Chapter 24

I rushed to Kate’s side. She was naked, her usual state when alone. I had never seen a naked woman so pregnant ... I didn’t know where to look first.

Her breasts had grown, and they had already been nice C cups. They must have been D’s now! Her formerly flat tummy was very distended, with stretch marks.

She looked beautiful, though really tired. I helped her to lay back on the bed.

“Where have you been?!” She looked at me with a combination of anger and concern.

I sat on the bed next to her. “It’s more ‘when’ than ‘where’,” I responded.

She looked confused for a moment, and then clued in. “Time travel ... he was that powerful? When did you go, and when did you get back?”

“Same answer. Arrived yesterday, with no time passing in between for us.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. “My location spells just fizzled, like you didn’t exist. I knew you weren’t dead, because I still loved you.” She was referring to the effect of her backfired love potion. “A few days after I restored my portal they towed the car. I kept an eye on your apartment, but then they evicted you. I didn’t know what to do, and then I started to get big...” She gestured to her belly, as if it wasn’t obvious what she meant.

“Yeah, how did this happen?” I asked.

She gave me an incredulous look. “For you it’s only been a day, and you forgot? You filled me up with your super sperm the night before we went after Eros. Er, the second time, I guess.”

“No, I meant I thought you didn’t age. Wouldn’t a pregnancy require getting older?”

“Oh,” she said, mollified. “Um ... well, when you said you were worried about growing old without me, I removed the anti-aging spell. Then once I realized I was pregnant I couldn’t put it back in place without killing the baby.” She caressed her stomach lovingly.

I put my hand on her belly and felt a little kick. “Wow.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty active these days.”

“She?”

“Yes ... I couldn’t stand not knowing, so I scried. I think I’m the first witch that’s ever gotten pregnant and kept her magic, due to not actually losing my virginity in the process.” She looked smug.

Demie called from the portal entrance, “Everything okay in there?”

“Yeah!” I yelled.

“Eros?” Kate asked.

“Smashed.”

“Good. I knew you two could do it.”

I looked down. “Yeah, except...”

“What?”

“I’ll ... tell you later. You look like you need to rest.”

“Tom...”

I stood up. “I’m still processing it. We’ll talk later, okay?” I kissed her forehead and went back out to join Demie.

On the way back to town we parked in a campground. Kate was stuck in her lab in her current state, so it was just Demie and me, sitting on a log next to each other.

Demie started a fire in the campsite pit and stepped forward with the two pieces of the Eroji disc in hand. “Bye, brother,” she said, and tossed them into the flame.

There was a high-pitched keening sound, almost like a little scream, as the plastic melted and the polycarbonate inside burned.

Yesterday...

Eros sat in his dark little theater and watched from the TV screen as his command forced Demie to take the soul of her master with a kiss. He missed the rush that came from sucking someone’s soul from their mouth, but his current situation was far better. Every time he made the stupid humans rut, especially when it forbidden, like incest resulting in pregnancy, he increased in power and was able to evolve himself, improving on the original board game design and eventually progressing to video games. The stupid warlock who had locked him in the game so many years ago had no idea of what he was about to unleash on the Internet.

As Tom slumped back onto the couch, lifeless, Demie looked down at his body. “Tom?”

Time to go, sis, Eros thought. Hell itself would call her back, now that her summoner was dead, and all she could do in the meantime was play the game.

“Tom!” She stood up.

Eros froze. “You can’t do that,” he said stupidly, “you have to play the game.”

Then she turned to the screen, her skin a vibrant red and her eyes blazing, almost blinding. Were her horns longer?

“What ... what... ?” Eros stood up himself, startled.

Demie screamed. Eros had tortured his sister from time to time down in Hell -- hell, the whole family did; that’s just what you did down there -- but he’d never heard her like this before.