Chapter Fifteen

Lorena heard Micheal`s heavy footfall as he descended the stairs and made his way to the kitchen. He was driven by the delicious smells wafting through the house. He sat heavily in one of the four chairs surrounding the small kitchen table. They used the formal dining room only for guests. Micheal was blurry eyed from sleep and he had a disheveled appearance. He gave a wide yawn.

"It smells good."

Lorena sighed.

"I hope it is alright. I have not cooked in a long time."

She set the heaping plate in front of him and he quickly devoured them. When he was finished he sat back in his chair and licked his lips.

"That was the best food I have ever had. Will you make more?"

Lorena laughed but nodded and set about making more. Micheal had had a total of six more plates before he was finally satisfied. Lorena didn't mind making so much; it gave her something to do.

"We burn calories quickly when we change and we have very high metabolisms."

Micheal explained to her when she had watched him curiously as he had scarfed down plate after plate. Lorena took the seat across from him and drank the rest of the glass she had poured before making Micheal breakfast. Lorena noticed a few bruises and bite marks on his body. She grew alarmed and worried. Micheal was quick to notice her change in mood and quick to rest her fears.

"Lorena love, there is no need to worry. You didn't hurt me too badly. You didn't release any venom and the bruises will heal in a few minutes."

Lorena relaxed slightly but she wasn't completely comforted. Micheal gave an exasperated sigh.

"The bruises are from where you had your legs wrapped around me and I was expecting you to bite me. I would have been surprised if you didn't. Calm down Lorena. I bit you and I am not worried."

Lorena was shocked.

"You bit me?"

Micheal nodded and pulled down her robe to reveal her shoulder. Teeth marks wrapped around it.

"It was hard for me to control myself. I think I shifted forms once or twice and accidentally bit you in the excitement. I didn't sink me teeth all the way in or anything. No saliva, no venom, you are alright. You woke up, your drinking blood and as I am talking the bite is healing."

Lorena turned her head to see the wound and sure enough, it finished healing as she watched. Micheal smiled at her and gestured to himself to show that his body had also begun to heal.

"We will have to be more careful tonight though. I think I will be able to stay in this form the whole time this time."

Lorena laughed.

Ian Mason held the gleaming golden locket by its thin gold chain. In the dim room, he watched it spin around. The matching golden m inlaid with dazzling sparkling diamonds caused his face to turn upward in disgust. He held the M in his palm.

"Things would have been so very different, so much better had HE not shown up." He spit the words out like acid.

She had been his and they had been happy. After the incident, she had forsaken him for another, without ever giving him a chance. She had forsaken their love and not looked back. Had he really meant so little to her? Ian unclasped the small hinge on the locket, revealing their names engraved inside. If they had been given the time, they would have had a family together and grew old together. He poured himself another shot of vodka and downed it. He had been her savior, her protector. Now, he was nothing to her. He looked away from the locket and closed it. How could she? He didn't even know why he had gone to her wedding; she married the man she had betrayed him with. They had been married months now. He didn't know the exact number. His excessive drinking, of both the alcohol and blood variety, had started the day her phone calls stopped coming. When she called, at least he knew he passed through her mind every now and again. Now, even that had stopped. The day after she had been wed, he ceased to exist in her little world. Deep down, he had always held onto the hope that someday, Lorena would realize that she missed what they had had and come back to him. Now, even that glimmer of hope had faded. He closed his hand around the fragile diamond M and ripped it off the chain, also succeeding in snapping the chain. The locket bounced to the floor. Ian stared at it numbly. How fragile the necklace had been, almost as fragile as he emotionally was. He chuckled to himself and poured another glass, downing it just as quick as all the others. He threw the glass against the far wall and reached for the bottle. He downed it without a second thought, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

He would never stop loving her, and he really didn't want to either.

Lorena smiled at Micheal. He held a black box out to her. She took it gingerly and carefully opened the latch. Cushioned on black velvet was a golden chain with a circular diamond hanging from it. Micheal leaned closer to her and whispered into her hear,

"Happy anniversary Lorena love. I know you miss your necklace, so I figured I would get you another, I know it's not the same but, I hope you like it nonetheless."

Lorena nodded.

"It is beautiful Micheal, thank you. Happy anniversary."

Micheal took the necklace out of the box and Lorena turned around, lifting her hair.

"This necklace, I hope will symbolize our future together. Here is to our future, may it last beyond eternity, and here is to leaving our pasts, and all the pain, behind."

Lorena fought back tears. Her past was a painful one but as Micheal slipped his arms around her, her pain was forgotten and joy enveloped her, she smiled and nodded.

"Yes. Let's forget the pain of the past..."

Micheal sighed heavily as the sunlight broke into the room. He shoved the sheets away from him. Lorena lay asleep beside him. She didn't need much, maybe an hour or two, but she was exhausted after last night. The necklace was still wrapped around her neck, her bare body exposed, and her side of the sheets covering below her knees. Micheal turned his attention to his cell phone that lay on the bedside table. He looked at the screen; a message from Kellen stared back at him. He groaned as he read the quick message and set the phone back down. He rolled over and hovered over Lorena, kissing her cheek as his hands ran down her bare back.

"Kellen and the others need me, I don`t know how long I will be gone but I will try to make it back as soon as I can."

"That damn phone has been buzzing for twenty minutes and

That's all he wanted?"

Micheal smiled.

"I am sorry, but yes."

" You can't go."

" I can't?"

" No, you're busy."

She turned over in the bed and wrapped herself around him, greeting his lips with urgent kisses.

Micheal reluctantly pulled away.

"I guess I can be a little late..."

Lorena smiled wide

Micheal reluctantly dressed, but didn't take his eyes of her.

"I will be back as soon as I can."

She nodded, rose from the bed, and searched the closest for clothes. She had just found an outfit that pleased her when she heard Micheal leave through the front door. She dressed and made her way to the kitchen. She had hunted yesterday but craved the sweetness again so she opened both wine bottles that she had gotten as wedding gifts. One was from Athien and Crystal, the other from Darrain and his new wife Loraine. She poured a little from both into the glass and drank.

Around noon it hit her. Hard. Violent. She dashed to the nearest bathroom, barely making it over the toilet in time. She had consumed both bottles an hour ago and now they were coming back up. She heaved again and still more blood poured from her mouth. She couldn't close her mouth, as soon as she did, she only heaved again. She felt the darkness creeping up on her. She tried to force herself to stay conscious but as another wave hit her and her body racked with uncontrollable tremors, she slumped over the toilet. Micheal came home hours later, near ten at night, to find Lorena on the bloody bathroom floor. She woke at his touch, only to vomit more blood. Micheal`s face creased with worry.

"Vampires are not supposed to throw up blood. Have you been doing this all day?"

Lorena nodded weakly, still vomiting. Micheal had noticed the empty bottles on the kitchen counter.

"Did Athien or Darrain poison the blood they gave you?"

" No." she gasped "They wouldn't do that."

She barely got the words out before becoming painfully racked by more tremors and throwing up again.

"Lorena, I am taking you to Livett city, to the doctor there."

Lorena didn't have time to protest, she lost consciousness.

She blinked the bleariness from her eyes, Dr. Walker, a petite woman with a heart shaped face, large golden eyes and lush brown hair, and an assistant hovered over a beeping machine that was connected to her, whispering in hushed tones. Lorena felt stiff, like she hadn't moved in awhile. She groaned inwardly. Micheal took her to the hospital even though she had asked him not too. The smells of the hospital assaulted her nose and she rustled uncomfortably. The assistant gave the doctor a sideways glance. Dr. Walker shook her head. Lorena raised an eyebrow and the doctor quickly rushed the assistant from the room and closed the door behind them. Moments later Lorena heard them whispering again.

"We tell her nothing yet. I don`t know if this...condition she is in is dangerous or not. This hasn`t been seen in a very long time. It was before my time so I have no clue how to even deal with this-no one does. Until we figure this out, we tell her nothing."

Lorena heard the assistant shift her weight uncomfortably.

"The monitor showed-"

"I am aware of what the monitor showed! We tell her nothing!" Dr. Walker angrily cut her off.

Lorena let her eyes drift close again, she was too tired to deal with this right now.

When Lorena opened her eyes again, Micheal was in the room with her, lounging in the wooden chair facing her bed. She smiled weakly at him. Micheal rose immediately and came to her side.

"Lorena...there is something..." he sighed and started again. "You are going to be okay. The rest...im still trying to wrap my head around. Dr. Walker will be in here shortly to explain it all to you. Do you need anything? Are you in pain?"

She shook her head.

"No, I feel fine." She smiled at him.

The door to her hospital room opened and Dr. Walker stepped into her room, smiling warmly at Lorena.

"It is good to see you finally awake. Four days is a long time to sleep."

Dr. Walker looked down at her chart.

"You were not poisoned, like Micheal believed. It took us a quite a while to figure out was causing you to vomit for three days straight and sleep all the fourth day. When we did, it was stunning. We couldn't believe what we were seeing when we took a sample of the blood you were throwing up and examined it. The small amount of human cells that were not mutated by the vampire cells were taking over, causing the vampire cells to become dormant; essentially you were becoming more human then vampire. We then tried to figure out why, what was causing it. We ran a multitude of tests, what we found was another shock. Lorena..." The doctor paused, and her eyes seem to beg Lorena to comprehend her next few words, "for reasons we still can't figure out, you somehow got pregnant and your body is changing itself so the child can grow and live. That is what triggered all of this. We don`t know how it knew to do that, but that is what your body is doing. If it did not, the venom inside your body would destroy the fertilized egg. If it did not, your body wouldn't be able to grow with the baby."

Lorena sat stunned. She turned to look at Micheal who was watching her carefully.

"Did you know all this?" She asked him.

Micheal nodded. "It's still hard for me to understand, but yeah. I was told yesterday."

She turned back to Dr. Walker

"Why did this just happen? We have been married for a year, why didn`t I get pregnant sooner?"

Dr. Walker nodded.

"That was another question we had wanted to answer. We took a sample - with Micheal`s consent - and found that you have the highest percent of getting pregnant by a vampire male at 90%, a Hybrid at 70%, A Lytherian at 30%, a werewolf at 10% and a human at less than one percent. So with a thirty percent chance each time, it is not surprising that it just happened."

Lorena nodded her understanding.

"You need to get some more rest, Lorena. Your body has been through a lot. We`d like to keep you here a few more days for observation and with your consent we`d like to study you, although no invasive measures will be used, that I assure you."

Lorena chewed her lip in thought.

"Before an action is taken I want consent from either myself or Micheal."

Dr. Walker nodded.

"Yes, alright. Now you need to sleep."

Dr. Walker smiled before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.