Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (60 page)

    “They can get pregnant.”

    “No they can’t.”

    “Yes they can and yes I am.”

    “No they can’t and no you’re not.
How dumb do you think I am?
”

    “
Do you really want m
e to answer that?
Michael t
hat phone call this morning was from the doctor
. You can be in d
enial all you want but when the
baby comes
you’re going to be changing diapers.”

   
He studied her face and wasn’t sure what to think.
“You are trying to make me believe that we are going to have a bouncing baby vampire?”

    “Something like that.”

    “Oh, you almost had me going there for a minute.
I see that smile.
”

    “
Michael, you’re going to be a father like it or not. If you say one more time that it’s not possible I’m gonna bite a chunk right out of your head.”

    Silence took over the carriage like pirates taking over a ship. Michael did in fact want to reiterate that it was impossible but he didn’t dare.
Another silent mile went by as he imagined having a baby.
What would a vampire baby be like? Would he awake in the middle of the night
with the baby chewing on his leg? How would anyone control a vampire baby? Would it really be a vampire or a human? Finally he couldn’t help himself. “You’re teasing me? Right?”

    “Michael!”

    “But, but, but …”

    “Don’t say it.”

    “If
you are pregnant. You’ll have to stop being a sheriff for
a while
.”

   
“We’ll see.
Aren’t you excited to be a father?
Vampires seem to be a lot more fertile these days and no one knows why.”

   
He stared at her as she was so serious.
“If it was true it would be so cool. Come
on;
tell me you’re fooling so that we can get on with our date.
This line of conversation is quite distracting.
”

    Lauren threw Michael out of the carriage; he bounced and rolled an
d blurred back in
. He was laughing as he sat beside her. The driver just kept on going as if nothing had happened
; he was used to crazy vampires
.

   
She grabbed his hand.
“
I know how to settle this.
Michael, here, you can sense vampires. Put both hands on my stomach and tell me how many vampires you sense.”

    Michael
could
n’t
believe it. Even at this early s
tage he could sense the baby. His
mouth dropped open
and he looked so confused
. “There’s a baby in there!
We’re gonna have a baby?
Ho
ly shit we’re gonna have a baby!
Michael junior.
”

    “What if she’s
a girl?”

    “
Then
we’ll call her Michaelerina.”

    “
Yeah
right.”

     “Is this some sort of mind trick?”

    “Michael!”

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

    J
ENNY WAS WALKING
down a blood soaked sidewalk, with the sound of each step being unnerving.
She
could only imagine what the blood was doing to her new shoes.
It was midnight in New York City
but it was so dark
.
Not a single light for illumination, no moon and no stars either
, almost as if
a cloak had been dropped
. It appeared that
most of the city had been abandoned
, although there were creepy
red
eyes staring out some windows.
It one particular window two sets of eyes were pushing at one another, battling for space to look out.
It looked as though they were becoming more and more aggressive.

    Several large bats flew by, with one purposely touching the top of her hea
d; she swung at it but missed. It
circled back to torment her bu
t decided against it when
it realized that she had zeroed in on it
and so it turned and flew off into the New York night.
It knew it had managed to touch her because she had not been expecting it
.

  
Jenny stopped as she sensed something. Listening intently she waited for sound or movement.
Smelling
the
odor of bad breath on her neck,
she turned quickly
and
saw no one but the disgusting odor remained.
In between two skyscrapers was a glow, perhaps some sort fire concealed around the corner. Someone or something was dancing in those shadows.

    Bats were screeching in the distance.

    There was the sound of two cats fighting somewhere.

    There were heavy footsteps reverberating off walls from some alley.

    She crossed the street with the sound of her walking through puddles of blood. Jenny leaned against something to pause and get her bearings, and discovered that she was leaning into a large pile of rotting meat. She dislodged
a chunk of the putrid
meat from her left arm and heard it
slap the ground
like a pound of raw hamburger.
Her exceptional vision appeared to have deserted her.

    “Hey ya ho ahhhh.” Chanting in the distance? There were whispers that floated around her like ghosts in the air. The whispers approached and then became distant,
as if beckoning her to follow. The night itself appeared to be alive
with a myriad of flying insects
.

    As Jenny walked into the alley more than a dozen eyes appeared into more than a dozen windows, red threatening eyes.
They stare
d dow
n judging her
.
She knew the fire was just around the corner but she feared what else was there
, how many waiting to pounce on her she couldn’t say
.
Yet she was compelled to continue on.
Above
her the sky was turning a purplish
red as if some sort of magic pollution was taking on a life of its own. It smelled like vomit?
Something smelled like vomit.
Drops of it commenced to fall on her.

    There was the sound of a garbage can being knocked over.

    There was sound of a cat crying.

    The sound of a baby crying tore at her emotions.

    She
made a ball of
magical light as she approached
the source of the fire. The girl
was now
knee deep in blood and mud. A vampire climbed out the window of a fire escape, and then another; her ball of magical light destroyed them both, giving a splash of light to the area as it did so. Jenny was frightened to continue on but did so nonetheless; she had to see what
danced around those flames
.

    “Hey!” A large insect flew into her face and she swatted it away.

   
It looked as though there was a shadow of a book being projected by the fire against the brick wall. Was it the book that was pulling her forward?
The dark clouds were
getting darker as bats flew into them. A v
ampire smashed through a window
high
up and jumped on a fire escape, causing shards o
f glass to rain down near Jenny, its harsh sound bouncing through the alley.

    “She’s coming.”

    “It’s that girl wizard.”

   
Jenny
struggled to get close enough to see what was going on, and suddenly a fiery
skeleton stepped out showing
itself. Its laughter reverberated through the alley.
It started towards her and it was too frightening to contemplate.
She felt hotter and hotter with each step it took towards her.

    Jenny sat up in bed with a gasp.