Status: About once or twice a week. More if I ever get a break from school. :)
The Damned
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Three
Easter's POV
I had finally gone to sleep after Hallie's fourth feeding when Micah gently shook me awake. "What? It's not time to feed Hallie again, is it? I feel like I've just gone to sleep," I mumbled.
"No, Harlow's not hungry yet. We need to leave now. We just got the okay from one of the guys who run this place. We’ll have a head start if we leave now. No one would expect it. Plus, we need to leave while Harlow is still sleeping, so he doesn't cry and draw attention to us. No one's out this late, so no one should see us, but if they do, people will be more likely to remember us. I'll hold Harlow. I know you'll be tired. Just focus on keeping up with us."
I nodded. "Thanks."
We got up and walked up the stairs quietly, not even waking up any of the other inhabitants of the cellar. The guy was standing at the door with the key in his hand. Our friends were standing with him. "Good luck," he whispered. He unlocked the door, opened it for us, ushered us out, and then closed it and padlocked it the second we were out the door.
We set off at a slow jog, eager to put as much distance between us and the people who are chasing us. We got to the city borders in less than two hours. As we crossed the street, terrified that we'd come in sight of a gate or people guarding the borders of the city at any moment, Hallie woke up and started crying. "Shh, sweetie. It's okay," I murmured, taking him from Micah. Even as I was trying to calm him down, I could hear the distinct panic in my voice. No, we can't get caught now. I quickly lifted up my sweatshirt and held Harlow to my breast, hoping she was just hungry.
My fears that Harlow would give us all away were quickly proved unfounded. The only sound was Harlow quiet suckling. Thankfully, Micah had changed his diaper right before he'd woken me up, so we didn't need to worry about that yet. It's a good thing too because we've already learned that Harlow hates to be changed. He went back to sleep in a few minutes and we got out of the city without running in to anyone. It turns out cities aren't as well protected as I'd thought they would be.
We managed to get to the forest, but we couldn't go much further than that. I felt dead on my feet. I was so tired that I was sure that if we didn't go to sleep soon, I would pass out. Everyone else was almost as tired as I was. Micah and I had barely slept because of our new baby and because of how uncomfortable I was now that my stomach was getting so much bigger. No one had slept more than five or six hours.
That's what led to our making a very bad decision. We knew it'd be bad to stop here. We weren't nearly far enough away and we're still not absolutely sure no one saw us. For all we know, the people chasing us could be combing through the forest now, looking for us. None of that matter then. We were all so tired, we didn't care. We all crashed out in a clump of bushes just before dawn.
I took Hallie from Micah. I needed to change his diaper and feed him before we could go to sleep. "Micah, you get some sleep. I'll stay up with Hallie to make sure he stays warm," I said.
"Sweetie, you shouldn't be putting so much stress on your body. You need your sleep. This isn't good for you or our babies. I'll stay up with Harlow. I'll wake you up in a couple of hours when he needs to be fed," Micah told me, taking Hallie.
I smiled, gratefully. "Thanks. I love you, Micah." I lay down so that my head was resting in Micah's lap.
As I drifted off to sleep, I heard him whisper, "I love you too, Easter."
Remember how Micah said he'd wake me up to feed Hallie? Well, he didn't get the chance to because someone else was already waking me up. One minute I was having a nice peaceful and the next I was roughly being shaken awake…but not by Micah. I opened my eyes to see two strangers. I squeaked, instinctively jerking up to punch at least one of them. They both reached out and grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back and dragging me to my feet.
It was only when I was standing up that I realized how many of them there were. There were at least twenty demons, several guarding each of my friends. We have absolutely no chance of escaping.
Micah was holding Hallie in his arms and looking terrified. I knew he wasn't afriad for himself. He was just worried for Hallie and I. It looked a bit like he was trying to dare the demons to come closer and try to take Hallie from him. I knew there'd be a huge fight if they trying it.
No one seemed inclined to move. I watched each demon, looking for some sign of what was going to happen. At first glance, they all seemed to look the same. They all had dark hair in different shades or brown, black, red, even some stranger colors like blue and green. All of them were a bit on the shorter side, had my transluscent skin, had sharp predator like teeth, black eyes, and all looked between 18 and 22. On closer inspection, I realized they were all different ages. They weren't physically that different, but some of them had this kind of wisdom in their eyes that made me instinctively know that they were several hundred years old. Some had long wings stretched out behind their backs. Almost all of them had brown or gray wings, not pure inky black like mine.
At first, it felt like my heart was dropping. I looked so much like them. How can Micah think I'm beautiful when there are a million more people that look like older versions of me? Micah, not understanding what was wrong but wanting to help me, pushed his captors out of the way and ran over to me. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" he whispered.
I was so aware that this wasn't the time to have a self confidence drop, but that didn’t make it any better. If anyone says anything, I'll blame it on pregnancy hormones. "They look like me."
Micah snorted and whispered, "Of course they do. You're all the same, um, species," Micah said, frowning as if that wasn't the word he'd wanted to use, but he couldn't think of a better one. "You're far cuter than anyone else here though," he whispered in my ear.
I blushed and smiled and immediately my little melt down was over. "Thanks."
The demons had gotten over the shock of Micah daring to run past them just to have a conversation. They still looked like they thought Micah was crazy and that seemed to make them want to get Micah under control all the faster. They lunged at him and I squeaked, protectivley jumping in front of Micah and Hallie.
I didn't expect me jumping in front of Micah to stop anything, but it did. Every single demon froze and it was like they all let out a shocked gasp. I didn't understand what they were looking at and Micah clearly didn't either. He handed me Harlow and moved so that I was hidden behind him.
"Get out of the way," one of the older demons snarled, dangerously.
Micah didn't even flinch. "No."
"How dare you defile the heir to-" one of the younger ones snapped, seeming too disgusted to keep talking. That and one of the other guys covered his mouth. I guess they didn't want me to know exactly what I was an heir to. At least, I'm assuming they're talking about me since I'm the only demon here, even though I'm not entirely sure what defiled means.
"He's only a child!" One of them burst out. "How dare you make him carry your bastard children!"
I was too numb with shock to even be angry. That's probably the best thing that could have happened because if I'd have understood him I would have completely lost control.
Micah snapped instantly. "Don't you EVER call them that!"
Finally, it clicked in my head. I think I would have hit them, but I knew I had Hallie in my arms and I wouldn't let him go after what he'd just heard. I don't care that he's not biologically ours. He's just as much mine as the babies I'm pregnant with now. I know logically that none of my four children could understand what was being said. Assuming my children will be born as demons, they won't remember anything before their birth and since I've never asked Micah what he can remember, I don't even know if angels can remember being babies. Besides, Hallie has to be human, even if he doesn't seem like it. His parents are so wouldn't he be?
However, the fact is that is was still said and I can't do anything about it without endangering my children. I did the only other logical thing. I burst into tears.
This only enraged Micah more. He was torn between the desire to kill everyone who'd insulted our children and me and his instinct to make me stop crying. "How is it your business what Easter and I do? We love our children, we're going to get married as soon as we can, and how dare you judge whether we have the right to have children when you're part of the problem, saying we shouldn't even be together? " With that, Micah turned to me and wrapped his arms around Hallie and I. "It's okay, sweetie. They're not worth it."
I had my arms around my stomach and I wouldn't let go for anything in the world. I was so afraid they'd try to take my babies, as illogical as that is.
The man looked shocked. "Please, don't cry, sir. I'm sorry we didn't know. We thought he had kidnapped you and hurt you. It was only logical that you had been kidnapped, since you'd seemed ready to go with us. We thought his parents had told him to keep you hidden so we couldn't find you. We expected you to be grateful we found you, not pregnant and happy to be with him. Naturally, we assumed he'd forced you."
Now, it was Micah's turn to be too appalled to even defend himself, so I did it for him. "Micah didn't kidnap me! We were dating and we thought we'd never see each other again if you took us, so we ran away."
The entire clearing went absolutely silent. The demons all looked too ashamed of what they'd said about Micah to even delude themselves into thinking that an apology would be enough to make up for accusing Micah of raping me. My friends, Micah, and I were all too angry…At least, I'd assumed my friends were angry until I heard some badly hidden laughter break out from Jay. "Too funny," he gasped.
"I don't see anything funny about this at all," I said, smiling in spite of myself just because watching Jay laugh cracks me up.
"Just trying to imagine Micah kidnapping you. In my mind, he pushes you in a burlap sack tied to a stick and walks away looking like a hobo in an old cartoon," Jay explained, still trying not to fall over from laughter.
I tried to glare at him, but it was just too hard. Jay's just too stupid not to laugh at sometimes. I snorted. "Alright, Jay. Thanks for your opinion." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the demons. "I swear we love you children even though they're unexpected. Please, just let us go," I begged.
One of the oldest men--I guess he was the leader of the group-- shook his head, apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir. We can't let you go. Your mother and father want to see you, Easter. They've been looking for you for a long time. They've missed you so much. I swear they won't hurt you, or your children, boyfriend, or your friends. We'll keep you as comfortable as possible considering your pregnancy. We won't have to tie you up or anything like that unless you try to escape, so please don't try. It'll be a long ride there, but we know certain tricks to make us get there faster, "he said with a small and what I'm assuming he thought was a comforting smile. "Will you come with us willingly?"
I sighed. "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice. I already know that Micah will come with us no matter what, but the rest of my friends don't have to come, do they? I think they'll want to stay free and this doesn't have anything to do with them," I said.
Seven interrupted then. "You can stop right there, Easter. We care about you, Micah, and the babies. You're not leaving us now." Everyone else was quick to second that.
"Okay," I said, almost starting to cry again, but this time from joy. I turned to the demons. "We're ready."
Easter's POV
I had finally gone to sleep after Hallie's fourth feeding when Micah gently shook me awake. "What? It's not time to feed Hallie again, is it? I feel like I've just gone to sleep," I mumbled.
"No, Harlow's not hungry yet. We need to leave now. We just got the okay from one of the guys who run this place. We’ll have a head start if we leave now. No one would expect it. Plus, we need to leave while Harlow is still sleeping, so he doesn't cry and draw attention to us. No one's out this late, so no one should see us, but if they do, people will be more likely to remember us. I'll hold Harlow. I know you'll be tired. Just focus on keeping up with us."
I nodded. "Thanks."
We got up and walked up the stairs quietly, not even waking up any of the other inhabitants of the cellar. The guy was standing at the door with the key in his hand. Our friends were standing with him. "Good luck," he whispered. He unlocked the door, opened it for us, ushered us out, and then closed it and padlocked it the second we were out the door.
We set off at a slow jog, eager to put as much distance between us and the people who are chasing us. We got to the city borders in less than two hours. As we crossed the street, terrified that we'd come in sight of a gate or people guarding the borders of the city at any moment, Hallie woke up and started crying. "Shh, sweetie. It's okay," I murmured, taking him from Micah. Even as I was trying to calm him down, I could hear the distinct panic in my voice. No, we can't get caught now. I quickly lifted up my sweatshirt and held Harlow to my breast, hoping she was just hungry.
My fears that Harlow would give us all away were quickly proved unfounded. The only sound was Harlow quiet suckling. Thankfully, Micah had changed his diaper right before he'd woken me up, so we didn't need to worry about that yet. It's a good thing too because we've already learned that Harlow hates to be changed. He went back to sleep in a few minutes and we got out of the city without running in to anyone. It turns out cities aren't as well protected as I'd thought they would be.
We managed to get to the forest, but we couldn't go much further than that. I felt dead on my feet. I was so tired that I was sure that if we didn't go to sleep soon, I would pass out. Everyone else was almost as tired as I was. Micah and I had barely slept because of our new baby and because of how uncomfortable I was now that my stomach was getting so much bigger. No one had slept more than five or six hours.
That's what led to our making a very bad decision. We knew it'd be bad to stop here. We weren't nearly far enough away and we're still not absolutely sure no one saw us. For all we know, the people chasing us could be combing through the forest now, looking for us. None of that matter then. We were all so tired, we didn't care. We all crashed out in a clump of bushes just before dawn.
I took Hallie from Micah. I needed to change his diaper and feed him before we could go to sleep. "Micah, you get some sleep. I'll stay up with Hallie to make sure he stays warm," I said.
"Sweetie, you shouldn't be putting so much stress on your body. You need your sleep. This isn't good for you or our babies. I'll stay up with Harlow. I'll wake you up in a couple of hours when he needs to be fed," Micah told me, taking Hallie.
I smiled, gratefully. "Thanks. I love you, Micah." I lay down so that my head was resting in Micah's lap.
As I drifted off to sleep, I heard him whisper, "I love you too, Easter."
Remember how Micah said he'd wake me up to feed Hallie? Well, he didn't get the chance to because someone else was already waking me up. One minute I was having a nice peaceful and the next I was roughly being shaken awake…but not by Micah. I opened my eyes to see two strangers. I squeaked, instinctively jerking up to punch at least one of them. They both reached out and grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back and dragging me to my feet.
It was only when I was standing up that I realized how many of them there were. There were at least twenty demons, several guarding each of my friends. We have absolutely no chance of escaping.
Micah was holding Hallie in his arms and looking terrified. I knew he wasn't afriad for himself. He was just worried for Hallie and I. It looked a bit like he was trying to dare the demons to come closer and try to take Hallie from him. I knew there'd be a huge fight if they trying it.
No one seemed inclined to move. I watched each demon, looking for some sign of what was going to happen. At first glance, they all seemed to look the same. They all had dark hair in different shades or brown, black, red, even some stranger colors like blue and green. All of them were a bit on the shorter side, had my transluscent skin, had sharp predator like teeth, black eyes, and all looked between 18 and 22. On closer inspection, I realized they were all different ages. They weren't physically that different, but some of them had this kind of wisdom in their eyes that made me instinctively know that they were several hundred years old. Some had long wings stretched out behind their backs. Almost all of them had brown or gray wings, not pure inky black like mine.
At first, it felt like my heart was dropping. I looked so much like them. How can Micah think I'm beautiful when there are a million more people that look like older versions of me? Micah, not understanding what was wrong but wanting to help me, pushed his captors out of the way and ran over to me. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" he whispered.
I was so aware that this wasn't the time to have a self confidence drop, but that didn’t make it any better. If anyone says anything, I'll blame it on pregnancy hormones. "They look like me."
Micah snorted and whispered, "Of course they do. You're all the same, um, species," Micah said, frowning as if that wasn't the word he'd wanted to use, but he couldn't think of a better one. "You're far cuter than anyone else here though," he whispered in my ear.
I blushed and smiled and immediately my little melt down was over. "Thanks."
The demons had gotten over the shock of Micah daring to run past them just to have a conversation. They still looked like they thought Micah was crazy and that seemed to make them want to get Micah under control all the faster. They lunged at him and I squeaked, protectivley jumping in front of Micah and Hallie.
I didn't expect me jumping in front of Micah to stop anything, but it did. Every single demon froze and it was like they all let out a shocked gasp. I didn't understand what they were looking at and Micah clearly didn't either. He handed me Harlow and moved so that I was hidden behind him.
"Get out of the way," one of the older demons snarled, dangerously.
Micah didn't even flinch. "No."
"How dare you defile the heir to-" one of the younger ones snapped, seeming too disgusted to keep talking. That and one of the other guys covered his mouth. I guess they didn't want me to know exactly what I was an heir to. At least, I'm assuming they're talking about me since I'm the only demon here, even though I'm not entirely sure what defiled means.
"He's only a child!" One of them burst out. "How dare you make him carry your bastard children!"
I was too numb with shock to even be angry. That's probably the best thing that could have happened because if I'd have understood him I would have completely lost control.
Micah snapped instantly. "Don't you EVER call them that!"
Finally, it clicked in my head. I think I would have hit them, but I knew I had Hallie in my arms and I wouldn't let him go after what he'd just heard. I don't care that he's not biologically ours. He's just as much mine as the babies I'm pregnant with now. I know logically that none of my four children could understand what was being said. Assuming my children will be born as demons, they won't remember anything before their birth and since I've never asked Micah what he can remember, I don't even know if angels can remember being babies. Besides, Hallie has to be human, even if he doesn't seem like it. His parents are so wouldn't he be?
However, the fact is that is was still said and I can't do anything about it without endangering my children. I did the only other logical thing. I burst into tears.
This only enraged Micah more. He was torn between the desire to kill everyone who'd insulted our children and me and his instinct to make me stop crying. "How is it your business what Easter and I do? We love our children, we're going to get married as soon as we can, and how dare you judge whether we have the right to have children when you're part of the problem, saying we shouldn't even be together? " With that, Micah turned to me and wrapped his arms around Hallie and I. "It's okay, sweetie. They're not worth it."
I had my arms around my stomach and I wouldn't let go for anything in the world. I was so afraid they'd try to take my babies, as illogical as that is.
The man looked shocked. "Please, don't cry, sir. I'm sorry we didn't know. We thought he had kidnapped you and hurt you. It was only logical that you had been kidnapped, since you'd seemed ready to go with us. We thought his parents had told him to keep you hidden so we couldn't find you. We expected you to be grateful we found you, not pregnant and happy to be with him. Naturally, we assumed he'd forced you."
Now, it was Micah's turn to be too appalled to even defend himself, so I did it for him. "Micah didn't kidnap me! We were dating and we thought we'd never see each other again if you took us, so we ran away."
The entire clearing went absolutely silent. The demons all looked too ashamed of what they'd said about Micah to even delude themselves into thinking that an apology would be enough to make up for accusing Micah of raping me. My friends, Micah, and I were all too angry…At least, I'd assumed my friends were angry until I heard some badly hidden laughter break out from Jay. "Too funny," he gasped.
"I don't see anything funny about this at all," I said, smiling in spite of myself just because watching Jay laugh cracks me up.
"Just trying to imagine Micah kidnapping you. In my mind, he pushes you in a burlap sack tied to a stick and walks away looking like a hobo in an old cartoon," Jay explained, still trying not to fall over from laughter.
I tried to glare at him, but it was just too hard. Jay's just too stupid not to laugh at sometimes. I snorted. "Alright, Jay. Thanks for your opinion." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the demons. "I swear we love you children even though they're unexpected. Please, just let us go," I begged.
One of the oldest men--I guess he was the leader of the group-- shook his head, apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir. We can't let you go. Your mother and father want to see you, Easter. They've been looking for you for a long time. They've missed you so much. I swear they won't hurt you, or your children, boyfriend, or your friends. We'll keep you as comfortable as possible considering your pregnancy. We won't have to tie you up or anything like that unless you try to escape, so please don't try. It'll be a long ride there, but we know certain tricks to make us get there faster, "he said with a small and what I'm assuming he thought was a comforting smile. "Will you come with us willingly?"
I sighed. "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice. I already know that Micah will come with us no matter what, but the rest of my friends don't have to come, do they? I think they'll want to stay free and this doesn't have anything to do with them," I said.
Seven interrupted then. "You can stop right there, Easter. We care about you, Micah, and the babies. You're not leaving us now." Everyone else was quick to second that.
"Okay," I said, almost starting to cry again, but this time from joy. I turned to the demons. "We're ready."
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Thanks to xxxlonelywolfxxx for commenting! :)