"Okay Leader Kage. I need you to push for me." Healer Phineas ordered calmly, completely oblivious to the fiery pain that originated from my lady parts as I groaned in agony.
I gritted my teeth, my body automatically doing what Nature intended as the worst cramp in the fucking universe spread through my body like wildfire. Scathing, agonized curses streamed past my lips in an incoherent stream. Julienne was pale beside me, wincing as I crushed her hand in my grip. Yasmina was positioned behind me, propping up my upper body so that I had no choice but to fucking push. Fuck. Them. All.
After ten agonizing seconds, I flopped back against Yasmina breathlessly. I was panting like I just ran a fucking triathlon, sweat slicking my hair back and making my palm slip against Julienne's. I didn't even fucking bother thinking about where Yasmina produced a washcloth from, only that I could fucking kiss the ancient Seer now when she mopped up the sweat on my forehead and neck.
I had only a brief minute before Hell terrorized my body once more. Panting like a mad woman as Healer Phineas confidently coached me through it. I wanted to fucking hack off his excited grin with one of my daggers as he stared at my exposed vagina. So far, I refrained from killing him only because of his calm professionalism in the face of my personal body parts. But now that he was beaming down ecstatically at who knows what, I wanted to fucking pluck out his eyeballs.
"The...fuck...are...you...staring...at!?" I growled venomously. Phineas was unperturbed, too excited to realize that he was about point two seconds away from meeting his demise.
"I can see the head Leader Kage! About two more pushes and you'll be holding a healthy baby boy!" He explained merrily as if my fucking vagina wasn't being stretched painfully at the seams.
I was going to fucking castrate him.
I moaned in exhaustion. We've been at this for eight hours straight, something the old Healer assured me was completely normal for a first time pregnancy. Well, it sure as fuck didn't feel normal. Labor was like the worst period cramps on steroids minus the fact a kid the size of a watermelon was forcing its way out of a hole that was beyond too fucking small. Completely wiped out by the whole ordeal, I wasn't entirely sure that I had two pushes left in me. Next time I see Lucien in the Great Beyond, I was going to kill him all over again. I fucking swear...
"Push, Leader Kage. Push!"
Yasmina murmured words of encouragement in my ear as I screamed from the pain, no longer able to hold it at bay for all of our sakes. Gods, I must've been breaking the sound barrier. Julienne looked as if she was moments away from fainting, this time holding me for support as she swayed. I wanted to snap at her for her gaze being glued to my vajayjay but I was completely focused as the worst pain in entire my life ripped through my lower body followed by this intense release of pressure, took my breath away. A couple of heartbeats later, a loud piercing wail broke the sudden quiet.
I was in a daze. The beating of my own heart pounding in my ears as Healer Phineas laid this tiny, bloody, screaming bundle on my chest with a proud grin. I didn't know what to do with it, it's cries both relieving and scaring the shit out of me as Yasmina whispered joyfully in my ear.
"Well done, child. Well done."
My son was a pruny, bloody mess with ten fingers and ten toes and weighed a healthy weight of ten pounds and three ounces. With a head full of midnight hair that was all me and eyes the color of the sea that completely belonged to his father, I felt myself fall in love at first sight for the very first time.
Ever since I learned of his existence, I finally knew what to do. The world fell into the background as I lifted my hands and held my son, soothing his cries with gently fingers as I clutched him to my chest. I didn't give a flying fuck that he was covered in unspeakable gunk or that he literally just came out of my vagina, he was fucking perfect. I kissed his hair softly as he snuffled against my breasts, ignoring the gentle tug in my nether regions as Phineas snipped the birthing cord. I snapped out a hand so that I could clean up my son, not wanting to part with him just yet though I still had to push out the placenta. Fucking gross by the way.
"Have you decided a name?" Julienne asked me cautiously as I rubbed him down.
I felt Yasmina tense slightly behind me. Shit, I didn't even realize that she was still there. That position must be uncomfortable as fuck for her old bones, though she didn't hesitate when the labor started.
The topic of names for my son has spawned many arguments for the last couple months of my pregnancy. When Yasmina figured out I had yet to pick out a suitable name for the Guild's heir, she went on a rampage. Shoving baby books under my nose, always giving unwanted suggestions, and questioning me incessantly on my choices. Eventually, my temper snapped and it had been a Cold War ever since.
But as I looked down at the precious bundle of joy that was now quietly snoozing on my tits, I knew exactly what I wanted to call him.
"Samael Lucas Grae-Kage." I announced confidently. My tiny but strong angel.
Yasmina relaxed with a happy sigh, and Julienne smiled broadly. Healer Phineas nodded approvingly, his eyes sparkling as he pondered the name.
"That's a good name. A strong name." He said.
I smirked. "I know."
I relinquished Samael to Yasmina as Healer Phineas and Julienne cleaned me up, finishing off the birthing process and getting all situated as my wild magic healed all the physical damages incurred on my body. Healer Phineas assisted my magic to the best of his abilities, and by the end we were all exhausted. I flopped ungracefully down on my now clean pillows, groaning out curses as I flung open my arms for my son. I gave Yasmina the stink eye when she hesitated returning him to me, the old bat completely enamored by the tyke as she reluctantly passed him over. In the time we took to clean up, Yasmina had already wrapped him up in the softest of blankets. My son flailed and whimpered through the entire process, only calming when he was once again in my arms. Oh great, he was going to be a total Mama's boy.
"We'll leave you to care for him and rest. Congratulations, Leader Kage." Healer Phineas said, leaving my room with a pile of bloody linens and a pep to his step. Weird old coot.
Yasmina shuffled out behind him, giving me a congratulatory nod and a swift peck on Samael's forehead. However, Julienne lingered. She hovered by my bedside as I cradled my boy. I lifted a questioning brow at her, waving my hand to gesture for her to get on with whatever she needed to say.
"Do you need anything before I go Mistress?" Julienne asked quietly, fidgeted nervously with the hem of her hoodie.
I shook my head, patting my son when he began whimpering to be fed. Soon, little man, soon.
Julienne took a tiny step forward, her eyes riveted on Samael as wonder and awe parted her lips. She asked to touch him with a trembling whisper tinged with curiosity and fear. My mother instincts and shocking possessiveness growled at letting another so close to the precious bundle in my arms, but this was Julienne. The girl who held my hand in the place of Lucien through the entire birth. The girl who've I've entrusted my life to on a daily basis. She's the only person worthy to hold my son in the entire world.
Without hesitation, I lifted Samael towards Julienne. At first she balked, hard, but when Samael began to squirm with discomfort she snatched him up as if it were second nature. There were a few heart-hammering seconds where Julienne fumbled on trying to position the newborn correctly in her arms, but once she did it was hard to tell who the fucking birth mother was in the room. As soon as Samael locked his sea blue peepers with Julienne's doe eyes, I saw the exact moment she fell head over heels for the little guy. I grinned when I recognized the protectiveness that rivaled my own swell within her. Looks like Samael wouldn't only have one woman by his side who loved him fiercely without question.
Without taking her eyes of my son, Julienne perched herself on the edge of my bed. I rolled to my side, propping up my heavy head on my hand as I reached the other towards them. Julienne didn't even flinch as my forearm brushed her side so that I could stroke Samael's head. Her and I have come a long way in the past three months, a sibling bond I never had strong between us. Julienne no longer feared my touch like I no cautioned against her presence in my life. We were family; her and I, and now Samael.
"Darkness, Light, and Shadows." Julienne murmured and my grin widened as she translated Samael's name.
"Well, he is the one who's going to be carrying on my name." I stated matter-of-factly, curling my body around the two of them as if I were in my wolf form and protecting my pups.
Julienne smiled faintly, gently placing her finger in Samael's tiny palm for him to grip.
"He will not be alone in that endeavor." Julienne vowed.
I sobered as a chill ran down my spine, a sense of premonition only I could feel lingering in the air. I didn't need Phineas's eyes to tell me what magic my son would conjure. Though weakened by the birth and Samael fresh out of the womb, my dark magic brushed against his in familiarity. My wild magic howled in joy as his howled with her in unity. My son, my sole source of life and happiness, was gifted and cursed by my very own fate. A mix of Necromancer and Shifter, powered by the blood of his father and my love. Oh fuck the Fates.
"No. He will not." I whispered, silently making my own vow.
Damn me to the eternal Darkness or fashion me into Thanatos cloak, I will not let my son end up like me. Never in a fucking million years. He will be strong, stronger than I ever was, and he will be loved. So loved that I don't give a fuck if he suffocates on it. I never want him to feel the depths of loneliness I had to endure, and still do, or the self-hatred I choke on every single day because of what I am.
He is my son. Samael fucking Lucas Grae-Kage. Gods help whomever dares to harm him now or in the foreseeable future.