Chapter 11 Tess
Tess and Crystal stood in the back of the classroom and for a moment, it felt like old times.
She felt as if she were a parent just visiting her kid’s school as if there had never been an invasion and this wasn’t a home for orphans and unwanted half-Vampyren children.
But that’s what it was, alright. Still, the place had a homey feel to it now.
The caretakers she’d put in charge were doing a good job.
It was nothing like any creche she’d ever seen, that was for sure.
The children in the classroom that afternoon all lived in the school.
It was alittlecrowded, but they all had warm, reasonably comfortable beds and clothes and all their essentials.
They were divvied up by age and slept on cots in the gymnasium and a few of the classrooms. They had classes during the day, which creches hadn’t even bothered with before.
Tess and Crystal were visiting to check up on things and look at inventory usage.
But they’d become distracted by a first through third-grade class.
The kids were studying earth science and they’d been demonstrating how tadpoles become frogs.
Now they were dressed up as tadpoles and frogs, wearing little green construction paper tails and hopping around the classroom, giggling, as the teacher tried to explain about the ecosystem.
“They’re so cute!” Crystal said, practically melting.
“I could watch this all day,” Tess said, playing with a lock of her hair. Her little pixie cut had grown long. She had kept it short for so long as a matter of convenience but she’d taken to putting it in little pigtails now or tying a bandana around it.
“I guess we should go,” Tess said, sighing.
Reluctantly, they left the classroom full of kids.
They’d already checked out the inventory and talked to the teachers and caretakers about their concerns and needs.
It was not an unpleasant place to hang out.
Some of the older kids could be troublesome, especially the ones who weren’t used to not going to school anymore.
But most were just drinking up the care they were given like they had been starving.
Tess could see it on all their faces and it always made her choke up.
It didn’t help that she was six months pregnant now.
It seemed likeeverythinglately made her burst into tears.
She tried to hide it sometimes, but Kal always knew when she was especially emotional and so did Crystal.
Crystal had recently moved her baby as well as her two best friends who had been taking care of her out to Urbana.
They were all one big ragtag family now, living in the dorms. Tess thought maybe someday they’d look into finding abandoned houses to take over.
But for now, they were happy where they were.
Tess rather liked feeling part of such a close-knit community and the campus had been so pretty in spring and now summer.
It wasn’t as blazing hot in Urbana as it was in Chicago either.
“Do the half-Vamp infants breastfeed?” Tess blurted out.
It was something she kept thinking about.
There were still some unknowns about half-Vampyren children.
All the creches she had ever seen fed them with formula and later, blood on top of it when they got a taste for it (which she wasn’t ready to think about).
“Yeah. They do. I didn’t have that problem,” Crystal mused. “But that was because Deedee was living with Nina and Jet so I just… dried up. I guess.” She looked a little melancholy about it but just as quickly she brightened. “Butnow
I got my girl back. She’s on formula. She just started taking blood.”
“What isthatlike?” Tess said.
“It’sweird,” Crystal said, taking the turn off the highway that would take them back to the sprawling campus. “I think I can get used to it. But it feels so wrong.” She burst out laughing suddenly and Tess joined her. “Feeding blood to a baby. Yeah. It’sweird. At first, I had to make Mark do it.”
Crystal parked the SUV in the bombed-out parking lot near the dorms. They got out and made their way up to the cafeteria since it was lunchtime.
But there were a lot of people outside still, not going into lunch yet, and enjoying the green grass and the sun.
Danton and Cassie were lying on towels in the grass as if they were at the beach, and they waved hello as Crystal and Tess passed.
The campus had felt like home for a while, but before the human-Vampyren government had taken over, it had been assumed to be temporary and the place was like a barracks, the ground zero of war, it seemed.
But there had not been violence in a while and the new Council had taken the time to lay out a combined government with humans and put some things into practice.
There were still plenty of problems and plenty of long, loud Council meetings with shouting matches where nothing was resolved.
But that was a far cry from how things had functioned a year ago. There was a lot of room for hope now.
In the cafeteria, Tess and Crystal found their men, Kal and Mark.
The brothers were sitting at the end of one of the long tables with several already drained blood packs in front of them.
Mark was now nibbling on homemade tortilla chips and drinking lemonade and Kal had his niece in his lap.
Deedee was laughing and looking fascinated by whatever Kal and Mark were talking about as Kal bounced Deedee on his knee.
There was a half-full baby bottle of blood on the table too and Tess fought the urge to wrinkle her nose.
She shook off the eerie feeling. She’d cross that bridge when they came to it. Now she rubbed her stomach and smiled widely as the guys looked up and noticed them coming.
“No lunch for us?” Crystal said loftily, just before leaning down to peck Mark on the lips. She set her bag on the table and leaned on her hand. Tess’s stomach rumbled. She felt like the baby inside her was demanding food.
“We didn’t know when you’d be back,” Mark protested. “I know how you get when you visit the kids’ home. Sometimes you stay there all day.”
“Here, take her,” Kal said quickly, handing Deedee over to Crystal, who took her baby gladly. “I’ll get you something, Tess. What do you want? They have some different sandwiches…”
“Chicken salad if they’ve got it,” Tess said. “Lemonade. Chips…”
Mark obediently followed, to get Crystal some food.
Tess grinned at Deedee. She was a beautiful baby and somehow looked just like both Crystal and Mark.
She had the bright gold flecks in her eyes that most half-Vampyren children had and she already looked like she was going to be quite tall.
Her hair was much lighter than Mark’s though and grew out in little curls.
“How are you feeling?” Crystal said, nodding at Tess.
“Hungry mainly,” Tess said. “I really need to start carrying snacks around. I was prepared to feel hungry but geez. It’s more extreme than I thought. I mean I had a huge breakfast this morning.”
“I had the same thing,” Crystal said. “Those little vamps want to eat all day. Just be glad we don’t have to drink blood.”
“Oh,” Tess muttered. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“I asked about it when I was pregnant,” Crystal said. “I’m not sure there might not be some benefit to it but I haven’t seen any half-vamp kids messed up because the moms weren’t drinking blood. I think the blood of the mother nourishes them well enough in utero or something.”
Tess felt vaguely nauseated just thinking about it, but soon enough the guys were back with plates full of food and her hunger returned ten-fold. She felt like she’d never been so hungry in her life and she saw Kal’s thick, dark eyebrows shoot up as she tore into her chicken salad sandwich.
“The kid is hungry,” Mark said knowingly. “Crystal was just the same way.”
Crystal was holding little Deedee close and the baby laughed as her mother kissed her curly head. “Are you implying there’s something wrong with women having an intense appetite?”
“No?” Mark said, seeming almost confused by the question. “It’s nothing compared to Vampyren women. They can get so hungry they attack their mate. I mean… you’ve heard about what can happen during Vampyren mating…” He and his brother exchanged an uncomfortable expression.
“Yeah,” Crystal muttered. “I really don’t know how you all survived this long. I think it’s a really messed up relationship dynamic myself, but what do I know.”
“Well, we took the easy way out,” Kal said, shrugging. “Human women. Problem solved.”
“You know, I’ve heard that’s catching on,” Tess said. “Human women are seeking out Vampyren mates all over the place now? They see them as strong protectors. I guess some women figure if you can’t beat em’, join em’?”
“I’ll bet the pheromones don’t hurt,” Crystal said. “Get a whiff of that magic stuff and it’s game over. That’s for sure.”
“I’ve… heard something about that,” Kal said. He was nibbling on a tortilla chip and looking very sneaky as if he had a secret. Tess felt like her relationship antennae were going haywire and her ears perked up.
“What does that mean?” She said.
“Nothing,” Kal said, looking very innocent. “Just that, it does seem as if some human women are um… on the prowl.” He grinned slyly then and Tess narrowed her eyes.
“Has someone been hitting on you?” Tess said, gritting her teeth. She was overwhelmed suddenly by an intense territorial feeling. The idea that anyone would dare come nearherman with sexual or romantic intentions made her want to rip someone's throat out. “Who is she? I want names.”
“Watch out,” Mark said, looking slightly pale. “Women pregnant with Vampyren children get… dangerously jealous. Don’t egg her on, Kal.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, Mark,” Tess growled.