Page 319 of Sinister

“What?”

“His eyes . . .”

Sin moves behind me to be able to see the baby’s face better, and going by his speechless reaction, I don’t think he noticed it before.

Red. His eyes are a deep, vivid red that would normally only be achieved with some of those Halloween-type contacts.

It’s creepy. It’s incredibly cute. But it’s also something that will raise many question marks. And one thing I’ve vowed since finding out that our baby would be unique was that he would never be persecuted for his differences.

I will do everything in my power to keep him safe. The world can be such a daunting place, and unfortunately, sometimes words are worse than actual physical violence.

“I’ll keep you safe, little one,” I whisper as I lay a kiss on his forehead. “No one will harm you.”

Sin caresses the baby’s little head, his expression one of pure, unconditional love that mirrors my own. “Aimarren. His name will be Aimarren. Rren.”

“Aimarren,” I repeat. “I love it.”

We’re so lost in our little wonder that it takes us a moment to realize the nurses need to weigh and measure the baby. But that would mean examining him and realizing he has . . . unusual eyes.

“Can you do something about them, so they don’t check him? We might also need to move to a more private place,” I tell him in a low voice.

“I’ll get on it.”

Sin ushers the medical staff out of the room and convinces them to move me to a nice, private salon where no one will bother us—at least for a while.

“He’s so beautiful,” I murmur as I continue to gaze upon his sweet face.

Since we’re finally alone, Sin offers me some of his blood to help with my healing. He cuts his wrist and places it to my mouth.

I gulp down until I feel my body start mending, until the pain disappears, as does the remaining of my bulging belly.

I look down at myself in shock.

Well, I guess I won’t have to diet to fit into that wedding dress after all.

“Thank you.” I blow a kiss to Sin as he wipes the remaining blood off his hand. But a few drops made their way onto my chest. Just as he is about to wipe those off, too, with a cloth, the baby stirs.

Almost instinctively, he crawls on my chest until he reaches the drops of blood, licking them.

I stare at him, then at Sin.

“Maybe it’s a one-off,” I say weakly. But not a second later, the baby moves on my chest again, this time searching for my breast. “See? He knows where to find food.” I smile.

Sin, however, doesn’t share the optimism.

Just as the baby’s mouth latches onto my breast, instead of the regular pull I’ve heard happens when you first breastfeed a child, something sharp makes me wince in pain.

He doesn’t have teeth—he shouldn’t have teeth. And yet . . . he’s using something very sharp to pierce my skin and . . .

“I think he knows exactly how to find food,” Sin adds jokingly as some drops of blood flow down my breast.

I stare at this cute little baby who has no teeth but has some type of fangs, and I cannot believe what’s happening.

“Valerion said he would be unique,” Sin continues, as if explaining himself. Well, he’d better; after all, if my son has vampiric tendencies, he certainly takes after him not me.

“I think this is a bit more than unique,” I retort dryly. “He’s sucking my blood!”

“Well, our blood,” he corrects. “And I suppose now I need to work to feed both of you.”