“Depends what you think is weird,” Benji replied.
“I don’t know, like… Fried pickles or something?”
“Ew,” Benji cried. “Pierce, if I ever ask for fried pickles when I’m pregnant, just ignore me, okay? I’m being possessed and it’s not the real me.”
I laughed, but at the same time, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Benji saidwhen. He fully intended to commit to the pregnancy. I couldn’t believe it.
I was going to be a father, too.
Theo shot from his seat, a huge grin on his face. “Let me go tell Margaret! She’s gonna be so happy!”
He dashed away, almost falling over himself to climb the half-stairs to the platform on the other end of the hall.
“So,” Benji murmured after a moment, “this is really happening, huh?”
He shyly met my eyes.
“It is,” I agreed.
He swallowed hard. “Honestly, I didn’t even know vampirescouldbreed with humans. I always thought they lost that ability when… You know.”
“I thought so too,” I told him. “I knew of dhampirs, but assumed they were only a legend.”
“A dhampir?” Benji cocked his head. “Like a half-vampire?”
“Yes. I’m surprised you knew. Or figured it out, I suppose.”
Benji shrugged. “My brother’s always talking about that sort of thing. It would probably blow his mind to find out vampires are real.” He laughed. “I guess I’m not supposed to tell him, though.”
I briefly considered this. “It would be for the best. At least, until he’s out of the hospital.”
Benji frowned. “If I spend nine months here, and Caleb’s better by then, he’ll be living at the apartment all by himself.”
His demeanor turned melancholy. I could tell the idea of so much time away from his brother was upsetting.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, shall we?” I stood and gestured for him to follow with a sympathetic smile. “Come. We have some things to collect from your apartment.”
“Yeah.” He got up.” You’re right.”
I led Benji in a direction he’d never been before, and he sounded suitably puzzled when he asked, “Where are we going?”
“I’m giving you a ride to your apartment, of course. This way.”
I opened the door which led down a narrow flight of stairs. At each ends of the passage were candles for light, although as vampires, our vision in darkness didn’t quite need it - nevertheless, I wanted to accommodate Benji as much as I could.
The roomy underground passage led us to the garage, where Benji gasped. He stared at the sleek black car in the center, then gawked when he saw there were two other similar looking cars behind it. The other two were nearly identical, except for the colors - deep blue for Adriel, and flashy red for Theodore.
“Whoa,” Benji murmured. “They look… expensive.”
I picked up the key fob and unlocked mine. “Hop in.”
Inside the car, Benji looked almost afraid to touch anything. “So what’s the point of the tunnel? The architect just liked being as spooky and mysterious as possible?”
“Usually, we sleep-trance during the day, but sometimes Theo likes to take joy rides before sunset,” I explained. “Since the garage is a separate building, we had a passage created to avoid the sunlight.”
“Oh.” Benji’s eyes widened. “So the stuff about the sun is really true?”
“Yes,” I said.
