Expecting Eternity (Vamp Life #2) (6 page)

Due to the traumatic experience, the doctors put Fate in a room to keep her for overnight observation.  I was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants that one of the kind nurses had given me.  My own clothing had been stained with blood.  I was waiting in Fate’s room anxiously for the sedative to wear off. 

Marcus and Antonio came into the room together. 
Marc immediately came over, kneeling down beside me.  Antonio went straight to Fate.  I saw him lightly touch her cheek before pulling a chair up next to the bed. 

“I will stay with her.  Why don’t you go home?”  Antonio said without looking at me.

“The police are coming to question me soon.  Not much I can tell them, but if anything helps catch the person who….”  I couldn’t even say it.  I wanted to burn the vision of my dead friend from my memory.  Suddenly, dizziness overwhelmed me and I closed my eyes.

Marc frowned deeply.  “I’ll run down to the cafeteria and grab some orange juice.”  He left the room
in a rush like a man on a mission.  It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten lightheaded during the pregnancy.  My thirst for blood was practically nonexistent and my blood sugar levels were all over the place.

“How’d you know to come to the hospital?  I would have called, but with everything….”  Once again, I couldn’t finish my sentence.  I bit my lip to fight back
against losing control.

Antonio finally looked at me now that Marcus was out of the room.  “Your husband called me.  I’
m glad I was in town.” 

“That’s good.”  I said meekly.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?”  He asked in an accusing tone I didn’t like. 

Slowly, I opened my eyes.  It was really not the time for th
e conversation.  “We haven’t spoken much.  What was I supposed to do?  Call up and randomly tell you?  It’s not like you had the consideration to tell me you were dating Fate.”

He looked to the sleeping gir
l and sighed.  “Because I did not want to start needless drama.  I did not realize how much I would come to adore her.  I was only going to have a little taste….”  His finger traced over the vein in her neck.  There was a small pause.  “Your baby, though.  That is different.  Vampire woman almost never get pregnant.  It must have had something to do with consuming mine and Dante’s blood and the effects as your body adjusted.  Just…perfect timing.”

“Will he be a vampire?”  I’d wanted to ask so many questions about it before, but I
had been ignoring the supernatural implications until then.

Antonio frowned.  “I do
not know.  It would be more likely if it was my child.”  He shot me a pointed look, but I didn’t flinch.  “You’re a doctor.  Let us look at it this way.  A mother with HIV doesn’t necessarily infect her baby, but there is a risk.”

It was a perfectly simple explanation that I could understand. 
I was going to ask more questions that were weighing on my mind, but Marcus came back to the room faster than expected with the juice. 

“One of the ladies at the nurse’s station gave me this so I didn’t have to
run all the way downstairs.”  He tore open the tin foil top of the cup and handed it to me.

Immediately, I started sipping on the beverage. 
“Thank you, hun.”  He kissed my forehead before crossing his arms and leaning against the wall beside me.  There weren’t enough chairs in the room.

The room fell silent.  I had
suspicions and speculation about the murder, but I couldn’t bring myself to discuss it so soon.  The others were probably feeling the same way.  Neither of them seemed to want to upset me further by talking about it.  Finally, the detectives showed up to question me.

“Ma’am.”
  They both showed their badges.  “We’ll try to finish this up as quickly as possible.  I know it’s difficult.”

They ran through the normal line of questioning.  Was my name Evelyn Hart? Yes.  Was the veterinary clinic mine? Yes.  Where was I during the morning hours? 
The doctor.  So on and so forth it went until we reached the questions about suspects.

“I don’t know why anyone would harm her.  She didn’t have any enemies that I know of.” 

“Mmhmm.”  A jotting of notes in a small book.  “Did you know she had broken up with her boyfriend the night before?”

I blinked.  “What? No.  Roger?”

“We questioned him before coming here.  He was packing.  Have you ever noticed any suspicious behavior from him?”  The officer asked.

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts.  “He’s quiet and serious, but nothing that would lead me to think he was a murderer.  Did you arrest him?”

“There isn’t enough evidence for that, Ma’am.  His neighbors corroborated his whereabouts this morning.   Hopefully, this poor victim can enlighten us further when she wakes up.  Until then, we have officers watching the suspect.”  He gestured toward the sleeping Fate before stepping forward and handing me his card.  “If you think of anything, please call immediately.”  I nodded.  “Thank you for your time.”

After the police left,
Marcus and Antonio exchanged glances with each other before looking at me.

“Do you think?”  I asked.

Antonio appeared conflicted about the matter and Marcus shook his head.  “I don’t know, babe.  He seemed alright to me.   You never know about people, though.”

I was exhausted.  Marc took my hand and helped me up.  “Take me home, Marcus.  I’ll come back after I
shower.  Call me if she wakes up before I return.”  I told Antonio. 

“Of course.”
He nodded, forcing a polite smile.

It wasn’t as if I’d never lost anyone I loved or cared about.  Through
out the years, I’d seen my friends age and die while I stayed the same.  Death was something I’d never get used to.  I’d lost my first husband to war, but at least I knew he died a hero.  It was a meager comfort. 

My heart was breaking, especially to lose
Ash to such brutality.  She deserved better.  I vowed silently that the responsible party would pay.  I had no clue how I would get revenge, but I was determined.

After a long shower and getting dressed, I sat down on the side of my bed.  I pulled a blanket around me and decide to rest my head on the plush pillow for just a second.  That was all it took for me to fall asleep.

I awoke to a gentle shake from Marc.  My mouth stretched open into a yawn and I noticed both our pets curled up on the bed beside me.  “What time is it?”

“Almost six in the evening.  You’ve been asleep for a couple of hours.”  He helped me sit up before handing me a plate off of the nightstand.  He’d made me a sandwich.  I noticed the bottle of blood sitting there and was instantly repulsed.  Visions of the crime scene flooded my mind.  It took all my willpower not to vomit.

It’d been a long time since breakfast so I took a bite of the sandwich
and forced it down.  I had no intention of consuming the blood.

Catching my disgust, Marc sighed.  “You have to drink it or you’re not going to see Fate.”  Did he really forbid from doing something?
  I was incredulous.  “I’m serious.  You and the baby need the nourishment.”

I found myself longing for humanity and freedom from the curse of being bound to blood.  He was right, despite my reluctance to admit it. 
I had to keep my strength.  “Is she awake?”

“Yes, Antonio called a few minutes ago. 
Fate is asking for you.”

That was
all the motivation I needed, so I drank the blood as quickly as possible.  I tried not to think about it or smell it.  I remembered the first time I tried alcohol, when I was still human.  My lover had said.  “Hold your nose and drink it down without breathing.”  It was timeless advice.  Besides, there was no time to argue.  Fate needed me.

We arrived at the hospital within ten minutes and I practically ran all the way up to her room.  I could tell she had been crying when I walked
in.  Antonio was sitting on the side of her bed, trying to comfort her.

“Eve!”  She called out and I rushed forward.  Antonio moved out of my way and I hugged her tightly.  “M…my mom….”  The tears were flowing again and she was trembling.
  I made a gesture to shoo the men out of the room and they left us alone.

“I’m so sorry, Fate.” 

After a few moments, she pulled back, looking up at me.  “It’s so quiet.  I…I can’t see or hear the dead….”

She had told me once that she hated going to the h
ospital because of all the deceased lingering.  “You’ve been through a lot.  It’s probably affected your ability a little.”

Her head bowed.  “If it doesn’t come back, I’ll never get to see or talk to Mom again.”

“Don’t worry about your mother.  You know better than anyone there’s an afterlife.”  I was trying to figure out what to say to give her comfort.  “She’s with your dad.  You know that.  He’ll take care of her.”

“I know.  You’re right.”  She was fi
nding strength through my words and kept talking.  “I didn’t want to hide, but she made me.  The table was there and she had me climb underneath and cover my ears.  Then, she threw the cloth over top of it.”

“How did she know you were in danger?”  I asked.

“We hadn’t unlocked the doors yet.  It was still early.  There was a loud crash of glass breaking in the back so she made me hide.” Hearing her describe the events was horrible. I could only imagine how terribly painful it was for her to recount. “Momma had great instincts.”  She added.

I had to ask because it was important to catch the culprit in a timely manner, but it seemed cruel.  “Did you see who did it?”

Fate shook her head back and forth in fast motions.  “Just heard her scream, asking why.  The attacker never spoke.  I, sort of, froze staring through the sheet at Mom.  I wanted to go to her, but I couldn’t move.  Not until you showed up.”

Heavily she lay back in the bed, looking at me sadly.
  “I should have saved her.”

“If you had tried to save her, you would have probably been killed.  Don’t blame yourself.” 

“Yeah.”  She mumbled, turning her head away from me and staring out the window.

“Do you want to come home with me?”  I asked.  There was no reason for her to stay
there.  It wasn’t helping.  “I can ask the doctors.”

She nodded
weakly and I patted her hand.  I told the guys they could come back into the room as I went to find someone who could release her.  They wanted to keep her overnight, but I convinced them she would be better off in a home environment with loved ones.  I knew one of the doctor’s personally from our joint efforts during blood drives.  Getting what you want is too often about who you know.

When I returned to the room, all eyes were on me.  “I convinced the doctor to let you go home with me tonight.”  She was an adult technically.  They couldn’t keep her against her will.

“What about my brother and sister?”  She asked. 

“Your aunt and uncle are taking custody of them for now.  I think it is best.”

She held onto Antonio’s hand.  “Thank you for everything, Eve.”  Her tone was low and I found myself wondering if she’d ever regain her youthful, lively vitality.

“You’re welcome.”

Funerals.  I hated them with a passion.  It was respectful to go, but I wanted to remember my loved ones as they were in life.  The last time I’d seen Ashley alive was at the birthday party.  That is the memory I should have kept.  Instead, the final one would be of her shell in a wooden box.  My spent tears and emotions had left me numb and cold.

The funeral had been postponed until the autopsy was completed.  Fate was still staying with me. 
Living in her own home was too hard, she had told me.  She didn’t want to live with her aunt either.  Marcus had been fine with her moving in with us temporarily, aside from the irritation of increased visitations from Antonio.   

I hadn’t returned to work. 
My clinic was a crime scene.  I saw little point of reopening the business.  The vision of my dead friend would always haunt the place.  After a long discussion, Marc and I decided to put the building up for sale when the media from the murder dissipated.

After the burial, Fate had disappeared with Antonio. 
Roger had never shown up to begin with.  Marcus and I were heading toward our vehicle when we were approached by a woman dressed in black wearing a large hat.  I’d noticed her during the service, always on the outside of the crowd.  As the distance between us closed, I realized I knew her.  It had been a while and I had no idea why she would be at my friend’s burial.

“Queen
Evelina.”  The woman walked up to me and pulled me into a hug.

Marcus was ready to shove her aw
ay, female or not, until he noticed I knew her.

Taya
reached out and shook Marc’s hand.  She was as beautiful as ever and I saw him take notice.  “Taya Mercado.”  Her lips spread into a lovely smile.

“Ah, you’re the one who helped
Evey defeat the vampire.”  He seemed to be gawking more than he usually would and I was quickly becoming jealous.  Normally, I was confident.  Insecurity creeps up on the best of us, especially when we’re feeling ancient and are carrying a heavy heart.  “I’m her husband, Marcus.”  He put his arm around me.