CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

Scarlet tossed the bones of her third piece of chicken in the bin. She sank deeper into the water and watched as it rushed to surround her. Stephan stood up, tossed the empty bucket in the bin, and pulled his t-shirt off over his head. Scarlet watched stunned by his body, she had seen him do this countless times, but the sight of his muscles rippling with his every move always took her breath away.

She stared into his swirling silver eyes as he removed the rest of his clothing. They seared her with heat, they were open and honest about the love he felt for her. She felt special and unique knowing that that look was only reserved for her.

Stephan smiled as her eyebrow raised and her body reacted to his nudity. He moved her forward and climbed into the bathtub with her, sliding behind her, and then pulled her back into his arms.

“I’m only going to hold you, I don’t want Kayla accusing me of anything else.” He laughed when she groaned in disappointment.

“Well, she’s not here.” Scarlet wished that she didn’t have the mountain attached to her body. It would have been much easier to seduce him if she wasn’t heavy with his child.

“But Nikki is, and I think we have tortured her enough.” Stephan knew it would be cruel to rub their love in her nose, especially since she was there to help them. “And I don’t think it would be wise to expose the child to this part of nature so early in his life. Especially since he seems to feel everything that you do, so I think he understands.”

“You’re right about both of them. So I just have to settle for your arms.” She traced her finger along his taut muscled arms and that simple act made him shiver and groan.

***

Kayla and Solara came back with a pile of pictures in their hands. Nikki was all alone in the room, watching television in the far corner.

“Where are they?” Kayla dropped on the bed and stretched out. She felt exhausted, something that was entirely impossible for a vampire. But the past few days had worn her out mentally.

Nikki pointed towards the bathroom then went back to watching TV.

Kayla got up and knocked on the door after finding it was locked. She could hear Scarlet’s thoughts and they were less than decent. She knocked on the door harder,

“Stephan Jeraldi if you dare plant another baby in her before we get the first one out, you and me, we are going to have a problem.”

Solara pried her hands from the door and dragged her back to the bed. They could hear them laughing from inside the bathroom.

“I think we should get out before she has a stroke.” Scarlet couldn’t help but laugh.

“How about, we let her have a stroke, and then, she won’t bother us.”

“Stephan!” Scarlet elbowed him the ribs as hard as she could, but she knew to him there was no difference to a stroke on the cheek. “Besides she can’t have a stroke remember she’s a vampire.”

“Oh right, that.”

Stephan helped her out of the tub and dressed before he could help her dress. Putting on clothes had become a chore for her.

Scarlet nodded off as soon as they had decided on a house. They picked one closer to the forest so that they could feed easily and away from the population just in case the baby got out of hand. Scarlet also liked the fact the house was big enough for all of them and each room had a different design. It had a big yard and a pond in the back. A comfortable place to raise a family, even the one as peculiar as theirs.

Stephan snuggled her in his arms and let her sleep, he hoped that this night would pass silently without her convulsing. She was tired, so she fell asleep easily enough. He stroked her brunette hair, letting his fingers weave through it.

Scarlet had only been asleep for an hour when Vincent called again. Stephan left her on the bed and went to listen in on the conversation that bothered Solara.

Solara put the phone on the loudspeaker, when they moved away from the bed, they didn’t want to wake Scarlet up, and especially with the news, they were receiving.

Zen had gone back to the house, and although he didn’t start a fight, he delivered more threats from Marquis. Stephan was enraged at the lengths she was planning and determined to go to, to get him back to her arms.

“He said that she is only giving you three days to respond, and if she doesn’t like the answer she’s going to come after Scarlet.” Vincent sounded irritated and angered by the threat as well.

“Who is this woman and how does she know about Scar?” Kayla was getting fed up with all the threats against her best friend. She already had enough on her plate and didn’t need to deal with Zen or his mistress.

“Zen told her about Scarlet. But he kept on referring to her as your human.” Vincent’s voice echoed from the phone.

“Have you left the house yet?”

“No, not yet we were about to when he dropped in.”

“Leave now, but split up. I don’t want to take the chance of him following you.”

“We are living now Stephan. Tell Scarlet I said hi.”

Kayla eyed Stephan suspiciously, she was wondering what other creature was after him. The feud between the beast and vampires was still on and they were still trying to get him to pick a side and now his former lover wanted him back.

“Do you think this is connected to the feud?” Nikki finally broke the silence that was hanging thick in the air.

“I’m not sure,” Stephan answered with a far-away look in his eyes.

“Who is this woman Stephan?”

“My creator, actually one of them. She killed her partner.” Stephan put in.

“So she wants her little creation back home with her, or is this still about the army crap?” Kayla asked.

“Not exactly, we used to be lovers.”

“Oh my word, you never cease to amaze me, Stephan.” Kayla shook her head, “Crazy ex-girlfriends never go away. And she’s like a super crazy ex-girlfriend. I won’t allow you to expose Scar to this kind of danger. Sort it out.” There was no humor in her tone. She was angry and dangerously so.

“I will after the baby is born. Right now that is my only priority.” He couldn’t be angry with her for trying to protect her friend.

“Kayla, relax. We need to think of a way to hide her from Zen and his hunters. We aren’t completely sure they won’t track Vincent here.”

“Call the real estate agent and buy that house as soon as possible.” Stephan was avoiding Kayla’s stare which seemed to be burning a hole in his side.

“I’ll do it now.” Solara stepped away from them to make the call.

“If anything happens to her, I will see you dead.” It was a flat-out threat. Kayla knew that Stephan was the most powerful being that anyone had come across. But the love of her friend made her stronger and she was ready to rid Stephan from her life to keep her safe.

“What’s going on with Zen?” Scarlet was sitting upright on the bed watching them.

Kayla and Stephan went stiff when they heard her voice. Kayla was sure if she had heard the part about Zen, she had also heard her threatening to kill the love of her life.

Scarlet’s breath caught in her throat when she posed the question once more. This time it came out as a silent whisper, “Who is after me... and what does Zen have to do with this?”

She could feel herself tremble. Memories of her last encounter with Zen flooded her mind. She could feel been thrown into the air and see the water rushing up to meet her. She gasped as she pictured herself in the water again, her arms protecting her unborn child the only way she knew how to.

“Scarlet, don’t worry about it.” Stephan was still standing a distance away from the bed. He was afraid that if he got any closer his eyes would betray him. She had mastered his expressions and knew him better than he did himself.

“What is-” Scarlet wasn’t able to finish her question as the pain seared through her and the darkness engulfed her. Her body slumped down on the bed with a loud thud.

“Scarlet!”

They all rushed to the bed and tried to wake her up, but nothing. They lay her flat on her back and watched her, waiting for any indication of consciousness.

“She’ll be fine,” Nikki said after listening to her heartbeat. It was strong and steady and her breathing was normal. “She will slip into sleep just as she did earlier on.”

“We need to start having these conversations outside.” Kayla stroked her fingers along Scarlet’s pasty cheek.

“I don’t think that would help. She can hear just as well as we do, when the child is awake her senses are much stronger.” Stephan held her hand to his lips.

“Great,” Kayla grunted. “Let’s let her sleep. I’m assuming she can’t hear us right now, so now is the best time to talk about this.”

***

Scarlet felt peaceful, she was back at the beach and everyone was there with her. Her parents, Marcie, Archie, and the old lady were standing in the ocean water.

Grandmother Cooper and Mrs. Cooper, Joany the other girls from the diner, and some of their patrons, some of her friends in University, were all gathered around a table filled with food. They all seemed happy, drinking and eating heartily.

Vincent, Victor, Eric, Xavier, Sam, and Nikki, were standing on the far right looking at her with smiles on their face. The blonde streaks in Vincent’s hair were gone and he now looked identical to his brother.

Solara and Kayla were on her left in each other’s arms. Kayla’s hair was straightened and dancing in the slight breeze.

Stephan was next to her, he held her hand firmly in his.

A little boy ran towards her, his hair floating behind him as he ran. She leaned down and opened her arms and he ran into them. Scarlet scooped him up in her arms and held him tightly to her chest. He looked exactly like Stephan, but his hair wasn’t as dark as Stephan’s was. The child wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and held on to her tightly. Stephan wrapped his arms around both of them and gently kissed her.

She looked at the people around her, and they all shared her joy. They were all in white and they all looked beautiful.

They were all standing around her, smiling at her. These were all the people she had in her life. She was happy because she was sharing her happiness with her. She was ecstatic as she watched the different people in her life, all from different times come together like this, and knowing that she was the reason for this unity made her all the more excited.