“Ares…”

As the pureblood essence flowing through her body cleared the haze around her head, she found an image of a distraught woman getting reflected into a pair of melted silver pools.

Felix had one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders while the rest of her body was flopped in his lap.

‘He fed me his blood.’

From his swift actions, she could tell he had wasted no time in tearing his wrist to feed her his blood.

‘But why?’

Her mind was a mess torn between the two extremes of her views. Half of her wanted to believe what the crazy turned-vampire had told her; Felix truly was an innocent man. On the other hand, the rational half of her couldn’t bring itself to believe that a man could go misunderstood as a psycho killer for centuries.

‘How did no one know?’

The idea of Felix playing tricks on her to bond with her forcefully, just like Cyrus bonded with Ruth scared her.

‘What if he tries drinking my blood now to try forming a bond with me?’

As realization of her situation dawned on her, she tried wriggling out of his ironclad hold, only to pause midway as she felt a weird sensation; something was flowing down her legs.

Panic surged through her as she hastily tried lifting up her dress over her knees to look at the liquid sticking to the skin of her thighs.

Water.

“M-My W-Wa…”

The shock of seeing it all unfold seemed to have frozen her muscles. She was unable to get the trapped words out of her throat.

“It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

Hearing his calm reassuring voice, she slowly turned to look at him with wide eyes.

She was still gaping unbelievably at him, unable to form words when she was lifted up in the vampire prince’s arms as he started carrying her upstairs with him. She couldn’t pay attention to how many doors he passed and how many hallways he crossed. Her sole attention was diverted by one fact; Ares was not here.

She was going to give birth without him by her side.

‘How am I going to deliver our baby all on my own? Would Felix even allow my child to survive? He said my child would be punished before Ares…’

The sensation of her body getting dropped onto a soft mattress brought her attention back to the present. Felix had placed some sheets underneath her body while placing some pillows under her head at the same time. After making sure that her body was lying in a comfortable position on the bed, he walked towards the far corner of the room, starting to rummage through some drawers.

She was alone, in a foreign country, trapped in an eerie mansion, with a strange man, just about to give birth.

“I want Ares.”

She felt as if she saw him flinch out of the corner of her eye but she couldn’t be too sure. He wasn’t facing her completely.

“I want to go back to Ares.”

“I heard you the first time.”

His reply had come back almost immediately this time. His calm demeanor had no cracks in it.

“If you heard me, then give me a response!”

“I am giving you a response.”

He was addressing her as if he were talking to a child.

“Feli-Ah!”

Grabbing the vase resting by the side of the bed, she was about to throw it at the back of his head when a sudden contraction made her double over in pain. It felt like unlike anything she had felt before.

Deep loud breathing sounds were echoing through the vast room. Lying at the edge of the mahogany bed, she was clutching on to her swollen belly. Her long wavy locks resembled swirling waves of a dark lake flowing down her shoulders, concealing a beautiful moonlit face nestled safely into its depth.

“Stay calm.”

A dark shadow crawled up her frame as she felt a cold surface patting the top of her head.

‘Who?’

Tears brimmed into the corners of her eyes as she found the tall vampire looming over her small built, stroking her hair lightly.

“Please, stop confusing me.”

Her voice cracked as she slowly mumbled those words under her breath,

“Please.”

As she said this, she turned her face away from him.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything, not until a stronger contraction hit Faith making her dig her fingers in the mattress. The time between her contractions had started decreasing significantly.

“Let me have a look at your cervix.”

“What?”

Her head whipped so fast to gape at him, she almost twisted her neck in the process.

“Your cervix, I need to see how dilated it has become by now.”

Paying not much attention to her horror-stricken face, the vampire prince continued staring blankly at her as if what he had said was nothing out of the ordinary.

“You’re not going anywhere near my cervix.”

“So you plan on birthing a vampire child all on your own without any help or prior experience?”

He raised one brow in question as he wrapped his arms in front of his broad chest, making his biceps bulge out more through the white shirt he was wearing. She had made no attention to his attire before but now that she looked closely, his casual clothes made him look very… human.

“Argh!”

Another painful contraction.

The pain was enough to induce a minor spasming in her muscles.

“Enough, let me see.”

His voice had come out absolute.

She could feel his cold finger gingerly gliding over the skin of her legs making her eyes bulge out of their sockets.

Half recovered from the impact, she hurriedly moved forward to latch onto his wrist just as he was about to raise her dress above her knees.

She was begging him with her eyes.

A sigh escaped past his lips as he let go of the corner of her dress.

The fingers that were grasping the soft material of her dress slowly traveled up a pale neck to comb through long silver tresses bunching them eventually into a fist. As his hair moved away from his face, his ticking jaw became more prominent. His eyes had turned into slits and the light from the room twinkling in his irises almost made them appear transparent.

Even full of exasperation, he looked like a work of art.

“I know you will not believe me…”

His voice felt like a cool gust of wind stroking her bare skin in the middle of a burning dessert.

“But if you’re willing to, believe one thing for sure. Regardless of my eccentric talks, I’m not crazed enough to go through with any of it. I’ll never harm your child.”

There was something in his voice that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was demanding her to believe him.

'Why? Is it because of his weakness against harming children?'

'Was that bat-shit crazy vampire telling the truth about Felix?'

Suddenly another contraction hit her out of the blue, making her lips roll into her mouth as she mashed them together to prevent any sounds from escaping.

‘I can’t take this anymore.’

“Take it out please, take it out!”

Something inside her seemed to have snapped wiping her head of any other thought. A pain she never knew existed collided with her like a brick wall making her self-control, humility, rationality all turn into ashes.

Within seconds, she had started thrashing and screaming inside the bed,

“Mom! Mom!”

Her eyes were clenched shut as she bit down hard on her lips calling out repeatedly to a mother whose search had led her to discover this fantasy she was currently living inside.

“Mommy!”

Tears streaming down her eyes had drenched her face in a scarlet mess.

“Faith…”

Someone was calling her name.

“Faith…”

Loud whooshing sounds in her ears made it more difficult for her to recognize the voice.

“Faith!”

Her eyes sprung open from surprise, only to land on a frowning Felix leaning over her sprawled figure. He was holding her shoulders firmly, applying a bit of pressure to keep her pinned down to the bed.

“Listen to me, Faith.”

He once again addressed her by her name, making her realize that it was him who had been calling out to her.

“You’re in labor.”