Because my chapters have been getting shorter and also because I've already written them: I'm uploading two chapters today. The next chapter is set a little while after this one. So... Some Malik/Ingrid, some Malik/Emarni and (in chapter 35) Emarni being all innocent and cute. A little bit more Countie because we all need a bit of Count in our lives. Some Grayson, but not too much because he's annoying me. Quite a bit of Mina, which surprised me because she's a pretty irrelevant character. Again, sorry that I've shoved the Council plot aside. But I decided on the baby's name! And now you may read.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
The tension was so thick it could've been cut by a knife. But when Emarni gave it a go, waving a kitchen knife in the air, the tension didn't go away. And she was promptly told off by Grayson, who had seen the knife floating around in midair and assumed it was her.
"You can't just go around waving knives in the air." Grayson scolded, taking the knife and sliding it into a drawer, "Go and do something safe."
"Like what?" Emarni crossed her arms and scowled. Since Grayson couldn't see or hear her, he didn't reply with any ideas. She watched him walk away and turned back to watching Malik and Ingrid.
"He'll probably have your annoying attitude." Malik was saying.
"She'll probably have your stupid hair." Ingrid replied sharply.
"He's a boy!" Malik snapped.
"I'm the one that's going to have to carry her around for the next seven months!"
"That doesn't mean that you get to decide the gender. He's like 99.9% me."
"You sound like Dad!" Ingrid cried.
"I know that both of you can hear and see me." Emarni said, "Can you please hear me out?" Both the vampires turned to look at the blonde girl who was sitting on top of the kitchen counter. They both waited expectedly.
"I shall take that as a yes." Emarni said, "Listen up young ones."
"I'm older than you." Malik interrupted. His sister shot him a dirty look and he shrugged apologetically.
"I was being dramatic." Emarni scowled, "Give me some artistic license, Malik."
"Get on with it." Ingrid rolled her eyes.
"My point is: you two love each other a lot and there is nothing stopping you being together." Emarni told them, "And you'll both love the baby no matter what because it'll be just like you two. So, stop fighting about if it will be a boy or a girl. Either way it's going to be an evil selfish bully just like it's parents. Ingrid, are you crying?" Her older sister was tearing up, not that she would ever admit it. She was a little overemotional, that was all.
"That was kind of cool." Malik admitted, "Uh, can you give me and Ingrid a moment alone?" With a scowl, Emarni stamped out of the room.
Of course, she had to listen in. She pressed her eye to the keyhole and tried not to move too much.
"She's right, isn't she?" Malik sighed, taking Ingrid's hand in his own.
"She's different." Ingrid said, "She didn't use to make sense."
"Stop trying to change the subject." Malik said, "This is about us."
"Do you think Vlad can see her too?"
"Ingrid!" Malik looked her in the eyes, "I... I'm okay with having a... Daughter." He tried not to look disgusted.
"Good. Because I'm not okay with having a son." Ingrid smirked, "I win." And he had to let her win because otherwise she might've killed him.
"Fine. You win." Malik sighed, "You know... We could always use Lucifer as a girl's name."
"Shut up." Ingrid laughed.
"What about-?" Ingrid shut him up by planting her lips firmly on his.
"Sweet." Emarni whispered. But she couldn't help picking up a few tips. Don't kiss too fast because then it will be over fast. Don't kiss too softly because the other person will get bored and pull away. And it's not okay to touch below the chest, because you'll get slapped away.
"Ow!" Malik said and Ingrid laughed.
"You might want to stop there, unless you want your little sister to find out about the birds and the bees." Ingrid said, as Malik began to tug at her dress. He pulled away and glanced over at the door, where Emarni was peering through the keyhole.
"Emarni?" Malik said, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Emarni mumbled, getting to her feet and walking away.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Chloe was annoyed, Vlad discovered quickly. He discovered that when he walked into the living room and she scowled at him. Slowly, he picked up the book that he had left lying on the coffee table and looked at her. Chloe scowled at him, using some colourful language.
"Woah!" Vlad said, backing away with his hands in the air. When had Chloe become so horrible?
"Stop looking at me." Chloe hissed. Averting his eyes, Vlad dodged the glass of water that Chloe threw at his head. It smashed into the wall, shattering into pieces.
"Someone's in a mood." Vlad muttered.
"No- Vlad, I'm sorry." Chloe was on her feet instantly, "Have you seen Grayson anywhere or Emarni?"
"Emarni's dead." Vlad frowned.
"You can't see her either?" Chloe sighed. Then, she darted out of the room.
"I think Grayson was heading towards Building D!" Vlad called after her.
The most annoying thing about being a vampire in a place full of slayers was that nobody trusted you. As Chloe ran across the concrete ground that seperated the buildings, she got so many dirty looks that she began to wonder if a sign was hung around her neck telling people to hate her. But she checked and there wasn't. She ducked into the building. There was a reception with a person sitting behind a desk because this building- Chloe realised, her heart sinking- was used mainly for meetings and battle strategy. Wringing her hands together nervously, Chloe walked over to the desk.
"Excuse me?" she said, her voice much quieter than she intended.
"What?" The woman at the desk looked up, tapping her nails against the mousemat. She was chewing gum.
"Have you seen a vampire man called Grayson passing through here?" Chloe asked.
"Yes." The women tapped at her computer, "I think he's in the library but-" Chloe shoved the double doors open, ignoring the protests.
"Hey Chloe." Jonno said.
"Where's the library?" Chloe asked, still walking. The boy joined her side and tried to take her hand in his own. She slapped him- hard.
"Ow!" Jonno laughed uneasily, "I'll show you."
"Just tell me." Chloe growled. He pointed towards a large set of brass doors, which Chloe couldn't pull open. They were firmly locked.
"Jonathan!" Chloe grabbed the slayer by the throat, "Is there another way in?"
"Ye-yeah!" Jonno choked, "Upstairs."
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
"I have the solution." Emarni shouted enthusiastically, as she fell onto the sofa. Both Malik and Ingrid jumped, a little startled. Everyone else gave them strange looks.
"What?" Malik said, still a little taken aback. Death does weird things to people, he supposed; Emarni used to be really quiet and shy. Now, she was boisterous and loud and saying exactly what was on her mind, whether it hurt people's feelings of not.
"You can see me because we share the same genetic code!" Emarni announced, "Because we're brother and sister."
"And I can see you because I'm your sister?" Ingrid guessed, "Then, why can't Vlad-?" With a glare, Emarni got all up in Ingrid's face.
"I wasn't finished!" she told her, "You can see me because you're pregnant with Malik's child. See? You have some of our genetic code inside you now!" She was all but bubbling over with excitement.
"For once, the girl's right." Ingrid said.
"What on earth are you two doing?" The Count demanded, stalking into the room. After the Council had fallen short at the fight, the bracelets had become useless. They had been locked away in the Slayers lab, to be experimented on.
"Talking to Emarni." Ingrid answered.
"Great. Pregnant and nutty." The Count rolled his eyes.
"How did you-?"
"Oh, Ingrid, you silly girl. Mina came and told me the second she was sure." The Count said, "My grandson shall be born in five months!"
"Eight months." Ingrid corrected.
"He's right." Vlad said, moving to sit beside his sister. He squished Emarni in the process but he couldn't see her, so that was fine. And Ingrid wanted to watch her sister suffer.
"Vladimir!" Emarni shrieked, "Ingrid, get him off." Her sister smirked at her and said nothing.
"Vampire pregnancies are two months shorter, the same way we come of age two years earlier." Vlad explained. That was when Ingrid slapped herself in the face.
"I'm such an idiot." she muttered, turning to her dad, "And I'm having a daughter!" With that, she marched out of the room.
When Malik walked back into the room, Vlad, Ingrid and The Count had both moved to different rooms. His little sister was curled up on the sofa, hugging a cushion to her stomach.
"I'm glad you and Ingrid made up." she said, in the loudest voice she could muster.
"Emarni, you need to stop this right now." Malik told her firmly. The girl sat up a little and looked at him sleepily.
"What?" Emarni demanded.
"Stop trying to be so... Not Emarni. It's freaky." Malik said, "As corny as it sounds, we like you as you are."
"I know... It's just... Nobody notices me anymore." Emarni said, "I thought maybe if I was louder..."
"That's really dumb." Malik said and they both laughed.
"What if we took our DNA and injected it into people?" Emarni asked, sitting up properly.
"When you say people, you mean..." Malik had to hear her say it.
"I mean Chloe, of course." Emarni admitted.
"Chloe!" Malik said, with a mock wistful expression, "How I lust for thee!"
"I do not talk like that." Emarni laughed and hit him with a cushion.
"Oh, it is on, Ghost Girl." Malik hit her hard in the face with another cushion.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
"Would it be safe?" Grayson was saying, "For Ingrid, I mean?" And those eight words threw Chloe into a world of confusion. She had not been able to find the upstairs door and instead managed to climb into the air vent. She had crawled through the thin metal vent and found a sort of barred window that was above the library.
"We're not sure." Mina said, "There's a fifty-fifty chance."
"But it can preserve the gift?" Grayson asked. What gift? Chloe knew that they must be talking about Ingrid's child, there was no other explanation. But what gift?
"We can build her into a weapon." Mina said, "One that'll bring down the Council. If we can keep the Council at bay for another five months until the child is born."
"A weapon?" Chloe repeated, "Make their child a weapon?" Mina was holding up a needle, one of her beloved needles, that she used to inject medicine. It was filled with a purple liquid.
"This will give the child the genetic programming it'll need to mature quickly." Mina said, "As well as building on her powers." Mature quickly? Like grow up faster? Chloe didn't know what they were talking about but she was sure of one thing, she had to tell Ingrid before it was too late.
"I'm going to give it to her now." Mina said.
"No!" Chloe yelped, before she could stop herself. The vampire and the slayer both looked up and saw her at the same time. They exchanged looks. Then, Mina dashed out of the door. It was so on.
Carefully, Chloe wriggled backwards out of the air vent. She fell a few feet and hit the ground running, as she dodged the slayers who glared. She needed to beat Mina back to Building A. Because that liquid was going to turn Malik and Ingrid's child into a weapon. And Chloe was the only one that could stop it. She skidded round the corner and began down the stairs. Glancing out of the window as she ran, Chloe could see Mina running towards Building A. She sped down the rest of the stairs, like her life depended on it.
"Chloe!" Malik was outside the building, "We've found a way for you to see Emarni!" That froze Chloe in her tracks.
"What?" she stared at Malik with wide eyes.
"Yeah. Ingrid can see her before she's got my baby inside her." Malik said, "So-"
"You're going to impregnate me?" Chloe said, in horror.
"No!" Malik protested, "No, no, no! That would be weird! I was going to make you drink my blood or something."
"But I've drunk Emarni's blood! And I still can't see her!" Chloe said, "And Mina's about to turn your unborn child into a weapon!"
"What?" Malik yelped, and they both ran over to Building A. They took the stairs two at a time, kicking down the hospital door.
"Ingrid!" Chloe shouted. Ingrid's head snapped up, her dark hair falling in her eyes. She was rubbing the sore spot on her arm. They were too late.
"Oh god." was all Chloe could think of to say.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
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- Angels, x.