Chapter 18

Prodigy

My daughter is beautiful. Her little fists constantly wave in the air and her feet kick some unknown assailant when she gets excited. She's only three months old, but she's a strange combination of sweet and feisty. Her hair, what there is of it, is a light, sandy brown, her nose is all Irish like her grandfather's. But it is her eyes, those large eyes were such a deep blue that it hurts to look at them. I see Greg each time she tries to focus on me. I love her so much it takes my breath away whenever I pick her up.

My father was a new man. I hadn't seen him so excited in years. He was in London within twenty-four hours of Riane's birth cooing and making faces at her while she rested safely in his arms. He talked non-stop about her features, examined her tiny fingernails and wondered out loud if she needed blood to survive. I hadn't really thought about it because she had been so content with my breast milk and the bottle we gave her each day. I realized that if she did need blood, she probably needed it now.

To say I was torn was an understatement. Part of me hoped that she didn't need it, that she could exist in the mortal world without preying on humans. But part of me wanted her to share my heritage, her ancestry. Vampires were coming out of the wood work to have a look at her. The first month I had a dozen visitors a night just coming in to see what she looked like. She was like Our Lady of Fatima, vampires were making a pilgrimage to just see if she really existed.

The week after she came home, my father came into the nursery while I was feeding her. He sat across from me in the overstuffed chair as I rocked her in my arms and smiled his grandfather smile at us.

"Acushla, you know that you can't put it off." He said softly.

"But, Daddy, she seems healthy without it."

"I know my love, but you still have to do it."

I sighed and closed my eyes for a minute. "Alright, bring me a knife."

He produced one from his pocket, obviously anticipating that I would agree to do it. I took it, slit along my arm and let the blood ooze out. I held it to her lips and waited. The blood leaked into her mouth, but there was no attempt by her to drink, at least not at first. But, just as I was about to pull my arm away, she started to suck. I wasn't sure if it was a reaction to still being hungry for milk or for blood so I offered her the bottle and she started to cry. I gave her my arm and she calmed down.

My father leaned back in his chair as his lip curled up into a smile. My heart ached for my baby. She would be a slave forever to the Hunger. The question was just how much of an addict would she be? Would she need it each day? Each month? Or just when she felt like it? Tears started running down my cheek causing my father to stop smiling and lean forward.

"Acushla? You wanted her to be a mortal?"

"I wanted her to not be the half-breed that her mother is."

My father stood up and kneeled on one knee in front of me, looking up into my face. "I didn't know it bothered you so much."

"I was never quite trusted by vampires and I wasn't able to live like mortals. I was always in between two worlds. It wasn't easy growing up a live vampire."

"Caleb loves and trusts you."

"Oh, Daddy, I know. But, I just don't love him like I used to."

"I can see that. You still have feelings for your daughter's father, don't you?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure anymore. I just know that I'm in love with my daughter and right now she comes first."

"Your love for your daughter is something I truly believe, because I love her too. Now...can I hold her?"

My father had been gone for a week, promising to come back over to England in a month. I loved him, but I was glad to see him go so that I could get into a routine with Riane. I felt like I was all thumbs, not always sure what to do when she cried, worried if she was getting enough to eat, flustered if she sneezed. But I soon heard from other mothers that this was normal with the first child.

Caleb had informed me that Riane and I were moving to Sussex in the morning, so I spent most of the night packing. The phone rang while I was in the bathroom taking a shower. There was nothing that I could do about it; the call would have to go to voicemail. I toweled off, put on underwear and then dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a Pink Floyd t-shirt. My nursing bra was digging into my side, but it was my only clean one in the drawer which meant I was going to spend the night doing laundry.

Riane was a night sleeper, which made it hard on me. I wanted to sleep when she wanted to be awake. At first I did my best to accommodate her, but I was becoming lethargic from a lack of sleep and my disposition was so bad that Caleb finally insisted that I get help. I had to hire a mortal nanny to work from eight in the morning to two in the afternoon while I slept. Caleb would sleep over most days in the cellar, which he had designed for his personal comfort. The stairs led down to what would appear to as a normal cellar full of boxes, tools, an extra freezer, and a hot water heater. But, in the back was a mundane door that was slightly hidden from view. It led to a small hall with two very cushy rooms with plaster walls over the masonry foundation. They were each large enough to house two coffins comfortably. Decorated with the most beautiful lithographs of Rome, Caleb's room reminded me of a luxurious Roman villa. There was also a large bathroom and closet for Caleb's extensive wardrobe. For security and to keep out nosey mortals, the room dead-locked from inside and required a key to enter.

I stopped in to look at the baby and found her fast asleep with her fist in a ball again. I laughed softly to myself and turned to straighten up her room when I heard a metal clanking sound from below her windows. I went to the window, but couldn't see anything. I started to pull the plastic bag from her diaper pail when I heard what sounded like someone falling over a trashcan outside. Our trashcans were out back next to the kitchen door. Apparently Caleb was home and coming from the garage to the kitchen. I started down the stairs, excited to tell him that the baby had laughed for the first time earlier that night when I saw the front door knob turn slightly and stop.

A chill ran up my back, but I thought that maybe Caleb had forgotten the key to the back so he came around to the front.

"Caleb?" I called out. There was no response. "Caleb?" Whoever was at the front door had stopped trying the knob. I froze.

My retractiles came down and my heart started to race. I went back upstairs and turned off the lights. When excited or frightened, I could see exceptionally well in the dark. I heard something below, voices whispering just outside the door and I knew that it had to be Guardians. I thought they might be after Caleb, but then again, they might be after me or even Riane. It didn't matter; they'd kill any vampire they found. I grabbed Riane from her cot and then started down the stairs. I heard glass break in the library where there were two sets of French doors. There was only one option so I ran to the cellar door and grabbed the hidden key to Caleb's lair. Opening it, I carried Riane over to Caleb's charcoal colored coffin, placing her gently in the lower half of the casket, leaving the top half open. She cried for a little bit, but it was muffled, making it inaudible to anyone outside the room. The Guardians knew I was in the house and so I felt that I couldn't stay in the room without risking them breaking down the door and getting both of us. So I decided to be the bait and draw them upstairs.

I opened the door from the lair and saw that there was no one in the cellar with me. Leaving the lair, I made sure the door was locked behind me. It was quiet for several seconds. Creak—I was startled by the creaking in the floorboards above me. I stopped breathing, trying to listen to what was going on in the entire house. There was a creak coming from the south end of the house, from the library, meaning I had at least two to deal with, probably more.

Taking a deep breath, I knew I had to take quick action so that I could surprise them. Using my vampire speed, I rushed up behind the six foot two inch Guardian in the kitchen. The floor creaked under my feet. He turned quickly with the stake raised and aiming for my heart just as I was going to bite his neck, managing to throw me off guard. Screaming a warning out for his accomplice, he thrust his arm towards me but I managed to sink my rectractiles deep into the intruder's neck. Alerted, the accomplice rushed into the kitchen just as I dropped the first Guardian to the floor. The medium sized woman in a peacoat raised her revolver, took aim and shot, but I had already dropped and rolled on the kitchen floor. I jumped up just as she shot again; the silver slug burning deep into my thigh dropping me like a piece of lead to the kitchen floor.

The woman walked cautiously towards me, her hair tightly tucked up into a ski cap, the gun now aimed at my heart. The silver bullet in my thigh had nicked my femoral artery and I was bleeding profusely. I tried to ball up, but I could see her finger already pulling at the trigger. I heard the sound of the gun, but I was already in shock and didn't feel the bullet at first. Then there was a fire in my chest and I was starting to see bright spots. Touching my chest, I felt blood on my shaking fingers.

The Guardian's brown eyes behind the trigger were wild with excitement. She aimed at my head and smiled, "I'm going to blow that brain of yours out of your head and then I'm going to blow the brains out of that little blood sucking abomination you call a baby. You'll die knowing that mortals were able to slaughter your child, that with all your super speed and super powers, you couldn't save your baby.

I closed my eyes and waited for the bullet. I prayed that Caleb would think to look for the baby in the cellar, that is, if the Guardians didn't find her first. It seemed deathly quiet. The pain was so debilitating that I just wanted it over. But there was no bullet, just the sound of retractiles breaking skin and crunching through muscle. I opened my eyes and saw Caleb dropping the woman to the floor, her eyes still open and painted with horror.

He quickly knelt down and started feeling my body. "Darling, you're bleeding...badly." He whispered.

"My leg and chest—silver bullets."

"I've got to move you to the pantry; they have a dozen or more Guardians crawling all over the house."

"The cellar, any in the cellar?"

"I saw the window kicked in, so probably."

I grabbed his collar and started shaking. "Riane is down there! I hid her in your coffin."

Before I could get all of it out, he dropped me and disappeared faster than even I could move. I heard screaming from several mortals before he emerged again, blood dripping from his retractiles and down the front of his clothes. He grabbed me and carried me into the pantry.

"Stay here. Riane is safer in the lair than up here. I have to clear the rest of the house." Caleb ripped a portion of his sleeve off and started to tie it on my thigh.

"Caleb?" A male voice yelled.

It was Grant. He walked into the kitchen and found Caleb in the pantry doorway trying to put a tourniquet on my thigh.

"We took care of them. We're taking a female back to the docks to interrogate her." Grant said.

"All of them?"

"It looks like it. Three in your house, two outside."

Caleb motioned to the dead Guardians on the floor in the kitchen. "I've got two in here and two in the cellar."

I pulled on his pant leg, "Get Riane, get the baby."

"Of course, darling. Grant, come in here and take Kiara upstairs to bed, then get some towels."

"No! I want my baby." I yelled.

"Kiara, I need for you to go upstairs and be ready for me to pull that slug out of your thigh. I'll bring Riane up to you."

"But—"

"Damn it, Kiara. For once do what I say. We need to act quickly or Riane's not going to have a mother. You're bleeding out."

I looked down and he was right. Because of the silver, the wounds weren't healing and the blood was soaking the floor. The bullet would have to be removed and quickly. "Okay, I'm sorry. Just find her. She's in the bottom of your coffin."

The men picked me up and took me upstairs, laying me back on the bed. My blood started to soak into the duvet. Grant yelled to bring me some towels. They put them under my leg. I was woozy, starting to lose consciousness, but refused to until I saw my baby. I heard steps and Caleb's voice cooing, "Your Mummy sure knows how to hide a baby. I had trouble finding you. Come my little pet, your Mum is desperate to hold you."

He turned into the room and motioned for Grant to leave. Handing Riane to me, I started crying and so did Riane. Caleb turned his attention to my leg shouting for someone to bring up the doctor's bag from the library.

"Darling, I don't have time to find you any painkillers. I'm going to have to remove the slug and then feed you. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

He took Riane and handed her to Yantze. "Put her in her cot."

Yantze left and without thinking twice, Caleb turned, scalpel in hand, and proceeded to cut a two inch gash in my leg as I clenched down on a rolled pillowcase. He pulled the silver bullet out and then immediately cut his own wrist, letting the blood drip into my mouth and then onto the wound itself. He turned and cut my chest open. "My God, it's less than an inch from your heart. Great Caesar, my love, you almost died." Again, he allowed his blood to drip into the chest wound.

When vampires share blood, there isn't the bond that exists when a mortal shares blood with a vampire, but it does aid in quickly healing wounds. I immediately felt the healing in my chest and leg, I could feel my muscles knitting together. Without Caleb's blood, I would have surely died.

"Dieter? It failed. We lost an entire cell and they captured the second in command, Deanna. We suspect that they managed to get information out of her."

Upset, but not surprised, Dieter responded to the British Guardian on the phone. "Well, Colin, if she ever shows up on our door, we'll be ready." He hung up and turned to Lana. "You're going to have to stick like glue to House. I still think he is the key to this."

Lana grimaced. "Why don't you sleep with him then?"

"That bad in bed?"

Lana smiled. "No, it's just having to deal with him before and after."

"We're all making sacrifices, Lana." He said as he held up his hands to remind her of the tacky apartment he had been forced to rent as a result of his limited funds.