Greetings from The Lady Mage.
Hello, and welcome to chapter 13 of Second Chances. Sorry for such the long wait, but it has been terribly busy around here. I had to take my GED, I got called in to work twice to work someone else's hours, and my grandfather has gone into the hospital to have surgery on his back. (He's fine, and he's actually coming home today!) So you see that I have had little time to work on this story!! Thanks for those who still bother to put up with me: VA, DCA, IE- you know who you guys are. Love you all, and thanx ever-so-much for all the reviews!
Disclaimer: The Lady Mage stands I, The Lady Mage, do NOT own Underworld or any of its many dynamic characters . . . I just like to kidnap them once in a while and play evil scientist with them . . .
Rating: Still PG to PG-13. I just am not ready to make that step up . . . chuckles Trust me, it's gunna get better soon enough.
The Lady Mage
"Slumber party?" Kindra murmered quietly, coming and laying across the foot of Erika's bed.
The blonde vampiress was sitting at the headboard, drying Nikkie off from his bath. She turned her head to see the younger girl. "Depends."
"On what?"
"Whether or not we can sleep alone tonight." mumbled the blonde, diapering the hybrid infant in her lap.
"We've tried the past three times to go it alone- without success. I give in." said the girl, stretching like a cat. "You cannot sleep without your Marcus; I cannot sleep while worrying about Lucian."
Erika frowned for a few seconds, snapping up Nikkie's blue sleeper. Suddenly, she smirked. "Do you think Selene will last alone?"
Kindra pouted. "Perhaps I should be offering to keep her company instead?"
"Leave me not!" Erika returned Kindra's pout, standing off the bed. She settled into the rocking chair, intending to feed Nikkie and put him to bed. "If Selene is lonely, she's welcome here, though I doubt she would take us up on our offer."
"Speaking of Selene, I should go check on Sondra." Kindra mumbled, sitting up and scooting off the bed. "I'll be right back." Erika only nodded, her attentions on her son, as the baby blood slipped from the room.
The former Death Dealer was laying out her nightgown when Kindra entered the bedroom. She hardly looked up to see her, as used to the girl as she was. Kindra looked down into the little pink basinet, making sure Sondra was sleeping before speaking to Selene.
"Lonely yet?" Kindra asked quietly. Selene only scowled at her. "I'll take that as 'Selenese' for yes." The baby blood held in a smirk as the vampiress's scowl deepened.
"I thought you were helping Erika bathe Nicolas." Selene said, lifting her chosen gown and moving to the changing screen to put it on.
"I did. Erika's putting him to sleep right now." said the girl, making herself comfortable at the vanity table. "I came to bug you until she is finished."
"Why don't you go bother Damon?"
"Because he is working today." answered Kindra. "Anyway, I have come to you with a reason."
Selene, dressed in her white nightgown, came from behind the screen. "And that is?" she prompted, pausing to check on Sondra before coming to the vanity.
"When Marcus and Lucian leave, Erika and I cannot sleep well." said the girl, allowing Selene the vanity chair. "So we have like a slumber party. We stay in her bed and talk until we do fall asleep. Erika says you can stay with us if you like."
The dark-haired woman gave her a surprised look, then scowled. "I'll be fine by myself, thankyou." she said, her stubborn streak rearing its head.
"It's whatever you want, dollface. I'm only giving you an opportunity." Kindra shrugged. "Call me if you need me. I'm going to change, then I'll be in Erika's room. Goodnight."
"'Night."
"Did you ever finish that Anne Rice novel I leant you?" Kindra asked. She was laid on her stomach, a historical novel held out in front of her. Erika was seated next to her, a trashy romance in her hands. The two were sharing a bag of potato chips and a bowl of bloody sourcream dip while they read.
"Yes. It's on the bureau." Erika answered absently.
"You like?"
"Was okay."
Kindra put her book down. "Okay? Just okay?" She gave Erika a disbelieving look. "You have to be kidding. How could you not love it? Interview With the Vampire was such a beautiful book!"
"Okay, the part with the little girl-"
"-Claudia-"
"Yes, Claudia, was sad, but the rest of it was vastly uninteresting." Erika said, setting her book down to eat a chip.
Kindra scowled. "You've ruined yourself with all that smut you read. You don't know what is good anymore." She grabbed the book from Erika's hands and read the cover. "In Strong Arms." She scowled. "You should be reading something good: War and Peace, Gone With the Wind, Jane Eyre."
The blonde snatched her book back. "I like my books just fine, thankyou."
"Because you know no better . . . " Kindra whispered, smirking at Erika's scowl. She stuck her tongue out at the older woman, sitting up and closing her book. The book was dropped on the bed as the girl turned to stand up. She paused, turning towards the nursery door.
Selene stood, leaned against the doorjam, Sondra cradled in her arms. She was watching the two on the bed, an almost interested look on her face.
Kindra smiled. "Hi."
"Hi." Selene murmered.
Erika looked up. "You need anything?"
"I . . just wanted to say goodnight." Selene answered, transferring her sleeping daughter onto her shoulder. "Are you two going to sleep?"
"In a few minutes, yes." Kindra said. "Erika's eaten all the dip, and I've nearly finished my book." She stretched her arms up over her head, her pajama top riding up to show her navel. "Yourself?"
"Yes."
"Sure you don't want to join us?" Erika asked, setting her book and Kindra's on the nightstand. The bowl and chips followed it.
"I'm sure." answered the vampiress.
Kindra nodded. "You are a stronger woman than I then, to sleep so easily on a stomachful of knots."
"My stomach isn't full of knots." Selene scowled.
"Don't bullshit a bullshitter, dollface." Kindra said sweetly, then yawned behind her silk-gloved fist. "Don't worry though. I bet he's just as uncomfortable as you are right now."
"Why don't you lay Sondra down in Nikkie's crib, and come sit with us for a while?" offered Erika. "Just us girls?"
After a few seconds of silence, Selene nodded, turning back into the nursery. She came back out without Sondra, and walked to the foot of the bed, making herself comfortable at the end of it.
Kindra offered her a book from the stack on her side of the bed. "Want a good read?"
Selene shook her head. "Not really in the mind to read." she murmered.
"What are you in the mind to do?" Erika asked, laying back against the pillows. Selene shrugged, loosely crossing her arms.
"Sleepy yet?" Kindra asked.
"I don't think so." Selene mumbled.
"Hmm . . . have you been to the garden yet?" asked the baby blood. "They started planting it last week. Damon says that you can already see a little green peaking up through the earth."
"Is Damon working in the garden?" inquired Selene. "I haven't seen him lately."
"That's because when he isn't working, he's with Kindra." Erika explained with a light chuckle. "I told you when you came here they were inseperable."
"We are quite separable." Kindra corrected quietly, laying back beside Erika. "His father hates me, and tries to keep Damon as far from me as possible. That is why he is always so busy lately."
"Why does his father hate you?" Selene asked, crawling to the head of the bed and stretching out next to the baby blood.
"Because I'm a vampire." answered the girl. "He wants Damon to settle with a nice young lycan, not a blood."
"Garret's an ass." Erika commented. "Marcus says he starts a lot of fights when he has to work in Sanguis."
"But Shena loves me." Kindra said with a small smile. "She already calls me her daughter." She paused to yawn. "And Damon's older sisters concider me one of them."
Selene propped her head up on the pillows, trying to hide a yawn of her own. "I didn't know he had sisters."
The baby blood nodded. "Oh, yes. He has two sisters- Ginsa and Esune. You've seen them, I'm sure. They both work in the kitchen with their mother. They both have black hair and blue eyes like Damon."
"When do you think he'll work up the nerve to make a bond with you?" Erika yawned, turning on her side and cuddling up next to the baby blood.
"Soon, I hope." answered the girl, turning towards the blonde vampire. "We just have to get away from his father for a while."
"I can help you with that." Erika mumbled. "I'll call for him tonight- say there's a task or two I need him to do." Kindra only nodded, her eyes fluttering closed. "You two can hide out in the nursery."
Kindra barely shook her head. ". . . want to see the garden . . ." she murmered absently.
"Oh? We ought to take Selene." Erika barely lifted her head to see over the now-slumbering Kindra. Selene was asleep, too, curled around a pillow. "Why am I always the last asleep?" the blonde grumbled to herself, then sighed, sitting up and pulling the thick blankets over the three of them.
Well? What do you think? Was it good? Was it bad? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Tell me in a review! Oh, and sorry for the shortness- next one will be longer as we explore Damon and Kindra! Eeh-hee!
The Lady Mage