I squeezed Teren’s hand, my eyes watering. He opened his and looked down on me, giving me a tight smile. He nodded and I nodded back. We both knew now, we were both on the same page.
Alanna excused herself as Mom started bringing in pie. I wanted to cry at the sight, tell Mom that no more food was needed, but I made myself smile and thank her. Made their sacrifice worth it.
Teren sat there the entire time we ate, no longer talking, his brow scrunched in un-disguisable pain. I wanted to scream at him to just go, get rid of it, since it was hurting him, but no one else would understand that, and I was way too riled up to secretly whisper it to him. Finally, Hot Ben seemed to notice his discomfort. “You alright, Teren?” He raised an eyebrow at him and tilted his head. I could have kissed Ben.
Teren cracked open his eyes. “Actually…I feel a little odd. I think I’ll turn in.” He slowly stood and calmly said goodnight to everyone. I watched him leave the room and had to force myself to not run upstairs to be with him. I looked over at Jack and saw the same level of restraint on his face.
None of the vampires returned to the table after that.
As Mom and Ashley and Tracey cleared the dishes and made some coffee for Ben and Jack, I excused myself to check on Teren. Jack gave me a sympathetic look and briefly nodded at me. He apparently knew what I’d find, and knew it would be bad.
My stomach clenched with each step up to our room. I hated what he’d done to himself, all to maintain the image of humanity. I hated that he had to hide, but at the same time, understood it. As I reached the top of the dual staircase, I put a hand on my stomach, wondering if this was the future I was condemning our children too. I suddenly understood one of the reasons why Teren hadn’t wanted to continue this…trait.
Softly and cautiously, I opened the door. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Looking around our opulent guest room here at the ranch, I blinked in the soft light of the lamps, surprised. It was empty. Just as I was wondering if maybe he went somewhere else, I heard him.
It wasn’t hard. I could clearly hear him cry out, although it was coming out muffled, like he was screaming into a pillow or something. It was coming from the bathroom, so I ran in there. My mouth dropped open and my heart leapt into my throat when I saw him. He was covered in blood. Panic seized me, until I watched him heave a pile of blood onto the tile floor. It wasn’t coming from a wound, it was coming…from him. My panic tripled as I knelt beside him. I wanted to yell for help, but there was no one to yell for. All the vamps were going through this, and the humans that knew the secret, were entertaining the humans who didn’t. There was no one to help Teren, but me.
He was curled into a fetal position and clutching his stomach, groaning into a blood soaked towel, in-between vomiting up more blood. His fangs were extended, having dropped down at the presence of blood, even his own. I’d never imagined so much blood could leave a person’s body. I started crying and shaking as I held him. He was so out of it he couldn’t speak, only continued screaming into anything that would muffle the noise, and heaving up more blood, food having long ago left his system.
His body apparently had had a severe reaction to the food being put inside it. His sickness was about quadruple what my morning sickness was. As blood ruined his clothes and mine, I held him tight, stroking his back and murmuring that I loved him, and everything would be okay. I wasn’t even sure if he heard me. I wasn’t even sure if everything was okay. I had no idea how to help him.
Worrying that my family would come check on us, and then understanding why Jack wasn’t immediately at Alanna’s side – someone had to run interference - I cried lightly into Teren’s back as he continued his muffled screaming and heaving, not knowing what else to do.
Shaking near uncontrollably, the vomiting eventually stopped. A while later, the cries stopped as well. I held him in my arms, our bodies coated in the blood he’d released - it was cold and sticky, and smelled awful, all pooled together like it was. I fought down my own nausea as I stroked back his hair and kissed his temples. I don’t know how much longer I held him in that chilly, bloody bathroom, as he shook in my arms, but eventually a body breezed into the room.
“Teren…how long did you let it go?” I startled as Halina knelt beside him, her face both irritated and worried. She lifted his weak head and his eyes lolled back before he could focus on her, his fangs red from his own blood.
“Will he be okay?” I whispered, hope filling me that someone who understood what was happening to him, could help him.
She muttered something in Russian as she examined him. “Yes,” she looked back at me, “We’re harder than that to kill.” Running her hand over his face, she muttered, “But he didn’t have to let it get this bad.” With a wry look, she added, “And he could have made this mess in the toilet.”
A soft laugh escaped him and I nearly sobbed in relief. He hadn’t responded to me once since I’d come in here.
Halina started cleaning him up and then helped him stand up. He was weak, but managed to get on two feet. She started walking him away, more carrying him than helping him. They walked into the bedroom and then she surprisingly turned to the window. Picking Teren up and slinging him over her shoulder, like he weighed nothing, I watched her open the window and prepare to jump. Confused, I exclaimed, “Wait, where are you going with him? Shouldn’t he rest?”
She paused and looked back at me, her face hard. “No, he needs to eat. They all…need to eat, now.” Deep understanding rang through me, as I suddenly saw the real reason Halina had skipped dinner.
It wasn’t that she wanted a bite in town. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go through what Teren and the others just had. It was that one of them needed to stay strong, to help the others. Their love for each other was overwhelming, as was my guilt, that they’d felt the need to do this in the first place. I couldn’t imagine having the foreknowledge of how painful something you were going to do was, and then doing it anyway. It would be like knowingly shoving your hand in a fire. But, as my hand automatically drifted down to the twins in my belly, I reconsidered that. The end result of my situation certainly wasn’t going to be easy, but sometimes, the ends justify the means.
I nodded at Halina and watched her step up onto the window ledge; I guess they couldn’t really just walk out the front door, what with Teren soaked in blood like he was. Before she jumped, she turned back and looked me over. Shaking her head, she muttered, “Shower, change, and then go tell your friends that he’s fine and he’s sleeping.” She raised an eyebrow at me pointedly. “You’re going to be a member of this family. You must now play your part.”
I nodded again and then she turned back to the window and jumped. They were gone by the time I looked outside.
To Be Continued on Next Chapter of a whole new thread,
https://www.samsforum.com/showthread.php?t=645770 ... ... ...