Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (33 page)

∞∞∞

They all crowded around Aurora’s bedside, even Tyler
loitered in the doorway.  He had delivered a lot of messages and spent a lot of
time with the odd little family since they moved to the lodge, and he had grown
fond of them.  Ryan had finally relinquished the baby to Aurora when she woke
up.  He and Lily had been trying to feed her formula from a bottle while Aurora
slept, but she was having none of it.  Lily was worried, but she was back in
bed, herself, her contractions were mild and far apart, and Greta, thought if
she stayed in bed that they might be able to hold out for a few more days. 

Aurora was recovering quickly and was anxious to be up and
around. 

Alex brushed strands of her hair from her face with his
finger tips and said, “Just rest, Love, I don’t want you to overdo it.”

“I’m a Vampire, and I am fully recovered,” she replied, but
she stayed in the bed, holding the baby.

“What shall we name her?” Alex was looking at the baby, but
he hadn’t tried to hold her yet.  He seemed just a little uncomfortable around
her. 

“I know her name,” Aurora said assuredly. “Her name is
Destiny.”

Alex and Sara exchanged a wide eyed look, but Aurora went
on to say. “Not only do I believe that she is my destiny, but she represents
the evolution of all Vampires and maybe even what’s left of the world. She and the
others like her may be the destiny of everyone.”

Sara shrugged at Alex, and Alex smiled at Aurora and said.
“It’s a good name.”

Later, Ryan cooked for Lily again.  He brought her a thick
stew on a tray and insisted that she eat in bed.  He sat with her, she
suspected, out of some sense of obligation. As she was finishing her dinner,
she heard Destiny start to cry.  Ryan heard it too and looked as if he was
ready to flee the room and run to her side, but he restrained himself.

“Has the baby eaten anything yet?” Lily asked.

“No. She won’t take the bottle at all.  Aurora even had us
try putting blood in the bottle, in case she fed like a Vampire.  Nothing is
working.” He looked miserable as if it was his own failure.

They listened to the wailing babe, and Lily’s swollen
breasts began to ache and leak.  She tried to wipe up the seeping, then she had
a thought.  “Ryan, bring Destiny to me,” she said.

Ryan, who was anxious to get to Destiny anyway, jumped up to
obey.  He brought her in to Lily. Aurora, Alex, and Sara trailed after him.  Lily
felt a little nervous in front of her audience, but she exposed her swollen
dripping breast and took Destiny from Ryan.  Destiny needed little
encouragement, and she attached her tiny bow of a mouth to Lily’s nipple and
suckled loudly.  Lily was relieved, and she brushed Destiny’s smooth cheek with
her finger as she nursed.   She began to feel drowsy, and she knew that
something was odd.  She concentrated on the babe at her breast, and for a
moment, she could see, clearly, the energy or life force that Destiny was
pulling from her and drinking up along with the mother’s milk.  She was about
to speak up to tell the others, when she felt two little needle pricks sink
into the aureole of her nipple.  It hurt for just a second or two and then she
felt only pleasant euphoria.  She could see tiny beads of milk and blood gathering
at the corner of Destiny’s mouth, wetting her tiny lips.  She closed her eyes,
and she could feel the little streams of blood and milk and energy all flowing
from her and into Destiny.

The others were still gathered around her and hadn’t
noticed anything until Ryan saw a trickle of blood escape Destiny’s mouth and
run down Lily’s white breast.  He snatched the baby from Lily, still careful of
the way he handled her, and they all stared shocked at the blood dripping from
the tiny punctures in Lily’s breast.  Ryan ran a finger along Destiny’s smooth
gums and found two little needlelike Vampire teeth that retracted just as he
touched them.  They were all speechless for a moment, then a voice from the
doorway said, “That was interesting.”

It was Greta, and she pushed her way through to the bedside
and checked Lily’s eyes, lifting her closed eyelids.  She checked her pulse and
her breathing before she wiped up Lily’s breast with a cloth and looked around
at the horrified group.  Destiny was gurgling happily in Ryan’s arms.  Greta
glanced at the baby. “She’s got a Vampire spirit, that one does,” she said. “But,
it weren’t the blood she was after.  Well, not just the blood anyway.”

Ryan scowled at her. “What do you mean?” he demanded.

“That one was feeding on Lily’s Spark.”

“Her what?” Sara asked.

“Her Life Spark.  Her energy. Her essence. We all have it,
except the Vampires,” she said nodding toward Aurora and Alex. “Vampires have
it, but it’s different. It’s not like a living energy, but more like a black hole
with them.  Not her, though,” she said indicating Destiny. “She shines as
bright as anything I’ve ever seen, especially after she’s fed on someone else’s
spark.”

“Is Lily alright?” Aurora asked.

“Lily will be fine.” And, as if to answer, Lily stirred and
opened her eyes.

“Wow.  I think that the baby was feeding on my Life Force,”
she said.

“Your spark, yep,” Greta put in.

Lily blinked at her. The old ones and witches called it the
Spark she remembered. “Spark, Adanata, Life Force, whatever you want to call it,
that baby was drinking it in.” she said. 

“Was Lily in danger? Could Destiny kill somebody that way?”
Ryan asked.

“Yes and no,” Greta answered cryptically.

“Meaning?”  Alex was losing patience with the old crone.

Greta sensed his irritation and gave him a scowl. She did
not like to be rushed. “Meaning that she could hurt someone if you’re not
careful.
Weres
have a strong Spark, and Lily would probably barely feel
the effects of Destiny’s feeding if she wasn’t so exhausted right now.  A
Were
would be the safest way to feed her.  Human’s have a weaker Spark, and she may
pose a threat if ye let her take too much.” The old woman sniffled and waited
for them to absorb her warning.

“What about the blood and the Vampire teeth?” Ryan asked. 
He was the one thinking mostly of Destiny’s well being as opposed to anyone she
might hurt.  

“My guess is that she doesn’t actually need to physically
feed that much, just like the Vampires.  I’m also guessing, by the way, she’s
reacted to the bottle, that when she does feed, it needs to be animal.  Milk,
blood, eventually meat, none of that formula crap. I don’t think it much matters
what you feed her as long as she can get the Life Spark along with it.”  The old
Were
squinted at Ryan holding the baby. “You should know better than
anyone.  You’ve been feeding her your Spark for months, I suspect.”

The whole group turned to look at Ryan. Instinctively he
clutched Destiny a little tighter and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

“No, It’s true,” Lily said. “I thought I imagined it, but
on the first night you and Aurora were here, you were communing with the baby
and passing her energy, but oddly it almost seemed as if she was feeding it
back to you and you were stronger for it.”

“Humph, No wonder you don’t let her out of your sight much.
You are both sharing your Adanata,” Greta told Ryan.  Lily nodded in agreement,
and the rest of them looked confused, including Ryan.  Greta looked disgusted
by their ignorance.  “Your souls!” she said.

He frowned, “I know what the word means.”

“Then understand what I’m saying. You have been sharing
your souls with each other practically since the moment her Spark quickened. 
You’re soul mates,” she said.

Lily saw their shocked faces and jumped in. “Not mates in
the traditional sense,” she said. “But, you will always be connected.”

Greta checked Lily’s pulse again.  “Well ye know how to feed
her, now. “  She looked at Ryan and laughed.  “If ye had titties, boy, ye would
be all she ever needed.”

∞∞∞

The following day, Lily delivered the twins.  Greta was in
with her all day, and Sara volunteered to be her assistant.  She ran back and
forth fetching whatever Greta requested, and it was a long process, not as long
as Aurora’s labor, but long nonetheless.  

Aurora spent time holding and rocking her daughter, even
Alex held her for a few minutes, but looked relieved when Aurora took her
back.  Ryan was never far, and he wanted to hold her, but he knew she needed
some bonding time with her parents.  He was thrilled when Alex decided to go
talk to Elvis and the L.T. about finding some way of warning all the other pregnant
Vampires about the baby’s needs and the possible dangers.  It was delicate
because Gates had gathered several of the pregnant Vampires to him and Alex and
the
Weres
were still wanted.  The part that thrilled Ryan was that
Aurora insisted on going with him, and that would leave him as sole
babysitter.  When they were gone, he sat alone with Destiny in a rocking chair
and just looked at her precious face.  Her eyes were big and round and looked
right back at him.  She didn’t cry or fuss and sometimes she even smiled.  Her
little hands reached out to pull on his lip, and he talked to her in Cherokee. 
He hardly knew what he was saying, but the words came to him along with a vague
memory of a woman murmuring them to him softly when he was tiny.  He thought it
must have been his birth mother, but he wasn’t sure.  But, Destiny liked it and
so, he said whatever came into his head and was never quite sure what it all
meant. 

Greta’s words echoed in his head.
I could be all she
ever needs
he thought.  So, he tried everything he could think of to get
her to feed.  He bit his own finger and tried to get her to drink the blood. 
He even tried his own flat manly nipple, but nothing worked. He had no idea how
they had exchanged energy while she was in Aurora’s belly, but whatever they
did, he could not duplicate it now.  When Aurora came back and took her from
him, he felt empty, and he went to go see if his twins were born yet.  He knew
Lily didn’t want him to think about them as his babies, but he couldn’t help
it.  Destiny and all that was happening were making his instincts rule his
emotions.  He was feeling protective, possessive, fatherly, and even motherly. 
It was confusing and frustrating when none of the babies could ever truly belong
to him. 

Sara was cleaning up the second twin when he knocked softly
on the door. Lily motioned for him to come in, but gave him a disapproving look
when he started to touch and murmur softly to the little baby boy, she held in
her arms. 

“Ryan, please don’t do this.  You can’t allow yourself to
become attached to these babies.”

“I know, I just want to see them for a little while before
we go home again.” He looked so lost that she couldn’t refuse him. 

Sara brought the other baby, a girl, and with a nod from
Lily, she placed her in Ryan’s arms.  She looked at him, but her cloudy blue/
gray eyes didn’t truly focus on him the way Destiny’s always did.  He wasn’t
even sure what color they would end up being.  She did have his thick mane of
black hair, though, and he ruffled it gently as he had done to Destiny’s.  Sara
and Greta left them alone, shutting the door quietly.  Lily looked at Ryan with
sympathy but had no intention of changing her mind. 

“What will you name them?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t actually thought about it yet.”

“Then, may I do it?” he asked.

“Ryan--" she started to say.

“I know. I won’t get attached. I just want to name them,”
he said.

She looked at him suspiciously, but said, “Okay. What do
you want to call them?”

“Keith and Becky,” he said quickly.  She didn’t know that
Keith was his father’s name and that Becky was Sara’s mother’s name. 

“Okay, Ryan, but if I do this, that’s where it ends. You
can’t think of them as yours in any other way.”

“Agreed,” he said.  He looked down at the little girl and
said. “Hello, Becky.”

Lily exposed her breasts and attached Keith to one side,
and Ryan helped her settle Becky on the other so that she could feed them both
at the same time.  They both fed and then fell asleep at the tit.  Ryan helped
Lily, wrap them warmly and tuck them in a bassinet next to the bed.  They both
heard Destiny start crying in the other room.

Lily looked at Ryan’s anxious face and said, “Bring her.”

He went and got Destiny from Aurora and brought her to
Lily, who put the baby to her breast.  Destiny’s seeking mouth didn’t even get
as far as Lily’s nipple when she sank her little needle fangs into the swell of
Lily’s breast.  Lily smiled at the euphoria and said, “See, she doesn’t even really
care about the milk.  A little blood will do as long as she can pull from my
Life Force. 

This time Ryan pulled Destiny away before Lily could pass
out.  Lily said she felt fine and would like to rest, so Ryan took Destiny to
be with the others.  

Greta was sitting with Sara drinking a cup of tea, and he
told her how Destiny had fed. “So, if she doesn’t need the milk, how come I
can’t get her to drink my blood and take my energy?” he asked her.

“How should I know, boy? Maybe she just wants the comfort
of a mother’s breast. I’m afraid I don’t know any experts on Vampire babies,”
she chuckled.