Deathless: Heartsblood, #3

Chapter 1

Owen

I could only stare at Kaitlyn as the jet engines roared in my ears, merging with the sound of my racing heartbeat.

A million images flashed through my head. A million possibilities. A million feelings.

Kaitlyn’s pregnant.

One horrible possibility hit me so hard it knocked the breath from my body. My mind spun back to the nightmare we just lived through—the Scarl trying to rape the woman I loved, my Strawberry.

I couldn’t breathe through that thought, couldn’t speak around it.

Kaitlyn whispered, Owen, say something.

Her fingers reached for mine and I felt her trembling, shivering like a bird caught in a trap.

I gulped in thin air and muttered, The Scarl. He ... is it ...?

No. She shot out that single, terse word. Her fingers clamped down tightly on mine. A red flush rushed up her neck and over her cheeks, and her eyes blazed. He never ... It’s ours, Owen, from the night after we escaped. It’s yours.

Mine. I was knocked speechless all over again. I’d never considered being a father.

Vampires didn’t reproduce. Couldn’t reproduce. Not counting siring, which is entirely different. It had never occurred to me that I’d have a child. Kaitlyn was always the one having to remind me about protection and contraception since I became human again. And that night after we escaped the Starved, so desperate for the comfort of each other’s touch, we had both forgotten.

And now ... there was a new life growing inside Kaitlyn. Life we’d created. I couldn’t even grasp that monumental concept. Being human again was still so new to me, I hadn’t yet spent time considering creating more humans. Whether it was something I wanted. Whether it was something I deserved to do.

I looked past Kaitlyn to the window behind her, blacked out for the non-humans on board. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing no one, but knowing we weren’t really alone. The Ebonguard assigned to us were nearby, making themselves unseen and unobtrusive, but there, watching, listening. I scowled. Our invisible bodyguards were eavesdropping on our private conversation. But this was happening. Now.

Taking slow breaths, I tried to process the immensity of it. I tried to calm myself. But I couldn’t shake the memory of Kaitlyn on that sacrificial altar. It slammed into my head like a steel mallet. What if she was wrong? If she was lying, or had blocked out the trauma? What if the child growing within her wasn’t mine, or human at all, but the offspring of a dark ritual?

My heart rocked back and forth in my chest. I wanted to kill the monster who assaulted her. I wanted to fight, to scream. But the enemy was dead already, and right now, it was just Kaitlyn, staring at me with eyes full of vulnerability, fire, and hope, waiting for me to respond.

The longer I said nothing, the more I saw her eyes grow dull.

Say something. This is ... I didn’t know what this was. My body was processing too many emotions to know up from down. A small ball of happiness and excitement had sparked deep within me, but its warmth was smothered beneath too many doubts. I wanted to tell her it was good, it was wonderful, but our lives were still too complicated for good or wonderful to exist in.

Everything shifted and stretched outward into a future I had never thought to want, and wasn’t sure Kaitlyn wanted either. She’d said she wasn’t ready for children. Her contraceptive implant the Scarl removed was meant to last for years. She’d just earned her big acting break. She’d finally gotten the career she’d always dreamed of. Was there any room in there for a baby?

Was there any room in her life now for me, after what had happened to us? Had it tainted our relationship too darkly? I swallowed back the anger that swelled within me. Anger I could barely contain. I was still relearning my own human life, these overwhelming emotions. How could I raise a brand-new human?

As if she’d been reading my mind, she said, It’s still really early, only days. Normally too soon to know for sure, but what with my weird situation, and all the tests ... Still, it’s not too late for the pill.

How could birth-control pills work now? She was already pregnant. Not that I understood much about modern contraception. Not too late? I’m sorry. I’m not following you.

Kaitlyn’s throat worked, visibly swallowing. She pulled her hands free of mine and they went to her blouse, smoothing away imaginary wrinkles in the emerald green fabric. I mean I can get an abortion pill.

Abortion? The word roared from my mouth before I even thought through what she’d said. My blood grew hot as my emotions firmed themselves in my mind. I could be a father. I want to be a father. I want this child. No.

I know it sounds harsh, but we have to think about this logically. Her face contorted, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. She drew a long breath. Beyond normal human worries about being ready for this, we have that prophecy dogging us, vampires who may or may not be our enemies, and ... I have a whole lot of mixed feelings. I don’t know if I want to terminate this pregnancy. I just know I have to consider it. We both do.

I heard all her words but the one that buzzed the loudest in my brain was terminate. It was so final. I will not consider that.

A hard, vertical slash appeared between her brows. "Because you were so excited about having a child a few moments ago. Either we want this, or we don’t."

I gaped. Was she right? Did I only want this now because of the threat of it being taken away? Maybe we should be thinking about all our options. Maybe the fact I wasn’t instantly excited by the idea meant I wasn’t ready. But the news had shocked all logical thought from me, and my head still reeled from it, unable to lock down a solid thought or emotion, except one. "You can’t do that to my child."

Her eyebrows tilted upward. "Your child? It’s my body, and the child is barely a tiny cluster of cells right now. She shifted away from me in her chair, folding her arms. I should have known you’d be this way! Ugh, you’re so ... I’m going up against the mindset of a person who’s over four hundred years old. You vampires may have sorted out some of your sexist ways, but you’re still way behind on dealing with who owns a woman’s reproductive organs!"

This was going so far off the rails. I didn’t understand what she wanted; I didn’t understand the scope or consequences of our options. I was only starting to feel what I wanted.

I took a long, slow breath, and asked the question I should have from the start. Do you want this?

Kaitlyn’s mouth froze in an open position, and then trembled. The light of hope, vulnerability, and something deeper and indistinguishable shone in her eyes again. The slightest turn of a smile formed on her lips as she began to speak.

Before she could, she was interrupted by the flight attendant approaching with a rattling food cart. A clean, crisp white cloth covered it nearly to the floor, and she stopped it just in front of my seat. Let me arrange the table for you.

Her short blond hair was tidy and pinned back, but she still brushed it with her hand, almost nervously. I wondered how much of our conversation she’d managed to hear. I almost sent her away again. But an interruption was good to let my thoughts catch up. Kaitlyn pursed her lips and gave a small shrug.

We hadn’t ordered anything, so I assumed this was a parting gift arranged by Lance. The flight attendant deftly spread china plates and then silverware onto our small table. She reached to a lower shelf of her trolley and revealed a platter of fresh fruit, cheeses, delicate crisps of toasted bread, and thinly sliced, very rare beef. Then she brought up a slender bottle the same color as Kaitlyn’s blouse. I shuffled about in the seat, uncomfortable in the silence, my gaze going back to Kaitlyn. I wanted the flight attendant to go away, but I also didn’t want to keep fighting. The attendant being there was simply staving off the inevitable, but I took it because I needed a moment. I needed more than a moment.

The attendant set two small, ruby-red aperitif glasses on the table. The green bottle chinked softly against one glass and the sound, the sight of that bottle and those particular glasses, caught my attention. The flight attendant continued placing things on the table, and I was struck by the oddness that this same flight attendant from our previous flight was with us again.

A sense of something worrying grew inside me. Something wrong. But what? I knew there were puzzle pieces right in front of me, but I couldn’t put them together. My gaze went from the bottle, to the glasses, to the silver tongs sitting in a small bowl filled with delicate little cubes of sugar. But I was still bogged down by my argument with Kaitlyn. Still trying to absorb the concept that Kaitlyn was pregnant. I couldn’t seem to grasp the current situation or what was wrong with it.

What am I missing?

In a soft and strained voice, Kaitlyn said, None for me, thank you. Not a fan of absinthe.

Absinthe?

Was this Lance trying to be funny?

The wormwood in it burns vampires, and I might not be a vampire anymore, but I was still getting used to being human, and not particularly willing to drink things that may or may not be deadly to me.

The flight attendant poured one glass, straining the absinthe over a sugar cube. And you, sir? she asked, in a voice that should have sounded perfectly polite and correct but had a rim of tension running below it.

I was going to refuse but she’d already lifted the aperitif glass toward me. It glowed like a jewel, filled to the rim, and a waft of the herbal, anise scent reached my nose. Then her hand turned, just slightly. Not by much. A mere eighth of a rotation of her wrist. If I hadn’t been staring at the glass so intently, I would never have noticed that slight spin. How intentional it looked.

The glass tilted. The liquid hovered in the air. Everything felt like it had stuttered down into slow motion. The green drops fell, then landed with a splash on the back of my hand.

I caught my breath, held it for a moment, but only felt the coolness of the alcohol evaporating off my skin.

The flight attendant seemed to hold her breath too.

Kaitlyn grabbed one of the folded linen napkins from the table and dabbed at my hand, and where a few drops of absinthe tinted the white shirt at my wrist. She seemed concerned only by staining, oblivious to anything else.

The flight attendant acted flustered, but eyed me carefully. I’m so sorry. Are you all right, sir?

I bolted up out of my seat, snatching for the flight attendant’s collar. She shifted quickly, keeping her high-buttoned shirt and neatly tied neck-scarf out of my reach. Her eyes narrowed.

Kaitlyn gasped. Owen! It was just a spill!

I yelled out into the cabin, Ebonguard!

Two vampires in all black appeared as though from thin air. Kaitlyn squeaked in surprise. Even though I knew what to expect, I was still shocked at how well their compulsion powers had hidden them from our human eyes.

Grab her, I commanded the Ebonguard. I knew one was Joss. The other was Val. At the moment they were impossible to distinguish.

One of them lunged for the attendant. She tried to dodge, but wasn’t fast enough, managing only to bash up against the trolley as she was caught.

What’s going on? Kaitlyn got to her feet.

The Ebonguard held the attendant tight around the shoulders as I reached over and yanked her neck-scarf off and pulled open the top of her shirt.

Right below her collarbone was a green-black mark of a knife surrounded by a ring of fire. A tattoo I knew too well.

My suspicions were confirmed. She was one of Alam’s Blades. The absinthe spill had been a test.

Kaitlyn stammered, Who ... what ... Owen!

Vampire hunter.

"What? Kaitlyn seemed more insulted than anything. But we’re not vampires!" she yelled at the Blade.

But the attendant must have known I was a vampire once. How long had she been tracking me? And she’d followed me to Umbravallis, discovered I was now human ... That was all dangerous information for the followers of Alam to have. She couldn’t be allowed to escape.

The Ebonguard must have realized this as well. The one holding her shifted quickly as though to snap the woman’s neck.

With her cover blown, the flight attendant didn’t hold back. Blades were still human, but she moved with almost inhuman speed and flexibility. She slipped through the Ebonguard’s neck-crushing fingers. Something clicked inside her sleeve, shooting a slim canister into her hand. She twisted it and a cloud of mist burst into the cabin.

I couldn’t avoid getting a mouthful of the gas, and quickly identified the unique, rotting scent. Nemexia.

I shot the Ebonguard a fearful look. If the corpse-flower knocked them out, Kaitlyn and I would have no chance of stopping the Blade.

The Ebonguard swayed, unsteady. They each grasped at their fabric head-coverings, and pulled an additional layer of fine, filtering material across their already covered faces. They stumbled but stayed upright.

The Blade scowled, her pretty face twisted with ruthless anger. She reached beneath the covered food trolley. When her hands came back into view, they held a chunky black weapon the size of a sawn-off shotgun. It hummed to life like a camera flash recharging.

My arms swept out for Kaitlyn, trying to get her behind my body, to somewhere safe.

Both Ebonguard rushed the Blade, but they were slowed by the Nemexia, moving at a more human speed.

The Blade took aim. A streak of brilliant blue laser-sharp light shot from the end of the gun.

One Ebonguard jumped to the side. The other took the full brunt of the burst.

The Ebonguard loosed a high-pitched, female scream. The blast burned straight through her clothing, scorching away the fabric across her shoulder, taking most of the shoulder with it. Flakes of grayed skin peeled away.

Waves of false sunlight radiated through the cabin. The Ebonguard’s scorched flesh smoldered then caught, flames and light exploding through the vampire’s body.

Then she was gone, leaving only ashes drifting through the air.

Joss! Kaitlyn screamed.

I’m here, the remaining Ebonguard called back.