Lost Paradise (3 page)

“Are you going to warm up that soup?” Lash
hissed. “If so, let me help.” He turned on the stove burner, and
set it on low. Startled out of my musing, I prepared my sandwich,
then put the soup in a bowl. I walked into the other room to eat.
Lash followed me, sitting across from me, his arms crossed over his
chest.

I had been unsettled by his watching me eat
at first, but he never did anything more than that and he never
initiated conversation. That made it easy enough to ignore his flat
eyes fixed on me.

When I’d finished, I took the plates back to
the kitchen. “I have to leave now for my doctor appointment. I’m
going to teleport. I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Lash nodded. “I’ll be here when you get back.
You’ll be at least an hour, right?”

“Yes,” I said, giving him a smile.

To my surprise, he gave me one back. “I’ll be
here,” he said, then turned and left.

* * * *

All went fine until Dr. Camlyn left with a
sample of my blood to test. He was back in a few moments, his face
worried.

“What is it?” I said, alarmed.

“Nothing. I just need to check something,” he
said vaguely. “Lay down.” He rubbed goopy gel all over my abdomen,
and then slid the scanner around. I looked at the screen with him,
but I couldn’t make heads or tails out of what I was seeing. There
were shadows, blobs, and some faint movement.

“Yes, there it is,” Stephen muttered.

“There what is?” I said stridently.

Stephen looked up at me. “Congratulations,
you’re having twins.”

“What?” I stammered.

“You need to brace yourself.”

“For what?” I said quickly. “Spit it out
already.”

“Only one of the babies is werecougar. The
other’s dhamphir.”

My eyes went wide as chills went down my
spine. “No,” I breathed. “That can’t be possible—”

“Your blood has the same markers now that it
did before with Danial’s child,” Stephen said, putting his hand on
my shoulder. “This is going to be another one for the record
books.”

“This can’t really happen!” I said shrilly.
“This is like an episode of daytime TV—”

“There is nothing contrived or impossible
about this,” Stephen said patiently. “You said Titus gave you a
fertility spell. Your body released two eggs as a result. Then you
were with Theo less than forty-eight hours after you were with
Devlin. Each of them fertilized one of your eggs, Sar. The twins
are fraternal, not identical.”

Thank God Theo had gone with Danial overnight
on a trip to Akron yesterday, and hadn’t come with me to this
appointment. “Can you tell if they are male or female?” I
managed.

“No, not with any certainly,” Stephen said
with a smile. “But just my confirming that one is his should make
Devlin very happy.”

This had to be wrong. He had to be.
“Could it be a mistake? You didn’t test my blood right after Devlin
brought me back from the brink of death—”

“Sar, the last time vampire DNA was in your
blood was when you were pregnant with Theoron. The DNA is very
close to Devlin’s.” He paused. “Odds are that with them being
fraternal, one is a boy, though I can’t say which one.”

I gave him a weak smile.

“See that?” he said, and pointed to the
screen. “Here is one baby,” he said, pointing to a small blob.
“Here it the other, almost hidden behind the first.” He pointed to
a smaller blob.

“If you say so,” I said slowly. “You’re the
doctor.”

“Sar, I’m going to prescribe more vitamins
for you to take. You’re going to have to be very careful. Carrying
either of these kind of children would be taxing. Carrying them
both at once is going to be a tremendous strain on your body. You
need to rest and eat as much as possible.”

Like that would be a problem.
At this
one moment in time, nothing mattered except getting back to Devlin
and telling him our plan hadn’t failed, it had worked. “Can you
give me some samples for now? I really want to get back to Dev and
tell him.”

Stephen nodded. “I’ll call in the
prescription and give you some samples for tonight and tomorrow.”
He turned to go.

“Stephen, please make a copy of the
ultrasound for me and write something out to take to Devlin,” I
said, managing a smile. “He’s not going to believe this
either.”

* * * *

As I waited in the lobby for my vitamins and
papers, I thought about the best way to tell Devlin. We had all
night, but I wanted it to be perfect. Devlin had waited two hundred
years to be a father and now it was finally happening.

A few minutes later, I arrived in the kitchen
at Hayden. Serena rushed over to me immediately, as if she’d been
lying in wait. “Sarelle, quick, get out of here!” she urged
frantically, trying to propel me towards the garage.

“What is it?” I said, grabbing her hands and
prying them off. “Calm down and tell me what’s happened.”

“That Ruler, Perseus, he’s here! He’s looking
for you!”

“Where’s Dev?” I gasped. “What happened?”

“A few minutes ago he showed up at the front
door and burst in,” Serena said, her head darting to check the door
behind me. “Harriet got pregnant, but she miscarried. She’s alive,
barely. He was shouting at Devlin, telling him he was going to kill
him for his treachery and take you. Lash killed at least three of
the weremonkeys he had with him before Devlin headed to the
ballroom to draw him off.” She clasped my hands in hers. “There’s a
weresnake Perseus brought that bit one of the bears. He’s already
feverish. Devlin told me to wait for you, to make sure you
escaped—”

No. Now that Dev’s plan had worked, I was
getting that bastard Perseus to back the hell off.
“Stay here,”
I said, heading to the door. “I’m going to go see Perseus—”

“No!” Serena yelled desperately. “They’ll
take you! You’re my only friend!”

“Shh,” I demanded. “Once Perseus hears what
I’ve got to say, he’ll back off.”

“What?” Serena asked, her eyes wide and
frightened.

“I’m having twins,” I said proudly. “One of
them is Devlin’s. Now come on!”

Her expression shifted rapidly from shock to
resolute, then she hugged me hard. “Lead on,” she said, giving me a
determined look.

We walked quickly towards the ballroom, the
yelling becoming audible before we were anywhere near the door.

“I know you did something, Dalcon! Harriet
miscarried, and she shouldn’t have. Your instructions were
lies!”

“Shut up, Greek!” Devlin’s voice replied
mockingly. “I told you what to do. You should’ve tried one at a
time, and not pushed it. Sar miscarried once herself. That may be
the result the first time a woman tries. Harriet survived, and no
other woman who miscarried has done that in recent history, except
Sar.”

“More lies,” Perseus growled. “Sar is having
that werecougar’s child, not yours. We expressively forbade it,
Dalcon! Why did you stand for it? She is Oathed to you!”

“Sar may miscarry,” Devlin replied easily.
“She should not have gotten pregnant as fast as she did. I’m
waiting for her to bear one child successfully before making her
pregnant with my own, that it will have the better chance—”

“You’re a fool!” Perseus hissed. “A fool in
love with a human! You were such a fine vampire once, Devlin. It’s
a shame you’ve gone soft.”

“I’m neither a fool, nor soft in any way,”
Devlin laughed. “Sar knows that well—”

“Spare me your sexual escapades,” Perseus
spat. “Your excesses are legend.”

I put my hand on the ballroom door, then
paused.
Legend?

“And yours are nil! At least I know I can
father a child!” Devlin answered arrogantly. “You have never even
managed to make a child, have you? It was Samuel’s child Harriet
lost, wasn’t it? Not yours, Perseus. You were probably sterile back
when you were human—”

With a look to Serena to stay outside, I took
a breath and pushed open the double doors.

Perseus looked over immediately, as did
Devlin, the latter looking instantly scared to death, sure I’d
walked into a trap. Lash was there, serrated knife in hand, facing
a muscular man with a similar knife. Both of them cut their eyes to
me, and then back to each other.

Perseus faced me and grinned like the
Cheshire Cat. “Ah, Sar,” he said, advancing. “I’d hoped you would
arrive—”

Devlin was between us in a second, blocking
Perseus as he reached for me. “Back off, Greek!” he growled,
shielding me with his body. “You aren’t taking her. She is Oathed
to me.”

“I’m taking her Oath tonight!” Perseus hissed
menacingly. “I have a doctor ready to abort that were—”

“You’re taking Sar over my dead corpse,”
Devlin growled back furiously.

“Kill him,” Perseus ordered. His weresnake
went for Devlin, even as Lash moved and blocked him, their knives
meeting in a clash of steel. Both backed off, and began circling,
slicing at one another.

“You want to fight, Greek?” Devlin hissed,
eyes red. “I’m right here. Sar, get out of here; run!”

“You won’t stop me this time,” Perseus said,
baring his fangs. Devlin braced himself, baring his own wide, and
snarling.

“Stop this!” I yelled. “Stop this male
bullshit!”

Everyone looked over at me.

“I’m having his child,” I said, handing
Perseus the papers. “I’ve just been to Camlyn, and he confirmed
it.”

“This is a trick,” Perseus hissed. “Another
trick, like Harriet—”

“Not one of my making,” Devlin said, trying
to put distance between me and Perseus as he backed away, pushing
me behind him.

“Heteropaternal superfecundation?” Perseus
said slowly, reading the papers.

“Two fathers, two eggs,” I explained,
flushing. “You should be aware of the possibility, as it might
happen to Harriet. She is subject to the same conditions I’ve been
in.”

Perseus crumpled the papers and threw them
down on the floor, glaring at me. “I will check this out with
Camlyn, Sarelle,” he hissed. “It had better be as you say.”

“Go ahead,” I said defiantly, staring him
down. “I’m not lying.”

“At least the dhamphir will have something to
feed on while he’s growing,” Perseus hissed nastily.

Dizziness overcame me, then sudden worry.
What if he was right?

Devlin grabbed hold of my arm, steadying me
as he watched Perseus. “By law, you can’t take her from me,” Devlin
said with relish, flashing Perseus a fang-filled smile. “There is
no way in Hell Samuel would stand for it, not and set a precedent
that might cost him his own heir. You can’t fight the both of us,
Greek. Now get the Hell out of my house and don’t come back.”

“Let’s go,” Perseus said, with one last look
of hate toward Devlin. He strode out, his weresnake henchman
following him, sheathing his knife as he gave Lash a last parting
hiss.

Lash ignored him, sheathed his own knife,
then went to the papers and picked them up. He smoothed them, then
handed them to Devlin. Devlin skimmed the papers, then slowly
looked down at me. “Is he sure?” he said joyously. “There’s no
mistake?”

“Yes,” I said happily. “You’re going to be a
father.”

Devlin hugged me tightly, then lifted me in
the air as he whirled me around a few times, laughing, smiling
radiantly.

“Congratulations,” Lash said, giving him a
wide smile.

Devlin hugged him fiercely. “We have to
celebrate,” Devlin said, turning from Lash to me. “Let’s go
out!”

“Davy’s?” Lash suggested.

Devlin looked at him, then said carefully,
“Do you mind?”

“Cin has left the state,” Lash said with a
shrug. “I don’t mind.”

I looked at the floor uncomfortably. Cin had
been a weresnake waitress at Davy’s, and Lash’s lover. Their
breakup had been precipitated by his one liaison with me, which had
led to his discovery of Cin’s unfaithfulness to him through sordid
means that had affected me. He and I had never talked of it, after
his apology…

Don’t think about that.

“Davy’s it is.” Devlin turned back to me.
“Does Danial know?”

I forced a smile. “You’re the first to know,”
I said warmly, hugging him again. “I came straight here from Dr.
Camlyn’s. No one else knows except Serena and Lash.”

“Good!” Devlin shouted with glee. “I want to
be the one to tell him.” He pulled me close, then lovingly sang,
“Here is all I need!”

“A book of verses underneath the bough,

A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and Thou,

Beside me singing in the Wilderness,

Oh, such a Wilderness would be Paradise
enow!”

I gave him a giddy smile, happy that he was
so happy. “Your own creation, Dev?”

He shook his head. “From the Rubaiyat.” He
offered his arm. “Come, Sar. This night will be filled with many
songs, all of them in your honor.”

* * * *

We had a great night at Davy’s. I had a glass
of wine to celebrate, two grilled cheese sandwiches, and some
chocolate peanut butter pie.

The guys got trashed. From the first, Devlin
and Lash toasted the baby, downing one drink right after the other.
Within an hour they were singing drinking songs loudly, both their
voices out of tune. The wearbears Nick and Jazz had taken up
positions by the doors, but weren’t in much better shape, despite
they’d had plain beer instead of the concoction Lash and Dev were
drinking.

Devlin couldn’t drink much alcohol, or at
least, that was what he’d always told me. Still, Lash and Dev were
drunk on something mixed with blood. I suspected some type of drug
possibly, though Devlin refused to tell me what it was they were
imbibing, his only answer a gleeful smile.

After the first round, Devlin called Danial
and excitedly informed him he was going to be a daddy. Terian
showed up at Davy’s with Danial ten minutes later.

“Bro!” Devlin cried, jumping up and hugging
Danial hard. “Another round!” he called to Gary.