Malum

Tillie

Pregame

“Love is savage, love is blind, love is something they may not find…”

Droplets of water slide down the glass, reminding me of that one time my sister and I stayed up late, waiting for my mom to come back from grocery shopping. We sat near that window for two hours. I may have only been four-years-old, but I remember the memory so vividly that I could replay it in full HD inside my head for the rest of my life. On repeat. Constantly. With every detail, every scent, every gentle tick of the old clock ringing inside my head.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

When she walked out on us, she didn’t just take herself, she also yanked away diminutive parts of my sister and me, and more viciously, my father.

That’s when the beatings began.

That’s when he morphed from a deferential father to impertinent evil.

I don’t remember much of him prior to that day, only the good things, but every single day after that day is imprinted in my head like a boulder cemented into the ground after a volcanic eruption.

“Are you okay, Puella?”

Releasing a thick inhale of breath, my shoulders relax and my muscles release tension at the mere sound of his voice.

Licking my lips, I turn to face him, my hand resting on top of his. “I’m okay, Daemon.”

His eyes drop to the baby in his arms, my baby, and then come back to me. His beautiful eyes light up when they rest on me, like they’ve been dead all his life until this moment.

“We’re not too far away from being done, Tillie. You’ve done really well,” Tinker assures me softly from somewhere between my legs. I’ve managed to numb out the pain, or maybe it’s because I’ve just pushed out a monstrous-sized baby girl, but whichever is correct, I know that I wouldn’t have the strength to do this if it wasn’t for him.

Daemon looks back at me, his eyes glimmering in a way that I pictured her father’s eyes would twinkle. “She’s beautiful, Puella.”

I chew on my lip nervously as he places her small body onto my chest. She lets out a small crackle of a cry, her fist going to her mouth as her little head shakes from side to side.

Tinker comes up beside me, removing her surgical gloves. “Oh, sweet girl. She is hungry.”

“I don’t know how to do that?” Because I don’t. I actually didn’t think I had one maternal bone in my body until this very moment. This moment that sheer panic set into my bones from the thought of not being able to effectively feed my spawn. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will protect this child until the day I die.

“It’s okay,” Tinker says, propping the baby up so she’s closer to me. Her little face looks squashed against my boob. “She will know what to do. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but it should not be painful. If it’s painful, hook your pinkie finger into her mouth gently and unlatch your nipple from her, and then start again. Her mouth should cover all of this part.” She gestures over my areola.

I do it again, this time following closely to Tinker’s instructions, and her little mouth latches on. My nipples turn hot, like water is rushing to the tips of them, and then her loud drinking breaks the silence.

Tinker giggles. “She’s hungry!”

The other nurse who was helping stitch me up downstairs packs up and leaves. It’s not until she’s out of earshot when Tinker says, “They’re coming, Tillie. They’re all coming.” Her tone remains balanced and even, she could have been talking about the weather that’s how calm she was.

I freeze. “What?” For months now, my brain and my heart have been in a tug-a-war of feelings where Nate Riverside-Malum is concerned. Some days, the bad ones when I’m locked in my room in Katsia’s mansion in Perdita, I have nothing but the memories of Nate and I playing on repeat. I’ve used our time together, the feelings I had for him, as comfort. I undoubtedly fell in love with Nate, my heart and brain know this, right down to the very veins that run through me. It has and always will be him, but I’m not naïve. I knew what I was getting myself into the day I allowed myself to open the gates that contained my feelings toward him.

Nate is a player.

I have no doubt at all, that he would absolutely despise me. Not because he probably thought I ran from him, but because I have now, in his mind, hid his own daughter from him.

“Tinker,” I whisper-yell, my grip tightening around my daughter. “What do you mean they are coming? The Kings?”

Tinker runs her finger down my daughter’s face and smiles lovingly while answering, “Yes. You don’t understand, Tillie. Katsia wants to hurt this baby.”

“Hurt?” I almost screech. The mere thought of anyone coming near this baby with ill intent has my claws rearing to the surface.

Tinker shoots a look at Daemon.

Daemon grabs my hand. “I have a plan, Puella.”

My eyes zap around the room, unconsciously looking for any exit. One door that leads to the main hallway that is most likely heavily guarded as is every sector in this shitty big house.

“There’s no other option, Tillie. Hear Daemon out, okay?” The door opens and the nurse from earlier comes back in, clutching a phone. I tense, but Daemon rests his hand on my shoulder.

“Trust me, Puella?” he asks, his eyes searching mine. His endless black pits that I have no doubt hide some of the most disturbing secrets known to man.

I swallow and then nod. “Yes. I trust you.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead and reaches for the phone the nurse is handing to him. She clears her throat. “You have roughly around five minutes before they ask why I’m back in here. Please hurry, Daemon.”

I tilt my head, examining her. Was she a good one too? Seems there was only Tinker and Daemon, but maybe I was wrong. My attention falls to her name badge. J E S S I C A is sprawled out in black block letters.

Jessica.

“He’s not answering his phone.” Daemon hangs up, his eyes going to Tinker nervously.

“We have to buy time.” Tinker’s attention goes to the nurse. “Can you buy us some time?”

The nurse looks reluctantly at us all, so I take this moment to get her attention. “Jessica? Please. If there is anything that I can ever do for you, I will be forever in your favor.”

“Okay,” she exhales. “I’ll say that you haven’t had the baby yet and there are complications, but you should know, that I do have to deliver the baby to one of the Lost Boys after birth. Me not taking her already has put me and my family in grave danger, Tinker.”

“I promise you, Jessica. You and your family will be protected through this,” Tinker reminds her confidently. I know we have her when the corners of Jessica’s eyes relax.

“Okay.” I look around my room again. The room I’ve been hidden and kept in for the past months. I didn’t really care before when it was just me. Even though I was pregnant, the reality of having a child wasn’t real—now it is, and I will undoubtedly do what I have to do to get us out of this situation.

“Okay, what are we going to do. She has to take her to a Lost Boy. Then what?”

Daemon looks up at Tinker, then back to me. “You don’t have to worry about that part, Puella. It will be me that she will come to. I will make sure no harm comes to her and that she is returned to you safely, but we need to keep her quiet and still until The Kings arrive. Do you understand?” He runs his fingers through his hair, his eyebrows pulling together in stress.