Holy shit. Abbey’s visionwouldcome true. I shook my head like I had Tourette’s syndrome. I couldn’t worry about that. I had bigger fish to fry, like strangling a sexy vampire who appeared to be cool with this breaking and fucked-up news. Or at least he wasn’t freaking out like I was.
Dr. Vieira checked the heart monitor that was still beeping like mad. “You have to calm down, Layla. You’re going to pass out.”
So what?Maybe I could reboot time, and when I woke up, I wouldn’t be pregnant. “Human and vampire,” I mumbled. “It will never work.” I felt my face twisting into something that probably resembled the devil. I was ready to foam at the mouth and spit all kinds of venom at Sam Mason. It was his fault. He’d lured me into his bedroom with his supernatural charm, sweet-tasting blood, and witchy magic.
No one lured you, girl. You wanted him as badly as he wanted you.I hated that small devilish voice in my head.
“Why not?” Sam’s face was redder than a tomato. It was clear he was holding in his rage, and maybe underneath all that was anguish. I couldn’t tell.
The bed moved, and a glass fell off the table beside my bed and shattered on the tiled floor.
Dr. Vieira eyed Sam. “No elemental powers in this facility.”
Sam glowered at Dr. Vieira and me. “I amnotusing my powers. Construction is going on across the street.”
Satisfied with Sam’s answer, he turned his attention to me. “Layla, I want you to take a breath. Your heart rate is still extremely high.”
I did as he instructed. My heart was jumping like a kid on a trampoline. “Is that why I’ve been craving blood? The baby?”
Dr. Vieira sighed. “Not 100 percent sure. But it seems that way. The fact that you haven’t had a severe reaction leads me to believe that the fetus needs blood. I haven’t come across a pregnancy where the mother needed blood as a source of food.”
I honestly didn’t know what was worse, carrying the vampire gene or being pregnant with a vampire baby. “Wait. If my memory serves me correctly, I wanted Sam’s blood before we slept together.” I dipped back into my memory of the elevator scene. I’d bit him so he wouldn’t bite me. That didn’t count. Then I bit him again during the heat of passion, but I hadn’t been jonesing for his blood.
“No,” Sam said. “You began to crave my blood when we pulled up to that rental house of yours.”
The lightbulb brightened as I nodded.
“It doesn’t matter,” Dr. Vieira chimed in.
“It does,” I countered. “I’m trying to understand. How could I want blood the day after sex?” I said that last word without any shyness in front of the reserved doctor.
Dr. Vieira smiled. “In our world, Layla, you’ll learn that some things don’t have an explanation, especially when magic is involved. And you’ll hear me say this many times: nothing is normal when it comes to Sam or Jo.”
I giggled out loud, remembering Jordyn mentioning that Sam could have magic sperm. I guess he truly did.
Sam cocked his head. “Care to share?”
“Not really.” Maybe someday, I would tell him that. For the time being, I let my head fall back against the pillow. “There was no magic involved in my parents not telling me I had that rare blood type. I want you to rerun the test. My parents would’ve told me.”
“Maybe so,” Dr. Vieira said. “But tests for blood types aren’t usually routine unless a person needs a transfusion, and in some cases for pregnant women if there’s an issue.”
I could buy that. Blood types weren’t a regular topic of conversation, and if they had known, they wouldn’t have shared that with anyone. My father knew he would be ostracized from his brothers. Besides, we hunted vampires, so the chances of me having sex with one were remote. “I want an over-the-counter pregnancy test or five. I want to see for myself. It came back negative once.”
Dr. Vieira and Sam flinched.
“So you suspected you were?” Dr. Vieira asked.
Jordyn sashayed in. “Not really. We did it for shits and giggles.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. If I knew Jordyn, she had been standing outside, eavesdropping. Regardless, my sister looked like death. Dark circles traced the outline of her brown eyes. Her skin was ashen, and her T-shirt was wrinkled and too big for her petite body.
“So do my sisters have the same blood type?” I asked.
“Not all siblings will, and not all children carry the same one as their parents,” Dr. Vieira explained.
Jo poked her head in. “Look who’s awake.” She beamed as her silver eyes sparkled. “You and my dad must be in sync.”
Sam’s tension vanished. “Pops is awake?” His voice hitched. Then he kissed me on the forehead, which was odd. “I’ll be back.” Then he and Jo left.
