and the stars in their orbits shone pale through the lightof the brighter, colder moon

It seemed like her body was turning on her, making up for lost time of side effects of pregnancy. She had gone so long not even suspecting and now that she knew, the small baby bump of her abdomen a constant reminder, Nadya was off the charts. Her irritability was increased, her soreness, her appetite, and her exhaustion. The exhaustion is what killed her the most, all she wanted to do was sleep. Nadya had laid down intending for a short nap but quite obviously slept on into the night. She awoke with a start in the dark quiet of her room. The young woman groaned inwardly as her mind registered what had happened before she left the bed, dressed, and slipped from her room. Briefly Nadya glanced down the hall to Isolt's bedroom where a sliver of light shone from under the door. They hardly saw each other and with being a vampire Isolt was amazingly quiet so it was hard to tell if she was home half the time. So far the arrangement was working out as neither were messy or loud.

Nadya shuffled into the kitchen as her stomach grumbled in protest that she had slept so late and not eaten. Damn this eating for two thing now. She opened the fridge and stared blankly at the contents, which thanks to the return of Tetra giving her some money held a variety of food, but nothing appealed to her. Wasn't pregnancy supposed to make you eat everything in sight? Nadya closed the fridge door in frustration and began to rummage through the cabinets. Nothing anywhere seemed to be it. Finally Nadya stopped looking and stood there thinking. What she wanted...was sweet...chocolate...and not in the apartment. She'd have to make a trek to the liquor store a few blocks down. Fine, all for the name of chocolate.

The late hour meant the only light came from the sparse street lamps casting their pale yellow light along the sidewalk. If she had been human then she may have been nervous being out at this late hour by herself but the predator that she was was very comfortable with it. Nadya walked along with the heels from her boots clicking softly against the concrete, her hands shoved in her pockets and her thoughts mulling over her recent predicament. As she approached the outlet of the neighborhood park trail an uneasy prickling drew her from her thoughts. Her chocolate brown eyes searched her surroundings casually. She was across the street from the trail entrance but could just make out a figure on the bench there. Her attention returned to the sidewalk, neither slowing nor speeding up in her stride but she was keenly aware of the feeling of being watched. Normally you would expect a woman to be intimidated or fearful about a male watching them but it only irritated Nadya. Whether it was the pregnancy irritability or just her normal personality at a stranger staring at her it made her stop in her tracks as she had nearly finished passing him, turning to glare at him with a hand on her hip, "What's your problem, perv?"