Chapter 32 Damien
Chapter thirty-two
Damien
Impossible.
That single word repeated in my mind as I strode away from Felix’s lab, each step measured and controlled despite the storm raging inside me. Everything within me threatened to shatter.
Luna was pregnant. With my child.
Vampires do not procreate. This was not theory or supposition but biological fact. Our transformation rendered us sterile—undead creatures incapable of creating life. I had witnessed countless vampire-human couplings over centuries, and none had ever resulted in conception.
Yet somehow...
I reached an empty corridor and finally allowed myself to stop, pressing my palm against the cool wall as the reality of Felix’s words registered. A child. My child. Growing inside Luna while the same illness that threatened her daughter now crept through her own system.
In my long existence, I had faced countless impossibilities, but this… This defied every natural law I understood.
I had five minutes before we left for our flight to Paris. Five minutes to process a revelation that would require centuries to fully comprehend.
My first coherent thought emerged with surprising clarity: I needed to do something practical. Something tangible. Luna needed my support, regardless of how impossible her condition should be. She was as shocked as I was.
I whirled back to the lab to find Felix. When I got there, I found Luna had already gone, which was both a blessing and a curse.
Even before she’d said a word, the look on her face had shattered my soul. She knew. She’d heard me on the phone with Elliot about my forced engagement to Vivienne, the subject of the second phone call I’d received in Panama City.
Not a single part of me wanted Vivienne as my wife. Yet every part, including my ring finger with the warm, pulsing band around it, craved Luna. If she would ever forgive me.
But I wasn’t the only one who’d kept important truths.
How could she not have told me that she had the same illness as her daughter and friend?
Why keep something so critical when it could affect everything?
My engagement to a woman I didn’t love hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things.
All that mattered was Luna and the Shadow Fang.
And now our unborn child.
Felix cleared his throat delicately. “Damien? Did you need something?”
“I need everything you have on prenatal care,” I said, having no idea how long I’d been standing in the lab with my thoughts whirring. “And any research on supernatural pregnancies.”
“I’ll gather what I have,” he said, mercifully free of questions.
Ten minutes later, I strode toward the car out front with a paper bag containing supplements, herbs, and detailed instructions. The weight of it seemed disproportionately light compared to what it represented.
Out of habit, I searched the street for telltale signs of someone watching me, but no resulting prickling sensation coursed up and down the back of my neck.
After we’d come back, I’d done some digging on Atlas Security, the company who’d hired the man who’d been watching the Repository.
Atlas Security didn’t exist, at least not officially, so I’d hired some private investigators to track it down.
Humans couldn’t lie under a glamour’s influence. Atlas Security was real, and I wouldn’t stop digging until I found out who’d hired them to come after us.
“Mr. Cross, Ms. Rookwood insisted on taking an Uber,” James, my driver, said as he held the door for me.
“To the airfield?” I demanded.
A pause, then, “She didn’t say.”
She’d be there. Of course she’d be there.
As soon as we arrived, my phone vibrated. I answered immediately.
“We’ve identified a problem,” the airport’s head of security said without preamble, his voice tense. “The final inspection found something attached to the undercarriage of the plane.”
My body went colder. “Explosive?”
“Yes. And it’s magically triggered. Not standard technology.”
“Luna?”
“Already on board, sir.”
I was already out of the car and running before my mind caught up with me. My gut plummeted through the ground, nearly taking the rest of me with it.
Luna was on that plane.
Luna and our child.
The race to my plane stretched into an eternity, my lifetime multiplied into taut seconds, each one twisting up my insides. When I finally reached my plane, my head of security waited, his face grim.
“Show me,” I demanded.
He led the way while holding up a scan of the plane on a tablet. “We detected it during the final sweep. Supernatural-grade, with magical components we haven’t seen before. The trigger mechanism appears to be—“
“Blood-activated,” I said, recognizing the device on the scan. “Vampire craftsmanship.”
A cold fury settled in my chest. This was not random terrorism. This was targeted. Someone knew we were leaving for Paris and had taken steps to ensure we never arrived.
I made a snap decision, a reckless one, but it could save lives.
“Keep everyone on board. Tell them nothing,” I instructed. “As soon as I get the bomb, have the pilot taxi to the far end of the runway, away from buildings.”
“Sir, protocol would be to—“
“Do it now,” I hissed. “I’ll handle this personally. No one approaches until I give the all-clear.”
The rest of the security team exchanged glances but knew better than to argue.
Dropping to the ground, I slid beneath the massive aircraft, immediately locating the device attached to the landing gear. It was elegant in its deadliness—a small black disc with intricate silver runes etched into its surface. The craftsmanship was exquisite, which made it all the more disturbing.
Was it the Parisians who didn’t want to see me again? Those who not only didn’t want us hunting the Shadow Fang but also wanted us gone from this planet?
I pushed the speculation aside. There would be time for investigation later. Now, I needed to remove the threat.
The device was rigged to detonate upon contact with vampire blood—specifically, the blood dripping through the complicated maze that acted as a timer. A targeted assassination disguised as a tragic accident. I carefully extracted it from its housing. Once free, I cradled the deadly disc in my palm.
Already, the plane’s cabin was pressurizing and the pilot was preparing to taxi farther down the runway.
But there was no time for a proper disposal team. No way to contain a supernatural explosion of this magnitude without risking casualties. I had one option.
I sprinted away from the plane, toward the empty fields beyond the runway, moving at top speed. The wind tore at my clothes as I pushed my body to its limits, putting as much distance as possible between the bomb and the aircraft.
Only a few more drops of blood needed to snake to the bottom of the device before it detonated.
When I judged the distance sufficient, I hurled the device high and far, then threw myself to the ground, arms covering my head.
The explosion tore through the air three seconds later—a deafening roar followed by a pulse of magical energy that flattened the grass for a hundred yards in every direction. Had it detonated on the aircraft, nothing would have survived.
Luna would not have survived.
I lay there for a moment, my face pressed against the earth, allowing myself a brief instant of raw emotion.
Someone had tried to kill us. Again. Had nearly succeeded.
Since my world revolved around vengeance, I had faced countless attempts on my life, but this one landed differently.
This time, I wasn’t the only one at risk.
This time, there was Luna and our child.
I pushed myself to my feet and brushed the dirt from my clothes. I needed to return to the plane, to ensure there were no additional threats, to see with my own eyes that Luna was safe.
As I walked back, I considered our options.
The rational choice would be to cancel the trip, to regroup and identify our enemies before proceeding.
But time was not on our side. Elliot’s condition worsened daily.
Aria and Jade remained in suspended animation.
And now Luna’s own infection progressed, threatening both her and our unborn child.
We needed the Shadow Fang. We needed to continue to Paris.
But we would do so with additional precautions.
I made a series of calls as I approached the plane, activating dormant contacts throughout Europe, arranging for enhanced security measures at every stage of our journey.
By the time I reached the plane, a secondary team was already performing another sweep, confirming it was now secure.
“All clear, sir,” the chief of security said. “No additional devices detected.”
“Double the security detail in Paris,” I said. “Full protective protocols. And I want the remains of that device collected and analyzed immediately.”
“Already underway.”
I nodded and prepared to board, pausing for a moment at the foot of the stairs. The reality of what had just occurred—what had nearly happened—hit me again with physical force and almost curled me to my knees.
I had taken countless lives.
But I had never created life.
Now I had. Impossibly. Miraculously. And I had nearly lost it before I’d had time to comprehend what it truly meant.
I straightened my jacket and climbed the stairs, my resolve hardening with each step. Whoever had done this would pay. I would find them, and I would ensure they understood the magnitude of their mistake.
But first, I needed to see Luna. To assure myself she was safe. To face the complicated reality of our situation and find a way forward.
For the first time in centuries, I was creating something instead of destroying it. And I would protect that creation with everything I possessed.
Even if it meant sacrificing my own immortal existence.