Zeev POV
Harlee's exhaustion and pain were dragging me under. I could barely concentrate. I shook my head, screaming along with her. There was a large pool of blood underneath her now. I was slipping. How many times was a creature of the Divine or Demon going to literally walk right up on me?! Granted Lil wasn't exactly either. Lil cursed.
"This is getting me nowhere." Lil exploded. "It's like she's fighting me. But that's impossible! She's just a human!" Lil threw her arms in the air and stalked from the room. "I need a smoke." She muttered on her way out. God damnit where was Ash?
Harlee POV
"Harlee! Harlee!" Zeev's harsh whisper pulled me back to consciousness.
"Hi Zeev." I mumbled. He chuckled slightly.
"Oh thank the heavens you're ok." Zeev murmured.
"That's rich, coming from you." I responded weakly.
"Credit where credit's due darling." Zeev answered with another light chuckle.
"Who is this woman?" I moaned. Zeev immediately sobered.
"Mother of Demons." He muttered darkly.
"What?!" I exclaimed. What is that supposed to mean!?" But we didn't have time to discuss it, because she was back.
"You rang?" She laughed a silvery laugh that gave me shivers.
"Now, time to give in my dear. We have work to do, and you're slowing us all down." She paced over to me and gripped my abdomen again, and this time I felt something give. I screamed as something tore from me, crying tears of pain and heartache.
"NO!" I thrashed my head back and forth.
"Finally." The woman grumbled. "Now, to get the other one."
"NOO!" I screamed, but my vision started to go black. Too much blood loss, plus the screaming, I just suddenly couldn't hold my head up anymore.
Zeev POV
Harlee blessedly lost consciousness as the torment continued. I felt the moment one of the babes was ripped from her womb and roared our pain. Fraternal twins. That's what must have saved the other. I openly wept. For all of us.
"Oh really. It wasn't even yours, yet you cry for it." Lil taunted.
"Yes it was." I say softly. "It was all of ours." I didn't bother to meet her gaze, there was no reason to try to explain to her, she wouldn't care anyway.
"No, this is clearly an Incubus' child. You are a Fallen. This couldn't possibly be one of yours." Lil objected. I wasn't sure if she was purposefully misunderstanding or truly confused, but I refused to look up at her to find out. She didn't deserve my regard. She had murdered one of my children. All she deserved from me was death. I felt my Form slipping. The bonds prevented me from fully changing to my Demon Form, but it didn't stop my eyes from changing, or my teeth and talons from coming out. "Ooh feisty." Lil's voice was suddenly much closer. "You truly did care for this Incubus child. Why?"
"They were ours!��� I roared "You would never understand!"
"Oh wouldn't I?" Lil taunted. "You seem to think I'm incapable of feeling love."
"I think you're incapable of experiencing it." I snarled. She slapped a long-nailed hand across my face hard enough to split my lip. I merely grinned at her and let Harlee's darkness consume me.
Harlee POV
I was crying when I woke up, my mind pounding me immediately with the memory I wished I could forget. I gasped a sob.
"Harlee?" Zeev mumbled.
"Did she-I mean the other..?"
"No." Zeev answered softly. I sobbed harder. One child still lived within me. I wished I could reach down and cuddle my stomach, curl around it, protect the baby within. "Try channeling Sands Harlee. I didn't want to speak out or even think it while Lil was around, but, Sands seems between Heaven and Hell right now. You might be able to slip your bonds if you draw on his strength." I sucked in a breath. Of course! Concentrating on the silver cuff bracelet around my wrist I tried to feel Sands' energy, tried to reach out to him through our Bond.
"Come on Sands, where the Hell are you?" I was beginning to panic, desperate to protect my unborn child, desperate to save Cael and Zeev. The urge to hurry driving me to even greater panic and worry.
"Calm down Harlee, there's a good chance Lil has locked down this little corner of Hell just because of us." Zeev sighed.
"No!" I snarled. We've gotta get outta here somehow." I yanked the chains holding my arms. "I can't lose another child Zeev! I can't do it! Cael or this baby, it doesn't matter, it will kill me!" I had snapped and I knew it. "Maybe you were right, maybe we shouldn't have done this, maybe.. maybe I was cruel to want this, to want children while having all of these idiots after us!" I was shouting hysterically now. I dimly heard Zeev calling my name, but I was too far gone. Then abruptly he pulled my consciousness into his head and my body went limp.
'Harlee...' His voice soothed, and his presence was all around me, just, calming me. 'You know none of that is true. The only reason the last few have been after us has been because we had Cael' As I started to panic again, his voice rolled over me 'Correction, because they've been greedy and wanted Cael. A Nephilim. That we didn't even know was possible.' Even though Zeev wasn't actually touching me, I felt as though he was stroking my hair and back. 'You did nothing wrong Harlee. WE did nothing wrong. We had no idea that this would happen this way...' As he spoke Lil came back in the room, cursing.
"Damn Nephilim child is just as stubborn and pigheaded as the mother." Lil muttered. I felt Zeev release me and my mind slipped back into my body. Within seconds I was fully alert and furious.
"What did you do to my son?" I growled. Everything in me insisting it was time to go mama-bear on this bitch. She tsked.
"Oh look at you. Isn't that sweet-you treating a creature with the power of a god like a normal human infant." Lil crossed her arms. "Honey I did nothing to him that he didn't allow." Somewhere deep within me, the part that had once been a Demon conjured up my Demon Form's wildcat yell. It was an unholy, hair-raising scream, and even Lil blanched at the sound for a second.
"Cute." She said when I ran out of breath. "Are you done?" Actually, I was, because somewhere in the depths of my mind I had unlocked Lil's little restraint that kept me from reaching Sands, Sam and Ash. I felt Sands' calming presence suddenly filter into my mind.
Zeev POV
I jerked as Harlee's mind was suddenly filled with Sands' presence, but then couldn't prevent myself from grinning widely. She had broken through the block Lil had created, her anger spurring her on. I was extremely proud, but then I heard Sands' whispered plans. I tried to close down the link, tried to shut out the information while screaming at Harlee to refuse the suggestion. She wouldn't look at me. And then Lil resumed her torture, trying to expel the remaining babe from Harlee's womb. Harlee was barely holding on, but she had Sands whispering in her mind, gently feeding her power and then, in a break between bouts of blood-soaked torment, which had us both screaming out Harlee's pain, Harlee nailed Lil with her gaze.
"I consent." She said softly, to Lil's confusion. Only Harlee and I knew she was answering Sands. Only she and I knew where this could lead. But Harlee had made up her mind, and there was no forgiveness in her. I yanked on my bonds, knowing full well that they were intended to keep much stronger Demons and Angels than I in place, but I was furious, and terrified at the same time, roaring my disapproval.
"Consent to what?" Lil asked. "Have I driven you mad already? Oh well, I really don't need your mind, just your body, if I could ever clear it of that ridiculous spawn." Lil crossed her arms and glared at Harlee's torso as if that would do anything to help her.