Epilogue
Grace
This day has been a long time coming.
A long, long time.
Guiding my blindfolded parents slowly out onto the dock, I lead them one step at a time out over the water.
“Are you sure we have to be blindfolded? This doesn’t seem safe,” Dad whines. “Why can’t we just stay on the deck?”
“I already told you. The surprise isn’t on the deck, it’s in the water.”
We take another few steps and the scenery starts to change, darkening to gray, blurring into endless clouds. The shining water of the lake morphs into black liquid, though the waves keep quietly lapping against the shore.
Sepher and the kids—of which there are many—want to meet my parents.
Well, mostly the kids. And they’re not kids exactly, they’re merdemons.
Young ones, with a sense of human curiosity their father despises deeply.
Sepher has no interest in meeting my parents, or anyone for that matter.
Now that the kids are growing, he barely tolerates them, often sending them off to other parts of the abyss to feed.
They would all be ferocious, sociopathic monsters if it weren’t for me.
Thank god for me.
“How much farther do we have to go?” Mom is the whiner this time. “I… don’t think this is right. Something feels off.” She can sense it then, the shift from Earth to Hell. I wondered if she’d be able to.
“Did it suddenly get dark?” Dad asks.
They both reach up for their blindfolds, and I release their hands, taking a step back so they have a full view of the water. Taking the blindfolds off at the same time, they blink and look around.
“Now, don’t be scared, but we’re in Hell,” I say bluntly. “Or a projection of it at least.”
“Hell? Did you say Hell?” Dad spits.
“What are we doing in Hell, Grace? Mom asks, unamused. Crossing her arms, she peers down into the black water beyond the edge of the dock. “This is a bad place. One might say the worst.”
“Why the hell did you bring us to Hell!?” Dad erupts, throwing his hands up.
“So you can meet your grandchildren,” I tell them.
Dad lowers his arms, looking at me sharply. Mom slowly tears her gaze from the water, dragging them up to me. They’re both silent as they stare at me. I stare back.
“Grandchildren?” they both say.
“Yes.” I nod firmly. “Grandchildren.” Turning away, I walk to the end of the dock where Sepher appears from the depths to meet me. Barely even lifting his face above the waterline, his eyes narrow when they drift over my shoulder. “Are they ready?” I ask him.
“Yes,” he hisses, glaring sullenly at my parents.
“Great, send them up.” I draw back as he slips into the darkness below again. Looking back at my parents, I see my Dad has gone ashen and wide-eyed and Mom’s just staring at the water where Sepher just was.
She always wanted a big family. Unfortunately, life didn’t work out that way for her, me being an only child and all. But that is about to end…
I bite back my smile. “Ready?”
“Was that… Was he?” Dad sputters.
I ignore him as Mom nods.
I turn around just as the first of Sepher’s and my children appear.
Our spawn, he likes to call them.
Hundreds of little heads emerge in the dark waters all around us, both in front and on either side of the dock, spread out and into the distance.
Hair varying in length, though all of it dark, drifts out from each one of them.
Their eyes are all different shades of green, from piercingly bright to nearly black, and gaze back at me before shifting on to their grandparents.
Vicious half-human, half-merdemons, they are all as beautiful and as dangerous as their father. Some older than others now. They’ve been born in multiple spawns over the past five years. All after feverish matings with their father.
“Oh my…” Mom’s voice fades out.
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Dad murmurs as the eldest of my children swims closer.
I step aside as they both look questioningly at me and nod to them that it’s all right. “They won’t hurt you.”
My parents approach the dock’s edge and kneel as he rises from the water.
“Hello… there…”
Zexoth, the most like Sepher of his entire brood, grins up at my parents, his sharp, fanglike teeth on full display.
With a gasp, my parents draw back.
I hear Sepher laugh. Zexoth, as well as Rukzaza and Ruxziax, the twin oldest of our daughters, do too, and the rest of our children soon join in.
Unable to hide my amusement, I help my parents stand.
“Welcome to Hell,” I say.
I join in with my family and laugh.