Marker of Hope (7 page)

She didn’t respond. Didn’t even look in my
direction.

“I don’t want you to be angry at me anymore,”
I said.

She crossed her arms. I took a step closer to
her.

“Galilea, I value your friendship, and I
don’t want to lose you.”

After a moment, she said, “Apology
tentatively accepted.”

“Thanks.” I hugged her, but she didn’t return
my embrace. “Why are you in pajamas in the middle of the day?”

“Because I’m sick,” she said.

“Sick?” David creased his brow. “Of?”

“Her, mostly.” She jerked her chin in my
direction, and then sized me up. “Are you shrinking or something?
What’s wrong with your clothes?”

“I borrowed them from David. I fell in a
lake.”

“How?” Galilea asked.

I pulled my shirtsleeve up to show her the
marks the demons’ claws had left on me. She glanced at David’s
face, and I saw as realization washed over her face.

“Oh.” Galilea’s jaw dropped. “I shouldn’t
have left.” She clasped her hands. “Are you okay? I mean, is the
baby okay?”

“I think so,” I said. “I feel fine.”

“You left the house after I specifically told
you not to.” Galilea’s brows pulled together. “You never listen to
me. How many were there—Turpis?”

“Three,” David answered before I could.
“First order.”

“The ones we ran into in Greece were first
order, too,” Galilea said. “That’s when I knew she was going to be
trouble.”

“What’s first order?” I asked, ignoring the
part where I’d been called an inconvenience.

“The eldest of the demon species. Special
forces, so to speak,” David said. “Trained to fight, kill, and
possess people. Shift into human form.”

“If they can shift into human form, it means
they could be anyone,” I said.

“Exactly. That’s why I didn’t want you
leaving the house,” said Galilea. “Did the Turpis burn either of
you?”

“No,” David and I said in unison.

Galilea scratched the side of her head.
“Weird.”

“Isis, David,” Eileen called us from the
hallway. “The lab’s ready. Galilea, be a dear and show them in
while I find Isis something of yours to wear.”

“Her Christmas presents are somewhere in my
closet,” Galilea told her. “Might as well give them to her now
while they fit.”

“It’s August,” I said. “Why do you have
Christmas presents?”

“Because I like to plan ahead, and also
because you have bad taste in clothes.”

***

Dr. Gunn’s new laboratory was set up in a
three-car garage, detached from the house. Though it was much
smaller than the lab in Athens, it housed a lot of the same
equipment. I wondered if these machines and supplies were his,
shipped from Greece, or if they were new. Galilea had told me he
had medical equipment, but I hadn’t asked how he’d gotten it. Given
David’s family had provided Dr. Gunn with a lot of financing in
order to have him render his services exclusively to us—and to keep
his mouth shut about the Chioses being immortal deities—I wouldn’t
be surprised if all the tools and machines were fresh stock.

The doctor was sitting at a small table,
stroking the keyboard on his laptop. His hair was disheveled, and
he was wearing the same glasses he’d broken in Greece.

“Hello, Isis. Long time,” Gunn said. “David,
I’m surprised to see you. Glad, as well. I’ve been trying to get
Isis to come in to keep record of the progress of the mutation as
you asked me to do before you left Bucharest, but the girl’s been a
ghost since we got here. No visits. No calls…” Gunn adjusted his
glasses. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my word, but she hasn’t made it
easy. Unfortunately, I haven’t any new information to share with
you. I assure you, not a single penny of your funding has been used
after we last spoke, except for the freight expense of my medical
equipment.”

“You told him to continue the research?” I
asked David. “Why?”

“Because he loves you, dummy,” Galilea said.
“And before you accuse me, I knew nothing about it until now, so
save that scowl on your face for another time.”

“I told Dr. Gunn and Eileen not to tell you,”
David explained.

“And I kept my promise. Now, let’s begin,
shall we?” The doctor rose from his computer and patted the
examination table set up on the right of him, an ultrasound machine
next to it. “Beside pregnancy symptoms, how’s your other situation,
Isis?” Dr. Gunn flipped the ON switch on the ultrasound machine.
“Any changes you’ve noticed about yourself?”

“Well…” I looked at David, then back at the
doctor. “My senses are sharper, and I feel stronger. And…”

“And?” Gunn asked.

“And lately, I have a very persistent desire
to sink my teeth into people.”

Dr. Gunn turned off the machine and backed
away from me, blinking.

“Have you acted on your impulse?” David
asked.

“Not intentionally.” David’s jaw dropped, and
Dr. Gunn took another two steps back. “But I didn’t kill anyone.” I
glanced at both of them. “I didn’t. Ask Galilea.”

“Which was a total disappointment,” Galilea
said. I scowled at her. “What?”

“Are you experiencing anything similar,
David?” Dr. Gunn moved behind the ultrasound machine.

“No,” David said. “But I’ve lost control over
other things, like traveling between realms and flying.”

“I see.” The scientist turned to look at me.
“Isis, is it okay if we proceed with incredible caution…on your
end?”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” I told
him.

Hesitantly, Dr. Gunn stepped around the
ultrasound machine, which he’d been using as a barricade. He
flipped the switch on the machine, and it beeped to life. He asked
me to lift my shirt and lower the waistband on my sweatpants to
expose the lowest area of my abdomen. The blue gel he squeezed on
my stomach was cold, but it felt refreshing in the warm temperature
of the garage. He took a fan-shaped wand from the side of the cart
and placed it on my stomach between my hips. A distorted
black-and-white picture appeared on the machine’s screen. The
doctor moved the wand around and around until he found his
target.

“There,” the doctor said. He clicked a button
on the keyboard several times, and the image enlarged. “Can you two
see this small flicker?”

“Yes,” David answered.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A heartbeat,” Dr. Gunn said. David squeezed
my hand. I had never seen him smile so wide in all the time I had
known him. “And by the looks of it, this baby has a strong and
healthy heartbeat.” Dr. Gunn pressed another button, and a line
with numbers appeared on the screen. “He—or she—measures 5.3
millimeters, which tells me you’re six weeks along in your
pregnancy.” He pressed the wand deeper into my stomach. “Eileen
told me you suffered a few falls today.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” I said.

“It was a violent attack.” David ran his
thumb over my hand. “I can’t believe she didn’t suffer any broken
bones or worse.”

“Trauma of such magnitude may have caused
others drawbacks.” Gunn looked closer at the monitor. “If there’s a
tear…”

“What happens if there’s a tear?” I
asked.

“One second, please.” Gunn continued gliding
the wand.

I held my breath. David stood very still
beside me, awaiting the doctor’s diagnosis. It seemed like hours
had gone by, but Dr. Gunn still didn’t say anything.

“Are you going to say something, or do we
have to torture it out of you?” Galilea asked Dr. Gunn,
exasperation in her tone. “What do you see in there?”

“From what I can observe,” the doctor
squinted at the screen, “the gestational sac is intact, and I don’t
see anything indicating a problem. As a matter of fact, it looks
like a normal human pregnancy.” He looked baffled. “Nothing out of
the ordinary. At all.” He clicked the keyboard, and a piece of
paper ejected from the bottom of the machine. “Here you go.” He
handed it to David. “Baby’s first portrait.”

David propped his elbow on the examination
table and showed me the black-and-white image, displaying a black
circle encasing a pea-sized, white dot, which Dr. Gunn pointed out
to be the fetus.

“It’s so small,” I said.

“Not for long.” Galilea peered over David’s
shoulder at the picture. “Can I have a copy, Dr. G?” The scientist
clicked a button, and a replicated image ejected from the machine.
“Thanks,” Galilea said, prancing around with the image. “I’m going
to be such a cool aunty. I have to frame this. I’ll see you guys
back at the house.”

“Congratulations,” Dr. Gunn said, handing me
a wad of napkins. “Clean up. I’ll need to take some blood samples,
and then we’ll be done.”

Dr. Gunn walked to the other side of the room
and fiddled with some papers. I didn’t know if he was trying to
give David and me some privacy or if he was genuinely working.

“Let me help you,” David said, taking the
napkins from me. He set the picture of the sonogram beside me and
started to wipe the gel off with gentle sweeps.

“There’s a baby in there,” I told him, as if
he didn’t already know. “There’s a tiny person living in my
stomach. I can’t fathom it.” I shook my head. “How did it get in
there?”

“Well, I remember you were the one who
undressed me. I didn’t put up much of a fight, and then—”

I slapped his arm playfully. “That’s not what
I meant. I mean, how is it possible there’s a heartbeat in a
miniscule 5.6-millimeter soul growing inside me? It’s
like…like…”

“A miracle?” David asked.

“Or magic.”

I picked up the picture of the sonogram and
stared at it. David leaned down and put his head next to mine.

“Isis,” David turned to look at me, “did you
really try to kill someone?”

I pulled the hem of my shirt over my stomach
and sat up.
Don’t you dare lie to him
, I warned myself.

“Yes,” I said. “Eros followed Galilea to my
house. He kissed me—” I measured his reaction for a quick second
before I continued, “and…I bit him. I tasted his blood. I didn’t
even realize what I was doing.” I looked down, ashamed to be
admitting this to him. “If he hadn’t stopped me, I wouldn’t have
stopped on my own.”

David’s lips pressed together. Dr. Gunn
appeared at my side.

“Are we ready?” The doctor asked.

“Could you give us one more minute, please?”
David rubbed his face with one hand. The doctor nodded and left us.
“How long ago was this?”

“Last night.”

David’s nose flared. I cringed.

Wait for it… Wait for it…

“His lips were on you
last night
?” He
growled.

And there it was.

“Aren’t you the least bit concerned I
could’ve killed him?”

“I wouldn’t give a damn if he were rotting in
hell.” David’s chest rose and fell faster than normal. He took a
moment to compose himself. “What did he want?”

“You’re not going to like this,” I warned
him. “I made an arrangement with him in Athens. He came to collect
on our deal. He wanted me to marry him. But Galilea told him I was
pregnant, and he said the deal was off. Then he told me I should
tell you I was pregnant.”

“Oh, he was giving you advice—like good
friends, was he?”

“I can’t believe you’re throwing a jealousy
fit right now.” I jumped off the examination table. “May I remind
you that you’re the one who’s engaged? I should be the one having a
fit. I’m the other woman, David.” I pointed to myself. “Me! I’m
carrying your love child, for goodness sake!”

David stared at me for a moment. He
suppressed a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“My
lovechild
? What types of books
have you been reading?”

“None.”

“She’s been watching plenty of
telenovelas
lately.” Galilea was standing off to the side,
listening to us. “They make her melodramatic.” She turned to David.
“You’re engaged? Never mind, that’s none of my business. Are you
done in here? I want to show you this über cute crib I found
online.”

“Isn’t it a little early to start picking out
cribs?” I asked. “We don’t even know the baby’s gender.”

“I told you, I like to plan ahead.”

***

After Dr. Gunn got the blood culture he
needed, we all returned to the house. I opened the Christmas
presents Galilea had stocked for me, and slipped into the designer
jeans and shirt I found in the boxes.

It was nearing five o’clock when David and I
left Galilea’s house. We pulled into the pathway leading to the
estate. He stopped near the remains of Claire’s car, and we headed
to it on foot. He pushed the car up to the path, and then surveyed
the area. By the looks of it, he still possessed his superhuman
strength.

“You should wait over there by my car,” he
told me. “Things might get a little messy.”

David set his eyes on a tree by the side of
the pathway. He pushed his weight into the base of the tree. A vein
swelled on his forehead from the force he was using. A minute
later, I heard a loud snap, and roots sprang up from under the
earth. I watched as the tree crashed down, almost in slow motion,
over Claire’s car, bouncing a few times on impact. I walked over to
him.

“Looks believable enough.” David wiped the
sweat from his brow as he studied his handy work. “Now, let’s go
tell your mother how a tree fell on her car, and we’re having a
baby.”

CHAPTER 9

As we drove across town, heading to my house,
David asked me about my diet. I told him I’d been eating a lot of
vegetables and not much of anything else.

“Have you tried eating raw animal meat to
curb your hunger for human flesh?” he asked.

“I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Well,” David said with raised brows, “you
may want to try it before I end up being your first kill.”

“You scared of me?” I teased. “Don’t worry.
That won’t happen. With everyone else, I have to restrain myself.
Keep myself in check. I try to avoid physical contact unless
necessary. But you don’t have the same effect on me. I don’t know
what it is, but you’re the only person I don’t want to bite a chunk
off.”