Chapter 11

Lewis Zachary “Zach” Black
Ms. Denise drove the limo with reckless haste toward Good Sam.

My twin sister was in labor.

I stared out the window, breathing slowly to control my excitement. We flew up 512. We were nearly there. Just a few more exits to go. South Hill Mall was ahead. I smiled. My first child had become Charles’s mother, so it felt like Moira’s son would be my firstborn.

My secret heir because Susannah would have my official children. I wouldn’t be listed as the father of Moira’s child on any birth certificate. She was claiming she hooked up at a party with some guy she didn’t know while drunk.

The limo passed the mall and made the turn to head down the hill into Puyallup. I closed my eyes, controlling my excitement. And my anxiety. My son would be born healthy. I clenched my fists as anger shot through me.

And shame.

I had almost killed my child because of Ashtaroth’s influence. I was glad she had taken the spell meant to bind me. She was chained to me. I would use her. She deserved it for what she had done, and I deserved the same.

I had been weak.

I had not held to my principles like I should have. I was supposed to be better than that. I was going to change the world, and what did I nearly do? I pushed down that anger. I would be better. For my son, who was about to be born.

For the generations to come.

This world must be broken from the tyranny of the demonic “gods” and the elites who made sacrifices to them.

The limo took the exit at the bottom of the hill. In a minute, we were driving up the hill to the hospital. It had been rebuilt, the entrance no longer this cramped affair but with a sweeping driveway. I had come here several times as a child with bangs and scraps, Mom worried.

The limo pulled up to the front of the hospital. Susannah, the Augustines, and Sable waited out front with two of the cops standing to the sides protecting them. I had my police escort, of course. People wanted to kill me.

Ms. Denise, in her sexy chauffeur’s outfit, opened the door, smiling at me. I climbed out, my heart pounding. Susannah rushed toward me and threw her arms around my body. She hugged me tight, squealing with excitement.

“Your mother’s in with her,” said Susannah, breaking the hug. “We can wait this way.”

“Right,” I said. “Should I be in there?”

“You can’t,” said Susannah. “You’re not the father.”

I opened my mouth to object when I realized what she meant. I wasn’t the official father. I was just Moira’s twin brother. It had to be that way. I couldn’t act as anything more than a sibling worried about his sister and eager to meet his nephew.

“Right, right,” I said and smiled at her. “I’m going to be an uncle.”

“Yep,” she said.

Sable glanced at me. Her face was tighter than usual. Paler, too. Was she worried about Moira?

I smiled at that but said nothing. It was cute how Sable acted around my sister. Very tsundere.

The Augustines were pretending to be a married couple. Well, they were, but Mrs. Augustine didn’t routinely humiliate her husband by cuckolding him with myself and my brother. She would go farther if I let her.

She would fuck every man in the hospital waiting room.

And we waited.

Being stuck in a hospital was so soul-draining. Uncomfortable chairs. Strangers around. Doctors and nurses passing through sparking hope in everyone waiting that it was about their loved one. Moira was hardly the only labor happening right now.

Mom came out a few times to give updates. She was still not fully dilated. Things like that. To be patient. She was in labor with me for ten hours. I wanted to hug my mom and apologize for that. It sounded awful.

Susannah sat beside me while Sable often paced. She marched back and forth. The cops were stationed in discrete places in the room. Nisha waited with me. She had patience that came from being a thought form.

I envied that.

I felt every hour drag on. I ate terrible hospital food with the others. I was tired, but too uncomfortable and anxious to sleep. I played around on my phone. I thought about future campaign rallies. I plotted with Sable and chatted with Susannah.

Finally, after nearly nine hours, Mom appeared and said, “She had the baby!”

Cheers erupted. I was a father again with a child that I had to raise and protect.

“The doctor said two can come back,” said Mom. She glanced at me, arching an eyebrow.

“Sable,” I said and rose.