CURSE OF THE MOON REBORN

Stephan took a weary step towards Scarlet, but Scarlet walked past him, “Not now I need to meet my baby.”

Scarlet ran out of the room skipping and leaping over the bodies of headless vampires along the way. Mathias had done his damage and there was no doubt in her mind that he enjoyed it too. She ran through the forest never looking back but when she came up to the front door of the house she stopped.

Scarlet hesitated, on the other side of the door, her baby girl waited for her. She didn’t know how she was going to be especially since she had spent the first few days of her life with Marquis. She could feel the others come up behind her so she decided to wait for Stephan. She needed back up and he was the only one who could give it.

When Stephan stepped p beside her, she put her hand in his. She froze as she watched him turn the knob. Stephan drugged her into the house beside him and they walked to the kitchen but there was no sign of the children.

Scarlet began to panic, thinking that someone had taken the children once more. Her fears were set aside when she heard a low rustle and the sound of two heartbeats. One being SJ and the other... the other was little Christina’s. She followed the sound to the bedroom. Slowly she opened the door and found SJ and Jade hunched over the little pink crib.

Scarlet stood at the door for a while watching SJ and Jade watch the baby who was in the crib. Jade took a step to the side while SJ held out his hand towards his mother and father. Scarlet and Stephan took a slow steady step towards the crib.

Christina had her fingers balled up into little fists. Her black curly hair poured all over the little white pillow. She didn’t look how Scarlet remembered her, she was more beautiful, angelic even. Scarlet fought the urge to grab her from the crib and cradle her against her chest. She watched as her little daughter snored away wondering when was the last tie she had a peaceful nap.

“Mom she is beautiful.” SJ gazed adoringly at his little sister.

“She looks exactly like you Scar. But she’s got Stephan’s hair.” Kayla dropped on the bed and leaned to look into the crib.

“We should let her sleep,” Solara suggested.

Scarlet couldn’t hear them leave the room. Each one of her senses was focused on the sleeping baby. Her nose smelt the delicate new scent of a baby, her ears listened to her heartbeat and the tiny rasping of her breath, and her eyes were fixed on her pink rosebud lips, her fingers itching to touch her smooth skin.

She carefully reached into the crib and picked up the baby careful not to wake her up. Scarlet sat down on the bed with Stephan’s help. She cradled the baby in her arms and cherished the feeling of her tiny body against hers.

“She’s beautiful,” Scarlet whispered.

“You are her mother I guess that’s a given.” Stephan sat down beside her.

“You want to hold her,” Scarlet asked but she didn’t want to let her go, not just yet.

“Not just yet. You hold her first. I know you have been looking forward to this.”

“I have. Finally, I have my baby in my arms. My beautiful little Christina. Christina Paulina Jeraldi.” She cooed her full names at the baby.

***

“Maybe you should pinch her. Wake her up. I know you want to see her eyes.” Stephan suggested. He remembered the day Scarlet woke up and described his daughter to him. She saw everything except the eyes. He knew how anxious she must have felt wanting to look into Christina’s round eyes.

“That’s tempting, but no.” Scarlet smiled.

Stephan’s heart skipped it was the first time he had seen her smile ever since Marquis had taken Christina from her.

“Is there something wrong with your heart?” Scarlet was amazed at how sharp her new senses were.

“No, I’m just happy to see you smile. I missed it.” Stephan tucked her hair behind her ear to get a clear view of her face.

“Nothing is stopping me from smiling now. I have my babies with me. Here hold her.” Scarlet placed the baby in his arms.

Stephan stared down at the child he had been looking for. The reason he had done the most despicable act he had ever done in his life. He held her in one arm as he slid his finger in one of her fists. His heart skipped once more when her tiny fingers tightened around his finger.

“There goes your heart again,” Scarlet whispered.

“If her fingers make my heart skip, her smile and eyes are going to stop it.” he kissed her little hand then put her back in her crib. “Scarlet can we talk.”

“Not now.” Slowly she left the room.

“How is she?” SJ was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Asleep. Did you feed her when you got back?”

“Yes, Jade gave her a milk blood shake. Milk mixed with blood, apparently human babies drink milk.” SJ looked puzzled.

“They do.” She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and let her feet take her to the living room where the others waited.

“I’m glad you got your baby back and may I say she is adorable.” Mathias complimented.

“Thank you.” Scarlet dropped into the sofa and snuggled next to Kayla.

Stephan drugged into the living room, his head hanging low. He was heading for Scarlet but stopped when he realized there was no way of getting to her without displacing the rest. So he stood alone watching her cuddle in Kayla’s arms. She looked relieved content but still tormented. He wanted to talk to her, he was desperate to get his marriage back on track but there was no way of doing so if Scarlet wouldn’t allow it.

“Scarlet please.” He begged.

She looked across the room at him and could see how tortured he looked, but still, she wanted to say no. But SJ nudged her compelling her to get up to go speak to him.

Scarlet walked past him and through the front door, she continued to march ahead and only stopped when they were deep in the forest. Once she was convinced that they were far enough out of hearing range she turned to face her husband.

“I’m listening.”

“I didn’t mean to lie to you. I thought that I would be able to take care of this before you ever realized that Marquis was still alive.”

“But you didn’t, instead you put my children, our children, and I in danger.” Scarlet’s voice rose louder than she meant it to.

“I know that and I regret it. Can’t you see how much that lie is causing me to suffer? I know I lost your trust but I am determined to gain it back.” He took a step towards her but she only took three away from him.

“I need time to think about all of this. I need to sort out y mind and decide what I want out of life. I need to think about my children and myself before I think about what you want.”

“But you and the children are what I want. Is it because-,” Stephan hesitated. He didn’t want to bring up what happened at the beach but he needed to know if that was a contributing factor to her anger. “Is it because I slept with Marquis?”

Scarlet’s hands flew to her ears, she knew it had happened but part of her wanted to block it out. She tried to convince herself each second of the day that it didn’t matter and that he only did it to get their daughter back. But however noble his intention was it still left a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach.

“Tell me the truth is it because I’m now tainted. I only did it because I believed she would give Chrissie to me.” He went to her and caught her before she could move away. He pulled her hands from her ears and forced her to look up at him. “Tell me is it because I slept with her, or because I lied to you.”

“It’s both.” She screamed out hysterically. “It’s both.” Her voice was lower now like she had completely lost all that was fuelling her anger and strength. “You lied to me and put my children’s lives at risk. Then you slept with her and risked our relationship I just can’t-,”

“Can’t what? Don’t forget I made that sacrifice for our daughter. I took that risk because I thought you would understand. I wanted to bring our daughter back to you so that you could look into her beautiful hazel eyes so that you could hold her tiny body in your arms.”

He pulled her into her arms and held her there for as long as he could, but it only took her seconds to pull away once more.

“So is this my fault? Is this Chrissie’s fault?” She beat his hands off her.

“No, I didn’t say that.” Distraught Stephan fell to his knees. “I didn’t say that.”

“This is your entire fault. If you hadn’t lied to me then we could have moved to a different country, a continent even. I would go to the ends of the earth to protect my children.”