I Must Save Her

I Must Save Her
Rhys

I can only stare at the ocean for so long. Nothing is solved here. The waves crashing onto the rocks below simply remind me of my argument with Alice. 

I’m not accustomed to losing control. I’d be a poor businessman if my first reactions were panic and anger. I’ve always been measured, my actions sharp and calculating. But when it comes to Alice, there is another force that guides me... the feelings I have for her.  

Growing weary of the rhythm of the waves, I make my way back inside Duskmoore. As I expected, the house reflects Alice’s melancholy. She is not in her room. She’s outside on the porch–with her friend. I sense her presence there, and with it, a degree of comfort I cannot deny, despite her sadness. At least she’s home.

She has every right to leave this house given all the mistakes I continue to make when it comes to her, even as she cradles my child in her womb. Yet, she remains here–for now. I’ll take whatever mercy she gives me. 

I head to my office with one thing in mind—the single drawer in my desk that I never touch, or rather that I haven’t opened in many years. Many times I have gazed at it, touched the handle, and considered opening it once again. It contains only one object, something to remind me of one of the worst mistakes I have ever made.

This time, my mistake does not involve Alice.

Stepping into the room, my gaze locks onto my massive, solid wood desk. Ti has left more work for me and thankfully rid me of the stack of folders I’d gone through before. But I have no desire to work right now. It’s the bottom drawer on the left side that draws my attention.

Pulling my key ring out of my pocket, I lower myself into my leather chair and flip through the keys until I reach a small gold one, still glistening from lack of use. It fits perfectly into the drawer’s keyhole, of course, eliciting a satisfying click when I turn it. 

I open the drawer and pull out its contents—a single eleven-by-thirteen-inch painting of a once happy couple, smiling against a backdrop of deep green conifers. 

Me... and Alicia.

I remember the day well, our trip to the forest. Alicia’s laugh and glimmering smile came easy then. She enjoyed hiking the trails, gasping with awe when she reached an open meadow of wildflowers. She ran to it, laughing and spinning around gleefully, lifting her face to soak up the sunshine. She loved it so much, I decided to have an artist paint it for us.

That was before. 

I should have left her as she was. 

A firm knock at the door jolts me out of my memories. I quickly return the painting to the drawer and close it. “Yes?” I call out. 

Gio walks in, and I instantly read the concern in his eyes. 

“What is it?” I ask. 

He slips into the black leather chair across from my desk. “I have news from Whitmore.”

I sit up straighter and read the concern in his eyes. “And I take it the news is not good.”

“No,” he says, looking away for a moment, his gaze toward the window. He turns back to me. “However, he was aware of a human woman pregnant with a vampire in the past.”

“That’s encouraging,” I say. 

He nods. “Two cases, in fact. So, I discussed all the possibilities with him.”

“And?”

He pauses before answering, and the silence stretches painfully while an ache forms deep inside me. I sense the nature of his response, but I do not want to put words to it, and neither does Gio.

Finally, he speaks. “In both cases, the women perished while pregnant.”

My eyes widen, and panic rushes through my life force. For several moments, I am frozen in shocked stillness, until the rage erupts with almost more force than I can contain. I rise, pacing around the room. 

“Rhys—”

“No!” I say, my voice deep and echoing against the walls. “That cannot happen!” 

“I wish it weren’t true,” Gio says behind me. He’s standing now but has wisely kept his distance. “I don’t want to think that’s true either. We spoke at length, discussing why these deaths occurred. I was hoping to discover a medication I might use to stop it.”

I look him in the eye. “And?” 

He shakes his head hopelessly. “There is nothing I can do. The deaths were definitely a result of the child’s development. A vampire child is simply incompatible with a human—their need for human blood, their rapid growth, and other aspects.”

I lean back in my chair, take a deep, though unnecessary breath,my hands covering my face. Alice cannot die. Argue as I might with her, my world would end if that ever happened, especially if its cause was that she is pregnant with my child. I would be forced to stay in this world, but my mind would decay, slowly, into a rotted, useless shell. 

“Does she know?” I ask without looking up.

“No,” he says. “I wanted to discuss that with you first, given the... situation.”

“What happened to Alice having the right to medical privacy?” I ask sarcastically. 

“I thought in this case that you should be the one to tell her,” he explains. “So, I came to you first.”

“How the fuck could this happen?” I whisper, pushing away from my desk, walkin around my chair. Thunder rumbles outside, and I step over to the window. Rain begins, lightly at first, but then it rushes down in a torrent, pummeling the glass. Drops fade into sheets of water that flow down the windows, plunging onto the rocky ground below. 

Gio is behind me now. “It’s rare,” he explains. “Whitmore knew of many human-vampire couples, but their unions did not produce offspring, except in cases where the woman was the vampire. In those situations, the pregnancy went to term. It was only in those two instances where the woman was a human and pregnant and....”

He astutely stops there with no need to elaborate. And the woman died, he almost said–again. Alice is going to die because of this child... because of me. How could I be so foolish? I should have insisted we take measures to prevent pregnancy. I should have looked into such relationships before I took Alice to bed. Gio could have spoken to Whitmore long ago and prevented this. Though, in my defense, I had no idea it was possible. In all my years, I’ve never heard of such a thing.

I should have known our child would kill her....

But I did none of those things, and now Alice is going to die.

A gnawing ache rumbles in my chest. I cannot allow that to happen. I must save her. “How long do we have?” I ask dejectedly. 

“Both deaths occurred at three months pregnant,” he says. 

I snap my head up. That seems like so little time. I would have thought the baby would have to be more developed to cause harm to Alice. “How far along is Alice?”

“About two and a half months.” His tone is dull and defeated. 

My mouth opens, but I can’t find the words. Alice’s death is only weeks—days—away, and it will be my fault. How selfish I was to think of pleasure when that act could cause her pain... and death. 

Gio and I pass the moment in silence, with nothing but the incessant thunder and the rain pounding against the windowpanes to fill the void. 

Memories flow through my mind—every tender moment with Alice–and every argument. Her tears that echoed down the hall, her fears, and her pain all penetrate deep inside me, as if I still had a heart. The ache inside grows like a root encompassing a grave. I remember her smile, the touch of her skin, the feeling of being inside her. All the beauty and darkness of Alice, of our relationship. has now come to this moment... one that will lead to her death. 

“There is one thing....”

I gaze back at Gio, who leaves his words dangling in the air. His eyes alight with a spark of hope, but I see the darkness in that possibility before he speaks another word.

“There is one way to save her,” he adds. 

I already know the answer, but the words come anyway. “Tell me.”