vampires of san francisco 07 - suckers lost and found (29 page)

Aidan’s eyes are glued to Lily. He gives my shoulder a squeeze.

Dr. Hildebrand is now using a needle and suture; he’s sewing her up while the nurse is trying to set up the IV. When she’s done, she starts to wipe the wound on Lily’s neck.

“It’s superficial doctor, she’ll heal it on her own soon.”

The nurse cleans Lily’s neck with gauze and water. It’s barely bleeding anymore. She looks up and gives me an encouraging smile. I feel some tension leave me, not all of it by far.

“Maggie, help me close, please,” Dr. Hildebrand asks. The nurse, Maggie, takes up more gauze and cleans the wound on Lily’s belly. 

Fuck, it goes right across the baby.

“H-how, how deep did it go?” I stumble out as I get closer to the bed.

“Not to the uterus but it was close. Too close. The blood will help heal and replenish what she’s lost. I need to do an ultrasound. Mostly I’m worried about her going into shock and a miscarriage.”

I go down to one knee next to her and grab her hand. I let out the pent up air in my lungs. I hear Aidan turn around and see it’s because they are undressing her. The nurse deftly cuts off Lily’s clothes and I can only imagine what she’ll think of that. Actually, I know she will be more worried about the baby than any clothes, high couture or not.

Once she is in a gown that snaps around her arm so they can keep the IV in, I tell Aidan that it is safe to turn around. They keep her covered up from the waist down and pull the gown up over her protruding belly. The doctor squirts ultrasound jelly across her stomach, careful to miss her cut. Soon the little screen blips in and I hear the heartbeat. I let out more air.

Aidan gasps. I turn to him and see his look of wonder. I know how he feels. I hold Lily’s hand while Dr. Hildebrand moves the wand over her stomach and we look at a fuzzy screen. 

“There,” he says. “See your baby, Sebastian? Do you want to know the sex?”

“No. Lily and I talked about it and we want to be surprised.”

“Okay. If you change your mind let me know.”

I stare at the small infant on the screen. It moves all over and the heartbeat is steady. I know that our baby is fine but I want the doctor to affirm.

“Is the baby okay?” Aidan asks. I hold my breath.

“Yes, the baby is doing well. I’m more concerned about the mother right now. She needs to wake up soon. Maggie, how many units have you got in her?”

“Two, doctor.”

“It may take a while longer before she comes to. She lost a lot of blood and her body is using extra right now. Give it some time,” the doctor says.

Aidan summons a chair for me and I gratefully get up from my knees to sit in it.

“Thanks, Aidan.” 

He pats me on the shoulder. “I’m going to go tell Manda what’s happening. She is freaking out. Don’t be surprised if she wants to see Lily. She thinks of Lily like a sister. Those two have really bonded,” Aidan says and his smile is equal parts ironic and pleased. Who knew? I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s my Lily, kind and compassionate.

Aidan pops out just as the rest of the group shows up.

“Everyone, two at a time and only for a few minutes. She needs rest and quiet. She is not conscious yet.” I hear everyone murmuring. First through the door are Helena, Julian and Hannah. I guess Hannah doesn’t make three. It makes me smile.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Helena asks me.

“I’ve been better.” I rub my hand through my hair and snort.

“She’ll be up and around soon. The blood is the key. I heard you saw the baby. What was it like, Sebastian?” Helena asks. I hand her the picture of the baby the doctor printed.
      I see her eyes crinkle like she is going to cry and wonder in Hannah and Julian’s eyes just like Aidan’s. 

“Dr. Hildebrand said that you don’t want to know the sex of the baby?” Julian asks.

“That’s right. With so little time to experience the pregnancy we just want to focus on making sure the baby is as healthy as possible.”

“I think that’s admirable,” Julian says. Helena bends down and kisses Lily’s forehead and then mine. Julian kisses Lily and pats me on the back. “I think our time is up, Sebastian. We’ll send in Diel next.”

“Thanks, Julian.”

“Oh My Goddess. Did you see her kick ass? This is one brave little mamma. She’ll be okay, Sebastian. She is so strong. I hear the baby is wiggling all over the place,” Hannah says as she smiles fondly at Lily’s belly. Her expression changes as she looks at the cut Maggie is now covering with gauze. 

“That bitch is lucky Aidan wanted to handle things quickly or I know a special Hell for vamps like her,” Diel confesses as he walks in and wraps an arm around his wife. He looks ready to kill Guilia all over again. His fist clenching makes me like him all the more. “We’ll leave so the others can visit.”

Hannah and Diel kiss Lily and Hannah kisses my cheek. Her breath hitches as she leaves the room showing that she was trying to put on a strong show for me. I let go with a shaky shiver.

Dr. Hildebrand tells Andrew and Liam they have just two minutes.

“Oh, Miss Lily,” Andrew sobs. “That bitch better not have hurt our baby.”

“The baby is fine, Andrew, and so is Lily. She just needs to get more blood into her.” I squeeze his hand and Liam puts his arm around Andrew’s waist, pulling him in for comfort. They kiss Lily’s and my cheeks and leave. 

Finally, Aidan and Manda come in. Manda is crying and Aidan is holding her close.

“Sebastian, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If you guys hadn’t found me then that psycho-bitch wouldn’t have tried to get Lily.”

“Manda, shh…” I say getting up to give her a hug. “This is not your fault. Please don’t think that. You need to let go of this guilt, cherie. It’s unfair to you. Right now we need to have a lot of positive thoughts going towards Lily. No more of this thinking about you having anything to do with this. It is what it is. Sometimes life deals us circumstances out of our control and we must handle them as best we can.”

“You’ve done amazingly well, love,” Aidan tells her then he pulls her into him. 

Lily stirs on the bed. I sit as gently as I can on the edge so that I don’t disturb her and take her hand.

Her eyes flutter open and take a minute to focus on me then her hands clasp her belly.

“Bast, the baby?”

“Just fine,” I say and give her a reassuring smile. She smiles tentatively back.

“How bad was I cut?”

“Almost to the uterus. It was a bad one, cherie. But Dr. Hildebrand has sewn you up and is giving you blood transfusions.”

She looks at her arm and then up at the blood and sighs.

“I’m sorry for getting caught. She came out of nowhere. I hope Aidan got the bitch.”

“You were perfect, love. As soon as she let go I took her out. You were very brave.”

“Thanks, Aidan.”

“Lily, I was so scared,” I whisper.

“We’ll give you guys a few minutes,” Manda says. She and Aidan leave, shutting the door behind them.

“I was scared too, Bast. Then I got pissed. If she had hurt our baby I would have had Aidan resurrect her so I could have killed her. How dare she?” She whispers hoarsely.

“It’s all over now. I just want to concentrate on getting you healthy and getting through this pregnancy. How about we start stocking the nursery?”

“That would be so much fun. I’m still woozy, Bast. But as soon as I can, I’m going to have Aidan summon me some baby furniture magazines,” she says drowsily. I kiss her eyelids as she shuts them and hold her hand.

Dr. Hildrebrand heard from Aidan that she is awake and comes in after knocking.

“Lily, dear. Can you wake up for me? I want to check your vitals.” Dr. Hildebrand motions for his nurse to take Lily’s blood pressure. Lily opens her eyes and focuses on me, smiling.

“That’s my girl,” Dr. Hildebrand says.

“Blood pressure normal, Doctor.”

“Thanks, Maggie. I think you need some rest now, Lily. You have two more transfusions to go through still. I’ll leave Maggie here to attend to those and then I’ll be back to take out your stiches when you’re done. You should be all healed by then. I’m sorry I can’t stay. I still have clinic going on.”

“Thanks, Dr. Hildebrand,” Lily mumbles then closes her eyes again.

“Is she okay?” I ask.

“Yes, just tired and still low on blood. I won’t sugar coat it, Sebastian. It was close. It’s a very good thing that you had that portal put in. Everything was able to happen so quickly that we had the best outcome we could have hoped for.” The doctor looks hard at me. “Is she still in danger?”

“No, Aidan took care of the vampire. She and her associates are no more.”

“Good. She doesn’t need the stress.”

“We were just talking about decorating the nursery. That’s the most stressful thing I am going to let her do for the next four weeks.”

“Good man. I’m leaving for about an hour to finish my clinic for the day and then I’ll be back to take out the stitches. If you have any questions, ask Maggie. She’s my right hand at the clinic and knows her stuff. Bye for now. I’ll show myself out.”

“Ciao, Doctor.”

THIRTY-TWO / LILITH

I woke up on and off for about an hour, Sebastian tells me. He never leaves my side. Before I know it, Dr. Hildebrand is back to take my stitches out. A bothersome ritual I don’t plan on repeating anytime soon.

“This has healed nicely, Lily, no scar,” Dr. Hildebrand says, smiling down at me.

“Scars don’t bother me. It’s the cutting I can do without.” Dr. Hildebrand nods. “Are you sure the baby is okay?”

“Positive. I even know the sex but Sebastian said you wanted to be surprised.”

“Yes. This pregnancy is going so fast that we want to cherish it and the surprise.”

“I think that is wise. No more heroics, okay?” Dr. Hildebrand arches an eyebrow.

“No more, I promise. I want things nice and quiet for these last four weeks.”

“Good. I will see you in a couple of days for your regular appointment.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hildebrand,” Sebastian says. “I’ll walk you out.”

Manda takes a place next to me. Aidan is holding her hand. They look so concerned that I start to cry. I know how strongly they care for me and I them. I am blessed.

“Lily, we want to wait to get married until after the baby is born,” Manda says. I start to protest and she shushes me. “The only thing that was pushing it so fast was the peach blossoms and Aidan assured me that he could provide them.”

“What about Laura’s photo shoot?”

“I already talked to her and she says it’s no problem to push that back six weeks. Is six weeks enough time?”

“Yes, it would be. Thank you so much. Will you still be staying with us?”

“The funny thing about that is that two of your neighbors have decided to up and move, putting their houses up for sale. I think a little djinn persuasion was used but I can’t get a confession out of this one,” she says as she pokes Aidan in the ribs. He mocks injury and we both laugh at him.

“I made them offers they couldn’t refuse and now they have their dream homes – no harm, no foul.”

“Do you think Hannah will want to stay that close or pick something in the Haight? She really loves that neighborhood and it is quirky enough for her tastes,” I ask.

“What’s quirky enough for me?” Hannah asks as she strolls in with Fiona. Bouncing the baby to soothe her. I don’t even think she realizes she’s doing it. That makes me smile and anticipate the day when that will be me.

“The Haight, darling. There are two houses on the street that you could choose from or you could look at more houses in the Haight. You seemed enamored with them and the area,” Aidan says.

“The Haight is cool, no doubt, but I would like to look at the houses here too. The thought of all our children growing up together is like a dream come true. In the Haight we will always have to worry about what they did or said if they played with normal kids. That wouldn’t happen here.”

“True. I hope they will be as close as their parents are,” I say.

Hannah rubs my baby belly and she smiles at me.

“They will. We won’t give them a choice.” Aidan laughs loudly just as Sebastian comes in carrying Finn. He’s rubbing the little guy’s back and cooing to him. It makes me weepy. He is going to be such a good dad.

“Well, everyone, Aidan and Manda have decided to postpone their wedding for six weeks. Until after the baby is born. They also informed me that there are two houses for sale on this street.”

Diel comes in while I say the last part and he looks at Hannah hopefully.

“You are so transparent, Diel. Of course I want to look at them. We can visit the Haight all the time but when our time is precious we would be right here, around family. Let’s have a look as soon as possible.”

“I can take you now,” Aidan pipes up. Manda smiles up at him.

“Maybe you should show us the one you don’t want,” Diel says.

“Nonsense. I can change anything I want on it to accommodate us. So you should have first dibs.”

“Cool,” Hannah says. “Lily, are you and Bast up to watching these two while we go?”

“Yes, give me Finn since he’s sleeping. I’ll just cuddle up with him in bed. Bast can play with Fiona.”

“Okay, we won’t be long. Call or text us if you need anything.” Diel says. He looks worried. Well, they are going to have to get over their separation anxiety at some point.

“We’ll be fine, Diel. Go enjoy your house-hunting,” Sebastian says, patting Diel on the back while cradling Fiona in his arms. He looks down at her and makes a funny face and she smiles at him, drooling everywhere. He laughs and starts speaking in French to her.

Diel visibly relaxes and Hannah pulls him toward the door. She’s excited, I can tell. Oh, I hope they like one of them.

I pull Finn closer to me and whisper into his ear how much I love him before nuzzling his soft head.

“Don’t they smell amazing, Bast?”

“They do. I can’t get enough of them. I’m so excited for our petite enfant to arrive.”

“Dr. Hildebrand said I should be able to feel the baby move before the end of the week. I can’t wait. You get to hear its heartbeat but so far all I’ve gotten is fat.”