BOREALIS ☽ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 37... Birth

Escape seemed hopeless. It had been two days since I had arrived at the prison. To the strange vampires minimal credit, they had treated me well. They weren't rough, or unkind. They fed me, gave me clean clothes, a comfortable bed, books to keep me entertained...

But I wasn't giving up.

I played nice, just like they wanted. I ate the food they gave me, let them poke and prod at me to monitor my pregnancy, slept—or pretended to sleep—in my cell. But all the while I was watching them. Looking for any weaknesses, so that I'd be ready when...

When...

When the pack finally came for me, I finished in my mind. But the thought felt hollow, like I didn't believe it anymore.

I tried not to think about it. It only made it harder to keep up hope.

The little vampire princess was confident that her power was enough to keep everyone at bay, but that didn't mean it would. If she had confused us with the monsters they called werewolves in Europe, then she might have underestimated what we were capable of. Strength was a given, sure, but our communication and other senses were just as powerful. And vampires had a tendency to underestimate anyone that wasn't their kind.

But it had already been two days. The packs could run across the state twice in that time.

How had they not found me?

Was there still hope for me? For us? My hand went to my heavy stomach. I sighed. I wished I could just phase, then I could save myself—and my children. And maybe even that poor girl a few cells down from me.

At least they had figured out what to feed her. It made me ill to think about, but I knew it was for the best. The Cullens had almost been too late to figure out Bella's pregnancy and she barely survived. Hopefully this girl would be stronger than that. Though, I shuddered to think what her birth would be like. For her, there would be no carefully prepared vampire doctor.

What would my birth be like?

The thought came unbidden into my head. That had definitely been something I had been trying hard not to think about. I had been hoping that I'd be free by the time that came around, but that was looking less and less likely. My hands trembled over my stomach. If I had to give birth here... I knew even less about werewolf birth than I did vampire birth. Even if it was more akin to a normal human birth, having triplets away from medical attention was going to be no easy task.

I swallowed hard.

But I had time. There was still time. There was still hope.

Wasn't there?

I heard a shrieking moan a few cells down. The hiker girl. The sound of it sent chills through me. She had been crying and screaming on and off since I'd been there, but this one was different. This was deeper, more fearful.

This was the sound of pain.

The two older vamps—Debora and Franz—came running into the room. They stopped and looked around, before taking off again, barely visible as they streaked across the walkway at high speed.

I scampered over to the bars and pressed my face against them, trying to peer out at what was happening. They had come to a stop in front of the hiker's cell. The two of them were staring in, their eyes wide with horror. It sent a cold rush over my skin. Even the newborns in the pit below were watching with rapt attention.

"She's going into labor!" cried Franz.

The little princess, Lillibet, appeared through the double doors they had dragged me through. She was smiling. At her frozen age, she looked like a little girl excited for Christmas morning, ready to unwrap her big present. I shuddered and gagged at the idea of her ripping into the pregnant girl to get at the child.

"Bring her down here," Lillibet called. She moved quickly, clearing a space on the upper floor. She pulled over a large metal table and at least had the decency to lay out a blanket across the top.

Debora and Franz did as Lillibet said. The cell door clanged as they pulled it open. They disappeared into the cell and, in a moment, returned, carrying the girl between them, one holding her arms while the other held her legs. She was still screaming, writhing in their grip.

I gulped. I only got a brief glance but I swore I could see something moving beneath the stretched skin of her stomach.

They carried her down the stairs to the table before laying her down. They tried to release her, but the girl's shaking was so violent that they quickly had to take hold of her again so she didn't slide right off the table.

"What now?" Franz asked as he turned to Lillibet. His tone was panicked, his eyes wild.

"Let nature take its course," Lillibet said, still smiling. She had stepped back from the girl, giving her a wide berth. It appeared she was just going to... watch.

I couldn't. I pushed back from the cell bars and backed away until I hit the crumbling cement wall. I slid down it, making myself into a small ball, my body curved around my stomach like I was trying to protect my children from the scene they couldn't see, still sleeping and safe. My hands went to my head as I tried to block out all sound and all knowledge of what was happening below.

Despite covering my ears, I could still hear her screams. The girl screamed and screamed and screamed, for who knows how long. Time seemed to distort—it could've been minutes, or hours. Who knew? The screaming seemed endless.

Then there was a horrible ripping, a splatter, and then... Then... A loud cry. It was high and shrill, echoing off the cement walls. Not the girl's screaming.

A baby's cry.

The baby had been born alive.

I gave a great sigh of relief before it caught in my throat.

But what about the mother...?

I picked myself up again and moved slowly, carefully, to the barred door of my cell. I peered between the bars, then shrank back. I immediately wished I hadn't looked. If the girl wasn't dead, she would be soon. There was blood everywhere—all over the table, all over the floor, all over Franz and Debora. It was even on Lillibet, though she had stepped far back from the mess. Or maybe that was the slick red thing she was now cradling in her arms, cooing at it.

The baby. I had no idea if it was a boy or a girl. It was still crying, though.

"She's hungry," Debora said, her voice strangely flat.

Then came Lillibet's strangely cooing voice in response. "Then let her feed on her mother while she's still alive. No use in wasting good blood." She handed the bloody bundle back to Franz, who lowered it to the bloody mess of a girl still laying on the table.

I heard the faintest groan—she was still alive, then—before she gave a small cry as the baby sank its new teeth into its own mother.

Horrible.

My body shuddered, my werewolf instincts surfacing for the first time in weeks. My body wanted to phase, to tear these disgusting leeches limb from limb—but I couldn't allow it. I took a deep breath and released it, mastering the animal urges. I couldn't phase, not while I was still pregnant.

Whatever werewolf birth held for me, it couldn't be as bad as that.