“She?” Karma asks, sitting up as I feel something deep inside me, closing my eyes to feel it better. “How do you know it’s a girl?” she goes on, emotion catching in her throat.
“I can feel her,” I state vaguely, unsure how I even know, but it’s like the baby is latching on, grateful to be draining something other than its mother. “Has Dice touched your belly lately?”
“I haven’t let him since this jumped up to level five fear factor for everyone.”
My eyes look around, and I start wondering just how much this cosmic night for opening portals and killing demons is also affecting the babies. Especially a baby who fused with two powerful twins while accomplishing the impossible.
“Dice needs to know what you did. What she did,” I tell Karma quietly, causing her to frown.
“He’ll freak out and start worrying his dick will turn into a zombie dick or something. I can’t deal with that right now,” she says so seriously, seeming exhausted.
Snorting back a laugh, I keep my hand on her stomach, seeing her eyes growing heavier as the baby continues to lightly steal from me instead of her. “That feels so much better,” she goes on.
“Frankie,” I call out loudly, planning to start a feeding chain.
“You shouldn’t be touching her. She’s fragile,” Dray hisses as he reappears in the room, and I quirk an eyebrow at him as Karma snores softly.
His eyes bounce from my hand to her face. Her color and appearance isn’t bettering, but I can feel the break she’s enjoying from the baby’s appetite.
“Mom has been strong enough to give her child whatever it needs. Karma isn’t. The baby is happy to latch onto anything else right now, so someone needs to sit at her side and help out.”
“That makes no sense. The mothers are always strong enough to help their children, even though they sometimes need a little help, but the baby can’t draw from outside sources. They’re just mortal. It’s their buried immortal souls soaking all this up for the time to help them prepare—”
“Don’t need an immortal anatomy lesson, Dray. I get we’re different from humans, even if we do spend time as semi-mortal. Most all of us have powers before we turn immortal, and some have even been known to have to feed that power as mortals, just as we have to immortal. This baby is just one of those.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” he argues.
I grab his hand and yank it to take the place of mine, and he sucks in a sharp breath. “You feel it too, don’t you?” I ask him.
His eyes light up, and a small smile curves his lips.
“How is she doing this?” Dray asks.
“You know it’s a girl too? Can you sense Mom’s baby the same way?”
“No. There’s no contact to the fetus like this. How does a fetus know to do such a thing in order to stop draining the mother?” he asks, eyes on mine like he’s looking to me for answers for once.
“The same way animals grow restless when they feel a threat coming. The same way I know I’m going to be needed in this fight and the helplessness has left my beasts in a frenzy until I started garnering control. The same way a night stalker knows to drink blood, even if abandoned by his sire before the completed transition.” My eyes hold his as I add, “Instinct.”
“I’ll be damned. Karma is really sleeping hard, and it’s the first time she’s slept in over a week,” Dice says as he peers in, relief on his face as he unknowingly interrupts. “What’d you do?” he asks me.
“You have a hungry succubus on your hands,” I chirp vaguely as I stand and clap him on the shoulder.
His eyes land on the belly, seeing Dray’s hand there, and he closes his eyes and inhales. “She’s feeding?” he asks incredulously, his eyes popping open and landing on mine. “That’s not good. Not this soon.”
“All babies feed from the womb,” I remind him.
“Not from others,” Dray stupidly points out. “This is a first for me.”
“The baby is stronger than the mother can be, even with a dark angel at her side to help her body mend at accelerated rates,” I remind him. “There’s nothing wrong with her, because she’s doing all she can not to hurt her mother when there’s an alternative.”
Dice is immediately on the bed. “We’ll talk about you knowing how it’s a girl after I try to give her some of my energy,” he growls. “I’ll feed my baby.”
He sticks his hand on Karma’s belly, and Dray removes his. Karma stirs, almost waking up, and I pull Dice away, allowing Dray to put his hand back.
“Why didn’t she feed from me?” Dice snaps, watching as Karma settles back down, never fully waking up.
“Possibly because she’d rather suck dry someone other than her father,” I point out.