Lilly’s eyes popped open at the sound of the baby crying in the study. She began to lever herself up, but there was a great deal of weight over her body. Two sets of arms held her well wrapped in place, and the twin incubi they belonged to snored lightly through the baby’s distress. When she looked around for a way to extricate herself, she saw John.
He sat with his fingers laced together and his elbows on his knees. She met his eyes as calmly as she could considering her jeans lay in plain sight over the back of the chair he was sitting on, and only the twin's fortuitous arm placement protected her modesty. He held up one hand and stood slowly.
“I’ll take care of her. You should rest while you can.”
“John…” she stopped, plainly unsure how to continue.
The smile he managed for her was nervous, almost shy. “I won’t go far. I promise.”
She let out a slow breath and nodded. Once his back was turned she sank back down into the warm pile of skin and arms and muscles. Tom wriggled back to make room for her without opening his eyes and Cain nuzzled his face into her hair. In the cooler temperature of pre-dawn Lilly bit her bottom lip and ran one hand over Cain’s muscular shoulder then down his arm. At the same time she leaned back against Tom’s slightly leaner body and wondered at the insanity that had taken root in her life.
“Don’t think so much,” Tom hadn’t moved or opened his eyes but his voice sounded perfectly clear and awake.
“Easy for you to say,” she retorted as glibly as she could manage. “It’s not your first orgy.”
Tom chuckled softly, “Actually an orgy usually involves multiple groups or couples, you darling just got gangbanged, if you want to be accurate about it.”
She wrinkled up her nose, “Lovely.”
“Tom,” Cain tightened his arm around Lilly’s body and cuddled her closer. “Try not to shove your foot in your mouth until after breakfast, yeah?” He pressed his face into her hair and kissed her gently. “You smell amazing.”
She laughed and boldly kissed the side of his jaw.
“Suck up,” Tom groused, but he wriggled closer too and stroked a hand along her side.
As Tom began to nibble at the skin of her neck, John walked back in with the baby girl in his arms. He sat back in his chair dressed only in his jeans and kept his eyes on the baby as much as possible.
“Oh, here it comes. Recrimination time.” Tom grumbled.
“We shouldn’t have done that, not now,” John said calmly.
“You’re right,” Cain rolled onto his back completely indifferent to his nakedness, “We should have done it years ago!”
John rolled his eyes and finally looked up at Lilly. “You okay?”
“I’m okay if you are.” She pulled a couch cushion over her and looked around. Cain, with an amused but adoring expression, passed her his shirt. “Thanks.”
“John still remembers being beholden to the stupid rulebook,” Tom started but Lilly slapped his leg firmly.
“Don’t start in on him,” She sighed and struggled into Cain’s oversized button-down shirt. “What do we do now?”
Cain’s face lit up, “I have a copy of the Kamasutra in the car!” He’d started to stand when he noted the others looking at him. “Oh,” he sat back down. “You mean about the whole ‘Nephilim’ situation, don’t you?”
“My guess is we’ll never convince Lilly to give her up,” John looked her in the eyes, “Will we? Even if I tell you it was never your idea. Even if I tell you that you were shoved into this mess to cover a stupid angelic mistake… inspiration is a powerful motivator.”
“Can’t we undo it?” Tom asked. “I mean, she can do magic, we’ve proved that. I’ve never had a sorcerer before but surely we can work out how to-”
“No.”
They all looked at Lilly. The twins in disbelieving confusion but John nodded slowly. “So, we move on to-”
“We don’t move on, what do you mean no?” Tom demanded. “They dumped a dangerous problem in your lap to cover their own asses. This is not your problem, Lil!”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Lilly looked at him helplessly. “She’s just a baby…”
“She’s a half-angel illegal baby wanted by a general of hell who will use her to reignite the war between Lucifer and the throne!” Tom choked out.
“She’s still a baby, Tom. She didn’t ask for any of this.”
“Neither did we!” He snapped.
John put down the baby, who was drowsy now her belly was full and stood. “We’re getting rather close to the answer now,” he said carefully. “I can’t make you give her up,” he looked at Lilly with his huge blue eyes and sighed, “and I won't give you up. So, you and I at least are going to have to run and find somewhere safe for her.” He looked back and forth between the twins.
“This is insane,” Tom hissed. He looked at Cain, “Tell them!”
Cain nodded slowly, “It’s insane.” He agreed. “But I won’t give her up either. Not now.” He looked at his brother with his deep brown eyes and perfectly honest expression. “Come on man, we can’t just give up now. We waited for years to tell her we love her, and centuries before that for something, anything, just anything...” He shook his head.
“It’ll mean war,” Tom said.
Cain shrugged, “We were made for war. Fucking and fighting and wouldn’t you rather do that for her than for Him?”
One of Tom’s hands found Lilly’s and he turned it over and tangled their fingers together. “Are you sure about this?”
“Maybe I’m ‘inspired’ or whatever, but I’d like to believe I’m not someone who could abandon a baby to a mad hell general anyway.” She squeezed his hand. “I’ll understand-”
“I can’t leave you with these two,” Tom said. “Cain can’t find his ass with both hands and a map, and John’s Latin is shit.”
“Why do I need someone who speaks Latin?” She frowned.
Tom rolled his eyes, “Because if you’re going to take on Abraxas and protect the spawnling of light over there, you’re going to need to be a sorceress.”
“Yeeaaah,” Cain laughed and lurched over Lilly to wrestle his brother down and hug him.
John watched it all with a tolerant smile for a moment before he looked Lilly in the eye again. “We’ll be okay here for a few days I imagine, but this isn’t a permanent solution, and you’re going to have to think about what you’re willing to give up.”
She looked at him in confusion and he sighed. “Well, for example, it seems like it’d be a pretty bad idea for you to go back to work…”
“You don’t have to work, you know?” Cain said with a negligent wave of his hand. When Lilly looked at him like he’d gone mad he laughed. “Come on, you think any of us could hold down a job?”
“It’s sort of difficult to not be wealthy if you’ve been around for more than a few hundred years,” Tom grinned. “I’ve got stuff I picked up on the side of the road on a whim that’s now worth a house in Washington DC.” He shrugged. “Also, the invention of compound interest was pretty cool.”
Lilly blinked at him stupidly. “I… I always assumed you guys were dole bludgers.”
They all laughed, “we don’t have enough paperwork to be on the dole, Lil,” John said. “It's ‘be independently wealthy’, or ‘live in a cave in the bush’.” He shrugged, “Which is not a completely unreasonable option, I know demons who do it.”
“So you’re telling me you guys are all moneyed up?” She asked.
Cain started to laugh, “Tell her where the money came from,” he chortled. “Go on, tell ‘er.”
Tom sighed and rolled his eyes, but when Lilly looked at him expectantly he gave in. “I held on to something that sold for a lot of money.”
“It was a guy’s dress!” Cain chuckled.
“It was a cassock, you cretin!” Tom snapped. “It was the Venerable Bede’s cassock. The man is generally considered to be one of the greatest minds of all time!”
“You are a demon who held on to a dude's dress because you were a fan, and the dude was a MONK!” Cain blurted happily
“Shut up…”
Lilly still had an amused twinkle in her eye when she stumbled into the front stoop with her mobile phone in her hand. She still wore Cain’s shirt, buttoned unevenly, and her hastily pulled-on jears weren’t buttoned up at all.
There were tears in Metatron’s eyes and his fists shook they were clenched so tight. He and Telemachus stood just behind the treeline with a clear view of the cabin.
“She’ll do the right thing,” Telemachus said confidently.
Metatron blinked and looked away, “I’ve given my daughter into the care of demons.”
“No, you gave her into the care of your brother and a human, who happen to have demon pets.” Telemachus put a comforting hand on Metatron’s shoulder. “They’ll protect her.”
“I don’t understand why I was asked to do this,” Metatron confessed.
“Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why,” Telemachus said.
Metatron snorted, “You do know the next lines don’t you?” He let his eyes wander back to the windows of the cabin. “Theirs but to do, and die,” he whispered.
In a dank room more than a hundred kilometres away from the cabin, Abraxas grinned as the thin, sallow-skinned man in front of him jabbed a long, skeletal finger at the computer screen.
"There."
"You're sure?" Abraxas pressed.
The cadaverous IT tech didn't answer, but spun in his chair and held up his hand. "My fee."
Abraxas stared at the screen a moment longer and then nodded once. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a magnetic key card and placed it in the IT tech's palm.
"She'll be waiting for you at 9:30 this evening, and I've ensured she won't be missed," Abraxas said.
The IT tech grinned and his mouth spread abnormally wide showing teeth which were disconcertingly pointed.