A Few Sips Ch. 13

It felt like days had passed since Mr. Hughes, Dr. Trainor, and Samir had left after she'd been examined. Apparently, she was healing rather well, and with any luck, the doctor had told her, she would be able to be up and about in just a few more days. It wasn't her incision keeping her down, he'd assured her, it was the hypotension that she was affected by at the significant amount of blood loss that she had endured during the procedure. Her daughter had been rather hungry, he had frowned at telling her, and had taken quite a bit from her before they'd been able to disconnect the placenta from her uterine wall.

Faeron and Shi had come up with dinner and sat with her as she ate. They told her about the party after their wedding, and about the guests that had come for the festivities. While they were there, Yegor and Grigory had stopped in to tell her congratulations on the baby before leaving to go back to Minnesota. She'd told them the same, knowing that Anya was expecting, and both had smiled, apparently, she was pregnant with pups from the whole pack this time, and not just Sergei, so they had puffed up with pride. They'd left quietly after telling her to rest up and giving their farewells to both her and the bride and groom.

"If she asked you to make her immortal and you could, would you?" Domino had asked, surprising the newlyweds.

"Yes. If that is what she wished." Faeron had nodded without hesitation.

"Why?"

Faeron had smiled and put his hand in Shi's as she smiled back at him. "Because I love my wife. You should understand, Domino, that this is an easy conversation for she and I to have. For every year that I am imprinted on her, about five years is added to her life, so as long as we are together, her aging will slow and I will get an immeasurable amount of time with her."

"Really? I didn't know that." Domino had nodded, that sounded a lot simpler than having to get sucked dry and changed by a vampire, a lot less brutal, at least.

"Many vampires think that because they are darkness, that they are cursed and do not wish to pass that affliction on to others. Alexandru is hesitant because of his love for you, not because he doesn't care if you die. He cares a great deal." Faeron had tried to reassure her, but it was hard, she just needed Alexandru to wake up, she just needed to talk to him.

Dusk had finally arrived, and Domino was sitting up in her bed, feeding tube finally out. She was wearing a simple white sleeveless nightgown with a front that buttoned up. Her hands were clutched tightly in her lap as she looked at the closed door to her room with great impatience. Alexandru would be coming soon, he would bring their daughter to her, and she would be able to see Faith for the first time. She was so overwhelmed with the emotions filling her that her heart seemed to pound against her chest and her breathing was a little more rapid than it should be.

Before the door was even open, she could hear the baby cries coming from the hallway, and bit her lower lip as the door was pulled open slowly. When she expected to see Alexandru's face, she saw Samir's instead, and he looked to the bed and saw her, a gentle nod in her direction before he walked in, a squealing, squirming baby with flapping black wings in his arms as he moved to the bed, sitting on it at the level of her waist.

"Where is Alexandru?" Domino was confused, she looked at the doorway and saw Mr. Hughes come inside and shut the door behind him. He was dressed in his typical suit and had that look on his face that he made when he didn't want you to know how he felt, which told her more than anything that something was wrong.

"Faith, meet your mummy." Samir's deep voice cooed at the baby girl who didn't care, and she shrieked at the top of her little lungs, more than hungry at this point.

Domino looked down and froze, amazed at how like her the little girl looked. Well, she had her daddy's black hair, full and relatively thick. Her face was bright pink and wrinkled as she cried and Domino instinctively took her in her arms and held her close, feeling her calm instantly and grab at Domino's nightgown with her tiny little hands. Domino moved her big brown eyes to the gray ones still near the doorway.

"Can I nurse her?" She asked in a soft whisper.

"Please do, otherwise I don't think anyone in this place is going to get any sleep tonight." Mr. Hughes nodded, a soft look on his face as he saw Domino with her daughter for the first time, both alive, both healthy.

"I don't even know how." Domino frowned as she held the little girl with one arm and moved the other hand to the buttons on the front of her gown. It was awkward and she felt frustrated when Samir moved his hands to help and the gown was pulled open enough for her to reach in and grab one of her swollen breasts.

"Hold her like this." Samir moved the baby in her arms a little to put the little baby in a better position to feed, and Domino held the nipple to the baby's mouth, gasping when, eyes still closed angrily, the little girl's mouth sunk onto the nipple and sucked it deep into her mouth.

"Oh, sweet, Jesus." Domino groaned and watched the little eyes open, they were red, like Alexandru's eyes.

"Is it painful?" Samir asked, ready to help adjust the baby if need be.

Domino chuckled and shook her head, "No, it's just...she's a hard sucker, and well, I was a little full."

Mr. Hughes finally walked over to the bed and sat down on the other side, he looked at Samir and frowned. Domino saw it and furrowed a brow.

"What is it? Where is Alexandru?" She asked, feeling her lower lip shake a little, something was definitely wrong.

"Domino. Klaus refused to help Alexandru help you. He wasn't going to come to the spa." Mr. Hughes shook his head, not quite sure how to go about this.

"What do you mean? The creeper was here, he helped Dr. Trainor save my life." Domino shook her head, that didn't make sense.

"Yes, but only after Alexandru gave him what he wanted." Mr. Hughes said in a sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Alexandru didn't give him anything, I don't understand. What are you saying?" Domino felt Faith suck a little harder and smoothed a hand over her little girl's smooth face.

"Klaus only agreed to come to Canada with Alexandru if Alexandru promised to return to Belarus with him after he had delivered you."

"What?"

"He wants a companion, he made Alexandru agree to it." Samir put in, his own heart aching for the pain they were causing the girl who had already been through so much.

"A companion? He wants to fuck my Al-?" Domino gasped and Mr. Hughes put a hand on her thigh.

"It's not a sexual thing, Domino. Klaus is an incredibly old vampire, he wants someone to be at his side, someone he can control, someone who he can compel. He has always been fond of Alexandru, apparently, for his humanity. Klaus had tried to get him to agree to it for years before he finally moved to the States. He used you to get what he wanted." Mr. Hughes could tell that she was sinking, her heart was slowly taking in what had happened and her breath was coming slowly, and painfully.

"Where is he?" She asked, her voice a broken whisper.

"They are gone, Domino. They had already left the spa by the time I was alerted to Faith crying by one of the maids." He felt her tense beside him and her face was covered in tears that fell silently.

"But he asked me to marry him." She choked out, looking at Samir, shaking her head as she spoke.

"Dom." Samir sighed, rubbing her inner knee as he sat facing her.

"He asked me to marry him." She said a little louder, and a little angrier as she looked at Mr. Hughes.

"He loves you, Domino."

"He asked me to MARRY him." She shouted, wincing a little as Faith bit her nipple at the sound of her voice.

"Stay calm, Domino. You're still recovering, it's going to take some time. You can't let this-." Mr. Hughes scooted a little closer and wrapped his left arm around her body, bringing her up against his chest as she continued to sob and look at the two of them with lost, hurt eyes.

"Oh my God, he asked me to marry him." Domino closed her eyes and sunk against the warm body of the man against her, her shoulders shaking from the sobs that tore through her, and her little daughter clinging tightly to her breast.

~*~*~*~

Day one post Alexandru was probably the hardest day that Domino had ever gone through in her life. Harder than having a baby pulled from her womb who had a greedy placenta, and much harder than being fucked by Pete when she was younger. She'd been completely unable to do anything for herself that night. Samir and Mr. Hughes had stayed with her the whole time, burping Faith, switching her to the other breast, cleaning her, feeding her a bottle of blood, singing to her, putting her down to sleep. It had been an endless cycle of baby care that had ended with Samir returning her to the basement, to a room where Mr. Hughes had set up the crib that Domino had ordered online a month ago. It was not in Alexandru's room, he knew that Domino would not be able to go in there so soon.

She'd slept fitfully, wrapped up tightly against Samir, needing the warmth that surrounded her as he held her in the comfort of his strong arms. She'd cried when he'd come in after putting Faith down for the day, and she'd cried when he'd wiped her down with a warm cloth. She'd cried when he'd stripped to his boxers and crawled into the bed with her, and she'd cried when he'd pulled her into his arms and shushed her softly, waving Mr. Hughes away when his employer had finally risen from the computer that he'd been doing some work on while Samir had readied Domino for bed. She was pretty sure she'd cried as she slept, too.

When she woke up that afternoon, she wasn't alone. Mr. Hughes was in front of the computer and on the phone talking to someone, and Shi was lying on her stomach on the bed, her head near Domino's and she was listening to music through earbuds on an iPod until Domino opened her eyes to look at her. Shi had smiled softly, reached over and kissed her cheek, and then put one of the earbuds in Domino's ear so that she could listen to the classical music, as well. Domino heard the music, but it felt flat to her, she felt flat, and she did little but stare absently around her as her bags were changed and she was forced to eat some food, the appetite that she'd had before was gone.

Day seven was a little better. Domino was up now, her fluid levels back up to sufficient numbers. Because Faith was breastfeeding, she would still need to drink fluids a lot during the day, but she was finally off of the blood and the platelets and the saline. In fact, Mr. Hughes had removed the PICC line from her arm because she had responded very well to their treatment. He'd told her that once the baby started teething, that she would have to pump if she wanted to continue to feed her breastmilk. Otherwise, Faith would start to bite her and if she drew blood, it could be dangerous for Domino. Baby vampires didn't know when to stop. It's why they always fed the infant blood from a bottle.

She'd taken to sleeping on a twin bed that had been moved into Faith's room, and stayed there often, even during the day when her baby was sleeping soundly. Domino liked to hear her steady breathing, to watch the gentle rise and fall of her little baby chest as she slept, on her stomach because of her beautiful satin-smooth furred wings. Domino had no idea how she was going to control her little one when she learned to fly. Brunhild had told her that it wouldn't be until she was about a year old, so she had some time to figure it out, she supposed. It would be a harsh learning curve, she knew, because she honestly felt like she knew very little about vampires. She certainly hadn't realized that they could abandon their own children at such a young age. It was that thought that made her more miserable than anything. Domino knew what it was like to grow up without a mom and a dad. Having this baby with Alexandru, she'd never once considered that he wouldn't be in the picture.

Day thirteen brought Christmas, and while everyone else in the spa was celebrating, and showering each other gifts and kissing under the mistletoe, Domino was hiding out down in the basement, watching horror movies or feeding her daughter, or sleeping. She had a pile of gifts to open, for both her and her daughter, but she didn't have the energy or the desire to do it. She had absolutely no reason to celebrate anything this year. She couldn't imagine plastering a smile on her face and wishing everyone a happy Christmas. Hell no. Ba Fucking Humbug.

Day twenty-one brought with it a letter. A letter from Aidan that she had never expected to get. He was still with Sergei and Anya. He had been hoping that they would let them become a member of their little pack, but so far, the alpha had been extremely opposed to the idea. They had apparently heard from Mr. Hughes what had happened with Alexandru, and he had written to offer his sincerest apologies to her, and then to offer to take care of her, if she would consider it, because he didn't want her to be alone. Domino had frowned, and let the letter fall to the floor as she went to stand beside her daughter's crib, hands wrapped around her from the front. He was happy with being a consolation prize? He deserved better than that. He deserved better than her. After a few days, she had sent him a letter back, telling him so.

Day thirty found Domino sitting in the conservatory, her laptop in her lap, flipped open to a browser with multiple tabs open. She'd gone there after breakfast and had sat there all morning, alone, looking at apartments and houses for rent in the northern United States. She didn't want to return to Vermont, and had given her landlord notice that she would be breaking her contract as of March 1st, which gave her a little over a month and a half to find a place that would work, that she could keep Faith safe at.

"You're leaving?" Mr. Hughes came up behind her and looked at the page she'd been on.

"I can't stay and raise my baby at a sex spa." She muttered, not looking up from the screen.

"I stopped thinking of you as a temporary resident a long time ago, I guess. I apologize, I should have been more helpful. What can I do?" He sat on a chair beside hers, his voice calm, solemn, as he tried to pretend that he didn't like the thought of her going, but she knew he didn't, she knew he would be perfectly fine with her staying here forever.

"I don't want to go to Burlington, too much...past...there. I want to start somewhere fresh. Alex put all this stupid cash in an account for me, so I have money to get started. Then I can find a job like my old one where I can stay at home and work, so I don't have to worry about anyone finding Faith." She explained to him as she crossed another apartment off of the list.

"Can I suggest a place where there is a vampire nearby? One close enough for questions, but not close enough to interfere? You will need guidance, Domino, whether you think so or not." He watched her carefully with his gray eyes, she was not her normal self these days, she was withdrawn, cold. Absent. He had figured her agoraphobia had kicked right back into place, and had actually been surprised to see her outside one of her rooms.

"One who can't be compelled to leave me, too?" She said bitterly as she looked at another apartment, she didn't really want an apartment, she didn't want nosy neighbors.

"Domino."

"Have you ever been to Spokane?"

Mr. Hughes sighed, "There is a very kind, gracious vampire who lives in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin that I have known for years. She is like your daughter, a result of a pregnancy. Her mother died in childbirth and she would be very helpful to you, Domino. Her name is Josephine. Would you be willing to meet her if I brought her here? I will help you find a place in that area if you are willing."

Domino frowned, she really wasn't a cheese curd or a Packers' fan, but it wouldn't hurt, and the thought of meeting a vampire who had been born and not changed did appeal to her. She wanted to know what life would be like for her daughter.

"I guess so." She flipped her laptop shut and looked at him.

"Thank you. I will call her today to set up her visit." He stood up, wanting to touch her shoulder, anything, to bring some warmth to her lost, misery-filled brown eyes, but he knew she would stiffen at the touch and he couldn't bare it.

"You could always come with me, you know, leave this place in Faeron and Shi's hands, check in over the internet. Faith needs a non-disappointing father in her life." She tilted her head back a little to look up at him and he frowned.

"Domino, I know you are upset, I know you feel like your heart has been ripped out of your body, but you're not unkind. Don't become that way."

"I just asked you to move in with me, how is that unkind?" Domino scoffed as he placed his hands together behind his back.

"Because you don't mean it." He said simply.

Domino bit her lower lip as she straightened her gaze to peer absently out the window she faced and into the woods behind the landscaped yard. She didn't speak for several moments, and when she did, she ignored the shine in her eyes from the unshed tears in them, "Do not fall in love with me, Arc. I couldn't bare that."

~*~*~*~

Day forty-two was quiet at first, Domino sat with Deandra playing cards in the morning, she ate lunch with Faeron and an apparently insatiable Shi. Developing elf babies were severe food mongers. The afternoon had been spent in her upstairs room, listening to Mr. Hughes sing, despite the fact that she hadn't asked him to in a long time, and then supper had been with Samir, who had forced her to eat with him in his room, which she had only been in once before. After he fed her another meal that he'd learned to make in Syria, he moved over to sit on his comfortable microfiber couch and patted on it to get her to join him.

Domino frowned at the blond, handsome man, but she rose from his small table anyway, and went over to the couch to sit down, leaving nearly an entire cushion between the two of them. He smiled and disappeared into the bathroom for a second before coming back out with a folded blanket of some sort.

"Stand up for a second, Dom." He told her, and she immediately did as he requested.

He put the pad, which was about three feet by three feet, onto the cushion that she'd just been sitting on. Then, he squatted in front of her quickly and pulled down both the leggings that she'd been wearing, and the pale pink panties beneath until they were both around her ankles. Domino gasped and tried to reach down and grab them.

"Sit." He barked the order and she sat, shaking as he pulled both items of clothing completely off of her.

Samir stood back up and took the clothes into the bathroom with him so she couldn't put them back on. Domino did not get up from the couch, she just put her hands over the top of her pussy so that it wasn't so visible when he walked back in with what looked like some sort of corded electrical device with a plastic baseball sized thing on the opposite end. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she watched him plug it in beside the couch, and then he sank to his knees, setting it down so he could pull her legs apart and move his body close between them so she couldn't close them again.

"Lean back against the cushions, Domino, when I turn this on and put it against your clit, you're gonna cum hard, and fast." Samir muttered, his voice showing his sudden arousal and she gasped, barely having time to do as he had told her to before she heard the buzzing sound the thing made when he flipped a switch. Oh, shit, this was the thing Mr. Hughes had used on that redhead a million years ago.