Chapter 11

I woke up again to the smell of coffee and blood. I don't remember ever falling asleep. I looked down at my phone and saw it was only six in the morning. I reached out for the cup that had blood in it, and this time, my hand wasn't as shaky. Emma gave a smile to this fact and actually let me drink on my own.

"Don't worry about breakfast. I already made it, and the kids are eating right now. I was just about to go wake up Julia if you wanted to head downstairs. I think it would be best if we were both down there just in case Julia decides to tell her now." I gulped the rest of the blood down and stood up. Once I was up, I traded the empty cup for the coffee she brought me.

"Let's head down." With that, we made our way downstairs. As soon as we hit the bottom stair, I grabbed Emma's hand to get her attention. "Did you want me to go with you to get Julia?" Emma lightly squeezed my hand, then kissed my temple.

"No, I've got it. I'll meet you in the kitchen." I reluctantly let go of her hand and headed into the kitchen.

"Hey, kids! How'd you sleep? How's breakfast?" I saw Alyx and Aleksey had finished their cup of blood and were almost done with the rest of their breakfast.

"It's good. Mommy is actually a good cook. I didn't think she would be." I chuckled, amused by what Alyx had said.

"I can see why you'd think that. She doesn't really cook. She's been alive a long time, though." I leaned over the table a little closer to the kids. "You didn't hear it from me, but your mommy is old, like really old." All three kids burst into a fit of giggles.

"What was that about me being old?" All the kids had stopped laughing and started shoving food into their mouths.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, feigning ignorance. Emma just looked at me, amused. Then, she walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss.

I felt the whole energy in the house fluctuate when Julia walked into the kitchen. Her hair was in a very messy ponytail, and her eyes were still swollen and bloodshot. I grabbed a coffee mug and poured her some coffee.

"Here you go. Maybe it'll help wake you a bit." She grabbed the mug and gave me a small thankful smile. She took a seat at the island by Asha.

Asha looked surprised to see her grandma there. Well, at first, she was. Then when the look of realization crossed her face, she dropped her head down to the ground. I started to hear her sniffling and was just making my way around the island to comfort her when Julia beat me to it. She held Asha closely and rubbed her back as she cried. Alyx looked very concerned about her friend crying, and it even seemed to have a bit of an effect on Aleksey.

The room was quiet except for Asha's muffled sobs. That was until the alarm went off on my phone. Almost everyone except for Asha was staring at me. I felt extremely embarrassed and fumbled a little bit, trying to turn it off. I showed my phone to Emma so she could see it was time to take the kids to school.

"Alright, kids. It's time to go to school." I whispered out to them, not wanting to disturb Julia and Asha's moment any more than what my alarm already had. Aleksey got up no problem, but Alyx stayed in her seat, not taking her eyes off of Asha. I went over to Alyx and bent down to where we were more eye level.

"Come on; we have to go." She looked at me with glassy eyes.

"But momma, I don't want to leave her like this." I looked up at Asha who's sobbing had stopped, but she was still sniffling.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. She's with her grandma, okay. She'll be taken care of." She looked at Asha one more time before getting off the chair and heading towards the front door.

"Here's an extra key to the house for you to lock up whenever you two decide to head out. You can stay as long as you want." Emma placed a key on the counter in front of Julia. Julia looked at her and nodded.

On the way to school, I kept looking at the passenger side mirror to see how Alyx was doing in the backseat. She hasn't said anything, and usually, she's very chatty. But she looked so depressed, and I understood completely. Watching one of your good friends crying, like the way Asha was, is never an easy thing to witness. It especially hits you hard when you can't be there for them. Alyx can be there for her later; right now, Asha needs her grandma.

"We love you both very much and will be right here when you get out of school." Neither kid buged, though. Instead, they just stayed staring at Emma and me.

"Is she going to be an okay momma?" I turned to look at Aleksey, who had a very concerned look on his face. I exhaled a deep breath and looked at Emma.

"She's going through a very tough time right now. But with the help and support of her grandma and all of us, she'll be okay." I'm glad Emma responded first.

"What is going on?" I again looked at Emma, and she looked back at me. I didn't know if it was our place to say anything, to be honest.

"How about you both just wait till Asha talks to you about it herself." Alyx wasn't happy with the answer I gave her.

"Fine. Come on, let's go in now before we're late." Aleksey gave me a semi-apologetic look as he made his way out of the car.

"Damn, I've never seen her that upset before." I looked over to Emma and found her clenching her hands tightly around the steering wheel. I reached out and put my hand on her thigh.

"What's wrong, baby?" She briefly glanced at me, and that's when I saw it. She was trying not to cry.

"I just don't like to see anyone in my family hurting this bad. Seeing Asha like that kills me, and the fact that Alyx and Aleksey are extremely concerned makes me upset. I feel like a horrible parent because I can't shield them from this." I lightly squeezed her thigh.

"You're not a horrible parent. Unfortunately, we can't shield our kids from life, Em. The only thing we can do is be there for them. We will get through this, all of us, remember?" She took in a deep breath, and I saw her grip on the steering loosen a bit.

"Together." I grabbed her hand in response to what she said.

"Together. No matter what, I'll always be right next to you." I whispered out affectionately to her. The drive the rest of the way home was done in silence.

When we got back to the house, Julia and Asha weren't there. I hope they both are doing as okay as they can be right now. I know it will be a very long and exhausting day for both of them. I already know it will be very taxing on their mental health. Thinking about them right now was spiraling me into a deep depression. I still hadn't fully bounced back after what I did for Emma, and all of this horrible shit happening isn't helping.

"You know this is the first time we've been home with it being just the two of us in a long time." Emma looked at me, and there was a hint of something in her voice. I couldn't quite place it, though.

"Yeah, I know; it's weird how quiet it is." Emma stalked over to me, looking at me like she was a predator hunting down their prey. To say that I wasn't intimidated would be a flat-out lie.

"Well, then. How about we do something about that?" There that tone was again. Then it hit me. She's being suggestive right now. She leaned down and kissed my neck, slightly nipping. My breath caught in my throat.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" I said, a little breathy.

"Is it working?" I couldn't find my words, so I just simply nodded. That's all it took for her to pick me up and rush us upstairs.

Emma's POV:

We both laid there holding one another. It felt good to feel her skin on mine. We hadn't been intimate in a while. With everything going on and having kids, it's hard to find the time. I could tell we both felt a lot better and more relaxed. At least for now, we did. I didn't want to think about anything else except her and me at this moment right now. I wanted to savor every bit of our time together being this close, this intimate, this vulnerable.

"I love you so much, Emma." I heard Mila mumble out in a sleepy voice. I held her closer to me and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you too, Mila. Always." She snuggled further into my neck and fell asleep quickly. I focused on her heartbeat and just let it lull me to sleep.

The alarm on my phone brought me out of the best sleep that I've had lately. I groaned out, having to roll over and shut it off. I didn't want to leave Mila's embrace. All I wanted to do was fall back asleep in her arms, but I knew we needed to get up and get the kids. Sometimes I wish that I could stop time, even if it were only for a few minutes, because I would take those extra minutes to stay in this moment with Mila. Right now, we were in this bubble of comfort, and it almost felt like nothing horrible was going on. But with this alarm came the harsh reality that our lives are far from rainbows and butterflies right now.

"We've gotta get the kids." She huffed and turned her face into the pillow.

"I know I feel the same way, but come on, or we'll be late." She rolled herself off the bed like a child. She peeked over the bed at me, and I just laughed at her silliness. She shared a laugh with me. I'm so in love with everything about her. I completely adored her.

We had to speed a little bit to get to the school on time, but we made it just before the kids got outside. Mila and I exchanged a quick high five before the kids got into the car. I saw Mila about to ask how their day was, but once she saw the looks on the twin's faces, she snapped her mouth closed. I looked at them through the rearview mirror, and I can understand why she didn't end up saying anything. The twins looked extremely upset, especially Alyx. I could feel the aggravation rolling off of her in waves.

The whole ride home was spent in silence. When we pulled up to the house. The kids exited the vehicle quickly, and Alyx slammed the car door behind her. Aleksey used his key to get in (we had just recently given the twins their own copy of the house key.) Soon the front door was being slammed too. I just looked over to Mila, and she was looking at me with wide eyes that I'm sure matched my own.

"What the hell?" I voiced out loud.

"Seriously though, what the hell? Are we supposed to lecture her or give her space?" I just shrugged my shoulders.

"I think we should just give her some space. I don't know why she's acting like this." Mila just stared at the door and gave a light shrug back to me.

"Let's head inside now." Mila went to get up, but I put my hand on her arm, holding her back for a second.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked, being completely serious.

"We are the parents here, Emma. We can handle this." I looked between her and our house.

"If you say so. I'll follow your lead." She rolled her eyes at me and made her way out of the car. I was a little more reluctant. She shook her head at me and waved at me to get out. As much as I really didn't want to, I got out and followed Mila inside. As we stepped inside, I had to take in a deep breath. The energy swirling around this place was full of negativity and anger. Mila felt it, too, because she grabbed my hand tightly.

"Is it bad that I'm kind of scared of our children right now?" She whispered to me.

"No, because I'm right there with you." I started leading her upstairs. Both of us tiptoeing.

"Momma, Mommy!" We both froze in our tracks and looked at each other. I could hear us both audibly gulp.

"She sounds scary. Let's just head up to our room and act like we didn't hear her." Mila lightly smacked my arm.

"We have to put on our big girl panties now. They're only 4. We can handle this." She said this with faux confidence. I knew it was just a facade, but hey, we need to make sure the kids don't think we are intimidated right now.

"Fake it till we make it. Lead the way." She looked at me and shook her head.

"No, you lead the way. I lead the way into the house. It's your turn." She whispered to me. I just shook my head no back at her. We just kept whispering back and forth between each other to go first.

"Umm, hello? I called for you both a while ago. Both of your presences are requested at the dining room table." She unfolded her arms and pointed to the ground. "Now!" She all but growled out.

"Did she just growl?" I asked Mila through the mind link. She didn't take her eyes off our daughter.

"Umm, yeah. Pretty sure that was a growl. We better start moving before she does something, and I don't want to find out what that something is." I nodded my head and took the first step down, and Mila followed me. We didn't let go of each other's hands. When we entered the dining room, I found Aleksey sitting in the chair to the left and watched as Alyx took the seat at the head of the table.

"Take a seat." She waved her hand at the seats. Mila and I took the ones on the opposite end of the table, putting distance between our children and us. I know you may think we are cowards right now, but they honestly seemed like the devil himself possessed them.

"We demand to know what's going on." Aleksey nodded his head in agreement. His arms were folded across his chest, and he gave us a grim look.

"It's really not our place to say-" Alyx growled; I am one hundred percent sure of it. I felt Mila grab my hand. "It was a demand, momma." I saw Mila gulp.

"We can't give you what you want. You have to talk to Asha." Alyx stood up on the chair, and her eyes were black with glowing red specks. Okay, she has never had her vampire side come out fully. Mila's attitude shifted to one of real confidence. She stood up too.

"Listen here, Alyx. You're acting a bit too big for your britches. Your mom and I are the parents, not you! Not Aleksey." Alyx was about to say something, but Mila just held up her hand.

"Go up to your rooms now. If you act like this again, you'll both be grounded, and then you won't get to see Asha at all." This made Alyx deflate back to sitting down. Her eyes went back to their normal color. The anger that she was feeling was now replaced with depression.

They both headed out of the dining room and up to their rooms. As soon as they were out of the kitchen, Mila slumped into her chair. She put her head in her hands and let out a shaky breath.

"That's the first time I've ever raised my voice at them. I feel horrible about it." I put my hand on her back, rubbing comforting circles.

"Don't; you had to put your foot down. Why don't you head up and take a nice hot shower? I'll make dinner and take it up to them and bring ours to the room too." She looked at me with defeated eyes. I placed my hand on her cheek and rubbed it with my thumb.

"They'll be fine. Go on up." She kissed me before she made her way upstairs. I stood up and looked around the kitchen.

"Now, what in the hell am I going to cook?"