It wasn't an easy pregnancy. Actually, it almost killed Martha. It almost killed Dracula, as well. The thing is: Martha should never get pregnant from Dracula's heir. It should be impossible. Dracula was just too strong for her. He was too strong for anybody. But in his insane state, he let his body and mind go weak, too. A body that always had trouble keeping up with his own power was frail and emaciated after the amount of weight he has lost. His mind was recovering, but there was ragged edges and sand like pieces near his erased memory that still had the potential to confound and hurt him. But more than anything, he hadn't fully recovered from his exposure to the sun, yet. So he was at his weakest, while Martha was so much stronger that she should ever be. She had just drunk the blood of the more powerful being in the known universe, after all. That so fleeing moment, in which they reached an improbable balance, was enough for a seed finally find fertile soil and germinate. And so a new life started growing inside Martha's body. But as the heir of darkness, it was a very demanding life.
So Martha's body, so frail, so weak, was utterly incapable to maintain and nourish it. So, merely two day after Dracula for the first time in his long life having any hope about being a father, was really panicking about the possibility of turning into a widower. He knew the only thing he could do to save his wife, was aborting the child. It was not even a decision to make. It was either lose their child or lose both. But how could he even contemplate that? He already loved that tiny and demanding being more than his own life. He would rather slain his own throat than ever suggest that atrocity. In the third day of pregnancy, a sweaty bedridden Martha said, in a tremulous and very sad voice:
"I will never be able to keep our baby, will I?"
Dracula could not respond.
"It has been only three days. I still have twelve months to go."
"Martha…"
"If I thought my body would take it… I would trade my life for our baby, you know? You would be a wonderful father."
Dracula closed his eyes. He could not fathom a future in which his wife wasn't by his side. Not anymore. And even if he wanted to believe that there was a way she could survive the pregnancy… Even if the baby could ever be strong enough to maintain her alive, like he did to his own mother… But there wasn't any hope to that. After all, even his mother died long before the birth.
"I wish there was a way."
"Me too." He replied.
That night, he went to his father. The old bat gave him a cold laugh after hearing his tale.
"It is a miracle she could ever get pregnant, to begin with. What did you do? Let her feast in your open belly? Is that what turns you on?"
Dracula got out before his father could say anything more. The last thing he needed now was to get under any kind of compulsion. But when he got home and saw the pale face of a sleeping Martha, an impossible idea got struck in his mind.
"I'm sorry my love. But I'd rather let you feast in my open belly than to see any of you die."
Dracula then opened his own wrist with his teeth and let a fine stream of blood to fall in Martha's slighted parted lips. As soon as it touched her thong she swallowed. And even before she had fully waken up she was seated in bed, with her teeth craved in his skin, gulping down his blood. The next night, Martha was on her feet, healthier than she ever had been.
And Dracula was still nursing his open wrist.
As the months passed, Martha needed more and more blood from his husband, as both were getting weaker at each day. On the second month mark, Martha could not let her home any more. On the seventh month, Dracula lost the strength to hunt. Their friends came and went, but there wasn't so much they could do for two starving vampires, that lived basically among humans, nowadays. After all, the only ones that could mingle were the vampires.
So Dracula contracted a poor teenager to work for them. The boy should go to the village and buy some cattle to Dracula's property, and each day, let one bull separated from the others, confined and tied. At night, Dracula would drink the blood of the animal, and after having his strength restored, give Martha his blood. He would them dispose of the corpse of the animal. He paid the boy a good amount and he seemed loyal. So, he gradually started to talk to the boy, and eventually learned about the village hunger. After that, how could he simple dispose of his prey meat? For Martha's three final months of pregnancy he gave the boy the meat for him to distribute in the village. The boy seemed dumbstruck about the low amount of blood in the flesh, but his family and neighbors were no longer starving, so who he was to complain about it? If the boy, himself, didn't see it coming, it was no wonder that Dracula hadn't, either.
The vampire only had eyes for his wife growing belly, and for him, only Martha and his baby girl existed. It was a mistake he would never forgive himself for making.