Within The Shadows (24 page)

“
How could you be so stupid?” she hissed at him. “Now you
could ruin everything, and all for the sake of your own bruised
ego.”

Alex
remained silent. He stood, and watched as I was put back
together.

“
She may die because of your resentment towards your father.
She still heals like a human. She’s not like us. She can’t heal as
we do!” She raised her voice.

As my still body was gently
turned around onto my back, one of the medics lightly squeezed some
clear fluid on my abdomen.

“
What’s that
for?” Atarah questioned him.

“
We have to determine that there is no internal bleeding. It
is precautionary,” he replied. She stood back again, and let them
carry on.

A probe,
like a thick blunt pen was placed over my skin, and was moved over
the jelly-like lubricant. On the monitor, I could see the inside of
my body. It was all black and fuzzy looking, just like the images
on a television when the channel went dead. The medic performing
the scan looked surprised, and turned back toward Atarah and
Alex.

“
What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“
Well, everything appears to be ok. There is no damage, no
internal bleeding, but there is something you should see,” he said,
looking at Alex.

“
What is it now?” he mumbled arrogantly as he walked over to
the bed.

“
Your wife is
with child, my Lord,” he said, a broad smile on his
face.

Alex looked
stunned. “What? Show me!”

The medic
slid the probe further over my abdomen, and held it in place as he
pointed to the screen. “You see that there? That is the beginnings
of your child, and there is the foetal heart beating
away.”

Alex was
speechless. He stood by my side, watching the tiny heartbeat as I
lay in a dead-like state.

“
And you are sure of this?” Atarah piped in. “The pregnancy
is established?”

“
Yes. From the size, I’d say she is seven to eight
weeks.”

Oh
, my
God
!
Afanas was right. He knew all along I was carrying Alex’s
child. All the while, I had been hoping that somehow there could
have been a possibility that the child was Marc’s.

Boy, was I
wrong!

Bewilderment
spread across Alex’s face. From the look of his body language, he
was scared. Atarah, on the other hand, was smiling like I had never
seen before, her teeth gleaming in the bright light of the room.
Her green eyes flickered as euphoria swept through her.

“
I told you, Alexander. I knew she would be perfect. We will
have our day!” She laughed gleefully as she left the
room.

“
Yes, we’ll
have our day,” Alex replied thoughtfully as he looked back at
me.

I was left
alone, my wounds unhealed, and with the knowledge that my baby
would be taken from me. I had to find the strength from somewhere.
I needed to muster up some kind of courage if I was going to go to
war with the Baranski’s.

I had to
stop them, one way or another.

* * *

As so often,
I had been thrust into another situation I thought would never
happen. I honestly had not thought I would ever fall pregnant.
Right now, I found it hard to believe. I did not feel any
different. I looked the same, and the only real telltale sign was
the awful sickness I was suffering that I had put down to the lack
of food and life energy.

The healing
process was taking its time, and my patience was beginning to come
away at the seams. I hated lying there, and having the three
stooges take turns to watch over me made me feel even more a part
of the ever growing freak show.

Three days
passed, although I hardly realised it. I was losing time. The room
was kept dark, and there was not a hint of fresh air allowed in. I
was a prisoner yet again.

“
Can I at
least have some magazines?” I complained to stooge number
one.

He remained
inanimate, as usual. His rough complexion and uncoordinated stagger
amused me a little. He was not old, but, God, he had seen better
days.

“
So are you a vampire, as well?” I blurted out.

Again, he
said nothing. For what seemed like the first time in ages, I
thought about being a bitch. At least bitches get their way, or so
I thought.

“
So, I guess you are one of them. You all look the same,
anyway. Pale, ugly, and dead. You don’t say much do you?” I quipped
as I began to laugh. “Oh, I get it. Alex got to you, too. Except he
cut out your tongue, and made you a mute bastard.”

It hurt to
laugh, but damn, it felt good. I could not remember a time in the
past three months when I had let go of all my aggression. I was
done being uptight, because it seriously gets you
nowhere.

“
Enough!” said a voice I had not heard from since before I
was taken.

Leonid.

“
Sergei, you may leave,” he said as he pulled up a chair
beside the bed. “You can cut the smart ass attitude. It really
doesn’t suit you. Now explain.”

His face was
the usual gorgeousness, but his eyes told a different story. He was
pissed at me, and I knew full well how angry he could
get.

“
After I . . . killed Nikita . . . I ran, and didn’t stop.
They were waiting for me, and they took me to some God awful
place.” I held back my tears, refusing to allow my emotions cloud
my clarity.

“
Who waited
for you?”

“
The shadows. They knew where I was, and they will come for
me again. I can feel it.”

He pondered
that for a few minutes before speaking again. “How has Alex taken
the news of the child?”

“
Oh, you
know?” I asked, surprised that the news had reached him so
fast.

“
It is common
knowledge now,” he calmly replied.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I cried, shaking my
head.

“
I
know.”

He got up
from the chair, and sat on the bed beside me. Taking my hand in
his, he whispered, “There is still a chance the child can be
brought up in the light. He doesn’t have to embrace the darkness. I
meant it when I said that you were mine now. Although our bond is
no match for yours and Alexander’s, I could feel something between
us that hasn’t happened to me for a long time. You could love me,
Giselle. I can feel it.”

“
Leonid, I don’t know how I feel about anything right now. I
so wanted to believe that Alex was good, but he proved my doubts
right. I can see now that he is capable of so many things, and I
can’t take that risk with you. How can I be sure that you won’t do
this to me? He is, after all, your son,” I said as a tear leaked
from my eye.

“
I would never hurt you, not like this. Yes, I’m capable of
many things, and I know I threatened you with your family’s safety,
but I am not a monster.”

“
Afanas was
so wrong about a lot of things,” I muttered.

“
What has he
got to do with any of this?” he asked as he rubbed the side of my
right thumb.

“
It was Afanas who first summoned the shadows. He called
them forth to take the child from me. They wanted to kill me, and
have me reborn as some dark Queen. He has seen the error he made,
and I would never have escaped if it wasn’t for him.”

“
He betrayed me? A century old friendship destroyed by
treason! There will be no redemption for this.”

“
No! You mustn’t hurt him. I trust him with my life!” I
shouted.

I held onto
his hand, and refused to let go when he tried to pull away from me.
He was hurt and angry, but most of all he was resentful.

“
Then more fool you,” he said as he pushed himself to his
feet.

“
Leonid, if you really love me, please let him live. Don’t
destroy him.”

He left
without saying anything. His company was replaced by the same mute
medic who was tending to me. He approached my side, and motioned
for me to move forward. He changed the dressing on my back. It
stung like hell, and the pain left me dizzy.

I cried out
as the gauze stuck to scabs that had begun to form over the deep
cuts. The stitching was getting tighter, and I could feel my skin
start to knit together. The pain was replaced by the same
nauseating feeling that came from the pit of my stomach. I retched,
and all the food I had consumed that morning was brought back up,
undigested.

“
Tell me this will stop some time soon!” I
groaned.

“
It will fade. Your body is going through many changes, and
you have to accept this as a way of nature taking over.” He spoke
as he lifted the basin of vomit from my lap.

“
So you do
speak?” I mocked.

“
Only when I
need to.”

“
When can I leave this room? I need air. I need my own
bed.”

“
You can leave any time, although I doubt you will want to
return to your room. It is in quite a mess at present.”

“
Oh! Yeah, I almost forgot. Can’t you find somewhere else
for me?” I pleaded.

“
Mmm, I’ll see what I can do, but you have to promise to
stop fidgeting. Your wounds won’t heal if you keep
moving.”

“
Okay, it’s a deal.” I smiled. “Sergei?” I called after
him.

“
Yes?”

“
I want to
see Alex.”

“
I’ll be sure
to pass the message on,” he said as he left the room.

I was on my
own yet again, left to wallow in my own self-pity. I missed my
mother so much, and wished I could share the news with her. I knew
she would probably freak out at the prospect of being a
grandmother, but I longed for her words of wisdom. Her usual way of
making a bad situation seem okay was what I needed, then and there.
I needed to be the child, and have her mother protect her, even in
these circumstances.

Sometime
later, Alex came by. He looked gorgeous as usual, but his demeanour
left a lot to be desired. He strolled in through the door wearing a
purplish-blue shirt and black jeans. His hair was messy, but I
think he styled it that way. He swaggered over to my side, and sat
down on the bed beside me.

“
I hear you
wanted to see me,” he said as he ran a hand through his
hair.

I shuffled uneasily, pulling
the covers tighter around my abdomen.

“
Yeah . . . um . . . we need to talk, Alex.”

“
Then
talk.”

“
I know you don’t love me, and you know I’ve never loved
you. This baby . . . Do you even want it?”

“
Well, I’m not too bothered, either way, but the child is
wanted by my people, so I guess you could say the needs far
outweigh the want,” he chortled.

“
How can you be so cruel? This child will need love from its
parents, from us. Are you really just going to hand him or her over
to the Nelapsi?” I asked.

“
My son will not need the kind of love you wish to offer. He
will have only one concern, and that will be blood and
power.”

“
I hate you. I really do. You could never be the man your
father is. He will not allow this to happen.”

He
interrupted me. “Oh, now it’s you and my father against us all?
Good luck with that. I doubt you will get very far.” He got up, and
started to leave. “And, for the record, I did love you, even though
it was brief. With you, I felt something I have never experienced
before. If you had not reacted the way you did, it would have
grown, and maybe things would have changed, but you destroyed it
all. Now that you’re in love with my father, there is no going
back. You will serve your purpose, and give birth to the child, but
after that, the shadows can have you. You can rot in Hell for all I
care.”

I could not
believe the things he said to me. He knew about the shadows all
along. With this new knowledge, I was more determined than ever to
break away from here. I just had to make sure that Leonid meant
what he said, and, if it was true, then maybe we were meant to be
together.

Maybe.

Chapter Twenty

SERGEI CAME
BACK
, and found me trying to get out of
the bed. I stumbled as I battled to put my shoes on. He looked
pretty pissed at me, and I knew I was pushing my luck with him.
After all, I had promised him I would stay still if he got me the
room I wanted.

“
What is the meaning of this?” he screeched as he came over
to my side, and helped support me.

“
I just want to be taken to Leonid. Please, I can’t be left
here any longer. It’s not safe,” I cried.

“
I can’t. I would be disobeying orders.” His voice became a
whisper.

“
I promise you Leonid will protect you. Please?” I begged.
My eyes were already burning from the tears I had shed earlier, but
now they stung like the wounds on my back.

“
Okay, but please, do not say I helped you, or I shall be
done for,” he pleaded.