Daughter of Darkness (AHS: Apocalypse)

Ch. 11 - Growth

"I turned eighteen in June."

"I died this same way," Misty said. "When I had Melanie."

"I was dead?" Kate asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Melanie said. "The King himself sent us here to bring you back from the precipice."

Ave Satanas, I've done him a great service, Kate thought as Melanie read every word.

"What kind of service?" asked the little girl. Kate's heartbeat elevated, and she shook her head.

"I think she should rest," Misty said. She turned to the doctor and waved her hand, using concilium on him: "you can take her to a better hospital room. Please make sure she gets a bath, a new gown and gets goodfood, and lots of it."

"Yes, Your Infernal Majesty," the doctor said, walking toward the gurney to roll Kate out of the room.

"Oh, uh... thank you! Thank you, Your Excellencies," the patient said with a smile.

When they left the Clinic, they were walking around the routes in the sanctuary, looking around at the genetically-engineered trees and greenery. Melanie still was curious about what Kate meant when she was thinking about "a great service" to her King. Was it the fact she had a baby and contributed to repopulation? She looked up at her mother, who responded with polite nods and smiles at subjects who bowed their heads at she and her daughter's presences, when she finally blurted her question.

"Mom, how do they make babies?"

Misty was taken aback: "I don't think you're old enough to know about that yet, Melanie."

"I can read books at the adolescent level, mom, and I just am starting to surpass that," her daughter challenged. "I think I am old enough to know how it all works."

"I'll need to ask your father," Misty said. "I don't know if he wants you knowin' yet, either."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can explain how it works," Michael said later when he was asked.

"This isn't going to be too awkward, is it, dad?" Melanie inquired with an incredulous face.

"Nowadays there are several ways to produce children. The Cooperative has ways of harvesting genetic material and producing them artificially, but in the old world, it was usually done one way," Michael said. As he explained the anatomy of males and females in a very blunt way, Melanie's eyes widened, and she nearly giggled at the prospect of the act itself.

"Sounds pretty weird, dad," she said.

"When you are old enough to consent to such a thing, you will not find it weird at all," her father insisted.

"What if I don't want babies?" Melanie asked.

"You don't have that choice," Michael said bluntly. "When you are Queen, you need to keep our bloodline going, so that we rule. In fact, it isn't just you, it is any woman in any of the sanctuaries. They don't have a choice, either. We need to propagate, and part of that, comes a sacrifice of free will."

"Could I do that stuff before I get to be Queen?" Melanie asked. "Do I have to be married or something?"

"Not really," Michael said, "but you can have children before becoming Queen. The first of your children, male or female, is your heir."

She had one more question: "dad, who can I pick to be my King one day?"

"Anyone you desire," he said; he then thought of the possibility of her meeting one of her technical half-siblings in passing, "within reason."