by Casey Wyatt
“Aw, luv. That’s not true.” Ian went to circle his arm around my waist like all had been forgiven.
Uh, no. A sidestep of refusal stopped him in his tracks.
“I’m sorry, luv.”
When he didn’t elaborate on why he was sorry—like he was making decisions for my own good—I skirted past him, loudly slurping juice.
“Sure. Whatever.” Marching toward the exit, I blinked back hot tears before my emotions ran over me with the speed of a freight train. Not that there were any freight trains on Mars.
“There’s no use arguing with her when she gets like this.” Jay intercepted me and opened the exit door. A hovercraft was parked nearby. Jay hopped into the backseat, letting Ian and me have the front.
“When I get like what, exactly?” He’d better not say any of the following words: emotional, cranky, bitchy, or tired.
Sure, they were accurate descriptions of how I felt, but the men didn’t get to say it out loud. I was the one cooking a baby inside. As far as I was concerned, they were clueless male bystanders and could keep their comments to themselves.
“Mate, if I were you, I’d keep quiet.” Ian hopped aboard and gripped my knees, shifting to face me. “Cherry. You were right. I shouldn’t have tossed the orb.”
My jaw must have been hanging open because he traced his thumb along my bottom lip. The intensity of his gaze fixed me in place.
He touched his forehead against mine and shared the full brunt of his feelings with me. “I love you beyond life. The thought of losing you—I can’t even imagine it.”
Jay sniffled. “That was so touching.”
“Shut up.” I smiled through tears. Stupid hormones. Making me cry happy tears.
“Care to drive, luv?” Ian leaned back against his seat and waited for me to decide.
“You say the nicest things.” I took control and started the engine.
The great thing about the hovercrafts, it didn’t matter who drove. It could be done from any seat. Ian kicked up his feet on the dash. Jay perched his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.
The smooth gliding motion eased my tension. Wind shrieked, lifting my hair. This was the closest I could get to flying until after the baby was born. Ian’s emergency flight didn’t count.
Too soon, we arrived at the caverns. Months earlier, we’d discovered an entrance large enough to pilot the hovercrafts through. Joan speculated that it was part of an old landing bay. Subsequent discussions with Kyrene confirmed Joan’s theory.
Hard to believe, but the entire planet had once teemed with life: flora, fauna, and our ancestors. Until shit went sideways and the environment changed, making the planet uninhabitable. Despite their advanced technology, the Eliade couldn’t stop the inevitable disaster. Knowing the world was about to end must have been terrible.
When my time comes, I don’t want to see it coming.
Landing lights guided my way and I pulled into a free spot. A crew of colonists maintained the bay and its equipment. A zombie mechanic offered to assist me from the vehicle and I accepted.
“Nice to see you again, Ms. Cordial,” he said.
“Thanks, Ted, but call me Cherry.” I smiled and tried not to grunt as my feet touched ground.
Everyone had a job on Mars. Even yours truly. Though this was the first time in my life that I was going to be responsible for a baby. In the social class to which I’d been born, women handed the daily raising of children to a nanny, followed by a governess or a tutor. I would have no such help. Not that I wanted it.
I could do this.
At least that’s what I kept telling myself every day.
We exited the landing bay and headed down an elegant corridor. The arched ceilings were about twelve feet high, tall enough not to trigger my claustrophobia. I’d made strides in dealing with smallish spaces, but I still got the willies if I spent too long without seeing the outside.
Picking up the pace as best I could, I counted the steps until we reached the end. Ian clasped my hand, his fingers twining mine.
The corridor emptied into a space so vast it was hard to believe we were underground. We called it the Grand Hall. Some colonists wanted to call it the Grand Cathedral. Others Grand Central or the Grand Promenade. Loads of time was spent debating. But in the end, it became the Grand Hall.
Hey, it’s not like there are any athletic teams—we’re working on it—or other distractions. Naming things has become our sport.
Unlike when Ian and I had first discovered the caverns, they were no longer devoid of life. People milled around busying themselves with various tasks. Every once in a while, they’d scatter when a pod of space revenants floated through an area.
I frowned. “I wish everyone would stop running from them.”
“Hmm,” Ian said, eyes fixed on the floor. He guided me onto a moving conveyor strip. It would whisk us to the location faster than walking. Which in my current state, I appreciated.
“They need to quit showing fear.” I could understand that, at first, the revenants were weird and unknown, but it had been weeks. “The Rogues don’t act afraid.”
“Of course not, luv.” Ian’s fingers massaged the base of my neck, easing my muscles. “Stop gritting your teeth over it. You’ll reduce them to nubs.”
“You can’t blame them,” Jay said quietly behind us. I turned at the pensive tone.
His gaze captured mine. He was spooked.
“Do you remember the stories, Cherry? Back in India? The tales of men being consumed by tigers weren’t fables. Once, when I was a child, a tiger had been terrorizing a local village. My father and a few other officials went to kill it. He brought me along because he said it was time for me to know true fear. As we hunted the tiger, deeper into the mountains, I felt its eyes on me. No one else could see it or hear it. But I knew it was there by the crawl of fear upon my skin. Its soul spoke to mine. And it wanted me dead.”
He rubbed his forehead. “That’s how those revenants make me feel. The others sense it as well.”
“Did they kill the tiger?” Ian asked.
Jay stared into the distance as the conveyors climbed higher. “They did.”
“Did you feel sympathy for the beast?” Ian said.
I poked him in the side, ready to tell him to stop. The topic was disturbing to Jay. In our many years together, he had never once told me about it.
“No. I was glad it was dead.” The belt stopped. Jay stepped off and walked away, leaving us behind.
“Why’d you have to push it?” I couldn’t help the annoyed tone. “Not everyone is an alpha male, you know.”
“No, but he is smart to feel that fear. To be cautious. Watch your step,” he said as we followed Jay down a corridor that was new to me. The ground underfoot changed from sleek polished stone to rough-hewn cobbles.
“Where are you taking us?” The rocks dug through the soles of my boots. “I want a foot massage when this is over.”
He chuckled. “Nothing would make me happier.”
The cobblestone path ended at a rough opening in the rock wall. Several members of the exploration team were loading carts with rubble and debris.
I balked at the size of the passage. The ominous darkness beyond the hole didn’t help. “Do I have to go in there?”
Ian poked his head inside. “It’s plenty big in here. As large as our current abode. And very . . . shiny.”
Deep breaths. I could do this. I clutched Ian’s hand, for balance, not because I was afraid. Stepping forward, I closed my eyes at the last moment and walked through.
“You can open yours eye, luv. I promise.” Ian kissed the tip of my nose. His closeness promised safety and other more pleasurable things. Things we couldn’t engage in because it was filled with Joan’s archaeological team. And because of the baby, of course.
“Wow.” I took in the room. Shiny had been an understatement. The sleek walls gleamed golden yellow. Crystals and other colored stones had been used to create mosaics similar to the origin
al Ancient’s Hall Ian and I had discovered a year earlier.
“Aren’t they magnificent? One can only wonder what this place was for.” Jay met us half way across the chamber, grinning ear to ear.
“Secrets often reveal themselves in due time.” Joan, the anthropologist, joined us.
Her fine blond hair, trapped in a perpetual state of frizz, was pulled into a loose ponytail. She held a flat-screen tablet in one hand and what I called the makeup brush in the other. It had a more sciencey name but where was the fun in that?
“If you’ll step this way,” Joan said, face flushed with enthusiasm.
I often wondered about how certain people became undead. Joan was part of the original Mars settlement group and not part of my Family. She still wasn’t. Like Ian and his Rogues, she was old enough to remain independent, which begged the question—who was Joan? Was Joan even her real name?
“As can be seen, this is very different than the tableau in the Hall of the Ancients. While there are decorative elements, these panels appear to have a function.” She motioned to a series of squares each containing a pattern of glyphs and dots. “We’ve documented them as we found them. Several of us have attempted to activate them but nothing has worked.”
“What does Kyrene say?” Ian asked.
“She has remained stubbornly vague.” Joan tapped her foot.
“Can a program be purposely obstinate?” Ian didn’t understand how Kyrene and her sister avatar Kasia worked. They often gave me cryptic bullshit answers. I think they enjoyed it.
“The avatars are more than Magic 8 Balls,” Jay said, eyes glued to the wall. “I bet your cuff could translate these symbols.”
The bracelet’s smooth surface warmed under my fingertips. Without noticing, I’d started to rub its shiny metal. In response, the walls hummed and the panels grew brighter, driving home the reality that we didn’t know much about the Eliade.
A deep rumble vibrated under my feet and penetrated the soles of my boots. It reminded me of a deep tissue massage except it was more punishing. Like the rocks in the gravel driveway at my old lakeside house. Step on those things with bare feet—yowza, they hurt.
“Sleeping dragon?” I ventured, hopping from foot to foot for relief. Ian braced me as best he could. Did I mention how much I love him?
“Don’t joke,” Jay warned, arms and legs spread wide for balance. “I wouldn’t put anything past this place.”
Joan flattened herself to the ground, one ear pressed into the dirt. “This is very promising. Promising indeed!”
Good God, she was weird.
The sound grew higher in pitch. The sand under our feet danced up and down to an unseen disco beat.
“What’s happening?” I couldn’t think with the racket.
“It’s harmonic resonance!” Jay shouted. “Something got activated.”
“Wow, thank you for that, Captain Obvious!” The noise reached a fever pitch. I drove my fingers into my ears, attempting to block the sound. “Can we turn it off now?”
“No one says Captain Obvious anymore,” Jay said before plugging his ears too.
“Well I do! What are you, the pop culture police?”
Ian marched over to the controls and pressed his matching gold cuff to the panel. The noise stopped. He tutted. “You two are like squabbling children.”
Ignoring his somewhat accurate assessment, I asked, “How did you know the noise would stop?”
“I didn’t. But since it appears your cuff accidentally turned on something, I guessed my bauble would work too.” Ian massaged my shoulders. The soothing action had me craving some alone time with him.
“It wasn’t intentional.” Or was it? I had been rubbing the cuff. For the hundred-millionth time I cursed the lack of an owner’s manual. “Should I try it again?”
A resounding, “No!” was my answer.
“You know what this means?” Joan’s eyes glittered with excitement.
“Headache pills for everyone?” Despite Ian’s ministrations, a dull throb formed between my temples. I needed someplace dark and quiet.
The muscles at the base of my back cramped. Make that someplace quiet, dark, and with a soft bed.
“Maybe there’s another undiscovered chamber beneath our feet,” Joan said with the same gee-whiz wonder as, “Look, I found a puppy.” She scurried toward her team, issuing orders, leaving us forgotten.
Fine by me. I waddled toward the exit. The baby settled like a bag of rocks, tugging at my back and hips.
Ian caught up to me, encircling his arm around what was left of my waist. “Time for rest, I think.” He feigned a giant yawn.
“We wouldn’t want you up past your bedtime, old man.” I smiled, knowing what he was doing.
By the time we’d reached our apartment, I was ready for bed. Except, energy coursed through me. Like I wanted to lie down and pace around the room at the same time.
Ian eyed me. “Let me fetch you something to drink and some of those mint leaves you love to chew. I’ll make you some warm tea.”
He cupped my face, thumbs trailing my chin. Leaning in, he kissed my lips, slowly at first. Kiss by kiss he deepened his attentions, making me wish we could engage in more rambunctious activities.
“I’ll be waiting in our bedroom,” I assured him as he left. Whether I’d be awake or not, the jury was still out.
I made it halfway to the bedroom when a familiar and unwelcome voice stopped me in my tracks.
“You can’t ignore me forever, Cherry,” Jonathan said. The same weariness he’d worn in life coated him now.
“Yes. I can.” I refused to believe in him.
“This is partly my fault. I tried to help you and now it may cost you everything.”
“What did you do?”
He started to fade. “I’ll be back. When you can’t run away.”
“We’ll see about that!” I shouted to empty space he no longer occupied. I spun around, ready to rest when—
A faint trickle slid down the inside of my thigh. Ignoring the sensation, I took two more steps. Another gush and—
Oh damn.
My water had broken.
Showtime.
Chapter Four
And Baby Makes Three
“Push. You can do it.” Ian brushed strands of damp hair off my forehead.
I’d been pushing for what seemed like a century and a half.
“Fuck you, Ian!” Sharp pain stabbed my abdomen. The kid must have been made of bony elbows and razor blades. “The next man who tells me to push will get punched in the nut sack. Ow!”
I panted and gripped Ian’s hand with bone-shattering force. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually cracked a bone. I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to care.
Pain was my new best friend. Agony gripped my pelvis. Contractions squeezed my back.
“I see the baby’s head. She’s almost here, Cherry,” Jay said. He was way too excited. Perspiration gleamed on his brow. An eager smile lit up his face.
I tried not to think about the view he was getting of my nether region.
Wait. Why was he sweating? I was doing all the work here.
And ... hold on. I scanned the room with bleary eyes.
Why the fuck was half the colony in my bedroom? This wasn’t a freaking peep show.
Granted, I had been a stripper in my former life, and it could be argued that most of them had seen me in my birthday suit at some point. But come on. Birth is a private moment. I opened my mouth to protest.
Another contraction heaved the sound from my throat. Pain rendered dark spots across my vision.
God. The creature from Alien was waiting to tear out of me.
No. Bad thought. Bad.
Speaking of aliens. The creepy revenants, not my fellow colonists, but the weird ghost aliens lingered around the edges of the room. Even though I couldn’t see their eyes amongst their glowing white haze, I swear they were all watching. And waiting . . .
The white orb rested in a chair. Like it had
magically transported itself there. Pain closed my eyelids. I pushed down with the next contraction.
The contraction passed. I checked the corner again. Jonathan sat in the chair with the orb resting in his lap. He checked his fingernails like he was in a doctor’s office, waiting his turn.
Tears sprang. I couldn’t deal with him. Not now.
Oh criminy, it hurt. Hours. Days. Years of labor pains would make anyone crack.
I screamed. The throng in my room cringed. I lost it.
There have been more than a few times in my life where I haven’t been proud of my behavior.
This was one of them.
“Unless your name is Ian, Jay, Harmony or Nina. Get the FUCK out of my ROOM!” Compulsion warped around the packed bedroom, staggering my vampire Family. Because I was their Sire, they had to obey me. Even Ian, my husband, and a powerful vampire in his own right, shook his head.
Everyone left. Even the creepy revenant spacemen. Only Ian, Jay, Nina, and Harmony remained.
Oh yeah. I was the big, bad boss lady. Look at me go.
No wait. Ian’s shoulders hopped up and down. He was laughing. Typical.
“Ah, luv. I know you’re in a lot of pain. But could you warn me the next time you feel the urge to do that? My ears are ringing.” He gave me a crooked smile. The tilt of his lips showcased his cute dimple.
I scowled. Not charmed. Not one bit. I held back a recrimination. I swore I wouldn’t hurl the stereotypical you did this to me rant at him.
“Rub my damned back and stop being a wiseass,” I spat out in between bursts of pain.
Jay chuckled from between my legs. Since he was working on a PhD, he’d been elected my doctor. Didn’t matter that it was in rocket science. Vampires giving birth to babies was a totally new experience. The fact that we lived on Mars apparently had a lot to do with my fertility.
The smile dried up on his lips. “Nina! I need you.”
My stomach floored out. “What’s wrong?”
Silence. They stood close, deep in discussion over my exposed lady parts.
“Jay! Talk to me. Damn you!” I lurched forward, muscles quivering like jelly. Fear rammed my heart into overdrive.
