"No!" I gasped as I woke up in a cold sweat clutching the blanket.I was safe. I was in our bed, in our house, on our beach.I looked over to where Alexis should have been sleeping and saw that his side of the bed was empty. How late was it? I got up, looked out the window, and saw that it was dark outside. He should have been in bed by now, except…he didn't want to be anywhere near me.I rubbed my arms against the chill. How long was this going to last?I went back to bed, and though exhausted, I had a hard time falling asleep.The next morning, Alexis was still not in bed. I pulled on my gown and hurried downstairs where I saw breakfast waiting for me, but no Alexis."This is crazy." Alexis giving me the cold shoulder was childish. Well hell, I'm not going to play. He can talk to me when he's good and ready.I slammed the chair back from the table so I could sit. I scowled because Alexis had come home, cleaned up the mess I had left, and had left the house. I ate warm porridge
I don't know how long I slept, but I was awakened by another nightmare, this one much worse than the first one:I was back on the road leading to the Mother's house. Oni again had shape and form, and I was relieved to see her. The road in this nightmare represented everything that scared me. It was the shadows under my bed when I was a child, the clowns with their painted-on smiles and corpse-like skin. The road was Halloween witches and strangers that snatched little kids. Oni was fearless, leading us to safety, and I fought to keep up with her.I wasn't pregnant, and it didn't occur to me that I should have been. We ran, and Oni checked behind her often to make sure I was still there. Her face then filled with fear because it wasn't me she was looking at from over her shoulder.Werewolves were chasing us.Their gnashing teeth were long and sharp, saliva foamed from their mouths, and they were much faster than our human forms. Fifty or more were behind me, and they were the Omicro
I was back at the house cleaning up the mess I had made when the front door opened. Alexis stood in the doorway. I pulled myself up to my feet. His eyes quickly scanned the mess.He moved forward. "I'll do that. But let us talk, okay?"I nodded.He carefully reached out, and when I didn't move out of his reach, he took my hands and held them tightly. "I don't want you to leave me."I sighed. "Alexis…""Kim, I did hurt you on purpose. But I only wanted you to experience a small bit of the pain that I felt when I thought I had lost you. I didn't know how else to tell you not to ever make me feel like that again."I shook my head. "I didn't do it on purpose," I whispered."I know," he said. He stepped over the food and led me to the couch where we sat side by side. "I was wrong. I was trying to show you something, but instead I was cruel to you. I knew I was wrong, but I was so angry."I looked away. "Are you still angry?""No," he said quickly. "Look at me."I did."I'm afraid
He picked me up, and my arms wound tightly around his neck.Then he placed me on the couch!"Oh," he said. "I stink. I haven't bathed in days." He pulled off his top, losing his headscarf in the process. Then he squirmed out of his pants, and when I saw his beautiful thick cock full and ready, I reached out and gripped it firmly by its base. "Love me…" I whispered.I kissed him, and his lips possessed mine as his tongue gently probed and lapped. I swept off my gown, and he laced his hands on each side of my belly and stared at me reverently, taking in every inch of my body."Forgive me," he begged between kisses. I placed my hands against his cheeks and halted him so that I could look into his eyes. "If you'll do the same."He nodded and then kissed me, lifting me so that my legs went around his waist. He was so strong and hard, his muscles like tightropes beneath his skin. I arched so that I could make room for our baby, and Alexis covered me carefully with his body.His hea
The agony grew until I tasted the distinct copper flavor of blood—my own blood.My body seemed to clench in on itself, as if I was vomiting and being vacuumed into the center of my existence. I wanted to scream and cry but couldn't draw in even the smallest breath. I clutched Alexis with hands like claws and saw him through a haze of red.I was bleeding from my eyes.Alexis carried me swiftly down the beach screaming, "Oni! Oni, help!" He stumbled into their house and met Ran in the kitchen. "Where's Oni?""What the fuck did you do to her?" Ran screamed."I didn't…" Alexis said.Ran grabbed me from Alexis and placed me gently on the floor. He held my face. "Oni!" Ran screamed until I was surrounded by a blur of faces and touches.And then I heard the soothing voice of Oni in my head. Let it go, the thought, the words, even the idea of telling him what you learned from the Mother. Let it go.In the back of my mind, I was still thinking about all the things I needed to share with
I turned to Oni. Tell him about the Mother building a world in the Underground for herself and her spirit friends.Oni turned to Alexis, who sat on the cocktail table facing us. She told the story like a village storyteller, giving it life as each series of events occurred.Alexis nodded. "I have seen these things. They are part of my memories of the Mother."I looked at Oni. But these aren't memories that other Neratomay have? Like Ran, like I didn't have?Oni repeated the question."Then you know why you are Golden?" Alexis smiled because he wasn't struck down by the painful Wraith of exposing Neratomay secrets.Because we are the Mother's Chosen, I said to Oni. Again, she repeated it, and Alexis nodded and smiled broadly."Very good, my love," Alexis said. "When you understand your abilities, then you have power to fight! The Elders want you among us, and you already know and have already experienced more than others, and yet they won't share even the smallest knowledge that
As I grew bigger and it got closer to me delivering the baby, fear gripped me. Millions of women gave birth without a doctor or even anesthesia. Although neither man had ever delivered a baby, Alexis and Ran assured me that they knew how to birth a baby and to then cut and tie off the umbilical cord and then wait for the afterbirth. Oni knew how only because I had watched a live birth on television.They didn't seem afraid or nervous, just excited. I was excited, too, but I was still scared. I had been pregnant for what seemed like an eternity. Although I was ready to meet my baby boy, I wasn't ready for the unknown or the screaming I was sure to do."This scares you more than having to face the punishment by metal," Alexis said."I only had a night to worry about the punishment. I've had months to worry about this birth. And then what's going to stop me from getting pregnant after the baby is born? We make love every single day.""Sometimes more than that." He smiled."Right. I'm
Oni gently took the baby and reminded Alexis to cut the cord. He grabbed the sanitized scissors and completed the task, tying string around both ends while Oni cleaned away his birth fluids.Alexis leaned down and kissed me. He looked into my eyes with eyes full of tears. I had never seen him with tears in his eyes. "You have given me a gift more precious than anything in this universe, a gift even more valuable than my immortal life."My heart melted, and I reached up and stroked his face. Oni had wrapped the baby in a blanket and presented him to me. He had stopped crying and was looking up at the world around him."You are here," Alexis said, staring down at his son. "Did I not tell you how big this world is, my son? And you have yet to see it in its entirety. I will show you the corners of the earth." Our son's eyes locked onto Alexis while I held him in my arms loving them both as completely as I had ever loved anything.They cleaned me up and placed me comfortably in bed with