Authors: Mina Carter
Tessa opened her eyes and dug the spoon into the ice-cream again, and tucked the pot into the crook of her arm as she headed through to the main room. She flopped down in the middle of the comfortable sofa, rooted around for the remote, spoon in mouth. She was sure it was here somewhere, she just needed to find it and she was all set. The player was loaded with tonight's choice of a weepy chick flick movie, a movie she had been looking forward to watching for weeks but just hadn't found the time to. Well, now she did have time. This weekend was all about her, and relaxation. LOTS of relaxation.
“Ahh, there you are!” She recovered the missing remote from under one of the many scattered cushions. Her sister seemed obsessed with the things. Either that or they were breeding in here. Tessa wasn't quite sure which it was, or which was the scarier option.
Sighing in satisfaction she spooned more ice-cream into her mouth as she flicked the player on, she curled her legs up under her and settled herself into a more comfortable position on the sofa. Life didn't get much better than this, she decided with a contented sigh as the opening credits started to roll.
RAP RAP RAP!
“Dammit,” She looked over her shoulder as there was a knock at the front door.
Who
on earth could that be?
Had to be a cold caller, she decided. Lisa would have let all her friends know she was going to be away, she was a control freak like that, so it had to be someone who didn't know her sister or James. And if it wasn’t, perhaps they would go away if she ignored them.
RAP RAP RAP!
No such luck, the hammering got worse. Tessa sighed as she contemplated moving, flicking pause on the remote and freezing the scrolling text on the TV screen.
“This had better be good,” she grumbled under her breath as she put the tub on the floor, and drove the spoon into the melting ice-cream with a vicious stab as she got to her feet. It
had
better be good... and quick, she had a major fan girl crush on the actor in this movie so the quicker she got back to ogle his toned and sculptured bod, the happier she would be.
She grumbled under her breath all the way to the door, her bare feet silent on the wooden floor. Ever security conscious, she threw the chain over before she opened it a crack.
“Hello?” That was as far as she got, the sight which met her eyes stopped any further comment right there in her throat.
On her doorstep was
the
most handsome, ripped guy she had ever seen. Her startled eyes started at the middle of the broad chest, noted the heavily toned muscles as they moved outwards. A
long
way outwards, the guy was huge! And tall. Her eyes flicked upwards, he had to be well over six foot. Made her feel kind of dainty, which wasn't something Tessa got to feel very often.
He was also carrying a baby.
She blinked in surprise. Ok, this was one situation she was used to facing. Drop dead gorgeous men did not appear on her doorstep with a baby. Actually they didn’t appear on her doorstep at all, with or without a baby.
“Sorry, can I help you?”
“You might just be my salvation.” His voice was a low rumble that took Tessa's breath away. The sound did things to her insides on a very primitive level.
Oh for god's sake Tessa,
get yourself together! It's just a voice!
“Uhm, ok?” she managed, dark eyes flicking to the bundle he was carrying. Then a slight breeze in the corridor, someone must have opened a door down the way, carried the unmistakeable smell of dirty diaper to her.
“Hmm, not being funny... but you might want to change the baby before you take it out visiting?” she suggested.
And maybe put a shirt on…
she added mentally, although she was enjoying the view a lot at the moment. But what kind of a father was he, bringing his baby out with a dirty diaper?
“That would be the problem,” He shifted the baby in his arms and smoothed the edge of the blanket down. Tessa caught her breath at the colour of its hair.
Bright Pixie pink, a colour she'd only seen in the full blooded members of her mother's family. He looked at her and smiled, the merest hint of fang showing. “As you can see, it's not mine. Someone just left it on my doorstep and I haven't a
clue
what to do with it!”
He was Kyn.
The knowledge stunned Tessa for a moment, almost as much as his appearance on the doorstep had. But then he shifted on his feet a fraction and the light fell across the marks across the left side of his face and body. Her breath left her lungs in a rush.
“You're a Kyn Warrior,” she exclaimed in relief, glad she hadn't opened her door to a Rogue vampire. Even though the small amount of Pixie blood flowing in her veins protected her from being turned into a vampire, Rogue's were more interested in the high from a kill than turning their victims. Although, to be fair, she had not heard of them using a baby as a decoy to get people to open their doors. They were more into breaking the doors down to get at their victims and a baby would be little more than a macabre snack.
“Live and kicking… name's Feral,” he introduced himself, grinning a little. The small expression curved his full lips, transformed his rather cruel features, features made starker by the shaved hairstyle and turned him from mere gorgeous to devastating.
“Tessa, pleased to meet you,” she replied on automatic, silence stretching between them.
“So,” Feral continued. “You gonna help me out here? The little guy, he's really beginning to smell bad...” He trailed off, watching her, hope coiling in his chest. When she'd first opened the door, his heart had sunk. She wasn't the woman he remembered pinning out the diapers.
However, she was a Pixie, he could see the slight glamour clinging to her which made her appear more human than she was. And on second inspection there was a family resemblance to the woman with the diapers. Younger sister maybe? He tried that route.
“I remembered your ... sister?” he smiled, a cautious edge in his voice as he hoped he’d gotten it right. Women could be funny about ages and what stated relationships to other women said about their ages. Relief shot through him as she nodded.
“I remembered your sister had kids so when I found him, I came round to beg mercy...
and a couple of diapers,” he grinned as he tried his hardest to be charming and personable.
Come on sweetheart, you have to say yes. Look at me, I'm not a baby sorta guy! Practising
for getting' the babies yes… dealing with the babies, definitely no!
His silent plea seemed to work, her coffee-cream eyes flicked over him again. Feral shivered, the look almost seeming like a caress over his skin, his nipples tightening a little as a thrill went through him. Then she stepped back, released the chain.
“Come on, bring him in and we'll get him cleaned up,” she ordered, her voice brusque. Feral stalled, not used to being ordered around... no that was a lie. He
was
used to being ordered around. Vixen did regularly, as did their boss Marak, the current Kyn monarch.
But both Vixen and Marak weren't people you wanted to piss off in a hurry and this woman was, well tiny. And curvy to boot, the figure the shapeless towelling robe was hinting at was enough to make his mouth water.
He followed her into the living room, looked around the plush interior and dismissed it as quickly. It had all the hallmarks of expensive interior design and was about as interesting as the back of a cereal packet.
“Come on, let's have him down here then.” She dragged out a changing mat from its hiding place behind a sofa, plopped it on the floor as she glanced at him. “The diapers will be a bit big but it's better than leaving him dirty. Can you take his diaper off while I get a fresh one?” She arched an eyebrow, obviously doubting his ability to carry out even that simple task.
“Of course!” he exclaimed, kneeling down to settle the baby in the middle of the changing mat. For such a small, little thing, it took virtually every part of Feral's body to make sure he was placed carefully on the mat.
Tessa shook her head as she headed out the room to fetch changing supplies. If he'd ever held a baby before she'd be surprised. He had that 'on eggshells' manner men tended to get when presented with an infant for the first time. Women didn't get it so much. Must be some maternal instinct she mused, rifling through the changing unit in the twins bedroom.
Ignoring the washables Tessa went straight for the disposables, an addition she insisted on if she was expected to baby sit. There was no way she was scraping shit off a diaper for anyone, not even her sister!
“Too big, all too big,” she murmured as she rifled through the wicker basket Lisa kept these things in. “Damn, this is no good,” She leaned down and peered into the darkness of the cupboard. There! At the back. She grinned in triumph as she leaned down and retrieved a wad of diapers from the back, left over from when the twins were small. She checked the size and nodded. Just perfect.
“Look mate, you aren't making this easy you know!” Feral muttered, trying to get his nose as far away from his hands as he could without either turning his head or being on the other side of the room. He managed to remove the diaper but he hadn't been prepared for what was in it.
He grimaced as he considered the contents, not sure what he was supposed to do now.
He had watched Vixen change her little daughter, Marianne, more times than he could remember and she always made it look easy.
He was quickly finding out it wasn't as easy as it looked.
Tessa stifled a giggle as she came back into the room to find the Kyn Warrior on his knees trying to clean the baby's bottom with hesitant movements. All he was doing was spreading the mess even further.
“Just where I like to see a man,” she quipped. “On his knees. Come out of the way, you're just making it worse,” She shooed him over to kneel down in front of the baby, who was taking advantage of the moment to attempt to flip himself over. Tessa made a grab for him just before he managed it, tapping his nose playfully.
“Ohh no you don't, handsome,” she chuckled and caught his ankles in her hand to clean him up with the other. She was used to changing babies, had spent a lot of time over here when Lisa first had the twins, and it showed in her efficient movements.
“There we go, all clean and dry, aren't you a clever little man?” She fastened his baby grow as he wriggled again, doing his best to escape. She grinned and caught him mid-escape, his chortles filling the room as she tickled his sides.
Smiles wreathed her face; he really was the cutest little thing. A pang of longing filled her, she always wanted kids of her own. For that she had to meet a man first, something she seemed singularly incapable of. She tickled again, running her fingers along the soles of his bare feet as she reached for his trousers.
“He's a gorgeous little thing,” she commented, very aware of the large Kyn watching her like a hawk. “So, he was just left on your doorstep?”
“Yeah, about half an hour ago. Was a bit of a surprise... usually I just get pizza delivery,” he chuckled, shrugging a shoulder. “Not the domestic type.”
“Pizza? I didn't think vampires ate?” Her eyes held confusion as she flicked a glance up at him as she finished dressing the baby. She picked him up easily and handed him over.
“Here, hold him for a moment whilst I clear this lot up. Hey... what's this?”
Her eyes fell on a folded piece of paper which had somehow gotten trapped in the yellow blanket, and fell loose as she folded it. Tessa reached down and picked it up. It was a piece of paper torn out of a reporter’s notebook, crumpled and flooded into quarters. She smoothed it out and frowned at the words scrawled of it in a hasty hand.
“What's it say?” He shifted closer and peered over her shoulder. The scent of aftershave and warm man enveloped her; a shiver ran down her spine.
God, she really needed
to get laid if a man just looking over her shoulder got a reaction like that!
She shook her head to bring herself back to reality. “I don't know, it's an old Fae script I think... this is more Lisa's kettle of fish than mine. Some of it I recognise,”
She pointed out a word in the middle, her fingernail tapped the paper lightly, “This is the word for Morrigan,” Her eyes scanned the rest of the writing. Then it hit her, the half remembered lessons in her youth coming back all at once as she scanned the page.
“Shit!” she breathed, looking up at him, her eyes wide.
“What? What is it?” Feral frowned, picking up on her surprise.
“He... the baby... he's a Morrigan. There's a Fae prophecy about a male Morrigan... ”
Tessa swallowed, hardly believing what she was saying. “... when he grows up, I think he's going to be a God.”
Feral blinked, not quite believing his ears.
“Ok, you want to run that one by me again? A God? As in smiting and godly powers...
the whole shebang?” He looked down at the baby in his arms in surprise, trying to see something of the divine there. All he saw was cute. A whole
lot
of cute.
She nodded, “The whole lot. The legend of the Winter King...” She trailed off, looking at him as though the name should mean something to him. It didn't.
“Sorry doll, not up on Fae legends. It's not compulsory reading for us Kyn, got enough of our own,” he apologised with a shrug and wondered why he was getting pulled into this. The baby was a Pixie, he found a Pixie to look after it so he should be high-tailing it out of here.
He really didn't like Pixies, like
really
didn't like Pixies. Last year they kidnapped the woman he was in love with, or thought he was at any rate, and beat the living snot out of him.
It didn't incline him to think favourably of them.
But
female
pixies, Feral was discovering, were something else entirely. Tessa really was rather enchanting as she gathered things up, her movements quick and graceful.
“The Winter King legend is an old one. You've heard of the Morrigan right?” she checked, not even waiting for his answering nod before she continued. Everyone knew the legend of the Morrigan.