CHAPTER 16
After that amazing night of reconnecting over and over again (a feat that eventually also drove Alanna and Imogen from the house), my husband became a ghost. Not literally, but for as much as he was around after that night, he may as well have been a vague spirit in the house - sensed but never seen.
It started the very next night when he followed up on the lead that the scorned vampire had given him. I was worried when he called and told me he that he wouldn’t be home until tomorrow. That worried me for several reasons. One, was the fact that the nest was so far away that he had to stay overnight somewhere, promising he’d be back late Saturday afternoon.
Secondly, I was worried because Teren was anxious, too worried that he wouldn’t find the nest in time to wait the few hours until sundown when Halina could go with him. He assured me that she would catch up with him when she could, but he wasn’t going to wait for her. As it was still daylight when he left, he couldn’t take any of the mixed vampires with him either. Alanna maybe, but even she wouldn’t feel good, riding in a sun-filled car for hours. That meant he had to take Hot Ben again. Yeah, I still didn’t know what to feel about that, other than worried.
But lastly, I was afraid of him facing more vampires. Maybe that one asshole vamp that had bitten me had put me off on the whole species, but I was filled with anxiety over him going out and knocking on the doors of potentially dangerous people. I mean, as strong as he was, he was a third generation mixed. Strength-wise, that was comparable to a teenager going up against a WWE wrestler. Well, maybe not that drastic, Teren was incredibly strong, but he would be outmatched if things turned violent before Halina got there, Hot Ben guardian or no Hot Ben guardian.
And I couldn’t help the thought that this scorned vampire had sent him to some biker gang vampire nest or something, just to have him be ripped to pieces, to send a message to Halina. I was pretty sure that if that were the case, Halina would retaliate by frying the woman, but who knows, maybe she’d consider that a risk worth taking. All of it made me nauseous.
So the twins and I muddled around the house, reading, helping Alanna with housework, when I begged her for something to do, making phone calls to my friends and family, and having conversations with the vampires, in-between their research project of saving my life, or more importantly, the twin’s lives.
With Teren gone, I poured over the journals as well, my stomach battling itself over whether to feel revulsion over what I was reading, or fear over Teren’s overnight trip. Imogen stroked my arm as she read beside me, her pale, youthful eyes giving me concerned glances. Jack and Alanna talked in the corner over a particularly nasty section in the book that involved eradicating a group of “breeders” – humans, wives and husbands – and I put a hand on my stomach and sighed, looking at the stone wall of Halina’s room to where my Teren-sense told me he was, miles away from me.
“He’ll be fine, dear.”
I looked back at Imogen after she said that. Noticing her tight smile, I thought maybe she was just as concerned as I was. “I know,” I whispered, wanting to comfort her as much as she was trying to comfort me. At least we were all in our fear together.
“He’d better be,” I heard Halina growl from the other side of the room, pacing as she waited for the final rays of sunlight to fade. “I will hold that bitch personally responsible if she led Teren into a trap.” Halina’s eyes flashed pure anger as a low growl rumbled from her throat. “And she knows better than to mess with me.”
Alanna put a hand on her arm and the teenage-looking vampire straightened and silenced. I nodded, oddly reassured by that, and continued pouring over the lunatic’s ramblings. 10 minutes later the sun apparently set, because Halina darted out of the house and zipped away at a brisk pace.
My eyes closed a few hours before dawn as my head dropped down to the grimy paper.
After hours of looking at horrid acts of cruelty, my sleeping mind replayed a night that I hadn’t visited for awhile in my dreams. I started having a nightmare of that man and his cruelties to both of us. And since it was a nightmare, my mind only increased the horrors. Instead of him ruthlessly kicking Teren’s shattered shins, I visualised him plunging stakes through them, pinning him to the ground as he screamed. And since being pregnant now felt more natural to me than not being pregnant, I imagined myself swollen with life, chained to that wall beside Teren. As Teren screamed, unable to help me, I watched the man come up to me with a cruel smile, and with a flick of his wrist, cut a deep slice along my abdomen, viciously ripping that life out of me. Slumping to the ground in a fog of pain, I saw their perfect, pink faces, their tiny fangs just visible on their newborn smiles as he coldly snapped their necks.
I woke up screaming.
Cool hands were on me in an instant, as a tall muscular body slid into a bed with me. I vaguely registered that one of the vampires must had carried me back to my room after I’d fallen asleep; good thing they were all strong. “Emma, it’s alright, I’m here.” Teren’s cool breath hit my ear as sobs continued pouring from my mouth.