Blood Relations - Chapter 11

Thursday, November 13, 1997

Amber woke up with a dreadful ache in her gums and a feeling of dryness along the inner curves of her lips. The dryness persisted no matter how much she licked her lips, and pressing them together tightly only made her gums hurt more.

Mystified by the new form of discomfort, she got out of bed, smacking her lips as she left the room. Claudia opened the door of her room at the same time, and she laughed softly before she nodded a greeting to Amber.

Crossing the corridor, she leaned over and tapped Amber’s lower lip, “Grin for me, please.”

Amber did, and then she gasped when realization dawned on her. Her tongue flicked under the edge of her upper teeth, and she felt where her canines dipped lower. Curling her tongue up, she felt the front of the tooth on the right, confirming that her gums were swollen. The change in the shape of her mouth drew her lips apart, which was why they felt so dry.

She followed Claudia to the kitchen, who read her thoughtful expression perfectly. She snickered as she opened the refrigerator. “Your fangs are just coming in, and already you’re thinking of biting someone.”

Amber nodded, accepting a bottle from Claudia. She opened it and drank quickly, wanting first to slake the thirst drying her throat. The cold syrup also helped to relieve some of the ache in her gums, though her teeth pounded like someone was striking them with a hammer.

When Amber got up to fetch the next round, she said, “I hope I don’t try to bite Marcus or his family during their visit.”

“You’ll be fine.” Claudia uncapped her second bottle and laughed. “If you try to pounce anyone, we’ll peel you off and send you to your room with a nice cup of tea to tide you over.”

Amber smiled around her bottle, nodding while she finished the last swallow. “Thanks. That actually makes me feel better.”

Another month had blurred past before Marcus made arrangements for the visit. Emil was delighted to meet with a family of magi, and he was interested in meeting Marcus. To his mind, any human who could live with a vampire roommate and not freak out was worthy of further investigation.

He was also curious because Vicky had dropped the offhand comment that Marcus didn’t taste human, even if he had the right scent.

Emil had arranged for a caterer to bring out a barbecue dinner for the magi. To make sure the food would be acceptable, he had described the menu to Amber, who passed the information along to Marcus in an e-mail. She’d been glad that she wasn’t on the phone to describe the menu, because she groaned and shuddered at the thought of trying to cram human food into her delicate stomach. If she’d been on the phone, she would have given her new secrets away.

She was really looking forward to seeing the look on Marcus’ face when he first saw her again.

Amber had no idea what Marcus would want to talk about, but she didn’t care. As the day of his visit drew closer, she allowed herself to admit how much she’d missed him. She didn’t feel lonely, nor did she regret breaking up with him. For a straight woman, she was far too happy to be sleeping with Vicky.

Of course, it was still only sleeping. Amber made offers, but Vicky still had to maintain that one final barrier between them. Whether Vicky did it to keep control of herself or the relationship, Amber didn’t know. But aside from dropping subtle hints that she was willing to experiment, she didn’t want to push Vicky away by being insistent.

Emil had backed away after completing his assignment, and the absence of regular sex had her feeling horny. Marcus’ visit would have almost seemed like good timing.

Only, the problem was, Amber had a vastly different definition of what good sex and foreplay were by that point. She still liked cuddling, but she also liked love bites, and she preferred when they bled. She tried to imagine how Marcus might react if she locked onto his shoulder, and she decided it was better to mark him off her list of potential lovers for at least the remainder of her pregnancy.

Which only left Lucas, and her few attempts at flirting with him never failed to evoke a shudder or a snide remark in reply. She only needed to be called repulsive twice to take a subtle hint.

Amber’s thoughts occupied her, and being unaware that her attention was wandering, Claudia made small talk while they fed.

She commented, “You’re up to four bottles per day. That’s almost a full victim.”

Amber nodded. It didn’t register at first, but after she finished the last bottle and set it aside, she stared at her empties and let her mind wander back to the remark.

Five bottles was a full victim, and once Amber reached that point, she would be capable of draining an average sized person. Her aching teeth throbbed harder at the idea, and she thought, Give me another two months, and I’ll be able to drain a large person.

But the thought didn’t fill her with dread, only a sense of curiosity about what it would be like to struggle with her victim before she bit into their flesh and felt hot blood splash the back of her throat.

The fantasy was so strong, Amber felt a phantom hunger pang. She got up to make herself a cup of tea.

Claudia took much longer to finish her breakfast. Though she looked calm, she was in the middle of an intense feeding frenzy. After setting the filled kettle on the stovetop, Amber made laps from the table to the refrigerator to keep her content. But when she pulled out the last bottle of A positive, she gave Claudia a concerned look.

“You’re up to two and a half people with this one.”

Waving her off, Claudia said, “Don’t worry about me, sweetie. I’m just getting close to popping.”

Amber smiled at the revelation. She wanted to joke and say that she was worried for Marcus and his relatives, but instead, she leaned over to lay her hand on Claudia’s stomach.

“He’s going to be a drummer in a death metal band,” Claudia said.

Amber giggled as she felt a foot rhythmically thumping the same spot low on Claudia’s right side. “If that’s where his feet are, he must be wearing your bladder as a crown.”

“Not really a vampire concern,” Claudia said.

Amber nodded. “Yeah, well I’m not going as often now.”

The baby started to kick harder, and Amber snorted. “Oh, listen, Mom, it’s the drum so—” Her eyes swelled wide when she realized what she’d just said.

Claudia laughed, reaching out to pat her now rose tinted cheek. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed over. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Amber smiled weakly. She didn’t object, but her blush was caused more by shame than embarrassment. Acknowledging Claudia as the maternal figure in her life meant that she had let go of her mother, Rachel.

Looking for some way to occupy herself, she started moving the bottles to the sink. But Claudia got up to take the rest to the sink, and she moved Amber aside to rinse them out.

Amber began to pace in front of the stove, sulking to herself though she tried not to show it.

Claudia transferred the bottles into the autoclave mounted under the counter, where normal people would keep a dishwasher. Drying her hands on a towel from the cabinet under the sink, she leaned on the edge of the counter and watched Amber. She was just about to ask what was wrong when she caught Emil’s scent.

Her attention moved to the door, and she didn’t notice how Amber also turned to acknowledge Emil’s presence. Her senses were becoming sharper, allowing her to pick up the coven leader as he strolled down the main hallway. 

He walked into the kitchen and chortled when he spotted Amber. “You look ready to go on your first hunt.”

“She’s getting her fangs now,” Claudia said.

“Yes, I noticed.” Emil crossed the room, clasping Amber’s jaw lightly between his thumb and finger while he raised her face up. “It makes you much prettier now.”

Amber grinned to show off her budding fangs. “Maybe you and I could go back to your room, and we’ll see if you like the other changes.”

Emil’s eyes filled with confusion until Amber pressed her chest against him.

Her breasts had been growing along with the rest of her body, but the change was so gradual that it hadn’t registered with him.

He pushed her back gently, noting how her upper arms were getting thicker. The muscles in her thighs stretched the legs of her black denim shorts taut, and the top of the elastic waistband strained around the faint swell of her stomach. She wouldn’t be able to wear the shorts much longer with her stomach expanding, though her legs wouldn’t get much larger.

The full transformation was almost complete, and then Amber would almost look like a pregnant vampire, save for her diminutive height of five foot one and her all too human eyes.

Even they had changed as her humanity faded, leaving them with an icy sheen. She looked like a psychotic lost in a fantasy and on the verge of snapping into violence with the slightest provocation.

Emil let go of her arms and stepped back. “No, I did my part, and I’m trying to go cold turkey on you and Vicky both.”

“But cold turkey is no fun,” Amber whined playfully, her face drawing in a mocking look of sadness. “Maybe you can wean yourself from me slowly?”

Emil laughed, shaking his head. “No, it’s better this way. Now let me eat in peace, or I’ll be forced to go hunting tonight.”

Take me with you, Amber thought, but she swallowed down the comment and returned to the kettle, though it still hadn’t whistled yet. She glared at the dials on the stovetop, and then groaned when she realized she’d never turned the electric element on.

Amber was distracted by many wandering thoughts. She was upset about calling Claudia “Mom.” She was already feeling moody because of the strange mixture of hormones running through her head, and the slipped comment made her feel even more anxious about her constant fantasies of killing people.

But she was also horny, and she was starting to suffer from cabin fever. The combination of anxiety and depression formed the drops in an emotional roller coaster. But her attention span was a cart moving fast along the track, and she quickly rose back to excitement over seeing Marcus, and happiness that she was going to be a mother.

In truth, her biggest problem was cabin fever. She hadn’t left the house since she helped to move in their meager possessions. She always asked one of the men to get something for her, and she stayed safe inside the house.

Protecting herself and her baby became her excuse to stay inside, but the pattern of hiding was already set in her before she moved in with the coven. In every motel, she sat in the room while Vicky went out and hunted. Vicky did the shopping, and Vicky provided everything while Amber laid around in misery.

The memory of her old worries confused her. How could she ever have felt revulsion over Vicky’s feeding?

But she couldn’t dwell on the thought. Instead, she was thinking about how she hid with Marcus and Vicky in Tucson. She had ventured out to look for kidnap victims, but then she was motivated by the financial rewards. She had continued to go to school, but she talked to no one, and she didn’t bother trying to get involved with Marcus’ friends whenever they’d come over for gaming nights. Amber either hid in their room, or she hid in Vicky’s room.

Before she lived with Marcus and Vicky, Amber hid in her house with her parents and her brothers.

She thought, Why do I always feel better when I’m hiding?

Vicky’s scent drew Amber from her thoughts, and she crossed the kitchen to hug her partner. She faked a smile, hoping to avoid talking about herself. “Good morning.”

Vicky laughed and patted Amber’s back. “Good evening.” Her smile grew as she brushed her index finger over the bulges in Amber’s upper lip. “You’re going to be gorgeous when those finish growing. Do they ache?”

“Yeah, a little bit,” Amber lied. Her gums were pounding, and she wanted to bite somebody, anybody to relieve the pain.

Vicky noticed the dark glint in Amber’s eyes, and her smile softened. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I—I’m just feeling cooped up in the house.” Amber faked a hopeful expression. Her eyes swelled as she tried to make “puppy dog eyes.” Instead, she made a “hungry killer stare” before she asked, “Maybe we can go out for a walk?”

“Not tonight,” Vicky said. “We’ve got Marcus and his family coming for dinner.”

“Yeah.” Amber sighed and stepped away from Vicky to return to the stove.

The kettle was starting to hiss once the element was turned on.