Mine, Bitten

Chapter Forty-Two

            He stepped toward her, reaching for her despite her eagerness to step out of his reach, "Lily, I knew before I laid eyes on you that I couldn't kill you. I lived centuries, killing, destroying mindless creatures without feeling. Do you think for a moment I want to be like them, without feeling?" he cupped her chin and gently ran his thumb over her lower lip, "I was selfish in turning you, but to live an eternity without the one woman that stirred any emotion in me was a thought most crippling. I couldn't withstand it."

            His dark eyes moved lovingly over her face, stirring those feelings to the forefront of her heart to forget all her anger in that moment. She flattened her hand against his broadened chest, feeling the muscle there rise and fall with his steady breaths, "I was lonely when I was a human." She said softly, raising her eyes to meet his gently, "I'm not lonely anymore."

            He grinned, one that pulled on her sensibilities, forcing a smile to her lips. He then pressed a hand to her belly, grinning all the more.

            A panic swept through her at a sudden frightening thought, "What if the baby can't survive?" she asked fearfully, paling considerably.

            He clasped a hand about her waist, pulling her close, "Do not wreck yourself with worry."

She felt comforted by the strength in his arm that reeled her close, "What of the others, Jackson and Ruby?"

            "No harm will come to Ruby, Marguerite will ensure it."

            "Marguerite?" Lily questioned that, having grown accustomed to the vampire's icy demeanor and little tolerance for others.

            Varian laughed, understanding, "Ruby is sired to Marguerite and whether Marguerite likes it or not, she is compelled to protect her protégé." He paused, the corners of his beautifully sculpted mouth lifting ever more, "Besides, I think Margie has met her match in one Ruby Carmichael."

            Lily grinned, "I think she has." And then her grin faded, "What about Jackson?"

            All humor aside, Varian's expression turned hard, "I can try and convince Seve otherwise but to keep a human alive that knows of our kind is a risk Seve is not willing to take, nor am I." he added, his eyes settling firmly on her belly.

            She flattened her hands against her stomach, feeling nothing, but sensing a baby nestled comfortably within, "I understand, Varian, but Jackson saved my life and the baby's for that matter when I was in that cell. I can't let him die."

            Varian inhaled a deep breath, peering around the room empty of everything but a bed. How accommodating indeed.

            "I have no intention of us staying here." He said, drawing her attention more intently, "Once Seve learns of our correspondence with the wolves he'll not take kindly to it."

            A fear rushed through her, "What is the feud that severs us from them?" she asked.

            Varian shrugged a shoulder, "What other reason than two species very unlike one another trying to live amongst humans without the risk of being discovered. You cannot undo centuries of hatred."

            "But Lucan helped us." She recalled the wolf that had dared to fight alongside them.

            "He did so for his own reasons and a risk that he takes, one I am certain his pack will disagree with and surely shun or kill him for."

            She gasped, "They wouldn't kill there own kind?"

            He nodded, "You would do anything to protect your clan, or in his case, pack. The wolves are very much like us when maintaining secrecy and assurance." He paused, "Though I suspect the wolf has feelings for Blanch."

            Lily straightened at this, "But she's a vampire."

            "And Seve's daughter."

            Her mouth fell open on a sharpened breath, "She is Seve's daughter. Why does she not live here then?"
            "Blanch has no desire to live underground." He paused, "Nor to be a vampire."

            Startled by this and ever more intrigued, she pressed, "Why?"

            "Blanch is unlike her father. She's gentle and sweet. She would seek to aid a human rather than drink from them. I imagine that's why Kirov has an interest in her."

            Lily smiled slightly, remembering her first encounter with Blanch and her attempt to feed her an array of sandwiches.

            "She is vampire nonetheless but far gentler than most."

            "Who is Seve?" Lily asked, "Is he the oldest of vampires?"

            Varian peered unto the wall, staring as if beyond ward, "His blood is the oldest and most powerful among us."

            "And Pearly and Alessandro?"

            "They are nearly as old."

            She fell silent, trying to imagine living decades, centuries and watching the world alter completely.

            And then a startling thought occurred to her, one that surprisingly hadn't before. "How is Blanch Seve's daughter when conceiving a child is impossible among vampires?"

            Varian met her gaze, silent, and yet she knew the answer already.

            She shook her head, confounded, "No, he said it was impossible."

            "He said nearly impossible."

            "So it's happened before?" she demanded, eager to know answers. "Blanch wasn't bitten?"

            He shook his head but a wariness shrouded him, one that gave her reason to be alarmed. "She was born." He said.

            Feeling perspiration dot her forehead, she asked softly, "What of her mother?"

            His jaw hardened, his hands curling at his sides forming tight fists, "Her mother was human."

            She gasped, "Human?" Her heart sank suddenly with a weight of grief, "She didn't survive the labor?"  

            He shook his head, "She was too frail and died shortly after."

            Lily winced at the wrenching of it and her musings deepened. Was there a part of Blanch that longed to be human because her mother had been? Was it the reason she resided among humans and not underground as the others?

            She was growing tired, feeling the full effect of the sun and the late hour. She would have laughed at the notion if she were still human, for above ground warm bodies streamed the earth in a naturalness of every day life, just as she had done before all this occurrence of bizarreness.

            Feeling her tiredness as if it were his own, Varian moved forward and swept her in his arms. She didn't object, in fact she sank comfortably against his chest as he lowered them to the bed.

            "What are we going to do?" she asked softly, feeling that heaviness creep forward.

            She felt his hand in her hair, teasing gently through her blond tresses.

            "We leave at dusk."

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