No longer the two of us

~Markus~

She left me waiting in the bedroom, and if my heart was alive, it would just jump out of my chest, expressing my inner worries. Of course, my heart is beating due to the fire that keeps it alive, but it's not the same as human hearts are working. The fire keeps my heart working to spread the fire into every cell of my body and to keep it in control to not turn me into a man who has fire instead of the blood.

I went to the balcony, feeling fire slightly tickling the tips of my fingers, so I took a deep breath of air and tried to calm down. Of course, I'm worried about the results of her test, and yes, I do want to be a father.

I thought about it since my mother expressed her thoughts a few days ago when we were calmly talking in the library of my mansion. She said that as Aurora is only a half-human, the reactions of her body to pregnancy and the symptoms on their own could differ from what we do know. Indeed, it stays as the best explanation as it could be the baby, dictating what blood he wants at this moment, or maybe refusing to drink the blood at all. I made a deep but unnecessary breath in and out, then turned around and saw the door handle of the bathroom moving down. I stayed at the same place, watching Aurora coming out of the bathroom with her whole body trembling.

Her shaking hands were holding three thin sticks that looked like those humans used to measure the temperature, but for some reason, I understood she wasn't there for that reason. She was checking if she's pregnant in a way I don't know, and seems the results are shocking for her.

{Is she pregnant?}

I got closer to her in a second, put my hand at her waist, and pressed her to myself, comforting her before asking any questions. She put her head on my chest and pulled up her hand.

"Positive," she let out a word in one breath out, then held me one of the sticks she had in her hands. The design was pretty simple, it just had some small screen where two parallel lines were visible. There was a small description near the screen saying that two parallel lines mean pregnancy, while one line would mean negative results. I looked at the other two tests, seeing the same positive results. I hugged her tighter, putting my hands on her lower belly and kissing the top of her head.

"I love you…"

It was dead silence in the room until she got back to the normal state of her mind, as if finally gathering all the strength she ever had. Aurora turned to me, hugged my neck, and looked deep into my eyes.

"Do you understand, Markus Malone, that from now on, you'll be a father?" her question stuck in my head as if someone put a mind block. I nodded a few minutes after carefully thinking about everything once again.

"That's what I dreamt about. However, the question is somewhat different. Do YOU understand, you'll be a mother? Is that what you dreamt about?" I asked her, laying my hands on her back and pressing her tightly to myself as if I wanted to feel the baby inside her belly with my own body.

"That's quite unexpectedly, but that's exactly what every woman wants from her beloved man," she said in return as if she nailed those words in her head from the time she understood she was going to be a mother. I kissed her lips lightly and pressed her to myself.

After a while, Aurora was laying on the bed, while I was stroking her long maroon hair, enjoying how she was slowly breathing in and out as if going deeper into the kingdom of dreams. She needed some time to run before she'll be able to ask the questions about the pregnancy, us, and many other things. There's a lot to be discussed, as well as if we're going to tell the world or hide it for the sake of Aurora and the baby.

I'm the mafia boss, the one who rules the most dangerous part of society, and I do need to be careful, especially now having her on my side. Aurora changed my surroundings and the way I was looking at the world, as well as made me more cautious.

"Markus," she suddenly asked, as if some annoying thought dragged her out of the kingdom of dreams. I stroked my girl's forehead in an attempt to make her fall asleep again, but she straightened, and her blood-red eyes looked at me.

"Are we going to tell everything?" her question echoed in the silent room, making me notice some slight worry in her voice. Indeed, she was worried as Aurora knew who I was, and who I am, and perhaps she knew what consequences it might have. None of us wanted to put innocent lives in danger.

"I suppose no," I said, then looked at her and took her thin pale hand in mine, then kissed the top of her hand and started to stroke her soft skin with my thumb. I reached the shelf on the night table near the bed, took out a plastic bag with blood, and twisted it around. It was one of the most popular human blood types, A positive, so I put a thin straw in the hole in the bag and held it to her, "Let's see what blood type both of you can drink."

She looked over me as if checking it was me talking. Perhaps, what made her do that was the fact that I was talking about her and the baby at the same type, not differentiating them as two separate persons, but at the same time not forgetting to mention the baby. How could I forget about it? Tastes differ, and we don't even know who the baby will be, a dhampir, a vampire, or a completely new creature we never heard of before.

Aurora took a plastic bag full of blood from my hands, took the straw to her lips, and made a few sips, before returning me the plastic bag. She grimaced and waited a few minutes before giving me her conclusion.

"Nausea," was the only word she left, but quite the one to explain everything. I tried another type of blood before we finally came to the agreement Aurora and the baby can drink the AB positive, and O negative, as well as my blood which both of them like the most. Well, no doubt, if my calculations are right the first blood Aurora tried was mine, and she was already pregnant.

While Aurora and the baby were enjoying their meal, I made a call to the bloody bank to order the types of blood I needed, then called Raphael to come to my bedroom. I told Aurora to not tell anything about the pregnancy, even to Raphael, as we're not sure whom we can really trust except each other.

"Is everything ready for the meeting I asked to prepare?" I looked at Raphael with a cold look, observing how the facial features of him haven't even changed after the question. He was always in control of himself when he was sure he did everything I asked to do and had nothing left behind. That was the feature I liked about him the most.

"Sure, everyone is warned and especially about being full before coming here," he reported, then looked at Aurora for a second, after which his eyes moved back to me. "What about those girls whom you asked to find rooms in the mansion? What should we do with them?"

I was closely observing his facial features, looking for anything that could help me to understand that he was hiding something or lying, but I couldn't find anything. Raphael was my friend for a long time before I met Kristof, and I always thought I can trust both of them, but can I?

"Good. Those girls should be found jobs and appropriate places where to live. Ask them what do they want, compare them to what we can propose, and tell me by the end of tomorrow's day." I suddenly looked at Aurora, and one thought jumped in my head very quickly, but I managed to catch it before it slipped off. "Raphael, also find some small house in the surrounding of the mansion or a good place for where to build it. You have two days."

"Sure, may I leave?" he asked, and his eyes slipped to Aurora once again, who was silently drinking the blood from the plastic bag. She was strangely silent, and that was what made Raphael look at her with wonder. Also, he doesn't know the reason we turned back from the bloody bank trip, as I'm not sure if I can trust him.

"You may," I said, and when he left I lay on the bed near Aurora, and closed my eyes for a second. I need to handle the police case before the baby will be born, but…

{How much time do we have?}