CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON
Chapter 24- BABY PROOFING

“I bet you are shocked.” Scarlet thought back to the conversation they had, had in his car when she found out she was pregnant.

“I am. When Vincent told me I didn’t believe it.” he patted the top of her belly, “But now I’m a believer.”

“What about your thoughts on having kids, have they changed?” he was opposed to procreation and now he had to get used to the idea fast.

“You could say that. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the idea of having my children, I just didn’t want them to live in my world.”

“Where else would they live? The human world isn’t fit for children either but that never stops us.”

“Scarlet by now you understand how different our two worlds are. Mine is a lot dangerous, if not you wouldn’t have plotted your escape from me, or taken my child away either.”

She couldn’t help but feel guilty. She had thought of living him before and left him. He was right about all of that, but she didn’t want him to be distant from his child because of it.

“I know, and I am truly sorry for that. But now your world is my world.” She stretched up and kissed him.

Just as their lips touched a jolt of electricity went through her body. There was no doubt that the baby had felt it because he kicked just as it did. This was a different kind of kick, it didn’t hurt as it did before when he was hungry.

Stephan felt the kick and pulled away from her lips. His gaze dropped to her belly and his eyes were filled with awe of the little life inside her. This was their child created purely out of love. He leaned down and placed his head on her belly. A lump rose on her throat as she watched that simple act of love. She stroked back his black hair as it fell on his face.

Scarlet looked up to see Nikki watching them, she wasn’t happy at the family moment they were having. She looked straight at Scarlet her eyes narrowing.

Kayla pulled away from Solara’s lips to intercept the cold glare Nikki was giving her friend. She seemed to be losing her patience with each second. As she made a move to get up, Solara held her firmly down on his lap.

Scarlet didn’t say anything or move, she didn’t want to interrupt this moment for Stephan. She weaved her fingers in his hair and did her best to ignore Nikki’s glare that was now burning a hole in her skull.

Solara shot up from his seat, Kayla in his arms. He put her down first before moving to the head of the bed where Scarlet sat. Kayla was behind him, and the look in her eyes frightened Scarlet.

They leaned closer towards her.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it my eyes?” she was panicking, whenever anyone leaned that close to her they were looking at her eyes.

“Scarlet?” Stephan raised his head and followed their gazes to her eyes.

“It’s my eyes, isn’t it? Oh no.”

“What’s happening, do you feel hungry or threatened at all?” Kayla thought it was either of the two, from what she had heard and seen those were the only reasons the child would overpower her.

Scarlet could feel the blood rush through her veins, her body was getting hot too. She gripped a fist full of the bed cover as her breathing turned ragged. She felt angry.

“He is angry.”

“What? Why?”

“I feel what he feels and now he is angry. He never tells me the why. That part he keeps to himself.” Scarlet closed her eyes and tried to calm herself.

“Shh! It’s ok. Calm down.” She released the covers and cradled her belly.

They all watched her quietly, they knew she wasn’t talking to any one of them.

“Shh! Nikki, you need to stop looking at me like that.” Scarlet didn’t open her eyes but she could still feel her glower at her. There was no other threat in the room so she assumed that was the reason the baby was acting defensively. “He feels threatened.”

Solara and Kayla got up at the same time, but it was Stephan who reached her first. He took her arm and escorted her out of the apartment. They sat on the staircase in silence.

As soon as they left Scarlet was relaxed, her eyes were turning back to their hazel color. “Well, that was something.”

“How do you feel.” Kayla sat next to her filling the spot Stephan had left.

“I don’t know. I mean I feel fine but there are times when I don’t know what to think or feel about this pregnancy.” She looked down at her belly, as tears clouded her eyes.

“What do you mean Scar?” Kayla wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

Solara stood up and walked out of the apartment, he thought that this was a conversation that they would like to have in private.

“It’s just that, recently he keeps doing stuff that scares me. Sometimes I’m frightened of him, but the love I feel for him overshadows the fear. I think love is overshadowing the gravity of fear. How am I supposed to handle a child like this? Can we control him? He has so much strength and anger in him.”

“Scar you are not alone in this, we are all here to help you with this. Especially now that Stephan is here, he will know how to handle it because the kid seems to be an exact copy of him.”

“That’s true.” Scarlet giggled once.

“The thing that got me scared now is this birth. It seems dangerous.” Kayla said with a frown.

“I know, but don’t worry about it. I don’t think this kid will let anything bad happen to his mommy. You will be careful won’t you?” Scarlet patted her belly hoping that the child understood how important it was.

“I was thinking that we should turn you before you go into labor.” Kayla looked away as she made her suggestion. She remembered how Scarlet had reacted when she was turned, so she didn’t expect her to agree.

“Turn me into what, a vampire?” Like they needed bloodthirsty newborns at the moment. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. Don’t worry about it.”

“But if we need to, you are ok with it right?”

Scarlet wasn’t sure about becoming a vampire, she didn’t think she could handle the thirst. She didn’t think she had that kind of self-control. She would have to seclude herself from the world. That wasn’t something she was ready to deal with, because it would mean giving up on everything she dreamed of.

She left the question hanging, they would do what they had to, to make sure she stayed alive, but if there was a chance of that without killing her first, that was the choice she would take.

***

“Girl talk, so I decided to come to sit with you guys,” Solara answered their unasked question.

“Is she ok?” Stephan hadn’t checked on her, since he walked out with Nikki and was worried.

“She was back to normal as soon as she left the room. It’s remarkable how the baby feels what she feels and vice versa, don’t you think?”

“At the moment they are one person.” Nikki added, “It’s just a matter of time before it’s born.”

“Why do you insist on doing and saying such things?” Solara asked Nikki, he was always curious about what sort of gratification she got from annoying Kayla and upsetting Scarlet.

“I don’t insist on doing anything. It’s just how I feel and I can’t hide my feelings because it will offend someone.”

“But you do understand how things stand don’t you?” Stephan had to make sure that she holding on to any hope of them being together.

He was grateful that she was there to help them with the birth of his child and for that he would be eternally indebted to her. But he would never love her if Scarlet was still around and even so he didn’t think he could love her.

“Yeah, whatever. I just want to get this over with so that I can leave.” Nikki got up and walked down the stairs. She decided to take a walk and if she could, she would stay out there until the baby is born.

Solara sat next to Stephan after she had left. “So what do you think about all of this?”

“Honestly, I’m still getting used to the idea of being a father. I now have two people to live for besides myself.”

“I must say that she is pretty brave to face something like this. She doesn’t know what to expect but she is going for it.” He chortled, brave or stupid

“I love her even more for that. But I’m disappointed that she didn’t trust me enough to keep them safe. I know I haven’t said anything about it to her, because I don’t want to aggravate her.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. She was just taking herself out of that dangerous environment. Come on man, you can’t deny you are a magnet or trouble.”

Stephan laughed, “I know but now the only trouble that has me worried is in there. What’s going to happen when they come for me again?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Solara patted his back, “So how do you think this birth will play out. I must admit I’m pretty excited about it.”

“It should be easy enough.” Stephan didn’t think there would be much to it. They only had to wait for the child to be ready.