Should I be working on the next chapter of Beating of Their Hearts or Beauty and the Hybrid? Probably, but will I be, probably not. I got struck with inspiration thanks to the ever wonderful AmericanWildDog, and yeah, this was the end result.
This is now part of a series, with Blood Memories being the first one.
I don't own Underworld.
It was any normal day in the coven, but isn't that how all these stories began? Michael had been sitting at a desk in the coven infirmary, looking over some of the newer medical journals to be released from the humans. While the hybrid was no longer involved in medicine with them, his constant curiosity had allowed him to keep up to date on all the recent advancements in medicine. Of course, none of that information was needed here when all vampires really needed was a bag or two of blood, to make sure their injuries were set and the bullets were out, and to be sent on their way.
It had been a little over six months since he had woken up in the coven, brought in by who Michael now knew as two of the new vampire elders. David and Lena had been good friends to the hybrid since his revival. Lena had actually been the one to suggest Michael find work with the coven healers, and as he was really the only one with true medical training, he swiftly rose through the ranks. He was the top healer in the coven now, and every healer that Michael worked with considered him to be the best. Eve was his right hand, always willing to help him out if he needed it.
Michael had just set aside one of the journals he was reading when one of the healers walked up to his desk. From the slightly panicked look on his face, the hybrid knew that something was wrong. He shot up from his desk. "Michael, I'm sorry but we need your help. Now."
"Who's hurt?" There would only be a few reasons any healer would have a distressed look on their face or be so demanding for help; if one of the council members or one of the elders was in bad shape. Michael could already feel his heart begin to sink and a horrid feeling overtake him. He didn't even need the healer to answer the question, for the mark on Michael's neck began to feel strange, like nothing he had ever felt before.
"Lady Selene-," Michael was on his way out to the floor before the young healer could finish his thought.
Michael saw David carrying in his mate, unconscious and laying limp in his arms. He was by their side in a heartbeat, eyes searching for anything wrong with his mate. "What happened to her?" He asked, moving to take Selene from David.
"We were in the middle of a council meeting when she collapsed." David explained, letting Michael take her without fuss. "Lena was talking about the Nordic coven's rebuilding effort and Selene was just standing there when I watched her eyes roll back and she just collapsed." The young vampire could see the concern written on Michael's face as the hybrid carried his mate to one of the beds. His fingers trailed against the skin of her cheek. He knew that she normally ran cold, but this was worrisome. Her skin was like ice, too pale and too cold.
Michael was at a loss. There shouldn't have been any reason that Selene would just pass out like this. He knew that she had been feeding and sleeping on a regular basis. He had been seeing to that, making sure on days when he knew she would be busy that she had kept up with her feeding and he would coax her to bed almost every night. There was no reason for her to be in this comatose state. He was at a complete loss as to what to do. He glanced back towards the vampires who were starting to come in to check on the state of their elder.
"Back off, all of you," The hybrid roared, sending a jolt of fear throughout the room. His eyes turned black and he growled. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he turned with a growl only to realize that it was Lena standing before him. The look on her face was one that he took as an immediate request to calm down. He did his best to, although he was still on edge.
"You will figure out what's wrong with her, Michael." Lena reassured him, her hand moving to rub against his back. He nodded, though not sure whether or not her confidence in him was well placed. Just from looking at her, it was hard to tell what was wrong. She almost looked like she was sleeping with her eyes completely closed and her breathing so even. Her heartbeat was a little slow as it rang in his ears, but he attributed that to her unconscious state.
He immediately set her up with an IV with blood being administered, that way she would remain nourished throughout this if they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her quickly. He wouldn't have his mate starve to death under his watch. It didn't take much for a vampire die after not feeding for a few days. He just hoped this would be enough to give her what she needed to stay alive.
"Dad?" Michael froze, hearing his daughter's voice call out to him. He thought Eve had been sleeping. He had hoped she had been sleeping so she wouldn't see her mother like this. "Dad, what's going on?"
He turned around and walked over to his daughter, but she zipped by him upon seeing her mother laid out on the hospital bed. "What happened? Is Mum okay?" She looked up at her father, and for a moment, Michael saw a hint of a small child who craved her mother's love instead of the grown woman that was trained to hide her emotions, something she learned from her mother. "Dad, is she going to be okay?"
Michael walked over to his daughter and pulled her into a hug. "I swear on my life that I will make sure your mother is okay." He held her face in his hands, wiping the tears that rolled down her face. She held him for another moment before stepping away from her father and just sat at her mother's side. While she had some medical training, she wouldn't do anything to her mother. She trusted her father far more than she trusted herself.
He stepped away, and went to go find a syringe to take a sample of Selene's blood. Michael knew that the vampires had equipment meant to test the blood they were getting to make sure there was no poison in it. It could also test a vampire's blood for any irregularities that may be caused by any outside toxins introduced into the system.
He walked over to her, taking her left arm and he felt around for a vein. Once finding it, he cleaned the crook of her arm and pierced the skin of her arm. He removed enough of her blood for testing and then removed the needle. Michael's stomach turned at the fact that it wasn't healing. Selene had a healing capability that was just as fast as his. She should have healed already.
My love, what's doing this to you?
He took the syringe full of his mate's blood, and set up the machine he needed. He prepared the blood for testing and started the machine up. He knew it would take several hours to get the results from the test, so for now, he knew it was just going to be a waiting game.
Part of Michael wanted to go do anything to get his mind off of the state his mate was in, but every fiber of his being knew that he needed to be by her side. He moved to Selene's side, pulling up another chair and sitting in it. Eve was on the other side of their bed, biting her lip. Michael could feel his daughter's fear from where he was sitting and he took Selene's hand, far too cold, in his. His eyes landed on her face.
She seemed almost peaceful, her eyes closed and her body so relaxed. In fact, Michael had never seen Selene this relaxed in his entire time he knew her. It was a horrible feeling that settled into his gut, and he squeezed her hand. He wished there was something he could do to bring her back, but he couldn't do anything until the test results came back.
The seconds seemed to tick by in slow motion. All Michael could focus on was the rise and fall of Selene's chest with each breath. He kept thinking that what if it just stopped. He tried so hard to keep himself from going down that path, but he couldn't help but think that. There was still no information on what was causing this.
"Dad," Eve's voice startled Michael out of his thoughts "Dad, the machine is beeping."
Michael was out of the chair and in front of the machine as it printed out the work up of Selene's blood within a heartbeat. If nothing showed up in this, Michael knew he would have to run a more detailed scan which would take time that the hybrid didn't know if they had.
He grabbed the papers once they were done printing and started to read over the results. His eyes scanned the pages, a panic starting to settle in his chest. He started to read a little bit faster, desperate to find something, anything that was wrong with his mate. He didn't want to have to start over.
Everything seems to be normal. I don't get it… Hold on.
Michael stopped, flipping to the last page of the results. There was a small section labeled 'presence of hCG' and next to it was the word 'yes'. He froze, eyes focused on the one little word on that page.
hCG is a hormone produced by… that means Selene is…
Michael's brain seemed to short-circuit as he stood there in front of the machine. None of this should have been possible. And yet, it had already happened before. His gaze darted over to his daughter, before back to his mate. At least now he knew what to do in order to get his mate's eyes to open once again.
He went to the blood cabinet and pulled out another bag, which earned quizzical stares at him. Of course, if they knew the information that was now racing through his mind, they would understand why he was doing this.
Even Eve seemed confused as he walked over to Selene's side and inserted another IV into her arm and hung a blood bag, doubling the amount of blood she was receiving. Now, it was just a matter of time before he knew she would open her eyes once again.
"Isn't that too much blood?" Eve asked, staring still at the two blood bags that were now delivering much needed nutrients into the unconscious vampire. When he shook his head, it just led to her being even more confused. "Why? Vampires don't normally need that much blood."
"She does." His voice was a little higher in pitch due to the shock he still felt "I'll tell you when Selene wakes up, Eve. She needs to hear this." He sat back down and his fingers began brushing through Selene's hair.
Hours passed, and Michael stood up to go replace the blood bags that had since run empty. As he went to disconnect the bags from the IV, he heard a soft moan from the bed. He was back in his seat immediately and took Selene's hand. Eve, who had fallen asleep, shot up and was staring at her mother as Selene's eyes began to open.
"Michael? What happened?" Selene tried to sit up, but both of the hybrids put a gentle pressure on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up.
"You collapsed in the middle of a council meeting." He pulled her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips against her fingers. "David brought you here. You've been unconscious for hours." He watched as her brows furrowed as she tried to remember this, but decided it wasn't worth it. "Selene, there's something you should know."
"What is it, Michael?" She asked, glancing up for a moment. Her eyes widened at the sight of the two blood bags that were now empty, attached to the IVs that she quickly yanked out. There was no way she should need so much blood in her system.
A hand moved to cup her cheek, which immediately got her attention back onto Michael. "You needed two blood bags for the same reason that you collapsed in the council meeting." He watched as her brows furrowed and leaned forward to capture her lips in a gentle kiss. "Selene," One hand moved to rest on her leather covered abdomen, and he felt her body tense. "You're pregnant."
There was a sudden silence that overtook the small family as Michael could tell Selene was attempting to process the information that had been provided. Eve's eyes widened and a small smile grew on her face. She'd be getting a baby sibling. Any excitement she felt, though, was overtaken by the sudden outburst from Selene.
"That's not possible," Her gaze was like ice, as if she was trying to refuse that this idea was even possible "Michael, I would have known. I would know if I was with child." Michael's heart started to sink in his chest. In the few hours since he found out, he was already starting to imagine what life would be like with their newest addition. It almost seemed like Selene didn't want their new baby.
Sensing that this was a conversation just for her parents, Eve stood up, pressed a kiss to the top of her mother's head, and walked out of the room. Michael wanted to get her to stop, but he also was glad to have the moment or two just with his mate.
"You didn't notice before, with Eve." Michael said, and he watched the flash of pain in her eyes before she masked it.
"We don't know whether or not I was carrying her then." Her voice was clipped, but the way she spoke answered her statement.
"Yes we do, Lena sensed it about you, remember." Michael remembered the day that Lena showed off her ability to read auras, telling them both things that she couldn't have possibly known otherwise, including the fact that Selene was pregnant with their daughter the day they were captured by Antigen. "And you potentially aren't that far along. We don't know when this baby was conceived." Although, Michael had a pretty good idea of when it happened.
"Even so, Michael, you and I have no idea how to be parents to an infant." Selene's voice wavered and his hand held hers once more. "I cannot even raise our daughter now, and she's a young woman now." Michael wanted to say that their daughter was only fifteen, but knew that it wasn't the time to say anything like that.
"We'll learn," He elected to say instead, his thumb brushing over her currently flat stomach, thinking about how it wouldn't be flat for long. "Selene, I have faith in us. We're doing just fine with Eve. We'll be able to raise this child to, you and I." He could see her relax just a little bit, but he could see the concern in her eyes.
"The only other time an elder has fallen pregnant was when Amelia had David, and she stayed away from the coven. There has never been a witnessed situation where an elder gave birth to a child, and besides Eve, there has never been a recorded birth of a hybrid child. There are so many risks that go along with this."
"I know." Michael's free hand curled around Selene's. "But if anyone can have a successful birth, Selene, it's you. You're a Corvinus strain vampire hybrid. You've already given birth once before, even if you weren't aware of it." He noticed Selene going to comment, so he added that part in. "You're one of the oldest vampires alive, and because you're an elder, there is an increased likelihood of your survival because every member of this coven will be doing whatever they can to ensure you and our baby will live. And of course, it helps that your mate is the head doctor here." He kissed her lips again.
This time at least she kissed back. He could still sense her hesitance, her fear that something would go wrong, but it was easing up some. "See, we'll make it work. I'll make sure of it."
"I cannot guarantee that I will be so relaxed on this right away." Selene admitted, resting her free hand on top of her belly. "There's a lot to consider about this, but for you, Michael, I will do my best to make this whole thing work. I would like to have another addition to our family."
Michael pulled her into another kiss, this time tugging her off the bed and onto his lap. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and his around her waist. He pulled back when his lungs began to burn with a need for oxygen. Their foreheads touched and Michael gave her a warm smile.
"We'll need to go shopping and get you a new wardrobe, Selene." He teased. "Once you start to show, you won't be able to wear your leathers anymore."
She smacked him upside his head, and buried her face in his neck. Despite her actions, Michael could feel her smiling. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her even closer.
Life in the coven for Selene and Michael had been almost getting into a rhythm before this. With the news of Selene's pregnancy, everything was starting to be shaken up. The news would start to spread soon through the coven, and everything would start to change.
Michael found that he didn't seem mind one bit.
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