The New Born

“Ok, the head is crowning. You’re doing a great job.” The doctor spoke, his glasses misting up slightly as the temperature rose in the cramped room.

The mother screamed, her head thrown back so far her crown was resting on the pillow, her mouth was open her teeth bared, eyes rolled back into her head revealing only the white of the eyeball itself. Sweat streamed from her naked body and veins erupted beneath her skin, appearing from nowhere and tracing their invisible path for everyone in attendance to see.

“Keep going, push, come on….bear down.” The doctor spoke his quiet instructions, still rather unsettled by the strange surroundings chosen for the labour to take place in; a small crypt like building on the edge of town. It has once part of a much larger estate, whose owners had a dark history filled with violence and bloodshed. They had moved on years before and slowly everything fell to ruin. Everything apart from this one small building at the rear of the property it would now seem.

“You’re doing great baby.” Her husband spoke, as he kissed her on the forehead. She calmed down almost instantly and returned his affection with a passionate embrace which saw him reaching up and squeezing her exposed breasts in the process.

“I can see the head. Come on, one more big push and you’re baby will be here Ms Constantine” The doctor leant forward and placed his hands on the head as it emerged. It was only then, feeling the soon to be newborn baby that he realized how cold the mother was. However, before he could offer her a blanket it all happened and the baby arrived followed by a wave of thick congealed blood and a placenta so badly shriveled that It looked like a used teabag freshly pulled from the pot.

For a few moments there was silence, apart from the splattering sound of the large clots falling to the floor from between the mothers legs which were still spread wide.

“It’s a boy.” The doctor said cradling the child in his arms waiting for it to cry. The blood covering it was already crusted over ad dried to a hard finish, the babies eyes were sealed shut with a scab like covering that the doctor quickly remove. He breathed a sigh of relief when the baby finally began to lament its birth. “Congratulations. He looked perfect.” He said rising to his feet, smiling from ear to ear, as he prepared for the best part of this job, handing the newborn child over to the parents. “Do you have a blanket for him?” He asked

“Wait a minute. He’s alive?” The father asked quizzically as if expecting the worst. The mother exchanged a rather worried and confused look with her husband.

“No, it can’t be.” She stuttered, her eyes wide in disbelief.

The doctor stood confused, holding the child in offering to its parents who seemed to say the least disappointed by the tiny humans living body. He had heard many strange things said as the emotions rolled through but disappointment at life was new.

“It’s fine Sascha” An old voice spoke from the corner of the room. An old man stepped forward, his face as pale of a porcelain doll, his features sharp and waxy like a manikin brought to life, only one that has lead a hard life, its face and body no doubt aged and damaged by time. “Take the beast to your breast and the change will begin.” The old main made a shadow gesture bringing an imaginary baby to his mans bosom. He was dressed in ragged clothes, a suit as old as he looked the doctor would have guessed. His hair was thin and purely white clinging to his scalp with a desperate fervor.

“Yes Papa” The woman answered.

The father stepped forward and snatched the child from the doctor, pulling a disgusted face as he touched the infant’s skin. “Thank you doctor, you may go now.” He snarled, baring his teeth like a dog as she walked away.

“I must check the baby first. Please, give him to me; let me check everything then I will leave you alone for a while to enjoy this special time.” He took a step towards the new parents and was grabbed roughly from behind by strong hands, their grips a strong as their skin was cold.

“I don’t think you understand us Doctor. You purpose here is served, we have no further use for you.” The old man spoke slowly, he walked around to stand in between the couple and the medicine man, his body fragile but his movements assured.

Over the old man’s shoulder the doctor saw the mother take the child, wincing as if in pain when she touched the warm pink skin. She took the babe to her breast and it began to drink greedily. Abject horror took a hold of the doctor when he saw not milk begin to spill from the edge of the mouth but blood. The babe began to struggle as the copper taste hit its palate, but soon this slowed as did his heart rate, his skin paled and took on the same waxy complexion as the rest of the family. Before long it lapped greedily at his mother’s sustenance, and a smile on the mothers face as she watched her dead babe drink was the last thing the doctor saw before the old man struck, snapping his neck, twisting the doctor’s head almost 180 degrees before burying his fangs into the veins to toast the arrival of his first grandchild, and the first true baby vampire to be born since man drove them from the earth centuries before.