'Well…normal, human men can't handle our love. I think you've experienced the results of our passion?' She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. 'Bruises, broken furniture…I'm surprised the whole house didn't fall down with you two.'
I couldn't help the small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, even in my distress.
'You don't even have your full power or strength—you don't have a small fraction of it. Imagine what could happen to a normal man with me.'
'Oh,' I said, considering the potential injuries.
'Add that to the extreme love I feel for everyone—the same love you'll feel after the Ang'dora ,' she continued. 'We can't help who we are. Unfortunately, sometimes the ones we love just aren't capable of handling it. I had to leave before I hurt them, emotionally or physically. It was always after they became too persistent about sex or when they proposed.'
'Wow, I had it wrong.'
She reached over and patted my hand. 'Of course you did. I could never tell you what was really going on. I'm just happy you have a relationship where you never have to worry about it.'
That was the wrong thing to say. It reminded me my love was gone…and I didn't know when I would see him again. Tears streamed down my cheeks as we sat in silence for what felt like hours.
'Where are they?' I finally asked, jumping to my feet as irritation sprang every nerve. 'When will they be back? What's taking so long?'
'Patience, darling,' Rina said. 'They will return when it is safe.'
I paced the small room, gripping my pendant and sliding it back-and-forth on the chain, pushing the little key with it. What may have been more hours, or possibly just minutes, passed. Then Rina suddenly stood up.
'Owen is back. The shield is replaced.'
I bounced on the balls of my feet as she and Mom unbarred and slid back the concrete door. They grabbed me and sped up the stairs. We stopped in the foyer as soon as Owen burst through the front door. He stumbled inside, his face stark white.
'Owen!' Mom cried with relief. He stood there stiffly, his eyes wild.
I flew into his arms, standing on my toes to look over his shoulder for the others. I knew immediately something was dreadfully wrong. This was not laid-back Owen. His back was rigid. His face twisted in pain or grief or… horror .
'Where's Tristan?' I asked, searching the empty space behind him, panic already rising. He didn't answer or even look at me, his arms stiff around my shoulders.
'Where are the others?' Rina asked.
'There were just too many,' he finally said, his arms falling limply to his side. 'They kept coming. Too many to fight at once. Stefan …' He couldn't finish, a mix of defeat and grief on his face.
'No!' Rina and Mom gasped. He nodded.
'Sheffie?' I whispered, tears springing to my eyes.
'He's…dead,' Owen confirmed darkly. Oh, no! God, no!
' Tristan ?' I cried. He didn't answer.
'We never made it to the meeting place. They mobbed us. Only three of us got away,' Owen said bleakly. 'Solomon, me and…'
I didn't hear the last person, already screaming the name I needed to hear. I grabbed his shirt and shook him. ' Where is he? Where is Tristan? '
He just shook his head, not looking at me, not saying anything.
' WHERE IS HE, DAMN IT?!' I yelled, panic and hysteria gripping my heart.
'I-I d-don't know,' he finally whispered. 'There were dozens on him. I think he's…'
His voice trailed off.
And the earth stood still. It stopped spinning on its axis and just hung in dead space as I stared at Owen and tried to comprehend what he was saying. The meaning was right there, stuck in midair between Owen and me, but my mind wouldn't, couldn't, refused to grasp it. Then the realization crashed down on me like a semi-load of concrete blocks. And the world lurched into motion again, spinning way too fast, swirling around me in dizzying blurs.
' NO! ' I cried. My chest caved in and my stomach heaved like it had been punched, sending my heart into my throat. I choked on it, sobbing. ' NO! NO! NO! '
I beat Owen with my fists. Mom pulled me off, into her arms.
' NO! ' I screamed again as loud as I could and it echoed around the two-story foyer. 'Oh, God, no ! Not my Tristan…'
I collapsed to the floor and cried, refusing to believe it. I pounded the stone floor until my fists bled. I felt like I could die. Like my heart had been crushed into pulp and twisted out of my chest. I wanted to die. Babies or no babies, I wanted to be with my sweet Tristan. I could not do this without him.
Mom tried to comfort me. I pushed her off.
'He can't die!' I yelled at her. 'He's supposed to be invincible. Immortal! '
'Honey,' she said softly, 'there is only one way to immortality and it is not here on Earth.'
'What do you feel ?' I cried. She didn't answer. 'Rina?'
Rina shook her head, tears in her eyes.
'Oh, God, noooo …' I sobbed into the floor.
Tristan's beautiful face swam in front of my eyes, his sublime smile, his love-filled, hazel eyes looking into mine, the green shining and the gold flecks sparkling. I heard his lovely voice murmur, 'I love you, ma lykita ,' as if his lips were right against my ear. And my heart shattered into pieces, knowing I couldn't reach out and touch him although he felt so close. So close. Right here, with me .
'He's not dead,' I cried into the floor. 'He'll come back.'
And I had to believe that because there was just no other option. I had to hold onto it. He promised .
And when he didn't come, my life fell into a black pit of nothingness.
Epilogue
8 Months Later
'CHOO-CHOO-CHOO' I panted through clenched teeth, keeping a train's rhythm, just as Mom instructed.
'Okay, honey,' she said from between my legs. 'Get ready…almost…again! PUSH!'
She didn't have to tell me. I could feel the pressure on my lower belly, squeezing inside, and all I wanted to do was push . I heaved down, pushing with every bit of strength I had left.
'I see the head. Almost there.'
Yeah, no kidding . I felt the head, like a basketball wedged halfway inside me, ripping me apart. I'd been in labor for nearly two days. I'd been pushing for what seemed like hours. But I now felt too weak to keep going. The edges of my vision faltered. Pinpricks of light popped in front of my eyes.
'You need to push harder than that, hon.' Her voice faded with each word.
'Alexis?' Rina sounded so far away, she must have been in another world.
Mom said something. It sounded like something about my blood pressure. But I couldn't hear her anymore. I couldn't see anything but grays. And then blackness.
When I came to, Mom was tucking a tiny bundle into the crook of my arm and turned it toward my breast.
'Your son, honey,' she said, aligning his mouth with my nipple. His eyes fluttered and he briefly looked up at me, the steel-blue of a newborn. The few strands of his hair were still wet and plastered to the side of his head. He latched on, his lips moving slowly, awkwardly as he drank for the first time.
'Dorian Stefan,' I whispered through a groggy daze, tears brimming over and sliding down my face. One dropped onto his cheek. I gently wiped my finger across it, feeling the downy softness of his face. I fell right to
