He chews his lip and sighs. “Oh well, I suppose there is no harm in telling you. It’s not really a secret. His father is my father,” he says, and I blink at him like a ridiculously slow owl.
“Say what?” I ask, shaking my head. “He is your brother? How is that possible?” Never mind the whole ick factor, Cole was human and twenty-eight years old when I turned him. I am one hundred percent certain of those two facts. Or am I? I start to doubt myself.
“Half-brother,” Remiel corrects me. “And it is very possible as my father is still alive and kicking and breeding left and right. He is the biggest cad,” he says in disgust.
“With Cole’s mom?” I ask with just as much disgust.
“God, no. He moved on from there as soon as the woman got pregnant. That is his way,” Remiel says.
On some gross level this is all makin
g sense, but it is still a huge discovery. I wonder how Cole will feel about this when I tell him? If I ever see him again, I think woefully.
“His name?” I ask.
“Laurentis,” Remiel says, accompanied by an eye roll.
“Oh, wow,” I say. This is just too freaky.
“Indeed,” he says haughtily. “But now do you see that I am your One, not him?”
“I suppose,” I venture cautiously. It was the right move as he beams at my “acceptance” and relaxes once more. I beam back at him, all the while my brain working overtime to process this. Jesus, it’s… there is no word for it. “But wouldn’t that actually mean your father is the One?” I add with my runaway mouth.
Fortunately, he snorts with mirth and says, “Hardly, my dear. That creature isn’t worth a penny in the power department. His gift is to pass it on.”
“Oh,” I say and then it hits me. I mean it really hits me: Cole is half Demon. “How come he never had any Demon powers?” I ask.
He frowns at me, not understanding who I mean. Clearly Cole is less than nothing to him.
“Cole,” I prompt him. “Why did he never have any powers?”
“Oh,” he says. “Same as you, my dear, humans are incapable of wielding power.”
“But then why didn’t they activate when I turned him?” I press. But sometimes I should learn to keep my trap shut.
“Enough questions!” he snaps at me and I flinch from the harshness of his tone.
I grunt suddenly in pain and put my hand to my stomach. Oh no, is this it? This feels like it. Oh gods, please don’t let this be it. I breathe in sharply and Remiel’s manner changes instantly. He places his hand on my stomach and asks, “Is this it?”
I shrug through the pain. Oh, the old gods, how come no one ever said it would hurt so much? So much for being the big, bad Vampire-slash-whatever’s, this pain is bringing me to my proverbial knees. “Get someone,” I gasp at him and hope that they have a plan, because I am fresh out of ideas on how this is going to go.
He rushes off and calls Aida. She, thankfully, nods stoically and leaves to go and get whoever is going to assist in this. I hope and pray to the old gods that it is someone capable.
Remiel takes my hand and smiles reassuringly at me. It doesn’t help and all I want is to sink into a nice little coma and wake up when it’s done. Hey, I could ask him to bite me again! That might work. I seriously consider this as an option as another contraction tears its way through my body, and forget any slice of dignity, but I scream my head off.
By the time, Aida has returned with the Dragon lady midwife, sometime much later than I am comfortable with, I am Vamped out, sweating and snarling and Remiel has completely lost his cool. He is pacing fretfully and rushes to the midwife saying, “Something’s not right.”
Oh great. Thanks for the reassurance there, Ghost Boy. I grip my nightgown tightly as I scream my way through another contraction and then the midwife gets to work. Poking and prodding and, oh the humiliation, peering up my nightgown and having a good old root around up there as well. Remiel fortunately looks away during this process and I can see him trembling slightly. That is when I really start to panic. Something isn’t right. I can feel it. This is confirmed by the worried look on the midwife’s face and she whispers quietly to Remiel, who goes paler. He grips the midwife by the arms, and she yelps in discomfort. “Do something,” he yells at her and she says fearfully, “I can’t.”
“What is going on?” I pant out as I struggle to sit up. “Remiel, tell me now.”
He looks at me, his expression very serious and he comes over to me and takes my hand. Oh, this is bad.
“Aefre, my dear,” he starts and then stops for a full ten seconds before he continues. “It appears that our fears have come true.”
What? “What fears?” I growl at him as I grab his shirtfront and pull him closer.
“Uh, it was suggested that perhaps your body isn’t capable of delivering this child, as technically it is impossible for you to be carrying a child as it is.”