Chapter Six

Monday – Southern Maryland

Donnie

I help Summer into her car and follow her on the drive back to the house. Once we are parked next to each other in the driveway, I let out the breath that I didn’t realize I’d been holding. I know Summer was right when she told me she was followed today, and I have a terrible feeling I know why. I have to find a way to protect her and the baby before it’s too late. Before whatever madman thinks he can rule the world by creating a race of daywalkers, through breeding my woman, makes a move.

***

Summer

I’m sifting through my purse when Donnie opens the driver’s side door to help me out of the car. “What are you looking for?” he asks as I continue to dig in the oversized black bag.

“My mace, I know I have it in here somewhere. Does that stuff go bad, do you know?” Pulling the pink leather holder from the bottom of the bag, I turn around to look at him, holding it out in my hand, waiting for his reply. I realize then that it seems like I’m going to spray him with it and quickly drop it into my lap.

“My bad, I wasn’t trying to mace you. But this whole being followed thing really has me freaked, and I want to make sure I have this at the ready from now on.” I finish with a shrug, and Donnie steps back to allow me to get out of the car.

“Yes, it does go bad. How old is it? I really don’t think you need that, I’m going to get to the bottom of who followed you today, and I’ll see about getting you your own security detail. But we will get you a new can, if you want—” He reaches out to take my hand.

I cut him off but I remain still. “Nope, not doing it. I am not going to be followed around by some rookie you order to tail me. That’s not going to happen, Donnie.” I’m standing with my hand on my hip, glaring at him by the time I’m done. “I refuse to be treated like I can’t take care of myself, and unless you’re telling me—”

“Stop.” Donnie issues the one-word command that stops me in my tracks. I adjust the glare on my face realizing I was headed down a path that would lead me right to being punished. He may be a vampire, and we may be in the middle of working some shit out right now, but he is still my Dom. I let myself forget that for a minute.

“I’m sorry, sir.” I give him a meek smile. He smacks me on the ass as I stroll by him into the house, heading for the kitchen to get started on dinner.

“Do you remember anything else about the SUV or the driver?” Donnie asks me for the fifth time as I set our plates down at the dining room table.

“No,” I huff, curling my legs under me and settling into the chair across from him at the large oak table. “I told you everything already, multiple times.” Holding my hands up, I say, “I know I’m a terrible witness. I didn’t see any more than that, and the windows were too dark for me to see a driver in the car. Can you please explain to me why you think I’m being followed and what this has to do with me? Did something happen at work that you’re not telling me about?”

We start to eat our pasta, and Donnie remains silent for a while before he puts his fork down and looks up at me.

“It has to do with my being a vampire and you being pregnant, Summer. I suspect there are vampires out there, a coven or an individual, maybe. Someone who found out about you being pregnant and is making a move on us so that they can use you.” His final words seem to hang in the air between us, and my head swims for a minute as I stare at him, confused.

“Use me?” I set my fork down next to my plate, my appetite ruined.

“Yes, I need to explain some things. First off, vampires can’t be out in the daylight.” He takes the thick metal ring off of his finger.

“I was going to ask you about that. Aren’t you supposed to like burst into flames or something? Is that real? Like, okay, since we’re finally talking about it now, tell me everything. Does a stake through the heart really kill you? Do you feed on humans? I need all of the details.” I’m bouncing in my seat with excitement at finally getting to ask him all of my questions. While we were cooking dinner, it just didn’t seem like the right time since he wouldn’t stop asking about the SUV from this afternoon.

“Yes, it is real. I would be burned to death. This…” he says as he holds up the plain band. Noticing for the first time that inside the black metal ring, there is a silver etching, I reach out my hand for it. “This allows me to be protected in the daylight,” Donnie finishes as he drops the band into my palm. The metal is cold like it has been in the freezer, and the feeling bites into my skin.

Looking up at him questioningly. I tell him, “It’s so cold.” Turning the ring over in my fingers, moving it in the light, trying to make out the inscription that appears to be in a foreign language. I reach back across the table and place it into his open, waiting hand.

“What is it? Magic?” I feel even more confused now than I was before. I begin to understand that I must know very little about the world I live in. Vampires are real. Donnie has some kind of a magic ring. Who knows what else is out there in the night that I thought were only fairytales?

“It is magic. The majority of vampires have some form of charm like mine. They protect us and allow us to enter into the daylight without causing ourselves any harm.” As he finishes, he pushes the ring back onto the third finger of his right hand, and I see it glow softly for a second.

“Most? Why would they not? I mean, wouldn’t you want to be outside in the daytime, your kind?” Lifting my fork, I push my pasta around my plate, picking at it.

“I do, most do. We live everyday lives, have jobs and friends, blending in with humans. But some don’t believe in using the magic to blend in or believe in not killing humans when we feed. They stick to the old ways and believe that we are the superior race, meant to rule over humans. Summer, they see you as less, a mere food source.” His words make me wince back from him at the thought. I hadn’t spent a single second since he told me he was a vampire imagining him as a killer, but when it comes down to it, I am his prey. My eyes widen as I make the connection, and Donnie stands, coming around the table towards me.

“Baby?” He puts his hand on my cheek, and I look up into his silver eyes. They’re gleaming softly in the light of the dining room, “I haven’t…” He exhales and starts again. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“There is so much I hadn’t thought about. I mean, you told me, and I freaked out for a bit, but once I accepted that you were telling me the truth and weren’t psychotic, I didn’t put a lot of thought into what it actually meant. Oh my god, Donnie, you’re a fucking vampire!” I burst upwards out of my chair, standing next to the kitchen table. It all hits me, and the realization of what this actually means comes over me. I feel like I’m going to be sick, my head starts to spin, and my ears are ringing for the second time today. I reach out towards Donnie. He catches me just as I pass out.

***

Donnie

I catch Summer in my arms just as she loses consciousness. I knew it would happen sooner or later. The realization of what I had told her would hit, and she would freak out. She was taking the entire thing way too well all evening. Slowly lifting her into my arms, I take her to the couch in the living room, settling her back onto the cushions. I tuck a blanket around her and sit.

“Summer, sweetheart,” I gently coax her back to me, patting her cheek. “Hey, baby, open your eyes and look at me.” When I see her slowly start to open them, I relax my shoulders.

***

Summer I’m lying on the couch wrapped in a small throw when I come to. Donnie is sitting next to me, holding my hand and rubbing my cheek. I smile at him and squeeze my eyes closed again. I have a splitting headache now, but thankfully, the room isn’t spinning anymore. “I panicked a little.”

“You think?” he teases. “Maybe that was enough for tonight, and we should finish this tomorrow—” I’m shaking my head at him before he even finishes getting the words out.

“No, we need to get this out there. I need to know what is going on. Clearly, there is a lot to this I hadn’t considered, Donnie. I won't be able to relax and take it easy until I know exactly what we are dealing with. Please start from the beginning. I need to know everything,” I plead with him.

I watch as he thinks it over, looking back and forth from my eyes to my hands resting protectively over my growing belly. I see it the moment he gives in and decides to give me what I’m asking for. I take it all in as he tells me about being turned into a vampire, how he has always been a cop. Moving around the country every few years to a new department and starting over with a new life took a toll on him.

He moved to Washington, DC and became Donnie again but was going to start his plans to leave the night he met me at The Den. Finally, he tells me about meeting with Leo to tell him I was pregnant. But that’s when I jump in. I can’t help it. I just can’t hold it back any longer.

“Excuse me, you can do what now? Mind control women? What the fuck?” I’m trying to uncover myself and stand up from the couch. I need to move. I feel trapped under the blankets next to him.

“No. Yes. Not you,” Donnie finishes sheepishly. “I’ve tried it a couple of times.” Finally, I slide past him and bolt to the center of the room, pacing.

“What?” I yell at him. “A couple of times?”

“Please, Summer. Sit back down. This is not the important part of what I have to tell you. Listen, baby.” He comes towards me and grabs me by the shoulders, gently stopping my pacing. “I need you to listen.” He tries to lead me back to the couch.

Nodding, I let him guide me there and slowly lower myself back down. “I’m sorry, you’re right. But we are going to talk about this. I know when you did it. It all makes sense to me now, Donald, and this is not the end of this conversation! But…” I pause and take a breath, calming myself, and decide to let it go. “Go ahead. Finish telling me about your meeting with Leo.”

“Leo and I think that the reason I can’t use it on you is because you can have my baby. It’s the universe’s way of saying, sure, this woman can have half-vampire babies, but you can’t force her into it.” Sighing, he rubs his jaw, and I notice the stubble there for the first time. He looks tired.

“I’m worried someone found out who you are, what you are. What our child will be, and they’re trying to take you from me. Trying to make a new coven of vampires who would be able to be day walkers without a charm, half-human and half-vampire.” I gape at him. What I am? Am I even human? “They would be a stronger, more magically powerful breed that could fulfill some twisted ideal that we will rule over humans.” I close my mouth when he finishes and take a deep breath before speaking again.

“So, you’re saying that this crazy vampire is following me because they want to breed me to make some crossbreed vampire army?” I feel like I might pass out again and bend forward, putting my head between my legs. “I can’t handle this. I’m supposed to be planning a baby shower. We are supposed to be preparing for a baby! Not…” I trail off and turn to face Donnie.

“We are having a baby, right? This isn’t some twisted Twilight shit that I’m about to go through where this thing is going to eat its way out of me, is it?” I feel the hysteria taking over and start to hyperventilate. I again put my head between my legs, and I feel Donnie rubbing my back.

“No, sweetheart. You’re fine. This is going to be fine. I don’t think… I don’t know. It’s fine…” He finishes unconvincingly, and we just sit and look at each other. Slowly I reach across the couch and gently wrap my hand in his.

“I love you,” I say as I slide over next to him and cover us in the blanket lying between us. “No matter what, I love you. I trust you to take care of us.” Smiling up at him, I kiss his cheek and rest my head on his shoulder. I can feel how tense he is under me, and the moment he relaxes back into the couch, I let out a sigh of relief.

“I love you too. We’re going to figure this out,” Donnie says, nodding. I’m left feeling unsure if he was trying to convince himself or me.

***

I’m lying in bed, and I can see the shaft of light from the moon through the slit in the curtains. I’ve been up for hours. I could not sleep with all of the thoughts going through my head about the baby, vampires, and other unknown monsters creeping up on us in the night.

“Are you awake?” I hear Donnie ask me, and I turn to look at him, tucking one arm under my pillow and settling the other onto his chest. I nod. “I’ve been thinking about it, and you know that was just a movie, right?” I laugh at him, nodding again. “Like, I don’t glow in the sunlight, and none of that stuff is real.” He clarifies his words.

“But you are.” I point to him, and he nods again. “Real I mean.”

“I am. So is this.” Donnie rests his hand on my stomach, his fingers spreading across my skin sends a shiver up my spine, and his closeness fills me with warmth. I scoot closer to him and kiss him wholly on the lips, giving myself to him.

“I trust you,” I say when I break away from his kiss. “We’re going to make this work, and I trust you to keep us safe.”

Donnie wraps his arms around me, rolling me onto my back. He is positioned above me with his forearms on either side of my face above my shoulders, hands holding my cheeks. Bending down to kiss me again, showing me with his body what he hasn’t been able to put into words all night.

Slowly I reach down and take hold of his dick, the soft skin is warm against the coolness of my hand, and I feel him jerk in surprise.

“I need you, sir.” Looking into his eyes, I beg him with mine. “Please. I don’t care what you are. You’re mine. I am yours, and right now, I need you to show me who I belong to.”

Bending forward, he runs his nose over mine in an Eskimo kiss as I continue to pump his length in my hand. I feel him hardening, getting ready for me. I slide down further in the bed as I pull my legs up and wrap them around his waist, pulling myself up to meet him and rub his cock up and down my slit.

“Sir,” I gasp.

Donnie pulls back from me and sits up onto his knees, my legs still wrapped around his hips as he grabs ahold of me and pulls me towards him.

“Hands over your head.” Doing as I’m told, I stretch my arms above my head, locking my legs behind his back by crossing my ankles. I make sure not to let him go.

“Fuck me,” I beg, rubbing myself on him wantonly again. My juices are coating us both. I’m ready to have him inside me. “Please, sir.”

He grabs his cock at the base and strokes himself before he runs the head up and down me, coating himself with more of my arousal.

“Mmm,” I moan.

Inch by glorious inch, he slides himself into my waiting pussy, so slowly I squirm, trying to push myself onto him, but he has a hold of my hips again and is controlling the pace. Clenching down on him as he enters me, I feel him stiffen and know he is fighting the urge to pound into me like I want him to. He stops and slowly starts to retreat before he is halfway inside me. I groan my frustration and watch as he smiles down at me.

“Be patient, my sweet girl. I’m going to fuck you when I’m good and ready. Didn’t you say I’m in charge?” he says, teasing me as he continues his torturous pace, in and out of me over and over again.

With my hands still stretched out above my head, I can’t touch myself and speed up the slowly building sensations throughout my body. Inch by maddening inch, he slides out of me, and I’m left empty. My need to have him inside me is too much. I squeeze my eyes closed just as he rams himself home into my waiting pussy.

“Fuck!” we say together. Pounding into me now, his fingers dig into my hips, and I smile because I know I will be bruised tomorrow where he’s holding me.

“I need you to come for me, Summer. Now!” Donnie brushes his thumb over my clit, and I explode around him. I’m seeing stars as my inner muscles clamp down onto him, I can feel my cum gushing out around his cock buried inside me, he groans loudly then stills inside me. The telltale twitching lets me know he has found his climax as he fills me with cum.

“Thank you, sir,” I say to him through my smile. This man is my world, and nothing will change that. Nothing.

***

Tuesday – Southern Maryland

Summer

I’m left with an uneasy feeling the following day. I still have so many unanswered questions. Donnie dropped Gus and me off this morning and will be picking us up this afternoon. I settle down at the break room table to eat my bagged lunch, a PB&J, and contemplate the fact that I’m going to have to get used to this being our new routine. When my phone buzzes on the table next to me, I give a little start and scramble to see who it is.

Donnie: Leo says he would be happy to stop by the bank mid-day on the days when I can’t. This way, we will have surveillance on you at almost all times.

I smile down at the message on my phone. I know Donnie is just making sure that we are safe, but I still can’t help but feel like this is overkill, and he is being dramatic about the whole thing. I decide to call Melody. She is going to be headed out of the country soon to visit Finn’s family in Ireland, and I’m hoping to get in some girl time before then.

She picks up on the third ring.

“Hey, Summer, what’s up?” I can tell the second she answers she is distracted, it is in her voice and I’m immediately disappointed.

“Not much, just eating lunch. Hey, what day are you guys supposed to be leaving next week? I was hoping I could get a little girl time in before you head out of the country.” I pick at my sandwich as I speak.

“Oh, um, we are leaving at the end of the week, but I have to work. Sam is going to be bringing Colin over for dinner Tuesday if you want to come to hang out with all of us?” Again, I feel that she is distracted.

“Oh, no, that's not really what I had in mind. It’s okay, never mind.” Trying to get my mind off of my issues I ask, “So are you excited about your trip?”

I halfheartedly listen to her prattle about their trip and what she hopes she will see while gone. It all sounds so rehearsed I’m not even sure she wants to go.

“Hey, Mel. I’m sorry. I gotta get back to work. I’ll text you later, hun,” I interrupt her.

“All right. Love ya. Talk to you soon.” I hang up the phone and put it back into my bag. That didn’t go at all how I had planned. I decide to get some fresh air before heading back to my office. I see the SUV in the parking lot before I’m even halfway to the front door. It stops me dead in my tracks.

“Hey, something wrong, Summer?” Kelsey, one of the cashiers, asks from behind the counter.

“Oh, hey. No, I just thought I saw someone I know in the parking lot, but I must have been wrong.” I make my way over to her, still keeping an eye on the black SUV. “Do you know who that SUV belongs to?” I ask her as I point out the window. Making my point, I look around the lobby, there aren’t any customers in the bank right now, and the only cars in the parking lot should belong to employees.

Kelsey pops her gum at me. “Nope, didn’t see when they pulled up. Why? Is that who you thought you saw?” She pops her gum a second time, and I roll my eyes at her.

“Maybe. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be in my office.” I head back out of the lobby tossing a quick look back over my shoulder when I see movement in the front seat of the SUV. Someone is sitting inside, digging my phone out of my purse, I text Donnie.

Summer: Do you know what kind of car Leo drives? There is a black SUV here. I’m sure it’s not the same one, but can you just check for me?

Donnie: He isn’t supposed to be stopping by until tomorrow. I’ll have someone come check it out.

By the time I watch the police cruiser pull into the parking lot, the SUV has been gone for over five minutes. I shake my head and try to focus on my work, but I give up and decide that there is just no way I’m going to achieve anything today with all of my angst about this potential stalker.

***

“I can’t handle this shit! I’m a nervous wreck,” I say as I flop myself down into the passenger seat when Donnie picks me up. Looking over, I see him smirk at me.

His smile is spreading as he asks, “That good of a day, huh?”

I roll my eyes at him. “We need to come up with a plan, something better than just sitting around waiting for my crazed vampire stalker to attack.”

Donnie reaches across the car and squeezes my hand. “I know. We’ll figure this out. Let’s go get Gus.”