All The Queen's Horses {Myrnin, Morganville Vampires}

Ocelot

Eve pointed to characters similar to Roman numerals. "What do those mean? Are they dates?"

"No...they represent time frames." He looked closer at the page and murmured almost to himself, "That can't be right."

"Tell me," Eve demanded, her voice tight with strain.

"If this is accurate, it means your total gestation will be about 10 weeks. It is shortened compared to a human pregnancy due to the accelerated cell regeneration of vampires."

Eve let out a small cry of surprise and asked, "When does it start from?"

I took the book from Liam, examining the other illustrations and dates related to the pregnancy cycle. "I think the start date is exactly like a human." I tried to keep the shock out of my voice, as I added the segments in my head and projected her estimated due date, "You are 3 ½ weeks late +2 weeks for conception, which means you are almost 6 weeks pregnant."

Eve's eyes were huge as she did her own math. I saw her chest heave, as she tried unsuccessfully to swallow back the hysteria, building in her throat.

Liam saw it as well. He flipped his body around, crouching in front of her and held her hands. He whispered soothingly, "You can do this."

Eve seemed lost in his eyes for a moment, struggling to believe him. She finally found her words. "Do you mean to tell me, that I'm going to give birth in four weeks?!" she gasped.

Liam and I were silent, equally dumbstruck by this shocking revelation. Gwion showed no emotion as he replied, "Many species have shortened gestation. Felines, for example, bobcats normally gestate for eight weeks while the larger carnivores such as lions and tigers average 14 weeks. The ocelot actually has the closest timeframe to you with 10 weeks."

Eve narrowed her eyes dangerously at Gwion. "Are you comparing my baby to an ocelot?!"

He replied unaffected, "Ocelots are beautiful creatures."

Suddenly Eve's eyes turned fearful as a new thought occurred to her. "What will this baby look like?" she breathed.

I had been holding my finger inside one of the pages of the large frail parchment manuscripts. "I think I may have that information," I said softly as I gently handed the text to Eve.

Eve examined the book intently, her face relaxing into an expression of awestruck love. "They are beautiful," she murmured, a single tear running down her cheek.

"Yes... she will have exquisite features...pleasantly angled cheekbones and large round eyes," Gwion commented, without looking at the page.

Eve met Gwion's eyes. "Her heart beats. Does that mean she's human?"

"Far from it," he shook his head, not offering further details.

"What does that mean?" Eve asked, frustration filling her tone, trying to understand. "Is she some sort of human/vampire hybrid?"

"Hybrid is such a distasteful word. It implies two elements, mashed hastily together, to form a combination that is only 50% the equivalent of each source. No, your daughter will be uniquely and elegantly 100% her own creation."

As I listened to Gwion, my eyes scanned a smaller text with illustrations reflecting potential outcomes dependent on the original contributions. There were several pages with hundreds of symbols that seemed to define characteristics of these children. Suddenly Gwion's words made sense. "Oh," I breathed, looking up at Gwion for confirmation, "she will not be half of anything – but rather, she will be something entirely new."