Expecting Monsters

by Jolene Dawe

Belladonna awoke the instant her wards were broken. Breath rushed out of her lungs, stolen as if something heavy had landed on her chest. She sat up in bed and, after a moment, sucked in a gulp of oxygen. She looked around her chamber for the intruder and would have missed him completely if he hadn't blinked.

His game up, the intruder dove from the shadows, dropping the darkness from his body like others would shrug off clothing. Belladonna's first impression was of his size: he towered over her easily, and if she had been standing she knew it would make little difference. His arms and legs were thick and dark, his shoulders broad, and the wings folded tightly against his back would, she knew, spread to an enormous span. She saw his stature, saw his face with its red eyes and gleaming teeth, saw his bat-like ears, and fear seized her.

Her fear was not that of a female with a strange, uninvited male in her bedchamber. Her fear was that of a rabbit with a fox suddenly in the warren. There were few reasons why a gargoyle would dare to enter a faerie mound, and all of them ended with the faerie dead. Fear made her reaction slow, so that by the time she had a barrier erected against him he was nearly on the bed.

He reached through the barrier as if it were made of spider webs and wishes. Only the slight grimace upon his features gave her a sign that the barrier did affect him. It simply wasn't strong enough to do more than cause him minor discomfort.

Bella drew on her power, but before that spell was completed the gargoyle grabbed her and yanked her from the bed. Granite-strong arms pulled her against his chest, wrapping around her to hold her close. He ran in a loping gait to the nearest window. Glass shattered outward before he touched it and he dove through the opening. Bella squeezed her eyes shut and felt them free fall for a minute before he unfurled his wings and gained control. She held herself absolutely still as they flew, waiting for him to drop her and dash her to the ground, praying that he wouldn't.

She felt his arms go slack a second before he said, "Roll as you land," and then she was falling.

She didn't fall far, nor did she take his advice. She landed on her legs much like a cat would, and the shock of the landing jarred her body. Bella's knees buckled and she ended up in a heap on the tiled floor.

The gargoyle landed silently beside her. He took hold of her wrist and dragged her through the balcony doors. Darkness was thick in the room, but Bella's eyes adjusted quickly and she could make out the great canopy bed in the center of the bedchamber. Upon it lay a tiny figure. The figure stirred as they arrived, and a moan escaped its lips.

The gargoyle dragged Bella to the side of the bed and drew back the gauzy hanging to reveal the bed's occupant. Bella gasped as she gazed upon thoroughly human features. Her eyes took in the girl's round blue eyes, her damp blonde hair, her pale skin. Her eyes took in, too, the swell of the girl's stomach, and the sweat that rolled down her face, down her body, drenching her bedclothes.

"Help her," the gargoyle said.

Belladonna pulled her hand from the gargoyle, rubbing at her wrist. "Why should I?"

The human on the bed cried out. Bella could see her stomach rippling, stretching, as the monster inside tried to break out.

She could help her, she realized. She could kill her now, and end this nightmare. Her head swam with imagined visions, of the girl stolen from her people, of this monster having his way with her, of her being forced to carry his child to term. How long had she been a prisoner here? How long had she been tormented before she had conceived?

The contraction lingered on, and the girl whimpered with the pain. Bella could feel it in the air. She could nearly taste it. Her own heartbeat began to change, melding with the heartbeat of the girl, drawing Bella into the rhythm of her pregnancy, of her birthing. It was part of her magic, and it was surely what caused the gargoyle to seek her out.

It wasn't the only part of her magic. Bella reached within herself and found the coldness that dwelt inside her breast. It was a rare ability, among the fey, but it was her second calling. Healing and death often went together.

"I'll help her," Bella whispered before the monster could respond. She leaned over the bed and pressed a hand against the girl's belly.

Blue eyes shone with gratitude as the pain eased. Bella pressed her hand harder against the skin, and the relief in the girl's eyes turned to panic. She screamed and thrashed away, bringing her hands up around her stomach. At the same time the gargoyle roared out and threw Bella away from the bed.

Belladonna landed, bounced a few times, and braced herself as the beast descended upon her. He threw her against a wall, caught her, and tossed her again. Her head swam. Her vision faded. Pain danced along her limbs. At least she would die without his teeth sinking into her. At least she would die without him devouring her soul and stealing her magic.

"Stupid, blind fey," the gargoyle spat as he caught her and held her. "It is not always about you. It is not always what you think."

Bella felt liquid seeping from her nose. She tried to inhale and breathed in her own blood instead.

"Help her," the gargoyle said again, dragging her back toward the bed. "Help her bear this child. She is dying. Look. Look. She does not need your aid in doing that. Help her live."

Bella did look. She looked at the girl's arms, tensed against the strain. She looked at the girl's jaw, set and determined. She looked at the girl's eyes, which were focused on the gargoyle and shining with love. The girl knew she was dying, knew that having this baby would be the death of her, and Bella guessed, by the depth of adoration in those blue eyes, that the girl had always known. The false visions were supplanted by new ones of a delicate, impossible romance. Bella blinked away tears and pushed aside her embarrassment.

A second contraction hit, and the baby within the girl stretched her skin as far as it would go. Bella breathed around the pain she took on, relieving the girl from as much of it as she could. The infant was going to literally tear itself from its mother.

Bella sat herself on the side of the bed and reached for the girl again. The girl whimpered, tossed her head, and tried to hide her stomach.

"I'm sorry," Bella said soothingly. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't understand. I'm not going to hurt you. Please. I can help."

The girl looked at her lover. Bella felt rather than saw the gargoyle nod. The girl removed her arms. As Bella touched the skin a third contraction hit, and this time she couldn't relieve the pain fast enough. The girl screamed, and she screamed, and within the womb the baby screamed. Bella worked through the pain, pushing against the child as it pressed against its mother's flesh. Bella felt its confinement, its desperation to be free, to stretch and be comfortable. If something didn't happen soon, both mother and child would perish.

She closed her eyes and turned inward. Tight. Confined. Too small, suffocating, choking, killing. She felt as if she were being crushed. There was an escape route but it was far too small. Her only hope was to push out, to tear her way to freedom.

Bella opened her eyes. "He's too large to come down the birth canal," she said.

The gargoyle said, "It's the wings."

Bella looked at him over her shoulder. "Do they generally give your females this much trouble?"

Suddenly he looked less threatening. His ears dropped as he said, "We are typically hatched from eggs."

"Humans don't lay eggs," Bella said what they all already knew. "They can't. What were you thinking?" Stupid, blind fey, was it? She gritted her teeth and shoved her annoyance away. It wasn't aimed at what they had done, it was aimed at their lack of preparation afterward.

Bella sighed and withdrew her hands from the girl's stomach. "She belongs in a hospital," but she knew as she said it that such a thing wasn't possible. In choosing the gargoyle for her lover, the human had closed off a whole list of possibilities. "I'll need a knife, something sharp. Towels. Clean water. Blankets."

The gargoyle stared at her, unmoving.

Bella flicked her hand at him, sending small sparks at him to underscore her point. "Go," she commanded.

The gargoyle flinched and then ran from the room, as frantic as any father-to-be Bella had ever seen.

With him gone she turned her full attention on the mother. "I'm curious to hear the whole story," Bella said.

"I know I'm dying," the girl said needlessly.

Bella tsked her tongue and offered the girl a smile. "You were dying. It's going to be rough going, and there is going to be some serious pain. I can't take it from you and concentrate on what I'm doing."

"You're going to cut me."

"I have to. The baby is trapped. If I don't, he's going to tear through you."

"He's not human."

Bella resisted the urge to reach forward and shake the girl. "No," she agreed.

"I'm scared."

"I know." Bella didn't offer any false comfort; it was not the way of her kind.

The gargoyle returned, his arms full of the things Bella had demanded. Tossing the blankets and towels and knife at her, he ducked out only to return almost immediately with the water she had demanded.

"I'll need you to hold her," Bella told him. "She's going to scream. You can't let go."

Before her very eyes the gargoyle paled. "Magic," he said. "You are fey. You can take her pain."

Bella could have screamed in annoyance. "Stupid, blind gargoyle," she tossed his words back at him, though with less venom than he had used. "It doesn't work that way for all of us. I can't take her pain without taking it upon myself. If I do that, I won't be able to operate. Would you have her be in pain, or would you have her die? It won't take long, but if we don't hurry there won't be any point."

"She'll bleed to death."

"No. I can heal that."

"But you can't take her pain?"

Pain trembled along the bond between the two females. Bella sucked in a breath, bracing for the contraction. "Not and do this at the same time. Hold her!"

Pain tore through her. She held it for the girl while the gargoyle climbed into the massive bed. He lifted his lover and repositioned her so that she was cradled in his arms. His giant legs her wrapped around hers to press them to the bed. His granite arms he wrapped around her shoulders, gently but firmly, so that he could hold her still if need be.

Bella swam through the pain. She gritted her teeth and arranged the supplies as she needed them. Towels went under the girl's torso, down to behind her knees. Blankets waited at the bedside until they were needed. She washed her hands in the water, washed the knife, and then knelt on the bed.

She tore the girl's damp nightgown from her body. Placing a hand on the bulge in the womb, Bella willed the child to still. Move back, she thought to him. You are almost free.

She waited until she felt him reposition himself. Then she caught the girl's gaze with her own, allowing her full nature to shine through. It wasn't much; the girl would be slightly mesmerized. It would be as if her body was slightly numb, dulling the pain. It would still be sharp. It would still feel as though she were being sliced open, but it would take the edge off.

Bella picked up her knife, nodded at the gargoyle, and touched the blade to the girl's stomach. She didn't hesitate, but cut through the girl's skin and flesh with precision. Mesmerized, the girl took a few moments to realize the operation had started, and the pain took over. Her whole body went rigid, and then began thrashing. Bella pressed her own body against the girl as the gargoyle's legs and arms locked, the two working in tandem, trying to hold the human still. She screamed like she was being tortured, and Bella didn't doubt that it felt similarly to being tortured.

She worked as fast as she dared, cutting into the womb. Fluid spilled out. Something dark and large moved as Bella opened the womb, surging out. Bella fell backward with a shout. She wasn't expecting the newborn to be as mobile as it was. The baby turned to its mother and bent over the opening from which it had just escaped. Bella started for it as it lowered its mouth to the opening, but the gargoyle held her in place with a taloned foot. She listened more than watched as the infant ate its own after-birth material and snapped its own umbilical cord between its teeth. The girl whimpered through her pain but didn't struggle any longer. When the infant finished its grisly task, it leapt to the top of the bed and roosted out of sight. The gargoyle released Bella and she turned her attention from the baby back toward the mother. She set the knife aside, placed her hands on the girl's flesh again, and began her spells. Tissue knit itself back together in moments, and the skin followed suit. Bella examined the results once the healing was finished. There was no incision mark. There would be no scar. There would be no sign at all that the girl had carried a baby to term.

Pleased with herself and the success of the delivery, exhausted from the night's events, Bella removed herself from the bed and collapsed into a chair by the balcony. She watched from across the room as the infant gargoyle came down from the top of the bed and settled on his mother's breast. The girl was groggy, but her arms cradled the baby to her, as her lover cradled them both. The family, cuddled on the bed together, healthy and whole, was the last thing Bella saw before sleep claimed her.

Morning had come and gone, as had half of midday, before Bella woke up. She found herself in bed, and she knew a moment after opening her eyes that she wasn't alone. The girl sat by her bedside. The baby was nowhere to be seen.

"How is he?"

The girl started. "Oh!" She brought a hand to her throat and then dropped it, blushing. "They're both doing well," she said. "They're napping."

"And you?" Bella tossed her covers back and got out of bed. She looked at the girl. "You should be napping as well."

"I was," she said. "And I will again. But Gwyon thought you might wake soon and I was already up, so . . . ." She shrugged. "I think the delivery was harder on him than it was on me."

"I doubt that," Bella said.

"I wanted to thank you. He was so scared before he left the other night. I'm not sure how he convinced you to come--I know relations between your people and his aren't the best."

"He didn't convince me," Bella said, but she no longer felt any anger about being yanked from her home.

"Oh." The girl dropped her eyes as she came to the obvious conclusion. At least, Bella thought, she doesn't have any false ideas about her lover. "I'm sorry. He's typically not that bad, but . . . well, you know what he is."

"I do."

There was a pause.

"Am I free to go, then?" Bella asked.

The girl flushed again. "Oh, yes. Yes, you aren't a prisoner. I just wanted to thank you again. You didn't have to help me; you could have let me die. But, you didn't, and I'm grateful for that."

"You're welcome." Bella started for the door. Halfway there she stopped and turned to the girl. "Next time, tell him just to ask, all right?"

She left the girl nodding, found her way outside, and started for home.