For the next week, Desmond and Alex took to the streets to find any info on the strange Hades. At home, Riley was recovering slowly and Zeus was driving her crazy.

From morning till night, he was constantly hovering like a needy child. She wouldn't have been to annoyed hadn't the cravings hit her.

One day she was just sitting there and Riley got the urge to eat meat. Feeling hungry, she got up dazed and, before she knew it, she had wolfed down a pound of meat. What made her nervous was that it was raw, blood still dripping from the container. Disgusted, Riley rushed to the bathroom and retched the pound of raw beef from her stomach.

Zeus had found her quietly sobbing by the toilet. Worried, he had asked her what was wrong but being scared, Riley had lied.

From then on, Zeus had been close by at all times, fearing for the health of his mate. But to Riley he was irritating her and the cravings were getting worse and harder to control. She constantly had nightmares of feasting on screaming victims and waking to the taste still lingering like a torment.

It got to the point were Riley hated sleeping and made every excuse not to. Zeus noticed her failing cover up and worried. Something was wrong and he didn't know how to fix it. He had gone so far as to ask help from Desmond and Alex, who said it might be some kind of trauma.

Zeus knew this was something more than just that. He felt a unknown presence around Riley that scared him. He couldn't find the source and it was so faint that sometimes he barely felt it at all. But it was there and he was starting to feel a emotion that evaded him for most his life. Zeus felt fear.

It was close to midnight when he felt his mate stir beside him. Since he didn't need sleep, he often used this time to study his mate and just think. But tonight he felt her restless mind brush his like a starved beast. His own mind retreated at the sheer ferocity of it. Riley jerked and whined, and then her body shot up straight. Zeus felt the hairs on his head stand up when she screamed.

He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her like a vice to keep her from hurting herself as she trashed.

Finally she came to and looked up at him with tears in her eyes,"Zeus, something is wrong with me."

He held her close, listening to her broken sobs,"Tell me what's hurting you love." Riley rubbed her eyes, but tears still flowed and her small frame shook with fear. He waited till she quieted and she said,"I don't know what's wrong. I started getting cravings, but it's raw meat. I literally ate a pound of raw meat and didn't even realize I was. It was like I was on auto pilot and I wasn't there. That's when you found me puking. Then not to soon afterwards, I started having horrible dreams of ripping humans apart and eating them. The scary part is when I wake up, I can almost taste them. Zeus, I'm so scared. What if I change into something like Elizabeth Greene or Pariah? "

Zeus held her to his chest and spoke in her ear,"You'll be alright my song bird. Maybe it's just your body craving biomass to fix your body faster, it might be sending those dreams to hint at you what you need."

Riley laughed a empty laugh,"That's one sick hint." Zeus kissed her tear stained face,"I'll share some of my biomass with you and hopefully it will fix it. You need rest."

Riley nodded as Zeus shot a tendril from his back and snaked its way to Riley were it pierced her flesh. She cringed but held still as biomass tranfered from Zeus to her body. She looked at his face, eyes closed in concentration. The craving she felt for a week dissipated but she jerked back in pain as a new feeling emerged.

Zeus felt Riley's mind brush his as they connected by tendril. He pushed his biomass into her, feeling her body for damage. He paused when he felt the small presence flair up at him. It wasn't violent but this wasn't Riley's presence. Some unknown creature was inside her feeding. Enraged, Zeus protectively pursued the thing intent on killing it.

As his biomass wrapped around it, he felt Riley scream and push away. His tendril detached, cutting the connection to her. Shaking his muddled head, Zeus bolted in fear at Riley's form writhing on the floor. Blood pooled at her lower half and she breathed heavily.

Zeus knelt by her and cradled her head as she cried,"What's the matter with me?" Zeus answered calmly, "I don't know but I know someone who might. We need Ragland. I'll contact Alex and we'll take you there."

Two hours later.,,,

Riley felt uncomfortable with all the worried glances she kept getting from Desmond or Zeus. Alex and Ragland had ran numerous tests on her, checking to see if she had a parasite like Alex had been attacked with once. When that came up negative, Ragland had tried his own hunch.

Now they waited for the results nervously.

Ragland tapped on his computer and laughed at something. Curious, Alex joined him in silent observation only to break said silence with,"You gotta be joking?"

Zeus hovered close to Riley. He was constantly checking her vitals unbeknownst to her, afraid whatever that creature was would attack her again.

He grimaced at their backs,"You gonna share what's so unbelievable, or just screw around all day?"

Ragland and Alex looked back at him and grinned in a private joke, irritating Zeus more. Ragland spoke,"This may come to a shock to all of us. But it explains the cravings and the bleeding after Zeus attacked the entity."

Riley asked,"Is it bad?" Ragland laughed joyfully, "No my dear, it's nothing bad, unless you count as being a mother soon bad."

The room went silent. Zeus spoke, confusion in his voice,"What did you just say? Alex rolled his eyes,"What he's saying dumbass is that your about to be a daddy if you can keep from killing the damn kid. Your little stunt almost caused her to miscarriage."

Riley put a hand to her stomach, "So all those cravings and nightmares was because of a baby?" Alex spoke,"Most likely he or she is like Zeus and me and needs biomass to grow. He was just trying to get you to feed him."Desmond ran up to the still bewildered Riley,"Oh my crap sis, I'm gonna be a uncle!"

Riley looked at her brother dazed and touched her stomach protectively, "I'm gonna be a mother." Zeus looked at the dazed faces and felt a weird feeling well up. It wasn't something he couldn't explain. He hugged Riley to him and placed a hand on her stomach, sending a calming message to his child. He laughed when he felt that tiny presence before that had scared him, now it touched his mind with child like form. He opened his eyes and a single tear rolled down the face of a creature who hated all humanity. Now it wept with joy. Zeus was going to be a father.

Sorry it took so long. I got sidetracked with work. XP