15. There’s hope for you after all. #2
I could work with disgustingly honest and cheerfully sleazy.
The Devil laughed. “Now, before I worry your friend too much, it’s time to attune you to the flames.
Your bride would become a little too hot to handle if I didn’t give you some of my ancestry properly.
As I said before, your heritage is what allowed your angelic side to have some dominance—a necessity for you to exist as you do.
I’m going to adjust the scales a little so you’re a little more devil and a little less demon, but you’ll still be more angel than both.
I’m sure your grandfather is going to love this.
It’s like a Christmas present to myself. ”
“Should I be worried?”
“I’m about to put you through hell. So yes, you should be.”
I sighed. “And this will let me become a conduit for Bailey?”
“And let you cuddle with her even when she’s a unicorn snorting flame.
You’ll be immune to her fires. Or, more accurately, you’ll be attuned with them, so they won’t hurt you.
Someone dumping a bucket of napalm on you and lighting it on fire would still hurt.
I can only do so much with what I have to work with, but as my brother so helpfully bound you to her, I have more leeway than usual.
For once, I’m so glad I had to spank one of my devils.
I don’t usually, you know. Fulfilling their bargains is a pain in the ass.
But you held the only outstanding bargain, which made it worth my while.
Otherwise, I would’ve just left him hanging for a while. ”
“And here I thought my family was confusing before I added you to it.” Shaking my head, I wondered just how crazy my family tree truly was.
“It’s complicated.”
I laughed. “Which part? That I have two grandfathers on my mother’s side? That my father’s side is essentially the same? I still don’t know if I have any of my gorgon grandmother’s DNA.”
“You do. Gorgon reproduction isn’t far off from a triad, and the magic that makes a gorgon egg become fertile helped with your father’s conception.
While he wasn’t born from a gorgon’s egg, your gorgon grandmother’s magic did help make your father.
For the record, it was Emilie’s magic. She’s since gone on to stay with Him for a while. ”
For some reason, I found that knowledge comforting. “And Beauty and Sylvester?”
“They told you the truth. Their eggs broke within their mother.”
I sighed. “Are you allowed to tell me the state of their mother’s soul?”
“She was reincarnated and her seed of life was given to a mother who would’ve otherwise lost her child.
A rainbow baby, if you will. I sent one of my succubi to resolve the infant’s physical problems, and I provided her soul so the child could survive.
I’m gentler with reincarnations than He is.
For all He is the Heavenly Father, I’m the Sun in Glory, the Lord of the Morning—and new dawns are my specialty. ”
“Yet you’re the Father of Sin, the Lord of Lies, and the Shepherd of Lost Souls.”
“I’m misunderstood,” the Devil replied with a grin.
“Their father’s soul was likewise shepherded.
They’ll meet again. Some things are written in the stars, and He is still new to His profile, so His heart is still soft.
When He asks for a favor shepherding souls, I do tend to go along with it.
He does loathe asking me, and sometimes, heaven isn’t a destination but a second chance to live life with a true love.
They earned their heaven, however much it disgusts me to admit it.
That’s a good way to earn His favor, in case you didn’t know.
A selfless sacrifice always catches His attention. ”
I sucked in a breath. “So their father is dead.”
“You already knew that.” The Devil smirked.
“I like how mortals shut down and ignore what they can’t readily understand.
I’ve told you He is not a static being, and that a mortal ultimately takes the place of another mortal to wear His shoes for a while, and you just ignore it.
” The Devil snapped his fingers. “Humans are so entertaining.”
While I had ignored it, I’d done so because I’d already known. I arched a brow at the Devil, well aware he was reading my mind, and kept the subject on the gorgon male. “I hadn’t known for certain.”
“He is a compassionate soul, and He rewards those who are deserving. Instead of an eternal heaven, they were given new life. He thought a second chance for their happiness was their due. As I said, He doesn’t ask me for favors often.”
“Yet you’ll battle until the end of days.”
“Ours is a dysfunctional family.”
I blinked, and it sank in that if the Devil was my great uncle, that meant He was also a direct relation. “My family tree is fucked up.”
The Devil laughed. “Indeed it is. And you’re correct. Technically, you are a child of the Heavenly Host. It’s amusing, really. Your Bailey is everything you are not. That’s why you work so well together. And to put your mind at ease, you two have no relation to each other.”
I arched a brow at that. “Knowing my lineage, I find that difficult to believe.”
The Devil smiled. “From the beginning of time, never have your lines met until now. That is part of what makes you—and her—so interesting. Your children will change the world, just as you two have already changed the world.”
I raised a brow at that. “We have?”
“You have,” the Devil answered, and he gestured for me to follow him.
“The rebirth of two phoenixes alone is enough to change the world, Sam. That act was the work of you both. That’s a great deal of magic released on the mortal coil, which in turns wakens other older things.
Your wife will change the world again when she puts that idiot who wishes to become a god into his place.
And she will. That’s written in the stars.
The how of it is still to be decided, and I look forward to the show.
Your Bailey? She is so creative. That’s her nature.
She blasts right beyond the obvious solutions to problems without any realization there’s an easier way to go about her business. ”
I grimaced. I’d been around my family enough to understand some events would happen no matter what mortals did to stop it, and I disliked the idea that my bride was in the center of one of those events.
I definitely disliked the idea she’d blast right by the easier, simpler, and ultimately safer solution. “I’m going to go gray before Christmas,” I groaned.
“Your hair is safe,” my uncle said with laughter in his voice.
“Bailey raising two phoenixes was also written in the stars. It would have happened, perhaps at a different time and a different date than when you foolishly faced your ex-wife alone, but it would have happened one way or another. The first time she laid a hand on them, they would’ve risen.
And with her field of work? It was inevitable. ”
Sometimes, I truly hated the divine. Sighing, I followed the Devil through his palace of dark granite stone, pausing every now and then to admire the classical paintings on the ceilings.
Michelangelo had created true masterpieces for the Devil’s enjoyment, and the images would haunt me for a long time to come, as he rewrote the entire bible from something closer to the Devil’s perspective.
I halted at a depiction of Noah’s flood, pointing at the shores of an icy island. “Is that a cindercorn?”
“Sharp eye. This isn’t from my perspective on this one, by the way.
This is the true history. When the world fell to the floods, the last remnants of humanity fled to the mountains.
This is the history of a vampiric family who survived along with some mortals and the last herd of cindercorns.
” The Devil joined me and smiled at the painting, pointing at a pale figure. “Do you see the pale woman there?”
“Yes, I do.”
“She is another unicorn, and the cindercorns took her in and kept her safe until she could find others of her kind. Bailey is a descendant of her and the stallion there.”
My eyes widened. “I thought you said she was descended from Epona.”
“Her, too. Remember, most divines are born from mortal children who inherit the profile. The mortals who become divine still possess their mortality as an echo. Those echoes are within Bailey.”
“Are they still alive? Her relatives in that painting?”
The Devil shook his head. “They died long ago. I believe one of her great-great grandmothers is still alive. A standard unicorn. She’s the last of her line for the cindercorns.
And while her genetics are rather extensive, your genetics will lead to interesting children.
For better or worse, they’ll take after one of you more strongly than the other, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you produce a winged cindercorn or variants of yourself with a few extra abilities.
Either way, you’ll have your hands full, especially with the other children. ”
“I’m going to need a bigger house,” I predicted.
“You’re probably right.” The Devil halted and opened a door, gesturing me to walk inside. I raised a brow at the massive bathroom, which was large enough to fit the entirety of my living room inside. “This is the best place for this work, as I don’t want to disturb my wife with your screaming.”
Great. I just loved when someone informed me I’d be screaming. “This is going to hurt that much?”
“It sure is. There’s only one way to attune you to her magic and make you a conduit, and that involves a lot of exposure to her type of magic.
Fortunately for you, I’m the Devil. Little is beyond my power.
It’s just going to hurt a lot. I recommend the tub, as it’ll make the cleanup much easier.
Go on, strip. Wouldn’t want to incinerate your clothes or get blood all over them. ”
“You know how I was thinking hell wasn’t all that bad?”
The Devil chuckled. “I did find that rather amusing.”
“I was wrong.”
Bailey