Page 51 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

Black flames hissed; black lightning sparked; the two elements raged around Lilith’s wrist, sizzling when they popped against the atmosphere. The blob itself bellowed and cried and released echoing wails.

“Is that a baby…” I stared at the instantaneous life Lilith brought into this world with a single motion. “The essence has changed.”

“Of course.” Lilith blew on the blob of energy, soothing the screech and carrying it upward to the ceiling, which opened like an automatic door.

“How?”

“I took a single drop of my being and birthed awareness out of the nothingness still lingering in Hell.”

“Whoa.” I watched the blob fade into the distance as it floated toward the night sky of twinkling stars. Stars Bez had said embodied all the baby demons of Hell. “You just made a child in an instant.”

“I made a demon, yes.” Lilith chuckled. “Easy enough after a few trillion.”

“I guess that would make Diabolics parthenogenesis—which is asexual reproduction.” I nodded. “We have lots of species who reproduce this way. Lower beings and all.”

Lilith squinted, then smiled, then let her face fall flat in a way that left me flustered and frightened and fumbling to think of what to say and what not to say.

“Devils would use this parthenogenesis,” Lilith added. “Demons don’t have the ability to multiply their essence into a new sentient form of consciousness.”

“Oh.” I grimaced. I suppose I had said Diabolics, which was an umbrella term for devils and demons and all things essence-related. “But intercourse isn’t actually a requirement for you? Devils don’t need the act—well, I suppose no one needs the act now thanks to the advancements of science—but with the way your essence and magics work, the physical isn’t required.”

“It most certainly is. There is a primal push and pull mixed with passion as our essence collides. The merger requires we be fully synchronized, enthralled, bonded on the deepest of levels.” Lilith leapt forward in a blur, standing behind me instantly. “This should be a benefit, as your species is quite conditioned to coupling in such forms.”

“Um…well, I don’t know if I’m ready for a child.” I stepped back from Lilith, not that any distance would offer me space. Her energy radiated throughout the room, adding a perfume of her presence. “I should probably wait until I have a better understanding of my essence, my devil-hood-ness-ity stuff.”

“No, that will not do.” Lilith strutted toward me. “I’ve allowed devils time to contemplate arrangements only for them to perish into the pits of Oblivion before sharing their seed.”

“Oh. Um, well, I’ve escaped Oblivion before, so that’s good news.” I gave a strained smile. Not that I had any interest in returning.

“Once. I haven’t lived this long by gambling. No, we’ll do this now,” Lilith insisted sharply as if her words had ended the conversation. “Beelzebub’s essence is one I craved to cultivate for far too long. Seeing the wonders it’s done when mixed with your mortal flesh, I can only imagine the glory our union will bring.”

“I see.” So this wasn’t even about me. She wanted to recapture some claim she sought to have over Beelzebub, the most dangerous devil of them all.

I took a deep breath and tried to remember I was a devil here, too. Lilith wasn’t threatening me, and she wasn’t looking for missteps; she was making a proposition. A flattering one that I needed to delicately yet assertively pass on. Why did the mere idea of rejecting a devil make my stomach twist into a million knots? That and the horror of having a child.

“It’s a big commitment,” I muttered. Fuck. Of course I muttered. Guess I needed to just dive right into this polite rejection. “Eighteen years. For mortals. Our standard child-rearing commitment stuff. Well, longer, really. If you’re a good parent. Not that I’m planning on being bad. But inexperience is the worst when aiming for success. Probably. In my case. In most of my cases. Gah, Diabolic lifespans are basically forever, so that’s an even bigger commitment. Yeah. Lots to learn as a devil myself. I’d probably want a few hundred centuries under my belt before committing to taking care of a child. Or a few hundred years. No, actually, a few hundred centuries soundsright for me. Maybe then kids would be cool. Like one or two. Not a trillion or so like you. But you make it work. Very well.”

“I’ll tend to the child. Within a few centuries, it’ll blossom quite well.” Lilith telekinetically drew me closer. “Let us commence.”

“This isn’t gonna work for me.” I flailed momentarily, feeling my essence pluck at the air like the strings of a harp, and as such, I broke Lilith’s grip over me. “You’re very beautiful, but there are so many reasons I can’t do this. For one, performance. As much as I can admire your attributes, it’s not something that works for me intimately.”

Lilith cocked her head.

“It’s nothing about you.” I gave her a tight smile. “I just can’t, um…you know. Or not. Bez and Mora seem very fluid in all things gender and attraction, but that’s only a pool of two Diabolics, which isn’t much to go on. But Corson also seems like he would be open to just about…but then there’s Orias. Also, several demons I met in this villa. They seemed open but mostly with eating people. Diabolics really are hungry.”

Lilith lowered her head and raised her black eyes to meet mine, a wicked gleam in her smile. “We’re insatiable.”

I gulped.

“But I understand you’re explaining your attraction is solely toward the male form.”

“Yes,” I said with a heavy sigh of relief. Maybe I wouldn’t need to drop the other reasons this coupling wouldn’t work.

“I can see the appeal. Their bodies are fun in all their limited ways.” Lilith extended her arms, flaunting herself as her image changed. Not in the way a glamour shifted the air ever so slightly to cast an illusion. No. Her body mass changed, swelled, grew, and expanded as her feminine shape crumpled away, now replaced by a masculine body equal in stature and shape to Bez’s.

In fact, upon closer inspection, her facial features shifted ever so to look less like a male version of the face she’d shown me and more like Bez’s with the sharper jawline and the high cheekbones. Her complexion remained a deep purple, but the scales smoothed out. Her shoulder and biceps flexed in the same flirty, flaunty way Bez would.

“Wow. You just shape-shifted, like, everything.” I eyed her muscular frame, tearing at the seams of her fitted dress.

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