House of the Damned

The First Dream

Ten
The First Dream

I just stare at Venus for a few moments, not really all that sure I heard her correctly. “What did you just say?”

She repeats her statement in a clearly irritated tone.

“That was what I thought you said.” I pause a moment and collect my thoughts before blurting out the one question I can’t ignore, “How?”

The expression on her face is even more irritated than the tone of her voice. “Well, Cassandra, babies are made when a man and a woman-”

“I know how human babies are made. But I was under the impression demons are infertile.”

“Why the hell do you think I’m freaking out right now? Demons can’t have kids. It’s been that way for as long as I’ve been a demon, which is a very, very long time. We can’t have kids…” her sentence trails off and her expression has gone from annoyed back to panicked. I’ve never seen Venus lose her cool like this and I’m certain no one else has, either.

“So why did you come to me?”

“I didn’t have anyone else to go to.”

“Is Mars the father of the baby?”

She narrows her eyes at me, clearly offended that I even have to ask that. “Yes.”

I really want to ask if she’s sure, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to annoy her anymore than I already have. I’ve learned that it’s best to keep Venus happy. “Why not go to Mars then?”

She gives me a clearly exasperated look. “Demons can’t have kids! How the hell do you think Mars would react to this news? I don’t even want to think about it.”

I can’t argue with that logic. Demons have been around for as long as humans have. In all that time, they’ve never been able to have kids, as far as I know. Why would that change now? After all this time?

“What makes you think you’re pregnant?” I wonder, hoping that she’s wrong. Hoping that she’s very, very wrong.

“A lot of the symptoms were there, so I went to a human doctor. Then I went to a demonic one. Then I went to a seer. Even after all of them confirming my suspicions, I’m still not sure I believe it.”

I sigh. “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know!” she snaps. “If I knew, I would not be standing here.”

“You have to tell Mars,” I say. My tone is wary, afraid of how she will respond. She’s not annoyed though.

She stares at me and shakes her head. “Not yet. Not until I know for sure.”

“Are you going to keep the kid?” I wonder.

She nods. “If I really am pregnant, there’s a reason. Which means I definitely need to keep the kid.”

“How are demons usually created?”

“There are a couple of ways. For the most part though, we’re made from angels. When some people die, they become angels. Being created from humans, those angels are flawed. Sometimes they fall. Fallen angels can be corrupted. Corrupted angels become demons. It’s the main way demons are made, but there are a few others. But demons are not born. Not anymore.”

“Then ask a seer why it happened.”

“I asked three. They don’t know.”

“What about an angel? Would one of them know?”