Number two: Brilliance.
Pairing: Evra Von/Merla Von.
Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Evra grinned as he burst from the trailer and threw his arms above his head excitedly, "It's a boy!"
The crowd of Cirque folk cheered and clapped loudly, all sporting wide smiles: some shouted out words of congratulations to the new father, others hugged each other happily. Evra stayed grinning for a few more moments then turned and ran back into the trailer, excitedly banging the door behind him. He could still hear the excited chatter outside and he grinned wider.
Truska came over and hugged him tightly, congratulating him in her strange language. Evra laughed and freed himself from her embrace, walking slowly over to his wife and their new-born son. Mr. Tall patted the snake-man on his back and then both he and Truska left the new parents alone. Evra watched them leave and, as soon as the door had clicked shut, he let out a breath of relief.
From beside him, his son gurgled and waved his hands slightly: Evra's grin softened into a fond smile and he gently kissed his wife on her forehead. Merla smiled wearily and tickled their son gently on his round belly. The baby gurgled again, this time with a hint of happiness but soon fell into a sound sleep, with his parents watching every small breath he took.
Merla looked up at her husband and smiled, "He's just like you." She whispered and Evra smiled, stroking her damp hair back: true, the baby was like his father. They both had scales for skin, both had green-yellow hair and the same snake nose, eyes and tongue.
"Do you mind?" Evra asked softly, tracing his finger over his son's tiny green hand.
Merla laughed quietly, "Of course I don't!" She leaned against Evra and sighed, carefully readjusting her hold on her son, "The next one can have human skin to make up for it." Evra laughed and kissed the top of her head. He stayed perfectly still and soon Merla had joined their son in the land of sleep. His mind wandered but he kept returning to the same thought: their son was pure brilliance. He was a small wonder, a tiny little snake-skinned wonder and Evra loved him unconditionally.
He wished Darren was here to see this: he missed the little half-vampire and he often wondered what he was getting up to. Darren had been his best friend and, for that reason, Evra had decided that their little baby would be called Shancus (if the child was a boy) and, what luck, Merla had given birth a healthy snake-boy: and that snake-boy would be christened Shancus, and Darren would be made his Godfather – even if the half-vampire didn't know about it.
Evra grinned to himself and watched his wife and son sleep.
The snake-man was perfectly content, perfectly happy, because now his already perfect life had just gotten that little bit more perfect.