She had made a terrible mistake.

Not only is she in a failing marriage she had a child that wasn't her husband's. Not that she wanted kids with him anyway. He's always been a cold man that's more concerned with his work than his family. When he didn't have his head buried in his work he was also ordering her around. After the child was born and he saw that it was an imp he raised hell. He ordered that her son was to be executed. She didn't want to do it but if there was a chance that her son was going to live was to send him back to his father. But if she did it herself it would raise suspicions. And she knew who to go to.

She entered the Hermes Post Office to see an abundance of cherubs working around the clock to make sure all the mail and packages get delivered on time. She made her way to the Delivery Room. It was where flocks of stork cherubs delivered infant humans and animals to their parents.

She spotted a pink sheep cherub she knew that worked in the post office. His name was Malachi. He was the most trusted messenger cherub for about a decade. He's even been entrusted in delivering messages to the royal family.

When he spotted her he said, "Hey Phoebe! Your husband is still sucking the life out of you?"

"He is. But I'm not here to complain about my husband." She tells him. "I'm in need of a favor."

"Oh? What is it?"

She showed Malachi her newborn son. After he jumped back in surprise when he saw that he was an imp she said, "I need to send him back to his father. You think one of these storks can do that discreetly?"

"I know just the cherub who can take him to his father." Malachi took a deep inhale and called out, "Ryder! Front and center!"

That was when a stork flew down from his perch. This stork cherub was lavender purple and was wearing a purple standard issue uniform that all messager cherubs wear.

"Messenger stork Ryder reporting for duty sir." Said the stork with a salute.

The sheep cherub gave him an at ease signal and said, "I have a special task for you. I need you to deliver this imp child to his father. In the ring of Lust in hell."

His feathers ruffled in excitement. He received important packages before but he never thought he'd be delivering a child to hell let alone the lower circles.

"I can leave immediately." He responded.

"Perfect." Malachi turned to Phoebe. "Now, the package if you don't mind."

She placed the little impling in the wicker basket and bundled him in warm fluffy blankets.

"Give me a moment to say goodbye." Phoebe said, choking on her tears.

"Don't worry, take your time." Malachi said with understanding. "Just come to us when you're ready."

He gestured to Ryder to come with him so that Phoebe can be alone with her baby to say her final farewells.

"I wish I can keep you here." Phoebe choked out. "But I can't."

She took out a lamb cherub doll she had when she was a child. After he was born he managed to get a hold of it and she saw how much he loved it. So she decided that she would let him have it. It was darkish lavender purple and his wool was lighter purple. He wore a red sweater vest with a blue undershirt and darkish blue dress pants. And above his head was a golden wire halo and had purple wings.

"So you'll know I will always love you." She placed the cherub doll in the stork parcel with the baby.

Before she could pull her hoof away the baby reached out and touched her. She felt her heart glowing warm just from this imp baby touching her. She wanted to keep him despite being an imp. But if she kept him he would likely be killed. As tears fell from her face she let go of the imp she birthed and soothed him with a lullaby.

Hush now my baby
Be still now, don't cry

Sleep as your rocked by the breeze

Sleep and remember my last lullaby

So I'll be here when you dream

Drift on the wind that flows through my arms

Drift as I'm singing to you

I see you smiling so peaceful and calm

and holding you I'm smiling too

When she was done singing the impling had already drifted off to sleep cuddling the cherub doll she gave him. She closed the top of the basket and handed it off to the stork cherub.

"Be careful with him." She said as she wiped her tears. The stork gave her a nod. The stork took flight. Phoebe could only watch as the only child she ever had birthed was taken away.

After what seemed endless hours of flying Ryder finally made it to the Lust ring of hell. Now all he needed to do was locate the imp that was named Eros.

The streets were certainly a lot more busy than what he was used to. He looked at the delivery sheet and it said that the impling's father worked at a club named Ozzie's. The club itself wasn't that hard to find. But Eros was another story. He saw a pair of succubi talking among themselves and decided to ask them.

"Did you see that

"Pardon me ladies." Ryder called out. "Can you please tell me—"

"Jeez, I wonder who got stuck with fucking the giraffe bird." One of the succubi jokes.

When they had their laugh he said, "I know you're busy trying to produce more hellspawn. But can either tell me where I could find an imp by the name of Eros?"

"He's over there." The succubus pointed to the entrance to see a buff imp that looked like he was in a biker gang.

Ryder tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to look at him. "Excuse me, but are you Mr Eros?"

"Yeah that's me. What's up?" He asked.

"Delivery for you." The stork set down the basket. "Straight from heaven up above. Here is something for you with love." Before Eros could see what's inside he got out a clipboard and pen. "Sign here if you please."

Eros took the pen and signed his name where the x was. "Thank you and have a pleasant day sir."

And just when he was about to ask what it was the stork took off. "Wait! What is it!?" He shouted.

The stork didn't answer. Eros could only watch as this mysterious stork flew off into a ray of heavenly light. "Huh. Wonder what that was all about."

He looked back down at the basket and wondered what could be inside. Eros opened the top of the basket and was shocked to see a baby imp inside. The little imp was rubbing his eyes from the sudden light coming in after being sealed in a basket for who knows how long. But when it saw someone that looked just like him he laughed and cooed with delight.

That was when Eros noticed a note on the baby. He took the note to see what it said.

Dear Eros~

This is your son

Next time wear a condom

"What did that long necked bird give you?" Ozzie asked.

Since Eros was too in shock to speak, the baby imp made some cooing noises to let his boss know that he was the package.

"Woah who'd you knock up?" His boss said with a teasing tone.

"You remember that angel lady that crashed at my place last Extermination?" He asked.

"You mean the golden deer lady?" Asmodeus then caught on who the mother was. "No way."

"Yes."

"Your fucking with me."

"I wish I was."

The little imp was reaching out to him wanting to be held. Eros instinctively picked him up out of the basket and held him in his arms.

"Are you planning to drop that thing off to the nearest orphanage?" Asmodeus asked.

The little imp yawned and cuddled the cherub doll in his arms. "Naw. I can take care of him."

This made Asmodeus almost fall backwards after what he just said, "Eros, are you sure you want this thing? I mean you don't even know what it is."

Eros looked back at the infant in his arms and said, "I know plenty well what he is. He's my son. Aaron."

Ten Exterminations came and went.

An incubus named Elias Sterling was on his bike at a playground along with two of his lackeys. One was a hellhound and the other was a baphomet demon.

"You can't hide forever!" Elias called out.

"He doesn't have to." His hellhound lackey reminded him. "His dad works at Ozzie's across the way and if he sees us picking on his son again he'll tell our parents."

Elias figured that it wasn't worth getting chewed out by his folks. So he shrugged and said, "You're right. Let's go bug the billy goats at the petting zoo."

With that Elias and his crew got on their bikes and took off down the street. As they did, a lamb cherub doll popped its head out of the tire pile and holding it up was a small imp child in an orange shirt that had a pentagram on it and jean shorts.

It was the baby imp in the basket Aaron. He's eleven years old now. He still has little stubs on his head that should have formed into horns by now. He still held on to the cherub sheep doll he had with him in the basket who he named Lambert. And he was his closest friend.

"Is the coast clear Lambert?" He asked his cherub doll. He put his mouth to his head so he could hear him. After he heard yes he got out from the tire pile.

When he got a good look around he was glad that Elias and his crew decided to move on. They were chasing him ever since the school yard. He still didn't understand why they disliked him. Maybe it's because he didn't have a mother. Maybe they didn't like imps like a few people he's come across. Or they were just jerks.

He decided not to ponder on it. Since dad's shift was almost over he decided that he and Lambert would play for a while until he came to pick him up.

After they jumped off the roundabout together they saw someone else on the playground. It was the same owlet girl that would come here to hang around while her parents were somewhere else. He heard rumors about her. She was the daughter of the Goetia Prince Stolas. He was in charge of the earth's stars and prophecies. He never imagined that he would see his own daughter in a place where common demons like him come to play.

He heard his doll Lambert start to talk to him. "What's that buddy?" He put his mouth up to his head and he repeated what he said. "You want me to do what?!" He repeated himself. "But she's a Goetia. You can't just waltz right up to them and talk to them. They have incredibly high standards."

Aaron held Lambert up and he lectured him about how he had to make actual friends, that he wasn't gonna always be there for him and he just wanted to make sure that he wasn't always so lonely.

"Okay I see your point. You don't have to nag me about it." Lambert then told him that he was just wanting what was best for him. "And I'm thankful for that. Thanks buddy."

With that he walked up to the owl demon and said, "Hello there."

The owl girl turned to him. "Oh… hello."

"I never seen you around this ring before."

"My daddy and Asmodeus are settling some business." She answered. "So I gotta wait here until they do. I'm Octavia. But everyone calls me Via."

"I'm Aaron. And this is Lambert." He held up his cherub friend for her to see.

"Oh what a cutie."

"Yeah he's the one that insisted that I make actual friends and not ones made of felt and stuffing."

"Sounds like you get stuffed in lockers at school on a day to day basis."

The imp gave out a laugh. "That doesn't happen all the time." He held Lambert up to hear what he had to say. "Hey, don't encourage her."

"What'd he say?"

"He said that I also get my head shoved in the toilet on occasion."

She laughed and said, "My mother would always say; Imps are the lowest class demons. They are unkempt, disease written, lower than the dirt that sinners tread on."

He held Lambert up to hear him. "Lambert says that your mom sounds like she has a whole stick shoved up her butt."

Octavia laughed again. "Lambert, don't say that."

"I don't blame him for saying that. She definitely does."

After their introductions they got to having fun. They spun around on the roundabout, swung on the swing set, and chased each other around the play area in a game tag.

That was when a tall slender shadow loomed over them. Aaron looked up and towering over them was none other than the Goetia Demon Prince Stolas himself. Aaron shuttered as all four of his red glowing eyes opened and looked down at him. When the prince bent over to his level Aaron hid behind Lambert in fear of his wrath.

But what came out of his beak next was not at all what he thought he was gonna say, "Oh I see that you made a new friend Via. He is just the sweetest little impling."

That was when Aaron's own father Eros exited his place of work.

"Aaron!" He runs over to his son. "We're sorry to have bothered you, your majesty. My son doesn't know any better he's still fairly young and—"

"Oh, this little one is your child?" The prince asked. "Why don't we arrange another play date? I'm sure my little Via would love to play with your child again."

This left Eros in a state of shock. "Oh… really?"

"Of course. How does…" he skimmed through his Grimoire. "Next Wednesday sound?"

Eros picked up his son. "That sounds perfect."

Ever since that day he would take every chance he had to be with his new real friend. From meeting at the playground they first met to her father calling them and setting up a playdate for their children. For the first time Aaron felt happy that he had a real friend who wasn't made from stuffing and felt. And he believed that Via was happy to have a friend that wasn't a servant.

One day Eros drove to the Goetia Palace to pick up his son's friend. Aaron snuck into the garden and saw his friend in the porch glass door.

"Via!" He called out.

The young owl demon looked out her patio door and saw that it was Aaron calling her name. He waved his hand to her to make her come and play. She was about to open the door until her mother who was still on the phone gossiping with whoever was on the line had turned around.

"Come on Via!" He called again.

When her mother turned her back she silently slid the door open and ran outside and to her friend. They ran off to a nearby playground where they could play away from prying eyes.

"You are so lucky to have a mom." Aaron told her. "It's only me and my dad. Don't get me wrong I love dad. But it would be nice if my mom was around."

"Easy for you to say. Mom would flip when she finds out I was friends with you. And just because you're an imp." Octavia sighed.

Aaron shrugged and said, "Meh, I faced worse. I get the words 'fire toad' and 'Wrathian' scrawled on my locker on a weekly basis. Like I never heard any of that before. They are practically uninventive and their handwriting and spelling… yikes. Which proves that people who act like that have parents who for sure swim in their own gene pool."

Octavia laughed at the fact that he was more worried about the handwriting and spelling then he was about the insults being made about him and called the ones making the comments inbred.

After a while at the park, they decided to play a game of pirates. Using sticks as swords and the play equipment as their ship.

"Blast you Red Beard!" Octavia shouted in a pirate voice.

When their sticks collided Aaron in the same voice as Octavia's said, "Ye give up Sea Salt Feather?"

"Never! I'll teach you to come aboard my ship!"

They hopped from the stepping stumps, they climbed the jungle gym, and jumped from the merry go round, sword fighting and talking like pirates as they went.

"You'll never leave this ship alive!" Octavia stated as she and Aaron bounced on the wood rope bridge.

Aaron ran off the bridge and onto solid ground. But he was cornered at the tube slide.

"Nowhere left to run you seadog." Octavia called out.

Thinking fast, Aaron dove down the side. When he reached the bottom of the side he thought he got off scott free. He was about to confidently strut away, until Octavia also went down the slide and tackled him.

As they laughed and laid down in the grass, little did they know that they were being watched. Octavia's mother Stella saw her daughter leave the house with that… imp. If it got out that her daughter was friends with an imp, their name would be mud from Pride to Sloth.

She then decided to take action.

She stormed over to the two of them and her anger was greater than any imp from Wrath ever seen or heard from. This made Aaron clutch on to his doll Lambert for dear life and scream in terror.

This caused Eros to stoop up from the bench he was sitting on and run over to defend his son. He rushed to his child's side, baring his teeth and swishing his tail.

"Is there a problem madam?" He said with gritted teeth.

"Actually yes, there is." Stella said with great anger. "I would like to know what my daughter is doing with a little runt like this!"

Aaron's response was to clutch to his stuffed friend and begin crying. He was a custom to other demons being horrible to him and his dad. But this time was different. He was actually scared.

His friend's mother only rolled her eyes and said, "Such an ugly noise. Tell that thing to cease its bitch crying."

"He is my son!" Eros shouted as he soothed his son. "And you will not refer to him as it."

"Whatever. But I swear if that imp so much as touched my child—"

"Mummy stop!" Octavia shouted at her mother. "He's my friend."

Her face twisted into a sour scowl. "Friends? With a lowly imp?"

"Your husband didn't seem to have a problem with it." Eros pointed out.

"I'll only say this once imp." The Goetia Princess hissed. "Keep your welp of a child away from mine. Or next time I will be less forgiving."

Eros picked his son up. "You're too kind, your majesty."

Aaron and his father left the playground. To make his son feel better he bought him an ice cream. Which normally got him excited. But not even getting an ice cream made him feel better. He took him to a Vox Burger restaurant but it still didn't make him feel better.

It was almost nine o clock by the time they got home.

Eros drew a bath for his son. When he placed his son in the tub for a bath he dampened his hair so that it could be washed from the misadventures of the day.

"Why am I so different?" Aaron asked as he sulked in the tub.

"Because you're covered in dirt dear." Eros said as he filled his hand full of shampoo. He took a blob of shampoo mixed with conditioner and scrubbed into his hair.

"No! That lady said—" His father told him to close his mouth as he took a wet rag to his face to wipe away the stray suds from his eyes and mouth. Aaron put his hand on the rag to make his father hear what he had to say. "Octavia's mom said that I will never be a real demon."

"Nevermine what that harpy says." Eros assured him. He tried to wipe his son's face again but Aaron kept wriggling away from the wet rag.

He moved to the other side of the small tub and shouted, "Look at me!"

Eros took a pitcher of water and said, "I am Aaron. And do you know what I see?" As he dumped the water in his hair to rinse off the suds. He moves those soaked locks of white hair of his. "I see two eyes, like mine. And a little smart mouth… somewhere… ah here." He poked him on the lips, making him laugh. "Two little horns." He tousled wet hair and held the little nubs on his head with two fingers. "What else?"

"Two hands?" He said as he held up his hands.

"That's right." Eros laughed.

It was great his son was happy again. But it wasn't a substitute for the sorrow of the loss of his only friend. After he was cleaned, dried off and was dressed in his LuLu World onesie pajamas he was ready for bedtime.

As he tucked his son into bed he said to him, "I know that it's unfair that your friend was taken from you dear. And that you feel you don't belong down here. But I assure you, that you are loved, and important. Your future can be whatever you make it to be if you put yourself to it and don't let others shape it for what you are." Eros hugged his son. "You'll find a way to fit in somewhere Aaron. You'll do it in your own way. And you will not have to be like other demons to do that."

He gave Aaron a kiss on the forehead and wished him sweet dreams. As Eros exited his bedroom Aaron drifted off to sleep hoping for a better tomorrow. And one day closer to a bright future.