Disclaimer: KH owns the most of the characters, and the Hollows. I just want to let you know how I would like the story to end.

Notes: I'm setting this after WWBC. I didn't like Pierce, so don't be surprised if I don't mention him, or if I kill him, I have yet not decided that. I will add some characters of my own, and please, bare with me a little, I swear I will explain everything eventually. This is my first attempt on writing a fic in English, (I'm Mexican, and I mostly read and write in Spanish). If I suck, well, tell me kindly, please.

This is RaVy all over the place, so you're been warned.

And, also if someone has the names of Ivy's parents, please tell me, I'll be forced to name them for this.

Gen, I want to say thank you very much for your help in the corrections of this chapter. I really appreciated your insights.

Angiosse went through this chapter correcting all the grammar I had wrong on it. If any mistake has left, It's entirely my fault. Thank you very much for your help, Angiosse.

MILLION GIFTED BABIES

PROLOGUE

The terrified screams were drilling a hole into my brain. I woke up with a gasp, sitting down in reflex to the tension rising through my body. The air pressure changed a little as the door in front of me opened. I felt my skin crawling with goose bumps due to the screams still filling my head, and the light forced me to shut my eyes before I could see who had entered. An image was clear behind my eyelids, An image of Ivy falling down to a carpeted floor, her face contorted with pain, surprise, and fear, blood flowing from her silky lower lip - torn by one of her own fangs - as she received a treacherous blow she didn't expect. One side of her face bounced against a fluffy carpet, as she tried and failed to remain awake.

I opened my eyes again, unaware of my own person or the place I was, horrified by what I had witnessed. Somehow I was sure of one thing: Ivy was in terrible danger. Then the horrified screams came back to drill into my brain.

Wait a minute! The screams are inside my head! I realized as a nurse came by my side, telling me to stay I was thinking, still sitting on a bed I didn't know, in a hospital room I had never seen before. Yes, the screams begging for help are inside my brain, I decided, and Ivy is in danger! I closed my eyes again and I could see a broken image of Rynn Cormel and a woman that could be no other than Ivy's mother approaching the body of my beloved vamp. Ivy closed her eyes, black as sin in fear, finally she lost consciousness. And then I saw nothing more than blackness behind my eyelids.

She was in the hands of two undead vampires. God knew what they were going to do with her. I have to help her! My heart beat frantically and my body stiffened with resolution.

The moment I decided to go to Ivy, the screams inside my head ceased. I ignored the nurse and got out of the bed. I felt little pulls on my skin as a bunch of electrodes came detached from, and the cardiac monitor went dead. I felt a pinch on the back of my hand, and I saw the IV attached to my vein. I hate these things; they're positively criminal! I tore the damn thing out of my hand without minding the pain and the blood dripping out of the little wound I left on it. God, I know that carpet, Ivy is in her parents' house! This is getting better already. I saw my awful hospital garment in faded blue, and grabbed the coat left in a chair near the bed. It smelled like Ivy, it must have belonged to her. She always stayed with me when I got myself into a hospital; she knew I hated them and why I did. She was always trying to help me. A warm wave filled my heart as I remembered more than one occasion Ivy had stood by me. And now is my turn to help her. I have to go to the Tamwood estate and get Ivy out of there safe and sound!

I rushed to the door and astonished the nurse, shutting her up with my threatening glare. I put the long black leather coat on as I got outside the door. Better and better. I saw the two vamps by the coffee machine down the corridor and the elevator just a few steps from my room. I launched myself into the elevator whilst a blonde doctor came out of it; she was running towards my room.

The two vamps were already coming for me, but for once my luck didn't suck dishwater, and the doors closed before the vamps could do anything to stop them. I punched the controls hoping no one could stop the elevator while it went up. I looked for a line, but I was stuck underground.

Damn, could the freaking elevator go any slower? I could take a deep breath the second I felt the line, I tapped into it and I started to spindle as much ley line power as I could. I was about to face not one, but two undead vamps, and I knew this wouldn't be easy. I had never before tried to ride solo on the lines; I was about to do it; I only had to focus on Ivy, and I would pull through. I was certain now that I would rather die trying save her than do nothing, expecting things to solve themselves. I would never abandon Ivy to her luck again! I would never leave her by her own in trouble again. I love Ivy Tamwood, and I will stand against not only two undead vampires, but an entire army of raging demons for her. I would gladly die for my Ivy, anytime.

When the elevator's doors opened, I saw two more vamps waiting for me. I recognized one of them as a bodyguard of Rynn Cormel. They came on to me, and they were about to pin me against the elevator wall, but I was so out of there. I just launched myself into the line, wrapped by a coat of ley line power, and my warm love for Ivy, aching to get to her side. They ended up crashing themselves painfully against the elevator wall. JA! I allowed a little laughter and then I focused my mind on thinking of Ivy. My home, my beloved friend, the love of my life, the reason I live, and by this time my damsel in distress. My heart was hammering against my ribcage when I got out of the line into a beautiful bedroom.

I almost fell to the floor when the sense of reality crashed into me,but I managed to maintain my equilibrium. I had no time for looking around the furniture, I wasn't here for the tour; the first thing on my mind was Ivy's safety. I glanced around anxiously and found her. There, on the bed, she lay unconscious, and a man with a scalpel was inclined over her. Two women were standing by his sides. Ivy had a little pillow over her body, as well as a rough white sheet. I froze seeing the blood on the scalpel, when the man lifted it by the they had scented me and I yelled, just yelled the first words I could think.

"Get your hands off of her!" The three of them were very surprised, and they stepped away from the bed a little. I used the ley line energy I had spindled in my chi to smack them altogether away from her. Then I rushed to her side, still feeling a little dizzy from my trip through the lines, but I had to take her with me right now. I had no time for weakness.

The door slammed open and I saw Rynn Cormel, Ms. Tamwood, Mr. Randall and a crying Erica coming inside in a rush. I froze, not because of them, but for the sight of the blood on the pillow resting over Ivy's body. Oh God! That isn't a pillow; it's her belly! Ivy is pregnant! How can she be so pregnant? My jaw fell a little in horror. Without any thinking I reached for the line cut by the scalpel in her was bleeding, but just the flesh had been cut. I muttered a spell that came to my head while passing a finger over the wound and it healed almost instantly.

Then I felt the movement, the little kicks upon the hand I rested on the newly perfect skin, stretched by the pregnancy. My hand smeared the blood slightly while I extended it, to feel better the baby.

And my brain did it again. I could hear the sighs of relief, the smooth greetings - not in words, they were merely sounds I couldn't describe on words, but somehow I knew what they meant. I didn't pay any attention to the vampires even I knew I should. Ivy's face was breaking my heart. Someone had cleaned the blood in her mouth, but her lip still was swollen and torn. I passed a finger over it, repeating the healing spell; the ley line energy fixed once again her silky skin. There were shadows under her closed eyes, and the eyelids held a lilac color, like she hadn't had any sleep in weeks. Her complexion was sick, no doubt, the skin beyond pale, her rich color gone. Ivy had lost so much weight, she almost looked like a corpse.

Then, I heard a whisper, a longing, hungry whisper, definitely originating inside my head. I had poured into Ivy's lips and mouth some drops of the blood that ran from my little hand wound. The whisper turned into a pleading whine in my head, and before I could process anything, I grabbed the scalpel from the sheet, where it fell from the doctor's hand, and I sliced my wrist open. I put the fresh wound against Ivy's mouth, using my other hand to separate her lips and curl her neck upwards so the warm, vital liquid passed trough her throat smoothly.

The whisper turned into a purr when the first of my blood went down. I rested my free hand tenderly on her belly, and I could feel the kicks. I heard the giggles, the purring of pure satisfaction, and I grasped one thing very clearly. "Twins."

I was probably thinking out loud because a voice I didn't know came from the other side of the bed. A seductive, glorious voice filled with ice and maybe a little scorn.

"How do you know?" it asked with authority. I laid my eyes on her, and I really understood where the beauty in Ivy's features came from. Ivy's mother's complexion was slightly more Asian, her eyes the same almond shape as Ivy's, and she easily could pass for Ivy's sister. She was gorgeous, physically at least.

"I can hear them. This one is active, kicking my hand, like salutes, and this one sounds like a vamp taking blood, just soft purrs and sighs of content." I answered, letting my hand roam softly over the bare belly. One of Ivy's hands came up by my arm and she curled her fingers around it; even in the heavy sleep induced by the drugs they've surely administered to her, she was securing her meal. Her fangs slid inside my wound, seeking more blood than the already freely offered. I flinched in pain until the neurotoxins on her saliva acted over my system, soothing me. Ivy was pulling in big sips. I sounded absentminded even to myself. I was absentminded. This changed everything. Ivy was pregnant. With twins.

"Can you?" the skeptical tone in Ms. Tamwood's voice didn't make me angry. I locked my eyes with hers; they were black, threatening, and hungry. I was bleeding out into Ivy's mouth, and I didn't even care about the desire and hunger in the eyes of Mrs. Tamwood. But she was noticeably surprised. I could smell the pheromones she was throwing at me, and the pheromones Rynn Cormel considered necessary to pump as well mixing in the air around me, but my scars didn't react to them, not the slightest tingle. Not even a little blush, and the pulls from Ivy's lips were ineffective as well. maybe I was too worried and astonished to feel anything right now.

"You could write several books about what I can do, Ms. Tamwood. You don't know the first thing about me, and you can be certain of this: I will kill you or anyone who would try to hurt Ivy. But right now you know the things I don't. Why is Ivy in this state?" I demanded, and the indignation I saw in her eyes didn't scare me. The surprise and the anger I could hear from the other vampire along with the forced laughter from Rynn Cormel didn't trigger any feeling from me. I was much too startled by the poor shape Ivy was in and her advanced pregnancy. I never stopped looking into the dark depths of Ms. Tamwood's eyes.

"You're a real piece of work, Rachel. I told you, Kim." The master vamp said, placing a hand on the shoulder of Ivy's mom. "Ivy is drinking your blood". He pointed with his eyes at my bloody wrist and the pulls of my vamp on it. "And for some reason, she is not puking."

"Hey, maybe I don't have vampire blood, but my blood is as good as anyone's." that tickled my temper a bit. So he thought my blood was not good enough for my Ivy? "What's wrong with her? Why is she sick?" I demanded, yet again. And they exchanged looks. Obviously something that they didn't expect had just happened.

"Ivy is not retaining any food; she hasn't in the last week, nothing. We think it has something to do with her pregnancy. She hasn't tolerated any blood, not since she woke up herself 6 months ago. And she tried when we convinced her or…" his next four words came out as a mumble that made my temper rise again "forced her into it, but she only had to taste it and she vomited it out along with anything else she managed to eat. Lately it had only been getting worse, Rachel." I finally noticed the way he was using my name, and that made me frown slightly as I tried to remain calm. "Over the last 10 or 12 days she has lost a lot of weight and has been incapable of eating any food; she's been living on a little coffee and a little juice. She was too stubborn to terminate the pregnancy, so we have decided that the best way for her to recover is to allow the virus to repair any physical damage we would inflict on her with the termination of the pregnancy in order to save her she would be capable of having other children in better circumstances," He informed me, with his political tone that allowed him to sound good even when they were about to murder two innocent lives against Ivy's will.

I huffed in disapproval and looked head to toe at the undead vamps standing on the other end of the bed side by side. I truly hated the idea of Ivy married to a vamp, and having his children.Wait a minute. Did he say 6 months? "6 months?" I shook my head a bit, and regretted it, because that made me dizzier than I already was. Ivy stop pulling, and I retrieved my arm, thankful that she was sated before I couldn't think straight due to blood loss.

I took a dressing bandage from the little table the medical assistants left near the bed, filled with supplies for the ungodly operation they were about to perform; I covered the wound and the bite in my wrist with it. I muttered yet again that spell I didn't know how or where from had come to my mind, and felt the energy of the ley line healing it. I tossed the bloody thing over the medical instruments, that way at least they would have to bring in new sterilized material and I was gaining some time to save Ivy's children. Then I took a glance at my healing wrist and I noticed a scar very near to the vanishing red line on my skin. I shuddered. I remember this one, just aside my demon mark. It was when Ivy was dying in my arms, and I had wanted to keep her soul attached to her undead body. A sharp gasp made me cough, and I saw at Ivy again.

"She is alive! She couldn't be pregnant if she were undead. She is alive!" I said totally startled once again, my knees buckled and I sat aside her as my hands ran through my hair. "My God, I'm alive too!" My right hand came on its own to my chest, and a memory of excruciating pain made me tremble a moment. "This can not be!" My heart clenched. I failed Ivy once again, the damn spell didn't work. Damn it to the Turn!

One of the Cormel's bodyguards came into the room in a rush.

"Sir, the Morgan witch escaped the hosp…" he trailed off when he saw me in there and he left closing the door on his way out after an apologetic glance towards his boss.

"What you mean, Rachel?" Cormel asked me with elegance and very politely, adopting the patronizing tone of one adult talking to a 6 year old child. "Of course Ivy is alive, you saved her life somehow when she got stake in the heart, 6 months ago. She said that somehow you exchanged your life for hers, switching places. When we reached you the both of you were in comas. Ivy woke up six days later. But you, Rachel," he emphasized the patronizing tone once again by slowing his words for the next part "you have been in coma for 6 entire months and two weeks. It's astonishing that you are walking, spelling, and successfully attacking vampires - living ones, but you knocked them out the same -when you have been sleeping so deeply for more than 6 months." His eyes diverted for one split second from mine to see the three of them scattered on the floor, unconscious, by the wall. I shook my head again. "Nevertheless, I must thank you for saving our dear Ivy's life." He smiled to me, his famous smile. But I wouldn't give a damn for it.

"I was trying to save her soul, not her life. God! I didn't think I could save her life, she had been staked, and if that wasn't enough she also had been stabbed in the abdomen!" I rant bitterly, as if it has been his fault. "Double damn! The freaking thing didn't work as I hoped!" I clenched my jaw, shaking my head in a no motion out of a disappointment and despair that had filled me to the last cell. I sighed tiredly, feeling very depressed.

"Are you saying that you were actually working on that?" he asked quietly

"Of course I was! I love Ivy!" my voice went up two tones at that statement, and it actually felt so good. It was the first time I said it out loud and convinced. No matter I was talking to a bunch of vamps rather unfriendly to me. "I don't ever want to see Ivy without her soul! The task is huge, Rynn." I stared at his eyes "And being shunned doesn't make it any easier. I had been looking for a way, but the answer is not in the University, or in any of the other places I've been searching. I heard rumor though; there is a place in Italy, where demon magic books have been collected for many centuries. I think the answer could be in there, but I have no means to get there. Furthermore the books belong to a camarilla, a very old, very dangerous camarilla. Maybe I could get there, but there's no way I can beat them all by myself, or even to steal their little treasures and get out live enough to take a glimpse into the books." I stated angrily. "I tried the only thing I found suitable to help Ivy, and I failed. At least she's still alive and I have another chance to find out how to help her keep her soul." I sighed again, and caressed the ebony hair of Ivy. At least she had some color now.

The master vampire took a deep breath and distracted me from contemplating my beloved vamp's weakened condition.

"Ivy didn't know you were doing something. I didn't know either, Rachel." He sounded irritated.

"I didn't want to give her false hope, Rynn, and she is always I had said her anything, then she would have tried to stop me for places I have to go are too dangerous, and the things I have to do to get the information I need are almost all life threatening. I know her, and she'd simply stop me from doing anything that could hurt me in any way even if I was doing it to help her. I work alone, it's one of my many weaknesses but I cannot help myself. I don't trust in anyone for these kinds of things, no one but Ivy; she was out of the picture for this one. I was planning to fill her in when I found a way that could potentially work. See what happened? I wasn't sure if the spell was going to work, and it didn't. I kept it like an emergency kit when I found out there was a little war amongst the vamp camarillas, just to use it in case Ivy got hurt so badly like she did. So I failed, Rynn, for the zillionth time!" I ranted again

"But this is something I want, Rachel, and if you tell me, I can use my influences, and make things easier for you. What camarilla possesses the books you want research in?" Cormel asked with his smooth voice, in a very seductive vamp way.

"First, Rynn, I want Ivy and her babies to be safe. I know she'd never let anyone hurt an innocent life, much less two. I think I can help her with the food; there is a potion I used to take - my mother fashioned it for me, when I was younger and I could not eat anything when I was sick. Even if the potion doesn't work, my blood seems to feed Ivy just fine. So, I will help you, I won't rest until I find a way to make the soul of a vampire remain attached to his or her undead body. But Ivy is more important to me right now - her health, and her babies' as well. You're her master. I know that if you say the word, the others will obey you. Give me a chance to save her and her children," I asked passionately "And I will work for you to get the answers you want the most. I will treat with you directly. I don't want Ivy to worry over this."

The vamps looked at me as if I had two heads or something. Well, no vamp inside their system would dare to stand openly against a Master Vamp, contradicting his decisions or setting conditions on his desires. But this one was way much less scary than Piscary was, and I had nailed Piscary for the witches' killings, hadn't I? Rynn Cormel locked his eyes on me, for a little while. Unreadable. I held his glance, motionless, without any reaction. For some reason, I wasn't scared of the vamps, not anymore. So my pulse didn't rise a bit, and my skin didn't blush, and my breathing was as steady as the rest of me. I even felt a little numb; I just had so much grief in my heart. Ivy was pregnant; maybe she got married in those months I lost.

So I managed to lose the love of my life without even having her for myself in the first place. Wasn't the life funny? When I got my big realization, I somehow put myself into a coma and she moved on. Well, that was the story of my exciting crappy life, wasn't? But regardless my own and much deserved pain, I would always love Ivy, no matter what. I wasn't willingly leaving her alone in such a predicament if I had the tiniest chance of saving her and her unborn babies, even if that meant I had to give her away to a freaking husband I didn't know, one I didn't ever want to know. It was better that way, or I might kill him twice out of pure jealousy.

Rynn really surprised me when after a good while of consideration he laughed in amusement. "I guess if I say no you will do a foolish thing like to try to get Ivy and run away with her." Rynn said it like a joke, but I saw his sarcasm right away; Ivy surely talked with him a lot about me.

"You know me very well, Rynn." I smiled blatantly, shameless. I am a hasty 'go with your gut' kind of idiot most of the time, and anyone that can met me for a day would guess that plan B is my favorite: Grab the fish and run, grab Ivy and run. Plan B is always fun and worth a try! "I don't care if you kill me in the process, or any of them, but I will fight you, all of you with all my power. You know I won't go alone, and you will be my primary target. If I kill you, your precious camarilla gets scattered and erased, without you they are lost." I shrugged my shoulders like I didn't care, and I didn't.

"You have steel nerve. I give you that, little witch." Ms. Tamwood spoke with some kind of amusement in her voice. "I know now how you bewitched my daughter. She always has had this little rebel vein in her, and you certainly have the spirit to fuel that in her."

"Ah, Ms. Tamwood you're Ivy's mother and I don't mean any disrespect, but only Ivy can call me little witch. I already told you, you don't know me or know what I'm capable of. I strongly recommend you not mock me, or take me as some kind of joke. I might have been a joke a while ago, but many things have happened, and I've learned so many neat tricks since I knocked Piscary out. I realize now that I should have staked him when I made my own chance to do it. But then I was too self-righteous and naïve enough to think the right thing to do it was bringing him in to justice. Then I wasn't prepared to kill. Now, now I won't give a second thought to killing anyone that threatens Ivy in any way. The fact that you're undead doesn't make you invincible. I had demons after me, demons, and demons are way more dangerous than vamps, undead or not. They are much more threatening and entertaining than any vamp can be." I said flatly, my emotions numbed. I sounded bored. She looked at me once, twice, head to toe with her calculating black eyes and I didn't move a muscle, indifferent to her and to anybody else. I had sat down besides Ivy. And she would be safe as long Rynn said the word.

"Well, that's fine; Ivy can have you if she wants, as long as she carries the babies to term. She's only halfway through; there are still almost 7 months to come. If she produces heirs to our line, she can have her way and have you as she wants, her shadow, or her scion, I don't care." She decided. "So, if you can save the babies, I won't lay a finger on you." She said with grace, dismissively.

The little mockery in her voice, and the little disdain were still there, but I didn't care because she gave me another piece of information I hadn't before. "Ivy is not married?" I asked surprised.

"No." she shrugged her shoulders.

"And who's the father?" Yes, I have to ask; if the freaking bastard isn't in the picture I might kill him twice after all. My heart skipped a beat, I felt such relief. I could be with Ivy if she still wants me!

"We don't know yet, Rachel. Ivy said she wasn't pregnant before the attack to the house, and then, a little after she woke up from her coma, the symptoms of the pregnancy appeared. We think that someone took advantage of her while she was out. Mom stayed with her every night, and dad and me in the afternoons, but she was alone for few hours every morning." Erica explained to me getting closer to Ivy by my side. She looked towards her sister and she took her hand tenderly. "No, she didn't throw up, and her heart is beating with more strength already, and her color is getting better." She formed a little hopeful smile, while my stomach clenched in outrage, as did my jaws and fists.

Son of a bitch! If I find out who touched her, I'll kill him! I'll kill the bastard!

It was so unfair; Ivy had been raped once again, or possibly more than once. They said she was in coma for 6 days. God 6 days! While she was vulnerable, alone, and unaware. How could that have happened? Why did it always have to be this way for her? All my body stiffened and stood up with my fists so hardly closed that my nails broke the skin of my palms.

"You're not the only one who wants to kill that wretched bastard, Rachel." The voice of Mr. Randall came to me, and his hand touched my shoulder, getting me out of my outraged thoughts. "We will find out, and he is mine." He stated, very still, eerie. Well, Ivy was his daughter, and he had loved her long before I had. I stared at his black eyes; this was the first time I could see him out of control. I knew he was so much more dangerous than I could imagine right now. I nodded once. It was his fatherly right to avenge his little girl. "But I maybe require your help, we didn't find any odor - we suspected the son of a whore used an amulet or something, maybe you could find a lead."

"Mmh, that will depend, the magic is worn out and it has been a long time, maybe if I twist some charms" I said, but I focused again on Ivy. She was the most important thing right now "Ah, but first comes getting Ivy in a proper shape. Do you have a spell pot in the house?"

"I'm afraid not, Rachel. Are you sure you can save the babies?"

"Yes." I sounded determined and secure, confident. Yes, I was confident of that, why? I couldn't explain it at all. I only felt this right, and this strange confidence I hadn't before. Maybe love cleared my head. No, I was walking in fog, I wasn't sure of anything, my conscious being wasn't sure of anything, but my heart was clear. I'll do fine, somehow, I will.

"Well, then make a list, I will send someone to grab all the things you need, Rachel, Ivy has been living in the church all this time. This afternoon she fainted while she was with you at the hospital, then Kimberly and Robert asked me to bringing her here to solve her health problem. All of your stuff is still in the church. Ivy didn't let anyone touch anything of yours. Call the pixie, tell him what you need, and he can tell my people to gather it for you." Rynn Cormel decided to join the conversation again. "You will have your chance to save Ivy's life, Rachel. You have saved her life more than once and I know you will do whatever is necessary to do it again. Now tell me whose camarilla possesses the books you want to investigate into." He ordered me this time, although he sounded polite.

"Francesca Borgia's. Be very careful, Rynn. Francesca is older than Piscary was; she has at least nine names, when he had only seven. And she uses demons as well as he did. If something you do bothers her in the slightest way, you will have demons after you, your Scion, and your most important lieutenants. Yours won't be the first camarilla she has erased totally from history if she takes offense." I warned him very clearly. I was slowly remembering very worrying things I had found out when I was researching. He looked very surprised at first, but then his face showed worry openly.

"You really choose dangerous places to make your investigations, Rachel." He stated in a very serious tone. "I know you have been investigating hard; I didn't know that Francesca was that old."

"Natalie is a kindergarten kid by her side, but Francesca is even more subtle in public. Rynn, privately, she loves blood orgies and she had drained to death more than three kids in only hours, even a dozen kids every 10 years in one single night, some ritualistic thing she is privately famous for; only the closest to her know about that. If Nathalie prefers girls, Francesca has no particular taste; girls and boys are no different for her. And she enjoys torturing witches so I need a little security before set a foot on her dominions." I informed him with an even voice, a professional voice that I had recently begun to work on.

"But you're going to do it anyway." He smiled at me, a smug grin that was very attractive on his features. He even seemed human that moment, and that reminded me of the potential danger he could represent in the - not so far from now - future. He was a young undead, but he was used to playing political games with every race, beginning with his own, and that was the very secret to Vampiric success.

"For Ivy, I'd go to hell, Rynn. You know that." I shrugged my shoulders. "Where's the phone?"