Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

As if feeling their eyes on him, Angel stirred from his sleep and opened his eyes. The baby didn't move nor blink for a while; he just stared into space, and then, sighing as though he carried the weight of the world on his tiny shoulders, he turned to lay on his back. He dipped his chin downward, peering at the two who stood at the foot of the bed, watching him.

As if realizing he was in a strange room, the baby glanced around and then pushed his chubby body into a sitting position with a little difficulty, staring back at them, his brows knitting together.

Nobody moved as he looked from one to the other. In that silent moment, while he seemed to be deciding whether they were strangers or not, Evenly subconsciously moved closer to Rav, slipping her hand around his forearm again, gripping more tightly this time. Through their mind link, she asked, "Why is he staring at me like that?"

Why was she suddenly feeling cold and sweating at the same time?

The baby's eyes were fixed on her, and it would be a lie to say she wasn't uncomfortable, or deeply unsettled, by those dark eyes staring into her as if trying to see straight through her soul.

Rav, completely aware of her hand biting into his forearm despite the layer of fabric, wanted to move away but couldn't as she held fast.

"Careful, don't stare too deeply into his eyes. He can compel you," he warned her, just as Rohan had warned him last night.

Evenly quickly averted her gaze, looking down and fighting the urge to hide behind Rav, the only solid thing standing close. At a moment like this, when a baby's stare was making her nerves unravel, she couldn't even remember why she despised the man beside her.

When she took her eyes away, Angel also shifted his gaze, his attention going to the cup in Rav's hand. He seemed to sense the blood within it, and without hesitation, he began crawling toward the foot of the bed. Once he reached the bedpost, he used it to push himself up on unsteady feet, swaying slightly, and then surprised them both by holding out his little hand toward the cup.

For a moment, Rav nearly placed the cup directly into the baby's hand, so strong and unwavering was the child's stare, and so confidently were those chubby, small fingers reaching for it. But instead, he passed the cup to the woman beside him. Evenly, taking it almost without thinking, was then nudged forward as Rav stepped back behind her.

"Feed him the blood," he instructed from the safety of her back.

She began to turn, ready to hand the cup right back to him, but she stopped when she saw the harmless, almost hungry way the baby was looking at her now.

Something inside her softened. Moving forward slowly, she brought the cup toward his lips. He parted them without hesitation and began to drink, his small hands coming up to grip the sides of the cup as though afraid she might take it away too soon before he was done.

Angel drank deeply, not stopping until the cup was drained. But before he could release it from his mouth, Evenly bent her arms and swept him up against her chest, holding him.

When the baby did not protest, she turned to Rav with widened, amazed eyes. "He let me hold him." She laughed, unable to hide her delight.

Since the woman rarely smiled, let alone laughed, Rav was momentarily stunned at how a laugh could change one's face so much. Yes, the woman was beautiful, but her laughing like that made her even more beautiful, adding a hint of innocence to her well-structured face. A faint blush rose to her rosy cheeks when Angel, still nestled in her arms, tilted his head and stared up at her with furrowed brows, as though her laughter had caught him by surprise.

As if embarrassed, she stopped laughing and looked toward Rav. "Why is he staring at me like that now?" she asked, her voice tinged with self-consciousness.

Rav tore his eyes away from her face and looked at the baby. "He's trying to see if you are a good or a bad person."

"Oh..." she murmured softly. "Am I a good person then, Angel?" she asked with a small chuckle, not believing the baby have the ability to tell ones heart at such young age. But the amusement quickly faded from her face when he moved his tiny hand to touch her cheek.

His touch was warm and small, and she suddenly felt her heart constrict as emotions overwhelmed her out of nowhere.

She remembered the joy of being pregnant, of waiting eagerly for the day her baby would be welcomed into the world. Alongside that joy came a sharp sting of remorse.

If she hadn't been so careless back then, rushing down the stairs in a hurry, she wouldn't have lost her own child. And if she hadn't been so desperate to have another afterwards, only to discover she could never conceive again, her husband might not have grown tired of her. He might not have looked outside their marriage for another woman.

Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision of the baby until Rav quickly stepped forward, grabbing Angel from her arms and placing him down on the bed. "He has something in him that makes one emotional, my lady," Rav explained blankly. "When he touches you like that, you feel what you don't want to feel. He did it to me last night. Here, take this."

He handed her his handkerchief as tears streamed down her cheeks.

He had expected her to refuse it because it belonged to a lowlife like him, but instead, she reached for it. Their fingers grazed in the process, cool against cool, a fleeting contact that still made him tense. He quickly pulled his hand back, as though the touch had caught him off guard. Muttering a quiet thank you, she wiped at her eyes and cheeks.