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The Lycanthrope Trilogy: Heart

Chapter 10: Ultrasound

"Seriously, Yuu, you need to tell me how you do it," Lavi says as Kanda cradles a sleeping Secret. The alpha rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to tell. Maybe she likes wolves better than rabbits."

When Lavi stares at his feet in despair, Kanda sighs and says, "You just try too hard. Don't act differently around her because you're trying to be a role model."

"But I thought―"

Kanda shifts Secret into Lavi's arms to cut him off. As soon as Secret settled, her yellow eyes opened.

"Hi, Secret, did you have a good nap?" Lavi asked. She blinked at him. He looked at Kanda for help.

"Set her down."

Lavi carefully laid his daughter on the couch next to me. Secret looks at me. "Nya!"

I smile. As Lavi and Kanda crouch in front of the baby, the bluenette glances around the room, probably to see how many lycanthropes were in the room. He grumbles about how much he'll regret what he's about to do before he looks at Secret and smiles. "Secret, your daddy thinks you don't love him."

"Huh? I didn't―!"

"Shut up!" Kanda snaps. He looks back at Secret. "But you love him, right?"

Secret nods. The alpha smiles and picks her up. "He's still just a silly rabbit! Silly, silly, silly wabbit!"

"He's kind of scaring me," Lavi whispers to me. I laugh. "I'm telling you: he was born to be a father."

Kanda moved Secret to Lavi. The redhead paused for a moment and then stuck out his tongue. "Daddy's a silly wabbit!"

Kanda sits next to me. "I'm going to regret that for a long time."

"You can't sit there and say you didn't enjoy it," I say. He leans back and closes his eyes. "I might as well get used to it. In three months, I'll be a full-time daddy."

"Does that bother you?" I ask.

Kanda shakes his head, eyes still closed. "Another thing I'll regret saying, but I like children…to some degree. As long as they aren't annoying."

"Most children are annoying."

He opens his eyes and looks at me. "Do you really think a kid would annoy me more than once?"

"You do have a point, but then they would be scared of you."

"Good. Then they won't end up like Lavi."

"They'll end up with trauma."

"Where did the 'you were made to be a father' stuff go?"

"I don't know," I say. "I still think that, though I'm starting to worry about the poor child."

"Don't give him, her, it, whatever sympathy before he, she, it, whatever is even born."

I shrug.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

"KlaNii, your stomach is already swelled. You'll hurt yourself―or the baby―if you go hunting," Kanda said. Klaud frowned. "But―!"

"He's right," I add.

"I don't want to be useless," she mumbled and stared at her feet.

Before Kanda could say anything, Lenalee popped out of nowhere. "Klaud, I stopped my normal duties when I got a bump. You need to do the same. And get an ultrasound."

"I don't need an ultrasound," Klaud growled. I say, "What would Arejay and Lizzy do?"

She glanced at me. "Lizzy and Arejay Hale?"

I nod. "If Lizzy got pregnant, can you imagine how freaked out she would be with no husband and only hooking up on the weekends?"

"What's your point?" the "siblings" asked.

"My point is that Arejay would be there for her because he's her brother. He'd do what he knew was best for her, even when she disagreed."

Klaud paused and looked at Kanda. He said, "I want to keep you safe. You and the baby."

After another minute, she finally gave in. "Fine. No patrol or hunting, but I'm not getting an ultrasound."

No one pushed, not even Lenalee, who seemed like she really wanted to.

That night, patrols changed. For the next month or so, I would be on evening patrol with Alec and Lavi.

"So where are we set to go?" I ask.

Lavi replies, "Clouded Mountain and back."

After a moment, I ask, "Would it be a good idea for everyone to bring their creatures to the Order? I mean, in case something happened?"

"Yes, though we need Kanda's permission. Too many creatures of opposing elements in very close vicinity can be bad for their health."

"How?"

Alec says, "In my old pack, we had different places for the creatures. When one of the vampire clans became more active, we brought all of our creatures to the cave we lived in. Uh, it's kind of hard to explain. A unicorn and mermaid were having a conversation, and a…portal opened between them and sucked them in. They got back through, but they had to be healed by lin-lins."

Lavi laughs. "I wonder why a portal hasn't opened between Yu and me."

Alec and I join in.

As we continue to walk, I glance at Lavi. "Um, I've been wondering for a while…you're so happy all the time. And Kanda said that the people he bit didn't have pretty backgrounds. Y-you don't have to tell me, but I was just curious."

He nods. "When I was fourteen, I had my first cigarette. By fifteen, I was smoking over a pack a day. When I turned twenty, my grandfather made me go to the doctor because I had been coughing to the point of vomiting the last few months."

Lavi paused for a moment. "The lung cancer was so advanced that I had less than a month left. My grandfather told me to get through it myself. Kanda found me in the garden of the hospital, smoking. Even when I only had days, I couldn't stop. That's what it does to you. The bite cured the cancer and destroyed my addiction. Now, I could smoke and not give it a second thought because addictions don't affect lycanthropes."

"Are you a lot younger than you look?" I ask.

"Don't know. How old do I look?"

"About thirty-four."

He nods. "Then yes. I'm twenty-six."

Even Alec seemed surprised by this information. I glance at the ravenette. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five. Twenty-six in January."

I nod. "I'm twenty-three."

"Oak, right?"

I nod again. "January is…Storm…?"

He opens his mouth, and I quickly correct, "Wolf!"

"Yes."

Lavi kicks a rock. "I'm Wort. Of all the things they could have named the August moon."

"You should have been born in May," I say.

"The Hare moon? Why does everyone think I'm a rabbit?"

"Hyperactive rabbit," Alec and I say in unison.

The redhead stuck his tongue out at us. We walked in silence towards Clouded Mountain.

After we passed Lake WillowDrop, I paused. Alec and Lavi turn to look at me. The ravenette asked, "Allen, are you okay?"

I raise my hand to quiet him. "Do you hear that?"

They listen for a moment. Lavi says, "No."

"Exactly," I say. "It's too quiet."

No bird song filled the forest. The trees swayed in the breeze, absence of the presence of squirrels and other wildlife. The smell of sugar and bloodstone dust wafts into my nostril. I glance at Lavi, and he nods.

"TRANSFORMATION MYSTIC STORM!"

"TRANSFORMATION PLATINUM FIRE!"

"TRANSFORMATION BLACK JEWEL!"

"Show yourself!" I growl, green and black eyes narrowed.

A dark-skinned figure with short, black hair walked out of the trees. "I actually don't want to fight today. Just a little spying."

Thunder shakes the ground as I hiss, "Devit."

The vampire smiles, his fangs poking his bottom lip. "So you know who I am, Allen Walker."

"I could say the same."

He shrugs. "Every Noah knows who you are, Mister Two Elements. Though, I have to wonder why you seem to hate me so much. What did I do to you?"

Lavi stood on a floating Platinum platform. "Yeah, Allen. Why are you so ticked?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Alec asked from the top of a spike of Onyx. They must have had to move due to the Myst covering on the ground.

I glance at the ravenette. "You knew all along."

He nods. "She passed out afterwards, and I carried her into the woods so no one saw her ears and tail."

"Still confused here, guys," Lavi said.

"Klaud," I say. "Devit's the father."

Lavi's eyes bulged.

Devit's golden eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Huh?!"

I growl and glare at him. "You got her pregnant, you sick rapist."

"Oh, crap. Lord Millennium's going to be mad," he said, a hand over his eyes. I snap, "He'll be mad?! What about Klaud?! Her life is ruined!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Devit retorted. "It was an experiment!"

"To see if you could make a vampire-lycanthrope hybrid?!"

"No! I didn't know she was a lycanthrope. The glamour you mutts use covers your scent."

"So you just wanted to rape someone."

Devit sighed exasperatedly. "No. Lord Millennium wanted to see if sexual activity would help as far as drinking people."

Lightning strikes the ground in front of me. "Oh, so you're the good guy. You didn't want to rape anyone, just drink their blood."

"You don't understand."

"You're right. I don't understand. But I understand that you're a rapist and murderer."

Devit shakes his head. "You understand that you can't do anything against Kanda, right?"

"Kanda has nothing to do with this," I growl.

"Aren't you supposed to be the intellectual one? A vampire clan is like a lycanthrope pack. The Lord Millennium is our leader."

"I don't care. Now get out of our territory before I turn you into barbeque."

Devit opens his mouth, but he's cut off by lightning striking the ground in front of him. Before he runs toward his own territory, he says, "Think about it."

"Out!"

Once I'm certain he's gone, I deactivate and begin to walk towards Clouded Mountain. "Come on. We need to get back to the Order before night falls."

I morph into a lycanthrope. After a moment, a red wolf and black cougar run beside me, and we make our way to Clouded Mountain.

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

"Open your eyes and you will see. 'Cause I still believe sometimes you gotta lose everything to find out that you've always been running awry. You gotta keep your head up when the world won't let up. Sometimes you gotta leave everything to find out what you don't want to leave behind. You gotta keep your head up when the world won't let up."

I pull off my headphones and look at Alec, who sat in his "bed". "Why didn't you tell us you knew?"

He shrugs. "It's not my place. Klaud's going through enough crap as it is."

I glance at the bathroom door to make sure it was still closed. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Yes. One of my pack mates fell in love with a vampire. The baby never turned against us or anything, but it was only a week old when it and its mother were killed."

I look at my lap.

"However, I believe this pack is much closer than my old one was," Alec continues. "It's like a family. You can feel it in the air."

The bathroom door opens. "I should take that as a compliment."

Alec looks at Kanda. "It was meant to be, though I'm not keen on the idea of giving you compliments."

"I'm not keen on the idea of letting be in this pack either, but I guess we're both disappointed."

"Knock it off!" I growl. "Alec, you started that. Apologize."

His blue eyes turn to slits as he watches Kanda. "Sorry."

"Buzz off."

"Kanda!" I hiss.

He glances at me then back at Alec. "Whatever."

He stalks into the tunnel and says without stopping, "Moyashi, Klaud's having an ultrasound. Five minutes in the infirmary."

"Okay, I'll be there."

Five minutes later, I hold my headphones and mp3 player in my hand and say, "Klaud, I brought my headphones if you want to listen to them."

She glances at the device. "Hollywood Undead?"

"I already made a playlist for you. Halestorm. Papa Roach. Three Days Grace."

She nods and slips the headphones on.

Komui pushes her shirt up, and she tenses. Kanda squeezes her hand.

When I really looked, I could see the slight swell in Klaud's stomach. Komui smeared the gel on her skin before he began to rub the weirdly shaped stick around the area. Kanda and I glanced at the screen as it beeped, a ball of a baby appearing.

"It's a boy," Komui said. Klaud heard him through the music. I guess I assumed she would be irritated by the fact the baby's a boy, but her face looked indifferent. She definitely heard him.

Kanda seemed happy. His eyes glittered, and something like a smile formed on his lips.

"You don't understand."

I shake my head.

"Think about it."

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

At dinner the next day, my mind floated in the clouds somewhere in a far away land.

"Allen!"

I shake my head and look at Kanda. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

I nod. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

After Kanda turned his attention back to Marie, Alec glanced at me. "Still thinking about yesterday?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"A little."

I sigh. "I just keep replaying what Devit said. Doesn't it make you wonder?"

"Not really," he said. "But then again, you also strike me as the type of person who would ask a waterfall why it's wet instead of assuming it's wet because it's made of water."

"Kanda said the exact same thing after my apprenticeship ceremony."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I don't know. Why doesn't it?"

"Kanda and I are a lot alike, as much as I hate to admit it. That's probably the reason we're at each other's throats all the time."

"That and you both like me."

"And that."

I sigh again and nibble on a piece of raccoon, but the taste didn't make me any happier.

Kanda looked at me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes."

"Did something happen?"

"No, I just…I keep thinking about what Devit said."

"What? That he had no choice in raping Klaud?"

"Yeah."

"Vampires lie."

"But what purpose would he have to lie?" I ask. "It's not like we'd think of him differently if he'd said he'd wanted to rape her."

"Just don't lose sleep over it."

Author Note: Short chapter! I wanted to get it out. Long waits for updates. Writer's block. High school. Ugh! Just please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW! Won't Let Up-Papa Roach.