10. 10

10

Luc

“ A re you sure you’re okay to come?” Oren asked a few minutes later after getting dressed. He was skipping—as much as he could after being railed by the devil—his way down the narrow hallways after Azoth, who was practically running ahead of them.

They’d left Beast behind, much to the hellbeast’s disgust, and Luc could have stayed too, but there was no way he was leaving Oren in the care of Azoth and Tarik.

“I have a few calls to return regarding some new torture devices we ordered a while ago that never got here, and I should probably take a look at those files you compiled on vacations. Zorun also slipped a note under the door after you passed out on my cock the second time to say the stuff you ordered is here, so I was going to put your shelves together,” Luc said.

“Oh, my things are here!” Oren bounced on the balls of his feet. “Awesome. I have the plan for all your paperwork mapped out. We’re talking color coding, binders, labels…”

“How are you this happy about it?” Luc asked.

“Nothing smells better than hot laminating pouches.”

“But brimstone is a no-go,” Luc deadpanned.

Oren stuck his tongue out at him.

“We also need to get the storage room completely cleared out before your new toys get here.” Oren changed the subject. “We talked about this. The storage room is mostly clean now, but you need to write some of the broken devices off.”

“But—”

“There’s memories there,” Oren said. “I know. You’ve been saying so all the time. And I told you you can pick a few favorite’s to keep, but hoarding unusable torture devices is what got this place so messy in the first place.”

Luc’s shoulders slumped, and Oren walked closer to put his palm just next to the root of Luc’s wing.

“It’s hard sometimes,” Luc said in frustration.

Oren gave him a sympathetic pout. “I know. You get attached to your things. But think of it this way—the more room you make, the more new things we can order, and you can find new favorites. It’ll be fun.”

Luc could think of a lot of fun things he could order for them too.

Soon enough, they reached the cavern where they kept the eggs. It was an enclosed space with molten magma pits dotted around that kept the cavern at the exact temperature the eggs needed to be healthy.

Luc spotted Tarik lying forlornly next to one, his skin blending into the molten rock but his white hair giving him away. He was throwing pebbles in the direction of the clutch he was supposed to be caring for.

“TARIK!” Azoth screeched, rushing over to him.

Tarik sprang upright, rushing to greet his other half. They embraced, intertwining, tails curling into places Luc didn’t need to see.

He ignored them and concentrated on Oren, who was looking around him in fascination.

There were multiple clutches of eggs scattered in the cavern, but it took a long time for demons to be ready for hatching, sometimes years. Because of that, they were inspected routinely for any early signs and moved to the hatching area accordingly. There were only three eggs that had been ready at the last check, and they were sitting in a tidy circle on a molten base that glowed orange.

“Can I get closer?” Oren asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

Luc raised a brow at the irregular shapes of the eggs. “If you want to.”

Oren let out a squeak of happiness, rushing over and kneeling down in front of them. Luc followed him, smiling and shaking his head.

“They’re moving!” Oren gasped in amazement.

“They’re trying to hatch,” Luc said.

“They’ve been doing that for two hours,” Tarik grumbled, stroking through Azoth’s hair and nuzzling his neck.

“That’s why I came to get you,” Azoth lied to Oren, arching into the touches. “So you could see the miracle of life for yourself.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” Oren said, and Luc bit his tongue from refuting it when Oren looked up at him. “Can I touch them?”

“Go ahead. You can’t hurt them.”

Oren reached out for one and held the egg in the cradle of his arms like it was the most precious thing he had ever seen. He ran his palms over the rough, spiky surface, the shell pulsing slightly as more and more cracks appeared in it. It was leaking onto Oren’s slacks, but the little human didn’t seem to care one bit. He was leaning down over the egg, cooing at it.

“You can do it, little one,” he said. “Just push really hard and you’ll be right here with us. We can’t wait to meet you.”

They had hatched billions of eggs in their time in Hell, and Luc, while proud and excited for their new demons, didn’t think any had ever had the treatment these particular eggs would be getting.

Oren called out of the cavern at passing demons and ordered them to grab blankets. He cornered Jek and sent him to the living world to get baby clothes and dispatched the rest to find suitable spaces for cribs and nests he’d be building for the hatchlings.

The demons tried explaining, rather patiently, that the hatchlings didn’t need any of it, but Oren fixed them all with a glare that had them scurrying away at the speed of light.

Nobody consulted Luc on any of it. Nobody even looked at him as they dispersed to do Oren’s bidding.

Luc found he didn’t care at all.

“You’ll be so happy here.” Oren kept talking to the egg. “I’m Oren, and I’ll be your uncle. You can come to me for anything, at all times. I can’t really demon all that well because I’m a dead human, but I can help with a lot of other stuff.”

The egg vibrated in his hold, a clear sign it was seconds from breaking completely.

“Did you see that?” Oren said, looking up at Luc. His eyes were almost glowing, and the smile on his face was rivaling the fires, it was so bright. “It totally recognizes my voice.”

“Sure, hon,” Luc said, not having the heart to tell him most demons hatched deaf and blind and stayed that way for the first couple of days.

“Come on!” Oren said, facing the egg again. “You’re almost here. Your uncle Luc is here too, and your uncles Tarik and Azoth are super excited to meet you.”

“No, we’re not,” the twins said in unison.

“Not interested,” Tarik said.

“Leave us out of it,” Azoth added, gluing himself tighter to his twin.

“They’re just joking,” Oren said. “Don’t listen to them. You’ll be safe and loved here. Just come out.”

The egg shook harder, then split down the middle, the shell falling off in Oren’s lap, leaving him with a handful of bright red-and-yellow tentacles. There was an eye on the tip of each one, and the hatchling had a small, stone-like gray body with limbs that looked too heavy to move.

A crossbreed, Luc guessed as he identified the markings of various demons they had around Hell. It was grotesque in the way only a hell demon could be. The stuff of nightmares.

For anyone else.

“Oh…” Oren said, cradling the hatchling close. The messy tentacles wrapped around his hands and arms. The hatchling latched on to Oren, screeching softly. “Oh you’re the most precious, aren’t you? Welcome, little one.”

Luc watched, bewildered, as Oren petted the hatchling, running his fingers over the tentacles and tickling the stony feet. Nothing threw him off. Nothing fazed him. He looked like he had been in Hell his entire life, and demons hatching was a daily occurrence.

“Look at those colors.” Oren kept yammering, uncaring of anyone else. “So bright and lovely. We should name you Paisley, hm?”

The demon squirmed and reached for Oren’s hair with a heavy fist. Oren allowed it to grab it, blowing a raspberry onto the hard stomach.

“You like that? Huh, Paisley?” Oren asked. “I think it suits you just right.”

Luc watched him coax the rest of the eggs into hatching, commanding the entirety of Hell, looking like he belonged right where he was.

And he did.

The little human had found a way under Luc’s skin, and Luc didn’t think he’d be able to ever get him out. Everything about Oren seemed like it was tailor-made for Luc, from the way he looked, to how he behaved, to just how wild and unabashed he was in bed. Inexperienced but so eager to try it all. So willing to just let Luc have him.

Luc wanted to have him in more ways than that. He wanted to wake up next to him each and every day. He wanted to go to bed with him in his arms. He wanted to kiss him whenever he wanted and turn around to see him bitching about one thing or another that hadn’t been done quite the way he wanted it.

He wanted Beast’s bows to match Oren’s, and he wanted his clothes squished and wrinkled to make room for Oren’s.

He wanted to spoil him and indulge him and love him.

Because… Shit.

He loved him.

Because that’s what this thing was, wasn’t it? The unfamiliar thing coiling in his gut. The stupid, fluttery thing in his chest whenever Oren looked at him. The need to see him smile and be the one to provide whatever he needed. The overwhelming urge to just never let him go. It was love.

The realization slammed into him like a sledgehammer, which was when Zorun walked into the cavern and pulled him aside.

“The Big Man is on the phone,” he whispered into Luc’s ear. “It’s about Oren.”

And the illusion gave way to reality.

Oren had a better place to go to.

Oren deserved better.

And Luc would do everything in his power to make sure he got it.