The sniveling nurse released a frightened little sob. Her hands were shaking as she set a glass of water beside the bed.

“Get this away from me!” Apep picked up the glass and hurled it into the wall. It shattered and water sprayed everywhere. “And you said it would be ‘any time now’ two hours ago!”

“You’re nine centimeters dilated,” the doctor said in a placating tone. “One more centimeter and you’ll be ready to push.”

“Why can’t I push now?” Apep wanted to know. “I could push nowwww!” Apep squealed as a contraction hit him hard.

“It doesn’t work like that,” the doctor said, mopping his brow again.

“I’m a god! I can do anything I want!”

“You’ll just tire yourself out for nothing. You should conserve your strength for when it’s time to push.”

“Gah! You humans are useless!”

Apep flung out his hand releasing a discus of energy. It struck the nurse, slamming her back against the wall. She crumpled to the floor, dead.

“Get that thing out of here,” Apep growled to one of the Templars hovering anxiously in the doorway. Two Templars hurried in and gathered up the nurse’s body, dragging it out of the room.

The doctor had gone a deathly shade of pale, the liver spots on his hands and scalp standing out.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said meekly. “We needed her.”

“I have Templars that can do what she did without all of the whining and crying. Besides, she’s out of her misery now, isn’t she?”

“She had children!”

“Well so will I in a minute! And I’m far more important than she was!” Apep sighed as another labor pain passed. This whole business had grown old hours ago.

“You have one more hour,” Apep warned the doctor. “If it’s not out of me by then I’m going to get a knife and cut it out myself!”

“You’d risk harming the child! And what about you? You’d die of severe blood loss!”

“I’m a god! I can’t die!”

The doctor wasn’t about to argue. No normal person could do what he had just seen her do. He had thought she was just a dangerous and violent woman with delusions of grandeur, but that bolt of power and his nurse’s death had proven her to be every bit the dangerous thing she claimed to be. What if she was a god? She certainly had god-like powers. What would that make the child that was about to be born? He should do something. He should do anything!

She had an IV. He could always inject something into it. He hadn’t been able to do an epidural because he wasn’t an anesthesiologist and he didn’t have the equipment needed to do so anyway. Perhaps he should dope her up. She obviously didn’t care about the health of her child. But he cared. Whatever it was, it was an innocent until it proved otherwise. And who was he? He was just one little man in the face of this deadly creature. Maybe he could do something to her after the child was born. Yes! Immediately after he would inject an overdose of morphine into her IV. He might go to jail for murder, but it was better than dying himself. Anyway he doubted he was going to get out of there alive. Once he killed their mistress, these followers would turn on him like rabid dogs.

Or they would hail him as a hero. They looked just as scared of her as he was. He had tried talking to them, but they had shut him down at every opportunity. He was there for one purpose. When that purpose was fulfilled, his life would mean nothing to them.

Yes. He had no choice but to make his move immediately after the birth.

He hoped it was enough.

—

Viève was in the kitchen making something to eat for herself and Kamen. Neither of them had eaten anything in almost twenty-four hours. She was starving.

The refrigerator was huge and it was full of food so there was plenty to choose from. She decided to make sandwiches. They required very little cooking skill so she couldn’t screw them up. No one in her cell had liked her cooking so it was best she not risk it. She only wanted to make good impressions on Kamen and everyone else who was there.

She licked mayonnaise off her finger and began to hum as she folded meat onto the bread. Ham and cheese. Simple. Until she went to slice the tomato and ended up slicing her finger in the process. She cried out and stuck her finger in her mouth. Kamen heard her cry and came rushing in from the next room.

“Here let me see.”

“No. If nuffing,” she said around her finger. “I’m fine.”

“Let me see,” he said firmly.

She popped her finger out of her mouth and showed it to him. Blood immediately welled up at the tip.

“Leave it to me to screw up a sandwich,” she said dejectedly.

“It’s an accident. Everyone has them.”

“I’m a Nightwalker. I’m supposed to have preternatural abilities and senses and I can’t even slice a fucking tomato.”

Her swearing made him smile as he led her to the sink and held her finger under water. Then he wrapped it up in a paper towel.

“Keep pressure on it. The bleeding will stop soon.”

“I know,” she said grouchily. “I’m a klutz, not stupid.”

“You’re not a klutz,” he said admonishingly.

“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”

“Well, I’m learning. I know others have made you feel like you’re inept, but I’m not going to do that and I’m not going to allow others to do that to you. Including yourself.”

She grinned at that, feeling somehow special because of his words. It wasn’t something she got to feel very often but she seemed to feel it a lot around him.

“I’ll finish making the sandwiches. You sit right there,” he said, pointing to a stool at the breakfast bar. She obediently got up on the stool and watched him complete what she had started. He cut the sandwiches, notably without cutting himself, and handed her one. Then he sat down on the barstool opposite her and began to eat.

“Gods I’m hungry,” he said between bites. “I didn’t even think to feed you last night.”

“That’s okay. I wasn’t even thinking about food.”

That made him grin. “What were you thinking about?”

“You know the answer to that. I was…I was feeding my soul.” She lowered her lashes coquettishly. “You didn’t eat either,” she pointed out.