A Turn of Tides (A Shade of Vampire #13)(58)

They’d obviously been through the mill.

I doubted they would have appreciated Charis as a welcome-home surprise.

My parents pulled us aside as we entered the courtyard.

My father’s intense blue eyes travelled from my face to Caleb’s.

“Let’s go home,” he said softly.

“I’d like to learn more about your boyfriend.”

Chapter 38: Vivienne

I stared down at the two vertical lines, barely daring to believe my eyes.

I ran out of the bathroom and into the bedroom next door.

Xavier was relaxing in bed, leaning against the headboard and reading a book.

He looked up at me.

“C-can you… take a look at this?” He leapt from the bed and closed the distance between us.

“That’s… two lines, right?” I stammered, handing him the test stick.

A broad smile split his face and his eyes lit up.

“Yes, baby.

Two lines.” “I should do another test to be sure,” I said quickly, afraid to raise my hopes after just one test.

He lowered to his knees before me.

Raising my blouse, he pressed his lips against my navel.

“You’ve had bad cramps the last few days,” he murmured.

“Yes, but—” “Your period is late.” “Well, it could just be—” “It could just be that you’re pregnant.” He stood up, a huge grin still on his face as he looked down at me.

I was still afraid to accept the idea.

Afraid of the disappointment that would follow if the signs turned out to be misleading.

Xavier was always the optimist of the two of us though.

I couldn’t have expected him to respond any differently.

He caught my hands and pulled me back on the mattress on top of him.

He cupped my face in his hands and whispered, “God knows, we’ve been trying enough.” I giggled as he raised a brow.

I rolled off him onto my side and leaned on my elbow.

He ran his fingers through my hair, brushing strands of it away from my face.

“I’ve got my hands full if we have a girl,” he muttered.

“Why?” I asked, smiling.

He reached for my hand and kissed the back of it.

“If she’s half as beautiful as you, I’ll be scared to let her out of my sight.” My cheeks flushed as though Xavier was my teenage crush.

“And if it’s a boy?” I began to muse, narrowing my eyes on my husband.

“He’ll replace Ben Novak as The Shade’s teenage heartthrob,” Xavier finished for me, throwing me a wink.

I laughed, poking him in the shoulder.

“Don’t let my brother hear you say that.” There was a pause as we both gazed into each other’s eyes.

Despite my attempts to quiet my hopes, Xavier’s enthusiasm was contagious and it was slowly infecting me.

“Of course,” I said, “there’s always a small chance we could be blessed with twins, like Derek and Sofia were…” He shifted on the bed and, raising himself on all fours, positioned himself over me.

He dipped down and kissed my lips.

“All the better,” he said.

As I eased into my husband’s embrace, my head jerked back against the bed as though I’d just been electrocuted.

I’d managed to pass our honeymoon without even the slightest of visions, but now one took hold of me.

My blood pounded in my ears as a disquieting scene unfolded before my mind’s eye.

A dark, treeless terrain sprawled out beneath me.

The pale rays of the moon fell upon field after field of faded, moss-stained tombstones.

Every foot of the landscape seemed to be covered with them.

When I glimpsed the glistening ocean in the distance, I realized this was an island.

But it was only once I caught sight of a familiar lighthouse perched among a cluster of rocks, that I realized this was The Shade.

Once our home.

Now a sea of graves.

When I came to and Xavier, gripping me by the shoulders, managed to pull me upright, all I could do was gasp: “I need to warn Derek.”

Chapter 39: Ben

Tobias the cancer patient’s “half-turning” appeared to be successful, at least from what I could tell.

His convulsions finally stopped, as did his vomiting.

At first, when I opened his cabin door to go in and inspect him, I feared he might be dead.

But I felt his pulse—he was alive, just unconscious.

I was struck immediately by how cold he felt—almost as cold as me—and I noticed he was trembling ever so slightly.

I wrapped a blanket around him before leaving the cabin again.

Picking up the black phone Jeramiah had given me, I dialed his number.

He picked up after seven rings.

“Joseph?” “I appear to have been successful in half-turning a man.

I don’t notice any claws or fangs, yet he’s clearly still alive.” “Is his skin cold?” “Yes.” “That’s a good sign.

Stay where you are.

I’ll be with you in five minutes.” Five minutes? “Wait, how do you even know where—?” Jeramiah hung up before I could complete my question.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket.