Claude Faustus grimaced as the girl gave him a sharp kick in the lower back. This made Siesta 230 jump a little. "Uwaaa..."
"I'm fine," he said, exasperated. "It's just a kick."
"Oh... okay..." Catching the Demon's glare, she looked away. 230 and her sisters, Siestas 621, 54, 80, and 108, were currently servants of the Trancy household. Claude Faustus himself was expecting seventeen-year-old Alois Trancy's daughter, and he couldn't do much at the moment - most of the time it was because Alois wouldn't let him. A little surprisingly, he'd been very protective of Claude and often thinking about the girl since they'd found out.
230 glanced at Claude as he shifted in the bed.
The Demon was on strict bedrest orders from Eris - 23/7, minimal amount of movement - because the little girl had been due a week ago.
"How are you feeling, Claude?" his young master asked from the doorway. Alois Trancy grown into quite the attractive young man; Claude wasn't sure whether to feel proud that he was the one he loved, or ashamed.
"No worse than usual." Alois smiled and placed a hand on Claude's belly. "Aha, are you making trouble?" He laughed as his hand was nudged in response. chuckled a little; he loved Alois's laugh, and most honestly, the baby was quite interactive.
"Our darling Alice." He patted the Demon's large belly affectionately, then looked quizzically at him. "You're sure it'll be tonight? Nothing's happened yet, and it's almost midnight."
Claude sighed. "I'm fairly sure. At least, it's the feeling she gave me."
Alois smiled again. "I'm sure I'll never understand the link between Demon mother and child." He lay on the bed idly. "D'you think she'd have the same connection with me if I was a Demon?"
"I don't know." Suddenly, he felt her drop low inside of him. Letting out a long sigh, he said, "It's almost time."
"Oh?" Alois wasn't very concerned about the birth of their child right now, he was sure they'd both be just fine.
And Eris appeared in the room, as she always did when something was happening.
Arranging some things on a table next to the bed, she asked briskly, "Almost time, Claude?
"Almost," Alois replied.
The Demon let out another long breath. "Very close."
For a while, things were relatively harmonious; Claude continued to rest in the bed; Alois lounging beside him, talking and rubbing his large belly, which was now twitching just a little, with affection. Eris probed over it with a stethoscope, listening.
"Yeah, the contractions have already started," she said, tucking the instrument away.
"They're very weak," Claude supplied.
"So we could be here a while." Exasperated, she sighed and shook her head, arms crossed. "Alice is certainly intent on taking her sweet time, isn't she?"
Alois laughed and patted his lover's stomach. "That's our little princess."
A stronger contraction made the Demon grimace.
Alois smiled, a little unsurely. "Maybe not so much time left."
At about 2 o'clock, little over four hours later, Claude's water broke, and the contractions intensified even more than they already had.
"Here we go," Eris said.
"Ngh... about time, I've been having contractions for the past seven hours." He cringed as another strong contraction hit, perspiration shining his brow. Alois squeezed his shoulder.
Soon enough, gritting his teeth, and with a final push, Claude delivered the tiny infant girl.
Placed in Alois's arms, she continued to cry, but it sounded almost sweet, musical. Alois rocked her gently, smiling. "Shh, shhh."
She did stop, looking up at him with still-teary light blue eyes, hiccupping a little. Alois was in awe of his own daughter.
"My god, she looks like a little doll." He looked at Claude, then Eris, then focused once again on Alice. With her ivory complexion, medium-length light blonde hair, light blue eyes, and tiny, perfect features, she truly did.
Claude and Eris smiled at his awe.
"Of course," Eris said, "she's a half-Demon, naturally she'd be that beautiful."
In her mother's arms, Alice yawned, then started to hiccup again. "She's hungry," the Demon said.
When tiny Alice had finished feeding and lay in her little hanging bassinet, trying her very best to keep awake, Eris spoke to the new parents about what they should expect, since she might not be able to check up in the future.
"As you've seen, she'll remain impossibly beautiful. Since she was born to you two, who have a Contract that is unfulfilled, she'll become a full-fledged Demon when she turns sixteen. It'll happen overnight, while she's asleep, and she won't feel a thing. And..." The Healer hesitated. "She'll be harder to kill than a human."
The last part made Claude visibly uncomfortable, but Alois remained relaxed. He just smiled, chin on his fists. "Of course, but we won't let anyone test that."
After Eris had made sure that the mother and child were secure, she departed.
Alois stood by the bassinet, unable to stop gazing at his daughter. He turned and grinned at Claude. "She looks just like an angel when she's asleep, don't you think so? ...Claude?" The exhausted Demon had fallen asleep. Alois soon joined him in the bed and fell asleep as well.
