Chapter Twenty-One #2
“I could put it out of its misery,” Saintcrow murmured, the temptation to sink his fangs into that tiny throat almost impossible to resist.
Jake nodded. “That might be best for everybody.”
Saintcrow froze when the child looked up, its tear-filled gaze meeting his.
Prompted by some emotion he couldn’t explain, he reached down and lifted the child from the basket.
Never in all his long life had he held a baby.
When he cradled the infant in his arms, it snuggled against him.
Cursing softly, he knew he couldn’t kill it.
Feeling Kincaid’s gaze, he looked up.
“I don’t believe it,” Jake said. “You’re going to take it home for dinner, aren’t you?”
Saintcrow scowled at him, partly because it was exactly what he wanted to do, partly because the wanting shamed him. “I’ll get rid of the baby. You get rid of the body,” he said curtly, and transported himself to the hotel in Morgan Creek.
Going up to one of the suites, he placed the kid on the bed and took a long, hot shower, washing away the blood and dirt of battle.
After wrapping a towel around his waist, he removed the baby’s diaper, his nose wrinkling at the strong odor of feces and urine.
Placing the little boy in one of the sinks, he washed the kid from head to foot, then wrapped the boy in a towel.
Muttering under his breath, Saintcrow pulled on his jeans and boots, then transported himself and the infant home, thinking how surprised Kadie would be when she woke up.
~ * ~
Kadie woke to the sound of a baby crying. For a moment, she simply lay there, eyes still closed, certain she must be dreaming. But the crying went on. And on.
With a huff, she opened her eyes and sat up. And came face to face with a sight she had never thought to see. Rylan stood beside the bed, a baby awkwardly cradled in his arms.
“I really must be dreaming,” she said as he thrust the child at her.
“You wanted a kid,” he growled. “You’ve got one.”
Kadie blinked up at him, a thousand questions tumbling through her mind. But before she could ask even one, Rylan was gone from the house. With a shake of her head, Kadie stared at the infant in her arms. Where on earth had it come from? And what had possessed Rylan to bring it home?
~ * ~
Saintcrow fled the house, the scent of the baby’s blood a temptation he couldn’t endure, at least until he’d fed.
Pure, innocent, warm, undoubtedly sweet.
The need to feed and restore his strength sent him to Cheyenne.
He mesmerized the first person he saw, his need for blood overpowering.
The man was old, his clothing dirty, his stink almost unbearable to Saintcrow’s enhanced senses, but he ignored the dirt and the stench and buried his fangs in the man’s throat.
He forced himself to stop before he took too much, released the man from his thrall and went in search of another.
Only when his thirst had been quenched did he return to Morgan Creek.
Materializing in the hotel bar, he poured wine in a glass and added a little whiskey, something he rarely did.
The liquor burned all the way down. Sitting there, feeling somewhat mellow, he wondered what madness had made him bring the kid home.
He could live with the temptation as long as he kept his thirst under control.
That wasn’t the problem. It was the changes the boy would make in their lives.
Another temptation. Another responsibility.
Saintcrow muttered an oath, remembering how soft the child’s skin had been, the innocent look in his pale blue eyes, the sudden unexpected, unwanted, sense of protection he’d felt when he’d held the boy. He snorted. Some protector he’d be. He was a greater danger to the kid than anything else.
He was still cursing himself for bringing the brat home when Kincaid materialized on the bar stool beside him.
“What did you do with the kid?” Jake asked.
“I left it with Kadie.”
“Kadie? Are you out of your mind. You know she’s gonna want to keep it.”
“I know,” he said glumly.
“Well, good luck with that.”
“I’ll need it. What did you do with the witch’s body?”
“Took it out in the desert, dug a hole twelve feet deep, tossed her in it with a match, and poof! She was gone.”
Saintcrow nodded. The old ones went up lightning fast.
Kincaid blew out a sigh. “Let’s hope Elowynne is the last nasty witch we have to deal with, at least for a while.”
Saintcrow reached for the wine bottle. He filled his glass and poured one for Jake. “I’ll drink to that.”
~ * ~
Needing some time alone, Saintcrow spent the night and the following day resting in the hotel.
He told himself he was a coward for not going home, but he just wasn’t ready to see Kadie with the baby.
Maybe it wasn’t the temptation of the kid’s blood that bothered him, but an unwanted wave of jealousy.
When Kadie loved, she gave a hundred percent.
She would care for the boy’s every want, love him with every fiber of her being.
The baby would be in no danger. Unlike most vampires, Kadie’s instinct to hunt, to kill, was almost non-existent.
She rarely drank for the pleasure of it, only to satisfy a need that was undeniable.
He wasn’t sure why, though he figured it had something to do with her becoming human for a time and then being turned again.
As soon as the sun went down, he went hunting to take the edge off his hunger.
And then, knowing he had to do it sooner or later, he went home.
Kadie had been busy in his absence, no doubt about that. He found her in the living room giving the baby a bottle. She looked up, her expression unreadable when he entered the room.
Taking a deep breath, he settled into the chair farthest from the couch. “I guess you want to keep it.”
She nodded, her expression wary. And then she frowned. “We can’t.” She swallowed hard. “He must have parents who are going out of their minds wondering where he is. Missing him.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Knowing Elowynne, she likely killed the parents.”
Kadie worried her lower lip between her teeth. He was probably right. But what if he wasn’t?
“Even if his parents are still alive, there’s no way to find them, Kadie. The witch could have picked him up anywhere – another state, a shopping mall, who knows?”
Kadie felt a wave of guilt for being relieved that there was no way to return the baby.
“He’s going to complicate things,” Saintcrow muttered.
“I know,” she said, and frowned. “Why would Elowynne bring a baby with her?”
Saintcrow shrugged one shoulder. “I’m guessing she was going to drink from him after she defeated me.”
Kadie hugged the child closer, her dark eyes filled with horror at the thought of sacrificing an infant.
“I think I’ll spend the next few days at the hotel,” he said, ashamed of the hot flare of jealousy that knifed through him.
“If you think that’s best.” She tilted her head to the side. “Why did you bring him home, Rylan?”
“What you mean is, why didn’t I drain him dry?”
“That, too.”
“I was tempted, believe me, but I knew how much you wanted a baby. This was the only way I could give you one.” He laughed, a harsh, bitter laugh. “The kid will never know how close he came to dying when I found him.”
“You wouldn’t have killed him,” Kadie said.
“You sure about that?”
“Very. I know you think you’re beyond redemption, Mr. Saintcrow. A big, bad vampire. But deep inside where you don’t like to look, there’s an honorable man.”
Saintcrow snorted. Even when she had hated him, she had seen a spark of good inside him, a spark he stubbornly refused to admit existed. He watched as she lifted the baby to her shoulder and gently patted the infant’s back. A few moments later, the baby burped and then fell asleep.
Sitting there, Saintcrow thought he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life than Kadie cuddling that tiny scrap of humanity.
And even as he tried to fight it, he felt his fangs lengthen as the infant’s blood sang to him.
Sensing his sudden uneasiness, Kadie held the baby closer. “Rylan?”
“I’m all right. I think it might take me a day or two to get used to the idea of having him around. Like I said, I’m going to spend a couple of days at the hotel.”
She nodded, knowing it was for the best.
Rising, he brushed a kiss across her brow, then left the house.
~ * ~
Saintcrow’s two days away turned into five, leaving Kadie to wonder if he had left for good.
Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she glanced around their bedroom, crowded now with a bassinette, a small chest of drawers for baby clothes, a diaper pail.
A stack of diapers took up space on their dresser, along with little blue booties and blankets embroidered with baby animals.
She finally had a use for the kitchen, which held baby bottles and cans of formula.
Saintcrow had been gone for six days when Rosa came to visit.
“I couldn’t believe it when Jake told me about the baby,” Rosa said, smiling.
“I would have come sooner but I thought you might need a few days to adjust.” She took a deep breath.
“Oh, he smells wonderful, doesn’t he? Oh, I don’t mean his blood,” she said, seeing the horror in Kadie’s eyes.
“There’s just nothing like that new baby smell. My cousin, Janie, just had a baby.”
Kadie nodded. The baby’s blood did smell wonderful. No vampire could ignore it. Fortunately, she had no desire for it, though it did make her wonder why she didn’t. “Can I ask you something, Rosie?”
“Sure.”
“Are you ever sorry you gave up the chance to have children?”
“Sometimes,” Rosa admitted, her expression wistful as her gaze rested on the baby. “Can I hold him?”
Kadie hesitated a moment, then reluctantly placed the baby in Rosa’s arms. She told herself there was nothing to worry about yet she was relieved some twenty minutes later when Rosa said it was time to go and laid the baby back in her arms.
Another day passed and there was still no word from Saintcrow.
That night, after putting the baby to bed, Kadie paced the floor, blinking back her tears.
What was she going to do if Rylan couldn’t adjust to the idea of a baby in the house?
What if he insisted she choose between the two of them? How could she make a choice like that?
Lifting the baby from the bassinette, she hugged him close, tears stinging her eyes. She already loved the boy as if he was her own. Knew that either choice would break her heart.