Ungodly Chaos Book Three of the Ungodly Series

Chapter One: An Ending and Beginning

Lucian lay in the overgrown grass of Emma's Aunt's farmhouse staring at the sky bitterly. Normally, the sun would have offered him warmth and comfort, but not today. He fingered his collar. The tie that Bound him to Emma was stronger than ever, but he had begun to wonder if he should ask for his release. The very idea made his entire body and spirit ache. He'd stayed with her for years now, in the human realm, but it had been the Familiar Bond that compelled him to do it. Every once in a while though, he had a moment when he could step out of his Mistress' influence and realize that something was terribly wrong. He pushed the shaggy black hair out of his eyes, scraping his black fingernails along his scalp.

“Hey mister! It's you again!” A young voice called. Luci suppressed a growl. Although if he admitted it to himself, he understood the teenage girl's infatuation with him. There really weren't any other young men living anywhere near here, in the middle of rural nowheresville. She panted as she fell to her knees beside him in the grass.

“Be careful, you might get ticks.” Luci commented as she looked at him with a happy grin. He dimly remembered happiness. He was happy, when he was under his Mistress' control. But when he escaped her influence-he wasn't so sure anymore.

“Why are you so sad?” The young girl asked, hugging her knees to her chest. She reminded Lucian of someone, but he couldn't quite peg down the memories anymore. His mind was so muddled and confused these days. Even his Form was Corrupted. He held up a hand, glaring at the blackened nails again.

“If you don't like the color-you can always paint them another. Though I really like it. It matches your hair and your dark eyes.” The girl blushed, hugging her knees tighter. Lucian could scent her arousal. She was so young to be out here alone, flirting with a strange man. Well, attempting to flirt.

“What was your name again?” Lucian sighed.

“Alice.” The girl answered proudly with a blush. She shifted her position to lay down next to him, staring up at the sky. “How come sometimes when I talk to you, you act like you don't recognize me at all?” She asked. “Are you ok? Like are you being abused or something? Do you need help?” Luci lifted his head to look at the girl with surprise. What would make her think that? He chuckled slightly.

“I have... memory issues.” Lucian answered, pushing his hair out of his face again, laying his head back down on his arms.

“Oh.” The girl replied softly. “I thought you might be mad at me. Because I know I keep.. I mean... what I'm trying to say is I'm really attracted to you and I'd really like to go out if you wanna...” She rushed through the end of it. Lucian sighed.

“Little girl, I'm much older than you, and I'm not safe to be around. Because of my memory issues. I can't guarantee what I'll do from one moment to the next.” Luci said.

“I'm not little! And you'd never hurt me. I know you! You're very kind, and sweet, like a puppy dog. Even if you do try to act like the big-bad-wolf!” The teenager sat up swiftly. “Tell me you don't like me just a little, and I'll leave you alone.” The girl demanded.

“I don't.” Luci gritted his teeth, feeling them lengthening as his frustration grew.

“That's not true, and you know it! When you first came here, you used to spend all kinds of time with me! Back when you used to smile! I'll prove to you that you like me!” The girl leaned in and swiftly planted her lips against Lucian's. Two parts of him warred with each other. He felt the feral Hound inside of him demand he take her, here, now, in the weeds, but the human part that he had some semblance of control over right now snarled, shoving her away.

“Get away from me little girl.” He snapped. “Before you get hurt.” The girl stood, anger and humiliation warring for dominance on her face.

“I'm not little. I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in July. And I don't know what's wrong with you LUCIAN, but you used to be kind.” Alice spat, and stalked off towards her parent's house. Lucian watched her walk as the Hell Hound inside him fought for dominance. As he felt it began to win the battle for control, he tore off through the field towards the woods behind Emma's Aunt's house, letting his body rip apart, the fur bursting out of his skin as his own wolf snarled and clawed its way out, attempting to battle the Hound into submission. He was so tired of this, so exhausted. He wondered what it would be like to just..give in..

------------

Emma stepped out on the porch, shading her eyes with her hand. She'd felt Luci's anger surge and watched him run off towards the forest. She closed her eyes and sighed. They still hadn't figured out a way to fix him. They were still stuck here on the human plane. She missed her children. She missed Bel. There was still no sign of him, despite her fear of the Demon, he'd never shown.

“Mama!” A small voice called from inside the house. She turned with a small smile.

“Yes baby?” Emma reached out a hand as the little bronze-skinned child toddled towards her, reaching a no-spill cup towards her.

“Empty.” The child said solemnly and she couldn't help but laugh.

“Is that so? Do you want something else to drink?” She bent down to pick up the child, who nodded and grinned a half-grin. “Well let's go see what we have, hmm?” Emma tickled him and he laughed. The front door swung open behind them.

“Is that my son giggling?” Cern's voice boomed across the space.

“Dada!” The boy wiggled, trying to free himself from Emma's arms. Emma grinned wryly and set him down so he could waddle quickly to Cern's side, screaming with laughter as Cern picked him up and tossed him in the air.

“Hello my beautiful Goddess.” Cern greeted her, walking across the room to brush his lips across her temple.

“Everything alright out there?” Emma asked nervously. Her Aunt's power had started to become a formidable force, and Cern had been watching for signs of Bel's Demon Form since her nightmare.

“Still missing.” He answered her unspoken question. Emma fought back the tears she felt trying to choke her. “Your Aunt had a run-in with a specter today. Something big is going on. There seems to be a lot of Corrupted spirits on the move and Demons about. I'm starting to think maybe I should send you and Sage to another plane for a while...” Cern moved around her to sit at the kitchen table.

“I can't do that.” Emma said quickly. “Luci still can't leave this plane, he's bound to it for some reason, and I don't know why. I can't leave him here Cern. We don't even know if I could leave him here even if I wanted to..”

“You could release him.” Cern responded softly.

“No!” She answered sharply. “No.” Cern looked at Sage. His son. The only child Emma had granted him, and he had been a surprise to both of them, considering Bel had never revoked his protection against pregnancy in her, and even after she gained back a lot of her power, she chose to keep it. But Cern could sense it, he had begun to suspect where the child had come from. As the child aged, and its power began to develop... Lugus had warned him, and now he feared Lugus was right. The Darkness had spawned, and it had infected everyone in Emma's life.. He gripped his son tighter, nuzzling his face into the child's hair as he laughed.

------------------

Phoebie clapped her hands, scattering dust.

“Seriously, does nobody clean these rooms or what?” She complained.

“You should just thank your lucky stars that you were able to convince that office worker to let me share a room with you.” R grumbled.

“Uh no, I had nothing to do with that-that was all you.” Phoebie turned to shoot him a mischievous grin and nearly fell off the stool. R was there in an instant, hand on her hip, stabilizing her.

“Well, it got us a shared room against all odds, but we're here way out in the middle of nowhere. I'm surprised the college allowed it.” R sighed. “Now would you please come down from there? You're the one with time skills, I can't stop time if you fall, and you're scaring me.” He griped.

“Catch me blackbird.” Phoebie threw out her arms and let herself fall to R's squawk of protest. She giggled.

“I'm not a blackbird.” He squeezed her tight to his chest and she giggled harder.

“You're just my blackbird.” She teased. R looked down into her face and saw the love shining fiercely there and felt the emotions warring within him. One demanded he toss her onto the nearest flat surface and have his way with her, and the other wanted to just sigh and treat her like the child he still felt she was. The fact was, he loved her just as much, and he had stopped fighting his nature. The Raven in him demanded he strengthen his chosen pair-bond at every opportunity, so he found himself lowering his face to hers, brushing his lips across hers. He watched as her eyes fell closed and a soft sigh escaped her, and then he lost control and yanked her legs up around his hips. She laughed as he pushed her so her back was against a wall.

“Tell me if you want me to stop.” He breathed against her neck.

----------------

On another Plane

Bel and Emma's House

Older version of Phoebie and Rafe

Rafe woke first. He cuddled into Phoebie's back, nuzzling his nose into her hair and cupping her abdomen gently. She'd finally given in and they were expecting their first clutch. He was beyond excited and found himself swelling with pride pretty much at every turn, quite literally according to Phoebie, who said he'd puff up his chest and his hair would fluff out. He grinned to himself.

“Hmmm.. I can almost feel you thinking back there.” Phoebie said sleepily, her hand sliding down to twine with his. He chuckled lightly and propped himself up on an elbow to kiss her.

“Caught me.” He murmured against her skin. “I was just playing proud papa again.” He smiled. She grinned, still half asleep and hummed. She had been quite tired lately, the pregnancy taking a toll on her. The Healer guessed she would most likely give birth to multiples, but they had lost their resident fertility gods, so were running a little blind as the power that normally fed their plane slowly waned, so was reserved for emergencies until contact could be re-established. Rafe winced. That was partly due to the fact that they had gone along with the plan to rewrite time. It threw the planes out of balance, which meant the energies sustaining the planes were no longer in balance. So far only Rafe and Phoebie knew what had happened on this side, besides some of the gods, but no one had approached them yet, so Rafe was hoping the blip they had caused was a small enough ripple to be ignored.

“What's the matter blackbird?” Phoebie asked gently, placing her hand along his cheek. He leaned over to capture her lips.

“Absolutely nothing but pre-baby, um babies, jitters.” He teased and she laughed.

“I know what you mean. It's a little hard to prepare without even knowing how long or how many to prepare for.” She yawned. He kissed her forehead.

“Why don't you go back to sleep? I'll have Nadia fix the kids breakfast, and bring you breakfast in bed?” Rafe wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed again.

“You're the best, Rafe.” She mumbled groggily, already half comatose before he even made it out of the bed. He smoothed her hair with a look of concern. Maybe he'd been wrong to push this at such a critical time.