Father Or Mine

One
“So, Bella looks good.” At the counter of the Brotherhood’s kitchen, Zsadist picked up a knife, squeezed a head of romaine lettuce together, and started drawing the blade through at one-inch intervals. “Yeah, she does.” He liked Doc Jane. Hell, he owed her. But he had to remind himself of his manners: It would be damn tacky to bite the head off a female who was not only your brother’sshellan, but who had saved the love of your life from bleeding out on the birth table. “She’s recovered beautifully in the last two months.” Doc Jane watched him from the table across the way, her Marcus Welby, M.D., bag beside her ghostly hand. “And Nalla’s thriving. Man, vampire young progress so much faster than human babies. Cognitively, it’s like she’s nine months old.” “They’re doing great.” Hekept slicing, moving his hand down and through, down and through. On the far side of the blade, the leaves sprang free in curly green ribbons like they were clapping at having been liberated. “And how are you doing with the whole dad thing—” “Fuck!” Dropping the knife, he cursed and brought up the hand that had been on the lettuce. The cut was deep, down to the bone, and his blood was red as itwelled up and dripped off his skin. Doc Jane came over to him. “Okay, let’s get you to the sink.” To her credit, she didn’t touch him on the arm or try to lead him with a push on his shoulder blade; she just loomed and pointed the way to Kohlerland. He still didn’t like anyone but Bella putting their hands on his body, although he had made some progress. Now, if the contact was unexpected, his firstmove wasn’t going for a concealed weapon and capping whoever had let their palms do the walking. When they were in front of the sink, Doc Jane cranked the thing’s throttle over and fired it back so that there was a warm rush landing in the deep porcelain belly. “Under,” she said. He extended his arm and put his thumb into the hot water. The slice burned like a bitch, but he didn’t wince. “Let meguess. Bella asked you to come talk to me just now.” “Nope.” When he shot her a look, the good doctor shook her head. “I examined her and the baby. That was it.” “Well, good. Because I’m fine.” “Had a feeling you’d say that.” Doc Jane crossed her arms over her chest and regarded him with a stare that made him want to build a brick wall between the two of them. Whether in a solid state or translucentas she was at the moment, it didn’t matter. When you got eyeballed by the female like this, it was as if you’d been sandblasted. No wonder she and V got along. “She did mention you won’t feed from her.” Z shrugged. “Nalla needs what her body can provide more than I do.” “It’s not an either-or situation, though. Bella’s young and healthy and she has great eating habits. And you’ve let her feed.”“Of course. Anything for her. Her and her baby.” There was a long silence. Then, “Maybe you want to talk to Mary?” “About what.” He shut the water off and shook his palm out over the sink. “Just because I’m respectful of the demands on my shellan, you think I need a shrink? What the hell?” He snapped a paper towel free from the roll mounted under the cabinets and dried his hand. “Who’s the salad for,Z?” the doctor asked. “What?” “The salad. Who’s it for?” He pulled out the trash bin and pitched the towel inside. “Bella. It’s for Bella. Look, no offense, but—” “And when’s the last time you ate?” He put his hands up, all “Stop! In the Name of Love.” “Enough. I know you mean well, but I’m a short fuse, and the last thing any of us needs is Vishous coming after me because I snapped at you. I getyour point—” “Look at your hand.” He glanced down. Blood was running from the pad of his thumb onto his wrist and his forearm. If he hadn’t had a short-sleeved T-shirt on, the shit would have been pooling at his elbow. Instead, it was trickling onto the

terra-cotta tile. Doc Jane’s voice was annoyingly level, her logic offensively sound. “You are in a dangerous line of work where you rely...