CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON
Chapter 22 - TENSIONS

Stephan nodded in acknowledgment, that week was a scary one for him. He thought she was gravely ill and she had insisted on not going to the hospital. All that time he had her in his arms she was pregnant and he couldn’t even tell.

He patted her belly then murmured, “Good boy.” He had never been a fan of Solara invading her thoughts.

“Ok, how about the man she overpowered and turned into a snack.” Nikki saw how cozy Stephan was getting beside Scarlet, and she thought dropping the bomb would destroy that. His gentle innocent Scarlet had killed another human to satisfy her selfish need.

“What?” Stephan was shocked he looked at Solara for an answer.

“When we got here this morning Scarlet was covered in blood. And there was a dead man at the side of her bed. We disposed of his body.” he decided to add the last part because he was sure to ask where it was.

“Did you say killed a human?” Stephan nervously glanced at the angel in his arms. He couldn’t believe she was capable of that. But he was, and the baby inside her was proving to be just like him.

He looked at her again and for the first time noticing she wore his missing t-shirt. Her hands seemed to disappear into the arms of it but her center pulled the cloth tight around it.

“Who was it?” he didn’t see how it would help them but he needed to know.

“We don’t know. He was about five-eleven, very well built, and had ginger hair. Maybe he broke in and she was defending herself.” Kayla was fishing for a reason and that was the best she came up with.

Stephan grimaced, he had a pretty good idea who her victim had been. “No, he wasn’t. She knew him, the day I dropped in on her, he was with her at the coffee shop downstairs.”

“Oh no! Archie. She worked with him, he was the one who called me.” Kayla’s hand flew to her mouth. Indirectly she was also to blame for his death. “I sent him here to check on her. I told him to come here, this is entirely my fault.”

“No, it isn’t” Solara rubbed her shoulders to comfort her.

“If it wasn’t him, it could have been someone else,” Nikki added then shrugged. His death didn’t affect her in any way. She was just glad to see that Scarlet wasn’t perfect after all.

“Nikki,” Kayla said her name with a low tone that sounded lethal. “That means the baby is a vampire, right?”

Solara continued the conversation with Stephan ignoring the two women. But he tightened his grip on Kayla’s arms. He wasn’t ready to referee a fight between the two, he didn’t know who was stronger but, was sure that it would be a long and exhausting fight.

“Not necessarily. I saw her eyes when I came in, black and red. I figure that the child is both, I just don’t know how much of the human part exists in him.” her eyes had been the same color as his when he tapped into both sides of his person. Red eyes, as a vampire, black eyes as a beast.

“What do we do?” Solara asked sounding just as defeated as Stephan felt.

“I don’t know.” Stephan then raised his voice and broke off the silent war going on between the two women, “But if these two would stop this foolishness and explain to me what they had planned I would appreciate it.”

Kayla turned her focus on Stephan who was losing his patience with them, “Nikki says the baby will come out on its own when it’s ready. I’m just here to make sure they both live through the whole ordeal.”

“There is nothing to do but just wait, when it’s time you’ll know.” Nikki dropped into the armchair.

***

“How long has she been out?” Kayla was getting apprehensive, she hadn’t shown any sign of life since she dropped from the ceiling.

“Not long enough.” Scarlet sat up and looked around the room then her eyes settled on Stephan’s face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. She didn’t understand why he was there but she was grateful.

Her arm fell to her belly and she sighed, it was too late to try and hide it from him. Besides the enormous size of it was too big to hide. She would have to block it with a truck if she hoped to hide her stomach from him. He put his hand over hers and smiled at her. His smile looked sincere but he couldn’t hide the worry he felt for her. She smiled back at him and cupped his face with her hand.

“What?” Kayla’s eyes were wide in shock, “You have been conscious this whole time?”

Reluctantly Scarlet pulled her eyes away from his beautiful face, “What do you mean?” Scarlet looked at her confused. “By the way when did you all get here and how did you get in?”

The looks they exchanged made her insides knot. Something had happened and she was afraid to replace out. “What are those looks for?”

“Don’t you remember what happened?” Kayla sat at the foot of the bed and massaged Scarlet’s foot.

“No, why? I just remember quitting my job yesterday and...” her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember what else happened that night.

“Archie,” Nikki called out from the armchair at the far end of the room.

Stephan snarled at her as his eyes smoldered black. He didn’t want her to remember killing the man if she didn’t.

Kayla closed her eyes as she tried to control her anger. She was attempting to stop herself from crossing the room and ripping her head off.