Chapter 26
Gemma woke the next morning, her hand clamping over her mouth as she felt vomit making its way up from her stomach. She wrestled free from the covers and David's embrace, speeding her way to the bathroom, trying not to offload onto the caves floor. She slammed through the bathroom door, bracing her arms on the rim of the toilet as she vomited violently. As the wave of nausea passed her stood upright, rubbing her stomach, pausing with a frown as her hand moved over a hard bump. She looked down at her stomach, her eyes widening in shock as she saw that her stomach was definitely bigger than previously, it looked like she was around 4 months pregnant not the few that she actually was. She jumped in shock as she felt a flutter in her stomach, did she just feel the baby move? She thought, surely that's not even possible yet she questioned herself.
She washed up, making her way back to her and David's room, David still sleeping peacefully, his arms now crossed over his chest as he lay on his back, she almost didn't want to disturb him, but she was too freaked out.
"David." She whispered shaking his shoulder gently, "David." She called louder, she jumped back a little as his eyes flew open flashing amber violently, his face softening when he realised it was her.
"Sorry I scared you. Vampire reflex." He smirked, "what's happened?" he asked sleepily,
"David, I swear I felt the baby move, and my stomach has suddenly got bigger, is this even possible? Should I be worried because I'm freaking out right now." She panicked. He took in her panicked expression and glanced down at her stomach, his brows raising when he noticed the now very obvious bump,
"I don't know." He stated drowsily, "I can't think… I'll check tonight." He promised, unable to keep his eyes from closing, the pull of sleep too much for him resist.
"Urgh, vampires." Gemma pouted, pulling herself up from the floor, rubbing her stomach. She knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now, "I'm going to see Daisy." She told David, pulling on some warm clothes as he groaned in acknowledgment. She walked out into the cave, shrugging into her jacket which luckily hid her now obvious baby bump and made her way out into the fresh air, heading in the direction of the boardwalk. She reached Daisy's apartment in good time, knocking on her door and waiting for her to answer. A cheery Daisy opened the door, grinning and welcoming her in,
"Morning Gem." She beamed, "You're out early" she stated,
"Yeah morning sickness" she grimaced, "So, you have fun last night?" she asked slyly, trying to get a reaction from her friend. Daisy grinned, her eyes twinkling, "Omg something happened with Paul?" Gemma squealed, pulling Daisy down to sit on the sofa, "Tell. Me. Everything." She instructed.
Daisy laughed at Gemma's excitement, "Well, he told me he wanted to be with me, like officially and well… we kissed." She swooned.
"I knew it! I knew you'd get together." Gemma clapped, "Paul's a good guy, I know he'll look out for you, plus if he doesn't, we'll all pound on him." She stated making Daisy giggle.
"Ya know, something tells me he won't hurt me." Daisy confirmed, sure about her statement.
"I agree." Gemma stated,
They spent the rest of the morning and evening discussing Paul and David and thinking of wild and outlandish scenario's, Gemma hoped that when Daisy found out about Paul and the others being vampires that it wouldn't scare her off, she really liked Daisy and knew she'd be good for Paul and a good addition to the family. Before they knew it, it was the beginning of dusk, and time for Daisy to head down for her shift. Gemma decided she'd accompany Daisy to the music store, declaring she needed some new tunes anyway, as they made their way out onto the boardwalk.
As they walked out of the apartment and round the back of the ice cream store Daisy froze as she heard someone calling her name, Gemma frowned, knowing it wasn't any of the boys and it definitely wasn't Althea, they both spun around, a figure was moving quickly in their direction, it was a man in his early twenties, his facial features like stone, his eyes burning with fury,
"Daisy! What the hell are you doing?" he shouted,
"Oh no, please God no." Daisy whimpered,
"Who the hell is that?" Gemma whispered, beginning to panic as she saw Daisy's face turn ghostly white,
"Remember I told you I ran because something bad happened?" She whispered in reply, Gemma nodded, "He's the something bad." Daisy eluded. Gemma frowned jumping to her own conclusions, none of them any good,
"We gotta get out of here." Gemma hissed, tugging on Daisy's shaking arm.
The man was almost in front of them now,
"Daisy don't you fucking dare move." The man hissed,
"Dillon what are you doing here?" She stuttered, her voice shaking along with her limbs.
"I come to find your dumbass, what the fuck do you think your doing? Running away?" He spat.
Daisy flinched as he shouted in her face,
"Hey dude, you need to back off and leave her alone." Gemma stated sternly, "She obviously doesn't want you near her, so crawl back under your rock." She warned.
"Who the fuck is she?" he asked Daisy pointing his finger harshly in Gemma's direction, "Did you tell her?" He hissed.
"N…N…No I didn't I swear." Daisy panicked,
"Tell me what?" Gemma asked clueless.
"Don't play fucking dumb bitch, she told you, didn't she?" He screamed in Gemma's face,
"Dude, you need to get out of my face, I don't know what your talking about." Gemma replied honestly,
"Dillon, she doesn't know." Daisy told him,
"I don't believe you, you little slut." He spat, grabbing Daisy's arm violently,
"Get off her you psycho." Gemma screamed trying to push him away, crying out as he shoved her hard to the floor, she landed on her side, a pain shooting through her stomach,
"You bastard she'd pregnant." Daisy shouted, trying to wrestle her arm free from him. Dillon suddenly pulled a switch blade from his pocket, flicking the blade in Daisy's face.
"I told you if you told anyone I would kill you." He snarled, "I'll kill your little friend too." He hissed pointing the knife in Gemma's direction.
"You won't touch either of them." A calm voice spoke from behind them, Gemma turned to see Althea standing firmly, glaring towards Daisy's brother.
"Who the fuck are you?" Dillon asked.
"It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is you take your hands off the girl." Althea warned harshly,
"Fuck you man, if you want me to kill you too then join the party." Dillon shouted, holding the knife against Daisy's chest as she whimpered in fear.
Gemma watched as everything happened so fast, Althea launched herself at Dillon, hissing as she pushed him to the floor, as he fell the knife he was holding sliced across Daisy's arm, making her cry out in pain. Gemma quickly scrabbled from the floor, darting over to Daisy desperately holding her hand over the wound and trying to stem the bleeding.
"You are dead" Dillon hissed, pulling himself up and lunging at Althea, but se was fast ducking out of his way moments before he made contact, it was almost like watching a dance as Althea dodged his relentless attacks. Tiring of the game Dillon changed tactic and came running towards Gemma and Daisy, raising the knife above his head, they screamed in unison fearing and attack that didn't come, Althea grabbed his arm spinning him around to face her, but before she could snatch the knife from his grip he plunged it deep into her chest. Daisy and Gemma screaming as Althea howled in pain, the knife had pierced her heart, Gemma knew Althea wouldn't make it, no vampire could recover from a hit direct to their heart. Dillon ripped the knife from Althea's chest, his face manic with fury, making his way back towards them, Gemma thought she heard the rumble of a motorbike engine nearing close to them but thought she was just imagining it, her mind thinking only of the fact she'd never see David again, certain she was going to die this time, no one was here to save her. Dillon raised the knife plunging it down towards Daisy's stomach, but Gemma dived over her, taking the blade to her shoulder, screaming as white-hot pain seared through her.
A roar pierced the air around them as a gust of cold wind whipped over her, as she covered Daisy with her body, her shoulder bleeding profusely, burning with pain. She dared to look up and a familiar flash of brown hair darted past, a familiar red bandana hanging from the back pocket of well worn jeans, it was Dwayne, she felt her heart break for her brother as she realised this would be the second love he'd lost. She grimaced as he clawed Dillon's face, knocking him on his back, leaping on his chest she flinched as Dwayne plunged his hand into Dillon's chest, ripping out his heart. She felt movement under hear as Daisy screamed in fear at the scene before her.
Dwayne whipped his head around, his eyes burning a fierce amber, he looked between Gemma and Althea's lifeless corpse. He growled clutching his chest in pain at seeing the women he'd just been reunited with lying dead before him. Daisy crawled out from beneath Gemma, her eyes wide in terror, her mouth moved like she was trying to speak but no words came out.
"Gemma, Gemma oh my God, what the hell happened." She heard David cry as heavy footsteps ran towards them, Gemma whimpered as David took off his jacket and pressed it against her bleeding wound. He picked her up in his arms, shouting orders she couldn't quite make out as she felt herself drift into unconsciousness.
She woke to raised voices booming around her, her eyes fluttered open, the first thing she saw was two pairs of worried blue eyes, as the faces came into focus she recognised them to be David and Daisy.
"Oh, my love, are you okay?" David asked, stroking her cheek and kissing her forehead gently.
"I'm so sorry Gemma." Daisy stated, silent tears falling from her eyes, Gemma tried to sit up but winced as pain made her vision blurry, she remembered what had happened, she had been lucky once again, her brothers coming to her rescue, she also remembered Daisy had seen what Dwayne did, she'd seen his violence, she'd seen what she wasn't supposed to.
"David can you help me up?" she grimaced, David gently lifting her to sit upright on the sofa, his hand placed protectively on her bump. "Is, is the baby okay?" She asked him worriedly, she recalled the pain as she'd fallen.
"He's fine baby, don't worry." He soothed her, kissing her lips tenderly.
Gemma looked over at Daisy, her face was still deathly pale, she was clearly in shock, her arm freshly bandaged where the knife had grazed her. She was about to speak when Dwayne and Pauls angry voices came echoing down into the cave, they must have been outside, Marco trailing behind, clearly stuck in the middle.
"Guys you need to calm down, screaming at each other isn't gonna solve nothin'" Marco interjected.
Dwayne turned to face his little brother, snarling, "Don't get involved Marco"
"Hey, don't take it out on Marco." Paul argued
"Paul it's okay." Marco held his hands up, showing he was fine.
"No Marco, it's not okay. Dwayne, you are being a fucking asshole dude and you know it." Paul hissed.
"Me an asshole?" Dwayne boomed, "I've just lost the women I love and I'm an ass hole? Yeah Paul that sounds about right. No, I'm not being an asshole, I'm speaking the truth. It's her fault Althea is dead." Dwayne spat.
Daisy obviously knew what they were arguing about as she hung her head in shame, Gemma frowned, Dwayne blamed Daisy? She could understand he was hurt but it wasn't fair to lay that on the poor girl, she'd been through enough.
"Daisy didn't ask for Althea to jump in, Althea should have known better, she wasn't a fighter, she wasn't like us." Paul argued,
"It wasn't just Althea that got hurt though was it?" Dwayne growled, "Your little sister, the girl pregnant with David's child, his mate got hurt, she could have easily been killed or lost the baby." He added, his voice thick with contempt.
Gemma looked at David, his face gave away nothing, but his eyes said everything, he was angry about what happened, but she knew he didn't blame Daisy, if he did, well, she wouldn't be alive right now. Gemma placed her hand over David's, lightly squeezing.
"It wasn't Daisy's fault." Paul replied through gritted teeth, "That guy was a psycho! Althea was protecting her little sisters, it's what she did."
"Sister, not sisters, Daisy isn't part of our family." Dwayne hissed.
Gemma flinched as Paul punched Dwayne hard in his jaw, "You asshole, you know damn well she is." Paul growled,
"You think she's gonna accept what you are? Did you not see how she reacted when she saw what I did to that bastard? Ya really think she's not gonna react the same." Dwayne shouted,
Paul couldn't answer, his head hung low in defeat, "See, you can't tell me she will accept what you are, Althea died for nothing." Dwayne roared, grabbing Paul by the throat and slamming him against the caves wall, the stone crumbling overhead.
"You don't understand." Paul whispered, "That guy deserved to die."
"Why? Why did he deserve to die? Tell me what he did that was so bad that Althea didn't die for nothing." Dwayne roared, "TELL ME!"
"I can't" Paul sighed, "It's not my secret to tell." He stated dejectedly,
"So, it's just bullshit Paul, everything you say is bullshit, you think everything is one big fucking joke." Dwayne growled slamming Paul against the wall repeatedly.
"David do something." Gemma urged, her heart-breaking at her brothers fighting,
David squeezed his forehead from stress, getting to his feet, his pulled out a cigarette, lighting up and taking a long drag. He walked over to where Dwayne was holding Paul against the wall and gently placed his hand on Dwayne's shoulder,
"Brother, let him go." David stated calmly,
"David stay out of it please." Dwayne growled, Marco just looked between them helplessly.
"Dwayne, you know this isn't the answer, just let him go." David assured him.
Dwayne reluctantly released his grip on Paul, leaving him to slide down the wall, bringing his knees to his chest, burying his head in his hands,
"Dwayne, he really did deserve to die." Paul spoke up, from his position on the floor.
"I. Don't. Believe. You." Dwayne replied through gritted teeth,
"You have to believe him, he's telling the truth." A timid voice spoke up, everyone's eyes fell on to Daisy as she stood shaking, her sad eyes locked on Paul's.
"Daisy you don't have to do this." Paul told her, shaking his head.
"No, I do, you are fighting with your brother because of me, Althea died because of me, the least I can do is explain." She stated her voice hitching through her sobs. Paul looked at her with sad eyes, nodding once, signalling for her to continue,
"Paul's right, Dillon, he… he did deserve to die. I'm so so sorry about Althea, and Gemma I'm so sorry you got hurt, you should have let Dillon hurt me instead." She stated sadly, "Anyway, Dillon is the reason I ran here, he made my life hell… you see my parents died when I was 5, I was taking into care and adopted by Dillon's parents not long after, things were okay for awhile until Dillon started trying to get me alone, that's when it started, he started to molest me. As I got older it only got worse, molesting turned into repetitive rape. I couldn't escape, he always told me he'd kill me if I told anyone and I always believed him, I mean look what he did today, I had reason to believe him. The final straw was the day I came here, he raped me along with three of his friends." She confessed, hanging her head and wrapping her arms around herself.
The cave fell silent, the only noise being Daisy's sobs, Paul pulled himself up, strolling over to her and wrapping his arms around her as she gripped his shirt, weeping into his chest. Paul turned to face his brothers,
"That's why he deserved to die." He stated, kissing Daisy on top of her head.
Nobody knew what to say, everyone was shocked into silence, Daisy pulled away from Paul, shaking her head and pushing him away,
"Dwayne's right Paul, I'm not a part of this family, I don't deserve to be, who'd want someone as fucked up as me." She declared, running out of the cave.
"Daisy wait." Paul called running after her,
"Well shit." David stated, looking to Marco and Dwayne, "We're just one big fucked up family aren't we." He announced, making his way back to sit beside Gemma,
"I should go apologise." Dwayne stated, his voice now calm, "I just thought he was getting defensive because he wanted to bone her."
"I think it's more than that." Marco stated putting his arm round his brother's shoulders, "I think Paul has finally found his mate."