The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (25 page)

"Positive." I whispered. Bobbie got up
quickly and looked at the test, then back at me, as I walked away
with my hands over my mouth. "It's positive."

"Yes, we've established that." Lauren
sighed. "It’s the how that I want to know."

"I've never been with anyone else." I
said and looked at them. "Justin's going to kill me. He's going to
think that I cheated on him, but I would never do that. What am I
going to do?"

"Well, I think with Victor on the
loose, that it would be a good idea to tell the boys, all of them."
Lauren said softly. I looked at her as my hands started to shake.
"Listen, Sage, Justin will understand, I'm sure. This it just
something that happened."

"Oh, yeah, Immaculate Conception,
right!" I said sternly. "I'm not that much of a good girl for that
to happen." I rubbed my eyes. "Should we test again?"

"If you want." Bobbie said softly.
"But, I've never heard of a false positive on these
things."

"You help a lot." I sighed. "Well,
let's go break the news before I change my mind and run away to a
convent."

The three of them smiled, as I grabbed
the test away from Lauren and headed out the door and down the
stairs with them in tow.

* * * * *

Julian walked into the sitting room,
and looked at Michael and Justin, who were watching television, and
Cristian who was watching out the window. David slipped by him
without a word and grabbed the morning paper off the table, then
relaxed in a chair in the corner.

"Michael." Julian whispered. Michael
got up and walked over to him. "Have you checked on Sage
today?"

"Yes, she's fine; there haven't been
any incidents with her dreams in a while, but she looks a bit
pale." Michael shrugged. "Is something bothering you,
Julian?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could
give me your opinion on this prophecy." Julian sighed and the two
men sat down with the book. Julian opened the large volume and then
looked up as the four girls walked into the room.

* * * * *

I looked over the crowd of men that
huddled in the sitting room, and then turned to Bobbie. "I can't do
this."

"You can and you have to, Sage, think
about the baby." She whispered. I took a deep breath and turned
around, picking out Justin's eyes, which were full of love. We
stared at each other for a few long moments before I stepped
further into the room, walking towards him.

Justin stood up from his chair and came
towards me, meeting me in the center of the room. I looked at
Michael, Julian and Cristian then at David, who smiled, lovingly
and went back to his paper as if he knew what I was going to say
and that it wouldn't be a shock to him. Justin took my hand and
looked into my eyes, catching me in his.

"You look sick." He whispered. "What's
the matter?" With those words I couldn't hold back the tears the
streamed down my cheeks. He smiled and pulled me close to him,
holding me in his strong arms. "You can tell me, Sage. I promise
that I won't be upset, whatever it might be."

"No, you can't promise that, Justin." I
whispered to him and backed away, wiping my eyes with my hands.
This caught the attention of the others and Michael drew closer to
me. "I don't know how it happened, I mean, well, I think I know how
it happened, but it's

Not possible, is it?"

"You’re not making any sense." Michael
whispered. I looked at him and sighed. "Calm down and let's get to
the bottom of this. Is it Victor?"

"No." I said softly and then thought to
myself, I looked back at the girls, suddenly, then at Michael. "Oh,
my God. What if he did this to me? What if it's his?" I panicked
and backed away from them, but Justin caught me by the upper arms
and looked right at me, then he smiled. "What if it's
evil?"

"It's not." He whispered, gently, and
this made me stop. I stopped moving, stopped crying, and for an
instant, stopped breathing, and then I looked at him oddly. "Listen
to me, Sage. It's not. It's you, and it's me."

"What?" I asked him, as if I didn't
know what he was talking about. "You know?" Slowly, he smiled,
which made me cry again, knowing that he wasn't angry.
"How?"

"Okay." Quinn said from the doorway,
apparently having been summoned by all the emotion in the room.
"What exactly are we talking about?"

"She's pregnant." David whispered,
which turned all eyes to him. David looked up, slowly, from his
paper at the faces of the others, then at me. "Sorry."

"Sage?" Michael asked me. I turned from
David, and Justin, to my father, and I nodded.

"It's true." I whispered. "That's what
I came down here to tell you, that I just found out." I turned back
to Justin. "How did you know?"

"Victor told us." David spoke up. He
stood up and walked over to me as I stood next to Justin. It amazed
me at the friendly connection that I saw between the two men as
Justin patted him on the back. "The night Victor got loose, when he
attacked you. I was going to kill him, but he told me that you
weren't the only one in danger of dying. He told me that the life
of your child was also in danger. Your body can heal, much like
ours, but I didn't believe that it could heal you both fast
enough."

Michael turned and looked at Justin,
who leaned down and kissed the top of my head then looked up at
him.

"This was your other circumstances."
Michael said softly.

"I saw no other way." Justin replied
and took my hand. "I would lay down my life for her, she is my
life, and when I found out about the baby, from David, I didn't see
any other way out." Justin sat down in the seat beside me and
turned me to look at him. He took both of my hands and kissed each
one then he smiled at me. "This baby is not Victor's, so; just get
that thought out of your head. This child is ours; it is part of
the prophecy."

"Which prophecy?" Michael
asked.

"The one in Julian's hand." David
replied. Julian looked down at the book, sighed, and then looked up
at David. "Justin and I thought that this whole thing smelled kind
of funny, the way we all came together, the whole Victor thing and
then Sage and the baby."

"So, we decided to venture out on our
own and look things up." Justin said as he pulled me down to sit on
his lap. "We found that very same prophecy, but not
here."

"Where?" Cristian asked.

"Caitlyn O'Neal." Justin replied.
Julian looked at him then at me, with a bit of concern that they
had exposed themselves to her. "She came to us; we didn't need to
find her. About three weeks ago, David and I were searching the
city archives for a book on the Kingdom of the Nine and she
approached us there. She told us about the prophecy, and about how
the baby was involved."

"It gives Sage powers that she didn't
have before, but that will stay with her after he's born." David
smiled. I had closed my eyes and was leaning on Justin, feeling the
warmth of his touch. "There is one thing, though."

"What's that?" Quinn asked, stepping
closer.

"This all comes to a head on the Eve of
the New Year." He replied.

"Yeah, so, we have until December
31st." Michael replied.

"No, not our New Years." He
replied.

"Samhain Eve." I whispered, as I opened
my eyes and looked around the room.

"What's that?" Cristian
asked.

"October 31st." Bobbie spoke up.
"Halloween."

"That's in seven days." Taryn
replied.

"Seven days to prepare for the end of
the world as we know it." I whispered. I looked back at Justin. I
sighed and shook my head. "We're it, aren't we?"

"Yes, we're it." He replied softly and
leaned his forehead against mine.

"Are what?" Michael asked.

"The prophecy." Julian replied. Michael
looked at him. "The three familiar souls, but how?"

"A soul mate?" I asked, softly, then
smiled and looked up at David, who reached down and touched my
shoulder. "A soul family."

"So, now we know." Ashley said,
speaking up for the first time. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, first, our young mother here
should really get to a doctor and take care of the baby." Julian
said and looked down at me, smiling. "As for the rest of us, we
need to see what we can do to protect the house. I have a feeling
that whatever's coming, will get stronger as the 31st gets
closer."

I watched them all leave the room and I
sat there, with my eyes closed, on Justin's lap, in his protective
arms, with David sitting in the seat beside me, holding my hand. I
could feel the power that surged between us, and then I knew that
we would have the power to stop whatever Victor threw at us, as
long as we stuck together.

Chapter
13

As I looked at the familiar black door
in front of me, then at Julian, who stood to my right, and Justin,
who stood on my left, my stomach was beginning to turn, but just as
I thought about turning around and running, the door opened and
Caitlyn stuck her head out. She smiled at me, then at the boys and
stepped aside, letting us in then shutting the door and locking it
tightly behind us.

"Well." She said and stood in front of
the three of us, smiling. "This is certainly a
surprise."

"Liar." Julian whispered. Caitlyn
smiled at him, and then took his hand and lead the three of us down
to the basement of the house. My first thought was that this place
would be some sort of old library type of place, where you feel
like being quiet, but the room, surprisingly, was bright, cheerful
and had loud paintings on the wall. She looked at me.

"Don't be nervous. He's the best doctor
that we know." She whispered, taking my hand. I looked at the boys
as she led me to a curtain, then handed me a robe. "Change into
this and we'll get on with it."

"You make it sound so easy." I
whispered. She laughed quietly then winked.

"Doctor Benson has been my doctor since
I was pregnant with my son. I didn't know it at the time, but he is
also the doctor that most of, well, I can't say your kind, because
it's my kind too, but he treats most vampires and knows a lot about
witchcraft." Caitlyn reassured me. I slipped into the gown, and
then moved out to sit on the table; the two men were over in the
far corner talking between them. "If you would feel more
comfortable, Justin could stay while Julian and I left."

"No, that's all right." I sighed. She
smiled at me, again, and then we all looked up as a handsome man
walked down the stairs.

"Hello, everyone." He said, pleasantly.
"For the two of you who don't know, my name is Doctor James Benson,
you can call me anything you want."

This put me at ease and the five of us
began the whole process of getting to know each other. He did his
exam, which he talked me through, as Justin held my hand and the
other two chatted on the other side of the curtain, then he told me
about my pregnancy and what I should and should not do, then he
asked if I would like to see the baby.

This made me excited and I watched as
he pulled a portable ultrasound machine out of the corner, where it
had been neatly hidden away. With a mass of warm, clear gel that he
squirted onto my stomach, he began to show us the small black and
white picture of the small baby that grew inside of me. It was when
I heard his heart beat and saw it on the monitor that I got caught
up in the sound.

"Wow, would you look at that." Justin
whispered. I looked up at him and closed my eyes, just enjoying
that light, quick beat of the child's heart. "Are you all right,
Sage?"

"Just listening." I whispered back.
Justin kissed my head and then took my hand and squeezed it
hard.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Doctor Benson
smiled.

"You have no idea." I whispered and
watched the small life form on the monitor reacting to the sound of
my voice by hopping around.

"Well." He said and shut off the
machine. I wiped the gel off from me and pulled down the Johnny.
"It looks like you have quite a healthy baby on your hands, but
what I want you to do is to get some vitamins and start to really
watch out for yourself."

"She will." Justin smiled and I looked
at him quickly. After I was dressed and we said good-byes, the
three of us drove back to the house; I was silent most of the time.
"Sage?"

"It's nothing, Justin." I replied to
his unasked question. "I'm just remembering that beat of his
heart."

"He said that the baby was healthy."
Julian smiled. "That's always a good sign."

"Six more days." I whispered. Justin
turned in the seat and looked at me as I watched out the side
window.

"We'll make it." Justin whispered back.
I looked at him, smiled or at least tried to, then nodded. Why
wasn't I so sure?

* * * * *

Justin walked through the halls of the
house the next morning, holding several papers in his hand. He was
in a very good mood. The night has gone by without any real
incident and he had slept very peacefully next to Sage, with his
hand on her stomach, thinking about the future with their child,
but as he glanced up from the paper in front of me, he caught
movement out of the corner of his eyes.