CHAPTER TWO

As she held the stick in her hands, Cassandra stared at it in disbelief. She decided it was impossible and slipped outside to buy two more. It was the middle of the night, but the twenty-four hour drug store was open and had a decent supply of them.

She returned home and tried again. As she got the same result, Cassandra cursed softly.

"Cassie?" Kurt called as he awoke. "Is everything alright?"

No, she thought. Nothing about this was alright.

"I'm fine," she lied. She hid the evidence, as if that would change anything, and headed toward their bedroom. As she slipped back into their bed, Kurt wrapped his arms around her.

There was no place Cassandra would rather be than in Kurt's arms, but she wasn't sure what would happen once he knew the terrifying truth.

This can't be happening, she thought. I don't know how to do this. I don't have a maternal bone in my body.

Apparently, the entity that had chosen to incarnate to her hadn't gotten that memo.

She sighed. She didn't trust the tests. She decided she wouldn't do anything until she went to someone who could verify that it was true.

"What's wrong, Cassie?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I'm just tired."

Kurt kissed the top of her head and snuggled closer to her. As Cassandra's mind raced to a thousand worst case scenarios, she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep any time soon.

~*~

As it turned out, the paperwork took quite a while to complete. Cierra had to help Skip and Susie Burke take everyone's statements while Shooter focused on instructing the clean up crew on what to do with the messy scene on the street. She spent the next two hours typing up everything and filing it away.

Cierra loved her job as a Cleric. It paid pretty well and it gave her access to all of the files at the Unit. Normally, she could balance her workload with her obligations to the Silver Society, dating Alex, spending time with her family, and working on her college assignments, but lately, that had been getting tougher.

She had three term papers due, and she was studying for final exams. She was hardly sleeping because she had so much work to do.

"Evil picked a bad time to become so active again," she mumbled. "Couldn't this have waited until after finals?"

With a sigh, she tried to focus on her biology term paper. The class was advanced and the work was intense. She'd managed to do well on all of her exams so far, but this paper was worth half of her final grade, and that put a lot of pressure on her.

"Focus, Cierra," she told herself. "You can do this."

The clock struck three in the morning as she lit a lavender serenity candle to try to calm her nerves. Cierra shook her head. "There's not enough time in the day," she said in frustration. "If I just had a few more hours, I could get everything done."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wish this night would never end!" She declared.

Something changed in the air. Cierra felt magick flowing through her. Confused, she looked at her hands. They were radiating with energy. Her room lit up with an ethereal glow. The flame of the candle danced furiously as air flowed around it.

"What's happening?" She asked nervously.

The energy vanished as quickly as it had arrived. The candle was snuffed out by an invisible force. Cierra gasped and stumbled backward, knocking her biology textbook off of her desk. It slammed onto the floor as she struggled to figure out why she suddenly felt so terrified.

She cautiously walked toward her window. She opened it, but nothing seemed out of place. Everything was quiet and still, as was typical at that hour.

"Relax, Cierra," she told herself. "You're imagining things." She sat down at her desk, picked up her textbook, and went back to work.

~*~

Just before dawn, Cassandra went out for her morning run. She left Kurt sleeping, deciding to use the opportunity to ease her mind by seeing a doctor. She would normally go to Evan, but his soul was Kurt's older brother. She couldn't ask him to keep a secret from Kurt.

She entered the hospital and searched for Nick Sawyer. Despite the fact that it was a full moon, the werecoyote king was covering a shift.

"Nick... I need a favor," Cassandra said.

"Of course, Cassandra," he greeted her warmly. "What's up?"

"I need an exam, and it has to stay between us."

"Confidentiality is part of the job. Come on." He led her to an exam room. She climbed onto the table.

"I need you to do a pregnancy test," she explained a bit awkwardly. She noticed the surprise on his face. "I already took three, but they must have been false positives..."

Nick paused thoughtfully. "Why don't I do an ultrasound? That way, I don't have to document any lab work, and there's no risk of anyone finding out."

"Fine," Cassandra agreed. "Just get it over with."

Nick excused himself to get the equipment he'd need. Cassandra tried not to think as she waited for him to return.

When Nick came back, he quickly set to work. The gel was cold, but Cassandra didn't care. All that mattered was that Nick say the words she needed to hear.

The tests were wrong, she told herself. They had to be wrong.

"I'm guessing this isn't the news you were hoping for," Nick began gently, "but the tests were right, Cassandra. You're pregnant."

"Damnit..." She mumbled. She hesitated before asking, "How far along am I?"

"I'd say about five months."

"Five months? That's impossible! I've shifted several times in the last five months. Why didn't I miscarry?"

"I assume the baby is Kurt's?"

"Of course it is."

"He's a royal wereleopard, Cassandra. That means the baby is, too. Shifting form won't make you miscarry such a powerful leopard cub."

"This is insane... I haven't had my period in a while, but that's not abnormal for me. I only started showing signs two or three weeks ago. I thought I had the flu."

"Sometimes morning sickness doesn't hit right away."

"Nick... Promise me you won't tell Kurt."

"Legally, I can't, and it's not my place... Are you alright, Cassandra?"

"I need time to think. I'm the number one slayer in Salem. I constantly have a giant target on my head. I can't just bring a kid into that life."

"You should talk to Kurt. He can help you figure out what you want to do."

"I know, and I will... I just need time."

"You're already starting to show a little bit, so there isn't much time. Keep that in mind. Until you talk to him, if you need anything, call me. Alright?"

She nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "Thanks, Nick."

"No problem." He handed her a bottle of pills. "These are for you. They're prenatal vitamins. You should take them."

She accepted the bottle. "Right," she said.

"Ginger will help with the morning sickness. You can try tea or pick up some ginger tablets."

"Thanks, Nick. I appreciate the tips."

"Of course. Go on." He let her leave the room.

Cassandra was trying not to panic. She'd always thought her only fear was claustrophobia, but it seemed there was one other thing that terrified her.

It was still dark out. Cassandra had been sure that enough time had passed that the sun should be rising, but maybe the confirmation that she was going to be a mother had thrown off her internal clock.

She shook her head and started jogging to the nearest grocery store to pick up every ginger product she could find.

~*~

Arnie was confused when his alarm clock went off. He groaned in annoyance and swatted it to make it stop yelling at him.

"What the hell?" He mumbled. It was still completely dark outside. Had he set it for the wrong time?

He blinked to clear his vision and glanced at the clock. "Seven o'clock?" He asked aloud. He checked two other clocks and saw the same time on all of them.

"Melissa must be pranking me," he decided. It wasn't unlike her to play practical jokes on people, although this one was a bit unusual.

His telephone began to ring. He picked up quickly. "Hello?" He answered.

"Arnie, I think we're in trouble," Aideen said.

"What's going on, Deenie?" He asked.

"It's seven in the morning and the Sun Gods seem to have gone on strike."

"Melissa got you in on the prank, too? Nice."

"It's not a prank, Arn... The sun is just refusing to rise. It's like time stopped moving, only it's still passing."

He frowned. "I think I need coffee," he mumbled.

"Same. Meet me at Alex's. I'll bring the caffeine."

"See you there." He hung up and forced himself to get ready before racing out the door. The full moon still lit up the sky. As Arnie hurried to Alex's house, he wondered what sort of apocalypse had come to Salem now.

~*~

Something was very wrong. Chad had been up for over an hour trying to figure out why the sun wasn't rising. As soon as his phone rang, he knew it was Cierra.

"What's going on?" He asked her.

"Chad, can you come to my house?" Cierra asked. "I... I think I messed up."

He sighed. "I'll be right there," he promised.

Chad had never left the house so quickly in his life. He barely stopped to make sure he looked presentable before he raced out the front door. When he arrived at Cierra's house, she was waiting for him on the steps leading to her porch.

"Okay, start at the beginning," he told her.

"I was studying last night and working on a term paper at about three a.m," Cierra began. "I was stressed out, and I sort of said something along the lines of 'I wish this night would never end,' and there was all this light in my room all of a sudden and then... Well... The sun never came up."

Chad whistled. "Wow, girlfriend," he said. "You really never do anything small, do you?"

"Can you fix it?"

"If I knew how to do that, we'd both be soaking up some vitamin D right now."

"Chad, I don't know how to undo this! I didn't even know it was possible to do something like this!" Her tone was panicked.

Chad sat beside her, took her hands in his, and looked deep into her eyes. "Cierra Brooke Denton-"

"My middle name's not Brooke," she corrected him automatically.

"You are the Vitti descendant!" Chad continued, ignoring her. "You do not panic! We'll put our brains together and figure out a way to undo this, but until we do, you will take a deep breath and calm down."

"I'm scared, Chad," she admitted softly.

He sighed. "I know. I won't tell anyone. You can be scared, Cierra, but you need to act like you've got it together before the other warlocks realize it. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay," she agreed.

"Good girl." He stood up and offered her his hand.

Cierra got to her feet. "Chad... Does this mean what I think it means?" She asked.

"It means the Darkness is in control twenty-four-seven. Anyone who works dark magick will be stronger. The undead will be able to walk at all times. Zombies can be raised whenever someone feels like it. And, thanks to the gloriously full moon, lycanthropes who can't control their shifts will be stuck, and those who can will be irritable until we get time moving properly again."

"So, what your saying is that Salem's in deep trouble because I wanted more time to get my school work done?"

"Pretty much, but don't feel too bad. You didn't do this on purpose." He paused. "They haven't cancelled school yet. Do you want me to skip it? There's an E.V.S. meeting, but Kelly can handle running one meeting without me."

"No, Chad. School's important."

"Not as important as reversing whatever you did."

"It's the end of your senior year. Don't start cutting class now."

"You and those rigid morals," he teased her. "Alright, I'll go to class, but I'm walking you to the university first."

"You know, sometimes it feels like you're the older one of us," Cierra said with a laugh.

"That's because I'm your guardian. Go inside and grab your things."

She nodded and headed into the house. Chad sat back down on the steps. "By the Gods," he mumbled. "I adore her, but she's a lot of work."

~*~

Shooter had no idea what was going on, but he knew it couldn't be good. The last time Salem had been plunged into darkness it was because he lost control of his powers and short circuited the power grid. The electricity was working just fine, so at least he knew this time it wasn't his fault.

He walked outside and felt magick in the air. It was subtle, but he sensed just enough of Cierra's energy to understand that she was somehow responsible.

"Jesus Christ, Cierra," he mumbled. "What did you do this time?"

Shooter was extremely fond of Cierra, but she had a way of ending up in the middle of situations that were so insane they could only happen to her, like the time she'd gotten trapped inside of an evil book.

He lost his train of thought as he heard an eerie sound coming from the water. Shooter tensed and listened closer.

"Impossible," he mumbled. "I'm imagining things."

The woman's humming grew louder, and Shooter couldn't stop himself from flashing back to the last time he'd heard the melody, more than two decades earlier.

"All who're lost, come to me... Journey now into the sea... Join me now inside a dream... Sing the song of a silent scream..."

Shooter gasped as he heard the words clearly. "Oh Gods," he whispered. "She's back."