Having seen a pregnant lady being all alone in the middle of the road, crying in pain helplessly near the bus stop, Neil immediately decided to help the woman.
He stopped his car quite near the bus stop for the convenience of carrying her to the car. He couldn't see the face of the lady in front of him, who was probably gritting her teeth in pain and heaving breaths quite heavily. The hair stuck to her face, making it impossible to make out her face but he didn't care about the face of a lady. He just felt that aura of the woman that she was the kind of woman who wasn't the one to beg on the streets. That strong and untouchable demeanor of hers could be felt even when he met her for the first time and in such a tattered condition.
Seemingly, the woman had still not noticed his presence as she just cried in pain all the while holding her grown belly. Neil crouched down near her and tried to look at her, to ask her but when he saw the pain she was going through, he directly asked if she was okay. Finally detecting someone else's presence, the lady held up her head and then before she could say anything in approval or even nod, she cried in pain again. This time, Neil didn't need to be told twice. He gave her his hand to which she just stared and when the time was passing by, he helped her up with her arms.
He then carried her to the car and drove as fast as he could to the nearest hospital. The hospital is quite far away. Neil internally thought, 'Why was this lady on such an empty street with no hospital nearby? She was even drenched, so why was she in such a heavy rain?'
He was interrupted in his line of thoughts when he heard the painful cries of the lady. She was clearly in so much pain. Neil gritted his teeth in helplessness as he tried to speak to the lady to help her distract from the pain.
"Mam please don't focus on the pain. Just focus on something good or happy memories…-"
He was cut off by yet another cry. So he gave up on making her focus on some memories.
'What if she had suffered through something bad? Better to mutter some positive words. Hopefully, it might help.' Neil thought this and was convinced by this idea as he started the radio that was fortunately playing some happy songs. He increased the sound of it and raced his car as far as he could.
He checked back for a split second to make sure that she was still with the seat belt on, or else she might tumble off to the sides. Thankfully, he had put on the seat belt on her that was still in place, holding her while the lady's expression in the dark car became a bit clear. She was clearly in pain but was trying hard to not show it.
'Why?' Neil thought to himself.
While he thought of the positive words to say to the lady behind him, he thankfully missed out on the fangs that Linda had revealed. Not that she wanted to harm him. She wasn't the one to attack the one who had helped her. That's not in her dictionary. She tried to retract her fangs but the blood craving at such a sensitive time had increased tenfold. She had somehow made herself control the cravings by having red meat but what about now? She couldn't ask this kind man for blood. Suddenly she had an idea. While they were passing through the way, she saw that they were going to near a place where she could find some kind of prey. It didn't matter at the moment if the prey was good or not. The blood was the priority and that's what she needed now.
She asked the man driving the car to stop for a while, as she felt like puking and was feeling quite bloated as well. The man was reluctant at first but he stopped the car nevertheless for her convenience. Linda opened the car and almost ran to the nearest point where she could find some prey. The heavy rain had made it impossible for anyone to watch her face or anything as her fangs showed up and her eyes changed their color.
Her whole demeanor changed to that of a predator as she saw a pigeon trying to frantically fly away in the rain. She caught hold of it through the nearest stick she found and held it down. She then crouched down and killed it in a split second of blood desperation as she slit its throat with her elongated nails.
All the while, she was holding her baby bump with one hand, to support the weight that she was carrying. She then frantically drank the blood from the poor bird which was by now drained of blood. Linda felt like her body was suddenly recharged with energy while her pain subsided for a while, but didn't leave it yet. She looked up at the sky for a moment to let the blood on her lips be washed away with rain drops as her fangs automatically retracted back, her eyes turned back to normal blue color and her elongated nails got back to their natural size.
She then turned around, only to see the man making his way towards her. In about a moment, the kind man had reached her and she was then immediately carried to the hospital as the pain started to intensify tenfold this time, with thankfully no more cravings. But the pain was making her dizzy and all she remembered now was herself being carried into the operation room.
Linda smiled at Neil who was watching her properly for the first time now. That gentle little smile of hers tugged at his heartstrings as if something within him was starting to take root within him suddenly. He was just helpless at this unknown feeling starting to spread within him. And then like an iron piece attracted to the magnet, he made his way towards Linda. Neil smiled at her and then looked back at the baby which had seemingly sensed his presence as it also looked at him with its cute toothless grin.
"Thank you so much, sir. Had you not been there, I might have had to deliver on the alone streets, at the bus stop." Linda said with visible gratitude in her voice.