Dianne Duvall - Darkness Rises

Bastien thought furiously. They needed someone with experience to be their guide. “The network employs thousands of humans. Surely one of them must be a . . . woman . . . female . . . I don’t know what you call them . . . vagina doctor.”

Melanie laughed. “Vagina doctor?”

He smiled, relieved to have lightened her mood a bit. “I’ve had very little contact with doctors in my lifetime. You know what I mean.”

“They’re called OB/GYNs.”

“Thank you.”

“You know Seth wants Ami’s being an alien to be kept secret, especially from the mortal employees. If any of them were captured and tortured—”

“Seth took care of that. The men who were hunting her are dead. And Seth wiped the memories of those with whom they sought to join forces.”

“So you think he’s going to let down his guard? Him or Marcus?”

“No. You’re right.” There must be something else. “Wait.” He grinned. “I have the answer.”

“You do?”

“We’ll bring Jenna into the loop.”

“Richart’s wife?”

“Yes. She has a son. She’s been through pregnancy and can help you get a better idea of what’s normal and what isn’t.”

“If we brought her into the loop, we’d have to ask her to keep secrets from the man she loves. I wouldn’t feel right about doing that.”

“Then we’ll bring Richart into the loop, too. We don’t necessarily have to tell them Ami’s from another world. We can just tell them she’s pregnant. That alone, they’ll know, is cause for concern because we have no idea what the virus will do to a baby.”

She looked thoughtful.

“We’re going to have to bring all of the local Immortal Guardians into the loop soon anyway. The cats and kittens will help conceal the baby’s heartbeat, but how long do you think we’ll be able to hide Ami’s growing belly? She’s tiny, like you, and weighs less than a hundred pounds. A thirty-pound weight gain is not going to go unnoticed.”

“That’s true. They’ll all think our concern revolves around the virus. They won’t know we’re worried about alien and gifted one DNA mixing unless we tell them.” She nodded. “Jenna would be a huge help. She could tell me all of the little things the books don’t. Things that, in the human world, would be considered insignificant. The more information I have, the better I can monitor Ami and know normal from abnormal.”

He dropped his hand to her knee and squeezed it. “Great. So, what’s your next concern? We can solve it, too.”

Her frown returned. “I don’t think there’s a solution for this one.”

“You didn’t think there was a solution for the other one either, but we came up with one. Come on. Let’s hear it.”

“It’s Ami’s regenerative capabilities. Her body heals as fast as yours does when you’re at full strength.”

Ami’s regenerative capabilities actually exceeded that of most Immortal Guardians. When Ami had been tortured and the butchers had removed two fingers and two toes, the digits had grown back on their own. The most an immortal could do in that situation was hope that David or Seth could reattach them.

“Isn’t her swift healing a plus in health matters?”

“Not if something goes wrong with the delivery and I have to perform a C-section.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Exactly. How will I keep her body from healing the incision while I operate?”

“Shit.” He thought furiously. “When Seth and David rescued Ami, the fuckers had cracked her chest open and were shocking her heart. How did they keep her from healing too quickly for them to work?”

“The drug.”

“Then why don’t you—?”

“I have no idea what effect it might have on the baby. In strong enough doses, it will knock you out cold and slow your healing. Once you’re given blood, your wounds heal, but you remain unconscious. And, while all encounters seem to suggest immortals can’t overdose on it, vampires can. When given too strong a dose, they die. Any human given the drug dies instantly.”

“And we don’t know what the baby is or will be: alien, immortal, gifted one , vampire, or a combination thereof.”

“So there’s no way to predict what will happen if the baby is exposed to it. It’s too risky to use.”

There had to be something. If not something medical, then some power Seth or David could use. “Wait. When he was so pissed at me for putting Ami in danger, Seth must have used telekinesis or—I don’t know—a reversal of his healing abilities, because it felt like a fist was squeezing my heart. Maybe he and David could prevent her body from healing if it came to that.”

Another thoughtful pause. “You may be right. I’ll ask them.”

He smiled. “You see? We’ll figure it out.” Rising, he took her hand and drew her up to stand before him. “We can do anything as long as we’re together.”

She smiled up at him. “I believe we can.” Sliding her arms around his waist, she leaned into him for a hug.

Bastien held her for many long moments, so fucking glad they were together. He would do anything for her. Anything. And hoped she knew it.

“Let’s go to bed,” he murmured into her hair. “We’ll tackle number three tomorrow.”

Nodding, she let him guide her back to their king-sized bed.

Richart, Étienne, and Sheldon crouched in the crawl space beneath Krysta’s house. Bullets still whizzed past overhead, and damned if it didn’t look like a grenade had exploded in the small kitchen. Something had blown a hole in the floor over there.

Sheldon gaped at the chaos above them.

“Can you believe this shit?” Étienne muttered.

Richart shook his head. “How much damage do they think we can take?”

“A hell of a lot, apparently, but they must know Krysta can’t.” Fury ignited within him.

The ground beneath the house was uneven, so the crawl space was about five and a half feet high on one side of the house and only about a foot high on the other.

Richart stuck close to the ground and crept over to the vertical wood slats that enclosed them. “Come here.”

Étienne crawled over to him, Sheldon at his side.

“See? There in the trees just off the yard. There. And there. They have the house surrounded.”

“Stupid bastards are risking shooting each other through the house.”

Richart chuckled. “That would be convenient.”

“There’s a farmhouse in the distance there, beyond the trees. If you teleport us there, we can come up behind them and take them out instead of bursting out of this place and giving them instant targets.”

“Sounds good.” Richart looked at him a moment. “Is Krysta the reason you’ve been so distracted lately?”

“Yes.”

“I know you’re pissed that they put her in danger, but don’t follow Bastien’s example. Try to leave a couple alive for questioning and read the mind of every man you can before you kill the rest.”

“If I must.”

The brothers reluctantly donned the head coverings, which looked like rubber ski masks, then added shades and gloves.

“I hate this shit.”

Richart nodded. “Makes me feel like I’m suffocating.”

“Let’s do this fast, then.”

“Wait,” Sheldon said. “What do you want me to do?”

Étienne and Richart looked at each other and said, “Stay here and keep them busy.”

Sheldon frowned. “Kinda boring, but I’ll make it work.”

Shaking his head, Richart touched Étienne’s shoulder.

Sunlight bathed them as they appeared beside the farmhouse. In unison, they stepped back into the shade.