“Take me home, Luis.”

EPILOGUE

Six months later…

The doctor held the stethoscope to her heart, then lower, smiling as he did. He couldn’t use the more modern equipment his nurses could, but with his keen immortal senses, Lucien Thrax could diagnose illness or catch medical problems with inhuman skill. Because, well… he wasn’t human.

The quiet vampire straightened Natalie’s gown and smiled. “Everything sounds wonderful. We’ll wait for your blood work, but so far, it looks like a totally normal pregnancy.”

She couldn’t hold back the grin. “Cool.” She sat up, arranging the clumsy hospital gown around her on the table. Despite the exterior, the house on the Northern Coast was a functioning hospital on the inside, complete with exam rooms, labs, and research facilities she didn’t truly understand. She still grilled Lucien about his work on the Elixir every time they met, much to the earth vampire’s frustration. But that afternoon, the focus was on her newest project, not his. It was her three-month checkup, and so far, everything looked good.

“How are your legs?”

She nodded. “All right. The right one seems fine, though there’s pain when the weather changes, and the left is getting better every day.”

“Keep up with your physical therapy.”

“Trust me, my physical therapist is a slave driver.”

Lucien smiled. “With your best interests at heart, I’m sure.”

“That’s what he keeps saying,” she said with a frown. “I have my doubts.”

She finally got Lucien to laugh. No mean feat for the quiet immortal with sad eyes. She’d known him for almost a year, but Lucien Thrax was still a mystery. He could be awake for most of the day, so Natalie guessed he was old—very old. He was tall, with a lean face that looked older the longer you looked at it. She wanted to hand him a pair of very old-fashioned eyeglasses even though she knew his eyes didn’t need them.

Her instincts told her Lucien had suffered loss like she couldn’t really imagine. And yet he was one of the kindest men she’d ever met. Unfailingly calm with his often unruly patients. Brilliant beyond her understanding, yet always ready to explain some point of research to her. But there was a sorrow that lived behind his eyes, giving Lucien a stern gravity despite his young face. She was glad he and Baojia were becoming friends.

Lucien said, “There’s no reason you shouldn’t have full use of both legs eventually, though the pregnancy will increase your body’s stress.”

“I know. Baojia said the same thing, but I didn’t want to wait.”

“Impatient girl.” He shook his head. “You can get dressed now. Did you want me to leave?”

She nodded toward the curtain in the corner. “You’re fine. I have a couple questions for you.”

“Of course you do.” Lucien smiled and sat in his chair as Natalie went to pull on her clothes.

“So, what I’m wondering is, if I decide to change at some point in the future—and that’s still an if—would my legs heal completely? How does that work?”

She heard him sigh. No doubt this was another one of those questions with a way longer answer than she wanted. She smiled when he started to answer anyway.

“It’s hard to say. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rules about some things. It’s a bit like human genetics, to be honest. No one knows what characteristics a baby will be born with. He or she could be the spitting image of one parent, a combination of both, or look nothing like either, but some very distant relative. There are some general rules, but not hard and fast ones, except for our elemental strength, which I liken to blood type.”

“So, it might heal and it might not?” Well, that wasn’t helpful. She was still debating the issue. She liked being human. She liked it a lot. And being a vampire had a lot of drawbacks. Some benefits to be sure, but drawbacks too. The biggest benefit was still sleeping in their room because the sun hadn’t gone down yet.

“It would be most accurate to predict that function would improve, but not perfectly. That’s why it’s very important to get your body into peak physical condition before a change, if it is planned. Becoming vampire increases the strengths you already have, which is why Baojia is so strong, even though he is relatively young for our kind.”

“Got it.” She buttoned up her jeans. They were snug; she’d have to get new ones soon. The thought made her smile.

There was a long pause until Lucien finally said, “Can I ask… are you leaning toward yes? After you’ve had your children?”

She took a deep breath and stepped from behind the curtain. the cur “I don’t know. To be completely honest, some days I watch the sunset and think… how could I spend an eternity without this? And then I see him when he wakes up and think, how could I ever say goodbye? How could I ask him to live the rest of his life without me? To watch our children—our grandchildren maybe—without me? Is this too cruel?”

“He wants this child as much as you do.” Lucien smiled. “Maybe more.”

She blinked back tears. “So every night I lean a little more toward that compromise. But I don’t know; I still have doubts. What do you think, Doc?”

She saw Lucien look toward the window that had been blacked out with shutters. A faint glow of afternoon sunlight peeked through. “I don’t want to influence your decision, Natalie.”