Shepherd of Fire

"Baby--uh, it hurts--" I cried. I lay back against His comforting chest as He sat back against our bed frame. His long legs encircled me, along with His arms--as His hands caressed over my body, trying to soothe me.
"I know, Diem," Shadows kissed my sweaty forehead, "Shhhh....it's just going to take time."

It had been hours and nothing seemed to change. The pain had me writhing into orgasm after orgasm--at first it had been great, but now it was pure agony. Constantly kept in this state was awful. Every now and then, I'd beg Him to help, and He'd do something to help me come again--something to pull me over the edge and give me even a moment's release from this endless game.

"Can I push yet?!" I screamed.
The Dark One kissed over me neck and massaged my shoulders, "No, darlin', you're nowhere even close to that, yet. C'mon...you want me to make you come again?"
I squirmed, "Yes."
This time, He moved from behind me and settled in between my legs, licking me. Amid the pain, it didn't take much, and soon I was screaming again, followed by a flash of a moment of relief--immediately followed by the wall of pain that was labor.

Many hours passed and at some point I realized He wasn't right next to me. When I looked around, He was whispering with a Master Mage in the corner of the room. What did He want with a Mage? It would be dangerous to being dark magic into birthing. Another, stronger contraction hit me and I was screaming again.
I could hear them past a fog somewhere near me.

"Is there anything, anything at all, you can do for her, Talarico?"

The Mage had a large, wide mouth that was grinning and little bit psycho, considering the situation. I had no patience for smiling right now. He had a messy mop of black hair that hung to his shoulders, a scarf wrapped through it. Scarves also hung from his neck, his wrists, and waist. What was with all the scarves?
Being a Mage, he could sense my thoughts, "The scarves harness my energy, baby, like the groove in the universe. Stevie's here to help, demon, but you gotta let me in, baby--into your mind--" His hands made odd, wavy motions over me. He was tall and very thin and toned. He was shirtless and wore tight, black leather pants and began to move over me and chant--

"Some kind of Voodoo
Come across this land
Some kind of Voodoo
We need a medicine man"

I cried out again and Shadows was once again behind me, holding me, "Baby, this is my Master Mage, Talarico. He's a little insane, but he knows what he's doing."
"Are you sure black magic won't hurt our baby?" I winced back into His chest.
"It's technically not black magic, it's voodoo. Tal uses the differences to his advantage. Anything he does to you should be safe."
"Should be?" I gripped onto both His hands as He offered them.
"Don't worry, baby," He kissed the back of my head.

Talarico put his hands on my belly and continued chanting. There was a loud pop sound in the air that accompanied his hands clapping together once. Then he stood there and looked over at his, straightening and putting a hand on his hip. Suddenly he was speaking like a normal demon--

"There. That should shorten your recovery time. Maybe speed up your labor. You're still looking at quite awhile before that thing starts comin' outta you. And Shads, you are going to have to help, like the seer said." He was shaking his head and making a face--making me nervous.

"But how? Tell me what to do." He held my hands around my belly as I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming more. He kissed along my shoulders, trying to help.
"That thing has small horns and it's not coming out unless you force it out. But it's also telling me you can't cut it out, cesarean style. So you'll have to get it out the old fashioned way."

"What." We both blinked up at him.

He shrugged, "Sorry. Did what I could. It'll suck, but then it'll be over and you'll recover. And then you'll have a new, baby whatever-it-is," His too-wide cheshire cat grin spread over his face, "So when she tells you, you gotta just do it. I'd say good luck, but there's no such thing." And with a eyelinered wink, he was gone.

I fell back against Satan's chest, "I don't know that I can do this, baby..." I was so tired, and what that crazy Mage had just said scared the Hell outta me.
Shadows rubbed my belly, "Sure you can, darlin'. You're not afraid of anything. We'll get through this. Breathe." He held an ice cold cloth in His hand and started wiping me down with it.
"That's perfect, Shads..." It felt so nice on my skin, something amid the sea of exhausting pain-pleasure. But soon I was screaming again and He was holding onto me. I was past having the energy to orgasm anymore, so I just let the feelings wash over me and did my best to get through it.

Twelve ours later, He was pacing the floor next to me, biting His fingers while I lay back, drifting in and out of sleep. He had just said I looked fully dilated and we were waiting for the next contraction, which for some reason was taking its time. I was enjoying the slight respite, but I could tell it was making Him nervous.

Then, in one horrendous moment, the contraction hit me and I sat up, screaming and pushing at the same time. There was a different pain this time, though, and what Talarico had said echoed in my mind. I could feel the tiny horns tearing through my insides and tears streamed down my face. He stood at the end of the bed, hands on my knees and clearly not ready for what He'd have to do.

I bore down and the tearing continued. It was so terrible I just needed it to be over with--I didn't care how much more horrible it got as long as it was over.
"Now, Shads, please, get it out--" I begged, crying and screaming and pushing. He hesitated.
"NOW!!!" I demanded and fell back on the bed. I felt His large hands spreading me and grabbing and pulling. The tearing got worse and I could feel it coming out of me--along with lots of my blood. There was one last terrifying, horrible yank and the last thing I saw was Shadows--holding up our baby devil.


When my body had repaired itself somewhat, I awoke to the most adorable, heart-melting thing I'd ever seen. Shadows strode across the floor with His long jeaned legs, His gorgeous long hair tucked behind an ear, and looking down lovingly into a bundle of fabric. He cooed and His long finger touched whatever was in the bundle as His dimples popped. When His green eyes finally raised to meet mine, the look in them made butterflies leap in my stomach.

I slowly sat up against the mound of pillows behind me as He sauntered over, His big arms slightly bouncing the bundle in them.
He gently put the bundle in my arms and looked lovingly over us as I looked into the most beautiful face I'd ever seen.

"He just now went to sleep, he's been crying for awhile. I think he's hungry." My eyes glittered up at Shadows as He whispered and kissed my forehead, "Thank fuck you're okay."

Tiny brownish-red eyes finally opened to look up at me and little cries began echoing through the room. As his covering fell back a little, I spotted the two little horns toward the back of his head. I touched the end of one, for some reason, and then pulled my finger back when it pricked me and drew blood.
Shadows laughed, "Yeah, he's already got me lots of times."

When I offered the little guy a nipple, he immediately latched on and closed his eyes again as he fed. I giggled a little-it was a pretty weird sensation that I never thought I'd experience in a million years. But as my breasts had swollen over the last few weeks, I figured this was the way this would go. Given the human-ness of the rest of the pregnancy, it wasn't a surprise.

Shadows raised my lips to His and kissed me longingly, "He's beautiful." We looked down into the cute face together, "I love you, Diem."
"I love you, Shads."

Notes

Talk about a weird, gushy chapter! Even though this is extreme, this is kinda the way I see childbirth--one fucking scary as hell, I'm totally not doing that experience lol!
Uh, Daddy Shads. Had no IDEA how much I would like him until I started writing it! Haha, estrogen's a funny thing :)
He'll be adorable dad figure for a LITTLE while but their next 'kid' s gonna be TOTALLY different. Tease!!
If you don't know, Steven Talarico is Steven Tyler's real name. He was my first rock star crush, and Aerosmith was my first rock concert (first two, actually) back in high school. I'm trying to come up with a way to create a half sleeve of the wings from my three fav bands (bat wings for Avenged, the wings from Aerosmith, and the wings off the sides of the Van Halen logo). It's tough though, esp since I wanna fit something for the Rev in there.
For this chapter--think '80's Steven Tyler. "Voodoo Medicine Man" is from the "Pump" album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82cJgPXU-ik