Charlotte

The growling had grown louder. I looked around and was surrounded by a pack of wolves. They growled and snarled, but it wasn’t at me. It was the thing behind me. I turned to look at what it was. I couldn’t make it out. All I could see was a blurred figure, hunched over on the ground.

I walked up to the figure, but then I felt strong arms pull me back.

I turned to look and it was Draco, holding me as we sat up in bed. I was awake.

“Are you okay, my sweet one?” he asked, holding me with his forehead pressed against mine.

“I’m sorry if I woke you again. I know you have training in the morning.”

“I can function just fine. What I need to know is if you’re okay or not? Can you talk about it?”

“I don’t even know what it is. All I can say is that I’m surrounded by wolves.” I heard a grumble in his chest. They didn’t quite get along or so they said. If they hadn’t had contact with them, how would they know? Longstanding grudges are usually futile after several centuries. But like the Hatfields and McCoys, the vampires and shifters held a grudge. The things that I didn’t know were if they were wolves or shifters and what purpose they had in my dream. It could be pregnancy brain causing madness in my sleep or a vision to come, but it was neither here or there, and the fucking shit was driving me nuts.

“Let me hold you and we can talk about it in the morning if you feel like it.”

“No, Draco. Please rest. I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be fine, so please sleep.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“Yes, I’m positive. Besides, I think I slept a lot during the day.” I gave him a kiss on his lips before climbing off our large bed. It wasn’t as easy as it was last week. This baby was growing faster than I could have imagined and weighing a ton right on my bladder.

“I’ll be back in a little while.” After wrapping up in my robe, I stepped into the hallway. There wasn’t anything happening in the castle, but we had many nighttime people roaming the courtyard and the streets as so many in the village and the surrounding areas had been afflicted with the darkness.

I walked into the library to find Dante and his mother at a game of chess. They both turned when they heard me enter. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb your game.”

“No, please come in, Charlotte,” Mary said. She and I hadn’t been close. I knew it was because I could have saved her husband, but that wasn’t the way things worked.

“I don’t want to be a bother,” I protested. They looked like they were having a good time together. I even saw the remnants of a smile on her face as I entered the room.

“I insist,” she said, sliding the large chair that dated probably back to the eighteen hundreds towards me.

I took the seat and I saw the sadness in her eyes. “Charlotte, I wished to apologize for my uncomfortableness that has come off as disdain. My son has told me that I seem rude to you.”

“Given all that you have been through, I don’t expect you to be overly friendly or even welcoming.”

“I’ve been so uncontrollably depressed that I cannot even breathe without thinking of my lost love. It is almost to the point that I beg for death. I know my death will come soon, but I wish for it to be meaningful. Alessio, his mother, and his father died with honor. I won’t die because I am weak. I wish to destroy the weak who prey on the good of the world.”

“I do not know your fate, but do as you must. We can’t control everything, but when the time is right, you will do what needs to be done.”

“Thank you, Charlotte. You remind me of Alessio’s mother. I know that you don’t resemble her or even speak the way she did, but something about you feels as real and steady as she was.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“I know you and Nora have questions about the pregnancy and such. I still remember it like it was yesterday, so please feel free to ask anything you’d like.”

“Thanks. We’ve been meaning to talk with you, but they’ve said you were resting every time we tried.”

“I’m sorry. Sleep has been harder and harder to get these days. Wondering when the next attack will come or if Dante will be safe has been keeping me awake.”

“That I can understand and see. It’s been a rough time.”

“So do you have questions?” Dante asked me with wide eyes. We both gave him a questionable look. I nearly forgot he was there he was so quiet. “Sorry, I’m just curious. I’ve noticed the insane changes to you both and I wondered. Falcon’s baby will be my cousin, so I want to know how to handle it and what I can do to help.” We all liked Dante. He had a good heart. It was like he zapped up all the love the world had to offer as his brother refused any affection.

“Well, I suppose, how is the delivery?”

“It’s almost just like a human’s delivery. You will feel the pain, but you are much stronger than your former selves. Although, since no one really has had young so soon, I don’t know if it will be much different. You and Nora are still learning and growing as vampires. As you see, it took Nora longer to heal than it did Falcon or any of the others. The labor should be the same. You should have a midwife on hand, and if you wish, if I am still around, I would gladly assist in bringing the next little ones into the world.”

“I’d love that. Nora and I are frightened in a way. Our bodies are changing daily. Learning to control our vampire traits has been hard, especially the hearing thing. I have to roll my eyes at nearly every human conversation I hear.”

“You will learn to control it over time.”