Chapter 74: Chapter Seventy-Four

"Wake up!" Sinclair suddenly yelled, causing me to wake up with a jump, my heart thumping wildly.

"Why would you do that?" I gasped out, putting my hand to my heart, willing it to calm down.

"Part of your training, get up." He said casually as he handed me a cup of tea, motioning for me to hurry up. Over the last three weeks, Damien had Sinclair training me daily, teaching me how to control myself around humans. It started with learning how to be in the same room with Valerie, without trying to attack her. Next, he took me to a park where I had to deal with drowning out the sounds, while still trying to ignore the scents and heartbeats. But the absolute worst part of the training is when they had Valerie prick her finger, and made me control myself around the scent of blood. It was not easy, nor was it fun, especially when they wouldn't let me try blood. It seemed like that would be part of the training, as that is the only thing I wanted. But Sinclair seemed to think giving me blood would be counterproductive, as I wasn't a vampire and didn't need it.

"Why?" I groaned, setting down the cup on the bedside table before burrowing back under the covers. 'Does this man not understand how tiring it is to be pregnant? Just let me sleep!'

"No, little Bastet. Wake up, you've things to do today." Sinclair said as he put his hand on my shoulder and began to shake me. He wasn't shaking me hard enough to hurt me, but it was just hard enough to make it impossible to ignore.

"Yet again, why?" I groaned, trying to swat away his hand, but to no great help as he just ignored me and continued to do it. I knew he was trying to annoy me into using the baby's vampiric abilities, but at the same time, the entire point of the training was keeping myself from doing just that. Although I wanted nothing more than to lunge at him, I bit it back and decided to hold back.

"Your wedding is tomorrow, little human. You've things to do." He said, sitting down on the bed next to me, his golden eyes locking onto my belly, watching with what I could describe as nothing less than childlike interest and curiosity. That's one of the reasons Sinclair and I got along so well, as he could be quite childlike and curious, much like me. Until he was tasked with training me, that is. After the last few weeks of training, I didn't quite like him as much as I used to, although I know he was training me for my good, it didn't keep me from hating every moment of it.

'Ah! I can't believe the wedding is tomorrow!' I thought, feeling my self getting giddy just at the reminder. The excitement urged me to get out of bed, throwing the cover to the side. "Okay, I'm up, get out," I said as I stood and crossed to the wardrobe. Today I decided on a simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans, before rushing downstairs where Damien was already waiting for me at the dining room table.

"Good morning, kitten." Damien greeted, looking up from his stack of paperwork only long enough to give me a slight smile, before returning to what he was doing.

"Good morning, where did Sinclair go? Wait, what's that?" I asked as I took a bite of toast, trying to read the paperwork, but to no avail as he was scanning through the pages quickly and turning them before I could read a single word.

"I told Sinclair to come back later, it's your case."

"Wait, you have my case?"

"Of course, how else could I get you free of the charges without knowing what they have on you?" He asked as he gathered the papers and set them to the side, folding his hands under his chin as he watched me eat, before placing one hand on my belly, smiling softly. "The baby is growing fast."

I nodded and looked down at my belly which had indeed grown much faster than it should have. I'd been pregnant for less than two months, but already I looked as if I was closer to about five months. The last doctor that Damien hired said the baby was growing at a rate a little more than double the speed of a regular baby, but Damien refused to allow any sort of ultrasound or blood test, as he didn't want any evidence of what I had inside me.

"I don't think he is a patient little boy," I said as I began eating again, motioning for Damien to hand me the paperwork.

"Boy?" Damien asked, raising an eyebrow as he set the paperwork down in front of me, his other hand not leaving my belly as he lovingly caressed it, unable to refrain himself from smiling.

"It has to be, no little girl is this impatient," I said with a grin as I started reading through the case. It took everything I had not to growl when I began reading the statements of my parents, the lying pricks. They said I beat my mother up and killed their friends for no reason. Granted, I did have a part in the death of Dana. Or rather, I'm the one that killed her, but it was their fault. They allowed those people into our house and were willing to let them rape and kill me, just for money. Their daughter!

"Kitten, calm down..." Damien said, making me realize how hard I was gripping the table and had tapped into the baby's abilities. I knew I was accessing the baby's powers when I could hear the baby's heartbeat but had somehow managed to tune it out and focused solely on my hatred of my parents.

"Sorry." I breathed as I willed myself to relax, and felt the power slowly dwindling until it was no longer affecting me.

"Don't be, you've every right to be upset," he said with a soft shake of his head before taking the papers and setting them across from me, so I couldn't see them anymore.

"But on the upside, I just tuned out everything else," I said with a shrug before returning to my breakfast.

"Hmm? Yes, I suppose you did. I'd suggest not telling Sinclair of this, otherwise, he'll know your anchor."

"My anchor?"

"Yes, the thing you focus on to keep yourself from losing control, or in your case, the thing you use to tune everything out."

"What's yours?"

"You, of course. Well, you and the baby." He said softly, motioning for me to continue eating before stealing a sausage off of my plate. "Oh, Valerie will be here soon."

"I forgot about that," I said with a groan as I began eating quickly, rushing, so I could get ready before she arrived. Once I'd finished eating, I rushed back upstairs to change again into a pair of shorts. Valerie was already waiting in the foyer for me when I came back downstairs, conversing quietly with Damien before noticing me and grinning.

"Agh! I can't believe you're getting married tomorrow!" She said in a voice barely below a scream as she ran to me, wrapping her arms around me in excitement.

"I can't believe everything happened this quickly!" I gasped out as we walked into the back room where Valerie had a makeshift spa set up. The employees were, of course, all vampires that Damien had deemed good enough to be here, that wouldn't say anything to anyone else.

After a few hours of the "spa" where we had massages, manicures, and pedicures, I'd had enough of spending time in this room and wanted nothing more than to escape. Valerie and I couldn't talk much about the baby, as we didn't want to say anything that could be used to show that the baby was anything but human. So we had no choice but to talk about things I didn't care much about, like school and our old friends.

I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Damien saying: 'Save me!'

He responded almost immediately with: 'I cannot, kitten. Apologies.'

'Why not?'

'Valerie will have my head if I pull you out now, she demanded this time for 'girl time' as she called it.'

'You're claiming to be afraid of a human? Shouldn't you be more afraid of me and the hell I will raise if I spend one more minute in this room?'

'You will not, kitten. You will not risk doing anything to jeopardize us, or our child. You know this as well as I do. So please, enjoy your girl's day.'

I smiled as I typed my next message, knowing it would piss Damien off, but I sent it nonetheless, as the only thing I cared about was an escape. 'Fine, I'll ask Sinclair to save me.'

Damien didn't respond to my text, but walked into the room only seconds later, glaring at me as he held his hand out, shaking his head in defeat.

"Hey, what the hell?" Valerie exclaimed when she saw Damien, furrowing her brows in question as she watched him.

"I was informed that hell would be raised if I did not rescue her," Damien said with a shrug as he took my hand and led me out of the room, resulting in a few muffled laughs from the women in the room. Once we were outside and far enough away from the other vampires, Damien turned to face me, still glaring as he watched me. "You've become quite petty during your pregnancy."

I nodded as I breathed in the fresh air before turning to hug him. I nuzzled my face into his chest before looking up, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. "Are you mad at me?"

"I should be, but alas, I cannot." He said with a sigh, leaning down to kiss me softly.

I kissed him back before laying down in the grass, looking up at the sky, patting the ground for Damien to join me. "After what's happened, girls day just isn't my cup of tea anymore. Especially when it's a room full of women I can't talk to."

"I can understand that, but must you be such a demonic little thing?" He asked, sitting down and pulling me into his lap, so I was facing him.

I acted like I was thinking about my answer as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, kissing him softly before responding; "Yes, I do."