The Bellwood Breed

The Bellwood Breed-56

With the help of Soren, we were back in Connecticut in seconds almost. We had dropped everything, leaving our stuff along with the tension that had been present back in Mexico. Something was wrong with Lexi's baby, even for a half Lighter child it was too early.

"Lexi!" I cried as I caught site of my little sister. She was sweating profusely and breathing hard as she gripped my hand.

"Riley, you're...you're here." She tried to smile, screaming as she had another contraction, she had never been too good with pain. Avery's mom came over and checked her vitals rushing to figure out what was going wrong. No one wanted to worry Lexi so we all kept quiet, the others were downstairs awaiting the news.

"Of course I'm here Lex." A tear slid down my cheek as I kissed her forehead."

"What's wrong, why is the baby coming? I'm only two months." She breathed raggedly.

"Everything is gonna be fine Lexi, I promise." She nodded quickly as I swallowed hard. Her screams bounced off the walls as she held on to my hand for dear life.

I looked at Avery's parents. Avery's father wiped a cold rag on her face, telling her to relax. His mother was already trained so she was going to deliver the baby.

"Lexi honey, the baby's vitals are dropping quickly, you're going to have to push okay?"

She shook her head, tears coming down her face. "No, I can't!" She cried. "It...it hurts!" She breathed.

"I know baby, I know, but we have to save him. You want that right?" She nodded quickly. "Okay, so on the count of three, I want you to push as hard as you can, and when I say ten, stop pushing." Lexi nodded. "Okay, one...two...three." She screamed bloody murder.

"It hurts!" She was blubbering like a baby, I couldn't even begin to imagine what giving birth must've been like, and I didn't want too.

"Is there nothing you can give her?" I said desperately, I hated seeing my sister like this.

Mr. Johnson shook his head. "We already gave her an epidural, we don't want to risk harming the baby further, and giving her what we use during child birth wouldn't help because what we have can't be used on humans, the strength of the medicine would send her body into shock." He informed with a frown.

I took a deep breath and kissed her forehead again. "It's okay Lex, you're doing so well." I cooed as she cried out in pain again.

"One more push Lexi, just one more."

"Oh my gosh!" She cried as she did. Finally, the baby slipped right out with a cord wrapped around its neck. It didn't cry. She handed the baby off to her husband as he left the room with it. "What, what's going on?" Lexi panted. "Where is he taking my baby?" She tried to sit up and winced in pain as she did. I eased her back.

"Don't worry Lexi, everything's going to be fine." I looked at Avery's mother, her face was grim, and I could only hope that everything would in fact...be fine.

******

It felt like it had been hours as we all sat there waiting to here what the outcome was. Lexi cried for at least half an hour before drifting off to sleep. I stepped out in the hall to meet with the others.

"How is she?"

"What's going on?"

"Is she okay?"

"Is the baby okay?"

"Guys whoa!" I massaged my temples and sighed. "Lexi's fine, I don't know what's wrong with the baby though, there was a cord wrapped around its neck and it didn't cry."

Avery stepped forward and hugged me. "It's going to be okay Ri." I nodded as I wiped at my eyes. "have you spoken with my parents?"

I shook my head. "Your father took the baby with him, I haven't seen him since." Avery swallowed hard as his eyes turned away from me. I narrowed my eyes. "Avery..." he wouldn't look at me. "Avery, what do you know?" he looked at the others. "What do you all know?"

Ryder finally spoke. "Riley look, I know you don't want to hear this but...we have to remember that Andrew was the baby's father." I had trouble breathing as he said his name.

"Yeah, so? What does that mean?"

He started to say something when Avery's parents reappeared. "Riley." His mother motioned for me to follow them. "I think you need to see this."

******

"I don't get it, he looks like a perfectly normal little boy." I watched as my nephew looked up at me with Lexi's big bright eyes. I couldn't look past the already prominent features he had of Andrew, even at just hours old. He laid fully clothed in a crib watching us, almost as if he were taking in what we were saying.

"Of course he does. On the outside that is." Mr. Johnson stood with his arms folded before he picked the baby up, holding up his left palm. "But, if you look at this," he showed his palm to me. "We can see that he is far from normal...even with being from our kind as well."

"What on earth is that?" In the palm of his tiny hand was some strange symbol that I'd never seen before, almost as if it had been burned into his hand.

Both adults gave me grim looks. "Riley, it's the mark of Satan himself."

I cocked a confused brow. "What you mean like...the devil?" They nodded as ice slowly made its way down my spine and through my blood. "I-I don't get it, how is that even possible? What does that mean?"

"It means that Andrew was finally successful. What he failed to do before, and what he tried to do with you, was father a child, father a child that would be so dark, and so evil that our race couldn't even stand a chance against him when he reached his maturity level, when he comes into his Darklighter side, as he will in due time."

"But...but he's half human, won't he have a choice, to choose dark or light?"

They both shook their heads. "No, not in this case. Riley that mark, that he was born with...that's a mark in the prophecy..." he let it linger in the room as it sunk in. "Riley that baby...it's the prince of darkness...and we can't allow it to live."