"This will be cold Miss Hathaway," the Obstetrician warned, squirting gel onto my lower stomach. He'd already done a physical examination, including an internal exam. Not the most pleasant experience, particularly given the doctor seemed to be disapproving of my situation. I wonder what Dr. Olendzki had told him? "Do we need to wait for the father before we proceed to see if your baby is viable?" he said, the faintest hint of a sneer in his voice. It was so slight; I wondered whether I'd imagined it.
"That won't be necessary, thank you, doctor," Celeste said immediately in an unambiguously frosty tone of voice. "My brother is currently deployed overseas. As he's unable to be here, I'm here to support Rose."
You could see the Dr. stiffen with the subtle rebuke.
"That must be difficult for you all," he murmured.
I nodded. "Can you please…?" I said looking at my stomach. I just wanted to know whether our baby was ok.
Celeste grasped my hand, and the Obstetrician moved the wand across my skin, pressing harder than I expected. He was moving it up and down and then started fiddling with the machine. I didn't dare look at the monitor until I heard a whoosh whoosh whoosh sound. The most beautiful sound in the world, I recognized it instantly. It was the sound of my baby's heart beating! My eyes flicked open, and I looked at the screen. I could see the outline of what was unmistakably a baby. Junior.
The sight was unbelievably moving. My miracle baby was there, and for the first time, I could see it. My eyes looking at the screen in wonder, I could see its arms and legs and even movement as it repositioned itself unfelt inside me.
"It's good news. Your baby is alive, and that's its heartbeat. I'll need to check out the placenta and blood flow, but it's looking good. I still want you on bed rest and observation for a week, but for now baby looks fine."
I looked to Celeste and burst into tears. Alberta came in at just that moment. She'd been outside taking care of all the paperwork. It turns out the Academy had insurance for all their students, so the medical expenses were going to be covered.
"Oh no!" she gasped, misunderstanding my tears.
"No – it's ok! Can you show us again?"
Alberta stood at the head of the bed and stroked my hair while the Obstetrician placed the wand on my belly a second time. The beautiful sound of Junior's heart beating filled the room. I looked up at Alberta and smiled.
"Oh, Rose! That's wonderful!" she grinned.
"I need to take some measurements now," the Obstetrician advised. "Would you like me to talk you through it? I can record the ultrasound on disk too if you'd like? So you can send it to the father?"
"Yes, please!" I said, unable to wipe the smile and tears from my face. The Obstetrician wasn't to know I had no idea where to send the disk – but I would keep it in the hope I'd be able to play it for Dimitri one day.
For the next twenty minutes, the Obstetrician measured the head, legs, heart, abdomen and pretty much everywhere else on Junior. He pointed out the heart, kidneys, bladder and other body structures as well as measuring blood flow in the heart and even in the umbilical cord. Celeste, Alberta and I were all staring at the screen, listening carefully to what the Obstetrician was explaining to us.
"Hmm…" the Obstetrician muttered at one point.
"What?" I asked, instantly alarmed.
"Well everything is on track, but the baby is quite long," he said.
"My brother is over six and a half feet tall, could that explain it?" Celeste said, giving Alberta a quick look.
The Obstetrician smiled for the first time.
"Yes, it would. I'd say your child is going to be tall like its father. Your dates are spot on Miss Hathaway. Your baby is measuring eleven weeks six days, and your due date is the twenty-seventh of August. I'll send a nurse along in a minute - we're going to need to do some blood work, but everything is looking good. Would you like some photos?"
I nodded ecstatically, grinning as he handed me four small pictures of Junior.
"So is everything definitely ok?" I checked.
"There's no sign of injury or shock to your uterus or baby. I do want you on bed rest for a week, but provided nothing happens in the next day or two you can be discharged to recuperate at home," he explained before taking his leave.
Alberta was smiling. "That's great news! We'll wait to hear what the Moroi doctor has to say, but if all goes well, you should be able to come home on Monday."
I was so happy Junior was ok that I was even willing to put up with a weekend in the hospital. The room I was in was actually quite nice. A single room, it had an armchair that folded out into a single bed, which was where Celeste was going to stay. It also had a private bathroom and a large TV. Celeste was busy figuring out what channels we had when there was a knock at the door, and a Moroi male doctor came in.
"Guardian Petrov," he greeted.
"Doctor Langtree," Alberta replied respectfully. "This is Novice Hathaway and Guardian Matthews. The Obstetrician has just been in, and apparently, the baby is unharmed."
"So what happened? Training accident?" he asked kindly, indicating for me to lift my shirt so he could examine my abdomen.
I nodded. There was no point telling him a Novice had intentionally booted me in the abdomen not knowing I was three months pregnant.
"You're fortunate you have good abdominal muscles. They're what saved your baby," he commented. "You were lucky this time Novice Hathaway, but you might not be so lucky again. I'm afraid you won't be able to return to training after this."
I turned to Alberta, alarm in my eyes. If I couldn't train I couldn't graduate – and I needed to graduate if I was going to have any chance of supporting Junior and myself in the future.
"What if I did a modified program?" I begged Alberta.
"Rose you must know it's not possible, particularly if you're keeping it a secret…"
"What if I only spar with Eddie, Mason, and Celeste? They already know? If you told just the combat teachers, they could make sure there wasn't any danger. If I don't graduate, I can't support my baby, Alberta…"
Alberta looked at the doctor. He shrugged.
"She could probably carry on until twenty weeks, but after that, it's just too risky for both of them."
Twenty weeks. That would be seven weeks before I was due to graduate.
"I'd have to speak with your teachers and Principal Kirova, but we could try and accelerate things a bit? Run some of your combat tests early? You'll be busy, but if we sign you off early on your combat subjects, it will give you the last couple of months to focus on your academic classes. It will be tight, but we might just be able to make it work."
"I'll do whatever it takes," I promised.
"Other than abdominal hits, is there anything else she needs to be aware of?" Alberta asked the doctor.
"You can't land on your stomach, kicks to the lower back also need to be avoided, and you'll need to be careful not to overheat or exhaust yourself," he explained. "Also your body is producing a lot of the hormone relaxin, which is softening your joints and ligaments. You need to be careful as it's easy to over flex, stretch or rotate because everything is a little looser than usual."
"When can I go back to the Academy?" I asked. "The Obstetrician said I'd have to have a week of bed rest, but I'd only have to stay here a few days."
"Yes, that's fine. You'll need to recuperate at the infirmary where Dr. Olendzki can keep an eye on you, though," he stipulated. "And we'll need to see you here again around eighteen weeks for another set of tests."
With a few additional comments to Alberta, he left promising to check in on me again tomorrow.
"I'll have to let Townsend, Alto, Rickard, and Martinez know…" Alberta was thinking out loud. "And Principal Kirova… Celeste? I'll need to schedule you for the training classes every morning so you can partner Rose in all her combat activities, would that be ok?"
Celeste looked delighted. Combat classes were a lot more fun to guard than the theory lessons or general guarding duties. I was glad it would be Celeste I'd be working with. What with Dimitri leaving, and now my pregnancy, we'd become very close. "Are you going to tell anyone else?" Alberta asked me. "Perhaps Lissa?"
I frowned. "Yeah, I'll need to. She needs to get used to new Guardians," I said with a frown. First, she'd lost Dimitri and now me. And I knew from our chats that Celeste wouldn't be looking for allocation with her after graduation either. "I'll tell her when I get back to the Academy," I said, the prospect a bleak thought after the high of seeing Junior. I didn't need our bond to know she wasn't going to be happy about my news.
"I should get going," Alberta said regretfully, looking at her watch. "You both have your phones, so stay in touch." She came over and hugged me. "I wish you'd told me earlier, Rose, but I'm relieved everything is ok. I know it's a lot right now, but everything will work out. We'll talk more when you're back at the Academy."
"Thanks, Alberta. I'm sorry," I said hanging my head, apologizing for everything. I knew she was disappointed that things had worked out this way, but also that she understood.
After Alberta had left, I lay back on the bed, closed my eyes and thought about the man who should have been beside me to see the first pictures of our precious baby. My Russian God Dimitri.
"Your place?" I asked, not even trying to disguise my surprise at seeing Galina and hearing her words.
"Yes. My compound. My army." She lifted her arm and gestured around her. "All of it – mine. Leave us, Nathan," she commanded imperiously. The youthful blond Strigoi didn't look as though he enjoyed being ordered around, but left nonetheless.
"I'd heard you'd been... awakened," I said, trying to mask my surprise at her announcement, and the fact she was sitting here chatting with me as though she were still Dhampir. It seemed so normal.
"Yes. A few years ago in Prague. My Moroi charges escaped in a car, leaving me behind to face twenty Strigoi." The bitterness was evident in her voice. "Not that I regret becoming immortal," she clarified, "but it has rather colored my feelings towards Royal Moroi… Tea?"
On the table in front of her was an exquisite tea set – probably hundreds of years old. I doubt, on my Guardian salary, I'd be able to save to afford even a cup.
"Thank you," I murmured, my good manners outweighing my revulsion at sitting and chatting with a Strigoi – even one I knew as well as Galina.
"So, Dimitri. I lost track of you after Zeklos died," she said. "What happened?"
"I ended up at St Vladimir's in America."
"Teaching?"
"No, guarding. But I did end up mentoring," I said, a half smile on my lips. "I had no idea how challenging it would be," I admitted.
"You'd be a good mentor," she said thoughtfully. "So. You didn't tell me what you think of my place?"
"Well I've only been awake an hour," I said truthfully. "And all I've seen is the dorm and the corridors on the way here, but I can honestly say it's like nothing I've ever seen before."
She nodded, smiling in pleasure. "If I'm going to be immortal I'm not going to do it by half," she said.
"So the army? What's it for? To wipe out all Moroi?" I was genuinely interested.
Galina rolled her eyes. "Of course not. That would be rather short-sighted, don't you think? The immortal crave Moroi blood; it would be a shame to eliminate that we most enjoy. No - the Moroi have their place in this world," she said, lighting up as she spoke about her ideologies, "But it's time for an economic and social revolution. Royal Moroi have held power for too long. It's time the tables are turned," she concluded.
I could see a maniacal gleam in her eyes. I wondered what the overall objective was – because knowing Galina there'd be one and it would be planned meticulously.
"It was kind of her Majesty to send me her finest Guardians to add to my army wasn't it?" Galina added playfully.
"You knew they'd send us?"
"Of course. The Royal Council are nothing if not predictable. With falling Guardian numbers, they wouldn't want to risk a larger force, so they'd send a smaller force of their very best. Stupid, really – because all they've done is add to my army to the detriment of their own."
"The other Guardians said they're given a choice – join your army or die. Is it true?" I asked, wondering whether Galina would tell me the truth. As a Dhampir and a Guardian she'd never lied to me, but I was unsure whether the same would apply as a Strigoi.
"It's true," she confirmed. "A warrior will never be loyal if you force them to your cause. Every member of my army is here by choice."
I lifted my eyebrow.
"Well I didn't say they were great choices," Galina admitted with an amused smile.
"So why did you want to see me?" I asked, getting to the heart of the matter. Since no one else had been called so quickly, Galina must have a reason, and I doubt it was for a social catch up.
"You've always been an excellent judge of character, Dimitri, and you're unfailingly observant. More so than anyone I've ever met. In such a large group, I'm sure you can imagine there are various… tensions and agendas… I'm not unaware that almost every one of my senior staff would stake me and take my place in an instant if they could. But you've never been like that. I can trust you, and we've always worked well together. I'm hoping you'll join me – as a second of sorts. Your talents would be very welcome."
Galina smiled. She'd been mentor to several students during my final two years at St. Basil's, but she and I had always understood one another best. We'd become very close in a professional sense – being able to read each other in much the same way Rose and I could. There'd never been a sexual element to our relationship, but as far as Guardians went, we were brilliantly matched. Her strategic vision, vivacity, and ambition were complemented by my caution, reserve, and observation. When Galina had been my mentor, and she'd taken me on my first raids, over time I'd fallen into a 'second' position with her, so I suppose it made sense she would consider me for a similar sort of role now.
"Power, money, sex, blood – as my second you'd have it all. The very best of everything," she tempted. "There's nothing you couldn't have."
But she was wrong. The only thing I wanted was a normal life with Rose – and she couldn't offer me that. But her offer might be a way for me to play for time. And more than anything, right now, I needed time.
"And if I say no?"
She shrugged, spreading her hands out.
"You have the same offer as the others – but in recognition of our history together I'll do it myself, and I'll make sure it's painless," she offered.
"It's a big decision," I said carefully, pretending to think over her words and give them consideration, "And I'm not in possession of all the facts. I'd like some time to get a sense of your organization and to thoroughly consider your offer before I commit to anything."
"You always were cautious," Galina laughed. "I can see that's not changed. My entire army is meeting here in five weeks. You can have until then. In fact, maybe I'll turn you as part of the festivities," she mused. "It would be a good way to introduce you as my second."
I nodded. Five weeks wasn't long, but it was longer than I'd expected.
"There's no escape from my manor, so I'll have you moved to a guest chamber. Starting tomorrow, you can spend your days with me getting an idea of how things work around here. But in the meantime…" she said, standing from her seat and walking across to me, running her hand along my shoulders and surprising me by sitting on my lap, "let's find out what your blood tastes like," she said almost apologetically.
I knew she'd drink from me with or without my permission, so I inclined my neck to give her access. I felt the sharp pinch as her fangs broke the skin and then nirvana as the chemicals in her venom spread through my bloodstream. I could feel her lapping at my jugular, my arms automatically wrapping around her, holding her in place as if to prevent her from ending the bliss her bite brought.
All too soon she was pulling her lips from me, but I was still high as a kite from the endorphins. Galina leaned across and pressed a button on the table beside me, and the doors opened revealing the four Strigoi who'd been there earlier.
"You taste very manly," she whispered in my ear. "I like it."
Galina stood up and wiped the side of her mouth daintily.
"Help Guardian Belikov to a guest chamber, and let it be known he is strictly off-limits. Anyone interfering with him in any way is to be killed on the spot."