The next day, the friends were eating lunch. They were talking about this and that: the men about their great job at repairing the fence, despite being city boys - they were so proud of themselves as they compared their calluses - the women about seals, well, Freya was talking about seals and Gwen was patiently listening to her, like the amazing friend she was.
The only one who wasn't contributing to the conversation was Merlin, who as usual was feeling a combination of annoyance and anger at being close to his friends. Their faces while they killed his baby every night were hard to forget, and to forgive. But at the same time, he felt guilty because of this dark thoughts, since until then, his friends had been nothing but wonderful and supporting with him.
"…I say we go…"
Merlin's thoughts were interrupted by Gwaine's voice, but since he wasn't listening to begin with, he had no idea what he was talking about.
"But Gwaine, I don't think it would be a good idea…I mean…what if someone happens to see?" Asked Lancelot, looking worriedly at Merlin.
The pregnant boy frowned, "What are you talking about?"
Gwen turned to him, "Merlin, weren't you listening?"
"Sorry, Gwen, I was distracted…"
She sighed indulgently, used to Merlin's strange behaviour by now, "Gwaine has suggested we shall all go to the festival in the neighbour village tomorrow night and Lancelot is arguing that it may not be a great idea, given your condition…I mean, what if someone sees your belly? I can't image people's reaction at seeing a pregnant man!"
"Oh" Merlin was disappointed. He would have liked to go…everything to go out of the house. Besides, village festivals are always funny and particular. But he could also see that Lancelot's point was a valid one…it isn't every day you see a pregnant man.
However, Gwaine wasn't going to give up that easily, "You can't keep him lock here forever! He needs to move and be around other people besides us…Moreover, we can find a way to hide his pregnancy. It'll be dark when we are there and with oversized clothes, no one will notice the belly…and even if someone happens see, the first thing they think won't be 'oh look, that man is pregnant'…at best, they may think he is a bit fat or got a serious problem of gas…"
Merlin blushed in embarrassment. Even his ears turned red. "Gwaine!" He whimpered, mortified. "Thank you so much for your discretion!"
Gwaine pat him on the hand, grinning, "Don't mention it, mate…"
Everyone, including Merlin, laughed, lifting the tension in the room.
Gwen stretched forward, "But seriously, Merlin, do you wish to go?"
He smiled, "Yes, Gwen, I'd really like to…"
"Then it is decided… we are going..."
00000
The next day, after sunset, the group left their isolated refuge and drove to the next village, which was medieval style to everyone's delight, since they were so used to the skyscrapers of the city. The streets were lit only by the fire of torches, making it seem like they had really been thrown through time to the middle ages. Everywhere there were stalls of different kinds: of cakes, handmade jewellery, textiles, wood carvings... and the whole thing was made all the more joyful by the music of the bagpipes in the background and by the unceasing flow of beer and whisky.
And as Gwaine had predicted, no one was paying attention to them and didn't even blink an eye at the sight of Merlin. The dim light wrapping the town and the baggy clothes were hiding his particular condition well. He was wearing a black sweater, a long open black coat of Gwaine, and a cream-colored scarf, which fell along the opening of the coat, in doing so, his stomach could not be seen even in profile.
Gwaine clapped his hands, "Well, my lads and lassies, I've just seen a stand of whisky tastings over there! If you excuse me, I'm going to go there to show these people the right way to drink whisky... I think it is my duty as a human being"
"... But ... I wanted to go and observe the Highland Sword Dancers in the main square..." Protested Gwen, taking Lancelot's arm.
"... And I wanted to go and see the bonfire at the beach..." Added Freya.
"Maybe we could go our separate ways and do whatever we want and then meet here…I don't know…say in 2 hours?" Merlin proposed, already knowing their reactions…he wasn't wrong.
"But Merlin, we can't leave you alone! It's dangerous…what if you are attacked? What if you need us because of the baby?" Gwen was blathering on…the usual mother hen.
"Gwen, I'm not a child, you know? I can take care of myself just fine. Besides, what could happen in this godforsaken place? However, if something should happen indeed, we all have our phones with us and we ARE hunters, me included…I know how to fight…I'm brilliant at it actually…"
It was clear they wanted to protest for a moment, but a look from Merlin stopped them. Deep down, they knew he was right and had noticed for some time his need of peace and quiet now…therefore, they reluctantly agreed, however, forcing him to promise to call at least one of them immediately if he ever found himself in any kind of danger.
00000
Gwaine slammed the last glass of whisky on the table and sighed triumphantly, as he looked around. During the last hour, he had drunk everyone else under the table and in fact, there were several men in various states of unconsciousness around the whisky stand.
Gwaine looked at them and grinned, "... and that, my friends, is how you drink like a real man!"
He staggered to his feet and growled. His head was spinning, but as long as he could stand upright, it meant he wasn't that drunk - at least that was what his father used to tell him, even though right now he was seriously starting to doubt his old man's wisdom.
He was still trying to figure whether he'd manage to walk with dignity on his own, when he felt it. An uneasy feeling in his guts. A shiver running down his back. He knew all too well what that meant.
Danger.
Some creature of darkness was near.
Immediately he straightened up, his state of inebriation momentarily forgotten, but not gone. He scanned the area around him, looking for something dark and out of place. His Hunter instincts tuned high.
Then he saw them. At the edge of the city walls, two tall and bulky male figures were dragging a struggling blond woman into the woods. The noises of the feast were covering her screams.
Gwaine didn't lose time and rushed after them.
He made his way through dense trees until he reached a meadow. There, illuminated by the light of the full moon, the two men had the girl trapped on the ground and were attacking her neck.
He stumbled toward them, cursing his drunken habits in that moment, "Hey, you! Let her go, you fucking beasts!"
And beasts was the right word, indeed. Surprised by his appearance, the two men jumped up and turned around, showing their teeth. Now that Gwaine had a clear view of them, he could see they were werewolves.
This caused a shiver of fear to run down his back, because werewolves went only where their master told them to and had one and only master: the Prince of Darkness, i.e. Arthur Pendragon at present.
Without losing time, he took his phone from the pocket of his trousers, determined to call Merlin and tell him to run! However, he had just hit the call button when the two monsters charged at him and bated the phone away from his hand, making it slip out from his grip. Then, they rudely shoved him to the ground, making him land on his back.
Gwaine huffed, especially when they sat on his stomach. After a few seconds of disorientation, he managed to get them off with well-aimed kicks and punches; he was one of the best hunters after all, despite the alcohol in his veins at that moment.
While the weres were down, he rolled on his belly and saw his phone, which had landed a few meters from him.
He started to crawl toward it; all the while, he could hear Merlin's voice coming from it.
"Hello? Gwaine? Hello?"
He was almost there, so he screamed, "MER…" but before he could finish, a foot wearing high heels crushed the phone, breaking it into thousands of pieces.
Gwaine looked up and, to his great dismay, saw the woman he was actually trying to save, who had taken advantage of the mess to get away from the fight. Now, she was showing her true colours, quite literally. Her skin was light blue and she had four transparent wings attached to her back: a Sidhe.
Gwaine's heart dropped.
The sidhe smirked, "You've fallen into our trap. Our master will be proud…"
Before Gwaine could said something or fight back, one of the werewolves hit him in the head with a rock, and he fell into darkness.
00000
"Gwaine?"
Merlin looked puzzled at his phone, before closing the call. How strange... Gwaine had called him, but when Merlin had answered he had only heard strange incomprehensible noises on the other side, before losing the signal.
He shrugged. Most likely Gwaine was so drunk that he had not realized that he had accidently called him.
However, the strangest thing was that the same had happened with Gwen (who was with Lancelot) and Freya. They had tried to call him, but were cut off before they could say something.
He sighed. It seemed like in that so isolated area there was serious signal problems.
As he was walking among the stalls, he felt the baby move more than usual, but not alarmingly... quite the opposite actually: the baby seemed extremely happy for some reason.
Looking down at his swollen belly, Merlin stroked it softly and smiled, "Hey, laddie…care to share with your mommy what has made you so excited? Whatever it is, darling, stop kicking my bladder, please…"
He continued on his way, not noticing the blond red-eyed man watching him from the shadows, and the reason why the baby was so joyful…
…Daddy had finally come for them!
…
After eating his candyfloss, Merlin decided to sit on a bench along the river to rest for a bit. It was quite there and the nearest people was far enough to allow him some privacy and peace.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was a bit tired, but the light breeze and the smell of the trees had a great soothing effect on him, so much that he could swear that the wind movements seemed like caresses on his cheeks and then down and down until it touched his lips...
...Wait, what? Lips?
Merlin's eyes opened wide and in fact, there was a man kissing him forcefully. He tried to fight, but strangely, his Hunter powers weren't working; the child was blocking them and he had done this only in one other occasion ... Merlin knew who his attacker was: Arthur!
His heart filled with fear.
He managed to push Arthur away, but before he could yell for help, the blond put a big white hand on his mouth, gagging him.
Arthur looked at him with eyes full of desire, and leaned down to whisper, "I HAVE FOUND YOU, my love ... and now you cannot run away from me anymore!"
Merlin struggled, but Arthur used his vampire powers to put him to sleep. His vision blurred and soon he felt into unconsciousness.
…..
People were having a great time at the festival, and no one saw the black figure that was flying far away from their beautiful village with his precious bride and child in his arms.
He was taking them to his castle, where he would finally make them his forever.
it's not over yet