Undead Uprising Chapter 10
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Before we get into this week’s Wicked Wednesday, just a BIG REMINDER that next week’s Wicked Wednesday is a special excerpt from bestseller Lisa Jackson and a SPECIAL CONTEST!! Two lucky winners will receive copies of one of Lisa’s books, a T-shirt from Lisa and notepad. In addition, I’m going to toss in a CALLING T-shirt and box of books to the two lucky winners, so please drop by and leave a comment on the blog by midnight EST on August 26th for a chance to win these wickedly good prizes!
This week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.
This chapter is a flashback to Catalina’s birth and what caused the split between her mother, Marina, and her father, Rafael. It’s a bit bloody for those of you who might be squeamish, but it does explain why Rafael had to set aside Marina, his own true love.
For those of you who may have missed the first nine chapters, you can read them here:
New York City, 1982
Rafael gripped her hand tightly and said, “That’s it, querida. Hee-hee-haaaa.” He mimicked the breathing pattern they had practiced at Lamaze class.
Marina shot him a grateful smile and copied his actions.
“That’s it,” he urged, but then shot a worried look to the doctor.
The physician, an older wolf who had served the pack for a generation or more, calmly said, “Do not worry, Rafael. The baby’s almost here.”
Something clawed at the edge of Rafael’s consciousness. A preternatural sense that things weren’t quite right. It was strong enough that he felt compelled to go and see if anything unusual was happening beyond the birthing room. Bending close to Marina’s ear, he whispered, “I’ll be right back.”
With a kiss to her sweat-drenched brow, he rose and headed to the door when the first scream exploded from her. A blood-curdling howl. One he had only heard before when an animal struggled in the throes of death. Racing back to her side, he grabbed hold of Marina’s shoulders as her body vaulted off the operating room table. “Marina, what’s wrong?”
He shot another look at the older wolf, only the man was urgently calling out for help.
As a few nurses and another doctor came rushing into the room, the monitors and assorted pieces of equipment beeped and sent out all kinds of warning signals, but not enough to drown out the sounds of Marina’s screams.
He struggled to hold his wife down while the doctor prepped her and one of the nurses set up an I.V. Within moments, Marina finally calmed, but soon moaned fitfully as the doctor urgently sliced open her belly. Guts and the baby soon filled the physician’s hands.
Rafael didn’t even have a second to see the child as a river of blood suddenly poured from within Marina. It ran down her hip. Pooled on the edge of the operating table before overflowing to the floor. So much of it. Too much.
The older wolf called out for help and the other physician immediately joined the battle to save Marina’s life.
The two men frantically yelled out instructions to the nurses and technicians around them. At one point, someone moved him back from the table, as if to keep him from seeing what was happening to his wife.
It seemed like hours during which all he could hear were the warning sounds of the medical equipment and the anxious words of the doctors who were laboring over Marina’s inert body.
If the baby had cried during that time, he didn’t know. But it was crying when one of the nurses finally placed the squirming bundle in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said as she stepped away and for the first time, Rafael stared down into the face of his child and
saw . . .
Not a werewolf or a human, but a mix of both. The nose and mouth were too flat for a wolf’s muzzle, but too long to be human. The ears were pointy, but more wolf than human. Soft reddish fur covered what parts of its body were visible and small paw-like hands had visibly sharp nails. Nails that tore at the blanket, shredding it when they made contact. Like they must have shredded Marina’s insides as the beast child struggled to leave the womb.
After he tightened the blanket around it, the baby howled and struggled against its bonds. Unsure of what else to do, he cradled it close and murmured calming words, all the time trying to also keep an ear on what was happening on the operating room table where things had finally gotten calmer.
But maybe not for a good reason, he thought as he noted the grim faces of the doctors as they stepped away from Marina.
Fear gripped him. He grasped the baby securely. It struggled against him, but he didn’t relax his hold as he moved to his wife’s side.
She was pale, her face ghost-like. Barely breathing. But she was breathing and at that, he finally relaxed his grip on their newborn child.
A beast child, he thought yet again before turning his attention to his wife.
Gently he stroked Marina’s cheek. Her eyes fluttered open. Her beautiful cocoa-brown eyes were consumed with pain. “Amorcito. You’ll be okay,” he said.
When she spoke, her voice was so weak that he almost didn’t hear the one word she uttered. “Baby?”
Fear unlike any he had ever experienced twisted his insides. He couldn’t show her the child. He didn’t think she could deal with seeing what they had created. But then Marina gripped his arm with surprising strength and once again asked, “The baby?”
He nodded and took a deep breath, preparing himself for her reaction once he pulled back the blanket to expose the child. Then he slowly eased the edges of the shredded cloth from the beast baby’s misshapen face, only . . .
Within the blanket nestled a thoroughly human looking child. One with a head of auburn hair the same rich color as the fur that had earlier covered its half-wolfen body. Bringing the child to Marina, he eased his arm behind her back to prop her up slightly so she could see their baby.
Marina smiled and passed a trembling hand over the baby’s head. “She’s beautiful,” she said and for the first time, he realized it was a daughter. He had been too frantic before to notice.
They had a daughter, he thought, but whatever happiness that brought was torn away as Marina went limp in his arms and all the monitors started their anxious warnings once again.
looking forward to blogging with you and lisa
love the chapters! you really burn thru thepages
Looking forward to the blog with Lisa Jackson. I just love these weeks chapter installment.
Wednesday can’t come soon enough; but the chapers help fill the time until then. I can read them and Lisa’s new book while I wait for A SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD to come out.