Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (29 page)

He administered the first doses of the potion in the blood
served and wished that all the elders were present.  He was going to have to
take his opportunities when he could.  He didn’t feel as if he could trust anyone
else with the secret.  He participated in the gentle questioning of the
pregnant Vampires.  Their stomachs remained flat and smooth so far, and he
asked, “How is it that you are positive that you are with child?” 

The oldest of the three spoke up.  She must have been around
two hundred years old, which was not saying much in Vampire time.  “If you
listen, you will hear the heartbeats of the fetuses.” 

“What do you mean, heartbeats?  How can a Vampire have a
heartbeat?” This was disturbing news to Gates.  His belief that the Vampire
creation problem might be solved by these births was looking a lot less
likely.  Vampires did not have heartbeats.  Therefore, these women were not
carrying Vampires. The woman had no answer and was staring at him with wide confused
eyes.

One of the elders, a man named Arthur Hawking moved across
the room and patted her shoulder comfortingly.  “Before you arrived, Samuel, we
were able to determine that these Vampire women could only have been
impregnated by other Vampires.  In all three cases, the women know exactly the
only partner that could have been responsible and while they are all at
slightly different stages, they all became with child after the Solar Storm.” 

“Thank you, Arthur.  You’ve been remarkably thorough in
your questions,” Gates observed without enthusiasm. 

“We have also sent for the fathers to be brought here so
that we may examine these Vampire parents and discover the cause of these
anomalies.”  Arthur still stood with his hands on the woman’s shoulders.

“Very efficient, too, I see,” Gates quipped.  “Arthur,
perhaps you would like to sit down, now and allow me to make my own
inquiries.”  Gates could not keep the annoyance from his inflection, but that annoyance
turned to surprise when Arthur abruptly walked over to a chair and promptly sat
down, folding his hands politely in his lap. 

“Uh-h-h-h,” Gates looked around at the others and no one
seemed to have noticed anything odd about Arthur’s behavior. “Arthur, would you
mind handing me that book on the table next to you?” Gates watched in awe as
Arthur swiftly responded to the request by handing the book to him and
returning to his seat without a word. Gates barely contained his excitement. 
The
potion is working better than I could have ever wished for or expected.
That’s
one problem solved
,
he thought, as long as he could think of a way to
administer the dose to all the members daily. “Arthur, you have handled this matter
so competently that I am finding myself in agreement with you about suspending
martial law and renewing the council.  I think it would be wise for us to meet
at least once a day for a briefing even if nothing else is pressing. Can I
count on you to convince the others?”

“Absolutely.  I will inform everyone, and we can meet—“

“Here,” Gates interjected. “We should meet here, daily.” 

“Excellent notion.  This would be a perfect place to meet. 
Shall we say, every morning?”  Arthur looked from Gates to his fellow elder,
who was nodding enthusiastically. 

“It’s decided then.  I will see you both in the morning
with the others.  You have a good evening, now.” Gates smiled.

“Yes, of course.  You have a good evening as well,” Arthur
answered as he and the other man hurried to leave.

Gates, still a little shocked by the success of his plan
rubbed his face with both hands until he noticed the three women watching him
with wide eyes.  He let his hands drop and walked over to the two sitting next
to each other on a sofa.  He kneeled before them and put a hand on each of
their bellies.  He laid his cheek next to his hand on the woman who was closest
to him and listened to the heartbeats.  The women were silent and did not make
any objection to his forward behavior. 
Without, sonograms and medical
tests, it’s going to take months to figure all this out.
“What exactly are
you?” he mused to the life beneath his hand. 

thirty

Those months went by quickly for the little group in the
lodge despite the fact that there was little to break up their daily routine. 
The snow had nearly trapped them indoors. Ryan was the only one who went
outside with any frequency.  He usually had to change form to do it.  In his
wolf form, his huge fur tufted paws acted like natural snowshoes, and he was
able to stay on top of the snow more easily. When he did break through the icy
crust, he was better able to leap back out without difficulty.  He hunted and occasionally
went to the settlement for news or supplies. 

Lily, like Aurora, was also growing big with her
pregnancy.  She was carrying twins, and her belly was bigger than Aurora’s even
though she was at least a month behind the Vampire’s due date.  Lily had
valiantly made the journey to the lodge on two occasions, after that first examination
of Aurora, to continue monitoring her progress and health of the baby.  But,
now, her own pregnancy prevented her from making the strenuous journey and
Aurora’s time was drawing near. 

The wind and snow showed no signs of letting up even though
it should have been springtime.  Alex was reminded of his conversations with
the scientists about possible climate changes, and he wished he had asked more
questions at the time.  Aurora, who had always been able to identify the stars,
told him that the sky was in the wrong position for the time of the year that
it was.  She pointed out various constellations, when the sky was clear enough,
and explained what their positions meant.

“Do you see those three stars over there?” she asked,
pointing to them while she stood with her back against Alex’s strong chest. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist resting his hands on
her swollen belly and nodded against the side of her face where she could feel
the gesture.

“That is the belt of Orion the Hunter.  In the northern
hemisphere, that is about the position he should be in around December.  I am
guessing that it is mid to late April, but I confess that I’ve lost track.”

“You’re not wrong.” Alex said. “It is the third week in
April, and you are due in three weeks.”  He shrugged when she craned her head
to look at him. “I’ve been keeping track for both of us.”

Aurora looked back at the constellation and frowned. “The
stars are moving in the sky, but much too slowly.  I think our orbit has
slowed.  At this rate, it won’t be spring for a couple of years at least.  That
is assuming we are still on the same path but just moving slower.”

Alex wasn’t as concerned about the weather as he was
Aurora. “I’m worried about you.  None of us has ever been through a birth
before with a human much less a Vampire. I don’t know what I would do if
anything happened to you.” Alex buried his face in her neck and squeezed her a
little tighter.

“Ryan went to the settlement to see if there was any way
possible to get Lily here for the birth, but I’m afraid her own babies will
prevent her from being able to make the trip. She said she might deliver early,
because of the twins.” Aurora had asked Ryan not to press Lily too hard.  She
did not want Lily to risk her own health.  In the end, she couldn’t keep him
from going, though.  He was still all about the baby.  He listened to her
heartbeat constantly, and Aurora had finally given up asking him to stop
shifting all the time, even if he did smell like a creature in need of a bath,
when he did it.  He also put his hands on her belly as often as possible.  They
all still felt the need to be close, and they slept together most of the time,
Ryan sleeping with a hand on the baby at all times when he was not at the
settlement.   She listened to him whisper odd sounding nonsense to the unborn
infant.  She swore that the baby responded to him, as well.  She pushed and
kicked at Aurora’s stretched muscles as if she was trying to get closer to his
voice as he cooed and hummed to her. 

Alex, on the other hand, while not indifferent to the baby,
was much more concerned about Aurora.  If his hand were on her stomach it was
to hold her and not to be touching the baby.  He almost seemed nervous or
uncomfortable with the thought of a tiny life, and he distanced himself a
little from the process.  But, he worried endlessly about Aurora, and he tried
to make everything as comfortable and safe for her as possible.  He also seemed
not to want to burden Aurora with his concerns and often he turned to Sara to
vent his frustrations or fears. 

Aurora was not thrilled that he withheld his concerns from
her, but she was happy that he seemed to be developing emotional ties to Sara
because she, herself, was half in love with the girl and wanted her to be with
them as long as Sara might choose to stay.  The three of them touched and
kissed and explored each other whenever Ryan was away.  They knew Ryan was
uncomfortable with his sister’s sexual relationship with the Vampires, and they
respected his feelings because he was as much a part of their family as any one
of them and they wouldn’t purposely hurt him for the world.  But, they never tried
to hide anything from him either.  He chose not to talk about it, and they
didn’t rub his nose in it.

Aurora warmed with the thoughts of Alex and Sara in her
bed.  She took Alex by the hand and led him to the huge bed that they had made
in front of the main fireplace.  They rarely spent time in the apartment and
could almost always be found in the main room. 

Without a large choice of maternity clothes, Aurora had
taken to wearing a wrap in the style of a toga to accommodate her growing middle. 
Now she stood by the fireplace and let the wrap drop to the floor.  Even with
her sizable baby bump, she was still slender everywhere else.  Her breasts had
not grown like a normal pregnant woman.  Lily told her that her body did not appear
to be capable of nursing.  As a Vampire, she was not alive and apparently
unable to produce milk.  As a result, Aurora’s breasts were still firm and pert. 
Her body showed no scarring or stretch marks, partially because of her healing ability
and partially due to Sara and the oils Lily had given her.  Every night before
bed, Sara brought the oils and rubbed them over Aurora’s baby filled belly. 

Sometimes, if he could not be deterred from touching the baby,
Ryan would rub the oils onto her taut skin.  Once, while Alex was watching Ryan
touching Aurora and rubbing her with the silky liquid, he wondered what it
might be like to invite Ryan into bed with them.  He was beautiful, and the way
he was touching Aurora seemed so intimate and sensuous to Alex that his loins
grew warm, and his manhood began to stir. It was a fleeting thought that he
dismissed as a momentary attraction.  He was only mildly interested in Ryan’s body,
and Ryan was unlikely to be interested at all.  He didn’t even seem to be
aroused by the intimate contact with Aurora.  He was much more obsessed with
the baby. 

Tonight Ryan was gone and Sara brought the oils, leading
Aurora to the bed and smoothing them over her satiny skin.  This time, with
Sara doing the touching, Alex was much more than mildly interested.  Sara set
the jars aside, but her palms were still slick with the oils. 

Alex was hard after watching the touching women, and now
that they were all together, naked, in the glow of the fire, he drew Sara’s arm
over Aurora, to him, and pulled her small, slippery hand to his huge, straining
member.  She let the oil slide over his velvety skin and his steely hardness
made the soft v between her legs warm and moist.  She was leaning across
Aurora’s body where he had pulled her, and now, her nipples were hardening and
pressing into Aurora’s side.  Aurora reached up and stroked Sara’s breast when
she felt the hard little bullets, demanding attention.  She rolled to her side
and took one in her mouth, sucking and playing with the pebble between her lips. 
She let her tongue dance over it and took the other one in her fingers,
pinching lightly and pulling gently. 

Alex, watching this play, felt his rod jump in Sara’s moist
fingers.  He watched her stroking the entire length of him even as she moaned at
Aurora, who was pleasuring her tits with practiced ease.  His cock was less
than an inch from Aurora’s smooth bottom as she faced toward Sara.  He
disengaged Sara’s grasping fingers and pressed his length against the warm
crevice between the soft mounds of Aurora’s ass.  He stroked against her and
reached around for her breast to fill his hand.  Aurora’s nipples were hard and
erect, craving the same kind of attention that Sara’s nipples were receiving
from her mouth.  So, Alex rolled them between his thumb and finger, first one
and then the other until Aurora was moaning with Sara.  Her moans still muffled
by the breast in her face. 

Alex rolled Aurora onto her back, dislodging Sara’s nipple
from her mouth with an audible pop.  He reached across her to grasp the wet
mound of Sara’s sex in his hand, and he drew Aurora’s nipple into his mouth and
bit her softly.  She gasped and pushed her breasts forward for more.  He nipped
and nuzzled her rock hard nubs until she was panting. 

With his hand in between Sara’s thighs, he sought her slick
little bud with his thumb and when he found it easily, hard and aching for
notice, he stroked back and forth across it until Sara was pushing herself
against his hand.  He slid two fingers into her wet ready depths and stroked
her rhythmically, never taking his thumb from her pulsing clitoris.