Chapter Six

Four months later

 

IT WASN’T THE phone ringing that woke Aaden from a restful sleep. It was Jack’s frantic, worried energy.

“What’s wrong?” Aaden asked. He sat up, the sheet pooling around his hips and uncovering some of the marks Jack had made with his mouth before going down on him the night before.

“Cherry is in labor. Kris called me,” Jack explained, pulling on a pair of cargo shorts.

“Do you want me to drive you to the hospital? I can leave after, if they want just family there,” Aaden offered.

Kris and Cherry had been welcoming of Aaden since day one. Once they’d known he was staying, Aaden and Jack had revealed their relationship to them. They’d seemed pleased and not surprised at all. Kris had given Aaden a talk on how if he ever hurt Jack, they would never find Aaden’s body, but Aaden respected him for that. The brothers’ bond made him wish he had full siblings he’d been raised with. But a baby being born was not necessarily something Aaden thought he’d be welcome at yet. He was still finding his place in the human world.

“I’d love you to come, I know you’re welcome,” Jack said firmly, and he left his masking spells down so Aaden could see that Jack was telling the truth.

“Okay, but I can leave if you need me to.” Aaden got out of the bed and put his clothes on.

Aaden drove, and Jack was practically vibrating in the passenger seat next to him in excitement. They listened to Kris’s first album in the car on the way there. They had an early release copy, but the band’s first two singles from the album had charted on the country and Western charts. Aaden had stopped interfering in the Long brothers’ life a few months ago. Any success now was purely down to talent, and maybe good luck. Aaden had met his part of the deal. Jack had met his too, and now they were just a couple, a regular demon and witch and their pet cat.

They got a space in the hospital parking lot and made their way to the maternity ward. Aaden had never been to a maternity ward before, but he and Jack both stopped cold just down the hall.

“Can you feel that?” Jack asked, looking pale.

Aaden nodded. He could feel Cherry’s familiar energy, and it was laced with a lot of pain and distress.

“Come on,” Jack said, hurrying toward the nurses’ station. The nurses let them in, looking concerned but giving no details.

They found Kris pacing the hallway, his energy screaming out to both of them. He was panicked and desperate and almost grieving.

“Jack, thank God you’re here. The doctor says something is wrong, the baby’s distressed and there’s bleeding, so Cherry’s in danger too. They wouldn’t let me stay with her. They say she’s having surgery, but they sounded like, fuck, it sounds like we might lose the baby,” Kris said, tears spilling from his eyes, and Aaden had never seen him cry before.

Jack threw his arms around his brother. He led him to a chair, muttering soothing things that Aaden couldn’t quite hear, likely anything that would make Kris feel calmer. Once Kris was seated, his knee bouncing up and down, like he still wanted to pace, Jack left him and returned to Aaden.

“Can you tell what’s going on?” Jack asked. They both knew Aaden’s abilities were more suited to this.

Aaden cleared his mind, blocking out Jack and Kris’s energies, and found Cherry. Her energy was weak, the baby’s even weaker. They were both dying. Aaden didn’t know how to make those words come out, not after knowing what Jack and Kris had lost and what Cherry and the baby meant to them, but Jack must have read it on his face or with his own magic because he went paler than Aaden’s pasty skin.

“Can we do anything? Is there a spell? A deal? I can make a deal if she makes it until I can summon someone, or can I make a deal with you? I know you said it’s usually a one-off for humans, but I have to help,” Jack whispered, panicked.

“My magic couldn’t do what we need anyway, but I know someone whose can,” Aaden said, preparing himself.

“Who? I’ll make the deal. I don’t care what it costs me. Kris can’t lose Cherry. I can’t bury another person I love,” Jack said desperately.

“This deal is not one I can let you make. The entity is too powerful. Asking to meddle in matters of life and death is beyond anything you have done so far,” Aaden explained.

“I don’t care,” Jack said a little too loudly. Kris looked up from when he was frantically texting.

“Hey, calm down. Just because I don’t want you to make a deal doesn’t mean a deal won’t be made. Now stay here with Kris and wait for Cherry’s parents to get here. You should try some of the energy tricks you worked on with me and Kim Joy to keep you calm,” Aaden advised.

“I don’t understand. Are you going somewhere?” Jack asked, looking lost. Aaden took both his hands and tried to send him reassurance, to show how much he cared for this odd little witch, who had the guts to summon a demon he wasn’t sure existed, to do anything to help his brother have a better life, to help this baby have a better life.

“I’m going to go make a deal,” Aaden told him. This family had welcomed him to this town. They had supported him being with Jack, who had hooked him from the start.

“You’d do that?” Jack shook his head. “Of course you would. You’re you. Get going.”

Aaden kissed Jack briefly and chastely on the lips, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time. He hurried off, finding the first empty room he could and using it to open a portal into the universe that had once been his home. He didn’t head for the high council or a demon friend though, not for a case like this. A baby didn’t need to come into the world with a demon’s deal anywhere near it.

Aaden found Josie in a coffee shop where mostly angels hung out. He got her attention, and she came outside to the bench he was sitting on.

“Long time no talk, Aaden. Not seen you since you caused such a stir and left for the human world,” Josie said with her ever charming smile. She looked like she belonged in some high-end magazine, when in reality she could destroy lives at the click of her fingers.

“I’m not here to catch up. I’m sorry I’ve been a bad friend, but I need a deal fast,” Aaden explained.

“I wouldn’t call what we had friendship,” Josie smirked, and it made Aaden remember how she’d seduced him. At the same time, that smile told him not to get ideas about it happening again.

“Josie, this is serious,” Aaden growled.

“Oh my, you’re so upset. What is it? Has something happened to that handsome little witch you brought to the bar?” Josie actually looked concerned now.

“His sister-in-law is in labor. She and the baby are in trouble. I want them both to survive this and have long, happy, healthy lives,” Aaden said in a rush. He couldn’t get the image out of his head of Jack pressing his hand to Cherry’s round belly when she’d asked him to guess the sex of the baby.

“That’s a lot to ask for, Aaden honey,” Josie pointed out.

“I know. Name your price.” Aaden knew he was taking a great risk, and he had never felt like this when making a deal before, maybe because he had never had so much to lose before.

“Hmm, what if there is nothing I want from you?” Josie pointed out.

“There is always something,” Aaden argued.

“All right, how about you owe me one. I get to call on you to take over one of my cases, and you can’t refuse,” Josie said with a smile, and Aaden knew he was taking a big risk to agree to a deal that he didn’t know the full terms of.

“It’s a deal,” Aaden wasn’t going to spend time thinking it over. Cherry didn’t have time for him to debate the pros and cons.

“Give me your hand,” Josie demanded, and Aaden didn’t argue about not getting a choice where he was branded. Josie liked to get her way.

Aaden gave her his hand, and they said what they needed. Then there was the searing pain of holy fire burning through his body, making his legs shake a little, sweat breaking out in his hairline and leaving its mark in his hand as if an iron had been placed on it.

“All done. I can’t wait to call on you.” Josie smirked.

“Thank you, Josie. I have to go.” Aaden didn’t care about being rude to someone who could control his future now. He just needed to get back to the human world as quickly as possible. Once back through the portal, he sent out his senses and found Cherry strong and vibrant and the new energy, untainted, of her baby.

Jack, Kris, and Cherry’s parents were sitting and waiting when Aaden rounded the corner, and Jack rushed over to him.

“I told Kris you had to throw up. Bad beer, if he asks. Is it done?” Jack asked.

“Done,” Aaden said, holding up his hand so Jack could see. He could still feel the burning. He’d be able to hide the mark from humans once it settled.

Jack cradled Aaden’s hand in both of his. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

“You want to thank me?” Aaden asked.

“Yes.” Jack nodded.

“Then give me a kiss,” Aaden said earnestly.

Jack didn’t seem to hesitate, just leaned in and kissed Aaden soundly.

“There, you thanked me,” Aaden said when they parted.

“I hardly think one kiss lives up to whatever deal you made. What deal did you make?”

“You underestimate how much I like your kisses. And I’ll tell you later. Doctor is coming.” Aaden grinned.

The doctor came and spoke to Kris alone, who broke out into a grin and happy sobs all at once, then Aaden was being hugged by different people. It was a whirlwind that didn’t stop till they were all crowded around a hospital bed watching Cherry cradle her tiny newborn daughter.

“She’s beautiful,” Aaden said, putting his arm around Jack’s shoulders.

“She’s a miracle. There must be an angel watching over us. I was so scared,” Cherry said, and Aaden felt Jack poke him in the ribs where no one could see. Because they knew an angel had been involved, and a demon too.

“Can I tell them her name?” Kris asked. He looked dazed, but in the best kind of way.

“Of course.” Cherry nodded.

“I’d like to welcome Katherine Long to our family,” Kris said, with a catch in his throat. It had been Kris and Jack’s mother’s name.

“Her uncles are gonna spoil her.” Jack grinned, and Aaden liked the way he said uncles, like he was included, because he loved this family. He wanted to see its future and be part of it.

“And her grandparents,” Frank added.

“Nothing bad’s ever gonna happen to my family, ever again,” Kris vowed, bending to kiss Cherry’s forehead, and Aaden was so sure he would do anything to help that be true.

He was in love with Jack Long, his little witch, but he hadn’t dared tell him yet. He’d never been in love before. But he promised himself as he stood with Jack, looking at the new member of this family—their family—that if he and Jack were still together on Katherine’s first birthday, he would propose to Jack. Till then, he was just going to enjoy his new life, while watching this little new life grow.