Trembling With the Strings

“Are you going to be okay, baby?” Darius whispered, holding me close as I shivered. He pulled the blanket over me even more, but that didn’t help.

“It hurt so much,” I choked out, pulling Dray closer to me, begging him to make it stop. I thought the biting part had been bad, but the aftereffects were so much worse!

After my mother had walked in on Darius sucking her daughter’s blood, she had burst into tears. I had only watched in silence as she knelt down beside her dead husband, accusing Darius of being a cold-blooded bastard. She had, nonetheless, called the morgue and scheduled a funeral for him. She had gone with the man as he carried off her husband. She had managed to spare one last death glare at my fiancé. But then I had collapsed at Dray’s feet, my body screaming at me for letting Darius bite me. He had carried me to the bed then, trying to keep me from shaking.

“I’d take away the pain if I could, I swear,” Dray murmured before telling me how much he loved me. I couldn’t help but notice how he hadn’t mention regretting biting me at all.

It must have tasted pretty damn good.

“Ugh,” I groaned, grabbing Dray’s shirt. “He’s kicking again.”

“Grace…” I glanced up at him. “Do you… Do you think I could listen?”

I smiled weakly, permitting him to help me sit up. He shifted and lifted my shirt just enough to expose my stomach. Darius glanced up at me once more before hesitantly resting his head in my lap, his chilled face strangely pleasant on my burning skin.

I heard some mumbling, and I strained to hear what he was saying. It was then that I realized he was talking to his baby, not me. He was talking to his unborn child, smiling softly as words fell off his placid lips. He looked up me with the softest look in his eyes before abandoning my lap to kiss me gently. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer as my body stopped shaking in torment. He was the one to pull back, but he didn’t leave me right away. He pressed his forehead to mine, giving me a quick kiss.

“I love you,” he murmured softly, smiling.

I almost didn’t say it, but it slipped. “You’d make a great father, Darius.”

He smiled painfully, indecision flickering behind his eyes, but he eventually shook his head and pulled away from me. “No, Gracie. I can’t, I’m sorry.”

I nodded disconcertingly. He apologized again, but I just shook my head.

“I’d rather have my son think Dante is his father than have him think I’m an abusive father.” I glanced at him, but he just pulled me close. “It’s late. Get some sleep.”