Drusilla
They were walking through the City of the Dead, when Drusilla suddenly felt sharp pain. She gritted her teeth, and clenched her hand around Sabre's arm.
"Sabby, darling, I think the babies are coming," she said, both enjoying and disliking the pain.
Sabre
"Oh, uh, right," Sabre said in shock, then he lifted her in his arms and fairly flew to his aunt Hapi's temple. "HAPI!"
"Dark one?" Hapi waddled out, and her eyes widened. "Oh, my. Inside, quickly now." She walked back inside, and Sabre followed her. "On the bed, dear one." Sabre laid Drusilla down carefully. "When did this start?"
Drusilla
Drusilla grit her teeth. "ABout ten minutes ago," she said. Another contraction hit, and she vamped out.
"Grrrrrrr," she growled. "Want them out NOW!"
Sabre
"Soon, dearie, soon." Hapi said cheerily. "Dark one dearest, go and boil some water for me."
"Aye." Sabre disappeared to do what she had told him.
"Best to get the father out of the way as soon as possible," Hapi told Drusilla. "They tend to get upset. Now then..." Hapi washed her hands, then chanted a spell of protection over Drusilla.
Drusilla
Dru bit down hard on her lower lip, drinking her own blood.
"Oh, must get these babies out!" she yelped, as another contraction hit, just 3 minutes apart from the last. Her water had broken, and she was fully dialated. These babies did NOT want to wait.
Hapi
Hapi chuckled and crooned as she got Drusilla into a crouching position on the birthing stool. "Push down now, dearie."
Drusilla
Drusilla pushed, and felt the first baby move. She pushed again, and heard a mewling cry.
"Baby?" she asked, tiredly.
Hapi
"Oh yes, dearie," Hapi said as she rubbed the little kitten and made it breathe. "Beautiful little kitten. Ankheseenpaten, here, take this one and keept it warm." A lithe Egyptian woman came in quietly and took the kitten from Hapi as the goddess crouched in front of Drusilla and got ready to help deliver the next baby.
Drusilla
Dru pushed again, getting more tired with each push. Finally, she heard a baby cry.
"Baby?" she asked again, hoping the baby was alright.
Sabre
"Beautiful, perfect," Hapi crooned. "You're doing so well." The baby in Hapi's hands wailed as the goddess wiped it clean and cleared its mouth of any obstructions.
Sabre was in Hapi's kitchen, resolutely heating water. He could smell Dru's blood and it made him nervous.
Drusilla
Dru pushed again, almost out of strength. "Need blood," she moaned. She pushed as hard as she could, and heard another kitten's cry. She didn't think she had any more strength left in her to push out the last baby. For the first time in nearly a century, Drusilla wept.
Hapi
"Shh, shh, you're doing fine." Hapi smoothed the tears from Drusilla's face. The kitten in her hands wriggled and mewed as she briskly wiped it clean. "Just one more, dearie, just the one, then you can rest with your new little ones..."
Drusilla
"I can't!" Dru cried, "I can't!" The tears were pouring down her face. Crying was the only thing she wasn't too tired to do. There was something wrong wth this one, she could feel it. She tried again to push, but she couldn't feel him move.
"Oh Hapi! Something's wrong!"
Hapi
Hapi frowned slightly. Drusilla was right. There was something wrong. "Don't you worry, dearie. Never lost a child or a mother yet and I've been doing this for a long time." She massaged Drusilla's stomach lightly, feeling the babe trapped in the birth canal...oh dearie me. "Push for me. Push for your babe." A murmur of prayer and magic...and in Egypt, weren't they the same? "Push hard, dearie."
Drusilla
Dru took a deep breath, though she had no need to, and pushed as hard as she could. SHe felt the baby leave her body, but something was wrong, why wasn't the baby crying?
"WHat's wrong with my baby?" Drusilla asked, terrified.
Sabre
Hapi didn't answer her for a moment as she massaged the baby's chest, and cleared his throat. "C'mon, little one..." She spanked his bottom sharply, and he jerked in a breath, then wailed. "There you are..." She wrapped the last baby up tightly, then helped Drusilla off the birthing stool and down onto the bed. With a quick glance, she gathered her handmaiden by eye and they put Drusilla's babies into her arms. "And there now, aren't you the pretty mama with all her babes?" Hapi cooed. "Dark one!"
Sabre stepped in hesitantly, then dropped to his knees by Dru's side. "Oh, lovely..." he breathed. He took her hand in his. "They're so beautiful..."
Dru
Dru grinned sleepily as she held her babies. "My dear, I have their first names all picked out. If you want to choose second names for them, I won't object." She sat up slightly, and let two kittens curl up in her lap. The two babies shifted silently into kittens, and the four of them curlked up around each other in Drusilla's lap.
Gently, Dru picked up the little calico. "This one is Cassiopeia," she said, kissing her daughter on the top of her head. Cassie nuzzled her mama in her sleep, and mewed lightly as Dru set her down. Then she picked up the orange tabby, gently.
"You are my Draco. You will be strong like the dragon, I know," she told the sleepy kitten. Draco batted his mother on the nose with his paw. "All right," she ordered her baby, "This is sleep time." He seemed to understand her, and as she set him back down on her lap, he curled up around Cassie and fell asleep.
Dru almost gasped as she picked up the Siamese kitten. He was so beautiful it was almost unearthly. "You are truly my Perseus," she breathed, as he yawned in his half-waking state. Finally, Dru picked up the littlest. He was so tiny, she could hold him in the palm of her hand. He was almost all black, with white markings on his chest, paws, and tail.
"And, you, my little one. You shall always be weaker than the rest, I can see it already. You need a strong name to become a strong man, so I will call you Orion, after the warrior, who chased the deadly scorpion across the skies, and was weakened himself by Scorpio's attack." she sighed as she held him next to her pulseless heart. "It's time to be human," she told him gently, not completely certain he could understand her, but hoping he would. He shifted into an small infant, and she positioned him over her breast, urging him to suckle. After a few moments, he clamped on, and would not let go.
"It is so odd," Dru mused. "This body has been without life, or living functions for two centuries. Now itis as if I am becoming alive again. I had the heartbeats of my babies in me, and now I feel almost dead again. But though this body is only a living corpse, there is milk in my breast." Drusilla pondered this, decided that nothing made much sense anymore. Then she looked at Hapi.
"Will I have enough milk for all four? I cannot turn into a cat, so I can only feed two at once. How can I make this work?" she wondered.
Sabre
"You will. They'll just have to take turns." Hapi smiled. "Consider it mine and Bes's gift."
"Where is Bes, anyway?" Sabre asked distractedly as he looked at his children.
"He's around." Hapi ruffled Sabre's hair, and he gace her a cool look, before returning his attention to the kittens. He moved his face closer to them, paused then shifted into cat and leapt gracefully onto the bed. He sniffed them over carefully, purred and then licked the top of Draco's head before curling up with them.
Dru
Cassie opened one eye. Kittens are born with their eyes closed, but these kittens were ageing quickly. She sniffed.
{Papa?} she asked, crawling over to him, and nudging his paw until she had snuck underneath it.
{Mine.} she declared. Meanwhile, Percy was vying for his Mummy's attention, as well as her milk. Dru gasped as the little kitten teeth attatched themselves to her breast.
"Human, please," she directed the newborn kitten. The Siamese kitten shifted into an infant boy with silver hair, and doleful eyes that looked upon his mother before clamping onto her left breast, while Orion sucked greedily at the right.
Draco, woke up, and realized that for the first time, he was alone. Well, he was a foot away from his sister, but he was still alone. He stalked over to where Cassie was hiding under Sabre's paw, and pounced his father's tail, holding it in his tiny little teeth.
{Papa?} he projected into Sabre's mind.
Sabre
Sabre twitched his tail lazily out of Draco's reach. Hmm, kitten? He put his paw on Cassie's back and started licking her head vigourously. Be good naow. Cassie finished, for the moment, he rose to his feet and padded over to Draco. Soon, Draco was being subjected to the same treatment as Sabre purred.
"Well, I think I'll leave you two to it," Hapi chuckled as she left the room.
Drusilla
Draco stalked his prey, relying on instinct. Finally, he pounced on his father, sinking his suddenly sharp fangs into his papa's shoulder, and drinking deep. After a few mouthfuls, Draco felt really tired, and staggered over to Cassie, curled around his sister, and passed out.
Drusilla smiled. "That one takes after Mummy," she said, sagely.
Sabre
Sabre glared and licked at his sore shoulder. As long as he doesn't do it to me too often, I'll be fine. He moved up the bed to where his children were and cuffed Draco around the head. When he wakes up, I'm going to need to talk to him. You don't bite family.
Drusilla
"Oh, sweetie, he doesn't know better," Dru replied. THen she winced as Orion bit downon her nipple and started drinking as well. She loved the feeling, but her breasts were so sore. He then shifted to kitten, and Percy did as well. Now all four kittens were sleeping, in between her and Sabre. Dru wrapped herself around her five cats, and finally succumbed to sleep.
Sabre
Sabre licked his shoulder again, and then purring went to sleep. Life was good. His golden eyes closed gently as he kept one ear open...just in case.