41 - Tests

After Hamilton’s parting words, Maia didn’t know whether to feel relieved or worried that he had left.  Maybe it was only his jealousy talking, but his warning about the Delling family had planted a seed of doubt in her mind.  After all, she really didn’t know anything about Braeden Delling, except that he was a vampire. And that she might be pregnant with his child.

Abruptly, Maia remembered what Grim had told her about the undead, including vampires. 

“While undead aren’t always evil, many are soulless and lack the compassion and empathy that makes one human, which makes it instinctive for them to turn towards the side of darkness. Ghosts, zombies, mummies and vampires are all undead; zombies and mummies are soulless, as are some vamps and some ghosts. Some have souls they later lose. Many soulless cannot reproduce... but some can.”

And now she couldn’t help but wonder if Braeden was a soulless vampire and if her pregnancy would be like the one she had while carrying Seth, which would put herself and the child in jeopardy. Maia knew she had to find the answer as quickly as possible, so she went online to do some research. 

After hours of study, Maia discovered that while the majority of vampires retained their souls, there were those who’d found the means to trade them in exchange for immortality. The lore indicated that immortal vampires never aged beyond the day they surrendered their souls, and usually became unable to produce offspring. And the easiest way to tell immortal vampires from those who still had their souls intact was that immortals could not be burned by the sun, but when the sun shone on them, they glittered.

Maia decided she needed to put Braeden to the sunlight test and see if he smoked or sparkled.  If he was burned by the sun she would be fine, but if he glittered and she was carrying his child, she knew she was in serious trouble.

Maia called him immediately.

“Braeden, it’s Maia. I need you to come over right away...... No, it’s urgent and can’t wait until tonight.... Please, I’m so scared..... It’s about the baby... Yes.. Thank you!”

Maia decided to wait outside for Braeden so she would see him as soon as he showed up.  She knew vampires could move quickly, and she wanted to be certain about what she saw.

When she went outdoors, Maia noticed that the snow had melted with the rain overnight; a sure sign that spring was on its way.

She checked the mail, and was pleasantly surprised to find a letter from Shea with the Sim University address.  She read the letter from her daughter while she waited for Braeden.

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Mom,

I’m sorry I haven’t written much, but they’ve kept us pretty busy at Sim U.  Lectures were sooo boring, and there were times I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t sleeping in class.

It wasn’t all dull, though, and some of the class activities were actually fun. We got to interact with some cool learning gadgets, like brain enhancement machines and anatomy skeletons.

I named my skeleton Skinny, and I’m still thinking of making an alchemical pudgy potion for him, haha.

Oh, and there was this group science project I got everyone involved with.

It went great until Brandon pulled the lever of DOOM!

It made us all pass out cold!

But we were so energized after that, we went to one of the jocks’ bonfire parties instead of heading back to the dorm to sleep.

I might have gone to class the next day a bit juiced, but hey... at least I went! I may be athletic, but I am really a nerd at heart. I love learning! And online video games are a great nerdy pastime for relaxing after all those lectures.

Now Orin is not at all like me, even if he is my twin. He’s a total jock.  He played for the lacrosse team, and is talking about a possible career in pro sports.  But his real love is still fishing.  

I told Orin I didn’t see a reason why he couldn’t do both when we talked about it one evening while out bowling. 

Yeeeeaah, my bowling technique sucks!

But I somehow still beat Orin 37 to 16!

I didn’t get to spend as much sibling time with Zane as I did with Orin, but I still saw a lot of him... sometimes far more than I wanted to! xD

And speaking of Zane— don’t tell Dad, but Zane might have gotten himself slightly arrested. O__O

The cops busted him for defacing public property and fined him big time, but I don’t see how you can call this kind of art graffiti.

And it turns out I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Zane’s arrest brought him to the attention of some of the big names in the art world and they offered him a job as an art appraiser, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

But those are really just the most recent highlights.  Mostly, uni has been about studying hard for hours on end in order to pass our tests.

But it’s been worth it, since we all made it on the Dean’s List every semester and graduated with straight A’s! Woot! 

Rags and Astrid both got technology degrees.  Rags is going to be a fire fighter and Astrid wants to be an astronaut. 

Fluffs and Zane each completed their degrees in fine arts, and I’m pretty sure Zane is going to take the appraiser job.  Fluffs is planning for a career in interior design.

Orin got his physical education degree and is going to try out the pro sports career for awhile and see how that goes, and do the fishing thing part time.  Lily got her degree in business.  Now that she has a deeper understanding of sales and marketing, I’m sure her gardening business will “grow” quickly.

Brandon still wants to be a novelist, but now that he has his degree in communications, he’s decided to work as a journalist in order to make some solid contacts in the publishing world before taking the leap to freelance writing.

And me, I’m still planning on becoming an alchemist, and my understanding the science of gardening, specimen enhancement and cloning from my science and medical degree will help me produce superior ingredients to create the most effective potions.

I really wish you’d been able to come to see us all graduate, but I understand why you couldn’t.  But here’s a picture of all of us in our grad robes that we had taken right after commencement!

After we were all packed up and started on our way home from uni, Brandon snapped a shot of the campus. I’m going to take that rainbow as a sign that we all have a bright and hopeful future to look forward to. (:

I’m so excited to go back to Moonlight Falls and get started on it!

See you soon!

Love,

Shea

________________________________________________________________________________

Suddenly, Maia heard a shout. “Maia!  I’m here!  What’s going on?”

Maia looked up from Shea’s letter, heart in her throat.  Braeden had arrived, and he was...

“Oh!  You’re burning!” she exclaimed. 

“Yeah, and it’s really starting to hurt.”

Maia headed towards the house and Braeden followed her, but stopped just outside the front door and would go no further, even though the smoke continued to roll off him.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked.

Braeden looked pained, and not just from the harm the sun was causing him.  “I... you have to invite me in, Maia.”

“Of course you’re invited!  Hurry and come in! Please!”

Braeden stopped smoking as soon as he was inside.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“No permanent damage, but going out in the sun is something we vamps avoid at all costs as it can quickly lead to our deaths,” he emphasized disapprovingly.  “Now what is this about the baby that has you so frightened you couldn’t wait until tonight to talk to me about it?”

Maia blinked.  She had been so intent on getting Braeden here that she hadn’t even considered what she would say to him.  And telling him the blunt truth that she’d thought he might be callous and soulless after he had risked himself to come over and allay her fears just didn’t seem like the kindest idea.

“We-ell,” Maia spoke slowly while her mind raced.  “Someone... told me something... that had me.... concerned.. for my safety, as well as that of the baby,” she said cautiously.

“Let me guess,” Braeden said sounding annoyed.  “Hamilton?”

Maia latched on to his assumption.  “Hamilton did say some... worrying things..... about the Delling family...” she trailed off.

“And that had you scared enough to call me over here in the middle of the day?”

“Yes! It might seem silly to you, but he said that I shouldn’t get involved with your family, like it could be... unsafe.  And I got to thinking that being pregnant with your child might put my family in danger.  And if I am pregnant like you seem to think, that makes me involved with your family, doesn’t it? I have to know what he was talking about, Braeden.”

Braeden sighed.  “I really don’t think you’re in any kind of danger, Maia.  What Hamilton’s talking about is just one of those old family secrets.”

Once again, Maia had a memory of something she’d been told.  This time it was part of the prediction the fortuneteller Kizzy had given her.

“There is a black key to the right of a locked door. Behind the door stands a charred tree. You will unlock a dark family secret from the past. The flames of vengeance are intended to destroy, but from fiery death, new life often springs.” 

“An old family secret?” Maia prompted.  “Like within the family tree?  And did it involve a fire somehow?”

Braeden looked at her strangely.  “It does, but how would you know?”

“I don’t really. I just guessed based a prediction a fortuneteller once gave me. When you said there was a family secret, it triggered my memory.  I thought maybe the prediction could somehow involve you, so I had to ask. Will you tell me about it?”

Braeden took a deep breath.

“It all started with my stepmother, the lady Tessa Delling, the matriarch of the Moonlight Falls vampires.  She married a man named Marcus; he took her surname and became Lord Delling.  They couldn’t have children, which seems to have devastated Tessa, and caused some problems with their marriage. As a result of their rift, Marcus Delling had a casual affair with a human woman named Calais, whom he later turned into a vampire.  But Calais was pregnant with Marcus’s child, although she died not long after she gave birth to their son.  That boy was me.

“I think Tessa couldn’t stand to have me around as a reminder of what my father did, or of what he had—a biological child—something which she could never have.  So although I bear the Delling name, I was not raised by them.  I was sent to boarding schools as soon as I was old enough,” he said bitterly, “and I never knew firsthand of the scandal that followed. 

“But I couldn’t escape hearing the rumors.  Apparently, my father hadn’t learned his lesson because he betrayed Tessa yet again, this time with a witch named Serafin.  She also became pregnant, and they had a son, Alexander Delling, my half-brother.  But I heard that this time Marcus was deeply in love, and was going to leave my stepmother for his lover.

“Soon after Alexander’s birth, Serafin was accused by the ruling town council of vampires of performing dark enchantments on prominent men in Moonlight Falls, including the Lord Delling. Many of them testified against her, claiming she had attempted to spellbind them with her powers of witchcraft. She was sentenced to be burned at the stake for her crimes.  It was rumored that Marcus tried to save her, but died in the attempt, and this was taken as further proof of his bewitchment. My half-brother was also raised by Tessa’s servants until he was old enough for boarding school, which is where we eventually met.  There is no actual evidence, but most people, including me, believe that Tessa was involved, as it was common knowledge she wielded absolute authority over the council.

“So yes, the Delling’s do have a dark past, but this was centuries ago. Tessa has been a recluse for many decades now; she never leaves her estate, and rarely accepts visitors.  She won’t even allow me or Alexander to enter her home.

“So now you know the gist of the dark Delling secret, such as it is.”  Braeden finished.

“I’m sorry I made you dredge all of that up, Braeden, but now I’m sure that prediction must have been about you, and I was meant to know of it for some reason. The prediction also stated that though fire can destroy, new life can spring from such tragedy. I think the baby I may be carrying might be that new life.”  Maia paused. “But are you sure that I’m even pregnant?”

“Yes, vampires are highly attuned to blood and can sense the beating of a heart from a distance, even if it’s a very small one,” Braeden said with a grin. “And that’s a strong little vampire you’re carrying; he’ll be fine.”

“He?”

“Or she.” Braeden laughed.  “I’ll be happy either way.”

“I’m glad to hear it.  As for the rest, I am sad for what you went through growing up, and I still am concerned about the Lady Delling. But it’s reassuring to know I’m unlikely to have any involvement with her.”

“That's very true; there's no need for the two of you to ever meet.”

Not long after Braeden left, the kids came home from school and started on their homework. Paguk arrived shortly afterwards to help the teens with theirs. Not only did they have their regular high school studies to keep up with, but they also were getting special tutoring lessons from Paguk about Biomancer culture and history.

They had a lot to catch up on if they were going to pass all their tests in time for graduation. Xanaia had decided that after she finished high school she wanted to work as a pollination technician. Xena, along with Wiggles and Giggles, were planning to run an interstellar boarding school for the alien children who were returned to the Biomancers by the human fathers who chose not to raise them. 

So although it was time for their prom, the girls had decided to skip it. Not only were they busy with all of the extra tutoring, but as Xanaia summed it up, “I don’t want to go to prom with someone and then find out years later I’m supposed to pollinate him!  Mad awkward turtle!”

After Lavender and the triplets had gone to bed and Maia had gotten the toddler twins settled in the nursery, she went to listen in on the discussion Paguk was having with her teen girls.

“So how do Biomancers differ from Iblisans?” Maia heard Xanaia ask Paguk.

“Well, Iblisans have many of the same basic abilities as we do, but they tend to use them for darker purposes.  While we typically bio-boost humans to improve their condition for pollination purposes, Iblisans bio-drain other beings to benefit themselves personally. The Iblisans are feared by other races across the galaxy for their aggression and treachery; they even fight within their own ranks. It’s said that after Iblisans mate and produce an offspring that the stronger parent kills off the weaker, thus ensuring only the strongest of their kind survives to raise the children and reproduce future generations. It is also common for Iblisan youngsters to gain power and prestige by killing their own parent and supplanting them. And their incessant warring with other races is the main reason we Biomancers face extinction, which is what made it necessary for us to replenish our numbers by abducting and pollinating human males.  Biomancers are able to guide and transplant new souls via our pollination techniques, but Iblisans typically steal the souls of others to add to their own power, as they don’t have souls of their own, nor have they found a way to create them in others.”

Maia interrupted.  “So, since they have no souls, are Iblisans alien undead?”

“Yes,” Paguk confirmed.  “History indicates that the first Iblisans were Biomancer-Djinn hybrids who bargained away their own souls and those of their future descendants in exchange for greater power, which is how they retained the ability to reproduce, unlike most soulless undead. And they are much more intelligent than the multitudes of other undead beings they now use as servants.  In fact, the current ruling Iblisan, Kadru Demoriel, also known as the Serpent Mistress for her cunning and vindictiveness, has done much to increase the number of soulless undead in recent times on this world, particularly mummies, and it is clear she intends to use them to conquer countless other worlds should she gain dominion here.”

Maia pondered Paguk’s answer, wondering if this Kadru and her mummy guards had been the ones behind her kidnapping in Al Simhara.  If they had been, Maia knew that she would have to remain hidden for a very long time if she were to have a chance to complete her challenge, and hope that she was never found again. More than ever, she was glad Seth had been able to be transformed from a mummy to a human, as that could only help keep her and her family safe from discovery by this wicked creature and her foul minions.

“Is there any way to tell a Biomancer from an Iblisan?” Xena asked.

“Other than by their evil actions, you mean?  They are identical in features to us, but true Biomancers are always green-skinned, whereas Iblisans are a demonic red, or, if they are of mixed blood, as dark as deep space without any stars.”

Maia was deeply unsettled by all that she had heard today, both from Paguk and Braeden. But she knew that there wasn’t really anything she could immediately do to change the way the world was now; she could only keep putting one foot in front of the other, continue her challenge in the hopes of creating a safer and more peaceful world someday, and make the best choices she could with the control she had.  And the power she had to raise all her children with love and make a positive impact on their lives was no small thing.

And with her new baby bump, Maia was ready to begin that journey anew.

While she was waiting for her vampire child to arrive, her alien twins and their IF’s were nearing graduation, and it was time for their birthdays.

Happy birthday, Xena!

Happy birthday, Wiggles!

Happy birthday, Xanaia!

Happy birthday, Giggles!

The girls all passed their tests and graduated with highest honors, and Xanaia was named class valedictorian.

Later that night, Maia hugged them goodbye. 

It was especially hard to see her girls go, as they were going to live the rest of their lives so much farther away from her than any of her other children had.

But she hoped that wherever their lives took them that they would find happiness. And she knew that no matter which new world they called home, they would remember how much she loved them.

Not long afterwards, Maia went into labor.

It was a girl!

While she was snuggling the newborn, Braeden suddenly appeared in her room.

“We have a daughter!”  Braeden exclaimed gleefully.  “What’s her name?”

“I named her Rowan,” Maia said.  “But Braeden, how did you get in here?”

“You invited me,” he answered, “and once invited into a residence, vampires have the power to return whenever we wish. But please don’t be upset! Normally, I wouldn’t have barged in like this, but once I sensed the baby had been born, I was too excited to wait.  Can I hold her?  Can I, pleeease?”

As Maia stepped closer to Braeden to hand him the infant, he finally got a look at her— and froze. 

“Ah no, she’s inherited Vampire’s Fever,” he said mournfully.

Maia looked at him, puzzled.

“Vampire’s Fever is a condition I was born with,” Braeden explained, “one that has resulted in me being rejected by the vampire community. Like I said before, my mother had been pregnant with me when she was turned from human to vampire.  Going through the vampiric change while pregnant caused a mutation in her blood which weakened her, making her too fragile to survive the stress of childbirth. The incompatible mix of vampire and human genetics in her body resulted in me being born with this permanent red skin tone, marking me as a half-breed abomination.  For this same reason, Rowan will never be accepted into the upper echelons of vampire society.  But I never thought our child could end up this way, since this disease has only ever developed in vampire children born to humans who had been turned into vampires while pregnant.”

“But couldn’t she just have inherited your skin tone without having this condition?”  Maia asked.

“It isn’t very likely,” Braeden responded. “It might happen with other races, but never when the baby is a vampire.”

“But Braeden, Rowan’s not a vampire.  Look at her aura; she’s a witch.”

Braeden looked, and then turned away to hide his disappointment.  Not a vampire??  He’d been so certain...  But there was no denying what he saw. He had failed.

No! He wouldn’t accept that!  He and Maia would just have to keep trying until he had the vampire child he needed.

“I suppose that is the best outcome for her then,” he said.  “And when you’re ready for another child, we can try again and give Rowan a vampire sibling.”

Maia was stunned by his words and hurt by what they implied.  Braeden only cared if he had a vampire child? She didn’t understand why he felt that way, but the very thought made her furious.

“If that’s the way you feel, I’d rather you had nothing to do with her at all.  And even if it was possible, I would never have another child with you!”

“What do you mean, if it was possible?”

“I am a 100 baby challenge mother, and the rules state that we are only allowed one pregnancy by any one man. It just isn’t possible for us to have any more children together, so rest assured that it will never happen!”

“You’re doing a 100 baby challenge?  Why?”

“Why do you want a vampire child?”  Maia countered.

“Just like you must have your own rationale for completing a 100 baby challenge, I need a vampire child for my own reasons.  I hate having you think ill of me, and I apologize for not being upfront with you. But you weren’t exactly forthcoming with me about your motivations, either.”

Maia wanted to protest that it wasn’t the same thing at all.  She was doing this to save the world! It was in the prophecy; she had no choice.  Besides, she was in hiding and couldn’t tell every potential father about her challenge and risk the safety of herself and her family from those who wanted to see her fail.

But in the end she had to admit to herself that she did have a choice, even if it was a difficult one.  And it could be possible that Braeden had a valid reason for his objective...

And in the end, it didn’t matter.  What was done was done, and there could be nothing more between her and Braeden anyway.

Maia calmed. “You’re right, and I’m sorry, too. I hope that you are able to have a vampire child someday. It just can’t be with me.”

Braeden had no response to give her. Due to his shunning by the vampires, and ultimately by the other Moonlight Falls supernaturals who wanted no involvement with the Dellings, there weren’t any other prospects for him. Maia was an outsider who had been unaware of the circumstances of his situation, which was why he’d been keeping tabs on her since he’d first seen her. He had thought himself fortunate when she’d chosen him as a lover and had become pregnant right away; he had believed his goal would soon be attained. But now that chance was gone.

“I hope that you’ll still let me see Rowan from time to time, even though we’ve had this misunderstanding,” he said instead.

“Of course,” Maia said with a smile.  “Her father is welcome to come visit her anytime.”

And with a smile of his own, Braeden left. He had managed to salvage a few things from this unexpected turn of events.  Maybe Maia didn’t exactly trust him anymore, but she hadn’t shut him out completely, nor had she rescinded the invitation to enter her home, which would have been... inconvenient.  And it occurred to Braeden that though he would’ve preferred it, he didn’t personally have to produce a vampire child to achieve his objective. 

After all— there was another Delling.