(Edited 12/29/15)
Vladimira's P.O.V
What have I gotten myself into?
I don't have time to think over the question before the leather glove of the demon wraps around my throat tighter.
"Queen Vladimira, you're very audacious to come here after your father single-handedly annihilated the majority of my demons out of pure anger," Harlan growls.
Breathing becomes difficult as I stare into the demons cold, lifeless eyes that resemble the pits of hell.
At the moment, he looks like a normal human, but if I push my luck too much, he'll no doubt reveal his true self. He'll lose his luscious, black hair and replace it with horns, his clothes will shred to reveal his deteriorated wings and his skin texture will change to a rough, crackling mess.
Once again, what have I gotten myself into?
I'm doing this because of my unborn pup. Since my father isn't going to protect me anymore, I need someone, other than Collin, to help me protect my child.
So that's how I found myself driving out of the city limits towards the closet supernatural species that isn't werewolves: Demons.
Running on no sleep isn't helping my case either. Instead of immediately taking Collin up on his offer for me to be a roommate with one of his pack members, I came here after eating lunch with him.
What the hell possessed me to do this?
Greer rolls her eyes at me. 'How could you be so stupid, Vladimira? You've put our child in danger while trying to do the exact opposite. We still have our powers, use them if he gets too violent,' She insists.
I rip Harlan's hand from my throat with a grunt. "Your succubi and incubi were creating demonic werewolf hybrids that my father wouldn't allow in his kingdom, he simply ridded us of that problem."
Flashback
Contrary to popular belief, my father and I hardly spend time in our castle, only when there's a epidemic of sorts or other emergencies.
In this case, the epidemic is the sexualizing of some of our men and women. Three women have complained that they're expecting a child of demonic descent and more than enough of our men have been apart of a coupling with a succubus.
After the death of one of our fellow subjects because of forced sexual intercourse with an incubi, my father and I decided that we're tired of this random attack.
We finally called in one of the victims, who's expecting a wretched demonic child, to tell us of her experience.
My father was beyond furious, he was sure that he had established an adequate deal with the Demon King, Harlan, to insure that any type of demon from his species wouldn't mess with our werewolves.
A knock at the door told us that the victim, Leilani, was here.
"Let her in," My father commands.
The two servants standing guard in front of the doors open them to allow her in.
A girl with blonde, nearly white, hair and grey eyes walks through the door. Her dress squeezed her pregnant body, a sign that she needs another dress designed solely because of her growing body.
I wasn't surprised when she ran her hand over her midsection, making her dress cling to her bump. She looked a good five months pregnant.
Taking a seat in the thrown beside my father's, I smile at the scared girl. "Leilani, Sweetheart, tell us of your experience with the incubus."
"He was rough," She began timidly, tears brimming her eyes. "I couldn't move nor could I speak, all I could do was stare into his red eyes as he... raped me," She sobbed.
My father nods his head with his hand rubbing his chin in thought. "How far along are you? How come you weren't killed by the incubus?" He muses.
Leilani moves her hand to her growing stomach. "I look bigger than I am. I've only been carrying this child for two months and I already look past the halfway mark," She shrugs helplessly, "the incubus said something about me being the mother of his child and that's the exact reason why he didn't kill me."
'She's not telling us everything,' Greer says immediately after Leilani stops speaking.
Going off of Greer's advice, I stand up and walk in front of Leilani, my creme colored dress dragging behind me. "Why aren't you telling us everything?" I whisper.
Leilani looks up at me in fear. "T-the incubus returns to me at irregular intervals to see me and the damned child, to check on us or something like that," She spews.
I look back at my father who is now standing in front his thrown pacing. "It sounds like that incubus is actually using Leilani as the mother to his children, but we can't allow this to happen anymore," I inform my father before turning to Leilani. "Your child has to be killed," I say coldly.
My father begins to walk towards Leilani, intending to use his powers to kill off the demonic beast growing inside her womb.
She backs away. "No, please, Your Majesty, don't kill the child. The incubus said he'll kill me if I kill the child, I don't want to die," She whimpers as tears begin to fall from her eyes again, staining her cheeks a pale white.
My father's eyes soften at the sight of her tears, which is weird since the only person he really feels sympathy for when they cry is me.
He walks over to Leilani and tilts her face up. "Are you saying that because it's the truth or are you hiding the feelings you have for the demonic spawn?" He asks.
"Maybe both," She whispers.
I release a low groan. "Unbelievable."
How can she have feelings for that child? That child's supposed to be burning in hell with the rest of its demonic species.
Could she possibly have feelings for the incubus that impregnated her?
"Do you have feelings for the incubus that impregnated you, Leilani?" I voice my thoughts.
My father raises his eyebrows in question at Leilani, who looks down in embarrassment.
I find myself pushing into her brain to give her a command since she won't tell us.
Leilani gasps as I force the truth out of her. She closes her eyes and replies out of desperation. "Yes! Not from our first encounter but from the other times he visited me in my cabin," She confesses.
"You've had more than one sexual encounter with him?"
Leilani nods. "But he's much gentler now," She reveals.
I cross my arms. "Who is this 'he', Leilani?"
"The Demon King, Harlan."
End of Flashback
Harlan scowls. "Well, I learned my lesson, and now I know to not send my succubi and incubi after werewolves, not like I have many to send after people now. We're still rejuvenating from that attack," He growls.
"Harlan, Honey, don't get too worked up," A melodic voice calls from behind him.
Leilani emerges from the dark hallway to the right of me. One of the two hellhounds that trails behind Leilani growls at me, ready to attack me if I attack their queen.
Harlan's eyes swell with love as he wraps his arm around Leilani's waist. Their child, the one Leilani was carrying about fifty years ago, also emerges from the dark hallway.
Long story short, Leilani was stripped of her werewolf genes by my father to become a demon. It turns out that she and Harlan had fallen in love with one another.
Their child, Atticus, shoos the hellhounds away before turning to look at me. "Let me guess, you want us to protect your child?"
Leilani gasps. "You're pregnant?"
I look down at my black leggings, white shirt and mocha-colored cardigan, noticing they can't see my baby bump. "Yes, I am," I confirm before shaking my cardigan off until it's gathered around my elbows. "I've left my father and I need to be sure that my child will be safe," I explain.
"You left your father and you're pregnant?" Leilani screeches. She waits until I nod to continue. "Here, take a seat."
A servant leads all four of us to a round table where Leilani sits next to Harlan and Atticus to the left of me.
I clasp my hands in front of me on the table. "My father was mildly abusive, physically and verbally. I left for the sake of my child, and, even though I can take care of myself, I need reassurance that I'll be able to protect my child."
"Through having an ally with another species on your own note," Leilani picks up quickly.
I nod to confirm. "My father's obviously not your ally, but I wish for us to be allies, it will have nothing to do with my father," I promise.
Atticus frowns. "It's not like we owe you anything, quite-"
"Actually," Leilani cuts off Atticus, "if it weren't for Vladimira persuading her father to strip me of my werewolf genes, Atticus would have been killed, Harlan and I wouldn't be together, and I would have probably been demoted to omega in the pack," Leilani defends me.
Smiling at her, I rub my belly under the table slowly. "Are you not having anymore children?" I ask the fire-eyed couple.
Leilani's smile falters for a fraction of a second and Harlan's frown deepens.
Is Leilani infertile?
It's a know fact that royals of the werewolf species, descendants of The Moon Goddess, are the most fertile supernatural species in the realm of inhuman creatures.
Vampires, wonderfully, are the least fertile and they lean more towards the infertile category more than the fertile category.
But, with how advanced and robust vampires are, there's not really a need for large numbers of them.
Werewolves have the advantage though. Not only are we fertile, but we can have plenty of kids without putting ourselves in too much danger, we also have a sturdy alpha king who's capable of magic and he's omnipotent.
I guess we do overpower all other species, I think.
Humans might be knocked down from the superior race and replaced by werewolves if it continues like this.
"I can only have one child per sixty years. Atticus is fifty-two, so I have to wait eight more years for one of my fertile periods to come about again. It's probably the one thing I hate about being a demon instead of a werewolf," Leilani sighs.
Could Leilani possibly be jealous of my unborn child? Could she possibly want my fertility?
I release a nervous laugh. "I reassure you, extreme fertility isn't always good. It's a miracle that this pregnancy is a singleton and not a multiple pregnancy," I breathe. "This baby wasn't in the plan, and he/she won't have a sibling."
Harlan crossed his arms over his chest, his red eyes examining me. "And the father of your child?"
"I haven't even told the kingdom about that! The father is unimportant, what's important is your answer to my question: will you help protect my child?"
Leilani puts her lips to Harlan's ear and begins to whisper something. To show his obvious displeasure, he scrunches his face up and replies in the same low whisper.
Finally, they pull away from each other and stare me straight in the eyes. "We'll do it it, but you'll owe us a favor. You'll answer to it with no complaining and you'll do it immediately," Harlan negotiates for the both of them.
I shove my hand out to Harlan with a straight face and wait for him to grip onto my hand. "Deal."
He examines it before grabbing onto my hand and shaking it. "Deal."
••
The girl frantically unlocks the door to smile at me, her mocha-colored skin going perfectly with her black hair and chestnut-colored eyes.
Much to my dismay, she bows to me. "It's an honor, Your Majesty," She greets. "I'm Karina, your roommate."
I smile at her. "Please, just call me Vladimira, there's no need to call me by something I'm not anymore," I laugh, my hand rubbing my stomach obviously.
Karina glances at my bags. "Come in please, I'll show you your room!" She squeals.
I pull my bags past the doorframe before following her deeper into the nicely decorated apartment
From the looks of it, the design is nautical. The entrance from the front door easily transitions into the dining room on the right and the secluded kitchen on the left. From there, it transitions into the living room with a stairwell leading to the second floor of the apartment.
All the way up the stairs anchor pictures and fish wall hangers are nicely placed on the walls, giving me an idea for the nursery of my unborn child.
A meow from Ivory makes Karina look back. "She's adorable," She gushes. "Do you need any help with your bags?"
I shake my head. "I'll be fine. I just need to make a call real quick and then we can sort everything out about rent," I propose.
Karina smiles before pointing to a door in the hallway on the second floor. "That's your room and your bathroom is connected to that, Your Majesty," She smiles at me. "This is a two bed and two bath apartment, we don't have to share anything except a kitchen, a dining room and a living room," She jokes.
I thank Karina before pulling my bags into the room and closing the door behind me.
The room's average sized with a small bathroom connected to it. A desk sat with a lamp and another nautical trinket atop of it.
Turning around, I run my eyes over the nautical bedspread before sitting down on it.
'We should call our father now,' Greer hesitates, 'do you think he misses us? Do you think Xavier misses us?' She asks.
I shrug. 'Xavier never cared for us, he told us himself. He wants us dead,'
For the first time in forever—since Adam's death actually—Greer starts to cry, her sobs echoing around in my mind.
What's wrong with her?
Has she finally broken down like me? Has the wall she's been using to hold back all her emotions finally crumbled?
'I-I can't act strong anymore,' Greer whimpers.
Concern swells in my body. 'Then don't, Greer. You've stayed strong for me when I wasn't, you're my backbone. You deserve to fall apart just this once,' I encourage.
Greer continues to cry silently. 'I thought Xavier loved us! You might not remember, but I remember when we were younger and Xavier was so heartbroken over our mother,' She interrupts her statement with a sniffle, 'we were all he had, and he would whisper to us all the time that he would protect us at all cost.'
He broke that promise; he hurt us physically and emotionally. His words still roam my head freely.
Though I tried to ignore his words, even refute his words with my own loathing words, I couldn't help the gash that marred itself over my heart.
I had disappointed him by spreading my legs and f*cking the enemy, I then got pregnant and I didn't abort the child.
He was bound to call me a mistake and a disgrace.
'I wish to speak to our father when we call him,' Greer stutters.
I nearly jump off the bed. 'Yes, of course. I don't wish to speak to our father, you can take on that burden for us.'
Leaning towards the grocery bag, I pull out the prepaid burner phone and open the package.
It takes me a minute to get through the process of setting it up, but after that, I stare at the phone, wondering if calling my father is a good idea.
Greer gives a weak laugh. 'Hand the reigns to me, I'll take it from here,' She instructs.
Reluctantly, I hand the reigns over to Greer and recede into the back of my mind, watching as she dials our father's number fearlessly.
The phone rings for two tones, which gives Greer the time to stand up and begin to pace in front of the bed, before our father picks up.
"Dmitri Volchinov," His cold voice answers, "speak your terms of business."
Greer laughs, no evidence of her recent crying noticeable. "Terms of business? It's me, Greer, Father."