CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

The ride home was silent. They found the others in the house, Xavier, Sam, and Eric had changed out of the tattered clothes they had. Nikki was brewing tea in the kitchen for Scarlet, Vincent suggested it as a good way to warm her up. Scarlet went straight to her room and dumped off her wet clothes. She turned on the hot water and let it fill the bathtub. Stephan was behind her wrapping a towel around her naked body.

“Don’t worry once I get into this hot bath, I’ll get warm.” She waited until she was completely covered before she turned to him. She smiled up at him for his sake more than anything else.

Scarlet twirled a wet strand of his hair around her finger. Something about his wet hair reminded her about the dream of them at the beach. The little boy who was an exact copy of him. The beautiful boy he held in his arm as he held her.

Stephan Leonard Jeraldi. She had decided to name him after Stephan and her father. It was a good way to honor his memory and if he was a she, she was going to name her after her mother. But she hoped for a boy. She didn’t know how long she was going to be away from Stephan. A walking, talking reminder of him would comfort her.

She stepped into the bathtub when it was full, Stephan stepped in after her and sat behind her. She settled against his hard chest. Scarlet wasn’t comfortable, she was sure that he was going to want to hold her but she couldn’t allow any direct contact.

Scarlet took his hands and weaved his fingers with hers. “I love you, and I hope you know that. And I will always love you.” Scarlet kissed both his palms and wrapped his arms around her chest.

“I love you too and I am sorry for putting you in danger today. I had no right to get you mixed up in my problems.”

“We need to talk about my leaving. I am still going to Washington, I can’t stay here anymore. I have to leave you. I have to sort all this mess out.” She knew it was too soon to be talking about leaving, but she had to make him understand.

“Scarlet,” She winced when she could hear his heartbreak from the desperate way he said her name.

“No, there is no other way. You say you love me and you want to protect me, so do this for me. Let me go I am not safe here. I don’t want to be tossed into any more oceans.” She was shaking her head, trying to fight back the sobs rising in her chest.

“I know I just wanted you to stay for a while. Stay here with me for a week at least. I almost lost you and I am not ready to be away from you just yet.”

Scarlet had a feeling that leaving him would be difficult especially after the attack, but she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t stay here and wait for Zen to target them again. He knew who she was now and she couldn’t risk her baby’s life. His life was tied to hers at the moment and if she got hurt he would too.

“I’ll think about it.” she felt him pull his hand free and she let him. “Kayla is taking me to the hospital in the morning. She is calling the doctor and setting up an appointment for seven in the morning.”

“Why so early, you need to rest. You have been through a lot today.” His fingers traced down her bent knee to her thigh. She was sure that her trail of thought was about to be derailed, but she kept her hand close to his just in case his fingers got close to her belly.

She cleared her throat before she spoke, “I just want to be in and out of there as fast as possible. If I go later, I’ll find a long queue.”

“That’s fine. Do you want me to take you?” his eyes followed his finger as it traveled down her glistened thigh.

“Kayla wants some me time and since I have seen enough violence today to last me a lifetime, I think it’s best if you let her take me alone.”

Stephan didn’t argue with that. “Ok. That’s fine.”

Scarlet had to let Kayla in on her plan. She wasn’t going to go to the hospital, she was going to use it as a front and take the opportunity to get away from San Francisco. Kayla would drive her to the airport, she would get some new clothes when she got to Washington. The ones she had packed were lying at the bottom of the ocean in the Mustang’s boot. She would collect her ticket at the airport. Scarlet was glad she had decided to rebook her flight for the next day. The longer she stayed there the more time she gave Zen to plan his attack.

A knock on the door distracted Scarlet from her thoughts. Stephan didn’t get up when he bellowed to answer.

“Scarlet you need to get something to eat. And Nikki made some tea for you.” Kayla’s voice answered back through the bathroom door.

“We will be out in a minute.” Stephan stepped out of the bath and held a towel up for her. “I hope we can talk more about this when you get back from the hospital tomorrow.”

Scarlet folded the towel under her arms and walked past him. She didn’t want him to see the guilt on her face. Tonight was their last night together for a while. Her heart broke at the thought of leaving him but she had no choice.

But she did have a choice, stay with the man she loved and raise their child together and never live in peace. Always waiting for Zen’s impending attack against them and risk the death of both her and her child. Or she could leave for Washington the next day, get her child away from the madness that surrounded his father. The choice to keep their son away from him until it was safe enough for the both of them to come back.

In another situation, she would stay with him. But now the love of her child had to trump that for him. She hoped he would understand when the time came. She got dressed in a hurry, despite what had happened earlier her appetite had not been interrupted. Stephan left the room before she did, he went to check whether the food had been delivered.

Scarlet popped her head through the door and called out Kayla’s she didn’t shout it out. She said it in a low tone that she was sure she would hear. Kayla walked into the room with a confused look on her face.

“What?”

Scarlet pulled her into the bathroom and closed the door behind them. “I told Stephan that you are driving me to the hospital in the morning. But you are going to drive me to the airport.” She paused to see whether Kayla had understood her plan.

“I am ready to drive you there now, this minute, this second. You need to get away from all of this as soon as possible. When the drama of you leaving dies down, I’ll come to see you and help you deliver the baby.” She smiled at her. Kayla supported her decision to slip away quietly. Stephan wouldn’t let her leave without a fight. “Besides we don’t know what’s in there. You are going to need all the backup you can get.”

“Kayla if I didn’t need you desperately I would drive a stake through your heart.” She giggled then firmly placed both hands on her baby bump, “This right here is your nephew and if he comes out looking like a jaguar just like his daddy, we are going to deal with it.”