Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 10

Natalia woke to nausea. She felt frozen, unable to move in bed until she tasted bile. She bolted to the bathroom. Luckily, it had been Uri who last used the toilet and the seat was up allowing her to immediately stick her head into the toilet. She vomited yellow fluid.

Uri sat on the side of the tub and chuckled.

“Y… you think this is funny?” she said, breathing hard to catch her breath before she heaved again.

“Urg,” she groaned as her stomach spasmed and she heaved.

Uri waited until she was finished before he replied.

“A vision of loveliness. A naked woman puking in my toilet.”

She panted and glared at him.

“You’ve been with me for two weeks, now. You’re right on schedule.”

Natalia couldn’t speak as the next wave hit her. She had already emptied what little had been in her stomach and she was resorting to dry heaves.

“You’re feeling the effects of the baby. Your body has figured out it’s pregnant and with a Viperian baby. How sick you’ll get will be determined by you and your immunity.”

“If… if I had a choice… I would not get sick.”

She breathed fast, finding that it helped her nausea.

“So far, you don’t seem bad.”

“I would hate to see worse,” she said, feeling horrible “I hate throwing up.”

Her mouth tasted foul.

“I’ll get you something to settle your stomach. Looks like you’re staying home today.”

“You… you look happy. I take it this is good,” she said.

“You haven’t died, yet. I must be doing something right.”

Natalia rolled her eyes, hoping he was kidding.

He rose, leaving the bathroom.

Natalia grabbed some toilet paper to wipe her mouth before she flushed the toilet. She lay flat on the floor, breathing fast, afraid to move least she start heaving again.

Uri returned.

“Here. Take a swig of this.”

She found she could hardly push herself up and Uri had to help her. He took hold of her hand and pulling her slowly up to a sitting position, then he held out a small brown bottle.

“I’m afraid to ask what’s in here,” she said, taking the bottle.

There was no label.

“Medicine. I knew you would get to this point.”

“How much?”

She unscrewed the top.

“One swallow.”

The liquid didn’t feel like much on her tongue, but it turned to ice down her throat. Her stomach felt instant relief.

“Wow.”

“Good stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“Take it easy today.”

“That did the stomach good. I’m okay.”

She felt wonderful.

He smiled as if he knew better.

“Take it easy today,” he said again. “Let me help you up and into the shower. Let’s see if you’ll make it.”

“I’m fine,” she said, letting him pull her up.

As soon as she stood, she felt faint and the room started spinning. She threw out her arms to catch herself, but he was still holding onto her.

“No shower today,” he said, guiding her back to bed.

She sat heavily, feeling weak, panting as if she had run a great distance.

He threw underwear at her before returning to the bathroom to shower.

Natalia found she didn’t even have the strength to dress herself. She laid back on the bed, thinking she would rest a few moments and try again, but then Uri was there, already clothed in his suit. He helped her dress, then he picked her up as if she didn’t weight a thing and carried her downstairs. He placed her on one end of the sofa.

“You’ll be here for a while,” he said.

“How long am I going to feel like this?”

“Either a short time or a long time.”

“Well thanks for pinning that down for me?” she said with sarcasm.

He chuckled.

Mag entered to hand him a mug of tea, and then he was gone. Natalia accepted a mug from her but was loath to sip it for fear she would puke again.

“If you’ve taken the medicine, you won’t throw up,” Mag said in a soft voice.

Natalia took a sip of tea. It was good to get the foul taste of vomit out of her mouth. She took another sip.

“Thank you.”

Mag sat across from her.

Natalia took another sip of tea, attentive to Mag since this was a first. Mag usually did her job and was gone. She never lingered.

“You feel weak?” Mag said.

Natalia nodded.

“Sore anywhere?”

“No. Just really weak and tired. Room spins a little.”

Mag cracked a smile.

“You’re doing very well.”

“I’m not feeling well, but from what you and Uri have implied, I could be feeling worse.”

“You could be dead,” Mag said in a matter-of-fact voice.

There was a long moment of silence before Natalia felt she could talk. The second mention in the same morning that she could be dead caused her some concern.

“Uri mentioned that, too,” she said in a hoarse voice.

She had to take a sip of tea.

“Not something one wants to hear,” she said.

Mag cracked another smile.

“No man goes up to a woman and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to get you pregnant and you have less than a twenty-percent chance of surviving.’”

“Lovely.”

Natalia swallowed hard, then took a larger gulp of tea.

“He made sure you were drinking sanguine tea and kept his bites to a minimum. He has great self-control,” Mag said.

Natalia sipped again, now having the answer as to why Uri hadn’t bitten her any more. His third bite had been his last.

“A man with a new Undent woman tends to go overboard with the bites,” Mag continued. “They either get a teddy bear or a dead woman after two weeks.”

Natalia felt her stomach churn a little.

“Undent?”

“A non-Viperian. You may hear us called Hollows. We call you Undents.”

Natalia nodded and decided she needed to change the subject.

“Why is your tattoo the same as Uri’s?”

Mag smiled.

“We’re family.”

“Family? How so? Sister?”

“No. Cousins. We keep close family ties. When you need someone you can trust, you hire family. Zena is my sister. Kate, who I think you saw once, is my Aunt. The three of us maintain the two houses that Uri owns.”

Natalia nodded, feeling very tired. She went from thinking of a million questions to ask to not able to remember any of them.

“Tia will be here this afternoon,” Mag said.

Natalia felt Mag was watching her closely.

“Why?”

“You’ll be more coherent then. She needs to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“That’s between you and her.” Mag rose. “I’ll bring some breakfast. Something you can stomach.”

She left the room.

Natalia sipped her tea and watched the room move.

Mag returned with a plate and a glass of sanguine tea.

“What is it?”

“Toast with spread.”

Natalia picked up the toast and stared. The spread was thick, smooth, and black. There was a nutty scent to it. She nibbled and found the spread had a salty taste.

“Vegemite?”

She looked up to find Mag was already gone, so she risked a bite. There was a buttery taste with the salty. It was rather pleasant, and her stomach didn’t object. She finished the toast.

At first, she was drinking the sanguine tea quickly, but she slowed to enjoy the sweeter taste of it. When she finished, she almost wanted more, but settled for her mug of warm tea.

Her eyes felt heavy, and she knew she napped. There was a clock in front of her that sat over a mantel. Whenever she opened her eyes, the time seemed to jump forward an hour or so.

“Are you awake?”

Natalia opened her eyes. Mag was setting a tea tray on the coffee table in front of her. Tia was sitting in the chair across from her.

“I don’t know. Time keeps moving and so does the room.”