Ares was in a panic. And as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with eons of war, death, and insanity under his belt, he wasn’t one to panic.
But he was days, maybe even hours, from becoming a father to a newborn again for the first time in thousands of years. He only wished his adopted Ramreel son, Rath, could be here to meet his new sibling. But Rath’s herd had taken him on a pilgrimage to his ancestral Sheoulic home, and he wouldn’t be back until next month.
His heavily pregnant wife, Cara, looked stunning in an aqua gown that floated around her ankles as she waddled—her word, not his—around the grounds of their mansion, greeting guests as they walked up the path from the Harrowgate. The party, an indoor/outdoor baby shower that Cara insisted wasn’t a baby shower, was, so far, not out of control. But Wraith and Limos had just whipped up a batch of margaritas and tapped the kegs, so it wouldn’t be long before the insanity started.
He wasn’t sure he understood the baby shower not being a baby shower thing, but whatever Cara wanted, she got. And she’d wanted a party with all their friends and family to celebrate the pending arrival of their baby which, if all went according to plan, would be delivered next week by the same demon doctor who had delivered Thanatos’s and Limos’s kids.
I remember when demons were enemies.
It wasn’t that long ago.
Hal, a young adult hellhound the size of a full-grown moose and so black it seemed to absorb the light surrounding it, ran past him to greet Cara, and although Ares was accustomed to his private island being overrun by the demonic canines, he still watched to make sure the thing didn’t knock her over. It didn’t, skidding to a halt in front of her, tail wagging, drool dripping from the corners of its gigantic maw.
She smiled and patted the beast on the muzzle, and it bounded away, happy to be acknowledged by the human his kind revered as a sacred healer.
The thunderous pound of footsteps alerted him to the approach of his two brothers, Thanatos and Reseph.
Thanatos, his sandy hair cut short save for the thin braid at each of his temples, clapped him on the back. Dressed casually in khakis and a black T-shirt that showed off some of the 3-D tattoos that had been layered on his skin by a demon tattoo artist, Than still maintained the deadly aura that surrounded him like a shroud.
“So, brother,” he said. “Now that the day is almost here, have you decided what you’re hoping for? A boy or a girl?”
Reseph snorted. “He’s just hoping it’s his.”
“Funny, asshole.” Ares punched his brother in the shoulder. His relationship with Reseph had been strained following Reseph’s apocalyptic stint as Pestilence, but in the last couple of years things had warmed up enough that they could kid around again.
Laughing, Reseph took a swig of the foamy beer in his hand, and Ares cursed at the sight of the cup. Reseph always brought a bag of the damned things to every party, whether it was a formal ball for underworld royalty, or a casual beach volleyball game. Something about a country music song and the proper way to drink beer at a “shindig.”
Ares wished he could blame Pestilence for Reseph’s penchant for redneck party songs and disposable drinkware, but even Pestilence had better taste than Reseph.
“It was pretty amusing,” Than said, raising his own beer to his lips. Beer in a floofing Red Solo Cup.
Ares ignored that and gestured to his beer. “Was that truly the only vessel you could find to drink from?”
“Sorry, forgot to bring one of the skulls of my enemies with me,” Than said dryly. “So? You gonna answer the question? Boy or girl?”
“You tell me. You have one of each.”
Thanatos’s cruel lips turned up in a contented smile. His wife, Regan, had given their son a baby sister a few months ago, and Ares had never seen his brother happier. Which wouldn’t be hard to do, given that the guy had suffered the most of any of them since the day they’d been cursed as Horsemen.
“You can’t go wrong either way,” Than said.
Probably not. But there were so many memories—good and bad—wrapped up with the memories of his sons that some small part of him hoped for a girl. A clean slate. A fresh start. But he’d love a son just as much, and maybe he could use the knowledge and experience he had now to make sure he didn’t make the same mistakes he’d made with his first two sons.
Anxious to get the subject off of himself, Ares gestured to Reseph. “What about you? Are you and Jillian talking about kids?”
“Oh, floof, no.”
Limos strode up, her bright purple sundress ruffling in the breeze, her flip flops slapping the stone pathway. “Why not? You love kids.”
“I love other people’s kids, and Jillian is right there with me.” He shrugged. “For now, at least. It’s not like we’re not immortal and can’t wait a century or two.”
“True,” Ares said roughly, his head still in the past. “But bad things happen in an instant.”
“Time goes by quickly, brother,” Thanatos said to Reseph. “In the blink of an eye an eon will have passed and Satan will be freed from prison.”
“Whoa.” Limos stepped into the middle of them all, arms outstretched. “This is a party. You know, to celebrate life. Stop with the doom and gloom. Why does this happen every time we’re together?”
“My name is Death,” Than said drolly.
“Mine is War,” Ares reminded her.
Reseph raised his plastic floofing cup. “Pestilence.”
“So, Famine,” Ares said pointedly, “what was your question again?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She looked over at Arik, who was introducing their daughter to Ares’s warhorse, Battle. “At least tell me you picked a decent name for your kid. Something normal.”
Normal was hard to define, especially for them, but he knew what she meant. Limos felt that they were, in most respects, living in a modern human world, so their children would benefit if they could blend in. Thanatos and Regan had agreed, choosing to name their kids Logan and Amber instead of, say, Doom and Gloom. Limos had opted for Keilani, a Hawaiian name associated with Heaven and royalty, and as the daughter of a Horseman and the granddaughter of a Radiant angel, the name fit.
“We can’t narrow it down to less than two names for a girl and two names for a boy, and Cara is stubborn. This child may never be named.”
“Cara is stubborn?” Limos looked around. “Where is she, anyway?”
“She said something about taking Lilliana some food.”
Limos scowled. “What’s up with that, anyway? I haven’t seen Lilliana since that day I mentioned she looked like she was gaining weight.”
Thanatos choked on his beer. “You did what?”
“Oh, chill. She didn’t hear me. I just asked Cara if Lil was preggo. Never saw Lilliana again. Figured she was mad that I thought she was fat and started avoiding me.” Her violet eyes shot wide. “That’s why she went into hiding, isn’t it? She is pregnant!”
Yes, that was why, but Ares had promised to keep it to himself, and he would.
“I haven’t seen her either,” Reseph said, and Thanatos concurred.
“That’s because she’s going to have the Grim Reaper’s baby,” Limos said, her violet eyes bright with the excitement of solving a puzzle. A potentially scandalous puzzle. “But wait, why would she be hiding out here instead of with her husband?”
“Let it go, Limos,” Ares said. “No good will come of speculation.”
“Yeah, well, when’s the last time I let anything go?”
“Never,” he muttered. “But listen to me. All of you. None of this “speculation” can leave this island, and it had better not reach Azagoth’s ears, or all of us will regret it.”
According to Cara, Lilliana would leave before she herself gave birth, and frankly, Ares couldn’t wait. Azagoth couldn’t be happy about his wife residing with Ares and Cara, and no good ever came of Azagoth’s cold anger.
“Speaking of Azagoth,” Reseph said, “I heard he reopened the gates to Sheoul.”
“Sort of.” Thanatos waved to Logan, who was playing on the beach with Mace under Regan and Idess’s watchful eyes. Ever faithful, Logan’s pet hellhound, Cujo, gnawed on a Gargantua demon’s knuckle bone a short distance away. “He only opened the gates to the griminions and those he trusts.”
“How do you know?” Ares asked. Not even Lilliana had been able to contact Azagoth until this morning.
“Yesterday I sent Cujo in through the Inner Sanctum.”
Smart. Ares couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that. Sheoul-gra might have been closed to everyone else, but hellhounds could still materialize inside the Inner Sanctum where the souls were kept, thanks to an ancient understanding between Hades and the hellhound king, Cerberus.
“And he delivered your message?” Ares asked.
Thanatos nodded. “But it turns out that he didn’t need to. Azagoth had already prepared to reopen the gates today. No idea why.”
“At breakfast this morning, Lilliana told us Azagoth saw a video that persuaded him to contact her. When he did, she convinced him to open the realm to souls and angels again.”
“How?”
Ares’s gaze flickered up to the balcony off Lilliana’s suite. Cara was going to miss her. “She told him she wants to go home.”
Limos clapped her hands in delight. “Because she’s pregnant.”
Ares just shook his head and gestured to the gathering around the appetizer and drink tables. “Why don’t we join the party?” he said, jumping at any chance to get Limos off the topic.
But Limos was tenacious and not known to be able to keep juicy secrets.
Lilliana had best go home.
Soon.
* * * *
Cara carried a tray laden with food and beverage into the closed wing of the mansion, locking the door behind her.
“Lilliana? Are you awake?”
“I’m in here,” Lil called from the sitting room that looked out over the courtyard full of partygoers.
Cara entered and found Azagoth’s mate curled up with a book near the window. “I brought you some appetizers from the party.”
Lilliana’s face lit up. “That’s so thoughtful.”
“I just wish you would reconsider joining us.” Cara placed a glass and a pitcher of virgin sangria on the coffee table. “No one here will spill your secret.”
Lilliana rested her hand on her swollen belly. “I can’t take the risk. I just can’t let anyone know I’m pregnant until I tell Azagoth first. It’s not fair to him.” She frowned. “And if he learns about the baby from someone else... yikes.”
Cara set the tray down, thankful she wasn’t in her friend’s situation. They were both pregnant, having conceived within days of each other, but Lilliana, as an angel, had a slightly longer gestation period. And her husband was the Grim Reaper, a being known for his depth of evil and cruelty. Cara would not want to be mated to him. Although her own marriage to one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was probably looked on as equally terrifying by people who didn’t know Ares.
And even some who did.
“He wouldn’t...hurt you, would he?” Cara felt like a jerk asking that, but one never knew what went on behind closed doors, and she was feeling particularly protective of her friend.
Lilliana started. “No, of course not. Never. But he’s got a reputation for killing the messenger. And he’d be very, very angry with me.”
“But he understands why you left in the first place, right?” Cara plucked one of Suzanne’s Caramel Pretzel Bites off the tray and popped it into her mouth, barely containing a moan. Suzanne had provided a lot of the food today, although she hadn’t been able to stay for the party.
Lilliana nodded. “He does. And he’s worked hard to learn to control his temper.” She played eenie-meenie-miney-mo between a Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Fig and a dish of Blueberry Lemon Angel Food Cake Trifle before settling on the fig. “It’s time to go home.”
The sea breeze blew through the open window, bringing with it laughter from the party below. “I don’t mean to push you, but if the gates are open again, why haven’t you gone?”
“I wanted to at least be here for the birth of your baby,” Lilliana said, and as if her words were a signal, a dull but intense cramp wrapped around Cara’s belly and climbed her spine like a ladder.
“Uh-oh.”
Lilliana froze as she reached for the trifle. “What is it?”
The baby kicked, and Cara wondered if it had felt the cramp too. “I was planning to watch the beach volleyball game Reseph and Wraith are starting in a few minutes, and then I figured we’d open presents and serve cake afterward...but I think I might need to adjust the timetable.” She hissed through what she was certain was a contraction. “I sort of had Shade jumpstart labor.”
Lilliana jerked upright, trifle forgotten. “You did what?”
“I wanted this to be a baby shower. I wanted my entire family to be with us for the most important day of our lives. Besides, why not use the perks that come with having friends like the Sem brothers?” Cara reached behind her to massage the small of her back, but the ache was gone almost as quickly as it had come, a perk of being bonded with the hellhound race. Her pain was theirs, and through them, she healed with supernatural speed. “Don’t worry. I cleared it with Eidolon a couple of weeks ago. He said it would be perfectly safe.”
“And what did Ares have to say about that?”
Cara laughed. Ares had adapted to modern life—mostly—but his first, instinctive reaction to anything new was to revert to his primitive roots.
“He thought we should do the natural labor thing. Can you believe it? I mean, there’s nothing natural about any of this.” She rolled her eyes. “He got all ancient warrior, me man, you woman on me.”
“I hear you.” Lilliana gave a knowing laugh. Azagoth was even older than Ares. “And what did you say?”
“That it was my body, my rules.” She smirked and popped a Goat Cheese Truffle into her mouth.
“And...” Lilliana prompted.
“And I told him that if he didn’t like that, he could bite my ass.”
One of Lilliana’s delicate eyebrows arched in curiosity. “And what did he do?”
Cara smiled at the memory of his outrage, the way his face had turned as red as a Sora demon’s butt. She hadn’t known what he was going to do when he came at her like a tank, but she’d stood her ground, ready for anything.
“He bit my ass, we had sex, and he never brought it up again.” She’d always loved the way Ares fought battles with her. They usually ended in bed. Another cramp tore through her, and she sucked in a harsh breath. “Maybe I should go find Eidolon.” She cursed softly. “He might be a little pissed.”
Coming to her feet far more smoothly than Cara could, Lilliana held out her hand to offer assistance. “I thought you cleared this with him.”
“I did.” She let Lilliana pull her to her feet. “He said it was fine but that I needed to tell him as soon as Shade did it. I forgot to find him after Shade did his thing.”
Shade had warned her that labor could progress quickly, but she hadn’t thought he meant practically instantly.
A sudden, screaming pain squeezed her abdomen and shot up her spine. “I’d better go.” She gave Lilliana a hug, both chuckling at the physical awkwardness of a hug with two pregnant bellies.
“Congratulations,” Lilliana murmured. “I’ll see you and your little one soon.”
Sooner, maybe, than expected, if the rush of liquid between Cara’s legs was any indication.
It was finally time.
* * * *
Ares’s heart was in his throat as Cara sucked in a pained breath. They’d planned for the birth and had converted one of the guest rooms into a delivery room, but Ares hadn’t planned on it being used this soon.
Obviously, Cara had different plans that no number of ass-bites had changed.
“Push, Cara,” Eidolon said. “This should be the last one. Make it count.”
“You got this,” Gem, Eidolon’s sister-in-law and a fellow doctor, had arrived with her mate, Kynan, just as Cara went into labor, and she’d volunteered to assist,
Gripping his hand so tightly his fingers went white, Cara bore down with a scream. He hadn’t been present for his sons’ births, and now he realized he had both missed out...and had been lucky. Seeing his mate in pain was torture he wished he could take upon himself.
An eternity later, Cara stopped screaming and flopped backward on the pillow. Two heartbeats passed, and then a baby’s powerful cry rang out.
“Congratulations,” Eidolon said as Gem clamped the cord. “Your little pony is a filly.”
“A girl!” Ares shouted, his joyous shout making the art on the walls shake. “I have a daughter!”
Through the open windows, cheers and shouts of congratulations erupted from the party below. Outside the bedroom door, his siblings and their mates called out in celebration.
Gem wrapped the wailing baby in a warm towel and placed her in Cara’s arms.
“She’s so beautiful.” His finger trembled as he brushed it over her delicate cheek. After thousands of years of witnessing and dealing death, he was finally a part of life. “But we still don’t have a name for her.”
The baby’s cries grew quieter, turning to soft, contented mewls, but outside, the howls of a hundred hellhounds, maybe more, vibrated the entire island with their haunting song.
The door burst open, and the room filled with his siblings and their spouses. Reaver and Harvester remained below with the Sems and the rest of their friends, but they’d be up soon.
Thanatos and Reseph still had their damned plastic cups. “You hearing that?” Reseph stuck his head out the window. “What are they saying?”
Cara, her eyes wide with both exhaustion and amazement, looked up from the baby and smiled. “Aleka,” she murmured. “That’s what they’re calling her.”
“Aleka.” Ares liked the sound of it on his tongue. “It’s an ancient Greek name. It means protector. Defender of mankind.” He could picture his daughter growing into both of those things. “It’s a warrior’s name.”
Cara’s gaze met his, and they both knew. “I think it sounds perfect,” she said.
It was perfect. Everything about this day was perfect.
“To Aleka,” Thanatos called out, but when everyone raised their drinks in celebration, Ares revised his thought.
Everything was perfect except those floofing red cups.
* * * *
At Eidolon’s okay and within an hour of giving birth, Cara had showered, dressed, and joined the party with her baby daughter. She wasn’t even tired. The supernatural link she shared with every hellhound in existence allowed her to heal and replenish energy quickly, but she was still surprised that she felt this good.
Before joining up with everyone again, she’d taken Aleka to meet Hal, Cara’s personal hellhound protector. Hal had given the infant a sniff and a gentle nudge of welcome, and then he’d poofed away to deliver Aleka’s scent to the rest of the pack. Soon, all hellhounds would be able to identify her as one to be protected and never harmed.
Afterward, she’d gone to Lilliana to introduce her to Aleka...and to say goodbye. According to the terms of Lilliana’s marriage to Azagoth, she wasn’t supposed to leave Sheoul-gra except under very specific circumstances. Reaver had made it happen this time, but it wasn’t as if Lilliana could come and go as she pleased. But they planned to keep in touch via whatever technology was available now and in the centuries to come.
And if, for any reason, Ares needed to speak to the Grim Reaper, Cara could use the opportunity to visit Lilliana.
Cara figured Ares would need to speak to Azagoth a lot more often in the future.
Now, with Reaver gone, escorting Lilliana to the one gate Azagoth had opened, Cara was surrounded by friends, family, and mountains of wrapping paper, boxes, and bags from the gifts she’d opened. The cake had been cut, a buffet had been put out, and while the kids played outside with an entire pack of hellhound babysitters, the alcohol flowed freely inside.
“Aleka seems to be loving Thanatos’s cradle.” Ares set a plate of food in front of Cara and bent over to admire their sleeping daughter.
“I can’t believe how much time he spent carving it.” She ran a finger along one ornately detailed railing, marveling at the scenes of battle and hellhound hunts etched in great detail on every surface. It wasn’t exactly the ducks and bunnies she might have gone with, but she was living in a reality where her baby had also been given a dagger tempered with demon blood as a gift. So there was that. “It’s incredible.” She looked around the room at the pile of gifts. “Everything is incredible. We’ve surrounded ourselves with amazing people.”
Ares straightened. “We have, haven’t we?” He gestured to the two-foot tall clay jar wrapped with a bright red bow. “I mean, not everyone’s relatives give them penises of unknown origin as a gift.”
She laughed. “They’re for the hellhounds, and Harvester and your father did give Aleka the most unique gift.” The blanket, made in Heaven with the fleece of golden sheep, was guaranteed to quiet and comfort a fussy baby, and so far, the guarantee had held, with Aleka swaddled and sleeping peacefully.
“It’s truly priceless.” He sank down next to her. “And so are you.” His gaze drifted back to Aleka as she kicked a tiny foot. “And so is she.”
Cara pulled the plate of food over onto her lap. She hadn’t had time to eat much today, and now that things had calmed down, she was starving. But as she reached for a pot sticker, she noticed Ares’s faraway gaze.
“Hey, is everything okay?”
He didn’t even have to ask what she was talking about. “Yes,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile. “I loved my sons, and my guilt over their deaths will never fade, but now I can honor them by being a good father to their sister.”
“You’re going to be a great father.” She used her foot to rock the cradle in a slow, easy rhythm. “Even though she’s going to drive you crazy as a teenager.”
Ares made a noise she’d never heard before. A noise that sounded suspiciously like panic. “Teenager?”
“Babies do grow into teenagers,” she said in a teasing voice. “Takes approximately thirteen years.” She envisioned life at that point in the future and grinned. “Imagine our family get-togethers in thirteen years. We think they’re crazy now. Wait until the kids are all old enough to cause trouble.”
The color drained from his face. “The Sem boys,” he growled. “I swear, if one of them so much as looks at my daughter...”
She reached over and patted his hand. “Honey, they’re all going to be looking at her.” Cara gazed at the stunning little treasure in the cradle. “She’s going to be amazing.”
Friends and family started migrating over again with their plates of food, and Cara let herself be surrounded by the people who had become her world.
It was a world she’d entered reluctantly, but now she couldn’t imagine it any other way.
* * * *
Ares’s story began in , the 5th book of the Demonica series, but it kicked off with a life of its own in , the 1st book of the Lords of Deliverance series. See how the legends of the Apocalypse came to be! And if you’re curious about how things end up for Lilliana, be sure to pick up Cipher, available 04/09/19.