Prologue

The night that altered lives forever....

Prologue

May 1994

Dark Forest, Louisiana

United States

It was a rainy summer night in the beginning of May. The rain fell down to the earth, creating tiny rivers along the ground as it pattered down through the trees. The rich soil of the forest was wet from the two-day rain that had hit the state of Louisiana. The animals of the forest took cover from the persistent rainfall beneath the cover of trees and other shelters, waiting for the rain to end patiently so they could follow their usual routine of nightly prowls and hunts.

The forest cabin located in a small clearing of the dense forest, built in 1935, was temporarily occupied by two men and a young boy. The two men, one who appeared to be between his late forties and early fifties and the other one guessed to be at least three decades older, sat together at a desk in the bedroom they were in, speaking in low voices. The young boy, possessing the appearance of a child between the ages of three and six years old, was sitting on the floor playing with his matchbox cars. To the casual observer, the group of three seemed to be regular human males, but all three were far from it. The two men and the young boy belonged to a breed of vampires that was still unknown among most of humankind�"pacis lamia.

The first pacis lamia vampires had been born from the union between a homicidae lamia vampire, mostly known as the pureblood heartless immortal being with a reputation for its ruthless hunting for blood, and a human�"but had never followed the brutal lifestyle of their immortal parents. Most pacis lamia vampires were now born to two pacis lamia parents with a low percentage born to one pacis lamia parent and one human parent, but there were still many born to a human and homicidae lamia parents.

A pacis lamia vampire, unlike the homicidae lamia vampires, was a mortal being, possessing more human qualities than ones of a vampire. A pacis lamia baby, apart from having the heightened senses of a vampire, grew the same way as a human baby. The baby had the same vulnerabilities as a human baby�"played and learned the same way. When the pacis lamia reached the age of five, it began to show signs of change that made it more different from humans than during the earlier years.

Its mind began to mature much faster than the mind of a human child of the same age and it would perceive the world more through the eyes of an adult than of a child as it neared thirteen. The mind would divide itself into both child and adult as the changes started. The child would still retain childlike qualities, such as a love for play and games, but would also possess a maturity and understanding of the world that could only be seen in adults of the human race.

By the age of six the following year�"after the abrupt changes in its development�"the child would possess the maturity of a human child twice its age. The mental aging process would gradually slow down after the first year, but was still much faster than the progress of a human child’s mental maturity. By the age of nine or ten, the child had the maturity of a human child in its teens and by twelve, it perceived the world as a young adult of humankind would.

The pacis lamia child also began to acquire overpowering strength, amazing speed, and the ability to manipulate the mind, communicate by thought, and perform actions by mental manipulation, all abilities that needed to be molded, used, and improved before its peak of supernatural growth�"a trait received from the homicidae lamia that neither grew, developed, nor changed in its never-ending lifespan.

The changes of the pacis lamia child would become truly obvious physically at the age of twelve when it grew in the feeding fangs of a vampire. On its thirteenth birthday, it would reach its peak of development in its paranormal abilities and would be unable to advance any further�"whether it had trained its body to its full potential or not. It would reach its plenus, or maturity, as a full vampire, having acquired the hunger for blood and reached its limit of perfecting all the supernatural abilities it possessed, although it would continue to grow in years�"a trait from its human side. By its maturity, it was also ready to choose a mate and start a family.

Carroll McCormack, advanced in his years at the ripe old age of eighty-six, tapped long fingers on the top of his desk. He was the oldest member of the McCormack vampire clan and the founder of Peace Valley. He had founded a number of schools, hospitals, public buildings, and organizations in the valley. Tonight he would help his grandson perform a mission that would hopefully improve the relations between the pacis lamia of Peace Valley and the people of Williams.

Peace Valley, separated from Williams by the forest, had been founded in the year of 1926 as a safe haven and a permanent home for pacis lamia vampires. Since its settlement, the valley had grown, until its population had increased from just Carroll McCormack and his four family members to a rough estimate of six million vampires. Every year, groups and families of pacis lamia vampires flocked to the valley to find homes or safety from the homicidae lamia and humankind.

Carroll lifted his head of snow-white hair�"coal-black in his youth�"to look up at his grandson through piercing sapphire-blue eyes. “Tonight is the night.” Though he had been in the United States for decades, he still spoke in the rich Irish brogue he had acquired from his homeland. He smiled at the younger man standing beside his chair. “Have you chosen the one?”

Lyam McCormack, at the age of fifty, son to Carroll’s deceased eldest son, looked down at his grandfather, the man who had been a father to him since his own father had died shortly after his birth at the hands of his young human bride only a year after their marriage, and nodded. “I found her. She was born yesterday morning�"three a.m.” Being around the heavy Irish brogue both his grandparents spoke for his whole life, the younger male also carried a slight, lilting accent in his speech.

Carroll picked up a book lying in front of him on the table. He flipped through the pages and returned it back to its place, lifting his head to look at the clock on the wall. “It’s late. The town should be pretty much asleep by now. We should get ready to go. We need to do everything tonight.”

Lyam looked toward the curtained bedroom window and crossed the room to it. He pulled back the curtain and looked out at the rain drizzling down the windowpane. The night of the mission had arrived�"marking the delecta he had chosen of the neighboring town, giving her the future of a life among vampires, which would create a better understanding between her family and the pacis lamia vampires of Peace Valley at the very least, if not between her town and the valley and maybe even between the human race and the pacis lamia vampires.

The vampire had been a member of the Association of Human and Pacis Lamia Vampire Relations since his graduation from university at the age of twenty-two. He had been given a number of missions directly from his grandfather, the founder of the association, for the past several years he had worked there�"missions that were supposed to improve the relations between pacis lamia vampires and humans. Tonight would be his last mission before his retirement from fieldwork to helping his grandfather manage in other areas. This mission had given him the job of a seligo, which gave him the duty of choosing a human to become a delecta or electus�"vampire-chosen humans that would live their lives among the pacis lamia community and marry into it after reaching the age of thirteen.

Centuries before in ancient Rome, in which the first pacis lamia vampires had been born, descendants of the first two pacis lamia vampires made the decision of making a connection to humankind by choosing a human child to bridge the two worlds. The child’s duty would be to open the eyes of the human race and change their prejudiced views and opinions. The child would later enter the pacis lamia community and live as one of them. They worked on a plan for months, working in a lab to recreate the hormones that stimulated the development of a pacis lamia child both physically and mentally.

A young boy was chosen as the connection between the pacis lamia and the human race, giving him the status of an electus. However, they made the mistake of choosing a random child from a random family without determining if either was right for the responsibility they’d been given. The results had been disastrous, not benefitting the pacis lamia vampires in any way. The child was abandoned and a target of abuse by both children and adults. Growing up in both a prejudiced and abusive atmosphere, he targeted the vampires by his early teens with the intention of destroying them out of resentment until the vampires had been forced to flee.

Both Carroll and Lyam were determined to take a different route and not make the mistakes that the early vampires had. They had formulated a plan that had a much higher plan of success, in which they had to choose a child and family of the right views and beliefs to carry the responsibility they’d be given�"a child and family that would accept the pacis lamia vampires the day they realized the part they played.

Choosing the right family and the right child had been a challenge for Lyam. A delecta or electus child had to carry a strong, fearless personality. A child that grew up into a girl or boy that was timid and fearful of her or his gift and future would cause problems among the pacis lamia population by trying to rid the world of the vampires like most humans.

The possible outcome of giving any random family a marked child was just as risky. Humans were cruel when they were fearful or misunderstanding of a situation. A chosen child in the home of a family that refused to understand or accept the gift their child had been given would live a hard life. It was disastrous to choose a child from the wrong type of family. The expected result of choosing a child with the wrong type of family would be a family break-up or the abandonment of the child, which could then result in the same disaster as the early pacis lamia vampires had faced with their electus. The job of the seligo was to find a family that would be accepting and loving of their child, standing strong for that child as they faced the hardships, prejudice, and superstitions society may cast them, which would give them a much higher chance of success when the chosen child was of age to join the vampire community.

Lyam had observed family after family over the course of the past three months, listening to them, watching them, and studying their behaviors and personalities. None of them were the right type to give that special child to. Finally, he had found the perfect family in the Byrnes, a young Irish-American couple with a baby on the way. He had stood by, watching and waiting for the birth of their child, hoping she would be as right for a delecta as they were for a delecta’s parents. She had been born the morning before�"hours before the sun had even started to rise�"and had been everything he had hoped she would be. Though she had only been an hour old when he visited her, his supernatural abilities sensed the strong personality she would have�"the perfect trait for a delecta to possess. She wouldn’t break under pressure and prejudice as long as her family supported her. She had a much higher chance of succeeding as the delecta than any other child he’d come in contact with during his study. He’d made the decision that she would be the delecta.

Carroll braced his hands on the arms of his chair and rose to his feet. He picked up the book on the table and walked over to the window to stand beside Lyam. He placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder and held out the book to him. “I bought this last week and read it. It’s well-written. We’ll leave this in the local library for her to discover. She’ll find it and come to us before one of us has to go to her.”

Lyam took the book his grandfather held out to him and glanced at the front cover. It was a small history book written on pacis lamia vampires and Peace Valley. “Good idea.” He nodded. “We’ll stick this in the library on our way to the hospital.” He picked up the raincoat he had carelessly thrown on the bed and slipped into it. “I’ll meet you in the hall.” He stepped out of the bedroom, the book tucked under his arm.

Carroll turned and looked toward the young boy playing with his toy cars, oblivious to what was going on around him. “Quinn, it’s time to go. We have a job to do.”

Quinlan McCormack, the youngest of the three males at the age of four, looked up from playing with his cars. The young boy was the exact lookalike of his great-great grandfather, more than anyone else in the McCormack clan, and seemed to share the same intimidating personality despite his age. He could be quite intimidating to other children his age and sometimes even older children. He pushed a long strand of wavy coal-black hair out of his sapphire-blue eyes. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to give a delecta her gift and then we’re going home.” Carroll smiled at the child version of himself. Since choosing a delecta and giving her the mark had no dangers or risks involved, he had brought his young great-great grandson along with him and Lyam, deciding it would be an educational trip for the boy.

“What’s a delecta?” Quinlan asked the elderly vampire. Though young, the boy had learned many of the Latin terms the pacis lamia adults used, but this one was one he hadn’t heard before.

Carroll smiled. “A delecta is a human girl that is chosen by a vampire to live with them later on in her life. When the girl we chose grows up, she will live in Peace Valley with vampires instead of where she lives now.”

“Do I get to meet her?” the four-year-old asked curiously.

“Sure.” Carroll smiled. “Let’s go.” He started out of the bedroom.

Abandoning his cars, the boy jumped to his feet and followed his great-great grandfather’s lead out into the hallway, where Lyam was waiting by the door. He watched Carroll slip into his raincoat and slipped into his own when it was handed to him. He followed the two men outside into the rain, giggling and grinning as drops of water pelted his head and wet his hair.

Carroll walked down the steps and onto a path between the surrounding trees, leading the way through the trails of the forest he had memorized so well. Lyam and Quinlan followed the elderly male down the trails as they walked through the rain showering the forest and their heads. The scent of the wet forest�"a mixture of plant life, animals, and an assortment of other life and properties�"was immediately caught by the three males’ strong senses of smell. The group of three came to the end of the last trail and stepped out of the forest, standing at the entrance of Williams.

The small town of Williams had already fallen asleep. The streetlights shone on the dark, empty streets. The only sound to be heard, other than the constant rainfall, was the chirping of crickets. Not a person could be seen, everyone already fast asleep in bed while the three vampires wandered the town.

Quinlan looked around at his surroundings, noticing the dead quiet compared to the never-ending life in Peace Valley. “It’s really quiet here. Is this where the delecta lives?”

“Yes, it is.” Lyam nodded. He took the lead, knowing his way around the town after being a constant visitor over the last three months. “We’ll go to the library first.” He started down the street, the older man and the young boy following him.

Julian Brothers Library was a large, unkempt stone building. The signboard, once pure white with navy-blue script, had yellowed over the years from the dust in the atmosphere. The paint had been fading and cracking for years. The old walls and the stone steps were cracking, making it unsafe, but the town council had never bothered to restore the library to its former splendor.

Lyam glanced up at the library building and then turned to his head glancing at his grandfather. “Are you sure our delecta will visit a place like this? Ten years from now, it will probably look worse than this.”

“It’s not what the library looks like, but what’s inside of it that counts.” Carroll smiled. “A delecta will most likely have a hard childhood among humans. She will face the prejudice and superstitions of society and be an outcast. A library will be the place she can escape it all and imagine herself somewhere else, surrounded by people that love and adore her instead of reject and resent her for being different. This library, no matter its appearance, will be her escape from reality to the life she wants.”

Lyam nodded, agreeing with his grandfather. “Alright then. Let’s go in.” He placed his foot on the first step and ascended the rest of the stairs, Carroll and Quinlan behind him. He placed his hand on the doorknob of the locked door, using his mental ability to break the lock. “Apertus.” He pushed the door open and walked into the dingy, musty library.

The inside of the library wasn’t much better in appearance than the outside was. The white-painted walls were yellowed with age and cracking. The musty smell of dust was everywhere. Dust and cobwebs covered everything in sight. Everything seemed old and in bad condition. The old, dusty carpet covering the floor was covered in dark stains and a sour smell emitted from it. There was nothing in the library that appeared modern or in good condition.

Quinlan looked around him, lifting his head and sniffing the air. “It smells. Do they ever clean up in here?” He had gone to the library several times with his mother in Peace Valley when she’d been looking for research books of some kind or another. It looked and smelled much better than this one. “I like the library in Peace Valley better.”

Lyam nodded at his grandson’s comment. “This is a nightmare. Can people actually come in here?”

Carroll laughed softly. “Probably not, but I think she will.” He took the book Lyam held in his hand. He stopped in front of one of the rickety tables, placing the book on top. He opened the book and took a blue pen out of his breast pocket of his shirt. He glanced at his grandson. “What’s her name?”

“Devany Katrina Byrne,” Lyam said.

Carroll smiled at the sound of her name�"a name as Irish as himself. He wrote out the name his grandson had uttered on the inside of the book. He allowed the book to fall closed and placed a hand on it. “Allicio delecta.”

“What does that mean?” Quinlan spoke up.

“It’s a spell that will help her find the book when the time is right,” Carroll explained to Quinlan. He picked up the book. “Wait here. I’m going to find a place to put the book.” He left Quinlan and Lyam alone, walking down aisle after aisle of books. He stopped in the non-fiction section, filled with thick dust-covered volumes. He placed the book between two thick historical volumes. It was the perfect place to hide it until the time was right.

Quinlan looked at his great-great grandfather curiously when he returned. “Where did you put the book, Pa?”

“Somewhere where no one will find it�"hopefully.” Carroll led the way toward the door. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

The three males were relieved to step out of the library and into the fresh night air again, regardless of the continued rainfall that pelted their heads and clothing. They walked down the street, heading in the direction of Williams Hospital, the location of their mission.

The hospital wasn’t far from the library. They were standing before it only minutes after they had left the library. The threesome looked up at the hospital, which was thankfully in much better condition than the library had been in, and started up the steps.

They entered the hospital, temporarily shielded from the rain inside the building, and walked down hallways, passing doctors and nurses. They passed stations and wards, walking through doors. Finally, they stood before the large window looking into the nursery. The three vampires stood at the window, looking in at the babies sleeping in their cradles.

Lyam stepped up to the door, placing his hand on the handle. Although the hospital had several security devices to keep unwanted visitors out of places they weren’t supposed to be, those devices couldn’t keep out supernatural beings such as a vampire. “Apertus,” he said, for the second time that night. He turned the handle and pushed the door open, stepping inside the room.

Carroll and Quinlan stepped into the room after Lyam. They stood beside him, looking around at twenty-something baby cradles in the large room and the sleeping babies.

“How do we know which one is her?” Quinlan walked down the aisles of baby cradles, looking at each baby before going on to the next. “There are so many babies in here.”

“Voice down, Quinn,” Carroll reminded the little boy. “Babies are sleeping in here.”

“Sorry,” Quinlan said in a low whisper, covering his mouth. He looked around him at the many baby cradles with wide eyes. “So, how do we know which one is her?” He made sure to keep his voice at a low whisper when he spoke this time.

Lyam laughed softly. “There are name tags, Quinn.” He started down the aisles, looking at each baby in his or her cradle and the name tags on the front of the cradles. “Anyway, I saw her before they put her in here, so I know which one she is.” He stopped in front of a cradle that held a baby with a slightly darker complexion than those of the other white babies around her. He smiled down at her as Carroll and Quinlan appeared at his side. “This is her.”

Quinlan neared the crib and sniffed the air, catching the scent of the flesh and blood of the newborn baby girl. The scent, sweet and alluring to him, pulled at him and lured him closer for reasons he didn’t understand. Standing up on tiptoe, he touched the sleeping baby’s cheek. “I like her smell.”

The two older men exchanged a glance. They wondered it was an unexpected sign for the young boy to be attracted to her scent before he’d even reached the age to hunger for blood.

“You know what to do.” Carroll nodded at his grandson. “Are you ready?”

Lyam nodded. He lifted the baby out of her cradle, holding her in strong arms. He smiled when the eyes opened and deep green eyes stared up at him. He touched the strands of dark hair that was already starting to grow in. Then he placed a hand against the left side of her neck. “Opto delecta.” As soon as he uttered the words, a glowing white light surrounded the baby. He removed his hand, leaving a stark white odd-shaped mark covering a small area of the left side of her neck in its place.

Quinlan stared at the baby girl in fascination. “What’s that mark you gave her, Grandpa? What’s that light around her?”

“I gave her the mark of a delecta,” Lyam answered. “It’s one of the things that will make her different from other humans. You’ll understand when you’re older. The light is a temporary protection. It will disappear as soon as she’s given to her parents.”

From the pocket of his faded jeans, Carroll drew out the needle connected to the tube that carried a clear liquid that he planned to inject into the baby. In order for young Devany Byrne to join the vampire community when she was of age, she would need the heightened senses all vampires possessed and a mind that developed and matured as the mind of a pacis lamia would. For that reason, he had brought adversatus-abeo, a hormone-based chemical that would give her the heightened senses of a pacis lamia baby and the mental development of one as well as the physical development of a pacis lamia child and gift her with their speed and strength as she grew, preparing her for the life she’d be introduced to when she reached her early teens.

Without a word, Lyam took the injection from his grandfather. He brushed his thumb over the baby’s arm several times, numbing it with his power, and then injected the solution that made up the liquid into her arm, relieved when she didn’t make a sound. Then he quickly cleaned the cut with the small bottle of antiseptic he’d been carrying in his pocket with some cotton balls and then gently placed her back into her cradle.

Quinlan stood on tip-toes to stare at the baby. “What was that shot you gave her, Grandpa?”

“Adversatus-abeo.” Lyam smiled. “Since she’ll live with us one day, it’s important that she has our senses and our mind. That way she’ll be ready when she becomes a part of the pacis lamia life. She’ll also be faster and stronger than other humans, but she won’t reach the level of a pacis lamia unless she is trained before she turns thirteen.”

“Does that mean she can have a patronus when she turns thirteen like a pacis lamia girl?” Quinlan asked curiously.

“Yes,” Carroll said. “She will be just like us and will need a patronus to protect her like the pacis lamia girls.”

“I can be her patronus, Pa,” Quinlan decided with conviction. “I’ll protect her.”

The two elder men smiled in amusement, knowing such a decision couldn’t be certain until he was older and more mature to realize the responsibility of a patronus, especially one with a human sponsa.

“We’ll see,” Carroll finally said. “We’ll know if you’re right for her soon enough.”

Quinlan beamed, satisfied with his great-great grandfather’s response.

Lyam started toward the door. “Let’s go.”

Quinlan stood on his tip-toes and pecked the baby girl on the forehead. “Bye-bye, delecta. See you next time.”

“Let’s go, Quinn,” Carroll called out to the young boy, opening the door. “Time to go home.”

“Coming.” Quinlan left the cradle and skipped up to the older men.

The three vampires left the nursery room discreetly and left the hospital. The only trace they left behind of their presence was the glowing white light around the beautiful green-eyed baby girl and the ice-cold odd-shaped mark on her neck.

***

Williams, Louisiana

As the clock struck three o’clock in the morning, the sky still remained dark and the rain continued pouring outside, pattering against the windows. The atmosphere of the empty hospital was quiet and peaceful. Doctors and nurses occasionally checked on the patients in the various wards, but everything was as it always was in the small hospital�"quiet and unhurried.

However, unknown to them, this night was not like other nights, which they would soon come to realize. It was a night waiting to change the town and its society. The truth of what made this night different from any other awaited them in the baby nursery, waiting to be discovered.

Caroline Garner, one of the several nurses on duty, entered the nursery to check on the sleeping babies. The young blond jumped back in shock and horror as her pale green eyes settled on one of the cribs. The newborn baby girl sleeping inside was literally glowing with an eerie white light. Unable to ignore the strange light, the woman approached the crib and reached out a hand to the baby tentatively. An electric shock rushed up her arm, making her immediately jump back and fall to the floor, terrified.

The baby, unaware of what was going on around her, continued to sleep peacefully. The light surrounding her small, frail body continued to glow brightly. The light provided warmth to the small body, but produced shocking electric waves to protect her from the touch of everyone around her except her parents.

Cursed, the nurse thought to herself. She’s been cursed by the devil! She stared at the baby with terrified, judgmental eyes, her heart pounding. She jumped to her feet, knowing she couldn’t ignore the presence of a cursed child in the hospital. A cursed child would mean trouble if she didn’t act quickly. She turned to the door and rushed out of the nursery, bumping into the middle-aged doctor walking around the corner. “Doctor!”

“What is it?” David Vincent, his gray eyes darkening with concern, looked down at the wide-eyed, terrified nurse. “Are you alright? Did something happen?”

“The baby,” Caroline forced out weakly, holding on to the doctor’s arm for support. “In the nursery…the baby…the baby is…not normal.” Her heart was still palpitating and she felt dizzy and light-headed. She tugged on the doctor’s arm weakly. “Come see…come see the baby.”

The man, eying the nurse with concern, nodded in silent agreement. “Fine�"let’s go.”

David wasn’t sure what it was that had made the nurse seem so frightened suddenly, but there wasn’t any harm in checking it out. Placing an arm around the young woman’s waist to support her weight, he started toward the nursery door. He pushed open the door and strode in, leading the nurse inside with him. The instant his eyes settled on the same sight that had shocked the nurse out of her wits, the blood drained out of his face, making him nearly as pale as his snow-white hair.

Doctor and nurse, standing side by side, stared at the glowing light that surrounded the newborn baby, illuminating her features and giving the nursery room an eerie atmosphere because of its presence. The baby continued to sleep peacefully, undisturbed from her sleep by the light around her as it continued to shine. It was strange and frightening to watch how easily the baby slept in the circle of light that held her.

“That light shocks you if you try to touch her.” Caroline shuddered, remembering what had happened when she’d tried to touch the baby girl out of curiosity. “It zapped me.”

David took a step back, continuing to stare at the baby as if he had just discovered a severely disfigured monster. Finally, he turned to the nurse beside him watching the baby with a mixture of horror and disgust. “Did anyone come in here?”

“How could they?” the woman replied. “No one can get into this room without knowing the code. It’s all locked up and everything, remember?”

“Locks and codes don’t keep out evil.” The older man looked at his companion grimly. “That curse could be dangerous. We have to get her out of this room and out of this hospital as soon as possible. I’ll inform her parents that she can’t stay any longer. You can get back to your duties.”

The young woman nodded and escaped the room, relieved to be given the chance to place a large distance between herself and the cursed baby girl inside the nursery room. Without a second thought, she took off down the hall to find something else to busy herself with, leaving the doctor to deal with the current situation.

The doctor, keeping a safe distance away from the baby girl, watched the baby as she slept within the glowing light. He glanced at the name card on her crib. “Devany Byrne,” he said out loud, “what on earth are you?” Then, turning away, he headed out of the nursery to find her parents.

***

The small, private hospital room was bright and lit up. The room was quiet and empty, save for its two occupants�"Daegan and Allena Byrne. The young couple�"both at the age of twenty-five�"had just had their first child after a marriage of four years.

Allena lay back against the pillows in her hospital bed, her gold-blond hair fanned out on her pillow, reading from a book that was one of the several her husband had brought her to keep her entertained during her stay in the hospital. Daegan, sitting in the uncomfortable chair at her bedside, listened to the musical patter of the rain against the window and shifted restlessly in his place, running a hand through his chestnut-brown curls as his gaze flitted around the room in boredom.

Allena turned aquamarine-blue eyes away from the page she was reading to glance at her husband. “Honey, why don’t you head home and get some rest? You haven’t slept a wink since we came here. I’ll be okay here.”

Daegan turned deep green eyes on his wife and smiled warmly. “No, I’ll stay here. I’m fine, Allie. I’ll just sleep here in this chair if I get too tired.”

Allena shook her head, but didn’t argue with him. “Alright.”

She had known Daegan for as long as she could remember and he had always been stubborn. Adulthood, love, and marriage hadn’t changed it. If anything, he was even more stubborn now as a man than he’d been as a boy.

Daegan smiled, leaning his head back against the wall. Allena returned to her novel. The room became silent once again, Allena reading her book while Daegan dwelled in his thoughts.

The silence and the comfortable companionship were interrupted when the door opened and a middle-aged doctor stepped into the room, a grim expression on his aging features. He nodded his head stiffly. “Mr. Byrne, Mrs. Byrne�"I have something urgent to discuss with you.”

Daegan straightened in his chair and fixed concerned eyes on the doctor. “What is it, doctor?”

“Did something happen?” Allena put aside her book, sitting up in bed and looking at the doctor with alarm. “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with my baby?”

David Vincent looked between the two concerned adults before he spoke. “We can no longer keep your daughter in the nursery or this hospital.” He paused before uttering what he believed to be the cruel truth. “Your child is cursed and will bring us bad luck if we keep her any longer.” He paused for breath before he continued. “We’re releasing her tonight. None of us will touch her, so I am going to ask you to come to the nursery and take her yourself.”

Cursed? Daegan wondered as he processed what the doctor was saying. How can that be? How can a newborn baby be cursed? I’ll just take a look myself. Controlling his frustration at the doctor’s heartless words for the moment, he nodded at the older man. “We’ll take her. Show me the way, Doctor.”

“I’m coming, too.” Allena threw her legs over the side of the hospital bed and placed her feet on the stool standing in front of the bed. She stepped off of the stool and onto the ice-cold floor, shoving her feet into her slippers. Her mind was racing with all sorts of ideas to explain the reason the doctor would believe their first child was cursed, but nothing seemed to fit.

Daegan nodded, taking his wife’s arm. “Let’s go.” Following the doctor’s lead, he guided his wife out of the hospital room and down the halls of the maternity ward. Finally, they stood in front of the baby nursery.

The doctor opened the door with the code and stepped inside. “Come in.” He nodded at the couple to follow behind him, holding the door open for them to enter.

Husband and wife entered the nursery room, looking around them at the cribs and sleeping babies curled up inside. Their eyes finally landed on the sight of their baby girl, surrounded by a radiant light as she slept peacefully. Though the sight was shocking to both adults, neither reacted with horror as the doctor and nurse had, deciding that the light could not be the signs of a curse, but was instead something better and perhaps much bigger.

“Take her out of here and don’t be bringing her back.” David nodded his head in the direction of the baby girl. “If you decide you don’t want her, you can just dump her in that forest. No orphanage is going to take a cursed baby.”

Allena paled at the doctor’s heartless words. “How could you say that? She’s just an innocent baby girl! If we did something like that, she’d die of starvation or be killed by some wild animal!”

The aging doctor shrugged. “A kid like her is better off dead.”

Daegan’s eyes flashed angrily. “She’s not cursed. That light looks nothing like a curse to me, Doctor. You’re misunderstanding the situation.”

“That light zapped one of the nurses,” David replied. “Whatever it is, it’s dangerous and I don’t want her here anymore. Take her and don’t bring her anywhere near this hospital again.”

“This hospital is the only one in this town,” Daegan argued. “Where are we supposed to have her vaccinations done?”

“That won’t be my problem,” the doctor replied. “Listen, I can keep this quiet and no one will know what happened tonight if you just take her and leave. But if you’re going to try to cause trouble, I will have this publicized by tomorrow morning and the whole town will know her as a cursed baby by the time you wake up and she will never have a normal life. Which will it be, Mr. Byrne?”

The young man clenched his fists angrily, but nodded. He knew he had to protect his daughter from the kind of life she’d have if anyone found out about tonight. “Fine.”

“Good.” The older man’s tight smile was less than friendly. “I knew you’d see it my way.” He nodded his head toward the crib. “Now take her and go.”

Without comment, Daegan stepped toward the crib. Leaning down, he lifted Devany out carefully, cradling her in his arms. He watched as the radiant light glowed around her as he held her, enveloping him in the same warmth around her. He approached his wife with the baby. “Let’s go, Allie.”

Allena nodded. “I’ll hold her.” Holding out her arms, she took the baby out of her husband’s arms, holding her in her own arms. As her husband had, she felt the radiant light enfold her in its pleasant warmth. Despite the glum situation, it felt wonderful to hold her baby girl close and to share the same warmth. Holding the baby, she walked out of the nursery beside her husband, watching as the light surrounding her and her daughter began to fade away until it had completely disappeared.

As the couple walked down the hall, the doctor stepped out of the nursery room, shutting the door behind him. Without a word to the couple, he strode down the hall to return to other duties.

Daegan stopped in his tracks as soon as they were several feet away from the nursery. He looked beside him at his wife and then turned his eyes to his sleeping daughter. He placed a hand on her head, stroking the velvety soft baby hair that lightly covered her scalp. “We’re going to do the best we can to protect you and raise you.” He lifted his eyes from his sleeping daughter to look at his wife. “No one can know about what happened tonight, not even our parents.”

He knew how his parents as well as his parents-in-law would react if they ever found out what had happened. They all carried superstitious beliefs about anything that was beyond ordinary, which would hurt their daughter if the truth about her was known. Williams, despite the time and age they lived in, was a town with medieval beliefs when it came to anything out of the ordinary.

Allena nodded. Looking down at her sleeping daughter, she suddenly noticed the mysterious mark on the left side of her neck. It was stark white against the baby’s tan skin. Touching the mark, she found it to be ice-cold, a completely different temperature than the rest of the baby girl’s skin. “Daegan, look at this. It’s cold.”

Daegan studied the mark and tentatively touched it. “We’ll have to hide it.” He shook his head, sighing. “If anyone notices it, they will call it a curse mark.”

“What do you think it is?” Allena asked. “It can’t be a birthmark, can it?”

“It may be from the same source that light was from.” Daegan shrugged. “I think it is harmless to her. It’s more important to protect her than to find out where it came from and why.” He started walking again. “Let’s go back to the room so you can change into some regular clothes. No doubt they won’t want us staying.”

The couple walked through the ward until they reached the room Allena had been staying in since her delivery. Allena placed Devany into her husband’s arms and picked up the duffel bag she’d brought with her to the hospital. Pulling out a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, she left the room to change in one of the nearby bathrooms. Daegan sat down on the chair, holding his newborn baby daughter in his lap as he waited for his wife’s return.

Devany began to wake up in her father’s arms. Cranky from hunger, the baby began to cry. The white mark on her neck, which reacted to negative emotions and pain, began to burn, making the baby girl start to scream. As the burning intensified, she continued to cry and scream.

The young man was unsure of what to do with his crying daughter. He gently rocked her in his arms as he tried to calm her down. When his fingers brushed against her neck, he felt the burning intensity of the mark and paled. The mark was definitely not an ordinary birthmark if it changed in temperature according to his daughter’s emotions. As he continued to rock her, trying to calm her down while wondering how to make the burning stop, he spied the baby bottle by his wife’s hospital bed, which Allena had used to feed their baby hours earlier. He took the bottle and coaxed it into the crying baby’s mouth. Though the milk was no longer warm, it was still fresh. Relief rushed through him when Devany stopped crying and began to suckle, hiccoughing gently.

Allena stepped in the hospital room, now dressed in her T-shirt and jeans, carrying the hospital gown she’d been wearing. She dropped the gown on the bed. “Let me take her.” She took Devany out of her husband’s arms, supporting the bottle the baby was drinking from. “You take my bag, Daegan.”

Nodding, Daegan crossed the room to the duffel bag. He took out a baby blanket he and Allena had bought before Devany’s birth and covered his daughter with it to protect her from the cold and rain outside. Then he zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Allena removed the bottle from Devany’s mouth, relieved when the baby didn’t cry or scream in protest, wrapping her completely with the blanket. Carrying the bottle with her, she gently rocked the baby girl as she followed her husband out of the hospital room.

He led the way out of the room and walked beside his wife as they walked through the halls of the hospital. “That mark of hers, it’s definitely not normal, Allie. It seems to react to her emotions and burns her. We’ll have to be really careful to make sure no one ever sees it or finds out what it does.”

Daegan and Allena stepped out into the dark, rainy night with their baby and made their way to their parked car. Daegan placed his wife’s bag in the trunk while Allena sat in the front passenger seat with her baby and continued to feed her with the bottle of milk. Daegan got into the driver’s side and started the vehicle.

The young couple left the hospital and the strange events of the night behind them.