Chapter 4.20 - Consequences

Warning: This chapter contains mature content.

My incessant cell phone would not stop ringing and it was beginning to grate on my ears. I figured I should have answered it, but my tongue was busy inside Ryce’s mouth. It had been spending a lot of time in there lately, with no complaints from me, and it wasn’t the only thing that had been in her in the past few months. She sighed quietly as I trailed kisses from her mouth along her jawline.

               “Are you going to answer that?” She asked quietly, referring to my seemingly unending ringtone.

               “Nah.” I replied with dismissive huff, returning to our business. The ring eventually ended but within minutes it started up again. I reluctantly pulled away from Ryce back into my seat in the car I kept borrowing from Jiro. I reached into my pocket and yanked out my phone, smashing my thumb into the talk button.

               “What?” I snapped.

               “You put that damn rose-print underwear in the laundry with my white shirt and turned it pink you moron! You owe me a new shirt and you’re forbidden from touching my laundry again. Where are you anyway?” Jiro complained, his usually relaxing voice now grating on my ear.

               “I’m out in the car I was about to drive Ryce home.” I grumbled.

               “Well get back in here and fix this mess.”

               “Fix it yourself!” I exclaimed.

               “You’re using my car, living off my paycheck, using my resources so you will get in here and fix all the damn problems you’ve created.”

               I slammed the phone shut and pitched it to the ground forcefully, getting out of the car and going inside. “Goddammit!” I shouted as I walked in. Jiro started to complain about the loss of laundry but I wasn’t paying attention to his rant.

               “Do you mind?” I interrupted him, “I was sort of in the middle of something with Ryce and you are being a complete and utter bitch!”

               Jiro took a step back, “What the hell, Ig? Did you just call me a bitch?”

               “Well if the shoe fits…” I sneered.

               “You’re a real jerk, y’know that? And what was so important with Ryce anyway? Making out with her like you always are? Don’t you think it’s a little unhealthy to spend all your time with her especially when all you’re doing is humping each other like rabbits?”

               “Do I detect a hint of jealous? That I have a girlfriend, a social life, friends and you don’t?”

               “Don’t be a moron! Go fuck yourself, Iggy!” He shouted.

               “I have a girlfriend for that. You however…”

               “That’s it, I’m out of here!” He shouted, storming off towards the front door.

               “Jiro wait!” I called after him, only now realizing what I had done, but it was too late; he was far from listening to me. I sighed, a mixture of irritation and disappointment as I heard the front door slam. I knew I’d need to let him cool off for a while before contacting him, but my phone was still in the car and possibly broken from chucking it at the floor.

               “Er, should I just go? You probably want to be alone.” I heard Ryce’s voice, quiet with hesitation. I looked up to see her standing near the door.

               “Did you hear all that?”

               “Yeah…”

               I sighed again, rubbing my forehead and Ryce started for the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

               “N-no!” I exclaimed, rushing towards her, “Please, um, don’t go yet. I don’t want to be alone.”

               She turned around and I took her hand in mine. She looked into my eyes. “That’s good, because I didn’t want to leave you.” She smiled and I pulled her in for a kiss. God she tasted so good, she always did.

               “I want you.” I whispered in her ear and she giggled.

               “Now?”

               “Now.” I breathed, my hands drifting down to her backside. It wasn’t until I had her pinned beneath me on my bed and topless that I managed to stop thinking about my argument with my brother and focus on my girlfriend baring herself to me and even then I felt distracted.

               “You okay?” She asked, bringing her delicate fingers up to caress my face.

               “Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” I lied, leaning in to kiss her, but she pushed me away gently.

               “If something’s bugging you, you can tell me about it. Do you want to talk about it?”

No, I want to fuck your brains out until both of us forget everything but whatever’s between our legs. I thought. “No, not really.” I replied, “Let’s not talk.” I whispered in her ear, now eager to get it out of her head that we needed to have a heart to heart of some sort. With a little coaxing, however, I did get my wish and in the end Ryce slept in my bed the rest of the night as I stared at the ceiling next to her curled up bare form. I didn’t get up or hardly even move until around 4 AM when I heard the front door open and close. I slipped out of bed, yanked up my nearest pair of underwear and dashed downstairs.

“Jir-oh.” I exclaimed and was stopped short at the sight of my sibling, but not the one I had been expecting.

“Sorry to burst your bubble.” Kaia said, “Best head back to your girlfriend.”

“How’d you know…?” I questioned, “Were you spying on us?” I accused with horror.

“Don’t be vulgar. Your hair is mussed beyond belief, you’re shirtless, and you put your underwear on backwards in your rush to get some clothes over your crotch.”

“O-Oh.” I replied, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it. You have a fight with Jiro or did you just want him to join in a threesome?”

“And you’re telling me not to be vulgar.” I grumbled.

“Fight it is. Probably something stupid too, like laundry. You realize there should be a separate wash for darks, lights, and colors?”

“I know!” I exclaimed. “I know about the laundry, okay!”

“Dang, I’m on the ball tonight. Jiro probably found a gay lover to stay with from now on then.”

“What?!”

“Kidding, kidding. Jeez, you’re touchy tonight. He’ll probably be back some time tomorrow or something. Are you always like this after you have sex with someone or is it like the whole Ji-“

“I’m going back to bed.” I interrupted her. Her comments were all ridiculous, I convinced myself, and Jiro would be back soon so we could talk. We could fix everything. We would fix everything.

I walked back upstairs and into bed, unintentionally falling asleep next to Ryce and not waking up until several hours later. My girlfriend and her clothes were gone and in her place was a short note telling me she had gone to work and she would call me afterwards. I laid back on my bed and let the note slip from my fingers to the floor. I was alone to my thoughts now, and absolutely nothing good would come of that.

I got up and went downstairs to see if I could find my phone, but Jiro had taken the car. I sighed as I turned to leave, but suddenly spotted the little contraption on the floor. It was beaten up a bit, but when I turned it on it seemed to still be in working condition. Not that it mattered in the end because as I checked my inbox, I found no texts, voicemails, or missed calls from him. I was starting to worry that he really had left for good.

But he did come back just as Kaia had said and he was much more receiving than I expected. Right when he walked in he was already apologizing to me for overreacting. He seemed almost happy, which felt weird considering the situation at hand.

“It was all my fault, really. I guess I was just in a bad mood. I totally overreacted and I’m sorry.”

“I, um, well, wow. I’m really sorry too.” I responded, quite surprised that talking it out was going so smoothly. “I’m sorry for everything.”

We hugged, which was interrupted by Kaia wolf whistling and we separated immediately, Jiro’s cheeks flushed red. I patted his shoulder and half smiled, “Thanks. Y’know, for not hating me.”

“Thanks for at least trying to wash your own clothes.”

I laughed quietly, “I try, I really do.”

“Do you really?”

I shoved him and he laughed, “Shut up.”

At that point everything seemed to be working out, for once my life actually felt in balance. Ryce texted me later that she had gone home from work early because she hadn’t been feeling well and I asked her if she wanted me to come over, but she refused. I didn’t like knowing my girlfriend was sick at home but when I called her and asked if I could just come over she told me all she wanted to do was take a nap and assured me she’d feel better after some rest.

I should have known that that was not the case.

I called her the next evening, but it went straight to voicemail. I left her a message asking her to call me but after hours of waiting, I got no response. I called a few more times and received nothing but her voicemail. I was starting to feel worried and while I didn’t want to invade on her personal space, I couldn’t stand getting no response from her especially after she said she hadn’t been feeling well. I borrowed Jiro’s car and drove over to her house. It had begun to rain outside by the time I got there and the lights were on, but that didn’t really mean much.

I couldn’t slow my feet as I ran to the door and knocked, at first calmly then shifting to an urgent rap on the wood. “Ryce? Hey, you in there?” I called through the door but was greeted with yet another bout of silence. I pulled back the welcome mat in front of the door to find the spare key and opened the front door, dashing into the house. “Ryce?!” I shouted, worry flowing through me like nausea.

I sprinted into her room and found her curled up on top of her bed, I could smell the disease-like odor in the air. “Oh my god, Ryce!” I exclaimed, rushing to her side. She moaned quietly. “Oh shit, are you alright? What’s wrong? C-C’mon, I’ll take you to the hospital!” My hands shook with fear as I went to pick her up.

“No…” She moaned, “I… don’t need the hospital. I’ll be fine…” Her voice was a weak slur as if even moving her lips was a struggle.

“Well you need something! What can I do? I’ll take you to my house, Jiro or Kaia can help.” I said, hoping they at least had some sort of idea what was going on. My extent of knowledge on human health was about as deep as a puddle. I didn’t even pay attention in health class back in high school and I had no more time to learn until I was… changed.

“I… don’t want to trouble you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not just going to leave you here to suffer.”

“I said… I’ll be fine…”

“No you won’t. We’re going now.” I gently reached under her and lifted her into my arms, she clutched me, her grip weak like that of a drowsy child. I noticed she was clutching her stomach as I placed her in the passenger’s seat and she rocked her head back and forth, her eyes tightly shut and brows furrowed in pain.

“It’ll be okay, everything’ll be fine, I promise.” I tried to reassure her as I started the car, my trembling hands making it difficult to get the key in its hole. I sped home and parked in front of the house and lifted Ryce out of the car, kicking the door shut. With no free hand to open the front door, I kicked it to knock. “Jiro, open the door!” I shouted.

“It’s unlocked, open it yourself! Also you owe me because I just spent an hour trying to scrub every last bit of your blood out of the tile grout and I had to go out and buy new cleaner just to get it off the floor!”

“Do I sound like I care? Open the damn door, my hands are full!”

I waited a few seconds and Jiro opened it, whatever complaint he was about to utter cut short when he saw Ryce in my arms.

“Oh man, what happened? Is she alright?”

“No she’s not. She’s sick as hell but won’t let me take her to the hospital.”

Jiro stepped out of the way as I walked in to put her on the couch in the entry hall. Her body lay limp but she was still in clear pain, the intensity written across her face.

“What’s going on?” Kaia’s voice drifted in as she stepped quietly towards us.

“It’s Ryce. She’s… not feeling well.”

“Well that’s obvious. Get out of the way.” She commanded, pushing me gently but firmly away from the couch and kneeled down. She felt her forehead and her brows knitted. “Iggy, Jiro, leave.” She told us and I began to protest but she cut me off. “Get out. I need to talk to her.”

Jiro tugged my arm, “C’mon, it’ll be okay.”

I left reluctantly with Jiro partially dragging me to the living room where we sat silently side by side on the sofa. I held my head in my hands, rocking back and forth with worry and impatience while Jiro put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. This went on for countless minutes, each tick of the clock pounding mercilessly in my head. Kaia eventually returned and I sprang to my feet. She stepped swiftly towards me and grabbed the collar of my shirt, yanking it toward her.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“W-What?”

“Are condoms not good enough for you or something? Do you know how dangerous it is for a human to carry a vampire child?”

“Wait, is she…?” I asked, incredulous.

“Yes, pregnant; with your child I’m assuming, due to all the shit you’ve been doing in your bedroom for god knows how long.” She let go of my shirt and I stumbled back.

“Holy shit…” I whispered. “I’m going to be a father?”

“If she survives that long.”

“Survives?”

“Are you deaf? I told you, it’s incredibly dangerous for a human to carry a vampire child and the chances of her surviving the ordeal are not exactly high.”

It was starting to sink in that I was at fault in this matter. I was so worried about her and yet it was me that had caused her this pain in the first place. “What do I do?”

“Your best chance would be to abort the child. I know it’s not the solution you want but… it’s the best chance she has.” I could see the pity in Kaia’s eyes and I knew we were both thinking of Mom and Dad. She was the lost child, the one they had never been able to see grow up or go to her first day of school or get dressed up for prom. But she had come back. If Ryce aborted this child, it would never come back.

“I need to talk to her.”

“I injected some of my venom into her bloodstream to substitute for the blood the child is taking from her. It’ll lessen the pain. You’ll have to do the same soon enough.”

I nodded in understanding then made my way to my girlfriend’s side. “Ryce?” I asked quietly. She was lying on the couch looking pale but better than she did. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” She replied quietly. “I know what’s going on. I want you to know I don’t blame you for any of it.”

I felt a bit of relief but the guilt still weighed heavily on my heart. “I’m so sorry this happened, it’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.” I kneeled down next to her and took her hand in mine. She leaned over and kissed me.

“It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself for this.”

I was quiet for a moment then decided to point out the question that had been hanging in the air. “Kaia says we should abort the baby.” I said quietly. “It’s your decision though.”

She didn’t respond at first and directed her attention away from me and to her stomach. “Is there any chance of surviving without aborting it?”

“They aren’t high.”

“But there are chances?”

I felt hesitant to respond, but I couldn’t keep the truth from her. “Yes, there are chances.”

“Then I’m keeping the child.”

“But-“ I began, not wanting to abort our child but at the same time not willing to lose my girlfriend. She cut me off.

“I said I’m keeping the child and that’s final. You just have to keep giving me the, um, the venom. Right?”

I sighed, “It’s not quite that simple and continuing to give you venom can be both risky and dangerous. You’ll need real blood.” I saw hesitance in her eyes, she was doubting herself, wondering if having this child was really such a good idea but she didn’t say anything.

 “How would we get that?”

I bit my lip, “Let me make a call.” I replied simply.

And that was how I found myself calling Alona for the second time since I’d left.