A week later…

Ceri stopped walking, she put both hands to the small of her back and pushed. It had been a long day, many hours of it spent on her feet. A difficult day.

One abortion. One womb removal surgery. Humans called it a hysterectomy. Drugs didn’t work on vampires. Not like they did on humans. The procedures were agonizing. Ceri had experienced one of them herself. She knew exactly how it felt to have your skin sliced open with a silver blade. To have a piece of your body stripped away. A piece of your soul along with it. She hoped that Angelique didn’t live to regret her decision. Both females were young. Thankfully, they were both doing well.

The sun was already setting by the time she made it to her apartment. Her feet ached as well. The only thing she could think of was a nice bubble bath, followed by dinner and bed. Ceri yawned, putting her purse on the coffee table. She kicked off her shoes and went through to the bathroom where she started the bath, pouring a good helping of lavender-scented bubble bath into the tub. She watched the water swirl and bubbles begin to form.

Then she went to the kitchen and turned on the oven. Ceri placed her dinner in the center of the oven rack. It would take at least an hour to cook. She poured herself a large glass of chilled orange juice before heading back to the bathroom. She set the juice on the floor next to the bath, where she could reach it easily. She grabbed the paperback thriller she was trying to get through, placing it next to the glass, along with a towel. Then she undressed, making quick work of her summer dress. It was floral and tight-fitting on account that her diet wasn’t working. Maybe it was because she wasn’t strictly following the eating plan Tanya had given her. She was just too hungry. Craved too many things. Things like steak and pie and cake and ham sandwiches. Oh, those ham sandwiches.

Tomorrow was another day. She was having chicken pot pie for dinner with all the trimmings and then she would think of dieting again in the morning. She couldn’t let her lovely dinner go to waste. Anyway, Ceri liked the fuller-figured her. Other females had begun to notice. They’d asked her what she was doing. How had she managed to get her hips fuller, curvier and her breasts so much plumper. She’d told them to eat more, much more. Several females were on the ‘reverse diet’ ‒ so to speak.

Ceri lowered herself into the water, stretching out. She sighed with contentment as she felt her muscles relax. That was so much better. So much more—

She sat up so quickly that some of the water sloshed over the side of the tub. Ceri was breathing heavily. She had a hand on the lower part of her belly. A reaction. What the hell? What was that?

She’d had a bit of a rumbly tummy the last few days but that was something else. It felt like something moved. Like something…kicked. No! She was imagining things that simply were not there.

Ceri sucked in a few deep breaths and lay back down. She forced herself to breathe normally. To clear her head. To relax. She had a bit of indigestion. That’s all it was. It had to be. She even smiled at herself for being such an overreacting idiot.

Then it happened again.

Harder this time. A soft thumping feeling. A tapping. There…there it was again, slightly to the right this time. She could hardly breathe. Her eyes felt wide in her head. Her hand moved to her belly, closing over the spot. There! Another soft thump. She couldn’t feel it inside. It wasn’t hard enough to feel with her hand even though she pressed down. There were a few more taps and thumps and then nothing.

She could hear her ragged breathing in the small space of the bathroom. Ceri didn’t know what to think. It felt like she had something inside her. What could she possibly have inside her? One answer kept coming back, only it wasn’t possible. She couldn’t be pregnant. She’d undergone surgery to prevent it from happening. An irreversible surgery. It wasn’t possible.

Ceri got out of the bath and toweled herself off. She stood in front of the mirror, like she often did. Only this time she looked. She really looked. Her breasts were much bigger than they had been. Her nipples seemed plumper and darker. Was it just her imagination that they were darker? She didn’t think so.

She looked herself over, standing to the side. Then she ran into the living room and called Drago.

Thankfully he picked up after two rings. A female giggled in the background. “What’s up?” he asked, sounding concerned.

There was a murmuring. “Not now,” he spoke away from the phone. “Are you okay?” he asked, speaking into the receiver. “You haven’t called me this late, out of the blue, for a very long time.”

“It’s not late.”

“It is for you, grandma.”

She wanted to smile at his joke, but she couldn’t. “I need to see you,” she blurted. “Right now, and no, it can’t wait. I can hear I’m interrupting and—”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Drago said. Ceri could hear whoever he was with protesting as he put down the phone.

Ceri toweled off her hair and quickly got dressed, choosing a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. Then she began pacing. Drago was there four minutes later.

He knocked and came in. “Are you okay?”

“I am…I think.”

“What do you mean you think?” He frowned. “Speak to me.”

“I’m sorry I ruined your plans for the night.”

Drago made a face. “I wasn’t into her. I haven’t been into any of them of late,” he mumbled. “Enough about me. This is about you. Spill.”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.” She paced away from him. “I think I’m crazy for even thinking this, but I don’t know what else to think.”

“Tell me what’s going on and we can discuss it. I can see you’re freaked out.”

She nodded. “I am. Big time. I felt something…something inside me.”

“What?” Drago frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Movement inside my stomach.”

Drago made a face. “Okay, you’re losing me here.”

“Kicking. I felt definite kicking inside my belly. This belly.” She lifted her shirt to just below her breasts. Then she stood to the side.

“I told you to knock it off with all the bad food.” He shook his head. “The burgers and fries. I saw you with a whole box of donuts on Tuesday. Now look, you’ve got indigestion and you’ve put on more weight.”

“My breasts are huge.”

“A definite bonus for sure.” Drago nodded. “I think you look amazing. Very sexy, but I can’t agree because it isn’t healthy. You aren’t drinking enough either. Don’t make me start on you about that.”

“Actually. I think it might be related. The not feeling much like drinking, my weight gain, my boobs, the kicking.” She put a hand to her stomach. “I went through a patch where I was really nauseous. I put it down to wanting Bay’s blood. You remember how much weight I lost. How sick I felt.”

He nodded. “You said you were addicted to drinking from the male, but that’s not true.”

“My blood has changed. I think it might have. It might be why you can’t get enough of my blood.”

He licked his lips, his eyes moving to her pulse. “You see?” she said. “Just talking about drinking from me is making you thirsty.”

“Come on, it can’t be.”

“No,” she shook her head, “I agree. It can’t possibly be. There is only one way to find out for sure though. I need to rule it out so that I can move on.”

The seatbelt bit into her shoulder as the vehicle hit a pothole. “Slow down.”

“Sorry.” Drago took his foot off the gas a little. “I guess I’m freaking out a bit too. I mean, what if you are…you know?”

“Pregnant.” She felt her heart beat faster. Felt panic rise.

“Yes.” Drago nodded. “That wouldn’t be good, would it?”

“No, I don’t think so, although, I don’t know. Vampires can have shifter young, even those of us with narrow hips. But the shifters I’m referring to are bears, wolves and panthers, not dragons. We don’t have much information about the dragons. All I know is that it’s too soon to be feeling kicking.”

“Unless you became pregnant on the Beachhaven trip, then you would be much further along. Your pregnancy would be more in tune with a vampire pregnancy, which is bad.”

“Very bad.” She swallowed hard. “Either way, it’s too late to terminate.”

“You’re on the cusp. You could still do it. You should still.” Drago’s hands tightened on the wheel.

“We don’t even know that I’m…pregnant yet.”

The vehicle hit the smooth surface of tar. “We will in five minutes.”

“Pity I ran out of pregnancy tests. I don’t keep very many on account of not many of our females becoming pregnant.”

“You have been a bit forgetful lately. Is that a symptom as well?” Drago glanced her way before looking back at the road.

“Yes, I suppose it is. Are you sure there’s a twenty-four-hour drugstore in Sweetwater?”

Drago nodded. “Yes. They have a big neon sign.”

“Classy.”

“Very.” He turned and smiled at her. “This is going to be okay.”

She nodded once, shoving more panic aside. It was no use jumping to conclusions. Not yet.

Drago insisted on going in while she waited in the car. Five minutes later he walked out carrying a bag which he handed to her as he slipped behind the wheel. She looked inside and burst out laughing. “Really? Six tests? You bought six?”

He shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, and we’re not waiting to get back either.”

Two minutes later they pulled into a gas station.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Drago asked.

“You want to watch me pee on a stick?”

“I won’t look.”

Ceri smiled and shook her head. “I can manage.”

He nodded. “I’m sure there’s some logical explanation.”

“Me too.”

“You can’t be with child because that wouldn’t be logical.”

“No, it wouldn’t.” She shook her head, feeling better. “We’re going to laugh about this in a few minutes.”

Drago smiled. It was forced, his eyes kept this pinched look. “So much.”

Ceri got out of the SUV, armed with two of the tests.

“Good luck,” Drago called after her.

Ceri took a deep breath and headed for the restrooms.