One night after the Christmas tree had long since gone but the first buds of spring had not yet arrived, when the world still lay sleeping in the belly of the beast of winter, Lily rolled over into a wet spot. She rubbed a hand across her gritty eyes. "Gross," she whispered. In addition to not mentioning that her feet would grow, no one ever told her how gross pregnancy could be, that peeing herself or and sweating like a pig for forty weeks would be part of the package.

She realized Max was gone. The strange, cold emptiness that ruled the house in his absence held her in its grip.

At least she'd have a chance to clean things up without admitting to her husband what had happened.

Swinging her legs to the side, she heaved her bulk up from the bed and liquid trickled down her legs. "Crap!" She took a deep breath. The midwife had assured her repeatedly that first babies took forever to arrive. Of course, she had also said that the water breaking before the start of labor was exceedingly rare.

As if triggered by her thoughts, a wave of pain, starting just beneath her arms and moving slowly down her abdomen ripped her breath from her lungs. She held the bedpost for support and tried to breathe through it, only to find herself moaning more than breathing.

Just as she began to find a rhythm, her body relaxed and the pain was gone. She took a deep breath and stood up straight. The green numbers on the clock told her it was seven minutes after one in the morning.

First thing first, she found some clean underwear and pajama pants and went to the bathroom to clean herself up. Coming out, another contraction washed over her. One thirteen. Six minutes. Crap!

She picked her phone up off the nightstand and disconnected it from the charger. Her bag had been packed for weeks. Max read somewhere she should have one and began insisting about the time her bump started to show.

First babies take forever.

She could wait.

A third contraction came. One seventeen. "Shit!" She yelled out loud to the empty house. "Max! Where the Hell are you?"

The low hissing noise that he always claimed to be unable to hear rose up from the floorboards.

She pulled Gracie's number up in her contact list and sat on the edge of the bed looking at it. She hated to wake the elderly couple.

The hissing ate at the edges of her sanity.

The fourth contraction gripped her.

One twenty.

She pushed the green button. It was Delbert who answered, sounding groggy and harsh. "Who is it?"

"Delbert, I'm so sorry to wake you. This is Lily Metit. I think the baby is coming. I can't find Max."

There was a shuffling and a jumble of voices.

Gracie's voice came through the line. "Lily?"

"Gracie, I think the baby is coming. It's all happening very fast. Max got called into work. I'm alone."

What in the name of God was that freaking hissing and why was it so loud tonight, of all nights? It sounded almost like laughter. She shivered.

"We'll be right there, dear. Stay put. Stay calm. It's going to fine. First babies take forever."

It was the most clear and lucid the woman had ever sounded. Lily latched on to her certainty and clung to the knowledge that help was on the way as another gush of fluid left her. "Please hurry."

"We will, dear. We will." Before she hung up the phone she was already hollering for Delbert to get out of the bed and put some pants on.

Lily stood to go downstairs. Her pants were wet again. The bed where she'd been sitting was soaked red, despite the pad she'd put on. Red? That wasn't right, was it?

"No!" The shadows seemed to grow more dense and a wave of dizziness swept over her before the next contraction came, forcing more blood from her body. "Oh, God, Max. Where are you?" she moaned. The contraction passed, but bright spots danced in her vision. "Please leave me alone," she sobbed at the laughing, whispering voices all around her. "I'm so scared. Please go."

Shuffling toward the steps on trembling legs, she dialed the emergency number on the phone.

"Nine one one, what's your emergency?"

"I'm in labor and I'm alone. The baby is coming too fast and something is wrong. I'm bleeding." Walking through the darkness to the steps was like stepping through the blast coming from an open freezer. She shivered so hard her teeth chattered. With her free hand, she clutched the railing, taking each step with deliberate care.

The phone was silent, the screen dark. Had she hung up? She hadn't meant to.

Pain surrounded her at the bottom step, not coming in a gradual tightening of muscles, but stabbing at her belly like a knife.

She fell to the floor, wrapping her body around the bulk of her belly. The useless phone slid away from her.

In the darkness of the stairwell above her, yellow eyes formed in the shadows. Drawing closer, they pulled the darkness toward them until a being made of nothing more than the absence of light loomed over her, rows of black teeth bared as it hissed in laughter. "We have waited for you, wife of the reaper."

More of the creatures came down the stairs, half-formed nightmares of smoke and darkness. She scrambled backward from the beast that had spoken and ran into another that had been approaching from behind.

They came from the kitchen, from the front entryway, from inside the fireplace.

She clutched her belly, breathless from the torment of the contractions.

His name was a prayer, screamed to heaven. "Max!"

The door was thrown open and he was there. "Be gone!" He bellowed and the creatures backed away, but they did not leave. The hissing laughter filled her ears, even as her blood spilled onto the floor and her body grew weak.

Daniel raced through the door behind Max, dressed in gleaming silver and carrying an honest-to-goodness sword. Delwyn ran behind him, and another woman, taller and thinner, with the same dark eyes and long black veil. Each of them wielded a long, curved blade.

The weapons slashed through the air. Horrid mockery turned to shrieks of hatred and pain.

Max threw himself over her, kneeling with one leg on either side of her hips, one hand on each side of her head. He pressed as close as he could without hurting her. His forehead touched hers. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here. I should never have left you."

One of the creatures flew at them from a corner of the room on bat-like wings. It crashed into Max, but rather than bouncing back or knocking him over, it absorbed into him. He gritted his teeth against it. The veins in his neck stood out as a groan rose up from somewhere deep within him. Tears fell from his eyes onto her face.

A second creature hit him, a third, a fourth before a silver blade ripped the fifth in half. It burst in a blast of wretched smelling smoke.

Max's back arched and he screamed out, a sound, unlike anything she'd heard. Pinpoints of light appeared on his skin. His body shuddered violently above her. She clung to consciousness. To life.

Swirling red light filled the room.

Daniel lifted an arm to swing his blade and a beast grabbed it and wrenched it backward. The terrible crunch of bone paled paired with Daniel's scream.

One of the women leaped on the creature, driving her sword straight down into its head.

All around her the light pulsed, a terrible pounding accompanying the rhythm.

Max met her gaze. He grabbed her chin with one trembling hand. Through gritted teeth he growled, "don't you leave me! You hang on!"

One of the women crashed into him and he fell away from Lily. Black forms burst from his chest.

With the last of her strength, Lily reached toward him and found his hand, but he lay limp and still.

Daniel stood over her, covered in blood and soot. One arm hung at a weird angle. Light shone all around him, from within him. He was radiant. She struggled to keep her eyes on him. "Help is here, Lily. Don't be afraid. Be strong. Hold on to life," he said.

But she had no strength left. She drifted away on a sea of black, grateful that in this new place, all pain was left behind.