I exhaled a sad sigh as I sat back down. I had really enjoyed our little foursome. I suppose having a baby with my soon-to-be dead boyfriend, would have irrevocably changed the relationship anyway.
I held in my giddy excitement until after work when I cancelled dinner plans with Teren to go to Ashley's and tell her all about my future baby while Mom was out with some girlfriends. I suppose my choice was counterproductive to the actual making of a baby, but I was too excited to share my decision with someone and she, aside from being my best friend, was the only person in the world I could share the news with.
We sat on the living room floor with a half-gallon of peppermint ice cream and giggled over the idea of me being hugely pregnant with a vampire baby. Ash had kind of expected my decision after our lunch yesterday, so she wasn't too surprised at my announcement. And because she loved me, she kept whatever fear and doubt she must have had to herself, and she only showed me unconditional support. I loved my sister.
Mom eventually came back home from her evening with the girls and, laughing at the sight of us hunched over a container of ice cream, she grabbed a spoon of her own and sat in-between us. We switched to topics suitable for a parent in the room, and the three of us chatted, bonded and devoured our version of a tasty snack.
After leaving Mom and Ashley's, I drove straight to Teren's place. I didn't even think about it, I just instinctually did it. Really, I was thinking about Ashley's reaction to my news and what I'd tell Mom in a few months when I did, hopefully, get pregnant. I had a feeling she'd take it pretty well, too. There was something about being a grandmother that brought out the acceptance in parents. Plus, she liked Teren, loved him, even. I still wasn't sure how to explain him to her...but I supposed I had years before she noticed that he never looked any older. With his camouflaging stubble and rugged good looks, he could pull off looking twenty-five for another decade, so I had plenty of time to think of an appropriate excuse.
Teren's lights were on as I pulled into his semi-circle drive. He greeted me at my car door, and his smile was loose and casual, like he didn't care at all that I'd cancelled our plans and then shown up afterwards anyway. He only looked happy that I was with him. He pulled me into his arms as I stepped out of the car and I dragged my wrist across his lips. "I've already had dessert...but do you want dessert?"
He crooked a smile at me in a way that was so incredibly attractive on him, and then he kissed my proffered body part and shook his head. "No, I'm fine, thank you."
I laced that wrist around his neck. "Shall we get right to the baby making then?"
Laughing, Teren scooped his arm under my knees and lifted me up. He swept me through his open front door, like a bride being ushered across the threshold by her new husband. Once inside, he closed the door with his foot and walked us upstairs to his room at an achingly slow, human pace.
With deliberate slowness, he laid me on the bed. My breath caught as he hovered over me. He was so handsome. A dim lamp in the corner of the room dulled the glow of his eyes, but not the love in them. He adored me, heart and soul, and I saw it every time he looked at me, felt it every time he touched me. I was his, and he was mine.
With practiced ease, he undressed me and I undressed him. When we were both bare, his eyes drifted over my body, like he was memorizing me. His fingers quickly followed his gaze, and every section of skin that he touched tingled with excitement. I wanted him. His hand rested on my stomach, where our future child would hopefully be growing soon. His expression was peaceful and hopeful, like he was wishing the same thing. Then his grin turned devilish, and his fingers traveled south. That did me in. I was more than ready, and I needed him now.
I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him over the top of me. As soon as he was lined up, he pushed into me. A satisfied groan escaped us once we were one; there was nothing in the world quite like the moment we joined together. Teren started to move, and I clawed at his back, his hips. I wanted more, but I also never wanted this feeling to end. Inevitably, it did end though. Breathless, hearts racing, we finished at the same time. The connection and closeness I felt when we cried out in unison was indescribable. He slumped against me to catch his breath, then rolled onto his back. I snuggled into the crook of his arm, happy, satisfied and deeply in love.
We hadn't been finished nearly five minutes, before I started giggling. I was pretty sure I knew the answer to my question, but in my excitement, I asked it anyway. "Do you think I'm pregnant now?" I let out a content sigh and laid my cheek on his heart-heavy chest.
He laughed deep within his body and ran a hand through my hair. "Patience...it will happen when it's supposed to."
Black-haired children filled my mind and I sighed again, a little less contently. "Time is the one thing we don't have a lot of, Teren." I pressed my ear to his chest and relished each steady thump. I was constantly surprised by how much I wanted his child. Maybe it was the fact that we only had a little over three months left, assuming that he didn't die before his birthday, of course, that had my desire for it kicked into overdrive.
Teren sighed with a sound that matched my own, and I wondered if he now wanted this as badly as I did, if my acceptance of it had kicked in his desire. If that were the case, I might be spending the next three months flat on my back in his bed. I smiled into his chest. I could think of worse ways to pass the time.
"I know, Emma," he whispered as he stroked my hair.
Thinking about time, brought my mind around to the inevitableness of mine ending. I wasn't sure about Teren, but I was sure about me. My life was finite. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the question rolling around in my head, but curiosity drove it out of me. "Would our child be...immortal?" I looked up at his face, to see if he was going to laugh at me, but his pale eyes only regarded me with love.
He shrugged. "I don't know. We're not sure how long any of us mixed vampires will live."
I raised myself up to his elbows on his chest. "Oh...what about Halina?"
Then he did laugh. "I think Great-Gran will be around until someone stakes the old bat." He continued laughing, then shrugged. "As for the rest of us...there just aren't any others like us, so we have no idea." He showed me a one-sided smile. "We're all watching Gran very closely."
He winked and I laughed at him. "You're very odd."
"So I've been told." Smiling, he ran his hand back through my hair.
I swallowed at the look of immense love on his face. "Will you miss me when I've passed on?"
Without missing a beat, he shook his head. "No."
I smacked his shoulder and he laughed. "Thanks."
Still laughing, he grabbed hold of my hand before I could smack him again. "Okay, yes..." He grabbed both of my wrists and pulled me up on top of him. "I will wear black every day, incoherently muttering your name, as I shuffle through the meaningless existence of my bleak eternity."
I twisted my wrists to hold his hands, placing our laced fingers on either side of his head as I hovered above him. "Well, that's better."
He chuckled, then looked at me more seriously. "I don't think I'll have to suffer without you for long."
"Oh, why not?"
Using his super speed, he instantly rolled us over, so that I was beneath him and he was hovering above me. He grinned as he looked down on me. "I think I'll simply die of boredom without you around."
Pursing my lips, I pushed him off me. He lay on his side, propped up on his elbow, gazing down at me. "Well, assuming you make it through the boredom of my absence...would you live for hundreds, maybe thousands of years?"
He shrugged again, his muscles flexing with the movement. "It's possible...if we end up to be more like vampires in that sense then, yeah, we'll live until we can't stand another second of the monotony and we stake ourselves."
I frowned. "That's not something you should have to decide." He cocked his head and scrunched his brow, not following me. "Your death," I explained. "No one should have to choose when to die. It shouldn't be up to you."
He relaxed his features and gave me a wry smile. "It may not be. Vampires aren't universally loved. Some people have certain...prejudices. If we were ever discovered..." He shrugged again. "I could be staked tomorrow."
I sat up on my elbows. "What? You really think you'd be attacked by villagers with pitchforks?" He grinned, and I continued, "I don't think the culture is like that anymore." I shifted to my side and sat up on an elbow, so we were facing each other. "I think you'd be a rock star. You'd be the most famous person in the world. You'd have photographers tracking your every move, people lined up for miles to catch a glimpse of you, and girls everywhere, throwing themselves at you, begging to be bitten." I raised an eyebrow at that particular thought.
He raised his eyebrows right back at me. "That doesn't sound like much of a life. Well, the girls part wouldn't be so bad." I shoved his shoulder back and he leaned in to kiss me. "It wouldn't be quite so glamorous. Not everyone's a fan."
I shook my head and ran a hand down his jaw. "Well, either way, I'm sure you'll outlive me." I smirked and rested my hand on his heart. "I'll be a pile of dust before you know it."
He smirked back. "Thanks...I'm really trying to not think about that."
I gazed at him for long, silent seconds, my heart swelling with love and sadness. "Protect our child and our child's child and that child's child. Live as long as you can," I seriously told him.
He cocked his head at me, his expression equally full of joy and pain. "Sometimes, I wish there was a way to make you just like me..."
I smiled and blinked back the tears. "But there isn't...and I don't want to be a full vampire, not that you'd change me any more than you'd change Ash." I kissed him and a tear escaped the very corner of my eye. "We'll just take each day as we're given it...okay?"
He nodded, and one small tear rolled down his cheek. I had to swallow several times to stop the urge to sob at seeing the love of my life so emotional over the thought of outliving me, grotesquely outliving me. I didn't know if I'd have the strength, if our roles were reversed. But, he'd have his family for support and hopefully, he'd have our child as well. I kissed him again, deeper than before, and he wrapped me in his arms, almost as if, by holding me tight, he could stop my all-too-soon finale.
Chapter 9 - Let's Try This Again
The Internet became my free time addiction. When Teren and I weren't actively trying to make a baby, I was doing research on how to conceive. We had the basics down, lots and lots of sex-check and check-but I searched out every tip and legend on how to improve my odds. I paid particularly close attention to the old wives' tales, since my boyfriend was sort of a walking folktale. I looked up dozens of medical sites, conception sites, pregnancy calendars, baby names (getting a little ahead of myself), and even various sites on fertility gods-we even sacrificed a chicken to one. Okay, Teren was just making us dinner and took his pre-meal libation, but I swiped a drop of blood from his mouth and made a swirly design on my stomach. Teren immediately licked it off, which led to a playful, baby-making romp on the kitchen floor, so really, I felt like it was successful.