her eyes, laying her cheek on his head. Her loose, dark hair washed over Julian’s back, his dark hair blending seamlessly into the strands, and watching them, I instantly saw how Alanna must have looked cuddling with a young Teren. Since Julian was a carbon copy of my husband, and Alanna looked the same now as she did then, it was almost like I’d just been rewound into the past. It made me smile even wider; it also brought tears to my eyes.

  Eyes still closed, she followed the path her husband had taken with Nika. I watched them leave, my heart expanding even more. Teren put his arms around my waist, pulling my focus back to him.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be less emotional now, since you’re no longer pregnant?” He smiled wryly at me, then tilted his head. “You’re not pregnant again, are you?”

  I laughed and smacked him in the chest. “No, your sperm is good, but not that good.” He chuckled and held me tighter. Imogen laughed lightly at us, then left us to our privacy. I heard Alanna laughing a little upstairs and felt my cheeks heat a bit. Even though I could hear so much better now, sometimes I forgot just how good their hearing was.

  Teren’s thumb came out to stroke my flushed cheek. “Yeah, sometimes I wish we could have more.”

  He shrugged, then sighed. I sighed too. We hadn’t been sure whether or not Teren’s body would be able to produce viable baby-makers, now that he was dead. A candid conversation with our vampiric scientist had confirmed what we’d been afraid of – he couldn’t. That life-giving part of himself was over with. But that was okay. We had our two miracles, and that was enough.

  Smiling, I said, “That’s because you didn’t have to carry and birth them. You’d feel differently about having more if you’d been the one to shove bodies the size of watermelons out of an opening about half that size.”

  Every single vampire laughed heartily at my statement, my husband included. Shaking his head, he held me tight. “You have a point.”

  I wrapped my arms around him, lying my head on his heartbeatless chest, his laughter echoing in my ear. As I heard Jack ask his wife what was so funny, and my children yawn and mutter, “Quiet,” I sighed.

  “Yeah, sometimes I wish that too.” I looked up at Teren, his handsome stubbled face slightly orange from the light of the fireplace. “But I have you and I have them. It would be selfish to ask for more, when I already have everything.”

  He smiled wider and kissed my nose. “Agreed,” he whispered.

  I felt Halina return to the property awhile later, when Teren and I were kissing in the hot tub. Busy straddling my husband’s lap in the near boiling water, I only half listened to the roar of her sports car peeling into the drive. Teren chuckled tiredly beneath me, his warm hands sliding up and down my back. Being exposed to this temperature for so long warmed every part of him, and for the next several hours, he’d be just as toasty to the touch as me.

  “She’s back,” he muttered, his lips moving to my ear.

  I made some sort of noncommittal agreeance as I sucked on his neck. Chuckling a little more, his hands firmly grasped my hips and pulled me into his body. A light groan escaped me at the feel of him so close to me under the scant material of our swimsuits. I regretted that groan about ten seconds later when Halina breezed out to us.

  “God, don’t you two ever stop procreating? It’s a little pointless now.”

  Not expecting her to immediately rush out to us, I startled and slid off of Teren’s lap, slipping into the deeper section of the hot water for a second. She chuckled at me while Teren scooped me up and set me on the rim of the hot tub, sitting down beside me once I was back on dry ground. As steam lifted off of my skin, I glared at the teenage vampire in front of me; she only laughed harder.

  “You’re one to talk, Halina,” I muttered under my breath.

  Halina, having the best ears of all of us, and that was saying a lot, cocked an eyebrow at me. I generally avoided back-talking to the pureblood vampire, but she’d sort of scared the crap out of me; I could even still hear my heart racing. Besides, I did have a good point. Aside from Teren and me, she was the most sexually active vampire I knew.

  Perhaps amused by the fact that I’d talk like that to her, she ignored my comment, her pale, slightly glowing eyes shifting to Teren. “I have another batch of vials for you in the car; about three month’s worth.”

  Teren smiled, glancing at me, like he was listening to my surging heart. “Thank you, Great-Gran,” he said politely, looking back up at her.

  She shrugged, like it was no big deal to her either way. And I supposed that to her it wasn’t. Whether or not I kept aging, whether or not my heart kept beating, my overall fate was the same as any other mixed vampire’s. She probably didn’t see the point in prolonging it. Sometimes I didn’t either, but waking up and thinking – today is a good day to die – never actually happens. It’s human nature to want to live, and I was still very human.

  “Thank you, Halina,” I said modestly, my cheeks heating a bit as her ancient eyes swept over my bikini-clad body.

  She shrugged again. “It gives me a good excuse to see Gabriel, at any rate.”

  An odd expression crossed her face, almost…grief, if I didn’t know any better. B
ut Halina, while not exactly happy with the hand that fate had dealt her, was rarely sad about it. I’d only seen her emotional a few times, and that was generally over the loss of her husband, the human husband that she had inadvertently killed after her conversion.

  The youthful face turned away from us, the youthful body starting to turn away as well. She was wrapped in a dress so tight that a human wouldn’t have been able to breathe in it, and I was pretty sure it was leather. It matched the thigh high boots she preferred to wear. But the evocatively dressed vixen that she usually played so effortlessly seemed cracked to me as she slowly moved back towards the house.

  Actually feeling concern for her, I called out her name. “Halina?”

  She stopped and looked back at me, her ageless eyes tired, her black-as-night hair billowing around her in the slight breeze. “Emma?” She raised her lip in a smirk after she said my name, almost daring me to call her on her mood.

  As Halina could still intimidate me, even after all these years, I shook my head and motioned upstairs. Completely changing what I had been going to say, I sputtered, “We promised the kids you’d see them when you got in.” Smiling softly, I added, “They’ve missed you.”

  A genuine smile broke over her face as she looked up to where they were. “I’ve missed them too,” she muttered, then she streaked away.

  I blinked at the afterimage of her glowing eyes still in my vision. She was fast, faster than everyone. Teren’s arm came around my shoulders, delightfully still warm. I sighed contently, and cuddled into his side. Dangling our feet in the steamy water, we listened to Halina greeting our children in Russian. They instantly awoke at hearing her voice and laughter and the sound of soft kisses filtered down to us.

  I shook my head, a little marveled at the various sides of Halina. She could be a cold, ruthless killer, a sexed-up male fantasy, or, as she was being now, a devoted mother and grandmother, cooing and coddling our children like they were her own. A part of me now understood why she amused Teren so much. The majority of me was careful to never piss her off. Unless she really, really loved you, you probably wouldn’t survive it.

  When our children’s laughter turned into quiet yawns, Halina started singing them a lullaby. It was naturally in her native language and was remarkably beautiful. But as I leaned against my husband, I heard the melancholy in her timbre, the sadness in her words. Looking up at Teren, I quietly asked, “Is she okay?”

  He furrowed his brow, like he didn’t know who I meant. I flicked my eyes up at where she was singing to our kids, not wanting to get her attention by saying her name. Teren looked up at the window that was the twins’ bedroom here and then back down to me. “Sure, she seems fine to me.”

  I pursed my lips and lightly shook my head. As perceptive as Teren could be at times, he was still a man, and the male species sometimes had to be hit over the head with things, since they tended to lack the ability to pick up on subtleties. He furrowed his brow at me. “What?”

  I shook my head again and rolled my eyes. He hadn’t seen the emotion in Halina, but I had, and it did concern me. “She just seemed…off.”

  He kissed my head. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe she’s just thinking about the upcoming move too.” He pulled back and raised an eyebrow at me. “It will put her that much farther from Gabriel.”

  He shrugged and I dropped my mouth at him. I hadn’t thought of that. Of course that would be upsetting to her. I shook my head again. And just when I thought my husband was oblivious. He furrowed his brows again. “What?”

  He laughed a little at the look on my face and I joined him, leaning up to kiss him. “Nothing, you just…amaze me.”

  He laughed a little more while we kissed, then he pulled back. “I should go put those vials in the car.” His eyes flicked down my body and I felt the unasked question in them – how much longer are you going to use them? I only smiled and nodded, not answering his unasked question. I didn’t have an answer yet anyway. I wasn’t sure.

  He stood up, the beaded water running down his chest and dripping off his shorts. I bit my lip and studied the pleasing shape of him. He smiled and studied the pleasing shape of me. Raising an eyebrow, he softly said, “I’ll be back for you in a minute.”

  I laughed and nodded, sinking back into the water. I felt him causally walk away from me, not in any rush, just enjoying the evening. Closing my eyes, I felt the heat of the tub. I could practically feel it entering my body, soothing my muscles, warming the very bones. The scent of chlorine was nearly overpowering, but it was worth it, for the comfort.

  Listening to my children wish each other goodnight again, I felt Halina move away from them. Then I felt her presence lift higher into the air. Confused, I opened my eyes and looked up to where I felt her. Above the two-story main building, there was a belfry. Okay, it wasn’t actually a belfry, but I preferred to think of that way, since the whole home kind of had a castle feel to it. What it really was though, was a raised section of the roof, like a covered patio.

  I could see Halina standing up there, still and silent with her back to me as she looked out over the hills of Mount Diablo. I sat up and got out of the water, watching her appear to be deep in thought. Halina was different from the others, being pure, not mixed. Not looks-wise, she had the same dark hair and pale eyes, although her skin was snow white, no trace or hint of any sunlight ever having hit it. No, it was more her attitude that was different.

  She had a presence about her, a lethalness under the surface. She struggled less with the ethics of being a natural born killer. She would do it, if she wanted to, although, she did still have some morality to her and only killed those that she felt deserved the death. But the reluctant vampire had admitted that she felt foreign, that she no longer felt human, and that foreignness was evident in her at times. She could, at first glance, seem cold and standoffish, but I’d seen her heart and I knew she still had one, beating or not.

  My concern for her overriding my common sense, I wrapped a fluffy robe around my body and walked over to the edge of the building.

  Wondering how the hell to get up there, I looked around for a ladder or something. There wasn’t one. I sighed softly, realizing that this was a private place that the vampires went to, and vampires had no need for ladders. Hoping my enhanced body was enhanced enough, I took a few steps back and made a running leap for it.

  I realized just how stupid my attempt was just as I caught the lip of the roof. For one, I hated heights. For another, as I was constantly telling Teren, I was mostly human and couldn’t heal like the undead vamps around here. If I fell…well, it would suck.

  “Shit,” I muttered, my fingers starting to slip. Cool fingers wrapped around my wrists and deadweight lifted me into the air.

  Holding me dangling over the edge, Halina cocked an eyebrow at me. “What are you doing, little heartbeater?”

  At the same time that she asked that, I heard Teren’s panicked voice calling my name. Looking down at just how far the patio cement was beneath me, I looked back up at Halina with wide eyes. “Put me down…please.”

  She smirked and set me down next to her. I closed my eyes, relieved at being back on solid ground. The stronger wind up here whipped around me, instantly chilling me, and holding my robe tighter, I answered Teren, who was worriedly asking me if I was alright. “I’m fine…just sightseeing with Halina.”

  He sighed while Halina’s smirk widened. “Emma…good lord, you just about gave me a heart attack.” I bit my lip to not nervously laugh. Teren couldn’t have a heart attack anymore, but I’d nearly given myself one; my ticker was even still beating extra hard. I felt Teren’s location shift back into the house. “I’ll be in our room…when you come down.” I heard him muttering about how maybe my worry-wortness could start including myself as he walked to our bedroom.

  Halina crossed her arms over her chest as she listened to him. She was leaning back on one of the wooden beams holding up the raised roof section, not seeming to be worried in the slightest
about the drop-off behind her. Tilting her head as I moved to stand in the center of the tiled square, she asked, “What are you doing up here?”

  Wondering that myself, I shrugged. “You seemed…down. I thought you might want to…” I let that trail off, wondering just what I’d expected to happen up here with the generally closed-off person in front of me.

  Instead of the biting remark that I expected from her, she shifted her gaze back to the view. The wind blew strands of dark hair across her cheek as she looked south, towards Los Angeles. She sniffed. “I smell death in the air…some cows were attacked while I was gone… ” Looking back at me, she raised an eyebrow just like Teren did sometimes. “Weren’t they?”

  I nodded, my brows furrowed that she’d be so upset over that. She frowned and shook her head, looking over the fields again. “I should have been here. My job is to protect the family, that includes protecting the food supply.” She paused, and just when I thought to tell her that it wasn’t her fault, she added, “I’ve been too distracted lately…with Gabriel.” She bit her lip, then nodded. “I’m thinking of breaking things off with him.”