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doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Sam conceded, wrinkling her nose.
    Z lifted her eyes and met Yara’s. Her Brazilian witch friend was watching her like a hawk – or maybe it was the panther inmã inside her.
    “This is weird,” she mumbled. “I don’t smell any poison, but I smell something odd on you.”
    “What?” Z asked, resting her cheek on the cold toilet seat.
    “I can’t put my finger on,” she replied. “Besides, you haven’t been well for the past two days and we didn’t notice.”
    Z shrugged. “It’s mostly when I wake up. You girls are still in bed, or in your case, Sam, in Japan.”
    Yara and Sam exchanged a knowing look.
    “What?” Z asked. She didn’t like knowing looks. “What is it?”
    “Z … have you also been feeling overly hungry lately?” Sam asked, obviously tip-toeing around what they really wanted to ask.
    “And weird cravings?” Yara added.
    Z frowned. “I don’t think so … maybe, but I always get hungry after …Wait, are you implying that I’m …” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t finish that sentence.
    Sam cocked her head sideways. Yara lifted a brow.
    “Oh, for crying out loud, I am not pregnant!” Z yelped. “I can’t be pregnant. Tardieh is a vampire and I’m a dragon, remember? We can’t have kids.”
    “Well, it happened before,” Yara pondered.
    “Yes, it did. Three millennia ago, when all creatures still lived in Apa Sâmbetei,” Z replied, then pushed off of the cold floor and walked to the marble sink. She cupped water in her hands and drank it. It didn’t come back up. Good.
    “Z, it’s not impossible,” Sam counter-argued.
    “Yes it is.” Z straightened herself up, palm holding her weight on the counter, and gazed at her friends through the mirror. “After the supernatural races were expelled from Apa Sâmbetei, only humans have proven to be able to bear another being’s child and carry out the pregnancy through. That’s why Yerik was trying so hard to impregnate those females last year. He was trying to find a formula to create a cross-breed without the human weaknesses.”
    Yara walked over and leaned on the sink beside her. “Ok, that’s true. But you’re not a normal dragon, Z. You’re a demigoddess, daughter of Ucidhere, God of Death and lord of the Land of the Souls.”
    “Exactly, God of Death, not Life! Zmyzel is the Goddess of Life and I’m far from being her kin.” She bent down and drank a bit more water from the tap. Not very classy, she knew it, but right now she couldn’t care less.
    “But your demigoddess nature must count for something,” Sam pondered.
    “Why would it?” Zoricah replied and stood straight … her head spun around and her stomach churned in protest. “Oh, dear Gods, not again.”
    In an instant, she felt four hands hold her safe.
    “Right, no more party for you, my queen,” Yara joked.
    “Let’s get you to the master bedroom,” Sam proposed.
    Z could only nod in reply. Damn it! She couldn’t believe this was happening on her wedding night.
    They took a few wobbly steps toward the restroom door. Just before Sam opened it, Z stopped. “Girls,” she paused. “Please don’t mention anything to Tardieh.”
    “Don’t worry, Z,” Sam replied.
    “I don’t want him to think that I could be … you know …”
    “Yeah, we do,” Yara added. “Don’t worry, this will be our secret.”
    With a huge sigh of relief, Z reached out and opened the door.
    A young, well-groomed vampire stood just in front of it.

Chapter Four
     
    Oh, fuck.
    The first thing that came to Yara’s mind was “kill the target,” but after she took a quick look at the young vampire’s face, she relaxed a bit. His deer-in-the-headlights eyes clearly showed he was as surprised to see them as they were to see him.
    “Oh, pardon me, miladies,” he said, bowing low. “I heard noises and thought there were unwanted guests in the pool room, so I rushed over to check it out.”
    “What noises did you