CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX
Alaric dragged in a demon from Octavio's car, the one that reminded me of when he was still running his Mafia gang. He gave up on it immediately after he came back from his healing break with the Fallen.

“Put him in the dungeon and ground him,” Alaric commanded somebody, “Make sure his human is locked and there's no possibility of him ever getting possessed, you hear me?!”

“Yes, Master!” I heard a voice and looked to the side to see a hefty being approaching.

First of all, we have a dungeon?

I knew it was an all-in-one mansion, but a dungeon seemed like an overkill.

Well, now it was useful, I guess I was planning to question it or something.

“Why not send him back to hell?” I asked as the man who probably looked worse in his demon form took the demon off Alaric's hands and began dragging him off even as he shouted loudly in pain.

“I'll have to go down there to torture him myself and I can't stand my father right now,” he replied gruffly, the man I fell in love with not within sight.

His eyes were the darkest shade, and he walked into the house angrily, leaving Kora and Octavio in his wake.

They looked tired but none of them could meet my eyes.

“What happened out there?” I demanded.

“I told you,” Kora snapped at me, “we were –”

“Don't talk to me in that tone; you were ambushed, I get that, but something obviously happened because you returned with that guy, and he's not the Alaric I know!”

“Well maybe you don't know him very well,” she hissed at me, disappearing into the house.

“I'm sorry about that,” Octavio said as he clasped a hand on my shoulder, “he had to fight a lot of them by himself while Kora just stood by. You'd think she's been possessed by Sloth or something,” he ground out.

“She's been doing that pretty much, but that war is over and this was an attack on all of you!”

“Not really. No one touched her, just us. She's a Princess, no one's going anywhere near her if they don't have to. Alaric was in a tight spot right next to her, and she took too long to get involved, so he got cut. He got the upper hand before she came through, and he's healed now, so everything is fine.”

“No, it's not. Alaric is probably realising she's not truly his support system amongst his crazy siblings. They've had a long history where he kept running from her constant presence because he was scared it was fake. He gives in and now she's comfortable watching him nearly get killed and won't do anything to help. That's definitely why he's in that mood!” I snarled angrily, ice frosting my hands.

“Ari, you need to calm down a bit please,” Kiara said next to me, but I was too pissed.

“Calm down?!” I screeched, “How are we sure all of this madness is not through her aid!? She's been living here, acting hot and cold as shit!”

“Baby?” I turned around to Alaric's tired from at the top of the stairs outside. “Come on, let's go to bed okay?” He waved me over.

“I need to talk to you about something tomorrow,” I told Octavio before heading towards Alaric.

He took me inside, but I was still feeling weird. His sudden switch scared the hell out of me, and I won't lie, Kora's words stuck in my head.

He'd lived on this earth across several civilizations and in different areas. He never took pictures except he was going to be in explicit possession of it because if not, someone was going to compare him to some ancestral picture someone took with him and begin to figure something out.

So it made sense that I didn't truly know him, only this version of him I had witnessed before that sudden fluke.

It scared me, but I decided to let it rest; he had just finished fighting, and maybe whatever I yelled at Octavio was true, and he felt betrayed by his sister, but whatever the actual problem, I didn't want to pile it on his plate that night.

He also didn't try talking as well so we went to sleep and he held me tightly all night.

When I woke up, I didn't know what to expect; he was still asleep, which was unusual.

So I left him alone and went to the gym. He'd promised to train me in handling my new powers and the being inside of me but I felt badly out of shape.

Also, I wasn't exactly like them, perfect, polished, and could fit a thousand burgers into their form and wouldn't get any extra slab of fat.

On the other hand, I was already looking bigger than I was comfortable with.

When I met Octavio, I was a size ten but that was from years of suffering.

Now?

I was hurtling towards a size twelve even though my curves were still consistent.

It bothered me because I was surrounded by perfection, I was like them in some ways – immortality, superpowers, energy – but that was it.

I can't fight like them, I tire easily, I noticed a pimple yesterday morning and now, if I don't do something about it, I'm going to relax into being the biggest out of them all.

I would die of insecurity and Alaric wouldn't follow me to the afterlife for sure.

“Baby? Isn't that too heavy for you?” He asked me, making me realize I'd been overthinking for a good thirty minutes and was currently lifting something I definitely shouldn't be lifting.

My whole body ached sorely.

But then, my Alaric was fully back and that was a good thing.

“Sorry,” I replied with a chuckle, “I'm trying to see if my new personality extends to super strength.”

“You don't need that baby, I'm here to protect you,” he replied, coming to take it away from me, well, me away from it rather.

“What if you're not there?”

“That'll never happen. Besides, you've forgotten you're a queen of two species?”

“But that's the thing, I don't have telepathy, I can't open a portal and I can't teleport. How do I alert them that their queen is in danger? You think a shooter will allow me one phone call?”

“Okay, let's go back to the room; we should talk in a less… volatile environment, okay?”

“You're scared I'll hit you? Am I showing violent tendencies?” I cried, panting and unable to see him clearly.

“Oh shit!” He exclaimed, lifting me off the floor while I screamed.

“Mom?” He called for his mother but I was adamant.

“Let me go!” I yelled at him but I was like a crying toddler.

He ignored me completely, worsening my mood.

He pushed open his mother's room and we found her with a cane, coming to open the door.

I hurriedly cleaned my tears, trying to appear as normal as possible instead of the hysterical child I was cosplaying without meaning to, my emotions were everywhere.

“What is it? Why are you making her cry?” She yelled at him, hitting him with the stick.

“Ouch Mom, I thought I was your favourite?”

“You thought wrong now tell me why you're here making my daughter cry?”

“How long does conception take?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my heart rate increasing.

“Drop her down, let me look at her,” his mother instructed and finally, my legs met the ground.

I hit his arm.

“Everyone's against me today, great!”

She ignored me and took my arm instead, holding it firmly.

She looked at my skin for a minute, and then a tear dropped from her eyes.

She hugged me so tightly as my brain began to process what just happened.

Wait, am I pregnant?