CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

“She’s dead isn’t she?” Kayla could barely get the words out of her mouth, she couldn’t hear Scarlet’s heartbeat. Her gaze shifted to the small baby, snuggling on Scarlet’s chest.

“Kayla.”

“No, she is. There is no coming back from this Solara.”

“Look, Kayla. Look at her wound.”

“Oh. My. God.”

Stephan and Nikki moved back to the bed, to see what Kayla was gasping about.

Scarlet’s wound was closing up. It was healing on its own.

They watched as the huge gaping hole closed up. Her skin healed, not living a slight indicator of what had happened. It was smooth and flat as it was before she got pregnant.

“I can’t believe this.” Kayla watched in disbelief.

“Do you hear that? I know that sound.” Stephan moved as close as the shield would let him. He knew that sound better than anyone else in the room.

“Is that her heart? It sounds strange, just like...” Solara looked up, sure what his neck word was, but stopped at its impossibility.

“Mine. It sounds like mine.” Stephan finished his sentence. It was impossible and they knew that.

But as absurd as it was also true. He could hear it as clearly as he could hear his heart and the flattering heartbeat of his son, who lay peacefully on his mother’s chest.

He took a step closer to the bed, and this time he was able to touch Scarlet. The shield was down and the child was sound asleep. He handed the baby to Kayla and pulled Scarlet’s body into his arms.

She wasn’t dead, but as much as he tried to wake her, she didn’t open her eyes.

“Solara, Stephan, Nikki, one of you needs to tell me what’s going on.” Kayla wrapped the baby in Scarlet’s towel and cuddled him in her arms.

“I am just as stunned as you are. Yes, the mother does heal but it takes them days to do so.” Nikki was examining Scarlet’s stomach.

“I don’t know love.” Solara shrugged.

“I think she’s transforming, but I’m not sure into what.” Stephan held her closer to his body. Her body felt odd and so did her skin. It was like her body was humming in some sort of way. She was not human anymore.

“I’m just glad she is alive. When she wakes up she won’t be too happy about not being human.” Kayla looked down at the little child in her arms.

“But we didn’t have anything to do with it.” Solara was defensive.

“We’ll tell her who the real culprit is. I owe you, one little guy.” She kissed one of his little hands. “When will she wake up Stephan?”

“Not for a while, a day or two maybe three.” Stephan pulled the bloodied shirt off her body. That’s how long it took him when the vampire venom was mixed with the beast blood in his system. “Nikki could you change these sheets, I’m going to clean her up.” He lifted her and took her to the bathroom.

“He hasn’t looked at his son, even once.” Solara helped Kayla into the chair.

“He will, no one can resist this cute face.” Kayla frowned at the blood patches on his face and neck, “He needs to be cleaned too.”

They waited for Stephan to finish cleaning Scarlet, he dressed her in one of the flannel dresses she had bought earlier that day.

Kayla toweled the baby with warm water. He cried out when she had used cold water instead, but surprisingly he didn’t shield himself from her.

She took the baby to Stephan who was sitting on the clean bed next to Scarlet. The blood had seeped through the mattress so, Nikki just overturned it.

Kayla stood over him, with his baby in his arms. Scarlet looked peaceful, unconscious at his side. She held out the baby to him so that he would take him.

Stephan stared at the sleeping baby for a while, part of him didn’t want to form any type of bond with the child, especially after what Scarlet had gone through. But he was still their son. He took him from her and cradled him in one arm, his other hand was stroking Scarlet’s hair.

The baby was beautiful his lips exactly like his mother’s, small and beautiful.

“Everything is going to be fine Stephan. We just have to wait for her to wake up.”

“I will be going to King County in the morning, to sign the contract for the house. I’ve also asked her to furnish it.” Solara moved to the bed.

“We need a car to take Scarlet and the baby, could you get one for me in the morning.” Stephan’s eyes were fixed on the tiny fists the baby made. He looked at his son and regretted the seconds he had spent despising him.

“I’ll do that in the morning,” Solara said.

“I better pack up her things. What are we going to do with this bloodied stuff?” Kayla began emptying the contents of Scarlet’s draw into a suitcase.

“We’ll have to burn them. There is no way for us to explain this.” Stephan laid the baby at Scarlet’s side. He needed his hands free if he was going to help get rid of the evidence of the birth. No one would believe any explanation that they could give and so they didn’t have any other choice.

“Maybe you should let someone else clean that blood up, Kayla,” Solara suggested to her.

“I’m fine.” Kayla stared at the pool of blood that formed around the bed, she couldn’t believe that Scarlet had bled that much and was still alive.

The next day they moved in a hurry, ignoring the questioning stares and the suspicion-filled whispers of the neighbors. Solara paid the superintendent that month’s rent and the damages caused in the room. They had burnt the mattress with the other bloody clothes and ripped out the floorboard, where the bloodstains didn’t lift.

Solara had bought a black range rover sport earlier that morning, he had paid cash for it, and so the car dealer didn’t have a problem when he bought it without a license.

The car was big enough for all five of them, plus their language to fit in. They had packed every thread of clothing that Scarlet had brought with her.

The trip down to King County wasn’t that long, when they got there the agent was still arranging the furniture into the house. The bedrooms were already done, Stephan took Scarlet to the furthest from the living room. He wanted her to have some peace as she rested.

The house was grand, it was a three-story house with six bedrooms. Three bedrooms on the second and third floor, each room with its unique design and color. The ground floor had a television room, living room, and a dining room. The foyer had a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging on top.

It was open and the sunlight streamed into the room from different directions. They had a Tiger Mountain forest and a pond in their back yard, the front was adorned with flowers and an angel fountain.

Kayla and Solara took a tour of the house when Stephan put Scarlet to bed. Nikki was more interested in the forest in the back, a place she could run to when things got especially difficult in the house. She didn’t plan on staying long, she had made up her mind to leave as soon as Scarlet woke up or sooner.

Once the paperwork was done and the movers had arranged everything in the house, the agent and her people left, leaving the five of them to their new home.

Kayla couldn’t help but feel sad, Scarlet wasn’t awake to see all of this for herself, but soon she would be. And the scenery would take her breath away.

Kayla went to Scarlet’s room, it was a white room with shades of pink and blue all around. Stephan was sitting at her bedside, holding her hand in his. She felt sorry for him, he had his son but not Scarlet, not yet anyway.

The baby was cooing in his pram at the far end of the room, he had discovered his toes and was fascinated by them. The little boy seemed three months old and not a day old. The size of him explained why Scarlet was so huge during her pregnancy.

“We need to get him a crib, or a bed.” Kayla thought of what Nikki had said about the growth spurt, she assumed that soon the baby would be too big for a crib.

“We’ll get him both.” Stephan turned to look in his son’s direction for a second before his eyes returned to Scarlet’s angelic face, “Could you and Solara do that now. I’ll keep an eye on both of them until you come back.”

“Fine.” Kayla rubbed the little one’s belly, making him giggle before she left. He had his father’s eyes but she didn’t think that Stephan had paid him that much attention to notice.

After Kayla left, Stephan picked up his son and took him to his mother’s side. “He’s a beautiful boy, thank you. But you have to wake up soon because he needs his mother. I’m very worried about leaving him with Kayla. The next thing you know, he’ll be snapping his fingers and twisting his neck at me.” Stephan shook the image out of his head, his son as Kayla’s little clone scared him.

He laid the baby at her side and left the room. He needed some time to think. He only had two days till the end of the week, and he had to decide whether he would comply with Marquis’s orders or not. He asked Nikki to check on them before he left.

He went to his new backyard, it was beautiful with the thick forest around. Stephan decided to take a run, he needed to clear his head before making any decisions. He left his clothes on the bench near the pond and phased into the black jaguar he loved so much.