Cool fingers stroked her clothed abdomen, in the shadowy lit room it almost appeared that his hand passed into her body. He watched her shift in mild discomfort at the sensation but she never woke, he wouldn't allow for that. A small smile played across his face and he soothed back her hair before he vanished soundlessly.
"You have got to be kidding me." Positive, the fucking test was positive. It was imposable of course, Eden knew that, almost as imposable as false positives on pregnancy tests. What the hell was she meant to tell people, how long could you even keep shit like this hidden? She sipped her now cold coffee and considered having a panic attack. She didn't even know how far along she was at this point, no, best to visit the doctor before having a mental breakdown or repainting the guestroom a gender neutral colour.
"Yep, so I'm pregnant," there was an awkward pause.
"Like, having a baby pregnant?" Kate hissed, leaning forward in her chair. "Blood-screaming, baby? As in you-had-sex-and-didn't-tell-me baby?"
"Pretty much," Eden sat poker faced and resolute across the fashionably battered table from her friend. "You need me to get you some water or something?"
Kate gave her an epic bitch face. "You hate children. You think they are sticky and stupid. Oh god!" she moved even closer "Are you going to... keep it?" she enquired.
That was a pretty fair question given Eden's rather outspoken lack of desire for a child of her own.
"Look, I've always said I would never know what to do if this situation came up, I don't think anyone does until they are in it. Having a kid, sure, not something I wanted or planned on doing but it's here and I could still function if I had one. Right now I'm waiting for the damn thing to hatch and we'll go from there. I mean, I have one and if I decide I can't look after it then there are hundreds of couples out there who would want to give it a home."
Kate looked slightly horrified. "Just a tip honey, you might want to stop calling it "it" and not refer to giving birth as "hatching. It makes you seem like you're planning on eating it post-birth... and isn't coffee meant to stunt fetal growth?"
Eden pushed the remains of her cappuccino away from her in disgust "See, I don't know this stuff. I can't do this. Oh god, I'm going to be a terrible mother. Total lack of parental instinct runs in my family. What the hell am I going to do Kate?" She had entered her second trimester the week before, by now the chances of a miscarriage were so slim she had to start telling people, besides, she would start showing soon.
"I'm guessing the dad-"
"Not an option." Eden cut her off. "If I'm doing this, it's by myself."
Kate touched her hand and gave her fingers a squeeze "You're not alone in this; me and Peter can help out. Birthing classes, baby sitting, assembling the Ikea cot, we're in too. It'll be our communal baby, just imagine the looks on the other parent's faces at kindergarten!"
Eden forced a smile "Thank you. I realise this must suck for you too. Me having a surprise baby while you and Peter..."
"Hey." Her eyes were sad but intent "this," she waved at Eden's stomach "is nothing to do with who is getting the baby they wanted. Besides this way i get all the cute without all the stretchmarks."
Stretchmarks. Fuck.
Feeling tired was a normal part of pregnancy, at least that's what the doctors had told her. This couldn't be normal, though why she was sticking to "normal" when she had no idea how she even got pregnant, she didn't know. There was a bone-numbing tiredness inside her, it was difficult to climb the stairs to the kitchen when she knew she needed sustenance which she ended up throwing up more often than not. No there was nothing "normal" about this pregnancy she decided while nibbling the corner of a chocolateless digestive biscuit. Absently she stroked her swollen belly feeling a slight flutter in response. The child hadn't started kicking, in fact the only signs of life were in the constant scans she was getting at the hospital. So far they had found nothing wrong with her son, he was a happy healthy baby who simply felt no desire to escape her womb. Strangely enough the idea that her child wouldn't be anything but healthy hadn't occurred to her until this lack of development. Her brother's stepson had been born with a hole in one lung, not that Eden had seen the kid in more than passing. It was strange to have a new born fear- that her child would die, when she hadn't wanted him in the beginning. Now her apartment sported newly converted nursery (courtesy of Kate and her fiancé Peter) painted soothing shade of green. The decision to stay in the city with her child had been a hard one; Eden had grown up knowing the endless greenery of the countryside and didn't want her child-son- to be cheated of a childhood filled with adventures. But that was years away. First they both had to survive the birth, and learning to crawl and walk and everything that came in between.
The dip in air pressure announced Castiel's arrival.
"Dean," the angel almost growled.
"Cas," Dean nodded from his seat at Bobby's table where he was deconstructing and cleaning his guns.
"We have had word that a child of Lucifer is about to be born." He stated bluntly.
"What? Like another antichrist?" Dean pushed his gun away and ran his hands over his face. The past few weeks had been overrun with demons possessing and killing victims and both of the brothers were in serious need of some R&R.
"Similar, but this is an actual child of the angel."
"Woah, someone got down and dirty with Satan? Face melting off, apocalypse starting SATAN is getting more tail than me? Well that's just downright unfair."
"The exact circumstances' are not of import, all we know is the child is ready to be born."
Seth (because really, seemingly immaculate conception by a woman named "Eden"? Come on its funny) didn't cry. They checked him for deafness and infection, his airways were clear and he was responsive yet he remained silent. There was such a feeling of wrongness to the child, the attendings could feel it when they tended him and Eden herself was uneasy at his stillness. Still she felt such attachment to the child, her child. He was hers and hers alone, she would feed him and change him, bathe him and raise him as she saw fit. It didn't matter how he had come to be, all that mattered was their future together.
It was three months before things started to go wrong. The apartment, while old, had never had drafts before. Eden thought that perhaps she was simply picking up on it more after her pregnancy, but her friends began to comment on it on their increasingly less frequent visits. She hadn't mentioned the father, or lack of, to anyone. She knew how it would sound and her friends knew better to test her increasingly short temper.
One evening she was running a little behind schedule having been distracted by a sudden burst of creativity while writing her current article, when the floor started to vibrate- in fact the entire apartment was buzzing and the crystal light fixture was swaying lazily. Thoughts of trucks and earthquakes entered her mind before she descended the stairs to check on Seth. The vibrations grew stronger as she approached the nursery, rattling photo frames and dancing across the walls. He lay motionless in his cot, large pale blue eyes searching her out as she approached his bed. His expression was placid as if the shaking didn't bother him. Hesitantly Eden scooped him into her arms and the shaking stopped with such abruptness she staggered. She gazed down at her son, still silent in her arms. It wasn't possible but then no part of this was. Had her son managed to move an entire three story building, made entirely of stone? Denial laced her brain as she carried him up the stairs; surely she was just overtired or perhaps experiencing some maternal instinct 6th sense B.S.
He stood facing away from her in front of the bay window which was still closed and bolted, the mottled streetlight made his unruly hair glow silver. Eden felt her heart stop. There was nowhere to put Seth without moving closer to him- surely he had heard her ascend the stairs. She could try and escape down the three flights of stairs behind her but knew she would only meet a locked door, reinforced at her own expense when she moved in. He turned to her slowly, his pale blue eyes only focusing on Seth, still silent in her arms. His features were thick, perhaps what her mother would have called "craggy" , but still handsome in a strange way. Power oozed off his casual posture, Eden could feel his presence in every nerve of her being and she feared him.
"Who are you?" Eden stammered, for she already knew the answer even though she had never seen him before. His eyes flicked up to hers as he gave her a look of complete disinterest.
"His father, obviously." He quipped, vaguely gesturing at the bundle in her arms. "Seth, is it? That's quite clever... I mean, it's going to be even funnier soon, but it was a nice touch."
Eden gathered everything inside herself, this is what it meant to be a parent "You are not taking him," she told him firmly. Her eyes met his defiantly and anger resonated off of every inch of her small body. His smile was condescending as he moved towards her.
"May I?" he gestured at Seth, still meters away from them and suddenly Eden was clutching nothing but an empty blanket to her chest. "Ah, look at you, already so strong," he crooned to the child fussing in his arms. The night air was cool and Seth was moving uncomfortably in the stranger's arms, before she knew what she was doing Eden had moved towards them and was tucking the blanket around his cold little body. He seemed surprised by her bravery, frankly she was too, but she was his mother and would do what little she could to help him.
"You must know that you can't keep him," he told her with such compassion Eden could feel herself wanting to believe him, "his powers are already growing and he needs his father."
"He needs his mother too." Her voice was little more than a whisper while her eyes implored the stranger in front of her.
"Yes... I suppose he does," he agreed as he set Seth back into her arms and tucked the blanket in around his little body. His fingers brushed against her bare arms and she shivered at the coldness of them. He noticed her movement and gazed at her face as if seeing her for the first time. He towered over her as he straightened from tending Seth and Eden could feel herself trembling from fear. This-creature hasn't human and she had no doubt he could snap her neck without a second thought. The touch of his hand against her cheek startled her as did the inquisitive expression on his face. "What a strange little human you are," he practically breathed as he studied her. "They call me Lucifer." And with that he vanished leaving Eden alone and terrified, clutching a sobbing Seth to her chest as she tried to process what had happened.
Two years had passed since the night Lucifer had appeared in her apartment. Seth was now walking a learning to talk as well as levitating various household objects and occasionally knocking out the power in the odd temper tantrum. Raising a toddler as a solo parent was difficult enough without said toddler apparently being the spawn of Satan. Not that Seth was a bad child; he was quite and compliant to his mother's wishes who in turn loved him more than life itself. Eden had tried to put her son's differences behind her; she focused on her writing, gaining recognition for a young adult novel she had published. Her body never quite seemed to recover from having Seth; she was almost unnaturally thin and couldn't seem to keep enough food down to gain any weight back. Her previously sculpted hair was in as much disarray as her apartment, now permanently scattered with various types of building blocks and discarded socks. In an abstract way it sometimes bothered her that at 25 this was her life, unable to leave Seth's side due to his condition. Preschool was looming ever closer and Eden had no idea how they would make it through without exposure especially with Seth's growing powers.
Unequipped to teach her son control of his more worrisome habits (she had several burns on her hands due to a plate of spontaneously combusting broccoli) she had turned to the internet for help. Sorting through the maze of wiccan and wannabe-goth crap clogging her filters was a difficult task; and it wasn't as if she could google 'what to do with son of Lucifer'. It was a Thursday evening when Eden finally snapped. Seth had kept her up all night by causing small, localised, earthquakes and had just sent his pasta sailing through the air to splatter every inch of formally clean kitchen. Silently she closed her eyes and prayed clear concise thoughts, just like the site had told her. Within seconds the air temperature had dropped, announcing Lucifer's presence.
"You," she snapped in her sleep deprived state "you are the father. You deal with this!" she practically screeched, waving a hand at her tomato covered kitchen before storming out of her apartment. She was four blocks away, sitting in the local park when it occurred to her that Lucifer may have simply left the child unattended. Reluctantly she worked her way back home, opening the door as quietly as possible and sneaking up the stairs. Seth was sat right where she had left him, enthralled by the dancing lights appearing in his father's hands. Eden lent against the doorframe and watched the two with a sense of relief and foreboding; within seconds of contact the two were bonding over something she could never share with her son.
"I'm sorry. For screaming at you. That was uncalled for." She said with as much dignity as she could muster. The lights dimmed from his fingers as he finally looked up at her and gave the barest dip of his head in acknowledgment of her apology.
"He wasn't hungry," were his only words, spoken slowly as if he thought she would have trouble understanding.
"I figured. Any idea about last night's geological excitement?" Bright blue eyes met hers once again at her snappy retort and Eden forced herself to remember who she was speaking to.
"His teeth were hurting."
"His teeth? He is 2 years old, he is meant to be through teething." Hysteria was building up insider her again, something as simple as a toothache had set off potentially devastating reactions from her toddler.
"Mama!" Seth interrupted; finally realising his mother had returned "Pown-eees. Pown-ees!"
"Hey sweetheart! Yes you can have Ponies." to Lucifer she directed somewhat apologetically "he has a thing for My Little Ponies at the moment" as she settled Seth into the couch and found a pre-recorded episode. Lucifer stood in her miraculously tidy kitchen looking surprisingly comfortable in the domestic environment. "Did you, um..." she trailed off "want to stay?" she gestured to the couch. This was how she came to be sitting on a red leather couch watching My Little Ponies with Satan, as Seth pointed out different ponies to his father and Eden was suppressing a mental break down.
"Flu-shee!" Seth exclaimed pointing at the screen and bouncing up and down.
"Seth," Eden said in the warning tone, "no bouncing on the couth please."
"But Flu-shee!" came his enthusiastic response.
"Fluttershy." Eden corrected. "He has a thing for Fluttershy. She's um, the yellow pony with wings." She finished dumbly.
"Naturally," Was Lucifer's unflappable reply, "He will soon be flying himself."
"My kid is going to fly? How the f-fudge monkey, is that safe?" she only received a condescending look in response and huffed in indignation before returning her attention to the screen. After the show and when Seth had been distracted by a giant bowl of strawberry ice-cream (Eden suppressed her desire to lecture about rewarding bad behaviour and cavities) she finally had an opportunity to ask "I don't remember you. Did we ever...?"
"No. Did you want to?" combined with a well practiced leer left her completely scandalised and shocked.
"No! I just, why me?"
"Hmmmm." He rubbed his long fingers against his chin thoughtfully, "you think I picked you? That there was some sort of contest? You were there, had working parts and would feel no desire to find a partner to raise your child. We're perhaps a little alike, you and I; our fathers both driving us out, scorned by our older brothers. Did you ever hear the story of how I fell?" he asked.
"I've read your Wikipedia page. God, humans blah blah, Michael. Holy shit, is there a god?"
Again she was given the condescending look that meant she wasn't about to get an answer."Right. Need to know basis."
"and all that you need to know is Seth must be kept safe from those who would hurt him. He will play an important role in the war against Michael."
Eden frowned, uneasy with the idea of Seth being used in some holy grudge match.
"Disliking the idea won't change anything." He prompted her in his sing-song voice.
"You're inside my head, aren't you?" Eden was horrified.
"Of course." And with that he vanished.