A Birth At Dawn
Christie Silvers
A BIRTH AT DAWN
Copyright
©
April 2008 Christie Silvers
ISBN 978-0-615-20458-1
Cover Image Copyright © 2007 Zindy S. D. Nielsen
All Right Reserved. http://zindy-zone.dk
contact@zindy-zone.dk
Cover Design by Mis Smith
All
rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of
this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic,
mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage
or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For
permission, please contact Christie Silvers, 426 Smyrna Circle,
Chatsworth, Georgia 30705.
This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, and
places are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is
entirely coincidental.
For more information about this book or its author visit
http://www.christiesilvers.com.
Prologue
As you may already know, I am Fiona. I'm a werewolf who was killed by her pack. Luckily, I had a secret admirer who just happened to be a vampire. He saved me on the night of my death. He defeated my killer and brought me back to life by turning me.
Unfortunately, a werewolf had never been turned by a vampire and we didn't know what types of changes or problems to expect. Hell, we didn't even know the other species actually existed before that night. We've had an interesting ride together, to say the least.
* * *
It's me again, Alexander. I'm the vampire who is in love with the lovely Fiona. She is the love of my life and I can't even fathom how I survived my one hundred and fifty years without her in my life. The night she died was the best night of my undead existence.
We went through a lot in the first month we were together. Fiona had some family "issues" to work through and I'd like to think that I helped her during all of it. So what if those issues meant that she had to kill a entire wolf pack council. They shouldn't have killed her first.
Chapter 1
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Diane was beyond surprised when I told her about what happened those weeks after I left her a phone message telling her good-bye. I'd planned that message to be the last that Diane would hear from me, because my pack had intended upon killing me that night, Thanksgiving night to be exact. Luckily, I had attracted quite an interesting admirer and he saved my life that night. He just so happened to be a vampire who had to turn me in order to save me.
"God, Diane, would you stop saying that and help me pick out a damn dress? I only have two weeks before the wedding and I can't find anything that looks right with this belly all pooching out like it is."
It was Saturday, the thirteenth of April and we were in the Got a Dress? Wedding Boutique, which was, unfortunately, the closest place to buy a great wedding dress in a short amount of time. I was digging through rack after rack of multi-colored, overly poufy, and ridiculously priced wedding dresses. This store was a typical wedding boutique, with typical obnoxious and annoying salesgirls hovering around repeatedly asking if they could help me. All I wanted to do was find a damn dress and get this over with, but they wanted to show me this dress or that dress . . . all so obviously not my taste.
Alex and I had planned a lovely spring wedding, and while every last detail had been completed weeks ago, my wedding dress choice was still circling my head like a vulture waiting for me to die of dehydration. I only had two weeks left before our wedding day and Diane had promised to help me find the perfect dress. Unfortunately, we'd been in this damn store for six hours today, and that didn't count the four hours I was in here by myself yesterday, and the numerous times Alex had stopped in without me. I keep telling him that I have to choose the dress, but he knows how I hate this kind of stuff.
"I just can't believe it! I know that you've been retelling this tale of yours for the last few weeks, but it's just so amazing that I can't believe it."
Diane had been flabbergasted ever since the first time I told her about Alex and me. Well, actually she hadn't even known about Alex, much less about an Alex and me. She'd only heard a cryptic phone message saying that I was going to die, and that I would miss her. When I showed up on her doorstep, alive and pregnant, she was beyond shocked.
"You can believe that I'm a werewolf and you can still be my best friend from childhood, and yet you can't believe that Alex is a vampire, he turned me and now I'm pregnant with his child?" I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief and she snickered at my statement.
"Well damn, Fiona, when you say it like that . . .,” she scoffed. “It’s just a little unbelievable. First off, I never imagined that vampires were real. Then, you go and fall in love with one and proceed to get knocked up with his love child. How the hell can he get you pregnant to begin with? He's dead, right?"
"You know that I've already explained that to you . . . about twenty times." I could never get pissed with Diane, but my hormonal nerves were fried at this point and I looked up at her from the rack of dresses and gave her my patented Go to Hell look.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just crazy weird. Of course I believe you, and you know that I'm always here for you. I just wish you'd told me about all of this sooner, instead of springing it on me after I thought you were dead and I'd lost my best friend."
She came over to me and hugged me tight. When we released each other, I look into her eyes and smiled. I'd missed her terribly while I was struggling with my pack. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew that I needed my friend at my side during this adventure. Especially after the death of my mother.
"All right Diane, you know I love you like a sister, but I really need you to help me out here. What do you think of this?" I asked, holding up an off-white, off the shoulders, silk gown that flowed from waist to ankles like waves on the ocean. It had long sleeves and would accentuate my beautifully morphed bosom. Who knew pregnancy had such advantages to the cleavage area? It wasn't form-fitting—which is great when you have an ever-expanding abdomen—and after being in the store for six hours I was ready to choose and get the hell out of here.
"Oh, I love it!” Diane clapped her hands together loudly. “You definitely need to try that one on. What size is it?"
I glanced down at the small slip of white paper hanging from the sleeve of my perfect dress and discovered that it was a size twelve. Exactly the size I needed. This dress couldn't be more perfect if someone had stood here and sewn it for me right in front of my eyes.
I showed the tag to Diane and she smiled widely. Her toothy smile always reminds me of a certain red-headed actress. Standing side by side, Diane was about an inch taller than me, but it's really just her huge hair. She likes it "fluffy," as she puts it.
In a flash she was grabbing the dress and running for the cashier. "I'm buying this for you,” She shouted back to me. “Consider it a wedding gift from your best friend.”
"Oh no, you're not! I don't want you to buy my dress. Besides, Alex has plenty of money and told me to buy whatever I wanted." But, my words feel on deaf ears. She caught me so off guard that I couldn't catch up to her before the cashier had swiped her credit card, and the deal was done.
As we walked out of the store—her with a giant smile on her face and I with a plastic covered wedding dress tossed over my arm—I felt a great sense of happiness. I always felt that way when I was with Alex or when I was thinking of the little life growing inside of me, but it had been a while since I'd felt that with a friend. I just hadn't been in the mood for friends since I killed Jeffrey.
The thought of my best Were-friend, turned betrayer, made me sad, but Diane would have none of that. She tugged me down the sidewalk toward one of our favorite coffee shops. This place had every kind of coffee drink imaginable, and a few you couldn't, but my favorite item on the menu wasn't coffee, it was their strawberry cheesecake danish. Delicious!
"Come on sweetie, let me lavish you with danish", Diane said cheerfully. "I know you love the stuff and that little baby . . . ," she patted my ever expanding waistline, "needs the nourishment."
"Ah Diane, you know how to make a girl feel special." I chuckled, and we headed into the coffee shop where I proceeded to down three strawberry cheesecake danishes and an extra large cup of orange juice. This, in turn, caused me to require usage of the bathroom before the weight of the baby made my bladder to explode.
When I returned to the table, Diane had a serious look on her face. She was no longer cheerful and enthusiastic. She was now worried, cautious and concerned.
"What have I done now?" I questioned, returning to me chair across the small cafe table.
"Nothing. I was just thinking." She paused, ran her hand through her "fluffy" hair and fiddled with her fingernails. This usually meant that she wanted to ask me something, but wasn't sure how I'd react to it.
"What is it, Diane? I know you have something on your mind, so get on with it." I sipped my orange juice and waited patiently for Diane to spill what ever was on her mind. She wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
"Well, sweetie, you know that I love you like a sister. You've been my best friend since the day we met, all those years ago." I nodded in agreement. "I'm just worried about you. You've been through so much in the last few months, and well, I’m afraid that if you stay with this man you, and your child, will only suffer more in the years to come."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Diane was afraid for my safety. She was worried about my child's safety. I was surprised, and a little angry.
"You're worried? About me? Why in the hell would you be worried about the baby and me? And what does it have to do with Alex? He's been nothing but wonderful to me and he's completely in love with the idea of our child coming into this world. There's absolutely nothing to worry about. Alex would never hurt me, or Isabella."
The volume of my voice was beginning to increase from the thoughts that Diane would dare accuse Alex of harming the baby or me. "And if you think for one minute that I'm going to leave Alex just because you say so, then you are sadly mistaken . . . best friends or not!"
Diane saw the fire in my eyes and she didn't speak for a moment. She simply laid her hands upon mine and squeezed reassuringly. She let me calm down before she spoke again.
"Fiona, honey, please don't get upset. I didn't mean that Alex would hurt you or baby Isabella. I just meant that being with him can't be safe. Not because of him, but possibly because of the people he knows. If one vampire exists, then we can be certain there are many more out there, and they may not be as friendly as your man is."
"You're kidding, right? You are seriously concerned about Alex being able to protect me, when my own pack tried to kill me? Alex was the one who saved me from never living another day. He would never allow anything to happen to me."
I thought for a second and realized that I didn't need Alex to protect me anyway. "Diane, don't you remember me telling you about how I killed the werewolf council, the entire werewolf council? Don't you think that I can take care of myself if push comes to shove? I didn't need Alex to protect me then, and I don’t need his protection now."