Page 5

The hairs lifted off Mae’s nape when Artemus Steele and Lily Soul entered the room behind Tomas. It wasn’t just the daunting strength the couple exuded that was making her mouth go dry.

Sitting calmly in Artemus’s arms was a pretty blonde baby girl.

Mae couldn’t take her eyes off her.

She reluctantly dragged her gaze away as Lily came over, a smile brightening her face.

“Thank you for coming.” She kissed Nikolai’s cheek and clasped Mae’s hands. “It means a lot. To all of us.”

The Immortal’s powers brushed against her magic, as fierce and as kind as her twin brother Tomas’s.

Artemus welcomed them with a solemn, “Hi.”

The divine energy radiating off his soul made Mae blink.

So, that’s what you get when an angel and a goddess make a baby.

I wish to fight him, my witch , Brimstone said quietly.

Mae glanced at her familiar. She could tell the demon fox was being serious.

She chewed her lip.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind testing my skills against him too .

The faint smile Lily flashed her way told her she’d read Mae’s mind and didn’t mind the challenge in the least.

The room got full pretty quickly as everyone gathered to celebrate Alice Grace Steele’s first birthday, the kids crowding the countertops and the floor alongside the adults and the demons.

The little girl watched unblinkingly as Artemus and Lily lit the candle on her birthday cake and lifted her up so she could blow it out.

“Happy Birthday Alice!” the whole room chanted.

“Go on, sweetheart,” Artemus told his daughter with a tender smile. “Blow the candle.”

Lily kissed the little girl’s temple.

Alice focused and leaned forward.

Some smoke got in her nose. She wrinkled it.

Mae’s stomach dropped when she sensed the little girl’s prodigious powers surge. Oh ? —

“—shit,” Astarte mumbled.

Chazaquiel furrowed his brow at the Goddess. “What?”

Brimstone stiffened by Mae’s leg.

Nikolai paled when he detected what Mae and the Goddess had just felt.

The divine beasts were similarly stirring around the table, expressions growing wary. Smokey jumped off the table and ran under Callie’s chair.

“What’s the matter with everyone?” Artemus frowned and got a handkerchief out distractedly as Alice crunched up her face. “It’s okay, baby. Here, blow your?—”

“Er, Artemus,” Lily started hoarsely.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were—!” Mae warned.

Alice sneezed.

The explosion evaporated half the handkerchief, blew the cake apart, blasted a twenty-foot wide hole in the south-facing wall of the mansion, and set a bush on fire.

Stone glowed and metal tinkled in the deafening aftermath.

“Bah,” Alice said with a sheepish sniff.

“The cake,” Alexa said forlornly at the sight of the cream frosting plastered across the ceiling and walls.

“My kitchen,” Nate practically wailed.

Lucas and Anna looked at Lily.

“Honey?” Anna said glassily.

“I did not see that coming,” Lily stated leadenly.

Tomas shook his head, equally wide-eyed.

Artemus stared at his daughter with a mix of awe and alarm. He startled when the kids recovered from their shock and began whooping in excitement.

Movement outside captured Mae’s gaze.

A man with dark hair, blue eyes, and dazzling white wings poked his head around the corner of the gaping opening in the side of the mansion. His expression grew misty as he beheld Alice.

“Hello, my sweet angel,” he gushed sappily.

Alice brightened. “Gada!”

Artemus recovered his composure.

“Oh, great,” he told the newcomer nastily. “You’re here.”

The man’s face crumpled a little. He wiped an eye. “You’re hurting my feelings, son.”

Nikolai leaned sideways. “ Is that who I think it is ?!” he hissed at Mae.

Mae swallowed and nodded wordlessly.

The Archangel Michael was even more fearsome in the flesh than she had imagined he would be.

A large shadow blocked the opening. The helldragon Vannog crouched beside Michael and squinted at the room.

“Was that Vozgan?”

The purple helldragon stuck his neck through a rear window, Gertrude roosting on his head.

“That wasn’t me, dad,” he said cheerfully. “It was Artemus and Lily’s kid.”

“Oh.” Vannog studied the little girl warily, his giant pupils dilating and contracting. “That power felt akin to that of a truly powerful helldragon.”

“No kidding,” Drake said, still shell-shocked.

“Well, at least we know where to find a human flamethrower if we ever need one,” Serena muttered.

Artemus scowled at the super soldier. Lily sighed.

Alice giggled.

Artemus’s gaze switched from his daughter to Michael.

“Do you know anything about this?” he said suspiciously.

Michael flinched. He recovered and bestowed a beatific smile upon the room.

“Heaven moves in mysterious ways,” he stated wisely, carefully avoiding Artemus’s eyes.

Artemus pondered this for all of five seconds.

“Lily, cover Alice’s eyes for a minute,” he snarled. “I need to go over there and kick her grandfather’s ass!”

* * *

Next up is the story of everyone’s favorite incubus. Find out if Vlad Vissarion finally meets his match in The Incubus and The Bodyguard , the companion novella to the Witch Queen series!