Page 72 of Demons of Eden

“What did she say that was so unbelievable?” I ask, trying not to freak out at the confirmation that he does in fact know the truth about my unborn child.

Though, at least he doesn’t seem mad about it?

“Uh, just don’t laugh, okay?” Forrest pleads, shifting his weight between his feet awkwardly like he really doesn’t want to come out and say it. “I’m sure she was only trying to help our family by coming to me with it in the first place. Even if parts of it were distorted, clearly she was right about some things.” He gives a pointed look to my very pregnant belly.

“I won’t laugh, but you better hurry up and get on with this,” I tell him, needing him to get on with it already. I’d really like an explanation before my rescue party arrives.

“Fine. She said something about you being stolen by an evil king and trapped in a giant gold egg. So, I think it was mostly reasonable on my part to have some doubts when she then told me about the baby.”

I have to slap my hand over my mouth to stop the incredulous little giggle that tries to escape the second he’s done speaking.

“Hey! You said you wouldn’t laugh,” Forrest complains.

“It’s just—” I cover my mouth again, trying my very best not to lose it. I breathe in and out through my nose, taking several deep breaths.

It had been horrifying to live through, but hearing my brother explain my traumatic experience in one sentence thatsomehow manages to make it sound like a creepy fairy tale, it’s just too much. I break, dissolving into laughter, ignoring Forrest’s pointed glaring.

After a minute or so, I finally manage to compose myself enough to say, “So, the evil king and the egg thing? That actually happened.”

“Fuck off it did,” he blurts, looking at me as if I’ve turned purple or something. When I don’t immediately concede to the denial, my brother then shakes his head. “No. That’s just…no.”

“Yeah, it did. Except the evil king was actually an evil demon lord, and the egg? It was some kind of creepy pregnancy-accelerating contraption from hell.”

“That’s…super messed up. Damn, Den. Look, I believe you, but in my defence, you’ve got to admit, it sounds…”

“Insane?” I provide.

“Yeah, that about covers it,” he agrees.

“It’s basically the state of my entire life recently,” I inform my brother with a sigh. “Now, seeing as that’s already happened, what is it you decided I needed protection from?”

“Okay, so it was around the fifth time she’d spoken about you giving birth to a demon, so I was mostly trying to be polite at this point, but then she mentioned Suvi by name. Katia also knew about her being a healer.Ididn’t even remember that. I had to look it up.”

“Suvi was in what she saw?” Knowing that oddly makes me feel a whole lot better because if Suvi’s there when the baby comes, surely that means things will be okay?

“Yeah, but that’s not important right now. Katia said the vision keeps changing between three different outcomes, and two of them, well, they’re not good. That’s why I came to see you, to see if it was really true. If it wasn’t, I was just gonna make an excuse about visiting for your birthday. Then you had to go andbe exactly where she said you’d be, and just as pregnant, so I brought you here to keep you safe.”

“What were the bad options?” I demand.

“One was that a demon took you, but I guess it already happened? So, maybe we don’t have to worry about that one now. The other was that your coven found out about the baby being half-demon, and, well…you know how witches tend to feel about that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, the whole ‘coven justice’ to deal with the evil demon spawn. I already expected that would happen eventually when they noticed how quickly the baby happened.”

“You are being way too calm about this.”

“I’ve actually been very stressed about it, but the guys were already protecting me. I have it handled.”

“The demon…and the demon hunters,” he says slowly, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Look, ‘the demon’ is the baby’s father, and the hunters? They’re…well, it’s complicated, but I trust them all,” I tell him firmly, not liking the way he’s talking about them. “You should know that they also won’t just let me disappear like this.”

I sigh, already picturing how frantic they must be. They probably think I’ve been demon-napped again. I can’t even call them to say it was only my dumb, though well-intentioned, brother. I really need to get a new phone.

Forrest snorts before overconfidently saying, “Even if they could find you, which they won’t, they can’t get past the barrier.”

“Oh, you don’t know them like I do. Our family home’s barrier? Not gonna cut it. They’re also probably already on their way here.”

“It’s my house now,” he objects, as if that’s the important part of what I said.

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