Pup Among the Big Dogs

It all happened so fast. All I could do was scream as Ian lunged at Zach, trying desperately to claim his child. My hand felt numb and it shook awkwardly as I stared after the man I knew I loved with all my heart.

Zach vanished just as Ian scratched his cheek slightly.

"You bastard! You're digging your own grave!" he warned, appearing beside me. He seized my wrist before I could react. "I'll make the choice for you, you mutt!"

I cried out as his teeth sunk into my neck, but I didn't just stand idly by while I waited for death. I struck out at him, slapping him across the face. It may not have hurt as much as I would have liked, but it made him stagger back, dropping my baby. Ian was there in an instant to catch her before she fell. She cried nonstop as he rocked her back and forth.

"You mutts all need to go to Hell," Zach told me, scowling at me. He turned to leave, but Ian pounced on him.

"You're not going anywhere, leech," he snarled.

I turned away, running as I shielded my child's eyes and covered her little ears. I couldn't have gotten far enough before I heard a piercing scream that echoed all around me. The foul scent of blood made its way to me and I closed my eyes, praying it was Zach who had died.

I tensed when I felt arms wrap around me, but I was calmed by the warmth. I smelled something really vile, but it wasn't blood. I ignored it.

"Ian, are you okay?" I asked, praying to God that he was.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I looked up at him and cried out in shock: there was a cut going from his under his right eye all the way down to his shoulder.

"How can you say you're alright?!" I yelled, holding him so tightly I was afraid I might kill him.

"Because I still have you and my little girl. How could I not be alright?"

"Your face! That cut!"

"It'll heal love," he laughed. I noticed the bloodstains his hands were leaving on my clothes, but I didn't care at all. I pulled him in for a kiss. It was urgent, but he put up with it. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I cried.

We got home quite awhile later. I probably stood there with him, kissing him and holding him, for a few hours. By the time we got back it was dark. My baby was sound asleep in my arms. I hated to disturb her, but I needed to put her in her crib.

I put her in her little bed gently. Ian smiled and kissed my cheek, an arm around my waist securely. I smiled back and we both looked at our little baby girl to see that angel face.

I felt Ian tense beside me as soon as our eyes locked on her sleeping form. I did the same.

"He planned on you picking her," I whispered, the realization dawning on me.

"So I would lose you and her..." he told me, looking at his feet.

"What do we do?!" I asked, frantic.

"I don't know."

There, on her tiny little neck, were two imprints. Zach had bitten her before we got there.

I stared down hopelessly at the vampire in the cradle as she wailed, probably in pain.

If everything is supposed to happen for a reason, why did my little girl have to become a vampire?