Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

and I had no idea the teenagers were so talented. Josef really does have a good voice and he's always so inventive."
    "Josef sang? And I missed it?" Shea asked.
    Mikhail sighed. "If you call what he did singing. He does have a good voice, and I cannot understand why the boy doesn't sing a song one can actually understand. And what were all those gyrations he was doing up there?"
    "Gyrations?" Jacques echoed, looking to Raven for an explanation.
    "He looked like he was having a convulsion," Mikhail explained.
    "He was dancing," Raven said, sending Mikhail a quelling look.
    "Is that what it was? I couldn't decide whether he was doing striptease without stripping or needed medical aid immediately. As no one raced to his aid, I remained in my seat. He spun on the floor and threw his body around like a caterpillar on the floor."
    "Break dancing," Raven interpreted for Shea.
    "And the striptease?" Shea asked.
    "That would be freak dancing without a partner, I think," Raven said. "I'm not exactly up on the terms, but he did look as if he was… er… Well, you know."
    "I don't know." Mikhail shrugged. "He nearly fell off the stage at that point."
    Shea laughed, one hand pressed to her stomach. "I knew I should have been here, just for that."
    "It was worth seeing," Mikhail agreed, "although I didn't understand a word he was saying or why he was spitting and grunting while he sang."
    "You're not with it," Jacques stated.
    Raven and Shea laughed together. Mikhail looked injured. "With what? I'm with it. I happen to know that is not dancing. Paul and Ginny were dancing and Antonietta played real music and Skyler sang like an angel. The Troubadours sang a couple of wonderful ballads and no one, not even Barack, spit while they did it."
    Jacques shook his head sadly. "There's no hope of modernizing you, bro."
    Shea pressed one hand to her stomach and reached for Jacques's hand. "The contractions are really beginning to strengthen. Laughing is making it worse."
    Both men looked so panic-stricken Raven had to hide a smile. "She'll do fine, Jacques.
    You're so pale. You did feed tonight, didn't you?"
    "He's just being a baby," Shea said. "He fed. He wanted to be prepared in case I needed blood." She smiled at him. "Which I won't. Everything is going well."
    "Not for me," Jacques admitted. "I have no idea what it feels like to give birth. Sharing the experience is plain frightening."
    Mikhail nodded in agreement, but he was looking to his warriors, the unattached Carpathian males. They were the guardians tonight, as they so often were in foreign lands, only this time, they had the responsibility of guarding one of their women about to give birth. The men moved through the room, probing and scanning and searching the surrounding region for enemies.
    "I actually am very excited to meet one of the guests who flew in from San Francisco.
    Her name is Eileen Fitzpatrick and she may be a relative of mine. We're both interested in genealogy and since I don't really have any relatives from my side of the family, I'm really hoping she is related to me," Shea said. "She sent word through Slavica that she wasn't feeling very good tonight and wanted me to meet her up in her room so she wouldn't have to be down here with all the chaos. I thought it was a very good idea."
    "Absolutely not," Jacques said.
    "No!" Mikhail was adamant.
    Shea made a face at them. "I'm not made of porcelain. She's elderly and she just had an operation and she came all this way. The least I can do is climb the stairs and go see her."
    "Not alone. She'll be here more than one night, Shea," Jacques coaxed. "You do not need to see her tonight." He placed his hand over her stomach, rippling once more with a contraction. "You have other things to do tonight. Raven, if you would be so kind as to ask Slavica to send word that Shea is in labor and will arrange a visit in a day or two."
    "Well, I'm not going to miss out on Gregori playing Santa Claus," Shea said firmly, aware that the stubborn set to Jacques's jaw meant he wouldn't change his mind. "So don't think you can hurry me out of here."
    Gregori . In spite of the gravity of the situation with Shea so near her time, Mikhail couldn't keep the taunting laughter from his voice. Shea is close to her time and she wishes to see you parading around in your jolly red suit before she has the baby. So get on with it, my son . Mikhail gave the order on their private mental path established centuries earlier through a blood bond.
    You