CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

She bit down on her jaw, trying to hold in the scream that was building in her as a fresh wave of pain ripped through her. She couldn’t take the pain anymore. She held Kayla’s hands as tight as she could, as she kept on reminding her to breathe.

“I think we should leave.” The officers headed to the door.

Solara stood at Shee’s side hinting that it was time for him to leave also. Reluctantly he did, Solara locked the door behind them and rushed to the bed where the others were.

A feral snarl, ripped through Scarlet’s throat as her eyes opened and her head turned towards the direction the humans left with. She was no longer holding Kayla’s hands, instead, Kayla and Stephan were restraining her.

Solara pulled her legs so that she would be flat on her back on the bed. Nikki helped him hold her legs down when she started kicking into the air.

Stephan used his body to pin hers down. He looked into her eyes and saw how far gone she was she wasn’t in control.

Kayla was stroking her hair and whispering in her ear, trying to calm her down.

“Shh!! Come on Scar, you can do it. Just calm down relax.”

***

Solara and Nikki released her legs once she stopped struggling against them. It had taken her a couple of minutes to calm down. Her breathing was steady and relaxed.

Stephan didn’t release her, because her eyes hadn’t turned back to the hazel color he knew so well. He watched her as she closed her eyes and her arms went limp. The guilt was eating at him. This was what he had turned her into.

Kayla walked away from the bed and stood against the wall. She watched Scarlet as she seemed to slip right into a deep sleep, hoping that she was alright.

“If this was what she was up against when she attacked those two people, she had no chance.” She leaned into Solara’s arms when he came to her.

“That kid is unbelievably strong. Too strong for her.” He kissed the top of her curly head and held her close.

“I’m worried about the birth.” Stephan’s hands moved from Scarlet’s and they now cradled his head. “What can we do to make this easier.”

“Nothing.” Nikki stood across the room, she always kept her distance from them, but today was different. She was worried and right now she was hoping to come up with something to help her.

“We have to wait. The mother always feels what their baby’s feel but, they are never overpowered by it. Not like this. This child is more of a vampire than anything else.” She knew that she wasn’t offering any solutions, but this was the reality of the situation.

“But there is a chance that the birth will be just like a beast’s right? If not exactly something like it.” Stephan asked her, he needed some hope.

“Like it, yes. He still is part beast. We just have to wait.”

“It’s the waiting that’s killing me. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her.” Stephan stood, he glanced down at her before walking out of the apartment. He was helpless and the feeling of helplessness was killing him.

“Maybe you should go after him, Solara. Make sure he’s ok, I don’t want Scarlet waking up and finding him upset.” Kayla said as she nudged him in the direction Stephan left.

Solara followed Stephan outside, he found him sitting on the steps, with his head lowered to his knees. He looked defeated and out of options. “She’s going to be fine. Don’t worry so much.” He patted Stephan’s shoulder as he sat down beside him.

“You don’t know that, and worst of all Nikki doesn’t know either. All we can do right now is hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.” Stephan’s voice sounded muffled he hadn’t raised his head yet.

“If I may ask what exactly were you doing this whole time,” Solara was referring to the days he had disappeared and gone off on a killing spree. He thought that it would be better to take his mind off Scarlet for a moment.

“When I saw Scarlet with that man, I was angry. I always thought it was because I put her life in danger so many times and that was because of the Council and their men.” He looked at Solara with a grin, “So I killed them. I was taking out my anger on them and depleting the Council’s resources.”

“You do know that you have raised the stakes. They are going to hunt you down with a vengeance, but something tells me you aren’t worried about that at all.”

“No, not with everything happening here. The hunters are the least of my concerns right now and besides, they can’t track me here.” They couldn’t track his scent here because he came by flight. Without his feet on the ground, he couldn’t leave a single trace of himself.

“But I’m sure Zen will lead them back to San Fran. Vincent is going to call if that happens.”

“Xavier is there so he’ll take charge of the situation. Make sure the younger ones don’t act too rash.” Stephan hoped it would be a long while before Vincent called about Zen, at least until Scarlet and the baby were alright.

“I was thinking that maybe we shouldn’t go back to San Francisco. We could move somewhere here, that way Scarlet and Kayla could still live their lives as they wanted.”

“I don’t think Scarlet would want to go back to the hospital, it’s a reminder of the guy that died.” He wasn’t about to say she killed him, because in the true sense she didn’t.

“We could go to King County, it has cozy mansions and thick Tiger Mountain forest. There is a newspaper Kayla can work at and Scarlet could work at the local hospital.” He wanted them to have their lives back, he didn’t feel that there was a need to deny them all the dreams that they had.

“It’s not that far, we can move as soon as Scarlet is fit enough to travel.” It seemed like a good idea especially because Zen wouldn’t know where to find them, and if he did they would move again. It wasn’t an ideal life, but that was how it would be until they finally kill him and everyone else after him.

“I’ll get right on it and don’t worry I’ve got the tab on this one. You can buy the wheels.” Solara chuckled, according to him he got the cheaper end of the deal.

They both had expensive tastes in cars, and he would also have to get one for the women and their extended family. Stephan had amassed an incredible amount of wealth during those past three centuries, so it wouldn’t dent his account at all.

“That’s fine, but I think Vincent and Victor could drive the other two cars here. It would require a whole lot of patience.” He chuckles imagining how two people used to incredible speed would have to settle for the limited speed of a car, in a journey that could take a week at most.

“Sure, I’ll call him,” Solara’s phone screeched in his pocket, “Speak of the devil. He must be calling to ask how Scarlet is doing.”

“Hello.”