by Eve Newton
I look away as she lifts Axelle’s dress and removes the wad of bloodied cloth that Axelle had shoved up there to stanch the blood flow as best she could.
After several long moments, Luc turns to me and with a death stare, he asks, “Why did you wait so long?”
“This wasn’t long. This was the work of about twenty minutes. I was just about to bring her to you, destruction be damned.”
“Twenty minutes?” he mutters and turns back to her.
“What’s wrong? I know something is wrong.” Axelle has gathered enough strength to ask this question that we are all thinking.
I can see that Luc is about to tell her that nothing is wrong, but the Dark Oracle says instead, “Those babies aren’t coming out through that.” She points in between Axelle’s legs. “You are going to have to rip them out.”
“What?” Axelle asks faintly and pales even more.
“What does that mean?” I demand. “You can’t mean literally?”
Luc ignores both her and me and glares at the Dark Oracle. “Is that the only way?” he asks quietly.
“Yes,” she says firmly.
“Just do it,” Axelle whispers, her voice weak as another pain tears its way through her.
Luc nods at her grimly and places his hand to her head. She groans and then she is quiet, her head lolling to the side.
“Good thinking,” I croak out. “You can’t seriously think this is the only way?”
“I need to get my children out of her now before I lose them all. Now get out of my way.”
“Let me help you,” Dashel says, putting his hand on Luc’s shoulder.
He nods grimly.
I stare between the two of them in disbelief. How can they be thinking of doing this to her? And when did they get so fucking chummy?
“Wait!” I implore them.
Luc rounds on me. “We don’t have time. Now either help or get the fuck out!”
I look back at Axelle and the blood gushing out of her now. I gulp and go to her side. I take her hand and say, “Okay.” I can’t be a part of hurting her, but I can support her, even though she is out of it.
I grit my teeth and avert my eyes as Luc rolls up his sleeves with a look that at least tells me he feels sick to his stomach about this.
I can’t watch. I don’t want to know the details. I’ve seen her ripped to shreds by him once before…I just can’t do it again. I sink to my knees and hold her hand in both of mine, resting my forehead on our joined hands so that I’m staring at the bed.
I retch as I hear the rendering of flesh, but hold onto my lunch, purely out of the fear that has frozen me.
“Fuck,” Luc mutters, jostling Axelle about as he reaches into her to pull the babies out.
“Uhm,” Dashel grunts weakly. “Is that…”
“A wing,” Luc confirms. “No wonder she’s bleeding. It’s ripped her insides apart.”
“Oh, for the love of all things unholy, shut the fuck up,” I beg them, squeezing my eyes shut.
The next thing I hear is a fuck-awful sucking noise and then a faint wail.
“Here,” I hear Luc mutter and I chance a glance up to see him hand a bloodied baby with tiny black wings to the Dark Oracle, who wraps a blanket around the tiny baby, folding the wings in as she does.
Dashel’s face is ashen as he holds onto Axelle’s legs when Luc reaches in to pull the other baby out.
Now, it’s like a horror movie that you can’t look away from. My eyes are riveted to Luc’s arms, elbow deep in Axelle’s body cavity.
“Fuck,” I rasp. “Oh, fucking Hellfire.”
“You got that right,” Luc says, his eyes wide as he draws the child out and holds the baby at arm’s length as the wings that are flapping wildly are pure fire.
“Jesus,” I utter the worst blaspheme a Demon can.
I get a filthy look from Luc at the sheer inappropriateness of it. “Hardly,” he drawls, but then beams at the Dark Oracle who has also taken the other baby and wrapped it in a blanket.
He places his hands on Axelle and with a sigh of relief from both him and Dashel, he heals her and then turns to hold his arms out to the Dark Oracle, getting rid of the blood with a blink of his eyes. “My son, please,” he says, his eyes fixed on the baby with the flaming wings sticking up out of the blanket, that weirdly, is protected from the flames.
The Dark Oracle gives him an odd look, one that turns to fear as she licks her lips.
I kiss Axelle’s hand and let her go, happy that she is safe and healed. I stand up just in time to see the Dark Oracle hand the flame-winged baby to Luc, muttering, “Your daughter, my liege.”
His eyes narrow to two tiny slits.
“I want my son,” he says.
The Dark Oracle shakes her head and gestures to the baby with the little black feathered wings as she hands the baby she’s holding to Luc.
He takes the child and holds her gingerly, watching as the Dark Oracle picks up the other baby and looks at Dashel. “Your son,” she says and hands the baby to a stunned Dashel before she disappears, leaving the three of us to wonder what in the flaming Hell has just happened.
Dashel
“Err,” I stammer as I look down at the baby in my arms. “My son?”
“What the fuck?” Luc growls at me as Evan lets out a long whistle. “Witch!” Luc bellows. “Get your ancient ass back here. Now! Before I incinerate you!”
After a moment, the Dark Oracle arrives back in the bedroom, her head bowed in fear.
“Explain why you think that my son belongs to him,” Luc snarls at her.
“I have no true answer for you, my liege. The essence of Hell is all around the girl. The boy…he has good in him. I cannot explain it; I just know that the fallen Angel has created a child with the Demon Bound along with you, my liege. She was prepared to receive a child of great power and was meant to only engage in fornicating with the Devil. It was unforeseen that she would also open her legs for the Dark Angel.”
Luc and I are silent, staring between the Dark Oracle and the babies in our arms.
Only Evan has the wherewithal to speak. “How is that even possible?” he asks in disbelief. “I’m no expert, but surely what you suggest is impossible?”
She shrugs. “No one could’ve known this would happen. Pregnancies with the Demon Bound are a mystery. There has only been two recorded, three now. No one can say what is or isn’t possible.”
“Well, you are wrong!” Luc spits out. “The codex says that I will have a son. Hell is ruled by a male.”
“Not anymore,” I mutter, gazing at the small child cradled in my arms and then looking up with a huge smile on my face. “My son.”
“I suppose what she says is the truth,” Evan mutters. “The wings…”
“You said before that the boy was ‘the one’,” Luc grates out. “Are you saying that you lied, or was it a deeper meaning?The one to do what?”
Luc looks grimly down at the baby in his arms, but the instant that he really looks at her, his whole face changes. It lights up and it is clear that he accepts what the Dark Oracle is saying. She sees it as well and disappears again quickly before he changes his mind and fries her.
“My daughter,” Luc says in wonder, forgetting about his question. “How you’ve come to be is a mystery that will remain unsolved, but you are of my blood and you will rule this dimension. Your brother,” he casts a look at me and my son, “however that works, will be your soldier.”
“Pah,” I huff. “My son will not serve under your daughter. He will be her equal.”
“Not on your life,” Luc responds, turning to face me. “My daughter rules!”
“Oh, that I don’t dispute. I told you, I want no part of your reign, and neither will my son. But nor will he be a slave to your rule.”
“Must we argue about this now?” Evan asks us. “Shouldn’t we wake Axelle so that she can hold the children that she grew inside her and suffered to bring into the world?”
I look over at Ax
elle, as Luc does the same, feeling guilty.
“Of course,” we mutter in unison.
I tighten my hold on my son. The love that I feel for him in such a short space of time overwhelms me. The need I have to keep him safe and loved, along with his mother, is all that matters. I will ensure that he has his own legacy and it will not be bowing down to Luc’s daughter. He is a Dark Angel by my blood. He will be a powerful being in his own right and I will make sure that he finds his place here by his sister’s side as it should be.
~ CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ~
Axelle
My eyes flutter open.
I don’t feel any more pain.
I sit up to find all three men looking at me, a baby cradled in each of Luc’s and Dashel’s arms. I smile at Luc and he looks back at me with adoration all over his face.
“Are they okay?” I ask, leaping off the bed, glad to note that I can leap off the bed. Whatever Luc did to me to get the babies out, he healed me up nice and good afterwards.
“Yes, they are perfect,” he replies. “Are you?”
I nod and hold my arms out to him and Dashel. “Give them to me,” I demand.
He frowns at me. “Sit,” he says.
“No. I want my babies,” I clip out, annoyed.
“Axelle. There’s something we need to tell you,” he says quietly.
My blood runs cold. “What’s wrong?” I ask with dread. “You said they were okay! What’s wrong?” I end on a shriek that he flinches from, but then he smiles.
“The babies are fine, my love. But there’s been a rather surprising development.”
“What do you mean?” I ask suspiciously.
Dashel comes forward then and holds one of the babies out to me. I don’t even know which one. “Meet your son,” he says gently. “Our son.”
I take the baby and cuddle him, cooing and kissing his little face and hands, completely enchanted with the tiny bundle. Then I frown. “Wait? What?” I ask, looking back up at Dashel. “What did you just say?”
He grins at me. “Our son. You conceived my son on the same day that you conceived with Luc. Mystical pregnancy, no one really knows how.”
“Our son,” I reiterate, just so I’m clear. “This is our son?”
He nods and comes closer to me, cupping the baby’s head gently.
“So, the Dark Oracle was wrong. I have two boys?” I’m confused.
“No,” Luc says, also coming closer. “We have a daughter.”
“Oh,” I whisper and look into the contented face of my baby girl, nestled in her father’s arms. Then I lick my lips as the fear hits me. “We have a daughter.” I look up into his eyes, but I see no regret or disappointment or anger.
“We do,” he says with a smile.
“And you’re okay with this?”
He nods with a big beam. “Hell will be ruled by a female next time.”
“Wow,” I breath and look at Evan. He is looking at us, but not with envy or jealousy.
“Congratulations, Mommy,” he says, with a little laugh and comes over to give me a kiss. “Your children are so lucky to have you as their mother.”
“I love you,” I murmur and then look at the other two men. “I love you all so much.” The tears spring to my eyes and I can’t hold them back. Dashel takes our son as Luc hands me our daughter. I look down and choke back happy sobs. “Wh-what will we call them?”
“Shax,” Dashel says straight away. “I like it. Can we name our son Shax?”
“Shax,” I repeat and then nod in agreement. “It’s strong. Yes. I like it too.”
I look at Luc, but he is frowning in concentration. I don’t think he has a clue because he was expecting a son.
“Annabelle?” I put forward, hoping he takes to it.
His eyes find mine and he contemplates it. “Annabelle.” He tries it out. “Annabelle Pandora.”
“Agreed,” I say with a smile.
Our happy little time is rudely interrupted by the door to the bedroom bursting open and Gravla stalking towards us, his intent gaze on the babies. “Where’s the boy?” he asks abruptly.
“How did you know that the children had been born?” Luc asks him with a brusque tone.
“The Witch informed me. It’s why I’m here after all,” he answers, steering well clear of Dashel as he holds his arms out. “I need to perform the rites.”
In a flash of black flames that has me stepping back in surprise, Dashel has drawn a fucking kick-ass sword and has leveled it across Gravla’s path to stop him from progressing further.
Gravla glares at it, and Dashel, as Luc gives him a smug smile.
“Meet Hell’s Guardian,” he says with what can only be described as glee.
I raise an eyebrow at my Dark Angel, but he is focused solely on Gravla.
“Step back,” he says. “You are not coming near these children.”
Gravla licks his lips, his eyes on the baby that Luc takes from Dashel. It’s like pass the parcel with babies.
“Wrong baby,” Luc drawls at him. “You want my daughter.”
Gravla’s eyebrows skyrocket before a look of disdain falls over his face. With a nasty sneer, he says, “Pah, you couldn’t even do that right. You were supposed to breed a male, and instead you fuck it up with a girl.” He shakes his head. “You are a bitter disappointment.”
“No, father, you are,” Luc says. Then he bellows, “Witch!” out so loudly, I jump.
It takes a moment of intense tension that builds with each passing second for the Dark Oracle to make her cautious appearance.
“Yes, Sir?” she mutters, her eyes going slightly wide as she sees the sword in Dashel’s hand.
“We need to get something clear, right here, right now,” Luc says.
“I already told you, I don’t know how the children came to be…”
“Not about that. We are passed that now. What I want to know is why he needs to do the dark rites. The way I see it, Grandfather never had a grandfather to do any rites on him.” He looks at his father, so all of our eyes go to Gravla. “And your grandfather is…” Luc points up and we all look towards the ceiling, getting his meaning. “…so, I doubt very much that he came to Hell to perform any rites. I also know that my grandfather was imprisoned in a painting and assumed dead by your hand, before I was born. Now I know that he didn’t come out of the painting to perform the rites because as sure as I stand here, if he was let out of the prison you put him in, none of us would be standing here right now. So, I ask you again. What are you doing here?”
Silence.
“Witch?”
Silence.
“You are here to take the child’s power,” Luc says eventually, never taking his eyes from Gravla, until Dashel turns to him with an eye roll as he says, “Lucifer lives?”
“Mm-hm,” Luc mutters. “You will never find him, so don’t even attempt it.”
Dashel snorts. “I’m sure. But you don’t need to worry. I have connected the dots.”
“When did you come up with that answer?” I ask, looking between them all.
He gives Dashel a smirk. “When I was thinking earlier.”
Dashel returns his smirk and now I feel completely lost.
“Ah,” Dashel says with a nod. “I understand now.”
“Hey!” I snap my fingers at them. “Love that you’re all buddy-buddy now, but back to taking my child’s power, please!”
“Am I right?” Luc asks the Dark Oracle.
She grimaces at him.
“You need the power to become fully able again,” he says to his father. “You are seriously deluded if you think I would ever allow your hands on my child. I knew you were up to no good, I just needed to bide my time and figure it out.”
Gravla growls at him but doesn’t refute this with Dashel’s shiny new toy still in his face.
Luc holds his hand out and on it, an intricate, wrought iron box appears. “Put him in the box,” he orders the Dark Oracle. “Then this will go next to the painting o
f Grandfather locked away for all eternity.”
He turns to the Dark Oracle, who remains motionless. “Do it. Now.”
I watch as she exchanges a look with Gravla, but then she does as she is commanded. Uttering words under her breath as Luc opens the box, Gravla is sucked up into the air and deposited in the box with a rush of wind that slams it closed. Luc hands it to Evan, who holds it gingerly with a look of disgust.
“Don’t put that down,” Luc says to him as he is about to do precisely that.
Luc turns to the Dark Oracle and reaches out to grab her around her throat. “Why did you help him in the first place?” he snarls.
“Wait!” I call out before he kills the bitch. “I want to know why she went to a host body on Earth and told her to accept me when I came looking for somewhere to go.”
Luc freezes.
Then he slowly turns his head to me, his hand still around the Witches throat. “Excuse me?”
I look into his eyes with an apologetic look. “It got lost in ensuing events…”
“Humph,” he mutters and tightens his hold on the Dark Oracle. “Well? You have some explaining to do.”
“I fore-foresaw Axelle’s journey. I needed to make sure she had somewhere to go where Heaven’s Guardian could reach her.”
“You told me you couldn’t see her future,” Luc growls.
I frown at him. He checked into my future? Asshole. But I suppose all he cared about was whether I’d give him what he wanted.
“I lied,” the Witch says. “Her fate was…this…” Her eyes move rapidly between the babies.
“What?” I snap. “You knew that the twins would have different fathers?”
“I did,” she says. “The Dark Angel child is also from Lucifer’s blood, but has the ability to enter Heaven. He is Hell’s greatest weapon against the other side. He is the one.”
“Isn’t Gravla also a Dark Angel?” I point out as Luc growls loudly.
“Pah” she spits on the floor. “That child was nothing but a bitter disappointment. He didn’t have it in him.”