But he couldn't hide her from his family forever, not thanks to my sort of public declaration of their past, and eventually Alanna or Imogen did tell Halina. It became immediately apparent when they did. She showed up on our doorstep, looking hot and fiery, a thoroughly pissed off vampire. I hid out upstairs while he and Halina "discussed" the situation that was Carrie. I'm not sure what they said exactly, since most of it, at least from Halina's side, was in heated Russian (apparently being really mad got her to revert to her native tongue). Teren responded in English for the most part, but catching just one side of a conversation was frustrating and after awhile I stopped listening.
When she slammed the door and left, all I'd gotten was the fact that Carrie had indeed left town and Halina wanted to know where to find her. Teren didn't know, or wouldn't say, and Halina was on the warpath to find out. She wanted her wiped more than anything, much more than she'd wanted Ben's memories. I had a feeling that she'd take everything from Carrie, just to teach Teren a lesson. Assuming she ever found her that is.
But not everything was stressful. Amid the drama of Carrie's surprise visit, Teren and I had the big ultrasound. He walked me into the lab where they ran the tests, his nose wrinkling at the antiseptic smell that bothered even my sense of smell. We sat in padded waiting room chairs and he rubbed my shoulders while we waited. He'd been doing a lot of massaging after our spat. I didn't tell him that it wasn't necessary, that he really didn't need to keep buttering me up. He was good at massages and my body was sore, and aching in spots I hadn't expected to ache in, and I wasn't about to ask his heaven-sent fingers to stop.
A short, plump woman with platinum hair and raspberry scrubs called my name and after Teren helped me stand up, we walked over to the doorway to greet her. She held her clipboard to her chest as her pale eyes took in our excited faces. "First timers?" she asked brightly.
I nodded eagerly and Teren chuckled, rubbing a spot on my back as we followed the nurse through the door and into a hallway leading to several small exam rooms. She nodded her head as she walked us by spaces full of various complicated looking equipment. We passed other patients, some getting tests done that were not nearly as joyous as the one we were about to take, and I tried to contain my joy and not smile merrily at the more dour faces.
Sweeping her arm, the chipper nurse said, "Well, we'll take good care of you." I bounced into the room with her and plopped my growing body down onto a flat, padded bed.
Teren walked in before her and she encouraged me to lie down while she shut the door and flicked off the light. The room had no outside windows, like my doctor's office did, and the space darkened dramatically. Teren froze where he was by the closed door, momentarily closing his eyes as he didn't know how dark the room was, didn't know if that odd glow he couldn't control would be too bright. The nurse didn't catch his pause and walked over to me, turning on a couple knobs to warm up the machine as she started going on about how exciting the first pregnancy was. I only partially listened to her as I stared at Teren. He was still standing close to the door, behind her, ready to slip out of the room if his eyes were too perceptible.
It wasn't exactly dark though; a couple nightlights cast a soft light and the machine itself had a glow that made it almost seem bright, the closer you got to it. My breath held as I watched him put a hand in front of his face and open his eyes to look at it. I could see the glow from where he stood, back in the darkest section of the room. He could see it too. He looked up at me, tossing a quick glance at the nurse. His face looked torn; he wanted to stay, but he couldn't if she'd notice.
I felt tears sting my eyes that he may miss this and found myself reaching my hand out for him. He tilted his head as he watched me, even more torn. And then he took a deep breath and came over to me. My heart increased as I watched him walk past the technician. She was busy prattling on about the miracle of life while she ran through a few steps on the computer, and really wasn't paying any attention to the undead man walking past her.
Keeping his gaze down, he went around to the far side of the bed and sat in a spinning stool. He shifted the rolling contraption so that he could both hold my hand and be closer to the nightlight. Taking another deep breath, he lifted his head to look at me. I swallowed as the glow was still really perceptible to me. But then again, I knew it was there. I tried to see the whites of his eyes as an outsider would, but I was so used to it, it was a little difficult. I shrugged, not knowing if it was noticeable to others or not.
"Hey, relax, dear. You're all tense." The jolly nurse was stroking my arm and I made myself not worry. She started taking my vitals and asking me if I'd loaded up on water (because apparently having a bladder close to bursting is how they get the best picture), and then she looked over at Teren, finally.
She was listening to my heart and I knew it had just started spiking as her gaze locked on Teren's. He immediately shifted his gaze to my face, but the nurse frowned and tilted her head, like she swore she had just seen something weird, but wasn't sure what. Teren's fingers tightened around mine and I was pretty sure he was holding his unnecessary breath.
The tech turned back to me. "You nervous or excited about this, honey? Your heart's all over the place." I let out a nervous chuckle and felt Teren's fingers relax as he lightly laughed as well.
Without looking at Teren again, she squirted some really cold, blue liquid on my stomach and rubbed it around. I had to laugh as the twins started to kick and squirm. The liquid was as chilly as Teren's touch and they were responding, just like they did when he touched me.
"Oh, active aren't they? Well, that will ease up when things start getting tight in there." She took what looked like a handheld grocery store scanner and rested it over my stomach. As she twisted it around, she shook her blonde head. "Twins. Brave woman. A girlfriend of mine had twins and those two have aged her at least a decade." She laughed and looked up from the computer monitor to my face, looking a little worried that she'd offended me, or scared me. "I'm sure it won't be like that for you though." Her tone clearly said that she thought it would be just as tricky for me, but she didn't want to freak me out.
I smiled and nodded encouragingly, like I was sure my children would be perfect angels and nothing like her girlfriend's. I wasn't sure what they'd really be like, but I'd love them no matter what. Just as I was busy picturing black-haired, blue-eyed toddlers crawling around my feet, the nurse pointed to some hazy, gray blob on the screen.
"And there is a good one of a face." I stared at that stupid screen until she shifted it, nodding, like it was the best face I'd ever seen, but really, all I saw was an abstract gray and white swirl of indistinguishable features.
Teren squeezed my hand, and looking back at him, I saw tears in his eyes. He'd seen it, whatever it was. His eyes faintly glowed at me as he smiled and stroked my hand. I sighed and looked back at the screen, hopeful to see something that resembled a child today. Then she spotted something and focused the image on it. Then I gasped. It was five perfectly distinct digits that were unmistakably a hand. I started to cry and felt Teren's cool hand brushing a tear off my cheek. The nurse smiled over at us and went on about other body parts that she and Teren could clearly see. He was quiet, listening to her, but not commenting, not wanting to drawn her attention back to him, but he squeezed my fingers whenever he saw something. I never saw anything else that resembled anything other than a gray blob, but that one hand made my day.
At the end of the test, she looked at each of us with a crooked grin. "Do you want to know the sexes?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Teren and I both looked at each other and then simultaneously shook our heads. That was one thing we'd both agreed on earlier. We wanted the surprise. It had annoyed my mom to no end when I'd told her that we weren't going to find out. She'd used the excuse that she needed to know if she should buy pink things or blue things, but I'd been firm on my decision and told her to stick to yellows and greens. We'd decided that some things were just meant to be surprises, and babies were one of those things.
The technician nodded and wiped off my belly, helping me adjust my clothes and sit up. Teren wrapped a cool arm around my waist, his slightly glowing eyes beaming at me. She flicked the light back on and we both blinked in the suddenly bright room. I exhaled a true sigh of relief that we'd gotten through that without him getting caught, and without caving on the babies' sexes. And as the nurse merrily tucked away the machine, she assured us that everything was well within the spectrum of normal, and she saw nothing to worry about. It made me obscenely happy to hear that my kids looked normal.
When we left the lab it was dark outside and as we walked through the orange light of the parking lot lamps, a happy smile was on my face as I thought about that tiny little hand floating around in my body. I imagined the baby attached to it was sticking it into its mouth and sucking on it. I'd read in one of my baby books that they sometimes did that in the womb. Teren was grinning ear to ear as he described the face to me. His vision had seen it in even more perfect detail than the nurse had seen it.
He was describing the tiny, button nose he'd seen, when he suddenly stopped walking, grabbing my hand to stop me as well. I looked back at his concerned face searching the darkness. I looked over the lot to the other side of the street where a cluster of trees were thick with shadow. Teren made no protective move like he did sometimes, so I thought maybe he was sensing something he knew, like maybe a relative.
"Halina?" I whispered, hoping the vamp hadn't decided to come pick another fight with Teren right now over Carrie or Hot Ben.
He tilted his head, his eyes still glued to the trees. "No, she's not in the city tonight." I nodded, grateful she wasn't around, and curious as to what he was sensing. Then he moved in front of me, a low growl coming from his chest. Recognizing that move, I stayed safely behind him, my hand clutching his arm in case he got the stupid idea to check out the oddity without me.
"Teren, what is it?"
He straightened then and looked down the street. Whatever it was, had apparently run off. Teren turned to look at me behind him. His eyes went down to my stomach, concern evident in his face. "Nothing, Emma."
I furrowed my brow, knowing he was lying. "Teren, just tell me."
He shook his head. "I'm not sure, Emma, but..." he looked down and then peered up at me, "I think someone's stalking me."
My eyebrows shot right up my forehead and the icy panic that I'd kept at bay ever since our abduction, flooded my chest. I put a hand over my stomach and searched the darkness. "A hunter?" I whispered, my hand on his arm clutching him tight.
I looked back at him and he shook his head. "I don't know. I keep smelling..." He twisted to put both arms over mine. "Please don't go out alone anymore." His face searched mine frantically. "Please, I can't lose you, Emma." His hand drifted down to rest over mine on my stomach. "Any of you."
I nodded and hugged him tight to me, my eyes darting out over the suddenly vast and terrifying world we lived in. I squeezed him tighter, trying to block out the irrational fear I felt now. It crept in though, and the icy tendrils snaked around my core as Teren took my hand and led me to his car. He helped me inside and shut the door, a low growl issuing from his throat as he took a final look around. I thought maybe Teren was feeling that icy fear too.