Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

"You won't..." Belle let her tears roll down her lashes. "You won't lose me."

He sat silently, as though debating whether to believe her. "I can't control the feeling, the fear."

She managed a smile. "So do I. We all have fears the moment we find something we want and desperately need. I have my fears too. That's what makes us beings."

"Isabelle..." He groaned her name and then began to chant it like a prayer. "Isabelle... my Isabelle. My lovely Isabelle." He closed his eyes.

Belle watched emotions flicker across his face, the uncertainty, the raw fear he wasn't used to having but was seemingly pressing in on him now for some reason.

He didn't always know how to express his emotions, even after getting them back, but that didn't mean he didn't feel them deeply.

When Rohan slowly opened his eyes, he guided his gaze directly to hers—locked. His dark eyes shimmered and sparkled. He held her gaze steadily, not blinking or shifting away.

"I love you," he whispered.

Belle caught her breath, and sudden tears blurred her vision.

"Love you," Rohan repeated. His gaze bore into hers.

"I love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you... I love you so much!"

"Rohan." Belle laughed.

"Love you," he murmured against her lips, her face, against the curve of her neck. "I love you."

"I love you too. Are you going to keep saying that?" she smiled in amusement.

"I'll say it every day until you can hear it. I wish I could say that while I am buried deep inside you, but I'd be a bastard to think of that when you are still raw. But I love you." He pecked her lips, her cheeks, and her eyelids.

The baby between them began to frantically wave his tiny fists, a hiccup of cries rising in his throat, as if to pull them back to him and demand the attention he both needed and deserved. After all, he was the newborn, the new addition to their world, and his two lovely parents shouldn't forget him. That was exactly what his little, hypocritical cries seemed to say.

Belle gently moved her head away from Rohan's cupping hand, then let her gaze drop again, only to see the baby's tiny fist curl around her little finger. He gave it a firm tug, as if to make sure she was looking, and sure enough, he was smiling again now that he had her attention.

"Wasn't he just crying a second ago? Look how he's smiling now..." Belle said in wonder, her eyes wide with amazement.

"Angel," Rohan announced all of a sudden, making Belle turn to look at him.

"His name. Let's name him Angel. Though I can already tell he'll be anything but an angel, he's our little Angel, the one who has helped us in more ways than we can count." Rohan let his hand gently caress the baby's smooth cheek.

"Angel, I like that." Belle agreed, recalling all those times the baby had listened to her pleas and made things easier for her.

Angel's other hand took Rohan's finger.

Linked by him, the man and wife shared a quiet, glowing interlude of closeness. Reluctantly, Rohan ended it.

"I'd better tend to you now, don't you think? Get you washed and in some clean clothes."

Belle reluctantly handed the baby over, and Rohan laid him gently in the basket she had prepared. Kneeling beside it on one knee, he adjusted the pink shawl around the tiny form, touched his soft hair with a fingertip, and murmured, "Sleep now, precious one."

The next hour was devoted entirely to making his wife feel better after the ordeal of childbirth. Never in his lifetime had he imagined that bringing a child into the world could be this intense. And now, having witnessed it firsthand, he couldn't help but believe that women who gave life were stronger than men.

He had seen what his wife had endured for hours, every cry, every struggle, and he found himself loving her even more for that silent, unwavering strength.

He bathed her tenderly and applied the comfrey as instructed to help heal the tear. While he carefully cleaned her and helped her into a fresh nightdress, he also fixed the mattress, removing every stained sheet and parchment paper.

Then he laid clean, soap-scented and lavender-scented cloths over the mattress that hadn't been soiled because of all the double paper. He fluffed the pillows and arranged everything so she would be as comfortable as possible before gently helping her lie back down on the bed.

By the time he was done with all of this, the baby had begun to cry softly again for attention. This time, Rohan realized that, along with the blood he had already fed him, the baby now also needed his mother's milk.

Belle was so weak and sleepy that Rohan had to help her unfasten the front of her nightdress and ease it down to reveal a milk-swollen breast, the nipple puckered like a sweet raspberry, ripe for the picking. Blood rushed to his groin at the sight, but he paid no heed to his senseless desire. Instead, he carefully adjusted her breast to the infant's seeking, greedy mouth, which immediately closed around the pink nipple, ready for nursing.

Belle was already fast asleep while the baby suckled hungrily. Rohan watched in silence, carving the sight into his memory so he could paint it one day.

He left the room to clean the things he had used and to prepare porridge for her. He moved with his vampire speed, determined not to be far from them for long.

By the time he returned, both mother and child were fast asleep, but his son had not released the nipple from his mouth. Even in his sleep, he occasionally continued to suck, as if still comforted by the warmth and closeness.

He couldn't find it in his heart to wake either of them, thus he sat on the chair at the bedside and watched them sleep. Warmth and tenderness in his gaze.

It was finally time he started making the arrangements for returning to that reality he had locked away for days. Even though he wanted to keep that reality hidden, the sight that had welcomed him when he came in hours ago to find his wife burning made him realize he couldn't avoid it like he would have wanted to.

He loved this woman more than life itself, and if there was the faintest threat to her life, he would like to fix it before it got out of his hands.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Rohan finally opened the link to his mind he had locked away in order to block out a certain demon. But he hadn't unlocked it for the sake of that demon, but to talk to Rav, who immediately answered his calling through their link.

"Is everything of ours restored?" Rohan asked immediately after Rav greeted him.

"Yes, my Lord. His Majesty has kept to his promises and everything of yours is back to how it used to be."

"Good," he replied, and then, thinking briefly, he decided to announce it to Rav, as he was too proud to hide the fact. "I am a father to a son." He couldn't hide the pride from his voice as he announced it, his eyes on his wife and son.

Rav's excited voice came, piercing through Rohan's head. "CONGRATULATIONS! Oh my, it's good news!! You—"

"You are going to blow up my head, Rav. Bring your damned excitement down," Rohan warned with a little grimace on his face, and Rav quickly apologized.

"When are you coming back?" Rav asked.

Rohan was silent for a long while, like he wouldn't answer the question, but he finally sighed and replied, "The moment she recovers and I tell her."

"You haven't told her yet, my Lord?" Rav said with a gasp of disbelief, as he'd thought his master would have told his wife about what she would have to do and expect the moment they came back to Nightbrook.

"No. I will tell her the moment we plan to leave," Rohan mused, watching her stir in her sleep, her arm coming forward to subconsciously cradle Angel closer to her breast. He knew he would have to tell her sooner or later, he just did not want her remaining days here to be clouded with the thoughts of what he had agreed on, like his own thoughts were.

"What about the baby?" Rav asked. "Are we still going to do everything as you planned it?"

"Yes. Nothing has changed. Everything will still go as planned. You can tell the woman to prepare."

"Yes, my Lord. I will let her know." Rav said, and then after a moment of silence, he added, "Do you think Her Ladyship will agree?"

Rohan stared at his sleeping wife for a long moment before he replied with certainty, "She will. She loves me as much as I do her. I was willing to do it; she will be willing as well. Get ready to receive us after she recovers."

Before Rohan could shut the link, Rav hurriedly asked, "What's his name? I mean the baby's name?"

A smile curved Rohan's lips as he replied, "Angel Maxwell Dagon."

"You gave him two names, sire?" Rav asked curiously, to which Rohan chuckled, "Yes. I have always liked the name Maxwell."

He had always liked the name because it had been the name his mother had wanted to give him before she realized what he was after his birth. To him, the woman who had sung to him when he was in her womb and the one who had rejected him when he was out were two different beings, and he would always cherish those little moments of love he had received, and so he would give his son that name.