Seventeen…

Seventeen: Two Daddies

Poor Aubrey…

note: the beginning dream sequence is written in first person POV. Afterward, it reverts to third person POV, as normal. 🙂

That night, I dreamt I was a child again. I sat with Grandma Cooper in the church.

Strange how it was empty. No preacher preached at the pulpit, no parishioners sat listening, nor falling asleep during the service.

“Gramma, where’s all the people?” I asked.

“The angels have chased them all away,” she said; then gazed ahead and pointed at the pulpit. “Look, Aubrey. There’s an angel.”

I looked.

The angel wore a long, dark coat.

He stood with his back to us.

Why won’t he turn around?

“Go on, Aubrey. Go and see the angel,” Grandma Cooper said.

I started to get up.

Slowly, I walked toward him.

He was quiet and still, just like a statue.

Sculpted angels sat nearby with graceful hands strumming at harps. Magically, their fingers seemed to move as divine music permeated the church.

“Are you really an angel?” I asked, my voice filled with awe, my heart leaping with excitement.

Then he turned around…

“Aubrey,” he whispered. “I’m your grandfather.”

He offered his hand.

Instead of taking it, I wanted to run. Run as far and as fast as I could.

What monsters have I come from? I wondered.

Then I awakened… 

to the nightmare of my reality.

The next several days came and went.

Aubrey told Shawn about the pregnancy.

Naturally, he was very excited and scooped her up in his arms. He swung her to and fro as though she weighed nothing.

Temptation led her to the telephone, where she wanted to tell her parents the news.

Fear told her not to, reminding her of what happened during Aubrey’s first pregnancy. Maybe her horrible father would try to steal the baby, give him or her to the Shadows like he did her first child.

She backed away from the phone.

“Aubrey’s pregnant,” Shawn announced the following evening. He looked straight at Vaclav when he said it.

“Is that so?” he said. “Congratulations. I hope it’s healthy.”

Aubrey gaped at him; then said: “thank you, Vaclav.” She prayed that Shawn didn’t notice her slightly trembling voice, or that Riley wasn’t reading her mind. She tried to block all thoughts.

“Congrats Aubrey,” Riley said.

“Thanks,” Aubrey muttered without looking at her.

Vaclav got up and shoved the chair in.

“If you’ll all excuse me, I have to go to the city. I must get a bite to eat,” he said.

“I hope you enjoy your murderous rampage,” Shawn said.

“Oh, I think I will,” he returned just as sarcastically. Then he left the room.

Over the next few days, Aubrey spent her mornings throwing up and her nights slipping into exhausted sleep… when she could sleep. Sometimes she laid awake, worrying about who fathered her baby.

Dates and hours crossed her mind, down to the exact time she and Vaclav made love at the nightclub, and the exact hour she and Shawn made love in the basement. Then she struggled to remember when her fertile cycle began. Was it closer to the time at the nightclub?

Aubrey nearly drove herself insane just thinking about it.

 One particular night, she dozed off while obsessing over those dates and times.

Shawn wasn’t sleeping next to her…

yet she wasn’t alone.  

“Aubrey,” a feminine voice hissed.

 Startled, Aubrey sat upright.

“Come with me. I want to show you something,” Riley said.  

“Uh—okay. I guess,” she said getting up.  

 Aubrey followed her to the main house; then up to the second level.

 “It’s in here,” Riley said grasping the knob.

 The door swung open, and they entered.

 Aubrey looked around in amazement. It was a nursery.

Riley turned to her.

“Lucius told me that Vaclav once had a little girl,” she revealed. “This was her room.”  

“What happened to her?”

“She died of TB when Vaclav moved here from Czechoslovakia in the 1800’s,” she said. “Vaclav was already a vampire, but his daughter was a dhampir and not immortal.”

“Why couldn’t he save her? Why didn’t he try to… transition her into a vampire?”

“That hadn’t ever been done before, so he was afraid to. He was afraid it would kill her faster than the TB. So he just let her die.”

“That’s terrible. I feel awful for him, what he must’ve went through.” Actually, she knew a little bit about losing a child.

“I’ve been reading his mind, and he thinks the baby you’re carrying is his. He wants to be the father so badly,” she said.

Aubrey stared at her, disbelieving every word she’d spoken.

“But don’t worry,” Riley continued. “I won’t tell Shawn.”

“Th—thank you,” Aubrey stammered. She could hear the pounding of her own heart.

Flustered, she paced a few steps away from Riley.

Aubrey peered into the empty crib. It looked so desolate, depressing. She felt badly for Vaclav, and creeped out by Riley at the same time.

The next evening, Aubrey went out to dinner with Shawn.

She ate nachos, while he sat and gazed at her. It made her feel uncomfortable.

“Your boobs look totally amazing,” he said. “I can tell they’ve gotten bigger.”

Aubrey snickered, taking a bite of her food.

“I don’t know whether to thank you, or slap you,” she said.

After dinner, they played a quick game of shuffleboard.

Aubrey won.

Shawn led her out by the pool, where they kissed.

 

His mouth invaded hers; then his lips inched down to her neck…

At first he sucked on the flesh, running his tongue over the skin. Effortlessly, he was turning her on.

But then she winced in pain. His fangs penetrated her neck, like tiny blades slicing into her. It was agonizing.

For the next few minutes, he hungrily suckled the area. She heard him swallowing her blood.

“Shawn,” she weakly said. “Stop.”

He withdrew from her, smiling with satisfaction.

Suddenly her nausea returned. Aubrey ran off to the restroom.

She dashed to the nearest stall.

Up went the nachos from earlier.

When Aubrey was finished, she headed to the mirror to check the wound. She brushed her hair aside.

I can’t believe that fucking parasite just fed off me!

At that moment, she wanted to leave the Haas manor and go back home to the valley. Wanted it… so very badly… but knew she couldn’t because Vaclav promised to find her son. She felt like a hostage, trapped in the shadows of Shadowvale, trapped by her desire to find her son, and a prisoner of the hatred she felt for her own family.  

                                                          ****

Thanks for reading! ♥ Chapter 18 coming on Friday, Nov. 19.

Um, sorry about that bit of violence toward the end. Shawn warned Aubrey that since he was new at the vampirism, he had trouble controlling his urges. 😛