THE FINAL
After dropping the phone, I ran into my bedroom so fast that my tennis shoes barely touched the hardwood. Trembling from head to toe, I threw open one of the large windows and the screen, causing a blast of warm air to rush my face. I hardly even felt it, though. I was too focused on the top of the building across the way, knowing this was where John intended to have his little show.
I wasn't going to let him. I was going to do whatever I had to do to save Nick's life, even if that meant putting my own life at risk. After all, I knew he'd do the same for me. I knew he’d do it without even needing to take a second to think about it.
After a quick, dizzying look down at the ground and seeing what appeared to be a teeming swarm of several hundred vampires on the street far below, my brain did some kind of a funny short circuit. Maybe half a minute passed where I had no awareness of what I was doing and no recollection of it once I finally "came to."
Even many days later, I wouldn't be able to remember the half a minute, if that's how long it was, that went by after I looked down at the street. I was never able to recall it, in fact. Never able to remember the moment when I must have hopped up on the windowsill, and then out onto a very narrow steel beam eleven stories above the ground.
I was never able to recall if I took a deep breath beforehand, or said a prayer, or even briefly passed out from sheer terror but then came back around, gritted my teeth, and then just forced my body to do what it needed to do. I can only assume that’s what I did.
All I knew was that one moment, I was glancing down at the street far below, and then the next moment that I had any awareness of at all, I was maybe halfway across the steel beam between the two buildings, putting one foot in front of the other carefully, but at a pace that wasn't exactly slow. Someone was saying something, and almost instantly, I realized that the words I was hearing were coming from my very own mouth.
"We just put one foot slowly in front of the other...just like that. Then we just do it again. It's actually easy. Step...step...step. That's it. Just a few dozen more...maybe just twenty. Maybe forty. We just keep stepping. Just...like...this. Each time, nothing bad happens at all, we just get closer. Just closer...with each...step...step...step. Just like that. It's not hard. It's actually pretty easy. And everything...is just fine. Step...step...step. Now just do it again."
I wasn't looking down. I knew that doing so would cause disaster, probably even death, unless one of the Everglen Coven members on the ground happened to catch me. However, from what I'd seen from my glance down out my apartment window, it looked like everyone's focus was surely on what was happening on the ground, not up above. I couldn’t count on anyone even seeing my falling form in time to catch me.
I could see below from the bottoms of my eyes as I held my head up, my gaze squarely on the length of narrow steel beam in front of me. Below seemed just like some hazy background of an impressionist painting, and that was exactly how I wanted it to stay. That was exactly how I needed it to stay.
My self-talk out loud was somehow keeping me upright and pulling me along, or at least, I thought it was, which felt like pretty much the same thing. I had the sense that if I just kept doing it, nothing bad would happen to me, and I was certain to just keep moving right along without a bobble. It was as if my muscles were almost being directly powered and steadied by my talking to myself, like it was some sort of a self-powered talisman.
So, when a stiff breeze that was probably always present that high up, intensified, I began talking to myself a little louder and a little faster. "Just a step, Tiff...a step...and a step. Maybe just ten more. You’re getting pretty close now. Step...step...step. Still easy. Still just one foot...and one foot...and one foot...right in front...of the other. Piece of cake, Tiff. Piece of step...a step...and a step. That’s it. Nice and slow. Nice and easy."
I'd never been more grateful for my tiny, block-shaped feet in my life. And actually, it was the first time I'd ever been grateful for them. A person might have thought that the smaller the feet, the less steady of a base they'd make, but I was honestly finding the opposite to be true.
It felt like my smaller feet were serving me much better than larger ones would, because with the steel beam maybe being only five inches across, give or take an inch, my feet had more room for minute little missteps and errors that might have made a person with larger feet have to curl their toes to keep balance and stay upright.
With only two steps to go, though, even the inch of extra space my feet had to maneuver couldn't help me when a strong gust of wind threatened to tip me right over. Instantly, every pore in my skin seemed to exude boiling hot sweat, despite the fact that the wind was actually kind of chilly and I was only dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.
Acting on instinct, I bent my knees and held my arms out to my sides, "surfing" the wind, in a way. "Just steady...steady. Just keep your eyes right on the duct. We'll make it there, Tiff. You can do this."
I wasn't exactly sure if the duct I was referring to actually was even a duct or what. It was just some sort of large metal outcropping on the upper western corner of the flat roof of the building that I was approaching. It might have been a heating vent of some kind or some sort of air conditioning unit. It also vaguely resembled an ultra-wide and tall smokestack, like one that might be on the top of a manufacturing plant. Regardless of what it was exactly, I was just thinking of it as a metal duct, and it was what I planned to hide behind in order to ambush John, Anton, and any other Dormios they brought with them when they got Nick up onto the roof. From behind the large metal duct, I'd shoot my beam of fire at each of them in rapid succession, and then try to use the fire to "stab" them by shooting each of them through the heart with it. I'd then try to decapitate them by repeatedly shooting beams of fire at their throats. If that didn't work, I figured it all would at least injure them badly enough to buy me a little time to get some help for Nick.
While I'd been racing to my bedroom after John's call, it had occurred to me that I might be able to shoot at the Dormios from the safety of my own bedroom window, but I'd quickly rejected the thought. That would be a distance of at least fifty feet, maybe even a bit more, and the furthest I'd been able to shoot my fire beam the previous day had been about twenty feet.
And I knew it was unlikely that my "throwing" distance would suddenly increase just because I wanted it to. That would be too lucky. Too easy. So the idea that I had to cross the beam to get to the roof of the adjacent building had immediately come to my mind.
Once the gust of wind had passed, and once I felt sufficiently steady, I straightened up from my semi-crouch and continued down the remaining length of steel beam, a distance of just a foot or two. "Last steps. You’re doing just great."
Except that I knew I was running out of time. I knew that John, Anton, and the Dormios would be leaping up to the roof at any second, and I could hardly believe they hadn't done so already, being that my journey across the narrow steel beam had felt like hours. In reality, probably only a couple of minutes had passed since I'd left my bedroom window. Maybe only even three minutes.
When only a single inch of steel beam separated me from the roof, I paused for just a second, determined not to screw up now that I'd come so far. "Just one more step. That’s it. Steady. And...go."
The moment my foot connected solidly with the surface of the roof, which was some pale gray shingle-type substance that appeared to have the texture of coarse sandpaper, I took off at a sprint, not wanting to waste precious seconds in getting to the metal duct. And it was a very good thing I didn't.
Not ten seconds after I'd concealed myself behind the duct, which was gleaming in the bright sunlight, the Dormios made their appearance, rocketing through the air above the building, then descending and landing on the roof slowly and gracefully, like a bizarre group of murderous angels. Peeking out from the duct, I swallowed, sweating. I hadn't expected there to be quite so many of them.
Six of the Dormios, all men of average height and build and identical pale, sickly complexions that I didn't recognize. Then there was Anton, who was blood-spattered and grinning, and next to him, John, tall and terrible-looking, with a short, jet-black beard and eyes of a similar dark shade. Nick, limp and bloodied from the top of his head to the tips of his boots, was slung over John's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The sight just about shattered my heart into a million different pieces.
Immediately, John slammed Nick to the roof, the force of the impact causing a tremor beneath my feet. "Get up! Get up, you filthy, Everglen Coven scum! At least make some attempt to fight me like a man!"
The very sound of John's deep, gravelly voice made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe I'd ever trusted him. I momentarily hated myself for it.
In response to John's commands, Nick barely stirred, groaning. Knowing it might only be seconds before John stabbed and then decapitated him, I decided to make my move, thinking that it was now or never. Trembling, I took a deep breath. However, before I could spring out and begin shooting beams of fire at the Dormios, something curious happened. Although maybe remarkable would have been a better word. Or thrilling.
On his back, just kind of feebly writhing around, Nick suddenly drew one muscular leg back, paused for just a split-second, and then kicked John right in the shins. Which maybe wouldn't have been that remarkable, though certainly heroic, considering how badly injured Nick appeared.
But what was stunningly remarkable was that John literally went flying from the force of Nick's kick. And he went flying so fast and with so much backward velocity that it seemed as if he had some massive, tight metal spring attached to his back, and it had yanked him off the roof at warp speed. But I'd seen with my own eyes that it had only been Nick's kick, nothing more.
As John soared backward, above the apartment building, Nick kicked another Dormio vampire, sending him soaring away as well. Nick then immediately leaped to his feet with a low growl, raking a hand over his eyes as he did so, clearing away blood that was probably obscuring his vision.
As hope swelled in my heart, I silently willed Nick to keep on fighting. I know you can do it. Don’t give up.
However, the remaining Dormios, along with Anton, were all attacking him now. Fists and feet flying, moving so fast they were almost a blur, his six opponents were punching, kicking, and slashing at him. One of the Dormios had bared his teeth and elongated his fangs, and he was now trying to get at Nick's throat, presumably to bite it right out.
Nick was fighting back, though, and not just holding his own, but appearing to be doing some real damage to his opponents. Seeming suddenly possessed by some rush of incredible strength and energy, he grabbed one of the Dormios by the collar and headbutted him so hard that the sound was like a bat connecting with a baseball. Immediately, blood poured from a wound on this particular vampire's forehead, and he slumped to the ground just in time for Nick to turn to another Dormio who was charging his way again after being shoved away.
For a while, I just watched the "show," as John had said it would be. I was sure he hadn't expected this particular kind of show, though, because this was clearly the Nick show. It didn't seem that my fire-shooting power would be needed at all.
However, before long, Noah joined the scene, clearly shocked when he surveyed what was happening and saw Nick not only alive and standing, but quite obviously kicking some Dormio ass. Taking advantage of Noah's shock, Anton charged him and right away managed to knock him to the ground. The force of the impact shook the roof like an earthquake, and Noah went motionless. Anton was still moving with all speed, however, and within a blink, he had produced a knife and was drawing it back, looking like he was about to stab Noah through the heart.
With Nick very occupied with several Dormios, I knew I had to shoot a beam of fire, even though I knew that doing so would reveal that I was on the roof, putting me in danger. But with Noah's life on the line, I didn't feel like I had a choice. I couldn’t just let him be killed right in front of my face, leaving Dana a widow and Stephanie without a father.
Stepping out from behind the duct, I shot a beam of light that hit Anton right in the side of the head just as he was moving his knife in a downward arc toward Noah's chest. Howling, he fell over, the sound and movement alerting the rest of the Dormios, and Nick, to my presence among them.
From that point on, everything became pure absolute chaos. One of the Dormios tried to charge at me, but Nick got to him first and body-slammed him onto the roof, causing the roof to shake and rumble again, as if from an earthquake. I was pretty sure I even felt the building sway a little bit. I felt this just a split-second before the roof began falling into the floor below with a sound of screeching metal as loud as two freight trains colliding. I screamed, but I couldn't even hear the sound myself above the other noises around me.
The light gray surface beneath my feet disappeared, and I felt myself falling through thin air. However, I felt this just for a second or two before I was caught in very strong arms. Even though my eyes were squeezed shut, I didn't even need to open them to see who'd caught me. I already knew who had. I could tell by the feel of his strength and the smell of his masculine, woodsy scent. It was Nick. It was the man I was now sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
He began carrying me off somewhere, with lightning-fast speed. Even with my eyes still closed, I could just sense him practically flying. Immediately, the sounds of fighting and shouting, and of twisting and crunching metal receded, and I tried to open my eyes but found I was too dizzy to do so for some reason.
With a low, soothing voice, Nick whispered near my ear. "You're safe now, Tiff. I've got you…and I’m not going to let go."
Within seconds, I found myself back in my bedroom, which I identified by the scent of rose linen spray I'd just spritzed on my sheets that morning. Once Nick had placed me in my bed, I finally managed to open my eyes, though I was still dizzy, and becoming incredibly so.
"Nick? Please, go help Noah and everyone else in the city who needs it, and then please come back to me. The room is kind of spinning."
"I'll be back here before you know it. Just close your eyes and try to rest."
He planted a hasty kiss on my forehead, took off, and leaped through my open bedroom window. Growing increasingly dizzy, I did as he'd told me to, unbelievably actually soon falling asleep.
Sometime later, I wasn't even sure how long, I awoke to find Nick lifting me out of bed.
"Just keep resting. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."
Instantly fully alert, I searched his blood-smeared face for signs of serious injury, but I didn't see any. "And what about you? Are you okay?"
Telling me that he was even before he spoke, he cracked a small grin. "I will be in just a couple of hours. Vampires heal much faster than humans. Noah's going to be just fine, too, thanks to you, and the same with the rest of the city's vampires. Everyone is going to be okay now. Even the collapsed floor of the new building will be easy enough to repair with a little work. So you just close your eyes again and rest now." Moving through my apartment at a rapid clip, Nick planted a quick kiss on my mouth. "We'll be to the hospital soon enough."
Immeasurably relieved that everyone was okay, I did close my eyes, resting my face against Nick's hard chest.
However, in the elevator down to the ground floor, I suddenly remembered what I'd done and experienced a mini-surge of adrenaline, flicking open my eyes. "Nick. I didn't know I had that in me...that level of complete fearlessness. I never dreamed I did. I actually walked across the whole length of the steel beam just because I was so desperate to help you, not knowing that you wouldn't even need help in the end. It wasn't even all me, though. It was some funny, subconscious part of me, I think. I actually blacked out for a little bit, but not in a fainting sort of way. It was as if my brain just shut down but took over at the same time, like it just felt like it needed to do that in order for me to do what I had to do, but without completely collapsing or freezing from the fear I felt." With my recollections making my heartbeat accelerate even then, I paused for a second. "I guess sometimes a witch discovers powers she never knew she had, powers that aren't even supernatural in nature. I feel like this special power must have just come from love…my love for you."
Startling me, Nick planted a few fast, forceful kisses all over my face, then pulled away to look at me with his eyes just slightly pink and shiny. "As terrified as I am in hindsight, if that makes any sense at all, about you going out on that narrow steel beam, and as much as I wish you hadn't put yourself in such extreme danger like that, I understand why you did it because love was what was driving me today, too. Just pure love for you, this city, and everyone who lives here.
“And now...after what you just said, I think I love you a thousand times more. You're everything I've always wanted in a woman, and I just want to spend the rest of my life with you and make you happy for the rest of my days." After planting a few kisses all over my face yet again, Nick continued. "As for your actions today, and what you did that probably saved Noah's life...I just want to tell you that you were beyond strong, and brave, and brilliant. You were phenomenal today."
Thrilled with his praise, I smiled. "Thank you. And you were, too. You were absolutely phenomenal."
Exiting the elevator, he smiled in return. "I felt the strongest today that I've ever felt in my entire life as a vampire, but what you did for me and Noah is something in a league all its own. That’s a fact."
I smiled again. "Well, I am pretty proud of myself that I didn't faint at any point today, even though I have been in incredibly stressful situations before, sometimes just even if I forget to eat and my blood sugar gets too low. I guess I'm just getting tougher now or something. Maybe it's just...."
The bright lights of the building lobby had suddenly seemed to dim, and my dizziness had returned in a pretty major way. In fact, everything was now spinning again.
"Nick, I think I spoke too soon. I only had coffee for breakfast this morning, and now I just feel sort of like...it's just a funny dizziness that's making me feel...."
I didn't get to fully express how it was making me feel because I'd suddenly passed out.
When I came to, I had the feeling that at least an hour or two, maybe more, had passed. I was sitting up in a hospital bed, or at least more or less sitting up, with the head of the bed partially raised and with what felt like a thick stack of fluffy pillows behind my head. All around me, machines were beeping, and an IV line was in my left arm. On my right, Nick was sitting in a metal folding chair, holding my hand. His strong-jawed handsome face was a perfect picture of concern and love.
"How do you feel?"
I thought about the question for a moment or two before responding to him. "I feel good. I actually feel fine. I'm not dizzy at all anymore."
Nick heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God. You had me just a little bit worried for a minute. You went so pale, and you still are, just a touch. You don’t have roses in your cheeks like you usually do."
"I really feel okay. I feel like I probably just need a good meal and a little more rest to get me fully back to normal. But first...I just thought of something. Earlier, you told me everyone is okay, but I didn't ask you how John and the Dormios fared. I'm hoping you'll tell me at least some of them are dead."
"I'll tell you something better than that. Every last one of the Dormios is dead. Anton and John ...and it might sound strange, but the whole thing was so easy it was kind of anticlimactic. After taking out Anton and John, I even dispatched several other Dormios in less than a minute."
"But...you've been fighting them for nearly a hundred years now. How was that possible that it was so easy to deal with them today?"
Nick just looked at me briefly with an inexplicable twinkle in his dark gray eyes. "Believe it or not, you made it possible."
I sat up a little straighter in bed, thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about? How? What do you mean?"
With his beautiful dark gray eyes twinkling, Nick smiled. "You made it possible by giving me increased strength, Tiff. Well...you and our baby made it possible. You and our baby saved the day."
*
Just staring at Nick, absolutely incredulous, I couldn't respond right away. "What do you mean? What are you talking about that I and our baby saved the day? I’m not pregnant, and I know that for sure…so how can what you said be possible?"
"It is possible, Tiff…and you are pregnant. You're pregnant with our baby."
Again, a moment or two ticked by before I could respond, which I did with a funny little tremor in my voice. "Nick, I just don't understand why you're doing this to me, and saying these things to me if you really love me. I don't know why you'd...why you'd want to play some kind of a sick joke on me like this, or…whatever it is you’re doing to me. And I know that it has to be some sort of a sick joke, because I know for a fact that I’m not pregnant."
With a huge lump rising in my throat, I couldn't continue.
Shaking his head, Nick picked up my hand and kissed it, then looked at me and spoke in a voice thick with emotion. "I don't know why you'd ever think I'd want to, but I'd never play any kind of a sick joke on you. I'd never intentionally hurt you or lie to you. Ever, for any reason. I'm telling you the truth, Tiffany. You're pregnant. With my baby. Our baby. When you arrived here at the hospital, the doctor performed a series of routine tests, and one of them revealed that you're pregnant.”
"But you don’t understand, Nick. I can't be pregnant. It’s absolutely impossible. See, I thought I was pregnant for just a few minutes this morning. I realized that I was a day late to start my period, and since this literally never happens to me, I just figured that I had to be pregnant…and I was so happy. But then, not even a few minutes later, I got my period."
"Well, the doctor said that it appeared that you had maybe had a little spotting, but she said that's completely normal very early in pregnancy. The same with the dizziness and the fainting you experienced. Those things probably weren't just from what you went through on the beam and at the fight. Those things were probably because you’re pregnant."
"Well...I still can't be pregnant. It just can’t be true.”
“Why not?”
“Because even though I trust you, and I have faith in us together, I just can’t believe that fate would see fit to give us our happily-ever-after so quickly. It just seems impossible. See, Nick, I’m just not the kind of person who gets what she wants in life easily. I didn’t get great parents. I didn’t get great foster parents…any of them.
“Then, when I thought that I’d finally found my ‘forever family,’ my coven, it was all taken away from me. I lost everything when they were killed. I even tried killing myself because I was so distraught, but I couldn’t do it.
“Instead, I decided to live my life in the best way possible to honor my coven. And for a while, I did. But then I got in the car accident and I lost my powers. A few years later, as you know, I was kidnapped by the government, which was terrifying, even though I’m kind of glad for it because it led me to you. But besides that, do you see what I’m saying? Bad things follow me around like a cloud. They have my whole life.
“Before you, my only serious boyfriend turned out to be a murderous vampire who killed my coven without me ever even knowing. So, suffice it to say, I haven’t exactly been lucky in love, either. Or at least I wasn’t until I met you. So, do you see why I think that I just can’t be pregnant? Do you see why I think it’s just impossible? Fate just isn’t going to let me have true happiness this quickly, Nick. It just won’t.”
He gave me a small, comforting sort of smile. “I would disagree. And as far as your life, I don’t think anyone would say that it hasn’t been hard. Fate has really been rough on you. I understand that. I also understand that losing your coven family probably changed you in some pretty profound ways. It probably made you think that you might be cursed in some way. All I can tell you about that is that you’re not.
“Please believe me about this, Tiff. You’re not cursed. You’re meant to be happy. You’re meant to have love in your life, and you’re meant to have a family. This is why fate has seen fit to give you a break, I think. Whether you believe it yet or not, all that matters right now is that you are actually pregnant, which is what surely gave me the strength to kill John, Anton, and some of the other Dormios, and help my men to kill all the rest.
“Even more than that, you becoming pregnant has made all my dreams come true. Now we can be a family, Tiffany. Now we can spend the rest of our lives together and be happy together." Looking deeply into my eyes, Nick paused. "If you want that, that is."
With tears welling in my eyes, and the lump in my throat becoming even bigger, I could only nod for a few moments. "Yes. That is what I want. More than anything. I can’t believe you even have to ask. I want you, Nick. I want happiness and a family with you. I want it all."
Nick kissed my hand again, grinning. "Well, that is a good thing, because that's exactly what you're going to have. You’re going to have it all, and you’re going to be so happy. I promise you. As far as me, I intend to never let you down. I intend to be the best father to our baby, and the best husband to you that I can possibly be.
“As far as the baby, the doctor did an ultrasound scan while you were still out, and she says that the baby looks just perfect. It’s tinier even than a grain of rice at this point, but just the right size and shape he's supposed to be at this stage. The doctor says he looks to be about three, maybe three-and-a-half weeks post-conception, which sounds just about exactly right to me."
"'He?' Do you mean there's a test to tell the baby's sex this early on in pregnancy?"
If there was, I’d never heard of it.
Confirming my thinking, Nick shook his head. "Oh. No, there's not a test like that, but I guess I'm just thinking of him as a he already. I don't know why. I'd be equally as happy with a girl, but it’s just a feeling I have. I just think our baby is a boy."
Suddenly overcome with emotion, I finally let my tears fall, covering my face with my free hand. "A baby. I just can't believe this, although maybe I’m finally starting to. Me. Pregnant. Us...actually having a baby. It just doesn't seem real…and it probably won’t for a while."
With his eyes a little pink for the second time that day, yet twinkling with what appeared to be amusement, Nick pulled a small scrap of pale blue fabric from his pocket and handed it to me. "Here. Maybe this will help things seem real. It's a tiny newborn cap one of the nurses gave to me. And in a little under eight months, we'll be placing it on our tiny newborn son's head. Can you believe that? The nurse called it a ‘countdown cap.’"
Nick's words just made me cry harder than I already was, although with tears of absolute joy, pressing the pale blue cap to my cheek. I still couldn’t entirely believe that my life was changing for the better, and so quickly, but I was starting to. I was going to have a baby with Nick, and I was starting to feel like all my dreams of family and happiness were finally coming true.
Several hours later, after I'd had a hearty meal and had been examined by the doctor once again, Nick reentered the room and took his spot in the chair by my bedside. "I've been a little too busy to do much of anything besides patrol lately, let alone moving, but by the time you come home tomorrow, I plan to have all your things moved up to our apartment. And by the way, I said our apartment because I'd love for you to move into mine right away if you want to."
"I do. I’d love that."
"Well, then, I'll have your things moved in overnight while you're sleeping, and while I'm shopping for your presents."
I stifled a chuckle. "What presents? You just told me today that I'm soon going to have the greatest gifts imaginable...a baby and a family with you. What makes you think I’d need any additional presents?”
Nick grinned, taking my hand. "Come on. Every new mom-to-be needs presents. Not for any particular reason. Just because. Just to spoil you…which is something I hope you can get used to. It's going to happen a lot over the next several hundred years we spend together."
I couldn’t deny that I liked the sound of that. I loved it actually. Being spoiled by Nick, almost into eternity, was something I was pretty sure I could get used to.
A few weeks later, he and I had Dana and Noah over for dinner at our apartment. Dana and I had dinner anyway; our vampire men just sipped Scotch. Like Dana, I thought that this part was maybe the only drawback of being in a relationship with a vampire. I wanted to cook for Nick and share meals with him, although obviously, this wasn’t possible. However, this was just a very minor little thing, and if this was the worst drawback to being with a vampire, then it wasn’t a very big deal.
After the meal, Nick thanked Noah for coming to his aid during the fight with Dormios, which he'd already done before, but this time he added that he wanted to extend an offer to thank him even further.
Noah frowned, looking clearly confused. “Well, what do you mean? What’s the offer?”
Nick soon asked Noah if he’d serve as best man at our wedding. I'd known he was going to do this, and I'd known that Noah would probably accept right away, which he did. Next, it was my turn, and I asked Dana if she’d like to serve as my matron of honor.
Grinning, she said yes right away. “I’d be honored. Only if I can be called your ‘woman of honor,’ though. Something about ‘matron’ makes it sound as if I’m about fifty years older than I actually am.”
We all laughed, and I agreed that we’d refer to Dana as my “woman of honor.”
Later that evening, Dana popped open a bottle of champagne and a bottle of sparkling cider, which was for me. While she did this and filled everyone’s glasses, she was grinning but with misty eyes at the same time. And when she lifted her glass to Nick and me, her misty eyes began to overflow.
“I just want to propose a toast to my two very dear friends. Tiff and Nick, I wish you many happy years together…hundreds, actually. May you always have love and light in your home, until the end of your days.”
Dana’s misty eyes turned out to be contagious, and I had to make use of a napkin Nick handed me to dab my eyes with before I could even take a sip of my sparkling cider.
Champagne flowed again that September when Nick and I were married in a gorgeous outdoor ceremony, among tall trees that were just beginning to turn gold with the arrival of autumn. At our reception, which was held at a ballroom that had been constructed specifically for the occasion, Nick and I danced until midnight, when he carried me off the dance floor, kissing me to the sound of wild cheers from the several hundred guests in attendance.
That February, our baby was born, and just like Nick had thought it would be, it was a boy. To be specific, it was a healthy, screaming, seven-pound boy we named David Nicholas Alexander. I thought everything about him was absolutely perfect, from his tiny fingers and toes, to his round little belly, to his gorgeous gray eyes. Dark gray with flecks of light gray within them, they were exactly like his daddy's.
When baby David was a few weeks old, Dana presented me with a gift for him, a pale-yellow blanket made of the softest brushed cotton I’d ever felt. Dana had sewn a pale blue fabric heart in the center, and inside the heart, just a single word had been embroidered. Family.
As I ran a finger over the word with Nick by my side, I began sniffling, realizing that somehow, improbably, after the loss of my coven family, I once again had a real family of my own, complete with a husband and a precious baby that I adored. I even felt like I had a sister in Dana and a brother-in-law in Noah. I couldn’t have been any happier. Or at least I didn’t think I could be, anyway, because I didn’t know that in just five months, I was about to get even happier.
One night while I was cleaning up after dinner, Nick came into the kitchen after having put baby David to bed. He had a little, secret sort of smile on his face, and I asked him what it was all about.
“You look like you have some good news to share or something.”
He said that he did. “I just got off the phone with one of my government contacts, and he says that the government has dropped all plans to every try to abduct you again. I guess they figure that even though you still have the were-gene, what they feared could come of it has already come true, since we’ve already had a baby.
“So now, they don’t feel like they have to continue perusing things. Of course, I think we’re always going to have to be on guard in case they ever have any thoughts of trying to take David, but from what my contact said, they have no plans to do that right now. So, I think we’re safe. Not only do we not have the Dormios to worry about anymore, but now the government isn’t going to be a problem for us, either. Meaning that our happily-ever-after has officially begun.”
I agreed with him about our happily-ever-after; however, I wasn’t sure why a happily-ever-after should make anyone cry.
When three years passed and I didn't become pregnant again, despite having lots of fun trying, Nick and I acknowledged that maybe because he was a vampire, it had probably been an incredibly lucky, fluky thing that I'd become pregnant even once. This didn’t come as a huge surprise to us, since some vampire men had difficulty getting their partners pregnant.
Because of this, we decided that maybe it was time that I be transformed into a vampire myself so that we could spend centuries together, and not just the few decades or so of the rest of my natural human life. Also, by this point, I was the same age as Nick, or at least his age in terms of how old he'd been when he'd been turned into a vampire, and the prospect of me getting any older and having to spend several hundred years looking older than him just didn't appeal to me very much at all, for obvious reasons. I’d never wanted to look like his aging old mother or something, and I always wanted him to feel attracted to me.
Dana, who'd become my best and dearest friend by this time, had already been turned into a vampire after giving Stephanie two siblings, born only four months apart. To the surprise of both of us, she actually loved being a vampire, even the drinking blood part. Like Noah had promised, her squeamishness when it came to blood pretty much disappeared after she was changed. She'd even come to love "hunting" trips into the forestland around the city. Thinking about my own change, this encouraged me greatly, and I was more than a bit grateful that Dana had been the vampire "guinea pig" for us both.
Nick turned me into a vampire himself, although not in our home, like I'd wanted, but at the hospital, where I could be monitored in case of anything going wrong before I'd been fully changed. It turned out this was wise. Despite Dana's assurances that everything would be just fine, I got a severe case of nerves when we entered the hospital lobby. In pretty typical fashion for me, I fainted dead away just past the double doors, collapsing right into Nick's arms, my pulse pounding. And when I woke up in a bed however long later, it was all over. My vision was unusually sharp, and colors were unusually vivid, and I knew that Nick had gone ahead and turned me into a vampire while I'd been out.
Which, having a hunch I might develop some serious nerves, was exactly what I'd told him to do in the event of me fainting. I’d given him clear instructions to just go ahead with it because I’d gotten to the point that I just didn’t want to wait any longer.
Just like he had after the battle with the Dormios, he sat by my bedside, holding my hand, and after I'd looked around the room for a few moments, he asked me how I felt. "Not sick in any way, I hope? Although there are herbs we can blend with wine or whiskey you can drink if you do feel a little ill in any way."
Thinking, I shook my head. "No, I feel completely fine. Except colors are a little bit brighter."
"Good. And you don’t have a headache or anything? Do you feel dizzy at all?"
I shook my head, realizing that I actually felt pretty incredible, more refreshed and alive than I'd ever felt, as if I'd just been reborn, which I kind of had been in a way. This day would forever be my "vampire birthday,” which Dana had told me was an actual thing. To my amusement and delight, she told me that we each now got to celebrate two birthdays a year.
In response to Nick’s questions, I smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "I really don’t feel sick in any way. I just feel lucky, Nick. I just feel extremely lucky. Because at one point in my life, when my coven family was killed, I just wanted to die. I just wanted the pain to be over because I didn't think I would ever recover from the loss. I didn't think I could ever be truly happy again.
“Now I can see just how wrong I was. I actually tried to take my own life, but now I'm so incredibly grateful that I didn't succeed because I have everything to live for, and now, I have several hundred years to live this beautiful life with you and our family.
“And right now, somewhere, I think my coven mother Aurelia is smiling down on me. Wherever her spirit is, I think she can just feel my happiness somehow...and the same with my coven sisters. I think they can feel my happiness, too. I think they’re watching me in some way, and they’re rejoicing." Suddenly misty, I wiped my eyes with the back of a hand. "I hope they are, anyway."
Nick picked up my hand and kissed it, something he often did, and something I loved. "I know they are. I think every one of your family members can feel your happiness right now, whether they've passed the boundaries of this earth, or whether they're still here with us. I’m sure of it. I think your coven members are rejoicing right along with you right now."
Becoming even mistier, I wiped my eyes again, sniffling. "Thanks. It means a lot to me to hear you say that."
It really did. As our marriage had continued to grow and deepen, it had become increasingly important to me that Nick and I be in sync with each other, not only on a physical level but on an emotional one as well. It was also just as important to me that we supported each other, no matter what, and Nick had already proved that he would.
In fact, when I had temporarily given up on my idea to open an art gallery in the city, similar to the one I’d used to work at back in Detroit, it had been Nick who’d urged me not to quit. So, I hadn’t, and several months later, the new gallery had opened. I had cut the red ribbon at the entrance with David in one of my arms and Nick by my side. True to form, I’d shed more than a few tears that day.
Back in the present, on the day I was changed into a vampire, after Nick and I had done a celebratory shot of whiskey together, toasting to our future happiness, I told him that I had just one question about my new state of being as a vampire. "And maybe it's a stupid question, but...I just feel like I have to ask."
Nick looked at me like I was crazy. "There's no question you could ask that I'd think was stupid. So, please, Tiff...just ask me anything."
Fighting a smile, I said all right. "I guess I'm just wondering...well, does kissing feel any different when a person has become a vampire? Will it feel more intense to me or anything?"
With a smile slowly curving his lips, Nick leaned in closer to me. "Let's find out."
He brought his mouth to mine, and almost immediately, I felt the most exquisite, intense tingle run from my lips all the way down to the tips of my toes. When he broke the kiss a few moments later and asked me what I thought, I found myself almost completely breathless.
"I'm not quite sure yet. But why don't we get me out of this hospital and back home, so we can experiment with vampire kissing a little further."
Nick gave me a half-grin so devastatingly sexy that it made me curl my toes, then he pulled me out of bed and onto his lap with one swift movement, displaying his incredible vampire strength. "Your wish is my command, Mrs. Alexander."
Smiling, I wrapped my arms around his neck with a feeling of lightness in my chest, knowing he really meant what he'd said.
Later, at home, after a passionate, three-hour-long lovemaking session, I rested in his arms, asking him if he remembered the day when we’d first met in the government prison. He said of course he did and asked me why.
Smiling a little, I moved my shoulders in a slight shrug. “I guess I was just thinking that that was the first day my life truly began. It feels like it, anyway. I know for sure that my happiness began the day I met you.”
With a look of clear tenderness in his eyes, Nick said he could definitely say the same. He then brushed a gentle kiss against my mouth, reminding me of just how very sweet my life had become.
{{**}}
Dear paranormal lover,
Your author Amira Rain here and thanks so much for reading this novel and the final book from the “WereGenes” series.
In case you missed it, the other books currently available NOW at the below links:
Go grab them now if you haven't already, otherwise so you can be the first to know when the next big series begins!
Amira x x