He headed for the shower. He wasn’t worried about meeting her parents. He usually didn’t do too badly with parents. He did know they weren’t overly keen on Sarah dating humans, but he figured the one-in-a-million pregnancy might cancel out any prejudices they had. The promise of grandchildren was usually always welcomed, even when it was unexpected. It wasn’t like they were teenagers. There wasn’t anything too scandalous about it.

  He got ready, and noticed something when he was staring in the mirror, brushing his teeth. His nipple ring was missing.

  “Fuck,” he swore around the toothbrush, leaving it in hanging from his mouth to poke at where the ring had been. The hole had closed. He hadn’t put his charms back on after the whole trippy bonding process. He’d been too high from the experience to even think about the charms. He quickly finished brushing his teeth and spat out the toothpaste. He dropped the brush in the cup next to the sink and dashed back into the bedroom.

  Sarah was just standing up. She frowned as he rushed past her. “What’s… shit! You had those off all night.”

  “My nipple ring can’t go back in,” he said as he picked up the pendant and pulled it over his head. A sigh of relief escaped him once it had fallen into place. “I feel so much better now.”

  “Are you okay? Did anything…”

  “I’m fine. Nothing happened. I just realised I hadn’t put them back on.” He couldn’t tell her about the weird vision. It could mean virtually anything. It would be pointless to worry her. He hauled on his jeans.

  “Why can’t… oh,” she said, touching his healed-up nipple. “This was probably a good place for it too.”

  “I’ll have it re-pierced,” he said, knowing she meant it was a good hiding place for that type of charm. “Later.” He fiddled with the ring, eventually deciding on his front jeans pocket as its new hiding place. He went to his drawer and pulled out a t-shirt. He glanced up as Sarah moved towards the door.

  “You should get your clothes on,” she told him, heading out of the room. “Our train leaves in fifteen minutes.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sarah sat on the train, pulling at her jacket sleeves and brushing imaginary fluff from her jumper.

  “So…” Dev tried to start a conversation for the third time since they’d gotten onto the train.

  She bit at her lip as she watched his gaze slide from her to the view outside, trees speeding past in a vibrant green blur. Her anxiety had only grown as she thought about how she was going to tell her mother that she was pregnant and had to get married to sever a demon bond she’d made. That was as far as she was going to go with the story. The woman did not need to know that she’d set a vampire free. The demon bond was bad enough.

  “Uh…” Dev put his gaze back on her. “Maybe your parents don’t need to know?”

  She blinked. His astuteness was always a surprise. She’d gotten too used to stoner Dev. She hadn’t gotten completely used to this new version of the man she was in love with. Not that he’d changed too much. He just knew things now that most humans didn’t. She shook her head. “They need to know. I’m just…”

  He caught her hands in his across the table. “I don’t think they’ll penalize you for what you did.”

  She smiled wryly. “Bonding with War goes against so many rules I’ll probably never work as a tracker again.”

  “Oh,” he said. His jaw worked with his mouth closed. She could tell he was playing with his tongue piercing, like he usually did when he was thinking or he didn’t know what to say.

  “The whole maternity retirement thing doesn’t apply if I’m having a human kid,” she said, remembering why she’d opened a savings account when she started working in the first place. She’d always had a thing for human boys and she’d known if she ever had kids the chances were they wouldn’t be trackers. As a descendent of the fallen, she was half human, so having a child with a human partner meant having an entirely human baby. She wouldn’t be paid for taking time off work. She wouldn’t be given the option to retire to raise and train her kid to become a demon tracker. She’d have to have the baby and go back to work. Like any other human had to.

  “Oh, right, aye,” Dev said, as if he understood. He frowned. “I can get a better job. You don’t need to worry about money. You shouldn’t, I mean.”

  She smiled. “It’s not just…” She could feel a lump forming in her throat. Her whole world had turned upside down, and everything was happening so quickly she could barely make sense of any of it. It should all be good news. Marrying Dev and starting a family. It was unexpectedly sudden, but it made her feel good. There was no conflict inside her over either of those decisions. But it invited complications that made her anxious. Her future happiness was tainted by her past mistakes. Why couldn’t things be simpler? She swallowed and tried to keep her smile from fading. “I’m just freaking out slightly. It’s nothing.”

  He smiled tightly. “We can wait to tell them. It doesn’t have to be right away.”

  ***

  “Oh, she’s not worried about that,” a voice that sent shivers up Dev’s spine made him turn in his seat. The blond man smiled at him, green eyes glinting, from the seat across the aisle. He was sprawled out and the smile melted quickly into a smirk. “Do you really think that baby is yours?”

  Dev glanced back at Sarah.

  She frowned at him. “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of pale.”

  He swallowed, glancing back at the creep across the aisle. Sarah’s gaze followed his, and her concerned frown deepened. She couldn’t see him then, great. He felt himself drain of any trace of warmth as he looked back at her.

  “I… m-might be getting a cold,” he managed to stammer, pulling on a weak smile.

  “She likes to sleep with vampires, no matter what she’s told you.” The creep was seriously starting to get on his nerves. He didn’t seem to want to stop talking. “And she’ll say anything to get a guy to bond with her.”

  Dev took a breath and tried to ignore the weird hallucination he was apparently having. He didn’t doubt Sarah at all so these weren’t his deepest fears manifesting. That probably meant his hallucination was something magical that was trying to mess with him.

  “I want to get my charms checked out,” he blurted, not wanting to cause Sarah any worry by mentioning what he was seeing right now. She had enough on her mind. He had to find some other way to deal with this. “I just want to make sure they’re still working. Before we do anything else.”

  He sounded paranoid, but he couldn’t help it. The thought of a demon getting to him again made him shiver. He fought the feeling and pushed his thoughts down a more positive track. He loved her and they were starting a family together. Everything was going to be fine. Slowly, it began to work. He relaxed slightly, he didn’t want her to notice he was freaking out. Her ability to pick up on his emotional state was scary-good. If she hadn’t been so preoccupied he knew she’d be worried about him right now and that was the last thing he wanted.

  She nodded slowly. “Okay. Good idea. We’ll go see Flicky first.”

  He glanced back at the blond guy, only to see him grin and blink out of existence. At least he’d pissed off, Dev supposed. When he turned back, Sarah was watching him carefully. He leaned across the table and kissed her impulsively. Her response was slow but reassuring. He had no idea what the creep had been trying to do but he wasn’t about to start doubting the woman he loved.

  ***

  Sarah started to regret coming to White Oaks when they stepped off the train. Dev was acting strangely. She could tell he was nervous, but he was trying to hide it. It keyed her up more than she already was. Why did he have to be freaking out? Her own nerves were already rattled enough. Sighing, she inwardly scolded herself as they walked to Flicky’s shop. She couldn’t blame him for being as nervous as she was. Dev’s thumb rubbed over her hand over and over as they walked, his fingers squeezing hers. He chewed on the nails of his other hand, gaze distant every time she glanced at him.

  She stopped outside Flicky’s shop and did the one thing that always put him back to his usual cheerful self. She pulled him into a kiss that was heated and lingering. He melted into her, arms locking around her as he kissed back. She could tell the dazed smile he gave her was genuine when they finally split apart. “Better?”

  He nodded. “Let’s just go back home. We could use the alone time.”

  She laughed. “Do you want your charms checked, or not?”

  He sighed loudly, a playful smile coming out after he closed his mouth. “I suppose.”

  She grabbed his hand and led him into Flicky’s shop. Which she realised was empty after she stepped inside.

  “Flicky,” she called out, pressing the bell on the counter.

  “No-one’s home,” Dev said, his hands going into his pockets as Sarah let him go.

  “She wouldn’t just go out and leave the door open.”

  “Well, maybe not.”

  She went to the door to the back room, checking for Flicky’s witch magic trail. It wasn’t leading there. She was close, but she wasn’t that close.

  “I think she’s upstairs,” she said, glancing up.

  “So go upstairs?”

  Sarah shook her head. “She’s not alone. We should come back later.”

  Her heart started to sink as she realised what that meant. It was time to face the music. Cringing, she headed for the door, turning the open sign to closed as she went out. Dev followed, his trainers scraping along the ground as he shuffled after her. She brought her phone out of her pocket and dialled her brother’s number as she started to walk towards her parent’s house. He picked up on the sixth ring, as Dev caught up with her and caught her free hand in his.

  “Hey, Scar-face, what’s up?”

  “Eh, you phoned me. You know that, aye?”

  “Think you can get out of babysitting duties for a bit?”

  “What is it this time? I thought you had Flicky as a partner.”

  She smiled wryly at Dev. “It’s nothing new. Well, that’s not totally true. It’s kind of complicated.”

  “I can’t just leave for no reason, and I can’t leave right now anyway. Stuff is happening. It’s… complicated.”

  She took a breath. “Well, okay. I guess you’ll find out later. Call me when stuff isn’t happening.”

  Her brother grunted his agreement, and she hung up. Her back-up wasn’t coming. Not that he’d have been much help anyway. She just didn’t want to be the only one in the firing line. Dev’s hand squeezed hers and she glanced at him. She wasn’t alone in this. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Dev stuffed his hand into his pocket to stop himself from coming across like a strung out junkie. He’d never been nervous like this before, but he supposed he’d never knocked a girl up before either. It wasn’t helping that Sarah seemed just as jittery. He stopped walking, breaking her out of the thoughts that were making her frown so deeply. “I think maybe we should wait.”

  She bit at her lip and he knew she was thinking the same thing. “I just…”

  “It’s okay. I know there’s other stuff making it complicated.” He didn’t want to think about that other stuff but he knew it was the truth.

  She tried to smile but it didn’t take.

  He leaned down and kissed her. “It’s okay, really.”

  “Maybe just… Not today,” she murmured.

  The disappointment that rushed through him was unexpected but he could deal with it. She wasn’t ready to tell them. He didn’t think he was, either. He’d never even been introduced as her boyfriend.

  “Why do you think that is?” The blond creep had made a re-appearance.

  Dev tried to ignore him, but his words stung.

  “I love you,” Sarah told him, kissing him quickly and moving away, heading towards the train station.

  He shuffled after her, his gaze not moving from her lithe body as she marched ahead.

  “You were never her first choice. You know that.”

  Dev glowered, still refusing to look at the a-hole.

  “You know what the chances are of a human getting a tracker pregnant. You know this doesn’t make any sense.”

  Dev ground his teeth as he walked, determined to ignore the hallucination. None of what he was saying was… “What are you saying, like?”

  The blond smirked. “She’s out all the time tracking vampires. What do you think I’m saying?”

  “Fuck off,” Dev hissed, smiling quickly as Sarah glanced back at him.

  “You think she’s never chased your moody friend around? Why is he still walking around anyway? She’s supposed to kill the bad guys, isn’t she?”

  Dev growled, wishing the creep would shut the hell up. He was clearly spouting everything he could come up with to turn Dev against Sarah. He blinked, not believing how long it had taken him to realise what or who this freak was. “You’re War.”

  The blond snorted. “War is coming. He’ll take what’s his. I’m just trying to help you out here. Don’t you want to know why your girlfriend is allowing your old friend to go around murdering little girls? Who does her heart really belong to?”

  Dev glanced his way and he faded out. The creep wasn’t real. If trying to psych Dev out was the worst he could do, there was no use worrying Sarah over it. She had enough to deal with. He rushed to catch up to her, deciding on one thing as he caught her hand in his. He was meeting Ray later, and he was taking Sarah’s straight razor with him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sarah’s cleaning spree was confined to the basement, considering she’d already gone nuts everywhere else. Dev had raised his eyebrows when she’d decided they needed more bleach out the shop before they could get back home for the day. He’d told her the house was already clean enough to serve as an operating theatre. She just smiled and told him he was lucky she wasn’t making him help her with it. He’d backed down with a good-natured shrug. She’d bought more than she needed and proceeded to bleach the basement from top to bottom. When she was done she was still convinced she could smell blood.

  Dev appeared at the top of the stairs, running a hand through his hair.

  “I’m making dinner,” he called down. “Mark wanted to meet me for the festival later. I wasn’t sure if I should go.”

  She took off her rubber gloves and tossed them in the bucket. Her growling stomach told her she’d ignored her hunger for long enough. “Why wouldn’t you go?”

  He shrugged as he started down the stairs. “Kind of feels like bad timing. And it would just be a guy’s night out.”

  She smiled as he gathered up her cleaning supplies. “You haven’t had a night out in ages.”

  “Well… I suppose.” He was frowning as he headed back up the stairs.

  She followed. “You don’t want to go?”

  “I just…” He shook his head. “It feels weird, you know? I’ve never had a girlfriend before, never mind a fiancé.”

  She slapped his arm. “You’re not going skank-hunting, Dev. It’s a night out. There are bands at the festival. I thought you said Mark is engaged?”

  He laughed. “That’s not going to happen. It’s more than my life is worth.”

  “So what’s the problem?” She followed him into the kitchen, the smell of a pasta-bake cooking in the oven making her smile.

  “I’ve got an amazing fiancé at home,” he said, putting her cleaning supplies down by the back door. “Maybe I don’t want to go for a night out.”

  She snorted. “Go, okay? That’s an order.”

  “Yes, boss,” he said, with a grin.

  She rolled her eyes. “So what… is that the time?” She glanced at the clock and out the window. The summer sun was still burning the sky. She missed winter. Time seemed easier to keep track of with the darker nights.

  “Yeah. You were cleaning for hours,” he told her. “I did shout down to see if you wanted lunch, but you told me to stop interrupting you, if you remember.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t really do lunch.”

  “I noticed. The baby might have liked to be asked though.”

  Mild guilt hit her as she realised she hadn’t even considered the baby since they’d gotten home. She had gone straight into cleaning mode and her mind had cleared out everything else.

  “Well, he can have a say from now on. Right now he’s saying a double helping of pasta is in order. Ooh is that garlic bread?” She snatched up a slice as he took it from the top-oven. Before he could do much more than snort she’d bitten into the hot slice and was making her usual yummy food noises.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dev fiddled nervously with his charm, hoping to hell it was still in good working order. He hadn’t bothered to hide a stake in his pocket. His lack of experience with them made it pointless to think about using one. The razor, on the other hand, would be easy enough to wield. Whether or not it would be enough to kill the vampire, he didn’t know. It would hurt him. That was what Sarah had told him. He trusted her. If he could hurt Dredd he might find a chance to destroy him. He swallowed at the thought of attacking a guy who’d been a friend to him for years. The lighter he took was part of his plan. He’d listened to Sarah’s stories enough to know a vampire could be burned to death. They caught on fire like dry kindling. He smiled grimly at himself in the mirror. The plan included giving Dredd what he wanted. Catching him off guard wasn’t going to be easy. He was going to have to think Dev was down with what he wanted. He had to think his plan was working.

  Dev chewed on his nails as he tried to steady his nerves. He tried to remember how excited he usually got before he went to those festivals in the past. This was different. He couldn’t drink or smoke tonight. He couldn’t take pills or take off with random women he’d barely remember in the morning.

  He had to stay sharp, stay focused. He had a vampire to kill.

  He headed down the stairs, smiling as he noticed Sarah sleeping on the couch. She’d started napping every now and then over the last couple of months. Usually she only slept like that if he was there with her and she was curled up in his arms. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. She didn’t stir, so he left quietly, locking the door behind him.

 

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