Mature Audience warning: Mild themes of abuse/violence
"Drink, now. Alexandre would not be happy if I saved him and let harm come to his mate or child." Cornelius instructed. I balked, but he backed me into a chair and thrust the wound against my lips. "Quickly before it closes." The oppressive and scary force of his very presence made me open my lips and accept the blood. His flavor was...unique. There was something off about it, a wild note, a sourness that drove my vampire side crazy with need and fear. Like raspberry tea, but wrong somehow. I moaned and found myself simultaneously trying to push his arm away and draw it to me. He allowed his arm to be drawn closer, but if I thought Alexandre was strong, Cornelius could probably break me with one hand. I pulled my head back, intending to release him.
"No child, your eyes still have shadows under them, you are not done." Cornelius pushed his wrist against my lips again and when I continued to pull back, he grabbed my head gently and forced my mouth to the wound. I struggled, but it was like fighting a concrete wall. Angrily I dug my teeth into him, but only heard a slight hitch in his breathing. His facade stayed the same, smooth, pleasant, terrifying smile. Annoyed, I stared straight into his eyes and pulled at the flesh like a dog worrying a bone. His eyes fluttered briefly and I could hear a slight sound escape his chest. The jerk was getting off on this. I snarled and broke eye contact, forcing myself to continue swallowing as the blood filled my mouth again and again. Finally, when I thought my stomach couldn't hand any more, Cornelius withdrew his wrist and patted the back of my head.
"Good girl." He said and I dearly wanted to bite off his fingers. He moved to Alexandre and forced his wrist to Alexandre's mouth as well. He had an easier time getting Alexandre to drink than I did, and Alexandre only struggled once, then sighed Cornelius' name and lay still, obediently following Cornelius' instruction. I rubbed my stomach as the baby kicked uncomfortably. I can see why Alexandre likes you." Cornelius said, still feeding Alexandre his blood. "Such fire, but your eyes betray the careful way you think. What intelligence are you hiding? You're like a delightful puzzle one may never fully solve." I blanched. The way Cornelius phrased it was so harsh and emotionless. Like there was no love between us, but rather I was just a project to keep Alexandre occupied for a while. I felt like I'd been slapped. I was beginning to see why most vampire relationships didn't last. I gritted my teeth.
"Oh I don't know, I thought maybe it was this little thing called love, but I guess it's hard to recognize if you've never experienced it." I spat. Cornelius' head jerked around.
"Yes, definitely fiery." He murmured to himself. "What you call love, I call infatuation, give it a decade or two, it's just a rush of chemicals in the brain, they fade eventually." Cornelius replied. As if he had struck a nerve, I felt my heart clench. The baby rolled and kicked more restlessly. I placed a comforting hand on my stomach. Cornelius' gaze zeroed in on it. "Interesting." He murmured to himself again.
"How far along are you?" He asked, his gaze returning to my eyes.
"Anyone's guess, we estimate about twenty one weeks." I replied ruefully.
"Interesting." He murmured again. "What forms of testing have you done?" He pulled his wrist gently from Alexandre's mouth and I heard Alexandre sigh and is heart-rate steadied to a slow, even, resting pace. I sighed in relief. "Oh yes, he should be able to rest well now. My blood has a much higher viral load than both of yours combined. In short, I gave him a 'booster' shot that should speed his healing along quite nicely." Cornelius chuckled. The baby rolled again and I jerked as she delivered a powerful kick to my abdominal wall. I lifted my shirt to rub at the spot. It felt like it should have bruised. Cornelius' gaze sharpened.
"When was the last time you had an ultrasound?" He asked.
"We only did the one, Alexandre has been studying so hard, but we've had..other things..to deal with." I replied.
"Was it recent?" Cornelius asked. I shook my head. "Does he have the machine here?" I waved a hand vaguely at the room.
"Please help yourself." I gestured to the variety of equipment, some under protective covers. Cornelius sped around the room so quickly I almost couldn't track his movements.
"May I ask you to please accompany me?" Cornelius asked politely from the other side of the room. Begrudgingly I got up and walked to him. There was an extra table set up in the back that I didn't even know Alexandre had, and Cornelius had brought over the ultrasound equipment and set it up beside the table. "Please." He gestured. I gritted my teeth and crawled onto the table, laying back as he gently pushed me into position and moved my shirt and hesitated at the buttons on my shorts. "Excuse me." He said politely and undid the first few." I didn't move. With just three fingers he had shown me a taste of his strength laying me back against the table. I had tried to resist, but he was way too strong. He squeezed some lubricant onto my stomach and ran the handheld transducer along my lower abdomen. The baby kicked again, knocking at the ultrasound wand solidly. Cornelius looked at my stomach with surprise.
"So much strength already. It looks like my blood as helped you two as well." He commented. I clenched my jaw.
"Your self congratulations are charming." I remarked sourly. Cornelius looked at me again with surprise and whispered 'fiery' to himself. He directed his attention to the screen and exclaimed in wonder.
"Amazing." He breathed. "I never would have thought it possible. I mean, I'd heard the stories, but...amazing." I was desperate to see and sat up on my elbows to crane to look. Cornelius pushed me back down with a finger and turned the screen. A tiny humanoid perfectly formed baby showed on the screen. I sobbed and covered my mouth, trying to stifle the sound. She was ok. She was normal! She kicked again and the motion showed on the screen. Well, almost normal, the motion was a little too quick and a little too strong for a human. I saw her little arms flop as she stretched and then placed a hand on her face awkwardly. The image overlapped a bit but Cornelius chuckled.
"I think she's probably sucking on one of her fingers." He said. I broke down in heartbroken tears and Cornelius awkwardly tried to comfort me for a few seconds before tilting the screen again in his direction and then repositioned the wand a few more times and sighed in satisfaction. He cleaned up the mess of gel on my stomach an offered a hand to help me sit up.
"The baby's heartbeat is a little slow, but so is the mother's, so I have no worries there." Cornelius chuckled to himself. "She appears completely healthy, though I think you're closer to twenty six weeks than you think." He patted my shoulder.
"That's not possible!" I exclaimed and then blushed hard. "I mean... Alexandre and I hadn't.. And I never had before.." The blush made my face feel like it was on fire.
"Ah." Cornelius replied. "You were a virgin then. Fascinating..." He studied me critically. "Tell me, what all have you two done to care for the health of yourself and this child during the pregnancy? List everything: food, testing, exercise, all of it." He commanded. The blush crept back into my face again, but I started listing things. Cornelius hummed thoughtfully and then gestured for me to hop down off the table.
"From the information I've gathered, a vampire pregnancy should be similar to a human one. You've tried no food?" He questioned me again. I shook my head.
"Just that one night, that first night I began vomiting. I drank hot chocolate and a few other drinks, but I thought they made me sick, so I haven't tried anything again."
"And everything seemed to be on track and then Alexandre started feeding you his blood?" Cornelius asked. I nodded and he hummed again. "And then today I fed you my blood, a much more potent version and the baby immediately became much more active and agitated, like someone on a blood high. Hmm..." Cornelius looked at me thoughtfully.
"Spit it out. God, you and Alexandre, are you where he gets it from?" I crossed my arms and felt the baby move again. I rubbed my sore stomach.
"So fiery. I apologize. I'm just wondering if the virus is causing the baby to develop a little more quickly, or if the extra viral dump via vampire blood consumption has done it." Cornelius responded. My jaw dropped.
"So are you trying to say you advanced my pregnancy by feeding me your blood? How the fuck old are you anyway?" I gaped at him. He chuckled again.
"I'm a little over one thousand five hundred years." Cornelius replied. "And yes, basically I'm saying that drinking Alexandre's blood and my own may have increased the time table a bit. Not that I would have done anything differently if I were you two. I honestly think if he hadn't started feeding you his own blood you would have gotten gravely ill and maybe even lost the child. Which would be a shame. But perhaps you haven't noticed an important detail in the last thirty minutes or so. You've already gained weight." Cornelius pointed out with amusement. I looked down at my little pudgy stomach which was now beginning to jut out beyond my breasts.
"Shit." I cursed and the baby kicked again while Cornelius chuckled.