28. Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Eight
W e stay with Barty and Anya for another two days. Dr. Mendhi flies home before us, keen to get his samples under his microscope. Well, I presume that’s what he has planned.
Unfortunately, we haven’t garnered any fresh information from our new friends after our walk in the garden. Instead, we concentrate on taking a couple of days to relax.
With a promise to visit from both sides, we fly back to LA and back to our lives. With no choice but to sit back and wait, I decide we all need to resume work. Erin and I discuss my house outside the city. In the end, selling is the best option. Erin enjoys working at Insomnia and I’m not about to ask her to give that up to move.
Taking up permanent residence in the penthouse above the club suits me fine. It forces me to get involved in my business. I realize leaving Claire and my other managers to pick up the slack is detrimental to me. I’m a businesswoman and I love owning clubs and restaurants. Laurence and Marcus were right when they lectured me on my birthday. I had hidden away in my home with my books .
However, now Erin is in my life, I’m determined to start living again. Granted, the hours are long, and we both work six days a week usually, but we make the most of every second together.
Three weeks after our voyage abroad, my father calls me to set up a meeting with the doctor. Both Erin and I have made a valiant effort at putting the doctor’s tests to the back of our minds. We’ve almost resigned ourselves to waiting for both our birthdays to roll around before getting any concrete answers.
“You look delicious,” Erin purrs in my ear as we exit the car and begin walking to my parents’ front door.
“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” I grin wolfishly. I will be stripping her naked the second we have an iota of privacy. I’ve already noticed my siblings have arrived in force. Their cars are lined up like soldiers outside my parents’ home.
Mother asked us to dress up for the evening, which in all honesty I could have done without. If Dr. Mendhi has no news, or worse bad news, the last thing I want to do is suffer through a dinner party. But as you are aware, there is no refusing Victoria Loch.
Classical music echoes through the house. I can hear my family chatting and laughing. A part of me wants to rip into them for acting so casually. For me and Erin, tonight is stress and anxiety dressed up in dinner jackets and ball gowns.
“Ah, there you are. My, my, Erin, you look beautiful.” I want to scoff and say, “Of course she does, she always looks beautiful,” but I don’t. Erin accepts the compliment from my mother as well as a tight hug. We make the rounds and hug each member of the family. It really is a dinner party, considering my sisters- and brothers-in-law are also in attendance. I guess my nieces and nephews are watching a film or playing somewhere .
“Mother,” I say a little testily. “Did we really have to make tonight such a big deal?” I ask in a low voice.
“Yes, because it’s not just about you, Amelia,” she says. I look at her, trying to gauge what the real reason is for the Loch gathering.
My father breaks the chatter with a few sharp raps on his champagne flute. “Settle down, you rowdy lot,” he chuckles. “Thank you for being here. It’s always lovely to have all my children in the house.” He gestures for Mother to join him. “Your mother and I have an announcement.”
I watch my mother subtly place her hand on her stomach, and then I know. My face breaks out in a wide smile. I catch her eye and she winks. “What are you smiling at?” Lucille barks. Her pissy attitude makes me smile more. I thoroughly enjoy being in the know when my irritating sister isn’t.
“If you shut up, you’ll find out,” I snap.
“Dear Lord, I can’t believe we’re going to do this all over again,” my father half chuckles, half huffs.
“What does that mean?” Lucille bites. Wow, she’s in a mood this evening.
“It means we’re pregnant,” my mother replies. Her eyes are shining, and I can honestly say she is glowing with happiness. I peek to the side and almost choke on my laughter when I see Erin’s face.
The rest of my siblings have rushed over to my parents, whereas I hang back with Erin, who still hasn’t moved. “Are you okay?” I chuckle. Her rapid blinking informs me she’s still processing.
“But… but she’s over two hundred,” Erin finally whispers in awe.
“Yup, and still very fertile, by all accounts. ”
“So… vampires can just keep churning out little vampires?” This makes me laugh out loud.
“Well, we’re not vampire-making machines, but in a sense, yes. We can continue reproducing. Our aging stops, remember? For Mother and Father, this little one will be no different from when they had Laurence. Mom won’t feel any older, nor will my father.”
“I just… I mean… wow.”
“Does that scare you?”
“What, having a baby when I’m well into my second century? Um, yeah,” she giggles.
It’s like a rain cloud descends on us both when we realize simultaneously that this might not be our future. I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. Pressing a kiss on her knuckles, I try to convey confidence while channeling my love. “Come on, let’s go congratulate them.”
We spend several minutes hugging and kissing my parents. I’m thrilled for them both. Dr. Mendhi’s appearance at the door interrupts our celebration. Sucking in a lungful of air, I excuse Erin and myself to find out the test results away from my family. I want them to have a little longer toasting the new baby rather than dealing with this.
“Drink?” I ask the doctor as we settle into my father’s study. He nods and I pour all three of us a healthy glass of bourbon.
Erin and I sit on the couch opposite Dr. Mendhi, who is sitting in my father’s wingback chair.
“It’s good news,” he says. I rein in my excitement. I’ve learned not to read too much into people’s expressions. Good news doesn’t mean we have definitive answers. It could just mean I’m not about to turn into a bloodthirsty monster anytime soon. Instead of answering, I nod for him to continue. “First: Barty is a fine specimen of a vampire. All his tests came back clear. He’s had no adverse reaction to mating with a human. Normal on all fronts. Second: Anya’s blood work was fascinating.” I find myself shifting closer to the edge of the couch.
“In what way?” Erin asks.
“Anya’s blood is a mix between vampire and human.”
“How?” I blurt.
“I’m working on it. But, Amelia, this is good, this is progress.”
“In what universe? All we have are more questions?” I seethe. I’m so tired of this shit.
“We have more information. Anya’s blood is a mix of her own and Barty’s.” Dr. Mendhi watches us with delight as both Erin and I try to figure out what it means.
“I don’t understand,” I admit finally.
“Erin, may I take a sample of your blood? To prove my theory, I need to look at yours under a microscope.”
“Of course. Can we do it now?”
“Yes, absolutely. I have the equipment.” They are rabbiting on and I’m still trying to figure out what the hell it means. How in the world does Anya have a mix of human and vampire blood?
I watch silently as Dr. Mendhi draws Erin’s blood. Thinking he’s going to pop it in a test tube and file it away in his briefcase, I’m surprised to see him pull out a microscope from his kit. Bustling over to my father’s desk, the doctor wastes no time clearing a space and getting to work.
Erin is gripping my hand tight. We wait for what seems like hours as the doctor hems and haws, as he selects different magnifications. I’m almost bursting at the seams when he finally turns around.
“It’s interesting.” Interesting! Interesting, is that it? Erin’s hand squeezes me again. She can feel my anxiety and ire reaching its boiling point. “Erin, your blood is still human.” I feel her deflation. “However, it has been marked by vampire blood.”
“What the fucking hell does that mean?” I cry, making the doctor jump.
“My love,” Erin coos. “Sit and listen.” She then nods for the doctor to continue.
“At some point, you have come in contact with vampire blood. Not just on your skin, mind you, no, you would have ingested it.”
We look at each other for a second, trying to figure out when the hell Erin ingested vampire blood. A look of realization overtakes her face. “When Amelia collapsed on my birthday. I kissed her after she coughed up blood.”
“Yes!” Dr. Mendhi exclaims. “Yes, that would explain it.”
“But what does that mean?” I ask calmly. I’m doing my level best to rein in my true feelings.
“I believe Anya had a similar thing happen to her. It’s my theory that Anya ingested Barty’s blood before they mated. As the bonding took hold, the dormant vampire blood in her system fused together the moment their souls did. I think this is what turned Anya.”
“So, you think the moment Erin ingested my blood, it lay in wait until we bonded? But if that were the case, why isn’t it a true mix? You said she’s still human.”
“I think the change will happen on her birthday.”
“Like Anya,” Erin says .
“Yes.”
“But you can’t be sure,” I ask, to be clear.
“No, but I think it’s the closest we’ve come to an actual answer.”
“And yet it still comes down to us waiting,” I sigh.
“Dr. Mendhi, would you give us a few minutes? Maybe you could fill in the rest of the family for us.”
The moment the doctor is out of sight, Erin takes me into her arms. “Amelia, this is good news.”
“It’s more guesswork,” I croak.
“It’s not guesswork. Anya’s blood is proof. My blood is proof that we are close to an answer.”
“But what if we take this at face value and it doesn’t play out that way on your birthday?”
“What if an asteroid falls from the sky? What if we enter World War III? Amelia, we can’t answer everything, but we can sure as hell hang on to the good news we’ve just been given. I know it’s hard and you’re struggling—”
“Aren’t you?” I snap.
“Yes, I am, but you’re the one who gets bent out of shape because you can’t control everything.”
“I’m not—”
“Yes, you are. You’re failing to see the positive. And, baby, that’s all we have.”
“We need more information,” I huff. “I need to find the doctor again.” For whatever reason, my brain won’t allow me to accept this as a win. I know there is more we can do; more we can find to give us answers. I’m not prepared to sit on my ass and wait for three years .
Erin lets go of me and sits back. I see the look of disappointment in her eyes, but I ignore it.
What kind of mate would I be to accept a couple of blood tests as the be-all and end-all? A shitty one, and I can’t abide that. Standing, I swiftly swallow the remaining bourbon. Bending down, I drop a kiss on Erin’s forehead before heading out in search of the doctor.