Beautiful Monster 2(34)

 
"Next time on Sites, join Amy, a graduate student and girlfriend of Hollywood superstar, Liam, as they take us on a tour of Leopard Academy: the most prestigious theater school in the world. Go inside their doors to see why students pay 30 grand a year tuition to train here, often propelling them to greatness. And, as darkness falls, watch as our cameras capture a ghostly image, on the exact site of the death of ballerina Porsche DeRitter."
 
"Whaaaa." I stared at the TV in shock, and turned to Amy. "Did you host that?"
 
"Um, no. They left at 4pm. Or so I thought. Can Porsche be a ghost?"
 
I shook my head, downing my drink. My head was swimming and I wanted nothing more than to curl up with Amy and ignore the world. I didn't need another reminder that Porsche wasn't coming back.
 
"No, Shields can't be anything. Not a vampire, a werewolf, a ghost or a witch. They can't be anything but human."
 
"Liam." Amy's face was compassionate as she came towards me, and I reached out for her. Just as we were about to embrace, however, a knock came at the door.
 
"Amy?" came a voice.
 
"Sarah!" Amy bounded away, leaving me in the lurch for the second time.
 
I growled, letting my head slam back against the wall. I was never going to get alone time with her.
 
Sarah stood at the doorway, looking pale and one hand on her stomach, as Amy invited her in.
 
"How are you feeling? Did they find out what it was?"
 
Sarah nodded, sitting on Amy's window ledge, but not saying a word.
 
"Well?" Amy prompted. "Did they say it was something you ate?"
 
Sarah swallowed. "They said it was something inside me, for sure."
 
"Like Connor?" I said, before I could stop myself.
 
Amy rolled her eyes. "Ignore him, he's drunk. Sarah?"
 
Sarah took a deep breath, meeting my eyes. "No, he's right. Connor is the problem. I'm pregnant."
 
The coffee mug I was sipping out of fell out of my hand, falling to the hardwood floor and shattering everywhere. Amy's jaw nearly scraped the same floor.
 
"What? How is that possible?" Her head swiveled from Sarah to me, and I could see that she had paled as well. "I thought vampires couldn't... even when they were in their human form, I thought they were infertile. That's what you told me."
 
"And that's true," I replied, trying to gather my thoughts. "So it's not Connor."
 
"Of course it is," Sarah said, bitterly. "There isn't anyone else."
 
I laughed, harshly. "Well, it can't be, Sarah, unless there's immaculate conception happening."
 
"I'm a Shield," she replied, and silence hit the room. "And I make him human when I touch him. Fully human. I figured it out sitting in the nurse's office. There's no other explanation."
 
"But..." Words failed me, and my mouth opened and closed like a fish. "No, Sarah, there has to be someone else. Porsche and I..."
 
"You slept with Porsche?" Amy's head swiveled towards me, and I tried to backtrack.
 
"Once or twice. It was before, Amy, before you, and we had both had a metric ton to drink..."
 
"And I assume you didn't even know which end to stick it in." Sarah's words were crude, but they shut me up.
 
I didn't remember either of those nights, years ago, with any sort of certainty. “Are you sure there’s been no one else? Because…”
 
“Liam, I took sex ed class. I know how this works. There’s been no one else.”
 
“Jesus.” I buried my head in my hands, trying to think.
 
“I assume the child will be human?” Amy asked, her voice surprisingly cold.
 
I nodded. “There’s nothing I know about vampire human half breeds. Although, I’ve never heard about this ever happening before, so who knows?”
 
“What are you going to do?” Amy asked Sarah, taking her hand.
 
Sarah shrugged, both hands on her stomach. “I don’t know. It doesn’t even seem real right now.”
 
“How far along are you?”
 
“6 weeks. Barely detectable, but there. Explains why I’ve been a giant puke machine. And why I’ve put on weight.”
 
“We can… deal with this,” I said, carefully. I realized the words were taking longer to come out than I meant them to, and upon standing, my head spun. Some headmaster I was, setting a great example for my students. “If you want.”
 
“I don’t know what I want,” Sarah replied, drawing her knees up to her chest. “My parents would kill me.”