Chapter 23: Chapter 23 EXPECTATIONS

Marquis walked down the hall the old stone walls echoing each step she took. She was headed to the room at the end of the hall, what used to be Salvatore’s chamber, it was now turned into the new Counsel room. For months she had been trying to convince the Counsel to attack Stephan but she could never get a straight answer from them. They had a new and different way of doing things, decisions had to be made by all of them and not just one person. They worked as a unit.

“So what did you decide?” She pushed the large doors open and strutted into the room.

“Marquis we told you that this is not a light decision to make. We gave Stephan our word and we intend to stick by it unless we are threatened.” Dido, a Council member spoke.

“We are being threatened. If Stephan and his son are allowed to continue breeding, they will build a race stronger than ours. Then what will we do?”

“There has been no activity to suggest that he would want to attack us.” They were sure that if Stephan wanted them dead they would be. He wasn’t the type to waste his time plotting.

“So you are going to sit on your asses and wait. Spineless maggots.” She hissed. “I was hopeful that with a woman on the high seat things would change. But you seem more interested in braiding your hair and smoothing human lotion on your cocoa skin. Imbeciles.”

“I would advise you to refrain from insulting us. You are not part of us anymore. You and Salvatore only managed to bring danger to us. And now he is dead-,”

“Yes, he is dead. And according to your men, Stephan used his head as a volleyball.”

“Salvatore tried to kill him and his family. He was only defending himself.” Dido fidgeted in her seat. The day of Salvatore’s death was fresh in his mind. It was the main reason why they didn’t want to cross his path again.

“We also need to defend ourselves. We need to attack while we still can. Ric will lead the warriors. You do not have to do anything.”

“It seems like you don’t understand what we are saying. No, we are not going to join you in this suicide mission.”

“Cowards!”

“Marquis, before you go. There is one thing that we have agreed on. You are not to step foot on this mountain ever again.”

“Dido, banishment only happened in the eighteen hundreds. This is the twenty-first century.” Marquis blew him a kiss before storming out of the chambers.

“I told you they wouldn’t take.” Ric fell in step with a furious Marquis.

“Shut up. Unless you have something constructive to say do not speak.” She lifted her hand to silence him.

“Why exactly do you want to kill Stephan?”

“That is none of your concern.” Marquis was miffed and was not in the mood to play twenty-one questions.

“May I remind you that your coven has rejected you, and if you wish to use mine you better come up with a better answer than it is none of your concern?” Ric stopped and waited for her answer.

Marquis was running out of options. The scar that ran from Ric’s dead eye to his chin was enough reason for him to plot revenge but not enough for him to risk his life.

“Fine. I am in love with him and he loves something else. So I am going to kill their child and break Stephan’s spirit. Then maybe he will come to me.” She twisted her blonde hair on her little finger.

“You are delusional. What makes you think that you could break Stephan’s spirit? I think he would just kill you instead.”

“He loves his son more than his life. I will bargain with it.”

“This is Stephan’s son, he must be as strong as his father. I don’t think you could just snatch him up and he would leave without a fight.”

“He is just a child, and part of him is human.” Marquis had been plotting for two years and although she hadn’t gone back to Kings in that same time, she didn’t think that the child could have grown that much.

“So what if he is part human? It doesn’t mean he is weak.” Ric had learned never to underestimate anything that concerned Stephan. The leather patch hiding the gaping hole in his face was proof.

“Don’t be so negative. This will work, I have put too much time into planning this for it to fail. So are you going to help me or are you chickening out like those carcasses in there?” She used her index finger to trace the thick vein in his neck. She was seducing his will and knew it was only a matter of time before he caved.

“Why not forget Stephan. Come with me back to South Africa. With my coven, we can start our monarchy.” He nibbled on her finger as she traced his lips.

“Ric, I am not interested in a monarch and Africa is far from Stephan. Besides just because I let you have my body doesn’t mean I could ever fall in love with you.” She bit on his lower lip then sucked on it for a second. “What do you say?”

Marquis could sense his need for her grown. She was hoping that his lust would rule and cast reason aside. When she heard him moan and felt him tremble she knew she had won. She could always depend on a man’s greedy lust to have her way.

“On one condition.” Ric crushed her body to his.

“What?” Marquis scowled, she didn’t have anything else to part with.

“I lay with you every single night and when you finally have Stephan I will step aside.”

“But don’t you already do that.”

“I just want to make sure we agree.”

Marquis placed kisses along his neck as her hand ran down his stomach, stopping just above his belt. “Agreed.”

She pushed herself out of his arms. “Now that we have taken care of that little detail, it’s time for us to go make our final plans.”

Ric followed her behind watching her backside sway as she walked.

***

“How are you feeling mom?” SJ tucked a pillow under Scarlet’s feet trying to make her comfortable.

Scarlet had taken up residence in the TV room, ever since they never let her do anything. The unusual pain and exhaustion had contributed to her being made into a prisoner in her own home. “I’m fine. Can you go knock down a tree or something all this fussing is driving me crazy?”

“I’m fine, no tree has attacked me just yet and I am sure Mother Nature doesn’t want me messing up her yard.” SJ retorted.

He had been by his mother’s side for the past two weeks, ever since they found out she was pregnant. He was determined to make her comfortable, partly because she cared and partly because he felt guilty. He didn’t know what he had done when she was pregnant with him but he wanted to make up for it.

SJ had tried to get the rest of the vampires in the house to tell him what had happened during his mother’s first pregnancy but they always avoided the question. They would tell him that it was in the past or that Scarlet would be mad if they told him.

Determined to get the truth out of his mother he spent every waking moment beside her, pampering her and doing her every bid.

“Don’t you have anything else to do than sit there gawking at me?” She could feel his eyes burn a hole at the side of her head.

“Not really.” He shrugged.

“Your father got you an X-box, why not play with that?”

“Not interested.”

“Go golfing then. Do something that does not require you to be sitting in the house. Go enjoy the sun.”

“I’d rather sit here with you. We can watch a movie together.” He grabbed the remote from her and started flipping channels.

“Tell me about you and Jade then.” Scarlet’s eyes lit with excitement.

“There isn’t much to tell. Honestly, there isn’t a, me and Jade. She turned me down remember.”

“But you guys have been working so closely. Yesterday you went into town with her.”

“Vincent and Eric tagged along, and we went to the high school. It wasn’t very romantic.” SJ had enrolled in every class Jade took, that way they would be closer and maybe he could persuade her to change her mind.

“How do you like the school?” Scarlet decided to navigate the conversation away from Jade. It was a sour subject for him.

“It’s great. I didn’t have anything to compare it with. It’s the first school I have been in and I like it.” SJ was genuinely happy when he talked about school. His face lit up each time he talked about it.

“Excited about getting your car?”

“I asked dad for a red Ferrari, so yes I am very excited about it.”

“You know you aren’t getting it until the end of the year.”

“He told me about the fine print. I’m patient and I have read a lot, so acing the exams won’t be that hard.” SJ was confident. Kayla and Scarlet had been home-schooling him, and also provided him with a wide range of reading material. His favorite was the sciences.

“When do you start school?” Scarlet stretched out her body when she began to feel cramps in her lower back.

“Next week, are you ok?” SJ helped her sit up.

“Nope, she’s just moving around.”

“I read about that.” SJ had picked up biology texts once Scarlet fell pregnant. He needed to know how it all worked and hoped that he could get a better understanding of it all.

“I noticed. You shouldn’t bother yourself with all that.” Scarlet caressed her belly and made a shushing sound. “I used to do this when I was pregnant with you.”

“About that-,” SJ hesitated.

“What?”

“I just wanted-,”

“Out with it. Stephan Leonard Jeraldi what do you want from me.” Scarlet sat up and turned her body to face her son. He was only this persistent when he wanted something. Scarlet knew that he would probably get what he wanted, she could never say no to him.

“Don’t get mad.”

“What could you want that could make me angry?” Scarlet was more worried than anything.

“I wanted to know about the time I was the one swimming in the jelly inside you.” He tried to make it sound less serious than it was.

“Why?” Scarlet swallowed hard. No one knew the last two weeks of her pregnancy with SJ as well as she did. They were engraved in her head.

“Because when you found out about the new baby you were angry. And it was implied that it was because of the time you were pregnant with me.”

“I don’t want to get into that SJ.” Scarlet was not about to tell him of the nightmare she went through. She knew that the revelation would only make him feel awful.

“But mom, I just want to understand.”

“There is nothing to understand SJ.”

“But-,”

“No buts. I am not talking about that. Now how about you go get me a cold pizza from the fridge”

“Ok.” Grudgingly he shuffled to the kitchen.

“What’s with him?” Stephan walked into the room after he watched his son drug his legs into the other room.

“He asked me about the time when I was pregnant with him.”