49 - Nightmare

Maia awoke late the morning after a restless night.  She vaguely remembered a nightmare where all her children were gone, as if they had never existed, and then she was suddenly looking down from high in the sky and could only watch as the world burned on and on—and Maia, despite no longer being on the planet, somehow burned too.  She had the sense that it had repeated all night long and was relieved to awaken and realize it had only been a dream.

After hurrying all the older kids out the door to catch the bus to school, Maia changed and fed the quads. 

She had just barely started some more toddler skill training when the doorbell rang. 

Figuring it was just Braeden and Alex coming over earlier than expected and being polite for a change rather than simply barging in, Maia smiled and called out, “Come on in, we’re in the nursery!”

Moments later Maia heard the nursery door open and looked up to see a vampire woman she’d never seen before.

“Thank you for the invitation, Maia,” the vampire said with a smile and waggled her fingers in greeting.

Maia was startled. “Who are you?  And what do you want?” she demanded. But she was afraid she already knew the answer.

 “I’m Lady Tessa Delling,” the woman said, confirming Maia’s suspicions, “and I’ve come to see my grandchildren.”

Without waiting for permission, Tessa strode into the nursery, eyeing the toddlers greedily. It was apparent to her that her stepson Alexander was the father of them all.

Quickly, she narrowed her focus to the three who were obviously vampires, discounting the witch baby entirely. But how could she just take what she wanted?  She could move quickly, but there were simply more babies here to grab than her arms could hold. But perhaps she could get Maia to comply with her wishes unthinkingly, just as she’d gotten her invitation.

“Oh, how I would love to have these little darlings come visit me,” Tessa began dramatically.  “My manor is so vast and empty and I would dearly love to hear the sound of little children in it again.” And possession is nine-tenths of the law, Tessa thought, but didn’t say.

Maia had been barely listening.  She was too busy wondering what had happened to Braeden and Alex and their plan. But as the implications of what Tessa had just said about her babies sunk in, memories of her nightmare about her missing children came back to her full force.

“Woolgathering, my dear?” Tessa asked Maia with a superior smile.  “So difficult to properly pay attention when you’re breeding, isn’t it? Perhaps my idea has even more merit than I knew; you have so many other children and more on the way. When these children move in with me they could be properly raised as vampires under my direction, relieving you of all the responsibility.  And I have wealth enough to ensure they would never want for anything.”

Maia put her hands on her hips. “My children don’t want for anything now, and I am perfectly capable of raising them!”

“Of course you are, dear,” Tessa soothed. “No need to excite yourself in your delicate condition. But perhaps this is something to think about.  After all, how can you provide individual attention to them all when you have so many already? And it would just be temporary of course, until they were older.” Much, much older, Tessa thought fiendishly.

Rather than being placated, Maia was incensed.  How dare the woman try to take advantage of her insecurities, as if her babies were unplanned mistakes and not loved or wanted dearly! She and her children were all part of a prophecy to save the world, and Maia was tired of Tessa’s suggestions to the contrary. “That is simply out of the question! Even if I knew and trusted you, Lady Delling, the 100 baby challenge rules would not allow it!” Maia snapped.

“A one hundred baby challenge? I had no idea,” Tessa said musingly.  And then everything suddenly came together in Tessa’s mind.  Maia Lee.  A 100 Baby Challenge. Could this be the witch woman Kadru the Serpent Mistress had been seeking? Ah, that’s why her name had sounded so familiar! “Well, this certainly changes everything,” Tessa remarked aloud.

Although she was still angry, Maia said, “I’m glad you understand.”

And Tessa understood alright.  Her head whirled with new and better plans. If she could get word to Kadru about Maia, then the witch could no longer stand in Tessa’s way, and as the toddlers’ next of kin, she would be given the rights to the children.  And though Alexander was their father, she was certain she could easily win custody of them, considering his reputation and rock star lifestyle. And it would take hardly any effort on her part, with no suspicion cast on her at all!

“It seems we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot with this meeting,” Tessa said, aiming for sincerity and trying not to appear to gloat about the battle she was now certain of winning. “It was only my intention to help.” She shrugged carelessly.

“Perhaps we can sort this out between us another time, but I fear I’ve worn out my welcome. Do you have somewhere quieter I might make a phone call? I had intended to stay here longer to visit, but I didn’t request the limo driver to stay, and I’m without the means to return home.”

Maia directed Tessa to the library to make her call. And though she wanted to listen at the door just to be sure the vampire wasn’t calling for reinforcements, Maia knew she needed to be in the nursery with the quads in case Tessa was planning on sneaking out of the house and back in to steal one of them.  Besides, she had reinforcements of her own to contact.

Once she returned to the nursery and made sure the babies were okay, Maia sent a quick text to Alex.

And while she waited, Maia tried her best to come up with a plan in case the vampire brothers were unable to arrive in time.

Once she was alone in the library, Tessa chuckled.  Call the limo driver indeed! As if she couldn’t run home faster than that if she wanted to! No, she had plans to call someone else entirely.  What a wonderful thing modern technology was; nowadays there was no more need to perform rituals to call on demonic powers!

Tessa called one of Kadru’s private lines. But the voice that answered on the other end was not the one she expected.

“This is Lady Tessa Delling, and I’m calling to speak to Kadru.  Who is this?”..................“Adramelech?  And what do you mean she’s not available? Do you even know who I am? And this is urgent! It concerns the baby challenge mother she’s been searching for.”........................................“Fine, then! You tell Kadru! But I expect to be rewarded for my information. Now, tell Kadru that Lady Tessa Delling says that Maia Lee is in Moonlight Falls, residing in Seven Towers.”.......................  “That’s correct; Maia Lee is in Moonlight Falls.”

Tessa ended the call. She was mildly disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to claim the children today as she had originally wished, but it was better and easier for her not to be personally involved at this point.  And she had waited for so many years already, what was a little more time? After all, she had... forever!

Her call finished, Tessa stepped out of the library, only to be suddenly surrounded. Braeden had burst in the front entrance, while Alex had come in through the door in Maia’s room.

“Maia!  We’re here!  And we have her cornered!” Braeden shouted.

Maia raced out of the nursery and into the entryway.  “What happened?  Where were you?”

“She had inside information and got past us,” Alex explained.  “But it doesn’t matter now.  Go stay with the babies. We intend to have some answers from our stepmother.”

Maia wanted to do as Alex told her, but she was worried what might happen if the woman tried to escape.  She would need something to stop Tessa, and she had come up with at least part of a plan while she’d waited for the Delling brothers. So instead of returning to the nursery, Maia went to her alchemy room in the basement, and stuffed several elixirs in her pocket that she thought might be of use.

When she was back upstairs she heard the vampire brothers still arguing with Tessa.  After a quick peek in on the quads, she went back into the foyer.

“So that’s what this whole charade was about? A ploy to get to me and discover the whereabouts of your parents?” Tessa laughed evilly.  “How very touching! But now you have the information you wanted, so you have no choice but to let me go. There’s no evidence I did anything, and it was so many centuries ago there are no witnesses left!”

“The truth will come out, Tessa, and you will spend your life behind prison bars!” Braeden said with confidence.

“No prison can contain me, and I’ll be alive long after all of you are gone,” Tessa sneered. “All you have is the memory of ancient gossip, and I have gold enough to purchase any version of the truth I desire! I am wealthy and immortal and neither of you has the power to stop me! Those children will be mine!”

Maia didn’t know for certain if all Tessa said was true, but she did believe that the woman would never stop trying to take her children, even if Braeden and Alex didn’t think it was possible. It was up to Maia to end things here if the law could not. And being a master alchemist, Maia knew exactly what she had to do.

“Since wealth and immortality are only the things you care about, I will make certain those attributes you prize are never forgotten by anyone in Moonlight Falls! I curse you to embody all that you are, and nothing more!”

Maia threw one of her elixirs at Tessa, and in the space of a single heartbeat, Tessa was instantly immortalized as a statue of gold.

“You could’ve just uninvited her, but I guess that works, too!” Alex seemed shocked. “Why did you invite her in anyway?”

“And is she dead?” Braeden wondered. “If so, why didn’t the Reaper show up?”

“Grim only appears after someone dies to collect their souls and lead them to the underworld.  This creature obviously doesn’t have one,” Maia answered Braeden. “And I had no choice, Alex; she would’ve kept coming, or sent someone else after my babies.  But I’m rescinding my invitation now, so get that thing out of here. And no offense, but after you go, I’m uninviting you both as well. My assumption that it was the two of you coming to visit was the reason she got in, and I just can’t have you guys dropping in all the time anyway.  Besides,” she added, grabbing her belly, “I think I need some privacy.  Now!”

Both vampires panicked as they realized Maia had gone into labor. Then they grabbed Tessa’s statue and hurriedly dragged it out of the house.

Maia made it into her bedroom and shortly gave birth to twins.

Firstborn was her werewolf son, Logan.

And then her werewolf daughter, Skye.

Her nooboos were healthy and Maia fell in love with them instantly. And her quads, as well as any other vampire babies out there, were now safe from Tessa forever.

Maia was relieved... the nightmare was over.