Divergence: The Vampire Queen

Sleeping Beauty

A little over half an hour later, her body began to twitch. She was still unwaking, but her muscles would spasm randomly. The two children inside her continued to move, reassuring their father they were indeed still alive. However, their mother showed very few signs outside of breathing and twitching that she had any life left in her.

It had come down to this. His wife would either turn—killing their two children and devastating both of them to the core, or she would be saved, with no guarantee that it would not happen again, nor the potential side effects of this tactic known. He just wanted to hold her limp body and cry. Instead, he had to sit and wait, trying to pour blood down the mouth of a woman that was incapable of drinking.

He watched as she began to twitch and spasm, not sure whether it meant she was being saved or turned. As he held her hand, he felt the occasional squeeze as her body jerked. Please don't let her be turning... Please let this be something else, something all three could survive.

"Please Natalia, if you turn and our children die. But if you die, I lose all three of you. I won't know what to do with myself." He refused to use the words 'kill our children' it was not her fault what had happened. "I miss those big, green eyes so much."

Suddenly, her eyes shot open like a bolt of electricity had run through her. She looked at the worried expression on her husband's face and tried to smile at him. "Hey you..." she said quietly before grabbing her stomach with an anguished cry. The pain was different than before. They were moving, but not enough to cause that kind of pain.

"Wh... what's going on..?" she asked, panic sweeping her. It was at that moment the doctor walked in.

"She's awake!" He exclaimed, rushing to her side.

"It hurts!" She called out, gripping her stomach.

He immediately began assessing her. "They're still alive, but it may have tried to throw her into labor." He looked at her eyes, felt her pulse, listened to her breathing. "It doesn't appear she's turning, but her body may have thought she had to give birth because she was—" he rifled through the box and gave her something else to drink, which she did. "This should stop it. I hope."

Marcello watching on intently, scared of what might happen next. "What do you mean 'you hope'?! What happens if it doesn't? Are we then in full-blown labor? You told me not to mess with the box too much doctor!" Throwing his own words back against him only made him more fearful that they were taking risk after risk.

"I wouldn't be 'messing with the box' if it wasn't dire. She's not far enough along. I'm afraid their chance of survival is little to none!" He snapped, but immediately regained his composure. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I am doing everything I can." The old man hobbled over to a chair on the other side of the room and sat to monitor her without being so intrusive.

The pain hit her once more, then slowly subsided. "I feel... ok..." she said, surprised. "Hungry... thirsty... but... ok..." she was actually hungry. For proper food! Not just blood. That seemed like a good sign to her. "What—what happened? I fell asleep, then when I woke up you looked so afraid."

Marcello held her tightly, barely able to believe the worst had passed. He had been gripping the edge of the bed so hard, it left a dent on the wood. Muffled against her hair he said, "thank you, doctor. My apologies for getting so worked up. I know you meant well."

Then he pulled back and looked into her gorgeous green eyes and smiled for the first time in a while. "Its just so terrifying seeing someone you love like that. You were out for a day sweetheart." He brushed some hairs out of her face and behind her ear. "You were comatose. I thought maybe you were turning or—well, I thought a lot of terrible things." He still felt mentally exhausted. The trauma he had gone through had taken its toll. Even if his body never physically tired, his mind and soul were wrecked.