Ruldolf hands the ring back.
“I looked over at Seleme, puzzled, then when I looked back she was gone.”
I hold up the ring to the last of the moonlight. The platinum filigree band work is beyond anything I’ve seen. There is a wedding band that matches, fitting around the other, making them look like they are one piece. The diamond is old, hand cut probably five carats, a third of the size of the ruby Ruldolf offered and much more appropriate for Seleme. But that’s not the most amazing part.
Glinting in the moonlight, deep inside the clear stone is a fracture in the perfect shape of an ‘S’, which catches it the light, casting a rainbow of refraction on the ground in another perfect S-shape.
I look back up to see Seleme looking out the window, waving at me. I wave back, her smile lighting up my heart as it did the first time.
Rudolf looks up at her then back at me with his smile. “When will you do it?”
“Later today. Then I want us to marry right away, if Seleme is in agreement, of course.”
“Very well. I will contact the celebrant. She is a friend from long ago. Keep me advised on the timing, she has the gift of speed. She can travel a thousand miles in a matter of minutes so I’m sure she could be here quickly.”
“Thank you, Rudolf. For everything.”
Fourteen
Seleme
“I’M GETTING FAT. Fast.” I whine, rubbing my tummy as I watch Maxim touch the tip of his finger to each candle wick and the flash of fire follows.
He snaps his head around, narrowing his eyes, then stomps over to where I’m standing in front of the long mirror on the wall of our living room.
“That’s not a word you are allowed to use when referring to yourself. Ever. Got it?”
I huff but deep down I know the truth: the bigger I get, the more Maxim seems to want me.
It’s as though we’ve lived a lifetime in two short weeks since that night everything happened. I look months pregnant already and from speaking with my mother it sounds like it’s the same as happened with me; I was born in just under three months.
“Can you see yet?” I ask Maxim as he comes over, a hand rubbing my belly as he nuzzles my neck, biting in that same spot as he did that first time. I hiss at the sensation. It’s not exactly pain but it’s pleasure mixed with a thrill of a different sort.
“Not yet.”
He’s been able to ‘see’ the baby. He says it’s not exactly like you see things with your eyes, but he sees it with a touch, and I’m anxious to know if it’s a boy or a girl.
“When I dream, I see a little boy. A mini-Maxim.” I purr as he lowers himself and kisses my belly, his hands gripping my rear end, making me instantly wet and longing for him.
We’re together nearly every minute of the day. He barely leaves my side except to go on his walks with my father and then, he leaves me with my mother.
He still fears something will happen to me. After the night of my turning, my power has grown exponentially. I am faster, stronger than any vampire — even Anna — has known throughout all the years. Even dining on animal blood, rather than human blood, doesn’t seem to diminish my power. My senses are only slightly more acute than before, but now running water no longer seems to have any effect on them.
All my power seems to be growing and changing as time goes on, so we don’t know exactly what will happen, but all I know is that I am happy. Happier than ever in my life.
By some odd irony, both of my big cases at the law firm were stalled for different reasons. It turned out to be for the best, because my pregnancy is already obvious and as fast as it’s progressing, questions will certainly be raised. I’ve taken a leave of absence, my other clients being tended to by other attorneys in the office, and although a part of me misses the work, it must have been more the human side of me that was obsessed with the achievement of it all.
Because now, my instincts are to protect my baby and find out how our family is going to work in our new reality.
“Do you want a boy then?” Maxim moves a hand to the center of my tummy as he looks up at me, as though he can figure out a way to give me whatever I want.
“I don’t care. Boy or girl, it is part of us, I love our baby already.”
He leans in and kisses my belly, and as he does so his eyes go wide.
“What?” Panic squeezes my throat. “What’s wrong?”