Parental Intuition

Chapter 7 - Eternal Love

Dracula entered the delivery room with a sense of foreboding pitted in his stomach. The last time he was there, the horrific sight of Ericka bloodied and falling out of consciousness had been etched into his memory. Now, however, it seemed that the room had been cleaned and sanitized, and the rank stench of blood that had filled it before was now long gone. He quietly made his way over to the bed where Ericka lay among clean sheets and in a new hospital gown. She carefully turned her head to him as he approached.

"Drac," she breathed.

At the sound of her soft voice, Dracula immediately wasted no time in sweeping over and enveloping her in a hug. "Ericka," he mumbled. "Oh, you don't know how scared I was. I thought I would never see you again..."

She hugged him back tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. "I don't even remember what happened," she said, her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. "One moment I'm having the baby and the next..." she trailed off.

"It's probably for the best that you don't remember," Dracula murmured, squeezing her tighter.

Ericka nodded. "When I awoke, they told me that I had had a hemorrhage. They needed to give me an emergency transfusion to make up for the blood that I had lost..."

Dracula nodded, feeling sick just listening to it, though he was glad it had ended up saving her life. The last thing he wanted was to lose her.

"I was so afraid," the Count admitted with a tremble. "I thought that you were going to die. That I was going to lose my zing!"

He held on to Ericka, tears threatening at the corners of his eyes as the memory came back to him all over again. He was almost certain that if he opened his eyes now, she would be gone in a flash, like a mirage. But her soothing hand gently combed through the back of his head, confirming that she was indeed there. Her touch made that former pain recede a fraction.

"There's no need to worry any more," Ericka whispered. "I'm okay."

She pulled him back enough to look him in the eyes. They were wet with tears of sadness. But then they changed into something else; a look of affection and gratitude for her being there. He sobbed out in happiness and wrapped her in his embrace again, crying into her petite shoulder.

"Alright, alright," she said after a moment. "Now stop your babbling. I've already got two babies to deal with, and I don't need a third at the moment," she giggled.

Dracula laughed in response and kissed her gently on the lips. "Sorry, love." They stared at each other tenderly for a moment before he spoke up again.

"Sooo... twins," he said.

Ericka shrugged. "I didn't know I had it in me. Literally. As far as I know, the Van Helsing family line has never had a history of having any twins or triplets or whatnot. What about the Draculas?"

Dracula shook his head. "Nope. Not that I know of. They were always just one baby at a time."

Ericka shrugged again. "Huh. Strange, but I have no complaints. Now I have two beautiful babies in my life!" She smiled wider and pried Drac."What do they look like? I hardly got a glance at them."

"Oh, they're wonderful," Dracula said with a swoon. "The girl is small, black curls and big round cheeks. The boy is a little bigger, with straight hair that's as white as yours. They're amazing, my love. Just simply amazing."

"They do sound lovely..." Ericka agreed. "I wish I could see them."

Dracula rose up. "Say no more, my love, I'm on it." Walking over to the little crib they had been placed in, he carefully picked them up in each arm and brought them over, bundled in their little pink and blue blankets. Ericka gasped as he held them in front of her. "Wow," she breathed, getting misty-eyed. They were her children... hers and Dracula's. She reached out to touch the girl's cheek and she opened her eyes - deep blue eyes that resembled her father's. "Hi sweetheart," she cooed softly. "I'm your mommy."