The Only Way

Bill and my mom arrived later that evening. The moment I opened the door, Mom rushed in and wrapped her arm around me tightly. "Oh, sweetheart, thank God you are alright." She must have assumed the very worst when I called her on the phone. I kind of felt bad for making her worry so much.

"I'm alright, Mom," I told her. I helped her with her things. Bill didn't say anything to me; he was saving the conversation for when we were all comfortable. Silas came to greet his dad and stepmom, and he and Bill seemed to be very tense around each other. Silas avoided eye contact with his dad even as he showed him around the house. I was worried that what I had said might have somehow messed up the relationship between those two. The last thing I wanted was to make things complicated. Being pregnant was a hard pill to swallow; being pregnant with a hybrid baby that might possibly kill me was even worse. But once I got over the fear of the danger my pregnancy would bring, I found myself excited at the thought of holding mine and Silas's baby. It had always been a dream of mine to start a family with someone I loved, but in better circumstances.

Maybe if Silas had been honest with me from the very beginning, I might have handled the whole thing better. It doesn't matter now; that was all in the past.

"How many weeks?" I looked up from my plate of salad at Bill, who had just spoken. The food was delicious, I could tell by the way Mom kept complimenting Silas, who had prepared the dish, but to me, it tasted rather bland. Another symptom of being pregnant with a vampire baby. The blood tasted divine; human food tasted like plastic. "How many weeks is your pregnancy?"

Oh, so we were finally addressing the elephant in the room. With the way the dinner had been going, I honestly thought we wouldn't even bring up the topic of my pregnancy until tomorrow. "I..."

"Three weeks," Silas said. He hadn't let me finish my sentence; he must have known I was going to say I had no idea how long I had been pregnant. Hearing him call the number so easily had a surge of annoyance running through me. I still couldn't believe he had known about it this long and hadn't bothered to say anything. Sure, he was trying to protect me, but what gave him the right to make that choice for me? Calm down, Kerry. You already forgave him, remember?

"And you didn't bother telling her earlier?" Bill was not looking impressed by his son's choices. In fact, this was the first time I saw his fiery eyes directed at Silas. He was pissed. "Do you think this is a joke? You put her life at risk, all because you couldn't man up and claim responsibility?"

"That's not it! What the fuck. Me and Kerry already had this discussion. I told her the reason why I hadn't told her about it. I know I messed up, but I don't need you judging me. This is still my baby and woman we are talking about."

"She was my stepdaughter before she was your lover, and it was my responsibility to protect her. I was stupid enough to trust you to do the same. Have you never thought of the consequences of your actions? What if she had... something bad could have happened to her. She needed medical help."

"You were the one who always told me to protect what I cared about. And I knew for certain that if someone else had known about the nature of her pregnancy, it would have been more dangerous to both her and the baby."

Bill was about to give a nasty reply to his son, but my mom held his hand, directing his attention to herself. She shook her head, indicating that he shouldn't say anything hurtful. I had my head bowed as I pretended to enjoy my meal. The truth was, I didn't like seeing them argue like this about me. I had already made peace with Silas's mistake, and truly, I had forgiven him. There was a bigger matter at hand, and that was Asher. He hadn't appeared in front of me since that time at school. I was very afraid that the next time he showed up, he might not let me go so easily again.

"You both shouldn't argue about that issue now," my mom said. "The most important thing is for us to ensure Kerry delivers this baby in perfect health. We still have several months to go, so..."

"It doesn't work that way." Bill ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "The longer the baby stays in her, the more harm it does to her health. It's draining her from the inside. The best thing to do would be to... abort it."

"You are not fucking aborting my child!" The entire table shook, and most of its contents spilled over or even crashed on the floor due to how hard Silas had slammed his fist on it. His eyes were red, and his fist was clenched very tightly. "You don't get to make that decision."

"So you would rather have her die?"

"I'm not going to let her die! You are simply making things worse! I thought you coming here would make Kerry feel at ease. But if you continue saying nonsense, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Silas! Don't talk like that to your father."

"Stay out of this!" Silas snapped at my mom. "I can't believe the both of you are content with killing your own grandchild! Or do you think you care about Kerry more than I do? I fucking love her; protecting her would always be my first priority. But honestly, I think there is a way we can save both her and my child's life. And I won't let you convince me otherwise."

I couldn't take it anymore. I pushed my chair back and headed directly upstairs. My action must have startled the rest of the people at the table. I could hear them calling after me, but I didn't listen. I got into my room and slammed the door closed. I hated this, hated the way they talked about my future like I wasn't seated right there at the table. I was already so terrified. I didn't need them making it worse. Why did I ever think that inviting Mom and Bill here would make things easier?

"Kerry?" There was a knock on the door. I was at least glad that Silas had respected my privacy enough to not just use his powers to get inside the room. "Kerry, please. I am so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Just... come out and let's talk about it."

"I want to be alone. Surely even you can respect that."

"Kerry..."

"I said I want to be alone, Silas!! Do something right for once!"

That was a bit harsh. I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. But like hell I was going to take them back. Silas had proved more than once that he was insensitive to my feelings. He did whatever he wanted without caring whether they hurt me or not. I needed a clear head.

"Alright, I'll come check up on you later, baby." I heard him say. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the sound of retreating steps. I lay curled up on my bed, thinking about what my next course of action was. Bill had said aborting the baby was the only way to keep me safe, and I trusted him enough to not suggest that idea unless there truly wasn't another option. I had thought of the very same thing last night—getting an abortion seemed like the best option for me. But now I dreaded the thought of it. Somewhere along the line, I had begun looking forward to having this baby, and now I was told that I couldn't. I was putting my life in danger by just considering it. The longer I carried the pregnancy, the more I lost myself.

"Kerry?" There was a knock on the door, only this time the voice didn't belong to Silas. "Can I come in? I know you want to be alone right now, but there is something very important I need to talk to you about."

"Come in."

"How are you feeling?" The room was dim because I had turned off the lights and drawn the curtains. But it was easy for Bill to see me. He moved closer and sat by the side of my bed.

"Sick. Tired. Miserable."

"I am sorry for the way I acted at the table. I shouldn't have disregarded your feelings like that. I just felt..."

"You were angry with Silas."

"Not angry. Just very disappointed in his behavior. I had always known that Silas cared about you deeply, more than he should have. It's not very thrilling finding out that your son is in love with your stepdaughter. I'm not saying your relationship is bad, but it will complicate things. Others won't understand."

"I know."

"But I had full trust that he would take care of you. I always thought that he would put you first before anything else. But now..."

"It's not really his fault," I cut him short, wanting to protect Silas. "He would do anything to protect me."

"I know he would. But right now, he isn't thinking clearly, and the longer we wait for him to snap out of whatever fantasy he's drowning in, the more danger you would be in. I will keep you safe, even if it means my son might never talk to me again, even if it means you will hate me."

"Bill, I could never." I pushed myself into a sitting position. I reached out and took Bill's hand in mine. I was getting emotional; I could already feel the tears welling in my eyes. "I'm very grateful for your help. And I trust you fully to do the best thing for me."

"I'm very sorry." He wrapped his arms around me, and I melted into his embrace as the tears finally fell down my face. " I wish there was another way "

" Me too. When do we get rid of it? The baby?"

" Tomorrow. The sooner the better "

All I could do was nod my head in agreement. I wished things would have been different, but this was the choice I had to make if I wanted to survive. Silas couldn't know. He would never let it happen if he knew. I was hoping he might find it in his heart to forgive me for doing this