Chapter 9

Frank Junior sat on the side of the bed, checking over Béla's vital signs. He was worried. At the rate her baby was growing, it would be ready to come out in a few more weeks. 'A human baby would take nine months. I don't know anything about her species. Are these growth spurts normal? What am I even doing here? I could be killing them both and not even realize it... '

He remembered why he was here. He and his sister had been working on a recording set in South Carolina. Katie had simply vanished from the set sometime between nine and ten p.m. That same night, Jake Pestova had called and told him something terrible had happened to Béla and pleaded with him to come and help with her pregnancy.

He understood his friend's upset. No regular doctor could be trusted to treat an alien species. He'd left a note in Katie's trailer informing her where she could find him and left, coming halfway across the continent to give aid to the legend that had actually created the family of which he was a member.

Now, it was weeks later and he still hadn't heard from his sister. Béla's troublesome pregnancy, on top of his worry about Katie, was almost more than he could stand. 'I should never have left without making certain she was all right. Something happened and I wasn't there to save her!'

Béla's child was 'born' four weeks later. Béla's contractions had just begun and the baby teleported out and appeared in the middle of the floor, screaming her rage at all the world for having imprisoned her, Béla screaming in pure agony as her insides collapsed from the sudden vacuum. Jake and Frank gently picked the newborn vampire up and cleaned off the residue that still covered her tiny body, ignoring Béla, knowing she would recover from whatever she was crying about.

Afterward both baby and mother were cleaned up. Béla, recovered now, and her baby lay together on the bed, Béla happily curled protectively around her child. The baby seemed to be sleeping. Béla was exhausted, as any mother would be after giving birth, even though this baby had helped birth herself more than any baby had ever helped before.

Tanya sat on the bed, quietly watching them sleep, then slowly got up. At the slight movement, Béla opened her eyes and smiled at her. 'She is no longer a part of me, disrupting my body – my soul. But she is still a part of me, living separate, experiencing life on her very own! Is this what it's like to be a mother?'

Tanya stopped and gazed down at her dear friend and her new baby, grief suddenly overwhelming her again as she remembered holding her youngest newborn... 'Katie ... erased... '

Béla quietly sat up on the bed, distressed at Tanya's strange reaction. She knew what was troubling her old friend, but until now, she'd been unable to do anything, her vampiric mental abilities short-circuited by the child's nervous energy while they'd shared the same space. 'I'll help you if I can ... Open your mind to me.'

Images of Katie and Béla – Katie's arm around Béla's pregnant waist, somehow mind-linking with the unborn child and pacifying her – helping Béla to get through her rough pregnancy. Images of Katie and Beth rescuing her from a ship that didn't exist – rescuing her nephew from the destruction of Albuquerque, which never happened.

'She's living in some sort of alternate reality, ' Béla realized. 'Something must have happened to split her mind that way... '

"It would have been helpful if this girl – your daughter – had come and helped my child make peace with her new little world," said Béla. "As it was, I've spent the last several months in extreme discomfort, to put it mildly, unable to do anything at all."

"You don't recognize your own child?" Tanya asked, incredulously. "It's Beth! Katie told me..." 'Katie couldn't have told me that, Katie was gone before that ... But I remember her telling me! The Praetor told all of us ... No, that didn't happen either. Did it?'

"It's possible, I suppose," Béla said, gazing lovingly down at her sleeping infant. "I haven't asked her what she wants to be named. She's going to be very powerful. Her mind is completely shielded and she can already teleport." Béla's voice was full of love and pride. 'Her accomplishments will be great... '

She looked up at Tanya and smiled, radiating love. 'Please, darling. Don't despair. When I am more rested, I will mind-link with you. Together we will discover what has happened to your daughter, I promise. Together, perhaps, we will find her... '

Tanya turned and went downstairs, her motions almost automatic, her mind once again filled with grief over her lost child. Her son, her husband and Jake were all together, sitting in the living room.

"They're resting," Tanya informed them in a quiet, monotone voice. "Béla's awake, now, if you want to check her again ... son," she added.

Frank Junior got up and went upstairs. Tanya sat down where he had been sitting. "She has her mental powers back," she said to Frank. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Good," Frank said, finally. "Maybe she can help you..."

"She said she would," Tanya replied, forcing her voice steady. "She wants to rest first. I guess it's been quite an ordeal for us all..."

Jake smiled and said, "I know just what we need."

He got up and walked into the kitchen. Tanya could almost see the thought in his mind – his personal solution for making everyone happy: Flapjacks!

She almost burst into tears. Nothing would ever make her happy again. Nothing except...

"Katie..."

"You say something, Tanya?" Jake called from the kitchen.

"No. I'm all right..." But really, she wasn't. Two tragic losses in her family, after everyone managing to survive through the last hundred years, untouched by the ravages of reality. She idly wondered how her daughter, her oldest and now, only, was coping with the loss of her son. 'If Alicia was here, we could console each other... '

Every few seconds, something went Beep! It was incredibly annoying. It beeped again, then started beeping faster. He tried to open his eyes, only to discover they were bandaged shut.

Jake Hedron was suddenly furious. That damned Blacker had terrified him, shooting that blank right into his face. 'Did he think that would make me talk? Who the hell does he think he is, anyway?'

"Good. You're awake," someone said. The voice was soft and very feminine. There was a slight lilt – 'British, perhaps?' He hadn't met anyone on Blacker's staff that wasn't born here in this country. That was part of his profile; Blacker didn't like foreigners – even American-born ones. 'A racist to the very core of his putrid personality... ' Besides, this woman, whoever she might be, sounded too ... caring ... to be part of Blacker's crew.

'That's an awful lot of judgment to put into three words, mate, ' the Chairman definitely heard inside his head.

He tried to speak, but his throat was so dry it felt like shards of glass were cutting his vocal chords. Someone carefully raised his head and he felt the plastic edge of a straw pressed against his lips. He sucked in and was delighted with a tiny flood of cool water on his tongue. The straw was quickly pulled away before he could draw another sip, dribbling a few drops on his chin which were quickly wiped away. Gratefully, he licked his sore, dry lips and swallowed several times.