I was out of the bed, scrambling for the toilet before I was even halfway awake. I moaned in panic as the toilet lid fell back down and then Alexandre's patient hands were there, holding the lid up and brushing my hair back as I bent over to watch my guts try to writhe out of my throat.
"Fuck's sake." I wiped tears from my eyes as I groaned. "I told you that blood tasted funny." A strange look stole across Alexandre's face, but he nodded quietly.
"Carys, I... you know, forgive me, it's unimportant, do you think you can go back to bed and rest?" Alexandre asked softly. I held up a finger.
"Let me see if this settles first." I said, rubbing my stomach. So he sat beside me, looking like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to go about it. I tried waiting him out, I'd read once that people feel obligated to fill a silence. My stomach, however, intervened. "Hrrr." The undignified noise burst from me as I leaned over the seat once more. Alexandre smoothed back my hair and a look of determination set on his face.
"Carys, I have a brief errand to run after the shops open. Do you think you'll be ok here by yourself?" He asked me quietly. I nodded.
"Just leave me the toilet." I joked, laying on the cool tile floor. Alexandre chuckled lightly and rubbed his hand along my back soothingly.
My stomach eventually settled enough to crawl back into bed, though I requested Alexandre leave a bowl or something for emergencies. He frowned, but agreed, setting a plastic hospital sick tub on the bedside table next to me. I looked at him questioningly but didn't ask him where he got it.
"Thank you." I sighed and he kissed my temple then disappeared from my view into the closet. When he stepped back out he was fully dressed in a nice casual suit, buttoning the jacket. I wolf-whistled and he grinned. "You're not meeting another lady on the side are you?" I whined teasingly.
"Why in Heaven's name would I do that when I have the perfect woman for me at home?" He asked, approaching the bed to kiss me.
"I knew it, a man then." I sighed tragically and he guffawed, lightly pinching my cheek playfully.
"I love you Carys. I'll be home as quickly as I can. Please take care of yourself for me while I'm gone." He leaned down and kissed me passionately and then vanished from the room. I reached for my phone and sent him a quick text.
'Love you too. Tell your boyfriend I said hi.'
I grinned and shut my eyes, falling back to sleep.
I awoke in a good mood, and stretched sleepily. I got up to change, but couldn't find a comfortable bra, cursing as everything just rubbed me the wrong way.
"Braless it is." I muttered and slid into a loose comfortable shirt. Since I was doing comfort over fashion, I found a pair of sweat pants and went all out. I yawned and followed Alexandre's scent. He wasn't in his study like usual, so I followed the scent to the library, and stopped dead in my tracks. A nervous sweat broke out along the length of my body and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I no longer felt safe in this room. I could hear myself panting harshly and then the sound of a book hitting the floor and suddenly Alexandre was in front of me.
"Carys, are you ok?" He asked urgently, checking me over. I saw him inhale and breathe a slight sigh of relief as he smelled no injuries.
"Just uh...shock I guess.." I answered vaguely, staring into the library. Alexandre shut the door, breaking the spell, and pulled me against his chest. I could almost hear the pain in the way he breathed.
"I wish I could make this better for you Carys. This is your home, and I know it may take some time for you to feel at ease in this room again, but I do so miss your presence here." He kissed the top of my head and I hugged him back tightly.
"Damaged goods." I replied. "Handle with care." My voice dripped with sarcasm. Alexandre held me at arms length so he could look at me.
"We're all damaged in one way or another Carys." He said gently then took me by the arm and led me away from the library.
"Do you think you could eat a little something for me?" He asked and I gulped audibly.
"Uh, I dunno..." I hesitated.
"You really need to, you're not getting enough to eat, especially with everything coming back up. When was the last time anything you ate stayed down?" He demanded. I thought it over.
"Hmm, that night I fed from you...what was that, a few days ago, more?" I remarked trying to figure out the time line.
"That's right, you did keep that down. How interesting. I wonder.." Alexandre looked at me curiously out of the corner of his eye.
"Ok, that's enough!" I pulled him to a stop and crossed my arms. Alexandre's eyes flew wide.
"Whatever do you mean?" He innocently asked.
"For the last few days, you've been having secret phone calls and mumbling to yourself and checking on me like you think I don't notice. What the heck is going on?" I demanded angrily.
"I...hesitate to say without a little more evidence." Alexandre hedged.
"SPIT. IT. OUT." I growled.
"Oh very well, I had hoped to do this in a better, hopefully more romantic setting, but...Carys, I bought some pregnancy tests." He blurted out quickly. I blinked, trying to understand.
"Ooookay...It's your money." I offered, confused. He looked dumbfounded.
"Don't you understand? The vomiting, the moodiness, the extra sleep, I should have paid more attention when your smell changed, but I didn't recognize the hormone, I don't spend a lot of time around pregnant humans and the vampire virus alters the smell somewhat." Alexandre began to pace. "And it wasn't distinguishable at first because we spend so much time together, our scents are already mingled, but then a different scent started to come from you and it just kept getting stronger. I though ti was because you were sick, and then I realized, beyond the new hormone, there's the smell of coconut and flowers... Carys, I think you're pregnant." Alexandre declared and I felt my knees go weak.
"No, no, that can't be. Vampires can't reproduce." I objected. Alexandre caught me by the arms behind my elbows and held me up.
"We don't know that." He said.
"But I haven't had a period in almost a year!" I screeched.
"I know! I've been trying to figure it out myself and the only thing that I can come up with is that your body has either continued to ovulate, and the virus treats the shedding of your uterus lining as any other injury and heals it before you bleed, or...maybe, somehow there was an ovum left over and somehow preserved by the virus, and since no lining was ever shed, it was never expelled. I don't know if this is a one time miraculous fluke, or if it's always been possible, and there have just been so few vampire couples that can stand each other long enough to reproduce that nobody has found out. Or maybe it's just a well guarded secret, I don't know! There are so many myths and legends to wade through, and my oldest friend says he's never seen one personally, but I asked him to look into it, but Carys don't you see? We're going to be a family!?" His eyes were sparkling brightly and part of me wanted it to be true, but the other part of me was chilled to the bone.