Heavenly Blood

29 - Alice

"Mummy?"

"You should be asleep Flora," I whispered to my daughter, sitting down and stroking her hair, "it's late."

"I'm hungry again," she whispered, "And I'm not tired anymore."

I sighed, "Do you want to eat something and sit up with Daddy for a bit?"

She nodded. I smiled and led her out her room. It had only been a year since I gave birth to my children but they had aged to that of an eight year old in human years. Unfortunately we were still in Alec two bed house since we currently couldn't afford anything else. The children shared a bunk bed in what was our old room while Alec and I had been forced to part with many of the memorabilia of our lives in order to fit a small queen into the other room. Most night I found him standing in the garden, arms folded behind him with his eyes closed in a trance like state. For once he was still up and sitting on the sofa in the living room. Flora sat with him as I went into the kitchen to grab a blood bag. The fridge was empty. I sighed. I went back into the front room were Flora sat on Alec's lap with him cuddling his daughter.

She was more attached to Alec seeing as she was most likely a vampire. Through the year and as she had been growing she had been feeding more and more but sleeping less and less. Alec had told me that last week she had not slept at all and instead read books through the night. Cole was developing much faster, arguably closer to a ten or eleven year old than eight. From what Isla had told me, this was normal for foetal born Angels but I would only have a child for another year and a half. After this the ageing process would once again slow to almost immeasurable. I wanted to say that he was close to me but he couldn't contain his excitement whenever he saw Max. I wasn't an Angel anymore.

Accepting I have parents was one of the hardest things about coming back. I refused to call them by their parental names and instead called them by their first names. I understood why they essentially abandoned us, it was to protect themselves and they were - at least at the time - fugitives and deserters. But I couldn't agree with them leaving the three of us to figure out the pieces ourselves.

Flora's giggle brought me back. I smiled, "I'm gonna have to go get some more blood. You two drink it like it's going out of fashion."

"Don't blame me," Alec replied innocently, "it's all this piggy."

He tickled his daughter, "Liar Liar!" She cried, "You had two bags yesterday."

"Alright, alright keep it down or you will wake Cole. It was enough trouble getting him to sleep," I warned.

"He still struggling?" Alec asked.

I nodded, "I think he should start spending more time with Max. I don't know enough about Angels to help him. Especially now as I'm something between...." I trailed off, "Right, blood. I'll see you in a bit."

"Wait," Alec playfully threw Flora into the sofa and followed me out the door, "How are you doing?"

I smiled, "I'm ok." I kissed him quickly, "I love you."

I drove to the hospital. Being something between was hard, I lied every time someone asked how I was coping. I was no longer an Angel, I had no connection to my wings anymore and so I lost the one gift I had. Nor could I run as fast as a vampire without fully letting my hunger take over. The only gift I seemed to have was increased strength, almost as if the two had combined meaning I was now much stronger than my husband and I enjoyed reminding him so. Although I had gained my children I couldn't help but feel I had lost a part of myself. No one treated me differently, I just felt incomplete. The hardest part is neither of my children could be that close to me. Angels could always identify other Angels as Vampires could detect their kin. I was neither and honestly it hurt to watch Flora run past me to Alec or Cole wander off with Max and talk for hours. I wanted my kids to have and understanding of their species, even if I hadn't changed I would be of little use in the Angelic worlds, I just wished I could be more to them.