Dakotah: Blood Oath: Chapter 1

Mika’s Note: This is a work in progress.  Bear with me.  Hopefully those that read will batter me with comments until I get my fangs in gear and finish this. LOL

She set the box of candles on the counter and gasped for breath. The pains had started two days ago and had been getting progressively worse. Sierra had ignored them for as long as possible, knowing she still had three weeks before the baby was due. Wincing at the ache in her back, she considered the idea that she just may be wrong.

Taking a glance at her watch, she saw it was only 3:30 and that the sun wouldn’t set for close to another five hours. Gotta love summer in the desert. Not only was it 118º outside today, but she couldn’t get to Dakotah until her bedtime.

“Suppose I could call Chey,” she muttered to herself, thinking of her sister. She’d just picked up her cell phone when the bell above the door tinkled merrily, announcing a customer in the shop. “Guess she’ll have to wait,” Sierra laughed, leaving the storeroom and greeting her customer. “Afternoon, how can I…” her voice ended in a laugh when she saw her sister on the other side of the counter.

“What’s so funny?” Cheyenne asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

Sierra waved a hand in her sister’s direction. “Sorry,” she gasped, “but I was just going to call you.” She rubbed her belly and sighed. “My back hurts and I’m not sure if I should drive home or not.”

Cheyenne narrowed her eyes at her entirely too calm sister. “And how long has this been going on?”

Sierra shrugged, not wanting to either worry her easily excitable sister. “A couple days,” she tossed out, casually.

“A couple of days?” Cheyenne roared. “Are you crazy?” She shook her head at that statement, realizing that her sister was having a vampire’s baby. “Scratch that. Does Dakotah know?”

Sierra looked over Cheyenne’s shoulder and grinned. “Um, noooo, not quite,” she teased, motioning to the bright summer sun beating down on the sidewalk outside. “I’m thinking that he’s not only asleep right now, but under his bed to boot.”

She shook her head in resignation. “That’s not what I meant and you know it! If you’ve been having contractions for ‘a couple days’, you should have told him by now.”

Sierra waved her off. “He’d just worry. And if I went into labor now? He couldn’t do anything to help me. And believe me, he’d try. He stayed up for three days the first time I had one of those Braxton-Hicks contractions and trust me, it wasn’t pretty. Cranky vamp with no sleep? Shudder.”

The older woman’s stern façade cracked at the mental image of Dakotah with bags under his eyes and unkempt hair. “Okay,” she agreed, “I’ll give you that much, but you have got to tell him tonight, no excuses. Got me?”

Sierra nodded. “Got you.”

“Good, now I’ll take you home, if you’d like.”

“Please.”

Cheyenne turned the OPEN sign over to read CLOSED and straightened a few books that had been knocked askew during the course of the day. Watching Sierra close out her register and organizing things for the next morning, she wondered what would happen to the shop during her maternity leave. “Will you be closing up shop until you’re back on your feet again or do you have someone to run it for you?”

Sierra looked up from counting her receipts and stared at her sister. “You know, I hadn’t really thought about it. The few people that I know and trust enough don’t know enough about my lifestyle to operate this place effectively.”

“And those that do know and understand?”

Sierra grinned, despite the pain in her back. “Well, they’re not able to work my hours, if you catch my drift.”

She did. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Play it by ear, I guess. Most of my regulars know and are prepared. But…”

“But?”

“But, I’d hate to lose the income. I guess that’s one more thing to ask Kotah about, I have no doubt he’ll have someone to help out.”

“Well then, that’s good enough for me. Are you done over there?”

She nodded. “Yup, just let me stash this in the safe and we can go.”