Chapter 125 - Freaks

When Delia came downstairs and saw the look on her husband's face she knew he had spoken to Joy and the news was bad. "You spoke to Joy didn't you?"

"Yes. Delia, there is no good way to say this. She and Sahan got married yesterday after they left here."

Delia's brain went into overdrive to figure out how to fix it. "We can get it annulled. She just met him. They can't get married. Where is she. We can go to her. I will call a sitter for Stone. He probably charmed her."

"No pretty lady." Cordell said calmly as he turned her around to face him. "She is fine. There will be no annulment. And no, she isn't pregnant. I jumped to the same conclusion. She laughed at me and her words were, 'I couldn't be unless it happened last night.' So you see, she is a responsible woman, no longer a little girl."

"He is a vampire Cordell. He is a danger to her."

Cordell pulled his wife into his arms and put his hand on her face and lifted it so she would look at him. "Look at me Delia. They love each other. She was afraid you hated him and thought that I liked him. She was watching our reaction to him at Jewel's wedding."

"She was already seeing him then?"

"Yes, pretty lady, she was."

"Come. Sit down with me. I need to tell you about the rest of our conversation."

"Joy and Sahan have been seeing each other secretly for over two years. Evidently it helps when you have a twin sister to keep your secrets. They didn't let us know because of the drama around Jewel and Donnovan's relationship."

"Hold me Genie. We really messed up didn't we." said Delia as she scooted closer to Cordell. "I feel horrible that she felt like she had to keep him a secret. But she is right. We would have tried to block it, especially since he is a vampire."

"They are in love and Sahan is devoted to her. I spoke to him on the phone. He didn't tell her about me. He told her it was my story to tell. He promised he would never do anything to hurt Joy and I believe him so I told him he could tell her about me. He will be kind with his words. I told him you saved me."

"Genie. YOU saved me!"

Cordell smiled. "Sahan told Joy about Donnovan too and Alia knows about everything except me. She was a witnesses for their marriage. We will give them a few days to settle in before we barge in on them."

"Cordell, I want to see her now."

"I know pretty lady, but we need to give them space. What we can do is go see Jewel and our granddaughter. I haven't seen her in awhile. We need to tell her about Sahan and Joy. She may not know."

Delia leaned over and kissed her husband. How does he do it? He always knows the right thing to do and calms her. "I love you Genie."

"I love you too pretty lady. Let's go see Cheyenne and Jewel."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hi Jewel! You look so good and so happy!" said Cordell as he gave his step-daughter a huge bear hug.

"Mmmm. Daddy, you are squishing me! Where's mom? Oh, never mind, I am sure she took off for the nursery with Stone in tow!"

"Yes. She did. She couldn't wait to get her hands on her granddaughter," laughed Cordell.

Delia deposited Stone in the middle of the nursery. He made a beeline to Cheyenne's toy box and dove in headfirst looking for new toys to play with surfacing with a toy boat.  "Look Mommy - vroommm vrooommm - a motor boat!

Delia laughed and picked up little Cheyenne and began to hug and kiss her. Then she went to find Jewel and Cordell so they could tell her Joy's news together.

"Look who I found. Cheyenne is such a sweetie! She looks so much like Donnovan it's scary! Well, except she has MY eye color. It goes well with her hair."

"Yes, she is her father's daughter that is for sure," said Jewel laughing. She keeps making her toys disappear though. At this rate we will be broke soon!"

"What happened to your father? I know he wants to get some of this baby girl lovin'," said Delia as she walked into the living room looking for Cordell.

"Ah there you are. Lookie who I found fresh from her nap."

"Let me hold her. Come see your Papa Chy baby."

Delia handed the little girl to her grandfather and he beamed. "Look at you. You are beautiful! And those eyes. I have seen them before. We are going to have to fight off the boys with a stick!"

Then he hugged and snuggled her until she was started squirming to get down and see "Tone".


Delia let Cordell break the news. "Did you know that Joy was seeing Sahan, Donnonvan's friend?"

"I knew he had been calling her, but they are dating? That's great. He seems like a nice enough man," said Jewel.

"Jewel, they have been dating for two years, in secret."

"Oh my! That little sneak! I bet a million dollars that Alia knew about it," laughed Jewel.

"Jewel. There's more. Honey they just ran off and got married."

"Seriously? Oh my. Is she preg..."

"NO!" said Delia and Cordell at the same time.

"Okay...then why all the secrecy?"

Cordell continued, "Because he is quite a bit older than her, not unlike you and Donnovan, she was afraid we would ruin it and run him off so kept it a secret. There is something else you need to know about him. He is a vampire."

"Vampire?" said Jewel and laughed. When her parents didn't join her, she knew. "God, you are serious. Damn. Is it like the legends? He drinks blood? God is he drinking Joy's blood, I'm gonna stake him!" exclaimed Jewel.

Cordell looked at Delia before answering. He knew how much she had loved Vladimir and the experiences they had shared and knew it would be hard for her to hear. "Jewel there will be no staking. Sahan doesn't have to drink blood, there are synthetic substitutes that he drinks instead. He is not dangerous to Joy. Those two are very much in love. Whether or not he drinks from her, well that is a personal thing between the two of them. It's a very intimate act between two people that love each other and can be very erotic."

Jewel visibly shivered. "Won't she become a vampire too if he bites her?"

"No, he has to inject venom when he bites her in order for her to become like him."

"Donnovan knows what Sahan is doesn't he?"

"Most likely he does since Sahan knows about Donnovan and has already told Joy. Alia knows as well." Cordell rolled his eyes and said simply "Twins" as if that was explanation enough. "Joy knows about me too. I am not sure about Alia, but she soon will."

"Daddy, what else is out there that I don't know about? I am just now wrapping my head around the fact I can perform magic spells and you are a Genie. Now I find out that my brother-in-law is a vampire. What more?"

"Honey, why don't you ask your husband. He knows and you should as well so you can prepare Cheyenne."

About that time Donnovan got home and grabbed up his little girl to give her hugs and kisses. She was so happy to see her father and squealed in his arms.

"Speak of the devil! Hi Honey. We need to talk," said Jewel laughing.

"Thank God you are laughing because nobody likes to her those four words strung together!" exclaimed Donnovan.

Delia and Cordell said their goodbyes and left the little family of witches to their discussions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angie wanted a party for her sweet sixteen birthday so they decided to have it at the karaoke bar. Delia couldn't wait to have the family together.

Delia was happy to see her entire family was able to make it including a few friends. They got a sitter for Cheyenne and Stone. They were just too little to have any fun. Everyone gathered around to song Happy Birthday while Angie made a wish and blew out her candles.

Angie was looking more and more like her father the older she got. She wanted to look extra pretty for her party and had begrudgingly agreed to let Corrie help her ready. Corrie picked out her dress, styled her hair and applied her makeup.

Growing up with beautiful sisters and a gorgeous mom, Angie always felt like the ugly duckling of the family. When she looked in the mirror after Corrie did her magic, she had to admit, Corrie did a good job. Angie feel pretty for the first time in her life. Maybe even pretty enough to get a boyfriend.

When Joy's mysterious husband sat down with Angie to eat a piece of her birthday cake, it made her feel so special. She knew he was a vampire. Her parents told her about him and about her sister, Jewel. That she was a witch. Somehow that made Angie feel better. Her father had told her being a Genie was special, but she didn't want to be different. She wanted to fit in. Now she felt like she did and they didn't have to hide their abilities from the rest of the family any longer.

The family of witches, Jewel and Donnovan, sat down at the table in front of Angie and Sahan.

Jewel asked her husband in a hushed whisper, "Did you see Joy. I think she is pregnant!"

"Yes, and she is positively glowing. She looks like you did. Hey, wanna go upstairs and practice making babies in the photobooth?"

"Donnovan! Seriously?" He replied, "Seriously Babe. You look hot tonight."

Delia found Joy. She thought she looked especially pretty. Delia knew she must be happy. "Mom! I have to tell you something. Sahan and I are going to have a baby. I'm pregnant. The baby is due in 4 months."

Delia pretended to be happy. "Joy! Why didn't you tell me before now?"

"We were worried. I was sick for awhile. But I am doing great now. The little one is kicking me up a storm!"

Delia looked down at Joy's midsection. She hadn't noticed it before with the cut of the dress. Her baby was going to have a vampire child. Delia shuddered thinking about it. She didn't dare mention cures to her. She remembered Cordell saying he didn't want to change. At least she had a husband to help her through it. Delia bent down and placed her hand on her daughters baby bump and sure enough the little rascal kicked her.

"You are glowing. Did you know that? You look beautiful and this little one just kicked me!"

Delia hugged her daughter. She couldn't spoil her happiness by placing doubts about what she was getting into in her head.

"I love you so much. If you need anything at all, please call me or your father. We will do whatever we can to help."

"Mom, I am fine. Sahan takes very good care of me."

"Speaking of Sahan. I must go find him and congratulate him."

By the time Delia found Sahan, her nerves had gotten the best of her and she could no longer pretend happiness at the prospect of her daughter trying to raise a vampire child.

Delia couldn't bring herself to hug Sahan so she shook his hand instead saying in a barely cordial tone, "Congratulations Sahan. I am sure you will take care of Joy and the baby."

"Thank you Mrs. Shinn. We are very excited. Joy is especially happy. She has a very loving and large family and even though we hadn't planned this baby, it is welcome. She wants the same for us so as long as this pregnancy goes well, I am sure we will have more children."

"It's Karoke time!" announced Alia as she and Angie took the stage to sing a duet. "The birthday girl and I are going to sing an old time favorite and appropriate for this bunch "We Are Family"...Sing along everyone. Okay, hit it!"

The girls got into it singing:                    We are family

I got all my sisters with me

We are family

Get up ev'rybody and sing

Corrie was unimpressed and saw her sometimes boyfriend sitting by himself. She used her mind control to get him to come over to her. Soon his arms were wrapped around her and his lips were on hers.

After the song was over Alia called Jaycen. She hadn't seen him all day. He had to work late again.

"Hi Baby! You missed me and Angie's duet! It was a blast. Maybe you didn't really miss anything. Hah! I just wanted to let you know the party is breaking up and I will be home in about 30 minutes if you want to stop by......perfect! See you in 30!....I love you too. Bye."



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the party, Cordell found Delia sitting in the wine cellar depressed. He sat down next to her and tried to get her to cheer up, "Delia, baby, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Worrying about Joy is not going to help. She is going to be fine."

"It's going to be a vampire..."

"Delia, not the same as you. They will be raising the child together. Not in fear like you did. He will learn to embrace what he is."

"Come on. Get up Delia, come to bed. Things will seem better in the morning. And there is something else I want to talk about. But not while you are like this."

"I can't take any more Cordell! I am tired. Things were going well. What happened? I am selfish. I should never have gone to work. I am a friggin back up singer. I should have been on that stage with Angie and Alia having fun and what do I do? I practically threaten Joy's husband."

"Get up!" demanded Cordell.

Delia got up but felt like she was in a trance. Then she remembered that he referred to Joy's unborn baby as he. "Cordell, is Joy having a boy? God, she probably hates me now."

Ignoring her self loathing Cordell said, "Yes, a boy. Now Delia look at me please. It's Stone. I found something on his back."

She looked up at Cordell wide-eyed.

"What about him? Don't tell me something is wrong with my baby."

"No. Nothing is wrong Delia. But he may have inherited your mother's abilities more so than even you did."

"What are you talking about Cordell. That makes no sense."

"What I found on his back are his wings. He is growing wings Delia. He is a fairy. Like your mother and grandmother."

"No Cordell! I can't deal with it. He can't be. I don't know how to raise a fairy!"

Cordell pulled her to him and let her cry. "My pretty lady," he whispered in her hair, "you aren't doing this alone. We are in this together. You will never, ever be alone again."

Delia was terrified but being in Cordell's arms helped. He always made thing better for her. She could never lose him.

"Think about this sweetheart, you still have your family with you and well, it's a damn big one and we all love you!"

He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. He needed her to know how much he loved her. He hated seeing her like this. At first she resisted him, but then she melted into his arms.

"Better?" he asked when he came up for air.

"Mmmm," was all Delia could manage.

Cordell laughed. God it felt good to laugh.

Come on then. Let's go to bed. I can make it all better.

Cordell grabbed his wife's hand and together they headed up the stairs to their bedroom.

Delia was feeling better. "Genie, don't you dare put a baby in me! I love our children, every single strange one of them, but I can't take the stress. I used to think I was the oddity. Now I am surrounded by freaks!"

Cordell just looked at her. "Be careful who you call a freak pretty lady, you might not get to experience my magnificent love making."

Delia laughed, "Like that would ever happen, Genie."

"Your right, pretty lady, not a chance in freak hell."

Go to Chapter 126

Go Back to Chapter 124