Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 32

Uri pulled back the covers and put his ear to her belly. “Does the beat go like this?”

He drummed a beat on one of her breasts.

“Yeah.”

“It’s Victoria. You’re hearing our daughter’s heartbeat,” he said.

He was grinning wide.

“I’m hearing her heart beat?”

“Yes.”

“Whoa.”

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” he said.

“Yes. I can hardly wait to talk to her.”

“I as well,” he said, snuggling back up to her.

Natalia found herself totally absorbed in listening. The beat filled her ears. She almost couldn’t hear Uri’s even breathing that told her he had fallen back to asleep.

“I’m never going to sleep again,” she said.

Then, the beat seemed to change, and it lulled her to sleep. She had warm and sweet dreams.

She woke when Uri stirred beside her. A little sunlight was spilling around the curtains, but it was still early.

He stretched then cuddled back up to her.

“Can you still hear her?” he said.

“Yes. Can you?”

He moved so his ear was on her belly.

“Now I can.”

“Tell her it’s time that Mommy gets up. She has to go learn how to drive,” she said with a laugh.

Uri whipped the covers off her and pulled her out of bed.

“Bonnie will take you to class,” Uri said while they ate breakfast. “I have a few things I need to do today. Bank related.”

“No auditor problems, I hope.”

“No, just reports to get out. I can do it all from my office here.”

“Well, I better get ready.”

She drained her mug of tea.

“So more sanguine tea tomorrow?”

“I think so. I hope so. We’ll be out by tomorrow.”

Natalia trotted upstairs to use the bathroom and cover her mark. She looked at her arm. The lineage mark was fully expressed down her right arm now, making her glad she was able to wear long sleeves.

She trotted back down the stairs. Uri was still finishing his tea, sitting at the dining room table.

“I’m off. See you later.”

He stood to hug her and rub his cheek on hers.

Natalia headed for the garage. Bonnie was there holding the limo door open for her.

“Can I ride up front? I can see road signs better.”

“Sure,” Bonnie said.

She closed the door and opened the front passenger side.

Natalia slid in. The dash on the limo was much different from her car.

Bonnie slid in, started the limo and backed it out.

“What is all this?” Natalia said.

“Radios, tracking systems. GPS. Things I use for my job to know where to be,” she said.

Natalia could hear the limo talking in the background, informing them of where police and check points were.

“Why are there so many check points?”

“The city likes to harass certain people.”

“Rich, poor, or political?”

“All the above,” Bonnie said, executing a turn.

Natalia knew she was taking a different route to avoid a check point.

“Are we the only ones with devices that tell where check points are?”

“No.”

“The police don’t know this?”

“They do. They keep changing the frequency of their radios, so we can’t find them, but when there are Viperians on the force, we change with them,” Bonnie said with a smile.

Natalia pulled her attention away from all the flashing lights on the dash to watch out the window, so she could see the signs and the way they were going. A few streets, like the main thoroughfares, were familiar. However, Bonnie turned onto an unfamiliar street. A few blocks later she pulled into the parking lot of the driving school.

“Thanks, Bonnie.”

“I’ll be waiting at the back of the lot,” Bonnie said.

“Isn’t that boring?”

“I have people to talk to.”

Natalia stepped out and headed to the doors. There was a group of five teenage boys hanging outside.

“Damn rich girl,” she heard someone say.

Natalia just smiled, deciding to have some fun.

“Just training for my new job,” she said in a quiet voice, passing the group.

She was glad she hadn’t been sitting in the back and that Bonnie hadn’t run out to open the door for her.

Inside, she saw the sign for the class, and she headed for the classroom.

“Name?” a man said right as she entered, causing her to start.

“Nattie Osrisca,” she said.

“Natalia?”

“Yes.”

“Take a seat.”

She thought he was rather curt.

There were three other people in the room already seated. Two were giggly teenagers sitting together and staring at their phones. The other was a woman that Natalia thought was only a few years older than the teenagers. Or at least look much more mature.

Natalia took a seat. There were no Viperians.

A minute before the class was to start, the group of boys came in.

“Names?”

“Mano.”

“I don’t have a Mano.”

“A-one boy.”

“Legal name,” the man said with a roll of his eyes.

The teen pointed to a name and than sat. The others were more compliant and gave their names. Natalia now knew why the man was so curt.

“I’m Jake. We’ll have two hours of instruction, a break and then a test.”

“We’re here to drive,” the troublemaker teenager said.

There was laughter.

Natalia rolled her eyes.

“If you don’t pass the test, you don’t do the driving part,” Jake said, seeming to ignore the comment.

“I don’t need no instruction,” the teen said.

Natalia could see he intended to be disruptive the whole time. She wasn’t going to let some no-good punk ruin her attempt to get her license.

“What’s your name,” Natalia said, turning toward him.

“None of your business,” he said, looking offended.

“I’m going to make you my business,” she said.

“Ha,” he said with a laughed along with his group.

“Sir, do you mind if I put a hole in the wall?” she said to Jake.

“What?”

Jake didn’t look too interested as if she wasn’t going to make any headway with the teen.

“May I put a small hole in the wall, so we can continue with class?”

The teenager was now on his phone and telling jokes to his friend.

Jake looked at her and then the teenager.

“Be my guest. His name is Brian,” Jake said, now looking slightly interested.

“Brian,” she said.

“What, bitch.”

Natalia flicked her wrist. Her knife whizzed by Brian’s face and embedded itself in the wall.

“Now. You a betting man?” she said to Brian who was staring at the hilt of the knife that was so close to his face that his breath was fogging the glean of the knife. “Do you want to bet that I have another knife or not?”

Brian didn’t say a word. He was frozen as if the knife had penned him down.

She rose and pulled out the knife.

“If you say another word, unless you are responding to a question by Jake, this knife won’t miss next time. Do you understand this?”

Brian nodded.

“Sorry, Jake. Go on.”

She took her seat back. The room was now totally silent.

Jake smiled and handed out the drivers manual. He walked them through the whole manual. They watched two movies. One was on the effects of alcohol, and it showed gory crashes. The other was on bad and good driving techniques, showing people ending up in stupid situations.

“Okay. Take a ten-minute break. Read your manual, then we’ll take the test.”

Natalia rose and headed for the restrooms. She heard the other women enter the restroom a few moments after her. While she washed her hands, the other woman in the class stepped up.

“I’m Charlotte. Nice to meet you Nattie. I think that’s what you told him your name was.”

“Hi, Charlotte. Yes, I’m Nattie.”

“That was cool what you did. Damn, kids.”

“I see it a lot,” she said. “I’m in training to be a limo driver.”