Sons of Angels (36 page)

“No.” Julie gasped. “There was nothing in the book even remotely applicable to this situation.”

“Spells!” Jasfoup clapped her on the back. “That one Harold was talking about, the charm of separation. Could we use that?”

“How should I know?” Felicia raised her voice to cut through the demon’s enthusiasm. “I don’t know anything about spells.”

“Harold does.” Jasfoup clicked his fingers to summon Devious from the shop. “Tell Harold to come as soon as he can. We need his skill at magic.”

“This is a baby.” Felicia glared at the demon. “It’s hardly the same thing as stripping away DNA. It’s part of her. How can you separate one from the other?”

“There must be a way.” Jasfoup tapped his cheek with his forefinger. “I just don’t know how. Harold’s the one who thinks of practical uses for spells.”

“Just do something.” Julie groaned. “I feel like it’s splitting me in two. This is all your fault, you and your latex stockings.”

“This has never happened before.” Jasfoup rushed to hold her hand. “I didn’t expect this.”

“Don’t touch me!” Julie pulled her hand away. “How many nephilim have you fathered?”

“Just this one.” He looked sheepish. “I’ve never been genetically compatible before.”

“We have to do something.” Felicia mopped her sister’s face with a damp cloth. “She can’t stay like this for long.”

“I don’t know what. Mortal birth is a mystery to me. Oh, I know my anatomy.” Jasfoup caught Felicia’s stare. “But I’ve only been witness to it once, and that one came out like a prawn from a pastry case.”

“I’ve got to call an ambulance.” Felicia brushed a stray hair from her face. “Where’s that breeze coming from?”

“Breeze?” Jasfoup looked at Julie. “It’s coming from her. She’s opening a portal to the dead.”

“Why?” Felicia shook her sister. “Julie! What are you doing?”

Her sister said nothing, her head lolling to one side.

“They’re pulling her in.” Jasfoup grabbed on to her arms. “Stop her from dying.”

“How?” Felicia’s face pinched in anguish.

“I don’t know. Slap her or something.”

Felicia slapped her sister, the print of her hand appearing in red and white on Julie’s cheek.

Julie’s eyes snapped open. They no longer had irises but instead were pits of darkness. Her hand snapped up and caught Felicia’s wrist, holding it immobile despite Felicia’s superior strength.

“What’s going on?” Harold raced into the room. “I got this garbled message from Devious saying that I was needed urgently.”

“The baby’s too big.” Felicia pointed to Julie’s distended abdomen. “It won’t come out and she’s dying. Do something.”

“The charm of separation, I thought.” Jasfoup flashed a nervous grin. “But you’re better at living things than I am.”

“That won’t work with a baby.” Harold felt the taut skin. “Only a parasite that has different DNA to the host. The baby will share half her chromosomes.”

Felicia’s heart was pounding. “Do something.”

Harold nodded and stood over Julie. He muttered some words over her and her eyes closed, her fingers lost their grip upon Felicia’s wrist. “I’ve put her to sleep. It should spare her most of the pain.”

“You can’t put someone to sleep during childbirth. She has to be awake to push.”

“She can’t push.” Harold ran his hand over her stomach. “It’s hard. What have you impregnated her with, Jasfoup?”

“Just a baby. How was I to know it’d be like this?”

“I can’t separate it out. We’re going to have to cut her.”

Felicia shook he head. “None of us have medical training. We’d kill her.”

“I’ll do it.” The new voice was mild, and they all turned. “Do you know how much fuss you’re making in the currents of the underworld?” He nodded toward the sleeping woman. “It’s enough to wake the dead.”

“Lord Azazel.” Jasfoup bowed. “You honor us with your presence.”

“I know.” Azazel came forward, his djellaba fluttering. “Step back, please.”

Felicia was reluctant to move, but the glare from the demon lord was enough to send her scurrying. Harold drew back as well.

“Watch and learn.” Azazel placed his hands on Julie’s stomach.

Felicia gulped as the demon lord split open the skin to reveal a hard gray surface. His hand slipped inside her, found the size and shape of the baby and drew it out. All three of the spectators gasped. Felicia took one look at the smooth ceramic-looking skin and felt the gorge rise in her throat. She turned away to vomit into a vase.

“There we are.” He placed the object on the bed, oblivious of the blood and mucus that would stain the antique eiderdown for evermore. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Harold was the first to state the obvious.

“It’s an egg.”

Chapter 42

Felicia could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up as she watched Azazel lay a hand on Julie’s stomach. She was fairly sure the soft down along her spine was erect, too. If she'd been in wolf form, she’d be growling with all her hackles up. Despite his human appearance, it was as if she could feel the raw power of the demon in the same way an iron filing can feel a magnet. Not that she was attracted to him. Oh, no.

There was no glowing blue light from his hand, no words of divine power and definitely no needles or stitches involved, but when he stepped back, Julie’s stomach was whole and unblemished.

“Can you teach me to do that?” Harold traced where the cut had been. “That’s a handy spell to know.”

“No, I can’t.” Azazel rubbed his palms together.

“Oh.” Harold looked crestfallen. “Is it a complex innate power of an angel, granted by the Creator to the divine few?”

“No.” Azazel cracked his knuckles. “I just don’t want to. That’s quite an impressive egg. Better than I thought it would be.”

“Thought it would be?” Felicia frowned. “You knew this would happen?”

“Of course.” The demon lord took out a white lace handkerchief and began to wipe the egg. “Samael and I engineered it.”

“But why?” Felicia glanced across to Julie. The breeze from the land of the dead had gone, leaving behind the hot, dry scent of parched earth.

“It’s the solution to your problem.” Azazel finished wiping off the surface. “The angels are looking for a dragon, so let’s give them one. They can go away and stop killing my nephilim.”

“It’s a dragon egg?” Harold stepped forward to view it more closely.

“Yes, a dragon egg.” Azazel looked at Jasfoup. “You’ll notice I had the perfect opportunity to be sarcastic there and refrained?”

“Yes, lord.” Jasfoup nodded.

“That’s why I’m a lord and you’re only a level five. Self-restraint. You should try it.”

“I’ll bear it in mind if I ever feel the urge not to ridicule and belittle.”

“So we wait for this to hatch and just give it Puriel?” Felicia traced the delicate veining on the eggshell.”

“Why not? It’s no loss.” Azazel smiled. “I’ll be sending my bill in the morning.”

“Bill?” Harold almost put a hand on the demon’s arm to stop him. “What bill? You said this was in your interest as well as ours.”

“It is.” Azazel paused and looked into Harold’s eyes. “But I was asked to intervene in your difficulties, so I will present a bill. If the proposal ran counter to my benefit, I would not have intervened at all.”

“You mean that this egg was the result of Gillian asking you to intervene?” Harold shook his head in disbelief. “Julie nearly died.”

“But she didn’t. That’s the point.”

“So is this dragon my child, or not?” Jasfoup picked up the egg and hefted it.

“In a manner of speaking.” Azazel glanced at the sleeping mother. “Without your involvement it wouldn’t have happened. You have a dilemma in front of you. Save your friends or save your baby. Now. It’s gone dark and I have work to do. Cheerio.” Azazel faded from sight.

Harold shuddered. “I dread to think what his bill will be.”

Felicia leaned in close to the egg. “I can hear its heart beating.”

Harold and Jasfoup leaned in as well, resulting in banged heads. Harold swore.

“Language, Harold. Not in front of the children.”

“What?” Harold frowned. “Oh, the egg.”

“An egg to you.” Jasfoup rapped on the shell. “But a first-born son to me.”

“Only until we give him to the angels and they chop him to bits.” Gillian stepped into the room. “It’s true, then. Parenthood does change a person.”

“What would you know?” Jasfoup snarled. “You haven’t got any children, and if you did, they would be ancient by now.”

“Probably about Harold’s age, anyway.” She ran her hand across his arm. “Hello, my sweet.” She allowed Harold to kiss her cheek and Felicia her hand. “This is the dragon they’ve been looking for then?”

“I don’t actually know.” Harold held up his hands. “Azazel said it’s a dragon, but I’ve no idea if it’s the one the angels are after. If one is due to be born and one is born, are they the same thing or not?”

“Either way, we have to give it up.”

“We can’t.” Felicia looked from one to the other. “This is my nephew you’re talking about.”

“A nephew that will lay waste to most of London if we let it grow up.” Gillian tapped on the shell. “When is it due to hatch?”

“He didn’t say.” Felicia returned to the bed to check on her sister. “Who knows the hatching period of a dragon? Should we keep it warm?”

“We should.” Jasfoup pulled the edge of the duvet up around the egg. “Dragons take up to three years to hatch.”

“Three years?” Felicia’s jaw dropped. “We’ll all be dead by then.”

“It will be far less than three years.” Gillian stared at the pattern of red diamonds on the duvet. “This is still a nephilim child, remember? I would guess a week or so.”

“It’s still going to be difficult to last that long.”

“Then we stick to the original plan and fight.”

“Can’t we just give them the egg?” Harold looked through the window. “Not to appear callous or anything.”

“I don’t see why not.” Gillian hefted it thoughtfully. “They’ll know it’s a dragon inside, won’t they?”

“They know everything.”

“Will you put that down, please?” Felicia said, her voice a threatening growl. “Whatever its species, it’s still a child.”

“The sacrifice of which will save not only us but all the nephilim on the earth.” Gillian glared at her. “I’d let you give your life for a child but not mine.”

“What?” Julie’s voice was thick with sleep. “What child?”

“You’re a mother.” Jasfoup rushed to take her hand. “We have a beautiful baby boy.”

“You have an egg, gender undetermined.” Gillian leaned of the foot board. “Don’t get attached to it because we’re giving it to the angels.”

“What?” Julie said again, struggling to sit upright. “How could I have had an egg? Where’s my eye?”

“Here.” Felicia pressed it into her hand and directed it toward the egg. “You can blame Azazel.”

Julie stared at it for a moment before closing her fingers over her eye. “That’s disgusting. It’s not even half-human.”

“It’s still nephilim.” Jasfoup squeezed her hand. “It’s still our child. How can you call it disgusting?” He stroked the egg.

“What’s inside it? Will it even be something I recognize as my own?”

“It’s a dragon.” Jasfoup lifted the egg and cradled it. “Feel it.” He pressed her hand to the surface. “It’s beautiful.”

At the touch of Julie’s hand the egg cracked, a vertical split appearing and growing wider. The thick white edge contrasted with the dull blue of the outer surface. A claw poked out and began enlarging the rift.

“Dear God! What on earth is that?” Jenna appeared at the doorway.

“A dragon egg.” Felicia barely spared her a glance. “It’s hatching.”