Forgiveness and Punishment

44

Melissa continues in her memories.

"Timothy, I don't feel good. Do vampires get sick?" Melissa tells him going into his office about two years after their marriage.

"Melissa? There are very few illnesses that affect vampires." Timothy looks at Melissa and is concerned. She is even more pale than normal. "Let's call Cliff, he's the next thing to a doctor we have." Timothy makes the call even as Melissa climbs onto his lap. He pulls her close as he wraps his arms around her. He thinks he knows what's wrong, but needs Cliff to verify before he says anything to her. He just hopes that she doesn't get upset with him.

Cliff finishes his examination of Melissa, he turns to her and gives her a smile. "Well, Melissa, I have to say you are breaking all kinds of expectations, aren't you?"

Melissa just looks at him blankly. "I certainly have no idea just what you are trying to say, Cliff."

Cliff smirks at her. "Vampires that bond usually take years, meaning decades if not centuries to have children. You are going to be a mother in about seven months or so. Sometimes the baby likes to come early so it's hard to tell just how much time you will have before birth."

Melissa looks at Cliff shocked. "I'm going to be a mother, a literal one and not a figurative one, I mean?"

Cliff smiles at her once more this time in a reassuring manner. "Yes, Melissa and before you start to panic you were a real mother to Tad when you were just nine years old, I have no doubt that you will be brilliant as a mother now."

With that Cliff excuses himself to go hunting.

"I'm going to be a mother. I've been with all of you within a very short time frame, how will we know who the father is?"

Timothy shrugs, "Doesn't really matter to me. As far as I am concerned any children you have are mine. However, if you wish to know, vampires can always tell their blood kin. The father will know if he is the father of the child."

Timothy hesitates but learned the hard way it's better to confess as soon as possible. Waiting or not saying anything will cause far more damage than confessing will. He takes a deep breath, "If you are upset, I will say right now, it's my fault. I should have talked to you first. I certainly hadn't expected you to conceive so quickly. I have been intentionally taking my time when I'm with you. Not only is it far more filling that way, meaning I have less need to go hunting or finding another donor, but being with you satisfies me in ways others can't."

Timothy holds her to him, "Forgive me? I should have asked you if it was alright with you first."

Melissa allows him to hold her tight and closes her eyes, soaking in his love.

"Cliff sent that I will now be having children from all of you within the next few years. Four children in four years." Melissa is overwhelmed with the information and Timothy holds her even tighter.

"Shit, I'm so sorry. I didn't know that it would cause you to have their children as well. I'm so sorry for being so damn selfish."

"No, it's fine. I just need time to process this. Four children in four years. How am I going to handle that?"

Timothy has her look at him before he gives her a gently smile. "You have four men that will do any thing you wish and plenty of money to make sure we have enough help for you so you don't get overwhelmed at any time. I'm sure all of us will be active in their lives. I know for one that I will."

"You really want a child?" Melissa asks him finally starting to understand and accept the information she is given.

"Before Delilah came into my life, I was courting a girl in my village. She had accepted me in marriage when she found out she was expecting my child."

"You had a human child?" Melissa asks enthralled with his story.

Timothy gives her a pained smile. "No, she died shortly before Delilah came back to our family home."

Melissa looks at him in horror, "You think Delilah killed her and the child."

Timothy shrugs but is unable to look at Melissa. "Yeah, I do. I was pretty shattered when it happened out of nowhere. It was only a few weeks later when Delilah showed up. It was easy enough for her to seduce me and get what she wanted from me."

"I'm sorry, Timothy." There is so much more that Melissa wants to tell him, but he is in no condition to hear what she wants to say.

"It was a couple of centuries later when I found my first wife. She was from the merchant class, some ass made promises to her, but when he got what he wanted from her he left her high and dry. She became pregnant from that jerk and needed a father.

"I rather liked her and knowing I couldn't give her kids didn't mind raising that one as my own. We were married a short time later and she gave birth to a son. By that time I was also a merchant, a very successful one at that and so he was well off.

"By the time I was forced to start over he was able to take care of business successfully with his grandfathers assistance. He married and had several children of his own.

"Then war hit, he and his family were killed and his money stolen." Timothy says with real pain in his voice. The pain hits Melissa and she holds him to her tight.

"It took some time before I could try again. About a century before loneliness drove me to find someone else.

"She was a sweet girl, her father owed me a great deal of money. To keep from going to debtors prison he gave me his daughter. I chose to marry her and give her, her freedom. She wanted children more than any thing and that was the one thing I couldn't give her.

"She understood what I was, but never feared me. She said that I treated her far better than her father ever had. I wasn't the first one he paid his debt by using her to do so. She had miscarried one child before she was given to me." Timothy clenches his jaw in remembered anger.

Melissa would be jealous of how much emotion that long dead female still gave him if she didn't feel the love he has for her now.

"I killed that bastard once she felt safe enough to tell me what he did to her. In return, I gave her what she wanted, I allowed her to choose a lover so she could get her child. I told her to choose and I would make sure that he would treat her right.

"She found a man that gave her a kind of love that I couldn't and got with child. Actually she had several children with him. She died in child birth with her fourth child." Timothy stops talking and turns from Melissa.

"What happened to them?" Melissa asks gently.

"The girls, there were two of them, grew up and married well. The two boys, the youngest died with his mother. The older one, he was killed by one of my enemies a few years after my wife died."

Melissa looks at him with wide eyes. "Human or vampire?"

"Yes, I took care of the vampire and the human lackey he employed. I made sure that people knew better then to mess with me. There is a reason the other vampires were afraid that it would have been a trap if I had called them together after the attack on Tad and TJ. Had they been guilty I would have destroyed them and they knew it. It's the reason they haven't come against me before.

"It took me almost another century before I made my own child. It took me a long time to build up this seethe. Most of which didn't happen until after I and my children came here. We fought for our place here and held against all enemies, no matter who they were. My children are well seasoned in fighting."

"I know, I've seen them sparring. They are deadly." Melissa gives a shiver at the thoughts of going against any of them.

"I know you don't like fighting, that's why I gave you a full time body guard." Timothy smiles lovingly and caresses her face. "Travis is more than happy to take the job and I know that he will be the most dedicated to protecting you.

"Your brothers have the right to be around you by being your family, but he didn't have the same reason and this way he gets the same time with you."