Blood Relations - Chapter 9

Tuesday, October 7, 1997

The next two months disappeared in a blur. The time was either spent in domestic bliss by vampire standards, or in hedonistic savagery by human standards. In either case, Vicky and Amber couldn’t be happier with their new home or with each other.

They used Emil, and they both admitted it freely. Being a lonely vampire who hadn’t had sex since before the Civil War, Emil didn’t feel guilt in being used either. In fact, he was enjoying his role as the “middleman” in their relationship.

He still wasn’t as attracted to Amber as he was to Vicky, but Amber was starting to look better with her weight returning near her normal levels. During the weeks of “practice,” Claudia force-fed Amber in preparation for her pregnancy, and Amber had put on enough weight that she didn’t look anorexic.

When Amber checked her reflection in the mirrors around the house, she no longer cringed. Her cheeks had regained most of their roundness, but her chest still hadn’t recovered from the rapid weight loss. With her diminished curves and pale complexion, she looked even more like a porcelain doll when she dressed in the right outfits.

Of course, she didn’t have many of her gothic outfits left. She had made the mistake of wearing her favorite dress for Emil, and he’d ripped many of the seams in his eagerness to undress her. It was amusing at the time, because Emil had looked like a kid unwrapping a Christmas present with reckless abandon.

Only in the afterglow of their coupling did Amber look over at the tattered pile beside the bed and think, Well, that was my favorite dress. Now it’s a bunch of cleaning rags.

Claudia spent the next week trying to repair the damage, but Amber convinced her to declare the dress a lost cause.

Claudia doted on Amber almost as much as Emil and Vicky did. Whether it was fondness or just her maternal instincts kicking in, Claudia treated Amber with such kindness that Amber was ready to call her Mom.

The only two she couldn’t reach were Lucas and Charles, but they were cordial to her whenever they were in the house. Mostly, the two drove around to collect bottles of blood to keep the refrigerator stocked.

There was no way Amber could know that the men stayed away to avoid her scent. But lately, they were also absent because they’d grown tired of her constant questions.

She didn’t mean to, but Amber pestered all of the vampires, asking what kinds of tests she needed to use to know if she was pregnant. She asked when the cravings would start, and she wondered what kinds of changes her body would go through once the cravings began. But no matter who she asked or how she phrased her questions, the answer was always a coy smile and the same two words: “You’ll know.”

The night Amber knew, she sat up in bed with a dreadful thirst and a fire burning in her gut.

The sun had barely set, and the sky outside was tinted violet with the last dying rays of light. Vicky was still asleep, so Amber got up quietly and went to the kitchen. She opened a bottle of milk, and suddenly her senses seemed too sharp.

The scent of the milk was obviously fresh, but Amber doubled over and gagged as though she’d smelled something long fermented and molding.

Amber capped the bottle and shelved it. Shutting the door, she staggered away to the sink, intending to slake her thirst with water from the tap. She stopped herself, her head craning toward the refrigerator.

She shuffled back to it and opened the door. Leaning over, she eyed the rows of green glass bottles with queasy uncertainty. But if her brain was slow to catch up, her body wasn’t. Her stomach growled, demanding to be filled, and filled quickly. She reached out for a bottle on the second rack.

Uncapping the top, Amber nearly swooned with hunger at the scent of blood, and she tilted the bottle back, chugging mouthful after mouthful as though it were the sweetest ambrosia nectar.

She asked herself, Goddess, am I really doing this? But her concern didn’t last long, and she set the empty bottle in the door-shelf, bending down to grab another.

“Pull out an A positive for me, please,” Claudia said from behind her.

Amber barely flinched as she turned her head to offer the vampire a bloody grin. “I didn’t know they were organized.”

“Yeah, check the upper right corner of the label and you’ll see a letter in red marker.”

Amber looked down at her “empty” and said, “So that was O negative. I guess I’ll try the A positive too.”

She was stunned to discover that she could tell the difference. The contrast in flavors was subtle, like tasting the difference between two years of the same wine. Both were light and sweet on her tongue, and she couldn’t be sure which type she liked more.

Amber drained the bottle, and then she looked back at the refrigerator while she smacked her lips and tried to suck away the residue left on her teeth.

Claudia got up from her chair at the kitchen table, patting Amber’s shoulder as she said, “I’ve got the next round.”

Dropping into a seat, Amber set aside the empty bottle next to Claudia’s. Traces of blood lingered on the sides of the glass, and she had to resist the urge to grab the bottle and tip it up to try for those last drops.

She imagined draining bottle after bottle in a drinking contest with Claudia, but the image didn’t have the effect that she thought it would. Instead of a tremor of revulsion, Amber shuddered with giddy excitement.

Amber frowned at Claudia, who returned to the table with two more bottles of A positive. “I’m going to drink a whole person, aren’t I?”

“No, not today.” Claudia passed the third bottle to Amber and returned to her seat on the other side of the table. “You’ll probably be fine with this round. Is your stomach still burning?”

“No, now it’s just a warm throb,” said Amber.

Claudia nodded as her lips thinned in a knowing smile. “Yep, and when you finish that bottle, it will just be a mild sensation of warmth.”

Amber snorted and said, “I’ve got a bun in my oven.”

Claudia laughed with her. “So, now you know.”

Amber nodded as she uncapped her bottle. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

***

Not being driven by unborn pilots, the rest of the coven was slow to rise, but quick to begin celebrating once they heard the good news. Even Charles and Lucas moved in to cuddle with Amber and sample her scent. Both men pecked kisses on her cheeks, offering her beaming smiles of pride.

Suddenly, being pregnant made her a full member of the coven instead of an outsider looking in. She hadn’t realized she was being treated differently until then. But the constant brushing touches of the male vampires during the evening were so unlike their formerly aloof behavior, it was impossible not to notice the change.

By midnight, she also understood the kind of hunger pangs they suffered if they didn’t feed, and she was already craving hot blood instead of the chilled syrup in the bottles.

Syrup? She caught herself and shook her head at the awful absurdity of her mental slip. Less than a night with the cravings passed, and already she had accepted that blood was the only food she wanted. The idea still upset the human part of her mind, and her chest tightened with fear at the idea that she might just as quickly start to think of normal humans as cattle.

Vicky noticed the change in her mood, and she took Amber’s wrist, pulling her up to their room to talk. They sat on the side of the bed facing each other, but Amber couldn’t meet Vicky’s questioning gaze.

Vicky took Amber’s hand, waiting for her to look up. “It’s just now occurring to you where this leads, isn’t it?”

“I’m losing my humanity to this thing inside me,” Amber said.

“You’re becoming one of us,” Vicky said.

Amber glanced at the window, swallowing down a lump in her throat. “I was being naïve by thinking I wouldn’t want to go hunting.”

It was neither a question nor a demand for an answer. Amber was just admitting that she’d made her choice without thinking things through.

Vicky still answered, “Yes.”

“I just...I would have thought I’d have more respect for them.”

“You still will, but you will have respect only for the individuals who you choose to recognize as friends. Everyone else—they’re just proteins.”

Amber winced, and her pout spread into a wide, guilty frown. “I should feel bad over that. I should feel bad for thinking of those bottles in the refrigerator as being filled with syrup.”

“Did you ever feel bad for eating chicken?” Vicky asked. “Your diet is a fact of life, and once your body understands what it needs, your mind follows along pretty quickly.” Vicky smiled. “I’ll bet you’re already craving hot blood, aren’t you?”

Amber nodded, and Vicky laughed as she got up. “Come on, I’ll make you your first blood tea.”

***

The house felt empty when Emil left with Lucas and Charles to take collections from their pets. Everyone took their meals from the refrigerator, leaving only a few bottles behind for breakfast the next night.

Amber had taken stock after the men left and confirmed that there wouldn’t be enough for her and Claudia both. She didn’t want to imagine how cranky Claudia could be if she didn’t get a full breakfast.

Claudia went to her room to read, and Vicky left to wander around the neighborhood. For the first time that night, Amber was alone.

She didn’t like it, and she got a wild urge to check her e-mail. Even talking to someone electronically was better than sitting by herself and thinking too much.

Unpacking her laptop, she went down to the den and swapped out the phone line. She dialed into the local ISP account that Marcus had set up and then opened the e-mail client. The client was already set up to access the right mail server, so Amber only had to log in to her account.

She realized then that she would have had a much harder time if Marcus hadn’t already set up the laptop properly.

The thought became amusing a moment later, because the only new e-mails were all from Marcus. He had apparently started writing a week before according to the dates of the messages.

She read the first message:

Amber,

I’m still hanging out with my brother and his “companion,” Simone. (That’s what they call each other. You won’t believe this, but they make us look normal. >.<  Oy!)

They’re both really powerful magi, and they were shacking up in Amsterdam with a halfling named Katherine. She trained them, so now they’re trying to train me in how to tap into my own abilities.

So far, I haven’t had much luck, but I’ve been missing you and Vicky. I felt awful about leaving without checking  in with you. It’s just that once Felix dropped this bombshell on me, I couldn’t think of anything else.

I’m adjusting to the shock now, and I’m realizing that I left both you and Vicky to fend for yourselves, while I have it great here with my folks.

They’ve all found out about Jenny, and no one cares. Well, Mom and Dad keep giving me worried looks when I turn into Jenny, but when I ask what’s wrong, they just say that it’s not a good time to talk yet.

But Felix is really surprising me, because he’s so nice to me no matter who I am. When Jenny is out, he calls her Sis.

Simone wants to dye my hair pink to make Jenny look prettier, but I told her I didn’t care for that idea. She pushed, and I said you wouldn’t care for it either.

Okay, enough gabbing. I’ll wait to see if you’re pissed at me or not.

Your boyfriend (And sometimes girl friend),

Marcus

She wanted to reply to the first message, but she read the next one instead:

Um hi,

I don’t know if you’re checking your email often, but I hope both of you are okay.

Jenny

And then the next:

Okay, I guess I should apologize better. Maybe you can give me a phone number to call?

Jenny

And then the next, which she noted had been sent only a few hours prior:

Amber!

Jeez, did you and Vicky run away to make babies together?

Marcus

Amber snorted and hit the reply button, moving the cursor under his message before she wrote:

Wow, you have great timing. Yes, we ran away to make babies. One of us succeeded.

And now that I have your attention: 210-556-5309.

Amber

PS: I’ve been a lousy girlfriend recently, let me tell you.

She hit send and disconnected the modem once the delivery completed, plugging the jack back into the phone. Setting the laptop on the floor, she counted less than thirty seconds before the phone rang.

Amber picked up the handset and cradled it on her shoulder as she lowered herself back to the floor. “Marcus?”

“Please, tell me Vicky is the pregnant one,” he said, not bothering with a greeting.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Amber said. She rested her legs out across the hardwood floor and crossed them at her ankles. “A few months back, we found out that Vicky can’t have kids. So I’m acting as a surrogate mom.”

A long pause followed before Marcus asked, “Who did you find to play the daddy?”

“Making a long story short, Vicky and I moved in with a coven here in San Antonio. By coven, I mean Vicky’s people, not ours. The father of my baby is their leader.”

“Whoa—wait, you’re having a vampire’s baby?”

“Yep.”

“Are you sure you’re pregnant?”

“I found out this morning...er, actually I found out this evening when I got up, and yes, I’m definitely sure. So is the rest of the coven, and...it’s amazing how much more they accept me. It’s like I’m one of their kind now.” She thought, Har-har, good one, Amber.

“That’s amazing.” Marcus made a self-conscious laugh. “So have you dumped me for this leader?”

“Um, well no, but I...”

Marcus was able to finish for her. “You’re dumping me for Vicky.”

“Yeah.”

Marcus sighed. “Damn. I knew I’d screwed up.”

“It really wasn’t you, so please don’t beat yourself up. Vicky and I—you know how we were, and after you left, we started drifting towards each other.” Amber groaned at a stray thought, and her face pulled into an expression of disdain. “I swore I’d never say these words, but you know that we can still be friends, right?”

“Can we still be friends with benefits?” Marcus asked in a hopeful sounding voice.

Amber’s eye twitched, but she quickly got over her anger. Then she was able to laugh genuinely. She’d “cheated” on Marcus with Emil, and while she and Vicky hadn’t done anything together, they were sharing a bed. In Arizona, that was technically grounds for a legal marriage.

Right, Amber thought. Her voice was filled with mirth as she asked, “So the only reason you’re calling me now is that you’re feeling horny?”

She laughed at the long delay, and then so did Marcus before he conceded, “It is pretty pathetic, isn’t it?”

“I can’t promise anything, but we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I’d suggest that you find yourself a replacement girlfriend. Now that I’m pregnant, it might be hard for me to have sex with you.”

“You should be safe until the last few months,” Marcus said. The tone of his voice was melodramatically whiny, and she knew he’d already given up. He was resorting to using humor to relieve his disappointment. “I’ve heard women can have sex right up to the last few months, actually.”

Amber shook her head, more for her benefit than for his. “No, it’s keeping you safe that’s the problem. It’s complicated, and I don’t know if I want to discuss this on the phone.”

“Maybe I can convince Felix and Simone to come down with me to visit your new family,” Marcus said. “I miss both of you, and I’d like to see you, before...”

The troubled tone of his voice just as he trailed off raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Frustrated by his silence, she prodded, “Before what?”

“It’s a long story, and I’m not sure I can talk about it until we’re face to face.”

“Give me some time to make sure it’s okay with the coven leader first,” Amber said. “I’m part of the family here, but I’m still the low chick on the totem pole.”

“I need to talk it over with my brother, since I’m in the same boat as you. Even my dad seems to pick this stuff up faster than me.” Marcus sighed. “Thankfully, my mom is still as hopeless at casting elements as I am.”

“Well, I’m adjusting to my role here pretty quickly.” Amber paused to yawn. “Speaking of which, I’m running a night schedule, and this is late for me.”

“Yeah, I’m running a later schedule myself these days.” Marcus uttered a short laugh. “We’ve moved to the dark side, haven’t we?”

Amber’s mouth felt too dry. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth when she tried to swallow, and her voice was thick as she said, “I’m trying not to slide too far. I’ll talk to you later.”

She didn’t wait for him to say good-bye before she hung up, raising the phone over her head to set it on the table without getting up. She glanced over her shoulder, not surprised to find Vicky standing in the doorway of the den.

“Ready for bed?” asked Amber.

Vicky’s expression was bewildered, though she tried to cover for it unsuccessfully by smirking. “You dumped him for me?”

“Yep.” Amber stood up and raised her arms in a lazy stretch. “I don’t feel the least bit guilty, either. All these months, and I haven’t heard one word from him. I can be forgiven for assuming that we were already broken up. He assumed we weren’t, so I gave him the bad news.” Walking across the den, she grabbed Vicky’s hand and started to pull her toward the stairs. “Let’s go to bed.”

Vicky let Amber lead her upstairs and through the corridor to their room. Amber let go of Vicky to slide off her jeans. She waited for Vicky to undress, and then she crawled onto the bed to lie against Vicky’s side.

Amber’s mind was buzzing with dark thoughts, but she didn’t want to talk about them with Vicky. She was grateful that Vicky didn’t notice how fake her cheerfulness was, but even if she didn’t give voice to her fears, she couldn’t banish them and get to sleep.

Marcus meant his comment as a joke, but Amber truly was moving to a darker side of her nature. She couldn’t blame it on the baby, because she’d been drifting away from her humanity before she knew that she was pregnant.

Maybe it was an adjustment that her mind made to deal with vampire mating habits, or maybe Amber began to change when she realized that she was falling in love with Vicky. It might have happened even before then, when she walked into the kitchen where her father and brothers had been brutally mutilated by Annul. Certainly, some of the damage had been done when the daemon forced Amber to kill her mother. But then, part of the damage might have already been done in her childhood, when Jobe had tried to beat out Amber’s love for him.

It didn’t matter when her decline started, because now she was moving too far from her humanity. Amber lifted her head, peering in the darkness while she tried in vain to search for her partner’s face. “Vicky?”

“Hmm?” Vicky hummed, rising from the verge of sleep, though she didn’t open her eyes.

Amber hesitated, then asked, “Will you still love me after I become a monster?”

Another hum and a short nod were Vicky’s only answers. But the confirmation was enough for Amber, who closed her eyes and let sleep pull her under.