Chapter 67: Chapter Sixty-Seven

"Should I be concerned by the relationship the two of you share?" Damien suddenly asked me, putting down his fork to watch Valerie and me as we happily chatted over our breakfast. He leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the two of us, a look of curiosity etched on his face.

"What about our relationship, should you be concerned about?" I asked him, turning my attention to him, rather than Valerie. This resulted in a smirk from Damien, who seemed happy to have my focus solely on him.

*'Why is he acting like a child who's starved for attention?'* I thought as I saw his reaction, then tried to hide my smile as I realized the reason. *'Awe! He's jealous of Val! I'm not sure if that's adorable, or just laughable.'*

"Valerie has been here for nearly two weeks, and every night of these last two weeks, the two of you have slept in bed together." He responded, looking over Valerie and me as if trying to read our minds. "For the first few nights, I accepted it with respect for your friendship, which I understand has had to withstand much in light of the more recent events. But now, I feel as if you would much rather spend time with your surrogate sister, than with your soon-to-be husband."

"I agree." Sam piped in as he reentered the room, carrying two tinted bottles, of which he handed one to Damien. I considered saying something about this, but I knew they were doing it as a result of the "wedding gift" Damien and I received. They refused to leave us alone even long enough to go feed, telling me that they were much more worried about it than they would ever willingly let on.

"So... You two centuries-old vampires are jealous of the relationship two teenage girls share?" Valerie asked slowly, before the two of us shared a look of amusement, then started laughing. "Wait until they realize we see each other naked on a near-daily basis," Valerie added through her laughter as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"You, what?" Sam asked incredulously as he took his seat next to Damien, the two of them watching us as we continued to laugh hysterically, their looks of shock only adding fuel to the fire.

"Oh calm down, there's no reason to be jealous," I said, trying to catch my breath before sitting on Damien's lap, kissing him on the temple. "I honestly didn't realize that it's been two weeks, I'm sorry. But thank you for letting us spend so much time together. It's been amazing."

Damien put his arms around me, pulling me close, before kissing me softly. "Of course, my love."

"Oh, I did have a question, Bast. It's been bothering me this whole time. But since Damien said something about recent events, I might as well ask." Valerie said, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at me. She waited until I turned to look at her, before continuing. "Why the fuck are those assholes still alive? I know Damien is, like, waiting for the word. I know he would happily kill them, given the opportunity."

I sighed softly while listening to her words. "I know, and you're right. He really wants to kill them, but my parents are the only family I have."

"They lost the right to call themselves your parents the moment they even so much as considered selling you, Bast. Let alone when they actually did it." Sam said, his upper lip twitching in anger as his eyes flashed red.

"It makes no sense to me, why you won't just let them die. You are too nice, and frankly, a bit naive." Valerie said, shaking her head before pushing her plate back on the table.

"I know I should have let Damien kill them before, but if it were to happen now, it would just make their case against me stronger, wouldn't it?" I asked, looking back to Damien who was watching me intently.

"Give me the word, their bodies will never be found." He growled, his lips twitching into a blasphemous smile, his eyes slowly turning blood-red.

"On the other hand, he might enjoy killing them a bit too much," Valerie said, her eyes wide as she inched back in her seat, watching Damien's reaction with horrified wonder.

"We are a very... villainous species by nature," Sam said with a slight smile, watching Damien with a very knowing smile.

"That's an understatement," Valerie mumbled before standing and carrying her plate to the kitchen. Sam stood and took the rest of the plates from the table, following her.

"So?" Damien asked me, turning me in his lap, so we could make eye contact.

"So, what?"

"Are you going to give me the word? I'll gladly remove those scum from this earth." He said trying to hide his suspenseful smile as he waited for my response.

"Not right now, Damien."

"And once we get you off of these charges?"

"It's open season," I said with a nod, then a soft laugh. "Oh!" I exclaimed as I remembered, jumping off of his lap to grab my phone and check the time. "I asked Sinclair to come over today."

"Why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched me, then looked down at my phone. "Better yet, how?" He asked, but a smile was rapidly growing, waiting for the answer he already knew.

"I texted him," I said with a shrug, showing him the text thread between Sinclair and me.

I heard Sam laughing loudly from the kitchen, seemly just as amused by it as Damien was, who also laughing. "Sinclair... Texting? Now I have seen everything." He struggled out as he continued laughing so hard, it felt like the entire house was shaking. Even from the kitchen, I could still hear Sam laughing hysterically, Valerie yelling, asking what the hell was wrong with him.

"I don't think it's all that funny," I said, watching Damien, waiting for him to calm down.

"Kitten, you haven't known Sinclair as long as I have. It deserves nothing short of an uproarious response, of that, I can guarantee."

I rolled my eyes with a sigh and went into the kitchen where Sam was bent over from laughter, his usual demeanor nowhere to be seen. I took Valerie's hand and led her to my bedroom, where we sat on the bench swing Damien had delivered for me, thankful that we couldn't hear the laughter anymore.

"What the hell was that about?" She asked, motioning towards the bedroom door.

"I told Damien that I was texting Sinclair, and he, like, exploded," I said, throwing my hands up in a sign of surrender.

"Who's Sinclair, and why the hell is it so funny that he's texting?"

"You saw him at my baby shower..." I said trailing off, but that didn't seem to be enough information for Valerie as she just shook her head, pursing her lips, not a flicker of recollection on her face. "He's a little shorter than Damien and Sam? I think he's like six feet with a super muscular build, short blonde hair, beard like Damien's? No? He has golden eyes Val! How do you forget a guy like that?"

"I know for a fact I've never seen him, because I know I'd remember a guy like that! Especially with gold eyes! So why is it so funny that he's texting?"

"Because he's older than Damien by about 200 plus years, and he's a recreant. The only currently known recreant, to be exact." I said, then sighed as Valerie raised an eyebrow, completely oblivious to what I was talking about. "Right, you don't know what that is. A vampire can only keep their 'humanity' for as long as their bloodline lives. Once their bloodline dies, they become a recreant. It's basically the same thing as a vampire, except their lack of morality gives them more speed, strength, and abilities that regular vampires don't have." I explained the best I could while keeping it simple enough for her to understand. But this only confused her further, her eyes going wide in a mixture of shock and amusement.

*'It should not be this hard to explain what a recreant is. Nor should it be this hard to understand simple fucking English.'* I thought, then dismissed the thought. It wasn't very easy for me to understand when I found out either. The least I could do is try, rather than have her learn the way I did.

"Okay how about this; Damien had a wife before he was turned, and I am the last of his wife's bloodline. If I die, Damien will go, recreant, because his connection will be lost. I decided to have a kid because I wanted one, and I didn't want my bloodline to end with me. Because once I'm a vampire, my child will be the only thing tying me to humanity. Are you following me so far?" I paused, giving her a moment to soak in what I'd told her, and giving her time to ask any questions she may have had.

"Why not just adopt? You're keeping him tied to humanity, but you're a blood member of his wife, not of his. Which is completely creepy, but we can put a pin in that for later." She asked me, leaning back before rubbing her forehead.

"A blood connection is ten times stronger than an emotional connection. So by having a child, rather than adopting, it keeps a bloodline going for both me and Damien."

"Okay I get the bloodline thing now, so tell me again what happens to the vampire when it dies out. I'm just not getting how a connection keeps a vampire from being as fast and strong as they would be without it."

"I guess it has something to do with their morality or the amount of blood and lives they consume? When a vampire first becomes a recreant, they have no control over themselves. Damien and Sam only kill about one person every two days, and they're good. But a recreant kills closer to dozens a day. From how Sinclair explained it to me; the amount of blood they consume puts them on a new level of power. It gives them more speed and strength, plus it enables them to tap into their innate abilities that they didn't have full control of as a vampire."

"Ah, I get it now. Because they have no ties to the world, they just go "fuck it" and start killing everything, right? And because they kill so much, they tap into like their reserves, which makes them more powerful than a regular vampire?" Valerie said, sitting up straight, smiling proudly at her understanding.

"Precisely. I must say, I thought it would take much longer for you to understand it than it took little Bastet, but well done Valerie." Sinclair's voice cut in, making both Valerie and I jump up, startled.

"Damn it, Sinclair!" I yelled, holding my chest as my heart started thumping heavily from the shock.

"Huh, I do kind of remember seeing you. Weren't you the dumbass who didn't know what a homebody was?" Valerie asked, cocking her head slightly as she took in Sinclair's appearance. "Yeah, that was you alright." She said matter of factly, before turning her attention back to me. "Do they always do that?"

"Despite me constantly telling them not to? Yes." I said, narrowing my eyes at Sinclair, who simply smiled and leaned against the railing, looking down at us.

"Don't fret, little human. Lucifer made sure to tell me, if I caused you or the little one any lasting damage, that he would relieve me of my head." He said with a grin, his eyes falling to my stomach as he spoke.

"We know not if she is pregnant, Sinclair. Not yet, anyway." Damien said as he and Sam entered the room.

"She is," Sinclair said, matter of factly, his eyes still watching my stomach as if he were conversing with the baby, which I knew was impossible; But I couldn't help hanging on his words as I waited for what he would say next.

"How would you know?" Sam asked, watching Sinclair with the same expression I imagined was on my face, all of us waiting for him to continue.

"I can tell the little one is in there." He said with a chuckle, then noticed the way we were all staring at him. "Do you not?" Sinclair asked, looking at Damien, then at Sam. He sighed with a look of disbelief as he motioned for the two of them to stand next to him, then motioned to my stomach. "Pay attention, you will notice the same thing I see."

Valerie and I sat there, waiting for them to say or do anything, but much to our annoyance, the three men remained silent as they stared at me, trying to notice something about me that only Sinclair seemed to see.

"I see it now," Damien said happily, smiling broadly as he pulled me into a hug. "You're pregnant, kitten!"

**!!Authors Note: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and supporting me thus far on my writing journey! It really means so much to me, and to those who've been giving me feedback, thank you so much! I tried to listen to the feedback I've received, as well as keeping my writing my own. So I hope this chapter has heeded your advice and you enjoyed it. If not, please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments! Now that Bast is officially preggo, what do you think? Boy or Girl? Let me know in the comments!!**