Alien Proliferation

Next to Jeff, my parents, and Chuckie, there was no one I loved more than Reader. And Reader, being gay, didn’t really make Jeff’s jealousy meter go off the scales.
    Once Jeff had told me I was pregnant, I’d wanted to name the baby after Reader—James Jeffrey if it was a boy, Jamie . . . something . . . if it was a girl. I hadn’t mentioned this to Jeff yet, for a variety of reasons, keeping the jealousy meter on low in regard to Reader being one of them.
    “Uh, I was talking to the baby.”
    “You’re naming it Jamie?” He sounded funny.
    “I want to, yeah. I think I’m having a girl, so Jamie.”
    “Oh.” He still sounded funny.
    “Is that okay?” It hadn’t occurred to me that he might not like the idea.
    “Yeah.” I heard a sniff. “That’s great. Jeff know?”
    “Not so much.”
    He laughed. “Okay, well, then I won’t count on it.”
    “No, as long as you don’t mind, I mean, really don’t mind, I’m naming the baby Jamie. I call her that all the time when Jeff’s not around.”
    “I don’t mind at all. I . . .” His voice trailed off, and I heard what sounded like a nose being blown. “I’m really flattered. Just kind of a shock to find out at three in the morning when we’re under siege by God knows what.”
    “Yeah. It was kind of lucky Jeff and I were awake when Amy called.”
    “What were you doing up?”
    “Couldn’t sleep. Well, could, woke up around midnight, and couldn’t get back to sleep. So, you know, I woke Jeff up to share the fun.”
    “And here I was wishing I was straight a few seconds ago.”
    “I wish you were here right now. I’m really scared.” The knocking wasn’t stopping at all.
    “You want me to give it a shot?”
    “No!” The baby did an all-limb assault at this. I couldn’t help it, I shouted in pain. I heard Reader curse. And I could tell he was moving. “James, stay in your room.” I heard him say something to Gower, then the phone went dead.
    I sat on the bed and tried not to cry. Failed. I hadn’t meant to do something that would cause him to think I was in more danger than he was. My husband and his cousin were off across the world with one of my oldest girlfriends, in mortal peril from what I could tell, and now one of my other best friends was in horror movie peril. And I was incapable of doing anything to help any of them.
    Just as I was thinking it couldn’t get worse, the door opened.

 
    CHAPTER 10
     
    I DREW IN A DEEP BREATH, all the better to scream at the top of my lungs with, when Reader ran into the room, wearing the standard issue A-C nightclothes—blue pajama bottoms, white T-shirt. I was in the same thing, only the maternity version.
    He was still the most gorgeous human male I’d ever seen in the flesh, one of the few humans who could pass as an A-C. However, I wasn’t checking him out for hotness, I was checking to make sure he wasn’t injured. No blood on him, no limbs missing, so far, so very good.
    The Poofs knew and loved him, so they merely shifted so he could get to me. He wrapped his arms around me, and I started to calm down. “Kitty, you okay?”
    I nodded. “How did you get in here safely? What was outside?” I was shuddering, and the baby was going nuts.
    Reader rocked me. “Nothing. There’s nothing outside. Not outside our room or your room. I have no idea where the Security guys are, but they weren’t there.” I gasped and jerked from the baby’s kicking. He started to stroke my stomach, and she calmed down.
    Once the baby calmed, he kept one arm around me and started making calls. “Richard’s fine. Paul’s checked every floor—everyone heard the knocking, everyone was scared by it, no one answered the door.”
    “What about Security?”
    “They’re fine. Asleep, but fine. All of them. Paul brought Serene over, they are who they’re supposed to be. Gladys, too.”
    I kept my head on Reader’s shoulder. It was always a comfortable place to be. I closed my eyes and worked to relax. “Okay, so I guess we just have to worry about Jeff and Christopher and whatever’s going on with Amy, and then figure out how we attracted ghosts or something.”
    He chuckled. “Yeah. It could still be vampires, of course. They can go invisible or to mist.”
    “Did you look up? Maybe they’re clinging to the ceiling.”
    We both looked up. “I feel like an idiot for doing that,” Reader said after a moment’s silence.
    “Me too, but at least we know there isn’t some