The Billionaire's Baby (Key to My Heart Book 3) (15 page)

Without a question, she guided him into a house and he found himself seated in a chair, Nia still in his arms.

"Let me just get the blinds." The unknown female said, and after a few moments a gentle creak nearby alerted Ellis to the fact that she had taken a seat in another chair, "Now then, Mister Vampire, would you mind telling me what you're doing with my granddaughter?"

"I'm not-" Ellis said uncomfortably, trying to deny all accusations. He didn’t want to be named responsible for killing the girl. She hadn’t moved in some time, after all.

The woman chuckled, "Don't try and deny it, I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were a vampire, dear. The bite mark on my granddaughter didn't help much either."

Ellis went silent, face tilted downwards towards the redhead barely shifting in his arms. The woman didn't seem terribly concerned however.

"You can call me Nana, Mister Vampire, everyone else does." She said, smile spreading the wrinkles of her cheeks.

Ellis nodded, pausing for just a moment, "You seem to know a bit about vampires."

"Indeed I do, which leads me to question why you were stumbling around like an old man while the sun was still out." She arched an eyebrow curiously.

Ellis gritted his teeth, turning his head away indignantly and refusing to answer.

The woman smiled briefly, "If you won't answer then I'll have to assume that daylight affects your vision greatly. Do you go blind in the sun, Mister Vampire?"

Ellis agitated at her correctness and whose vision was only just starting to return, glared at faint, hazy outline of the woman sitting in front of him. She was tiny, much like Nia, with gray hair and a chocolate stare that was so intense it made Ellis feel like he was about to be set on fire.

He didn't answer her question, mostly because he felt that he didn't need to. His stumbling had been answer enough.

It was so embarrassing, to go from a graceful, powerful vampire in the night to a stumbling, tense, cautious person in the day. He had about as much mobility in the light as century old geezer.

This was the answer George had been searching for, how exactly the light affected him.

The general populace had no idea that the sun had a range of varying effects on vampires, the most common and most known being easily burned. But each vampire tended to have a more serious effect from the sun as well, which varied with each vampire.

The General had probably been hoping that finding out how the light destroyed Ellis's senses would be the key to finding out how light affected other vampires so that he could kill them off more easily.

It was dangerous information to hold, but Ellis supposed it was safe enough with the old lady in front of him. He doubted the centurion would be much of a threat. It looked as though simply sitting in the chair before him was painful enough.

Ellis had gotten lucky simply going blind in the sun, he'd known other vampires who had their hair and nails fall out in the sun, and others who simply burned away into a crisp within seconds. He didn't even know the full spectrum of the effects the sun could have on a vampire.

"Nia's been missing for quite some time now, what've you two been up to?" The woman asked, interrupting Ellis's thoughts as she stood and peered down at the redhead. Her sage expression, which had been slightly cheerful, turned more serious and slightly accusing, "She doesn't look well."

The woman stood straight, frowning deeply at Ellis as he sputtered nonsense in response, "Come with me and tell me what happened."

She whirled on a tiny heel and walked briskly off towards a closed door, swinging it open as Ellis trailed after her like a lost puppy.

Ellis hesitated for half a second to glance around the room as he entered, taking in the pale green paint and the small bed, covered with a thick green blanket decorated with tiny pink rosebuds. He supposed it must've been Nia's room. It smelled of her.

The woman gestured impatiently at the bed, which Ellis awkwardly dumped Nia onto.

"I told you to tell me what happened." Nana snapped.

"Well she came across me in the forest and I kindly promised to take her home," The vampire explained, abridging just slightly, "but then we were attacked, and Nia and I were taken hostage. Then we got out."

The woman blinked, eyebrows slowly lifting to her wispy hairline, "Uh-huh….I might need a bit more detail.

She turned to her granddaughter, feeling her forehead and checking her pulse while Ellis talked.

"Well, when we were originally captured Nia got stabbed, but she got healed so that shouldn't be it, but ever since right before we escaped she's been complaining that she hadn't felt good, but she was given a lot of medicine so that might be it." Ellis ticked facts off his fingers, struggling to remember them all. He’d spent a lot of that time unconscious after all.

Ellis had no idea how much he was rambling and how little sense he was making, but the old woman's confused face reflected that fact, and Ellis slowly stopped talking with a bewildered, "What?"

"Alright, what medicine?" The woman questioned, trying to sort through Ellis's speech.

"At the prison they gave us medicine to knock her out. The old guy said they weren't sure how much to give her so they might've overdosed her a bit." Ellis shrugged, glancing at Nia as she took a shuddering breath.

"Old guy? And how did she get healed?" Nana continued to press.

"Yeah, some old guy in the prison. The General who stabbed her promised to heal her so I would go along with them."

The woman stiffened visibly, eyes suddenly wary. "A General…?"

"Yeah, named George." Ellis said, thin lips pursing into a frown.

The woman's face was instantly close to Ellis's, "Where was she stabbed?" Her tone was frantic, eyes wide, and the vampire was instantly afraid.

"H-her stomach!" He cried, even more bewildered. She'd been healed hadn't she? So why was the old crazy lady so worried?

The woman yanked Nia's shirt up, much like George himself had done. Underneath, where she'd been stabbed, was a large and hideously black bruise.

"George was the one who destroyed Nia's village when she was a baby." The woman explained, gentle grandmotherly fingers softly prodding at the bruise, "And he is anything but a healer."

She shot Ellis a death glare, as though he was supposed to know this information, "He simply knows how to twist things that you see so that you think you're seeing something else. Kind of like an illusionist or a magician."

Ellis felt his heart drop to his stomach, "…what?"

"He was able to hide himself in Nia's village for years prior to the attack to gather information, he was never suspected, never noticed, even though he is a well-known and feared member of the Corsentilian army."

The woman fell silent, frowning, "Unfortunately, I can't tell how bad she was wounded because his spell is still working. It's probably infected, which would explain how ill she is now."

Ellis nodded, still silent, he hadn't really believed she was in any pain. It was his fault that she had passed out, after he'd bitten her, he'd taken any strength she had left.

Nana seemed to be thinking something similar as she brushed her fingers against the pinprick holes in Nia's neck, "You bit her very recently?"

Ellis nodded, looking away guiltily, "I didn't feed off of her too much..."

"You saved her life." Nana whispered sincerely, and at Ellis's confused stare she quickly continued, "Chances are good that Nia was dying when you fed from her."

The vampire's confusion didn't wane, wouldn't that make things even worse?

Nana sighed primly, as though she were speaking to a child, “When someone dies, their soul is released from the imprisonment of their mortal flesh.” She said quietly, tucking a red lock of hair behind Nia’s small ear.

"When that person is dying, their soul begins looking for an escape route from the body, causing what's called soul pressure to build up, when they pass on, their soul escapes." She paused to look at Ellis, "Do you know what makes you so special, Mister Vampire?"

Ellis shook his head, mute and staring at pallid face of the limp redhead on the bed. Was this lady just old and crazy or was there any actual sense behind her words?

"A vampire has no soul.” She grinned, nodding as though this was the best news of the day, “So, when you bit her, and took her blood into your own body, you took pieces of her soul with you, easing the soul pressure within her body.”

The pale man frowned at her, eyes narrowed, “So I helped?” He asked uncertainly.

“The vampire's empty heart is the perfect place for another's soul to reside. Temporarily of course, eventually her soul will seek to return to its home. The difference between when you normally feed from someone and when you fed from Nia is that you didn't drink enough of her blood to completely take her soul away, she still has much of it within her own body. It will call the remnants of itself back home when she has healed enough." Nana sighed, patting the pale hand of her granddaughter.

Ellis, however, was still bewildered. He had pieces of Nia's soul in him? He'd saved her? This was absurd and stupid, none of it made any sense.

"So what does this mean?" He asked.

"It means that you two can't be too far apart from one another for a while. If you were take Nia's soul too far away it could possibly kill her." The old woman replied, not looking at him.

"So now I'm stuck here?!" The vampire snapped, aggravated.

It'd been the plan to drop her off and leave. So much for that one.

"I have another question." Nana continued, trying to regain Ellis's wandering attention, "How did you two escape? George is not one to be careless."

"The old guy." Ellis mumbled, dropping his heavy feeling head in his hands, still trying to understand the whole soul-stealing situation. He supposed, while the sun was out, he wasn’t going to get far anyways.

"What'd this gentleman do?” Nana asked, curiosity in her gravelly voice.

"He had a tunnel out of the prison that he let us use while he stayed and protected it or whatever." His tone was flippant but his gratitude to Dag was very deep.

The old woman scoffed, "He just happened to have a tunnel and gave it away to you two while he stayed there and died?"

Ellis, who had never really thought about it, nodded slowly, brow furrowing, "I guess that is a little strange…"

"It is much more than strange.” Nana corrected, “Do you know anything else about him?"

"His name was Dag." Ellis said with a shrug, "That's all I know."

Nana blinked, gears in her head practically audible as they began to rapidly spin, "Dag?"

Ellis nodded, groaning, "Did he attack Nia's village too?"

Nana shook her head slowly, face almost as pale as Nia's own sickly pallor, "Dag was the name of Nia's father…."

Chapter Six

"I can't believe Dag was alive this whole time…" Nana whispered softly, gaze dropping to her unconscious granddaughter – the only remnant of her son-in-law left.

"What happened to Nia's village?" Ellis asked, thin-lipped frown demanding immediate answers.

The old woman stayed silent for a moment, tenderly fingering a red sprig of hair before brushing it back off of Nia's forehead, damp with rain and feverish sweat, "I need to get her out of these wet clothes."

Ellis's frown twisted into a pitiful pout, "You didn't answer-"

"Kellen!" Nana yelled abruptly in a shockingly loud voice, successfully cutting off the increasingly agitated Ellis, "Get Mister Vampire here something dry to wear, please!

A boy who Ellis had not noticed before suddenly poked his head around the corner with a lackluster, "Fine."

"Go on. Kellen's room is next door, it'll be fine if you're only that far for a little bit. I'll let you in as soon as I'm finished taking care of Nia." Nana said simply.

Ellis slowly stood, giving the limp girl a quick glance before trudging sullenly after the stranger named Kellen. He didn’t want to leave Nia, however the old bat of a woman was as stubborn as Nia, and as scary as the fiery red head too. He didn't want to make her mad at him. If Nia could make plants go crazy, after all, who knew what Nana was capable of?

Kellen led the vampire silently to the room adjacent to Nia's, shoving open the door and stepping inside the small room, letting the door slam in Ellis's face. Right on his pale nose to be exact. He huffed, pushing it open and into other boy's back roughly. Kellen glared over his shoulder at Ellis with icy eyes carved out of dingy gray, and pointed at a small, misshaped wardrobe barely wide enough to fit more than a few shirts in.

"I don't need to change!" Ellis huffed, puffing up his chest and eyeing the scrawny boy in front of him, "my massive muscles wouldn't fit into your tiny shirts anyways!"

He snickered to himself quietly, patting his forearm's ‘massive muscles’ which were in truth hardly bigger than Kellen's own.

“Change.” Kellen shrugged, tossing a shirt at him.

To the vampire’s utter dismay, he fit easily into Kellen's tunic, though he insisted it was because he stretched the tunic first. And even more to his dismay, he was much more comfy in this dry shirt.

"You don't talk much, do ya?" Chirped Ellis, eyeing Kellen for a while. He was reminded slightly of Dag's personality, though Nia's father had a much more pleasant air about him.

Kellen was much too forlorn looking, eyes solemn and too wide for his face, rusty brown hair too straggly, and arms and legs just a bit too long. But he was handsome, in a funny, somehow threatening way to Ellis.

And it made Ellis angry.

"I'm going back to Nia's room." He muttered, frustrated at the pervasive silence, and bolted from the room while Kellen watched with an unchanged face, silently closing the door after him.

Ellis barged through Nia's door, just as Nana had finished slipping a pearly white nightgown over the girl after rewrapping and treating her torn stomach. The illusion was quickly waring off, leaving her skin splotchy yellow and bloodied.

Nia’s wet hair was neatly braided again, keeping it free of her sleeping face and tied neatly at her side with the pretty blue ribbon which was frayed just slightly at the ends.

The old woman jumped slightly as his noisy entrance, glancing over her shoulder with a sigh, "I told you it would be fine for a little while!"

"Ugly over there was annoying me." He responded with a rough gesture towards the wall that Kellen's room shared, dark eyes daring the old woman to tell him leave again. She didn't however, turning away from the vampire instead to look at her granddaughter.

"She's a good girl, you know." She mumbled, quite softly.

Ellis rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah."

Nana fell silent again for a moment, face conflicted, "If Dag was alive, that gives me hope that other people survived as well."

"What happened?" Ellis suddenly persisted, words dripping in intense curiosity, sweeping forward and dropping to his knees at the side of the bed, one hand falling absently on Nia's tiny knee, eyes staring up at the wrinkled face of the old woman who was probably younger than the teenage looking boy beside her.

"I wasn't there, so I don't know for sure…" Her voice cracked, regal composure breaking just slightly behind her eyes, before she continued, "I only know what the elders of Nia's village have told me."

"The elders survived?"

Again Nana hesitated, and it was only then that Ellis noticed how stiff her hands became and how white her knuckles became clenched against her skirt, "No."

"Then how-" Ellis said in confusion, shaking his head as the still damp ends of his hair swept over his dark eyes.

"The new elders told me. They weren't even adults and they had to…to step up to that position. They were the first to tell me about Nia's prophecy."

"You know it?" He was suddenly intrigued, smirking brightly.

Ellis was positive he was the 'special person' of Nia's life. They'd met in the forest after all. He wanted to be praised for it and called special.

She nodded, once again brushing her fingers across Nia's tan cheek, "You're not him." She said, one corner of her mouth twitching into a grin at the vampire’s expression.

The vampire was floored, "I'm not what?" He demanded. He'd heard wrong. Obviously.

"You've misunderstood it. She's misunderstood it. You're both so wrong." Her words trailed into silence as the old woman stood up, "I'm sorry but this conversation has tired me."

Her face was grave and the empty vacancy of her sad eyes reminded Ellis of Kellen, "She might wake up tonight, I'm not sure. I'll explain more about the soul sharing tomorrow, but for tonight, please stay close to her. You shouldn't feel any effects for the rest of the night, it's when her soul starts looking for her that you'll feel anything." Nana swept regally towards the door, standing there for the briefest of moments.

And then she was gone before Ellis could ask any questions, and Ellis was left alone with the lifeless doll that was Nia.

The vampire stayed silent on the floor beside the bed for the rest of the remaining day and through the entire night, like a good and patient little doggy.

He dozed. He fiddled his fingers. He rolled around on the floor in insane boredom.

And when he finally heard a sigh escape her mouth he whirled around, half pouncing on the bed to stare down intently into her face.

"Tater tot," He sang, giving her a hard shake. She groaned quietly, one green eye cracking open to stare up at him before drifting shut again.

He sighed in frustration, flopping down on the bed next to her, arm finding homage between her chest and stomach, face cuddling up against her own, seeking the usual heat that emanated from her. It didn't hurt that she still had a fever and there should have been even more heat than usual.

Instead of her normal warmth, however, her skin was damp and slightly cold. He cuddled closer, something in his heart aching and pulling – he assumed it was just Nia's soul lost somewhere inside of him, out of place and lonely, looking for its home in Nia's own body.

It was funny to think of it that way, that part of Nia was stuck inside of him. It reminded him of some dirty joke and made him want to giggle. Though it would be a lot easier to giggle when he knew for sure that the tiny redhead would be back to normal. He'd share it with her later, when she could laugh with him again.

His fingers tapped imaginary piano keys on her hip, tracing imaginary pictures through the sheer fabric of her nightie. Through it he could see the white cloth wrapped tight around her middle, tinted funny colors of pink and ugly brown with lost blood. He touched it gingerly, feeling guilty, and that was when he heard the soft reverberations of a chuckle drift through her chest.

He looked up to find her watching him, giving him a tired but sassy grin. He smirked back and sat up, "Hey, sleepyhead. Want me to go get Nana?"

She shook her head, resting her head back against the pillow, one finger aimlessly tugging on the edge of the blue ribbon that tied her hair, the other moving up to touch the residing bite mark on her neck, "You really knocked me out, huh?"

The last thing she remembered was Ellis’s attack.

He pouted, shaking his head, "It wasn't my fault!" He cried, huffing a bit, "It was George!"

She stared at him, puzzled, until he explained everything. Everything about how he'd sucked out her soul and how he'd managed to find Nana even though he'd been blind and how he'd borrowed Kellen's clothes and how he had to stay near her.

It was at this point that she stuck out her tongue childishly and said, "So, you just couldn't leave me, right?"

He stuck his tongue back out and climbed off the bed, "Why don't we get you outta bed for a bit, shorty?"

She must be tired of just lying there for so long, he'd decided. Plus, he was bored of being in the room.

She nodded, swinging thin legs off the edge of the bed, taking his extended hand and walking slowly towards the door. She leaned heavily against him, the medicines that Nana had given her were working diligently, but she was still so weak.

He opened the door for her and led her out, still gripping her tiny hand gently in his own. She looked like such a little child beside him, dressed in a frilly night gown with her hair braided so neatly, and so unlike Nia's typical mess of a braid.

Nana was sitting once more on the couch in the living room, large book balanced on her knees making her, too, look like a tiny, aged doll.

It was then that Ellis decided that this family was a family of midgets, though Kellen and Dag seemed to be the exception.

With a start, the vampire realized that Nia didn't know about Dag yet, and his heart sunk just a little bit.

It had been a long time since Ellis had a family, and he no longer knew the face of his mother or father, he no longer knew if he had ever had siblings. He supposed that if he did have a brother or sister, that it was possible they were still alive somewhere. Though they would be old and decrepit, like Nia's grandmother.

Ellis did not know many things about his own family, but he did know that when Nia, who had never truly known her father, found out she had been so close to Dag without realizing it, she would be devastated.

Nana slowly closed the book, setting it down softly on the floor by her feet and clearing her throat. For such an old woman, she sat so straight with her weathered hands folded so gracefully that Ellis could have mistaken her for a queen.

"Come sit, Nienna." She murmured, and it took a whole minute for Ellis to figure out that she was talking to Nia, who hurriedly rushed to sit beside her grandmother.

He could only assume that 'Nienna' was Nia's full name.

It didn't fit her though, when he imagined a Nienna, a pretty, tall, gorgeous woman with huge breasts came to mind. He sniggered to himself childishly, following Nia to sit at the other side of Nana.

Nana gave him half a worried glance at his chuckle then turned to her granddaughter, who was just a bit taller than she was, opening her withered mouth to speak.

It was Nia’s voice that rang out instead, "Nana, I need to tell you something." She said hurriedly, eyes wide and confused, "Ellis told you about how we escaped, didn't he?"

Nana’s lips slowly pursed, chin ducking solemnly.

"The…the tunnel, it had tree roots wrapped around it, Nana! It was formed by roots!" Nia continued hurriedly, her brow creasing into a deep trench on her forehead.

Ellis was again utterly confused, but Nana seemed to know what she meant.

"Yes, child. Nienna, hear me…" It was then that Ellis realized why she was speaking to Nia so formally, it was a result of the woman's own anxiety about telling Nia that her father was dead, "Dear, that man…"

"I know already, Nana!" She cried, a bit too happily, "He was like me! He has powers like me! I never thought I'd actually meet another one. That's so amazing, that he could control trees like that…"

Ellis looked away when he saw Nana reach forward to Nia, grasping her hands softly, "Yes. That's true.” The old woman struggled for a moment before continuing, “Nia, we believe he was your father."

Nia didn't seem to hear, "Being able to control wood is a special talent, Ellis!" She refused to look at her grandmother, "I've only heard of a couple elementals being able to do it."

But Ellis saw the glitter of tears behind her eyes, and he was sure that she had heard, and he was sure that she was heartbroken.

"Nia…" Nana murmured, words and face full of the expression only a grieving grandmother could show.

"My…my father….he….he could….he was supposed to teach me too!" She was still smiling at Ellis, clinging now to her grandmother's hands, but the tears were beginning to drip down her face like thick raindrops.

Nana gently pulled Nia against her, silencing her and rocking her softly while Nia cried over the father she had never gotten a chance to know and who had never gotten a chance to really know her.