Flashbacks by Keith B. Darrell

Author:Keith B. Darrell [Darrell, Keith B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy Contemporary, Fantasy General, Fiction Fantasy General, Fiction Fantasy Contemporary, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
Publisher: Amber Book Company

Geneva, Switzerland, October 1891:

The midwife wrapped the newborn infant in swaddling clothes. “Now that he’s been cleaned up, I can see what a fine boy you’ve birthed.” She brought the bundled baby to his mother and offered him to her. “Would you like to hold him, dear?”

Antoinette pulled her head away. “Take that creature from my sight.”

“Creature?” the midwife repeated. “Why, he’s a lovely baby boy. Look at him. Give your son a cuddle.”

“Take it away,” Antoinette repeated. “Drown it in the Danube.”

“But he is your child,” the shocked midwife replied.

Antoinette scowled. “He is a malignancy, now thankfully excised from my womb. If only I could cleanse his conception from my mind as well as from my body.”

Annabelle attempted to comfort her sister. “Antoinette, you cannot blame the child for its conception. Just hold him, if only for a moment.”

“I don’t want that madman’s child. It is a creature spawned from a repulsive lunatic and an undead bloodsucker. How can it be anything but evil incarnate?”

Annabelle grimaced. “But Antoinette, the infant appears to be a perfectly normal baby.”

“How can it be? It’s father was a pestiferous, insect-eating cretin and my infected blood flows through its veins.”

Annabelle frowned. “That doesn’t mean the child is a vampire, as well. He breathes. I can see his reflection in the window pane. The baby is human.”

Angelique leaned in and whispered to a male vampire in the doorway. “Tristan, the midwife has heard too much. Make sure the mortal does not leave here alive.” She approached the confused midwife, smiled pleasantly, and took the infant from her. “The child might be a hybrid of human and vampire.”

“What do you mean?” Annabelle asked.

Angelique caressed the infant. “I suspect the baby is a human child, but it might have some vampiric attributes. It might not share Antoinette’s immortality, yet nonetheless age more slowly than ordinary humans. As a precaution, I shall arrange to have baby bottles filled with blood, but the infant might not need to drink blood to survive. Although it is a human child, it may have other vampiric-like traits, such as faster reflexes. Your baby, Antoinette, could be the harbinger of a new species. We must raise him and observe his development.”

“There is no ‘we’,” Antoinette replied. “I’m well rid of that demon spawn.”

“Antoinette!” Annabelle exclaimed. “Please, consider what you are saying.”

“I have. I want no part of that… thing.”

“As you wish,” Angelique said. “The child shall be raised under my tutelage. He shall need a name.”

“As unfortunate as the circumstances of his conception were, this baby is a blessing, Antoinette,” Annabelle said. “I believe he shall grow up to do great things and restore the honor to our family name that we have besmirched. You may choose to disown your son, but he is my nephew, as well.” Annabelle turned to Angelique. “Call him by our family name, Angelique. Name the child Remick.”

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