Darkness Falls (40 page)

“Why?” she croaked, pressing a hand against her belly as it hardened in an all-too-familiar contraction. Licking her lips, she looked up at Jiro, “Why did you kill her after all of this?”

“It’s part of the transformation,” he explained distractedly, pacing back and forth as he kept his eyes on Ginny’s still form. “I destroyed whatever remained of her vampirism and when she wakes she’ll be a Breeder. I hope.”

“Jiro,” she managed as blackness threatened to swallow her whole, as her body prepared itself for labor. It was too soon and she needed Feryn. “Please send me back to Feryn. Please.”

“Malorie, if I take you back now he’ll know what I’ve done,” he said with genuine remorse. Panic filled his silver-green eyes as he looked at her and realized what he had done.

“He’ll know either way, Jiro,” she told him, breathing through another contraction.

Squatting down in front of her, he pushed her hair away from her face and frowned as he looked at his hand on her cheek, as if something wasn’t quite right. Or he remembered who he was before he created a couple of vampires. Without a word, he ran his palm over her forehead, her cheeks, “Malorie, just wait a few minutes while your body restores its blood supply. Please. I don’t want him to know.”

“She took too much,” she said, staring directly at him. His eyes widened as he finally understood what was wrong but she was too frightened to take much comfort in it. “The baby’s bigger than she had been with Jack and needs more of my blood. Ginny took too much.”

“What are you saying?” he asked. For such an intelligent man, he was being deliberately obtuse.

“The baby’s coming,” she panted, the darkness pulling her under. As she closed her eyes, she whispered, “And it’s too soon.”

Chapter 16

The labor pains were getting more intense but Malorie didn’t want to think about it so she concentrated on the reports that were coming in. Resting a hand over her hard belly, she listened to the latest intel confirming that vampires everywhere had disappeared nearly two weeks before and those that remained were seeking a mutually beneficial compromise with the humans.

“It’s too good to be true,” Gustav growled, marking another area on the map with a black X. “Something’s up and I don’t like it.”

“Maybe the tides have turned and we should be grateful,” Malorie said, shallowly huffing through another contraction. “God knows we deserve a break.”

Her father was silent as he looked at her, truly looked at her. Pity still lurked in his gray eyes but she didn’t want his pity. Jack was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. It was the risk they took every day and she had known that there might come a day when he didn’t return. She had just hoped it happened fifty or sixty years in the future. Besides, if she thought about it too much, she might start to cry and never be able to stop. “Are you alright, Mal?”

She nodded her head, wincing only a little as another contraction hit. “I’m fine.”

His brow furrowed as he continued watching her instead of the map he had been marking. “Mal, are you having the baby?”

Taking a breath, she met her father’s eyes, “It’s a strong possibility.”

“Foolish girl,” he muttered, wrapping his hand around her arm and leading her through the old building to the makeshift infirmary. “How far apart are the contractions?”

“Not too far apart,” she managed as yet another one hit. Stumbling a step, she was grateful for her father’s steadying hand so she didn’t fall. From the moment she had found out she was pregnant, she had read every book she had been able to get her hands on and was fairly certain the baby was going to come into the world within a few hours.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Gustav asked as he got her situated on one of the cots.

“I could handle it.”

Shaking his head in bemusement, he murmured, “I’ll go grab the medic. Stay here.”

She almost smiled at that because it wasn’t like she was going to leave, not with the contractions practically on top of each other. Struggling out of her panties, she had the sudden, desperate urge to push. Terrified, she tried to keep her legs together but it was too late because the baby was coming. God, she wished Jack were there!

“I miss you, Jack,” she rasped, putting her hands between her thighs to catch the baby.

“I’m right here, Mal,” he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

Blinking, she looked around but he wasn’t there and she squeezed her eyes shut. It hurt and there was no one there and the baby was forcing his way into the world. With a primal scream, she pushed the baby out, gently cradling his head while her body was twisted in an awkward angle. Tears of joy fell unheeded as she smiled at her newborn son.

Her father burst back into the room, followed by the medic, and they both froze when they saw her and the baby. Rushing to her side, Gustav grabbed Toby from her arms and carefully held him as the medic cut the cord and checked on Malorie. “Malorie….”

Lifting her gaze from her baby’s face, she saw the love and tenderness on her father’s face, an expression that transformed him from a soldier, a general, into a man. He looked up and met Malorie’s eyes and she was surprised to see the tears glistening there. “He’s beautiful.”

She swallowed the thick lump that lodged itself in her throat because in that moment, her father was a stranger. In all of her years, she had never seen such open vulnerability in the man. It was understandable, of course, but it was unexpected. The past couple of weeks had been so stressful and the birth of Toby was such a huge blessing.

Gustav looked down at the baby and smiled, “I will protect you with my life, little one. I’ll keep you safe from all of the monsters so you’ll never have to be afraid.”

Tears welled in Malorie’s eyes as she looked away, unable to watch her father make such impassioned promises to her newborn son when he couldn’t keep those promises to her. No matter. Even though her father was making the promise but she was going to do everything in her power to keep her son safe.

Malorie slowly woke up from the memory and found herself lying in her bed. Feryn was sitting on a chair next to her, his head bowed and his shoulders taut. For a moment, she wondered why he was so upset but the confusion evaporated as a cramp seized her belly and it all came rushing back. At her pained gasp, Feryn’s head shot up, “Malorie.”

Tears filled her eyes as she looked at her beloved mate, at the concern in his fierce green gaze. The only thing she could think of slipped past her lips as she mournfully admitted, “I think I’m losing the baby.”

Taking her hand in his, he brought it up to his lips and kissed her fingers. Holding her hand against his lips, his hot breath warming her cool flesh, he offered a smile that was ruined by the dampness in his eyes, “The baby will be fine, Malorie. She’s a fighter and has survived worse.”

She tried to smile at his encouraging words but it hurt too much because she knew it was too late. Clearing her throat, she asked, “How long was I out?”

“Just a few minutes,” he answered softly, lightly stroking her hair, his eyes filled with unspoken worry. Nodding towards a large plant in the corner, his lips quirked upwards in a half-smile as he murmured, “Even in sleep you need to discharge the Netherspace energy.”

A cramp rippled through her belly and it was all she could do not to cry. After the contraction passed, she held his eyes. “Do you hate me?”

“Never,” he growled fervently.

“I’ve ruined everything.” Swallowing, the guilt and pain bubbling within her as she breathed through another contraction, she licked her lips, “I didn’t understand what my presence would do to the other Aradians. I didn’t understand and now our baby is going to pay the price.”

“Mal….” He cleared his throat before he tried again, “Malorie, there will be other children.”

Her eyes welled with tears as she looked at him in misery, “But I want
this
one.”

“Malorie, it’ll be alright,” Jack said from the other side of the bed.

Startled because she hadn’t even known he was there, she turned her head and looked at him in bewilderment. “What are you doing here?”

Dull red colored his cheekbones as he glanced at Feryn before he answered, “It’s the damnedest thing, Mal. There was this sudden, inexplicable ache in my soul and I knew you were in trouble. Toby is in the other room watching cartoons.”

“You…
felt
my distress?”

“Maker’s bond,” Feryn murmured softly, stroking Malorie’s hair away from her face. She turned back to him, the worry in his eyes making her want to cry even harder. “What happened, love?”

Tears filled her eyes and she squeezed her eyelids closed, not wanting to tell Feryn why she had gone into early labor. His lips brushed against her closed eyelid as he asked softly, “Where did you go?”

“I didn’t go anywhere,” she murmured, keeping her eyes closed as she breathed through a contraction.

“Malorie,” he said sternly. “It’s obvious you went through Netherspace. Just tell me where you went, what happened, why you used the key I gave you.”

She opened her eyes and silently pleaded with him to not ask any more questions.

“Get out of my way, you bastard,” Ginny screamed from the living area, pushing through the door and coming into the bedroom. She rushed over to the bed and fell to her knees besides Malorie, guilt and compassion making her eyes even brighter than normal. “Are you okay?”

Malorie shook her head no as a tear slid down her cheek. Softly, wanting to think about anything else other than the baby that was coming too soon, she asked, “Did it work?”

Ginny nodded once, her eyes widening as she raised her head and saw Jack sitting there. Keeping her eyes on Jack, she said, “I think so. I feel… amazing.”

“You’re a Breeder now?” Feryn asked in a low, dangerous rumble.

“Mostly,” Ginny answered, her brows furrowed. “I mean, I feel the strength within me but it’s… incomplete, you know?”

“Why, Malorie?” Feryn asked, sorrow and recrimination making his words thick. “Why would you risk your life like this?”

“It wasn’t her,” Ginny protested quickly.

“I’m so sorry,” Jiro whispered from the doorway.

Feryn didn’t even turn his head as his eyes widened in horrified understanding. Brushing Malorie’s hair away from her face, he lowered his voice and softly asked, “Jiro did this to you?”

Swallowing, she nodded once, her heart breaking at the anguish that twisted Feryn’s face. Raising her heavy hand, she cupped his face and whispered, “He was under the influence of vamps, Feryn. I don’t think he meant for it to go this far. I don’t think he meant to harm me or the baby.”

“But he did,” Feryn bit out, pressing a tender kiss against her palm as his eyes flared with rage and grief.

“Feryn,” Jiro murmured, taking a step into the room and freezing when Feryn glared at him.

“Get out.”

Holding out his hands in supplication, Jiro begged, “Feryn, please.”

“I can’t even look at you right now,” Feryn sneered, his lip curling in a feral snarl as he turned back to Malorie, his anguished expression melting to love and sadness.

Jiro nodded in sad resignation but in quiet accusation murmured, “It wasn’t that long ago that you would have done the same,”

“I know,” Feryn admitted softly, his voice breaking as his eyes slid closed. Pressing his forehead against Malorie’s hand, he trembled, “I know.”

Jiro cleared his throat and risked Feryn’s wrath. “I want the Breeder.”

“No!” Feryn bellowed, coming to his feet.

But Ginny was faster, turning on Jiro with hatred in her eyes. “You’ll never have me, you fucking cock sucker! Not after what you did to me when I asked you to remove your goddamned mark.”

Malorie pressed her lips together to keep from whimpering as another contraction hit. She wanted to stand up and applaud Ginny but at the same time she wanted everyone but Feryn to leave her damn room so she could suffer in silence with just her mate by her side. She could no longer deny the inevitable and she wanted to scream at all of them.

“Feryn,” Malorie cried out, groping for his hand as her body seized up. “The baby’s coming.”

Instantly, he was by her side once again, shushing her as he gently stroked her hair. Ginny was between her legs and even though she knew it was foolish, she kept her knees together to keep the girl from taking the baby. Tears streamed down Malorie’s face as she felt the slightest pressure and then the baby was born.

Carefully, Ginny wrapped the little preemie up and placed her gently on Malorie’s chest and it was all Malorie could do to wrap herself around the infant and will her to live. Feryn’s large hand covered the entire baby as she struggled to breathe with lungs that were undeveloped and not up to the task.

“Give me the baby,” Jiro murmured, walking over to the side of the bed. Feryn’s head whipped around as he glared at his brother but Jiro ignored it. Swallowing thickly, he met Malorie’s eyes, “Step through Netherspace and make her strong.”