"Yes,” I said, an edge to my voice as I drew back from Michael. “Because he considers it his baby. It icks me out to have sex with a man that doesn't see this as his child in my belly."
Gabriel blinked at me. "Well, of course, it's my baby."
My jaw dropped. "That's not how you've been acting!"
He shrugged. "I'm not as emotionally invested as you are, of course. When you have the baby, if anything is wrong, we can heal it and deal with it."
"Gabe, you're too analytical. This isn't a math problem to solve." Michael sighed and sat on the couch, as if realizing our moment had fled. "You can't just figure this out on a whiteboard and then get a gold star."
I raised my eyebrows at Gabe. That was exactly how he'd been acting.
He shrugged. "I'm sorry, it's how I am. You know that. I see a problem. The Gates of Hell are crumbling. The solution is to get Lucifer back in Hell. Everything else can be figured out because demons being loose in the world is the worst-case scenario."
"Okay." I understood the gravity of the situation. "I get it. Can we put a pin in killing Lucian until the last possible second? It only takes him minutes to shore up the gates."
"Well, now that we're being rational, I killed you, Mike, so that you'd go figure out what's wrong with Luc."
Realization dawned on Michael's face. I hated when Gabe called him Mike. I liked Gabriel's and Lucifer's names shortened, but disliked the name, Mike. They used it anyway, despite my protests. "Of course."
"He's asleep in our bed," I supplied. "Go check him out. Gabriel can walk me over there."
We started the long walk back to my and Lucian's home. It was still hard to think of him as Lucifer. Constance had known Lucian all her life, having grown up not far from him. They'd played together as children and fallen in love as teenagers. A truly idyllic life.
Lilith wanted to cling to that life instead of possibly giving Lucifer his memories and him returning to the man he'd turned into.
"Gabe, the baby isn't the only reason I'm hesitant." We'd touched on it before, but it didn't hurt to drive home how much he'd changed. "Lucifer used to be loving and attentive. A true partner with running Hell, and a wonderful husband."
"When did he change?" He reached out and took my hand. I considered pulling away —what if someone Connie knew drove by? But I didn't. It felt too nice having my Gabe back with me and not trying to kill our partner.
"A couple hundred years ago. Life on Earth has always had its share of evil. We've never had a shortage of souls to punish and reform, there's never been a lag in demons created by humans' evil deeds."
Gabriel nodded. "Humans are flawed, that's part of their beauty."
"I agree. But as technology advanced, so did treachery. More demons than ever appear in Hell. More souls are sent from the Pearly Gates to the Obsidian Gates. As the numbers grew, so did Lucifer's darker traits."
"He's always been a bit of an asshole, even as an Arch." Gabriel watched me as we walked, and I appreciated that he matched my speed. I was a slowpoke. And sore. My hips wanted my recliner.
"Yes, but not to me. Lately, he's snapped at me. Taken his stress out on me by being condescending. And you know me. I'm no shrinking violet."
"You're different this life cycle, though. I'm not sure it's not the pregnancy though," he mused.
"Yeah, I've noticed a change in my attitude since being pregnant. I feel more vulnerable, but also softer. It's neat to experience the changes firsthand that I've seen women go through for so many centuries."
I had yearned for children, though my husbands had no idea. My curse, my punishment for my part of the Fall was to never have children. I'd tried, Gods knew I'd tried. I'd manipulated demons with my blood, thinking maybe if I couldn't birth a child, I could create one.
That had made me the mother of all demons. Ugh. Rumors were a bitch.
We walked into the house to find Michael coming down the stairs. He sighed. "It's not good."
"Come in here." I made a beeline for my recliner and sank gratefully into its squishy embrace. "Tell me."
Michael plopped on the couch, Gabe right behind him. "Well, he's got a damn powerful spell on him."
I sat up, alarmed. "What?"
"I don't know if we'll be able to kill him at all."
Gabriel gave us both an alarmed look as the late afternoon sunlight streamed through the window behind him. "What are you talking about?"
