Chapter 4

One day fifteen, Isabella came again.

This time, she brought a vampire doctor. She told him to examine me.

The doctor used all sorts of equipment to check my body, drawing blood, checking my heart rate, and scanning my insides.

Finally, he packed up his tools and said to Isabella, "The fetus is developing normally. But the mother is suffering from severe blood loss and needs more nutrients. Ideally, blood draws should be reduced to once a week at most."

"Absolutely not," Isabella replied coldly. "Sebastian needs to draw blood every two days. I require a large amount."

The doctor hesitated and then said something that chilled me to the bone. "At this rate, the mother won't survive more than two months, and the fetus might stop developing within a month."

After the doctor left, Isabella looked at me, her eyes devoid of pity. "Did you hear that? Your baby only has a month left. But so what?"

She bent down and lifted my chin with her finger. "He's not going to change the plan because of him. If you die, he'll find another demon hunter. You're only a marker on his path."

She let go of my chin and stood up. "You're nothing."

Then she left.

I sat in the darkness, hugging my knees.

Finally, I broke down and cried, not out of fear or despair.

It hit me all of a sudden that the baby might be the only one in this world who loved me. But now, it was leaving me as well.

That night, I etched a line into the floor with my fingernails. [Sweetheart, I'm so sorry.]

*****

On day twenty, I started to lose track of the days.

Time meant nothing down in the basement.

Every day, after having my blood drawn, I would faint, only to have more blood taken once I regained consciousness.

But I could feel that the baby was growing.

At first, it was a faint presence. But now, it was different.

I could feel it moving and turning, nestled in the deepest part of me, waiting. It was like a seed buried in darkness, fighting desperately to grow.

*****

On day twenty-three, Sebastian came to draw blood.

When the needle went into my vein, I felt a pain I'd never experienced before.

It wasn't the sting of the needle, but a deep, tearing pain that spread from deep inside my womb, as if someone were ripping me apart from the inside.

I sucked in a sharp breath and doubled over.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked.

"My stomach hurts," I gasped.

He glanced at me, said nothing, and kept drawing blood.

I curled up, clutching my belly tightly, as if I could shield that tiny life deep inside me.

When he finished, he stood up. "You're way too tense. Relax. It's better for the baby."

I looked up at him.

He spoke so calmly and naturally that it sounded as if he wasn't the reason I was tense, hurting, and scared every single day.

"Relax?" My voice was shaking. "You lock me in this basement, drain my blood every two days, and have another woman come in to humiliate me. Now, you tell me to relax?"

He didn't say a word.

"Sebastian, you know I'm going to die, right? You know this baby isn't going to make it, either," I said.

He looked at me, his gray-blue eyes calm. "Everyone dies."

At that moment, I felt sick, not physically, but spiritually.

It finally hit me that Sebastian never loved me. It wasn't because I did something wrong. He never cared about me.

All along, I was nothing but a tool that could talk, cry, and beg for mercy.

*****

On day twenty-five, vomiting became a daily thing. No matter what I ate or drank, even blood, it all came back up.

Marcus said the baby was growing fast and needed a lot of energy. "It's stealing your nutrients. Your body's already at its limit. Now, with all the blood loss, it's like you're getting hit from every direction."

"Is it going to die?" I asked.

He looked down. "I don't know."

I stared up at the skylight, about the size of a bucket, in the ceiling.

Moonlight spilled through. It was a small, round patch like a silent glimmer of hope.

"Marcus," I said.

"Yeah?" he murmured.

"If I die, can you help me get the baby out of here? Send it somewhere. An orphanage or a human family, anywhere. As long as it doesn't grow up here," I said.

He was silent for a long time. "You're not going to die."

"Please, I need to know. Can you do it?" I asked.

He looked at me. There was something in his eyes I'd never seen before. "Yes. I promise."

*****

That night, lying in the hay on the floor, I gently touched my slightly rounded belly and spoke to the baby inside me for the first time.

I said, "You know what? There's sunlight out there. The sun is big and warm. It feels so nice on your skin.

"Mommy hasn't seen the sun for a long time. Vampires are scared of sunlight, but you're different. You're half human, half vampire.

"Maybe you won't be scared of the sunlight. Maybe you'll get to run in the sunshine, smell flowers, and hear birds singing. Maybe you'll get to go to school, make friends, and fall for someone."

My voice caught in my throat. "Maybe Mommy won't get to see those things anymore. Promise me you'll see them for me, alright?"

There was no answer, but I could feel it moving softly, like a little fish flicking its tail in the water.

That was the first time that I had felt the baby move.

I broke down, shaking all over. Right then, I realized I didn't want to die, not for myself, but for the baby.