Lucy
Lydia
Eliza
Kezia
And a vampire hunter? Why aren’t we talking about this more?
Sophia
How did you fit all of it in?
Fit what in?
Sophia
The lawyering, the vampire hunting and the knocking up?
Eliza
Lucy is going to have a baby squeeeee
Kezia
Did you just type squee? I worry for you Eliza
Grace
I told Lucy you all wouldn’t overreact and I’m so happy to be proven right.
Kezia
No one NO ONE can drop a bombshell like Lucy just has and just run away
It’s hardly a bombshell
Sophia
It’s the biggest bombshell since Eliza said she was running away to Hungary
Grace
And there’s something else isn’t there, Lucy?
Lydia
…
Eliza
…
Sophia
What? WHAT?
I’m mated to Dominik Király
Kezia
THE STUCK UP VAMPIRE?
Sophia
Whaaaaattttt???
Eliza
I’m so happy for you, Lucy
Grace
So am I
Kezia
I’m happy if you’re happy.
Eliza
I think we all are
I look up from my phone briefly with a tear in my eye.
Everything I was worried about, how my friends would react, is gone.
But what Dominik has done…I am eternally grateful.
Setting the meeting up with Grace absolutely was the best possible thing which could have happened.
Seeing her so happy with her pups has made me excited for my impending birth, which is still a few months away.
As for the group chat, it’s happily chattering away about vampires and vampire hunters.
I’ll probably have to step in at some point with a voice note asking them to keep it all quiet, but for the time being, it’s fun to be a part of it all again.
These last few months when I’ve felt like I was hiding from the world (and I was) have been made so much better with Dominik, but I’ve missed my friends too.
Dominik takes me out of the grand doors of the café where a cold wind whips down the street.
“Damn him, where is the car?” Dominik grumbles.
“Looks like there’s a bit of traffic,” I respond, pulling my coat a little tighter around me.
One of the waiters from the cafe opens the door and calls out to Dominik. He snorts in exasperation, and at that moment, the sun decides to shine through a gap in the clouds. He might be a daywalker, but he still isn’t that happy in direct sun.
“I’ll be right back,” he says. “The car will be here,” he adds with a growl, as if he can make the thing materialize out of thin air, before he goes back through the doors.
There are some tourists milling around nearby, staring at the menu on the wall and sadly at the closed sign in the window.
I don’t blame them, after stuffing my face with all the cakes I could manage in such beautiful surroundings.
The café has to be a destination. Knowing what I know of Dominik’s operations, I’m sure it will be up and running again very soon and turning an impressive profit.
Whilst he might also dabble in the darker side of commerce, most of what keeps Dominik’s empire afloat these days is legitimate business.
I check the group chat on my phone again.It’s died down a little. I press on the microphone to leave a voice note, given now is as good a time to do it as any other.
“Hi, you horrible lot,” I say into my phone. “I really need to see all of you but…”
A car slides up to the curb. I lift my head to look at it, thinking it has to be Dominik’s Rolls, but instead I find a large, black SUV.
As I take a step back, I run into something big behind me.
“You’re coming with us, Miss,” a deep Scottish voice says in my ear as my left arm is grabbed and pulled up my back.
“You can have my phone,” I say rapidly. “Here.” I wave it around.
“I’ll take that,” a familiar voice says. “Thank you so much, Lucy.” The phone is plucked from my hand. “But you’re still coming with us.”
My uncle stands in front of me, long black military style greatcoat neatly buttoned. His greying hair is slicked back against his head, and his glasses glitter in the sun.
“It’ll be great to welcome you back into the family.” He grins a rictus grin at me as his gaze descends to my swollen stomach. “Both of you.”
“Don’t do this,” I say, testing the strength of the Scotsman who has hold of me but without appearing to struggle.
“Why, because it might anger your vampire scum boyfriend?” Uncle says, spitting out the words as if they pain him. “I’m counting on it.”
The door to the SUV swings open, and I’m propelled into the back of the car. The door shuts behind us, and it speeds away from the curb.
As I look back, I see Dominik burst from the doors, but before I can say anything, a needle slides into my flesh and oblivion beckons.
“You’ll see him again soon,” my uncle says from a long way away. “Just before I stake him in the heart and cut off his head.”