Chapter 14

Labor and Delivery

And so it was that Selene had conceived, under the full moon. She did indeed have the pleasure of the Count's company. She knew now, how to "pleasure" him. Many nights they became entwined in the sheets, their bodies bumping and gyrating together as one. His hard kisses on her lips she would never forget, tasting him, running her tongue over his chest and gently biting his nipples. Every now and then, the Count gently tasted her flesh and would only draw a drop of blood.

It amazed Selene, that such an awesome creature as Vlad Draculia, could be gentle and playful. She guessed that is why his Brides stayed with him so long.

On their last night together before, she felt that she would soon give birth, Selene asked him about their child, "My Lord, I know what is at stake here, I am prepared to stay with you forever, in case, I do not bring forth the chosen fruit." Dracula turned to her and just smiled, "Sweet Selene, do not give up just yet, the fact that you are actually with child is comforting to me."

The next evening the last of the Hallow's Eve preparations were under way. The RSVP's had all been returned. Except one, just when the Count thought he would have Aleera pay another social visit to the Valerious ,it came by way of Top Hat. After all, Anna knew for years that he was on Dracula's payroll. Dracula opened it slowly, he wafted it through the air, and then he smelled it, the perfume scent floated all around him he sensed her, his hauntingly sensuous princess. He began to read the contents of the RSVP. "My Dear Count, My Brother, Prince Velkan, and myself Princess Anna Valerious, humbly accept your invitation to your Costume Ball, for Hallows Eve. We thank you for your consideration. We will see you at the Event.

Lady Anna Valerious, daughter of Boris, Late King of the Gypsies

Well, this was unfortunate, Dracula thought, he did kill their Father, after all he only murdered those that would have murdered him and this included all of the Valerious clan, with only Anna and Velkan left, and him offering a Truce. With Velkan he could see his hold over him was slipping but needed to know why, and Anna it has been his intention to make her one of his Brides, whatever the reasons, at the Ball he would he would set things right, by revenge. Little did Dracula know that someone else was planning a little revenge of their own.

Dracula's was awoken from his thoughts, when he heard a loud scream, that could be heard across the Castle. The screaming grew louder, he flew up to the ceiling, to find Aleera, "Master, come quick, its Selene, her labour pains are getting worse," "Aleera, fly into town and see if you can find the Doctor, they should have been here earlier this evening." Dracula commanded her. "Yes, Master, I will hurry", she then said to Selene, "Oh, Selene, I am going to look for the Doctor, try to stay calm," she did her best to comfort Selene. Then she headed out, when she saw Verona still floating still in the air, "Come with me we need to find Dr. Benefici, and the Volturis."

"Are you giving me orders, Aleera?" she asked her sarcastically. "I am trying to get you to do your damn job, Verona!" she hissed, "Go to hell!" "Have a wonderful time, my Dear trying to locate them in this bad weather," Verona replied with a smile.

Aleera flew high overhead and could see far beneath her as she flew to the small village. There is one thing she knew about the Volturi, they never made a seen about their dinner meals. They did their eating in private. She spotted them by sight she recognized their carriage, they were crossing the bridge just ahead of her. She was careful not to spook the horses. She stopped a distance away from them and set herself gently down in the middle of the road. The carriage stopped, and a stately gentleman with blonde hair and very well dressed got out, "Aleera, my Dear, how wonderful to see you," Aleera bowed, "Thank you, my Lord Caius." Caius then said, "I am so sorry to hear about your sister, Marishka, such a terrible waste of such a work of art." "Thank you and your family for their condolences,"replied Aleera.

"My Lord, if you would please, Selene, my Master's concubine is about to give birth to his Child," Aleera pleaded. "Could you please follow me, is the Doctor with you?" she said impatiently. "Oh, yes, my Dear, I will tell Aro, and we will make double time until we get there," Caius told her.

She began her ascent into the skies, and returned to her batform. Caius always thought that it was such a treat to watch this happen. He went back to the carriage, "Aro, we have to hurry to the Castle, this Selene, is now starting to give birth," Caius said to him. "Aro turned to Stregoni, well my young friend this is your golden moment, he has been waiting along time for this, let us make haste" Aro told him. Stregoni sat firmly in his seat with his hands folded, this is the first vampire birth he had performed. Aro allowed him to work nights at the local hospital, as a physicians assitant, on the way to gaining his dreams. Now he would have to prove himself to Aro and the whole vampire community. But most of all to Dracula the most formidable being of all.

With Aleera leading the way, they finally arrived at the Castle. Selene was now in full discomfort. Dracula was downstairs, and Verona was nowhere in sight. "Where have you been, can you hear the screaming?" Dracula roared. "You should have been here, hours ago," he bellowed. "I am sorry my Lord," Stregoni, remained calm, "I will go and attend to her right now." He ran upstairs, and went into the room where he saw Aleera trying to make her comfortable. When she saw him she turned to leave. "No, please stay, I will need your help," he said to her. Aleera wanted to run from the room. Not because of Selene but because of him. He was too handsome She decided to stay, it was hard for her to watch Selene give birth to a baby, that should have been hers. Sensing her thoughts placed his hands on her shoulders, and whispered, "Maybe someday."

Dr Benefici checked Selene's stomach, he began to push slowly, he knew that birthing the child would not be the hard part. That would be coming up. He told Aleera to place herself between Selene's legs to catch the baby as it comes forth. Selene's screams were loud. She just wanted the baby out of her, at this point she did not care if it was a boy or a girl. Aleera said, "I see it, I see it, the head, it's coming out!" He replied, "Aleera, pull gently, see it you can get your fingers around the arms, and then the baby will slide out." She did as she was told, and the baby flew into her arms. "Oh, no, Dr something is wrong." she cried. "The baby is not breathing, "I was expecting this, Aleera," he pulled out an instrument, that looked like fan, and shaped like a baloon. He quickly placed it in the baby's mouth and folded two to three times slowly not to exert too much pressure on its lungs. He put the fan aside and turned the baby upside, then a few quick coughs were heard from the infant, a small cry, followed by louder ones and then a full roar.

Stegoni turned to Aleera and explained, "Aleera, he was born dead, his father and mother, like you and I are undead. So any child we have will be born dead, therefore we have to follow the necessary procedures for birthing undead children."

"Aleera, I have to take the child to our Master he is waiting," he told her. He leaned over Selene and gently massaged her awake, "You have a son I hope that is what you wanted, the birth went well, I am now taking him to the Count."

"May I see him?" she asked, "Yes,of course" he held the baby out to her. Selene saw her son for the first time, his eyes were like Selenes. a haunting blue, Selene felt his hair, coarse and black as midnight. She touched his skin, it was smooth and cold, definitely a child of the undead.. She had to commend Dr Benefici for his hard work and Aleera for assisting him through the birth.

Stregoni approached Count Dracula cautiously when he handed the child over to him. "Count Dracula, my Lord, you have a Son.," he bowed and then exited the room.

Dracula's laughter could be heard all over the Castle if not all over Rumania, finally a son. The gifted Dr had delivered a son. Aro was right, he was exceptional.

The three of them stood in front of him, when Dracula spoke, "Do you have something ,for me my friend."

"Yes, I do indeed, my friend," Aro replied, "I have the Map of the secret passageway into Rumania with which I could not have over thrown the Rumanian Guard, your enemies controlled by your half brother Radu," he continued, "Unfortunately my Lord, we did come into contact with Gabriel Van Helsing, I did not get a chance to invite him to "dinner", he escaped, however I did manage to salvage your family heirloom." Aro then handed him the one ring his father had given him, passed down from generation to generation. Dracula looked at the ring, gone for so long, he remembered the day it was stolen as he lay dying. He felt the sharp pain as he lay dying, he awakens to find a young soldier rifling his body and then taking a sharp knife and cutting off his ring finger. Anger, pain, suffering, what he would not give to start all over again. He thinks he is seeing a delusion, when it happens, a soft voice talking, asking him to join him. You will be fine, there will be no more pain. If you just make a pact with me, he realizes who it is then said yes. The rest is history.

He turned towards the Volturi, and said to them, "My friends, I have asked too many favors of you, and this will be the last, please see that Viktor's coven does not mistreat Selene, She is the mother of my son, I do not want them to renig on their part of the bargain, that would make me enraged. Please look after her."

First Aro nodded yes, then Marcus nodded, and finally Caius. When Dracula finally left the room. Caius and Marcus, stood in front of Aro, "We are dealing with another Coven, Aro, this is dangerous, this Coven leaves their Werewolves unchecked its population is enormous, the leader of this Werewolf pack is thought to be dead, but no one knows this for a fact." Marcus added, "So this is the favour, to keep his Mistress from getting killed, Aro.?" "Doesn't anyone beside myself see the opportunity here?" Aro asked. "Stegoni, just delivered his first son, nothing any of his other brides could do, and yes I am a little curious about this other Coven. Hallows Eve is tomorrow and I have the feeling that things are just now starting to shape up. "