Lucy
Pécs holds us for a few more days. It is a very pretty place, so different to Budapest. Dominik claims he is getting things ready in Budapest for our return and there are certainly many phone calls in rapid Hungarian.
I learnt a few phrases (and some swear words) from Grace before we came out to Hungary, and I recognize the occasional word but not enough to be able to follow the conversation.
From the file I was handed before I was sent on my mission, I know what Dominik is, over and above being a vampire.
His royalty comes with age. It comes with the number of vamps he’s challenged and won against in order to make it to his present position.
He is head of one of the most powerful mafia organizations in Europe, his criminal tentacles reaching across the countries all the way to my homeland.
As a solicitor specializing in criminal law, I should hate him. Despite the fact, as he has pointed out on a number of occasions, in a bid to lord it over me, he is a qualified barrister in England, which should make him even less attractive.
It does not.
And the ring which catches the light on my finger, as it does in the candlelight at night when Dominik makes my changing body sing with pleasure, I realize I’m in too deep to have a moral crisis about what he does for a living.
“It is done, my sweet.” Dominik wraps his arms around me, his hands running down over my abdomen as he buries his head in my hair, and I feel his fangs scrape over my neck.
“What is done?”
“We can go back to Budapest. Everything is ready for us there.”
“Okay…”
I can’t deny I’ve liked being in Pécs. It’s as if we’ve been in a bubble for a short while. Returning to Budapest is a reality I’m not sure I want to enter.
“Are we flying?”
“Do you want to?” Dominik murmurs into my neck.
As I’ve discovered, my creature of the night seemingly enjoys the daytime regardless of the itching.
“I’m not feeling the best this morning. But I’d rather get there as soon as possible.”
I’m quickly turned towards him as his worried eyes search my face and body.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. “Are you unwell? Is the baby unwell?”
“Dominik.” I cup his chin in my hand. “I’m pregnant. Some days, I’m going to be fine, some days I’m going to feel like I’m growing a human inside me. Today is one of those days.”
The look of panic is instantly replaced by his usual, harder demeanor as he rubs at his chin. But I’m still struck by how he reacted instinctively.
Even if I’m not entirely sure what it means, or what anything means anymore. I am adrift from reality.
“I would prefer you to be comfortable. We won’t fly if we don’t need to fly.”
“Let’s fly.” I shake my head and roll my eyes. “I’d rather get there sooner than later.”
I probably should have taken Dominik up on his offer not to fly as we finally come in to land at Budapest airport. My stomach has been unhappy the entire flight, and whilst I’ve managed not to throw up, the second I’m released from my straps, I’m sprinting for the terminal to find a bathroom.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling this way?” Dominik growls in my ear, a welcome cool hand on the small of my back under my clothing.
“This is the ladies’.” I grumble at him. “You should leave.”
“Wherever you are, I am, my galambom,” he replies. “I do not care this is the ladies’.”
There is a deep growl followed by short, sharp shriek as someone attempts to enter. Somehow my imagination goes to him vamping out at an unfortunate woman who only wanted to spend a penny.
My shoulders shake with mirth even as my stomach slowly settles from the flips and flops it was doing.
“We are going to get you medical attention.”
“No.” I use some toilet paper to wipe my mouth and then flush. “We are not.”
Dominik puts an arm gently around my waist as we exit the stall.
“Not here,” he says haughtily. “I have arranged a private doctor for you, a human one, but also one who understands vampires.”
“Why would I need a doctor with vampiric knowledge?” I query as I wash my hands and try not to look at my washed out face and the dark rings under my eyes in the mirror.
“Because if I see anyone touching you, at all, I will rip them to shreds,” Dominik growls.
I turn to look at him. His eyes have a red tinge which I haven’t seen before, and his fists are clenched.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Which is why we need a doctor who understands vampires and humans,” he says, as if it’s completely normal.
With that, I’m tipped into his arms and, despite my protests, carried out of the bathroom and to the waiting Rolls where we are whisked into Budapest in almost the blink of an eye.
The vehicle pulls up outside an art deco building resplendent in white stone and with bright LEDs inside, twinkling in the gloom of a winter day.
I’m tempted to suggest I’m hungry, after losing most of my breakfast, and to put off any visits to the doctor for as long as possible, but from the way Dominik has his jaw set, I doubt if I’d be successful.
He’s a vampire. What does he know of human anatomy, other than where the juicy bits are?
“If you attempt to carry me again, I will stake you,” I warn him as he exits the vehicle, racing around to open the door for me.
“I would risk it,” he says as I stay put until he offers me his hand.
“Don’t,” I warn. “As I think I’ve found a use for you, and I’d prefer you didn’t turn into dust just yet.”
The very corner of his mouth quirks into a shadow of a smile.
“Can I speculate on what the use is?” he asks.
I let my gaze travel down his bespoke suit, his designer tie neat as always, in fact nothing out of place at all, until I reach his crotch, where I let my gaze linger before looking back up at him.
“You can speculate. But I expect you’d be wrong.”
“I am never wrong,” he says as I take his hand. “But on this occasion, I will not carry you.”
Something tells me Dominik is in for a very rude awakening with what he’s taken on. And I am one hundred percent going to enjoy it.