“It’s simple, really,” Valva said, ignoring my plea to remain ignorant of the inner workings of demon procreation. “Female demons have two sets of equipment.”
Adam closed his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t ask this, but I can’t help myself. Do males have both as well?”
“Um, hello? How many times have you two bitches seen me in my magnificent naked form? The answer is no. The only tool I’m sporting is the mighty Pitchfork.”
“Then how are you—” I stopped myself.
“Gods, Sabina, don’t be such a prude,” Valva said. “It’s just a matter of me implanting a sperm packet in Giguhl’s ass womb.”
All the blood rushed from my face. Adam’s face was slightly green and he swayed woozily. “Are… are you happy about it?” I whispered.
Giguhl pursed his lips, thinking it over. “You know, I kind of am. We didn’t plan on it, but I think it could be pretty awesome to have a gaggle of little Vanity and Mischief demons running around.”
“How many makes up a gaggle, exactly?” Adam said.
“Half a dozen, usually. We’ll know more once I’m further along and my teats come in.”
I bit my lip to keep in the hysterical laughter bubbling up in my throat.
Luckily, Adam had a better poker face. “And how long until these little miracles make their appearance?”
“Four months!” Valva said.
I dropped my glass.
“But don’t worry, Red,” Giguhl rushed ahead. “Once we wean them off the teat, they’ll move back to Irkalla.”
“How long?”
“A thousand years, give or take.”
After the happy couple departed for the underworld and all the guests had returned to the respective centers of power, Adam and I stood on the balcony watching the sun rise.
My body was exhausted from the party but my head was buzzing. “I can’t believe we’re going to have six demon spawn running around here for a millennium.”
Adam shrugged. “Look at it this way—they’ll keep Giguhl and Valva so busy they won’t have time to cause trouble.”
I turned to the mancy and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, but we’ll be outnumbered.”
“Not for the first time,” he reminded me.
“True.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek.
We fell silent as we watched the sun finally crest the horizon. “You know, it just occurred to me that the first time we met was during the last harvest moon,” Adam said.
I looked up. “That’s right. At Ewan’s bar. You were sitting across the bar trying to look so mysterious.”
He smiled. “You totally checked me out.”
“Right,” I said. “As a potential enemy.”
“I remember the moment I saw you. You marched in with a huge chip on your shoulder, daring every vampire in the room to challenge you. Begging them to let you prove yourself.”
I stilled, remembering that night. It had been only a couple of hours after I’d killed David. I’d walked into Sepulcher looking for a fight. And I’d found one. A swaggering vamp had approached me and called me out for killing his brother years earlier.
“When you killed that guy, you smiled.” Adam’s tone was quiet. Not judgmental, just matter-of-fact.
“I did?”
He nodded. “But you know what else I noticed?”
I swallowed hard against a rush of emotion that rose out of nowhere.
“You were standing in the middle of a packed bar surrounded by vampires who either despised you or were afraid of you. You tried to look like you enjoyed their awe, but something in your eyes caught me off guard.”
“What?” I whispered.
“Loneliness.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. It had been months since I’d felt that hollowed out feeling. The weight of solitude, which, along with self-loathing, had been my only companion. But now the memories flooded in and with them, the visceral pain of rejection and self-inflicted isolation.
“I guess I was pretty f**ked up.” Funny talking about it now—that old life felt decades in the past instead of a little more than a year.
“A little maybe,” he said. “But also brave and brash and proud. I was fascinated from the moment you stormed into that room.” He tilted my head up and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “And the longer we’re together, the more fascinated I become.”
I kissed his lips, savoring the sandalwood musk of him as it combined with the smoky scent of autumn leaves and the flavor of whisky on his skin. “You’re pretty fascinating yourself, mancy.”
As the sun climbed in the distance, Adam and I continued to explore our mutual fascination for each other. But I couldn’t stop thinking about what a miracle my life had become in twelve short months. The road to get there had been twisty and treacherous and downright terrifying, but in the end every heartache, every cut and bruise, every tough lesson learned had been worth it.
I wasn’t sure what the future would bring to us or to any of the beings I’d come to care about during my journey from burned out assassin to demigoddess, but I took comfort in knowing that whatever challenges waited, I’d never face them alone again.
A feeling swirled in the pit of my stomach. Not the foreboding, achy sense of despair that had been part of me for so many years. But something warm, glowy… pleasant, even.
It took me a moment to recognize the emotion because, frankly, I didn’t have a lot of experience with it. But for the first time in my life, I was happy. For the first time in my life, I felt loved and safe and… balanced.
I smiled inwardly and my soul whispered, “Miracle number seven.”