Chapter Seventeen – Tindra
Rollon had been gone for several days and it was driving her crazy. There was only the occasional update as to where he was and what was happening. Tindra soon found that sitting around doing nothing only made her nerves worse, so she threw herself into work.
Despite the morning sickness that was attacking her every day, she took over jobs that were left vacant by the men in the heart of battle. She did auditing, accounting, looking over financial records – everything in line with her job before she came to the palace. Everybody had to work twice as hard to make up for the deficit.
She groaned as she collapsed onto her bed one night, her feet, back and legs aching. Her doctor's appointment earlier that day had shown everything was still fine with her pregnancy, but the doctor advised her to relax more. She wasn't sure how she was going to manage that, but for the baby, she'd try.
Just as Tindra was going to start stripping off her clothes and take a nice shower, a shuffling under her bed caught her attention. She bolted upright to see Hilda slipping out from under it.
"Were you hiding under my bed?" she yelped in surprise.
Hilda nodded.
"Have you been there all this time?'
"No. There are secret compartments that only I know about." Hilda climbed onto the bed and bit her lip. "Rolly is really mad at me, isn't he? Because I've been talking to Eva."
Tindra licked her lips. How could she word this so that wouldn’t send Hilda back into hiding? She had been talking to Eva. She might have something that she could tell them . . . "Well, he's not happy, but he understands why you did what you did. I'm sure that Thor and Ingrid—"
A hand flashed out and grabbed Tindra's wrist. Hilda's grip was tighter than expected. "I don't want you to die."
"I'm not going to die, sweetie."
"Eva said that all humans who have vampire babies die."
"She's lying." Tindra brushed Hilda's hair from her face while trying to free her other hand. "Thor's mother didn't die. Honey, you're hurting me."
"Eva promised she would never lie to me." She released Tindra, tears filling her big eyes. "She promised."
Tindra's heart ached. She pulled the little girl into her arms, stroking her hair. Hilda clung to her, her small body starting to shake with silent sobs. What sort of monster would abuse the trust of a child who so clearly loved her? Maybe she didn't know much about Eva, but everything she was finding out made her hate the woman more and more.
"I wanted Eva and Ingrid to be together again. We were so happy then. Ingrid hasn't been happy in a long time."
"I know. I know you thought it would make your sister happy. It's not your fault, okay? Eva is the one attacking the palace. She's done everything. It's not your fault because you didn't know. You weren't told."
Once again, Tindra was struck by how unfair the whole situation was. Hilda was a child who would never grow up. She would never understand things the way adults did. She would be stuck forever, seeing things in a childish light and struggling to come to terms with things that she just couldn't understand. But what had been the alternative? Dying as a child wouldn't have allowed her any of the things she would missing out on anyway. And at least she was able to have some life.
Hilda buried her face in Tindra's shoulder. "I don't want anybody else to leave. I hate death. I hate it when people die. I hate when they leave me. My parents died and Ingrid would have died if Eva hadn't changed her. And then Eva left. She just left. Didn't she love me at all? She said she was my big sister and she would love me forever, but then she left. I'm not going to let you leave."
"I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
"Promise." Hilda sniffed. "Promises don't work. They're broken and people leave. No. I won't let you leave."
Tindra started to reassure her, but a sharp pain at her collarbone had her crying out instead. A fiery, burning pain flooded her blood, rushing down her arm. It clamped around her heart and she jerked, screaming. Hilda's hands were tight on her shoulders, pinning her into place. Ice seeped in after the burning pain.
Her heart gave a hard thump, was still, and then began beating fast and hard. It was like an elephant was sitting on her chest. Her back tightened, stabbing pains running through it. Her hands and arms began to tingle.
Hilda pulled back. Her mouth was bloody, the red liquid spilling down her chin. Her eyes were wide, a crimson color seeping into them. Tindra clutched at her neck, gaping, unable to speak. Her head spinning, stomach churning. Whether she was able to gasp out the question or Hilda saw it in her eyes, she didn't know.
"I'm not going to let you die," Hilda said. "Whether because of the baby or not, you're human. You'll die. You'll get old or sick or just fall down the stairs and break your neck. I won't let that happen."
"Hilda," Tindra managed to gasp out.
"It's okay. I know how to turn a human into a vampire. Eva told me. The baby is going to be fine. Vampire women can carry and give birth. Eva told me that she knows a lot of women to do that. It just doesn't happen in the palace because they don't drink enough human blood. Don't worry. I won't let you die."
She tried to push the vampire off of her, but Hilda dropped again. Another burning pain, more ice. Her feet were numb and she couldn't feel her hands any longer.
"St-stop," she whispered, then another long scream tore from her. The pain was all-consuming. Darkness closed in around her vision and she knew she was dying. Her lungs seized, unable to breathe.
Then, Hilda was ripped away. The icy pain didn't fade. Tindra collapsed back, feeling like she was falling forever. She was unaware of anything except noise and the feeling of her heart, the rapid beat slowing. Eventually, the sound around her changed to screaming and she recognized Hilda's voice. Tindra tried to shy away but couldn't make her body move.
"I need more!" the little girl shouted. "I need to change her!"
She managed to open her eyes. A man leaned over her. "Rollon . . . "
It wasn't Rollon, but she didn't care. She clung to the name as her eyes drifted closed again. She remembered his touch, his kiss. When he drank from her, it was so different from this horror. She locked his face in her mind and held onto him as her mind drifted away.