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The sounds of distant creaks, bubbling lava and the haunted low moans of recently departed souls was not uncommon in the kingdom of the Underworld. And not only had Queen Janna gotten so used to it that it dissolved into white noise as she slept, but she heartily welcomed it. After years of only dreaming that she could leave her drab life on Earth behind for a more supernatural and downright creepy existence, now here she was — Queen of Hell.
Actually, Tom wasn’t thrilled about the term “hell” being used to describe his kingdom, clarifying it was just a story made up by Earth cults to scare their followers into doing what they said. That was the part that thrilled Janna though: Scaring people. Her freaky tendencies had garnered her all sorts of odd looks and wrinkled noses in her direction for years, but at least it was attention. Otherwise, she just blended into the background of her parents’ and classmates’ lives.
Then she found a friend in Star, and later she was introduced to Tom the demon prince. At the time, things were more than a little weird between him, Star and Marco, and Janna had offered him an escape from that tension. He was a fixer upper. Well, more like an extreme makeover. The guy had a lot of unlearning to do, and still did to this day. But she guessed that was what happened when you were taught to believe certain things your whole life. Janna had never followed the rules and always went with her gut — even if her gut told her to swipe Marco’s credit card and charge a pair of boots to them.
And years later, when her gut told her that the hand of the Underworld prince in marriage would give her everything she had ever wanted, including the ability to be one of the most powerful sorceresses in the multidimensions, she went with it wholeheartedly. And that was where they had ended up today: Just her and Tom, snuggled under a blood red canopy and satin sheets, breathing deeply along to the moans of the dead...
Until a baby’s shriek pierced the stillness for the fifth time that night.
“Your turn,” Tom mumbled, half asleep as he untangled his arm from Janna’s waist and rolled over.
Janna pouted at losing his warmth, her dark lashes fluttering open. “Dammit Tom, I had to push her outta me. Doesn’t that give me a free pass?”
“Nope,” he replied shortly into his pillow. “And I’m not letting the minions near my kid.”
“Can’t we get real servants like the Butterflys have?” she whined as she slowly sat up from the comfort of the mattress. “I bet Star doesn’t have to put her daughter back to sleep six times a night.”
“Jan, I’m not getting up again, she’s sick of me anyway. She wants her mom.”
Muttering a string of swear words under her breath, Janna swung her legs off the bed and stuffed them into her black slippers before drawing a silken red robe around her form. Before Lily was born, Janna could stay up all night if she chose to, and often did. Now she was tired all the time, and ridiculously so. A month later and her energy had not been the same since the day her daughter was born. She guessed pushing a demon child out of a human woman had to be especially strenuous, but Janna honestly couldn’t remember much from it after she blacked out from the pain.
Now at three in the morning, she was seriously wondering if it had all been worth it.
“Okay,” Janna sighed out as she threw her body against the ironclad nursery door to push herself in. The wailing grew louder as the crib grew nearer, and moments later she was staring down into a little lilac face with tufts of orange-red hair. A row of sharp teeth lined the screaming mouth, and Janna’s lips twisted into a frown. Spitting image of her father — not one trace of Ordonia DNA in her. Fucking demon genes, she thought curtly. It didn’t even feel like Lily was hers.
“Hey,” she said a little louder over the screams, sliding her hands under the infant’s writhing form. That made Lily open her clenched lids, revealing blood red eyes against her purple flushed face. Her gaze found her mother’s. The whimpers quieted, but did not cease, and Janna exhaled impatiently. “Look hon, I really wanna go back to sleep, so can we make this quick?”
Lily continued to cry as Janna held her closer, sniffing her backside briefly. Diaper was clean. Maybe she had more teeth coming in? She already had a mouthful, so probably not. Then said teeth began to nip at the front of Janna’s robe, and it dawned on her.
“You’re hungry.” Glancing around quickly, she spotted the old rocking chair Wrathmelior had given them as a nursery gift and planted herself in it. Once her breast was bare, she winced as Lily’s little demon teeth poked her repeatedly while she suckled. “Take it easy, kid.” Lily only drank in response, and her mother sat back in her seat, glancing out the window at the blood red sky.
Janna hadn’t asked for any of this amidst her multitude of blessings, and she hardly felt qualified for the undertaking. Star had taken it in stride, but she and Marco had wanted a baby ever since they got engaged. Made sense, they were parental material, with their hugs and kisses and gushy “I love yous” that made Janna gag. Tom would’ve been perfectly happy ruling with just his queen by his side, and due to the longer life span of demons, there wasn’t as much pressure for him to produce an heir. But that hadn’t been fate’s design, and now a wrench had been thrown into their duo.
It wasn’t fair to call Lily a mistake. But she was definitely unexpected.
“I’m pregnant.”
Janna could practically see the train of thought playing across Marco’s features after she dragged him out into the corridor away from the commotion in the Butterfly throne room to lay this on him. “Yeah, I uh...just found out yesterday. Haven’t told anyone else yet.”
While she knew he would react in shock, his next question threw her off a bit.
“So why are you telling me?”
She groaned in exasperation, scratching her scalp under her beanie. “‘Cause if I tell Star first, she’ll tell Pony Head, who’ll tell everyone. And Tom...I...I just dunno how I’m gonna tell him yet. So that left you.”
“Wow,” Marco breathed out. “You guys were so sure you were in the clear.”
“No kidding,” she scoffed. “Just my luck, huh? Maybe practicing witchcraft really did curse me for life.”
“Having a kid isn’t a curse.”
“If you’re not fit to be a parent, then yeah it is,” Janna shot back, quickly lowering her voice so Star or the servants wouldn’t hear. “I dunno what I’m gonna do. I have a half-demon growing inside me.”
“Talk to Tom,” Marco deadpanned, folding his arms over his chest. “Ask what he thinks is best.”
“Huh.” She eyed her childhood friend, not with disdain but with almost pleasant surprise. “Could’ve sworn you were gonna tell me I need to keep it and own up to my responsibility. I guess Star did rub off on you a little.”
“It’s not my place to tell you what to do,” the Butterfly king shrugged. “And ultimately, it’s not Tom’s either. But you can’t just...you know, do the deed and pretend it never happened without telling the baby’s father.”
They were silent for awhile, listening to Star — almost six months pregnant herself — barking orders to the decorators preparing for the ball later that week. Janna crossed her arms over her middle, chewing on the inside of her lip as she and Marco met each other’s gazes.
“I hate it when you’re right,” she growled.
“Seriously?” Janna exclaimed as Lily began to cough out little cries again, even after she had her fill. “I dunno what else to do for y—”
She stopped short as a tiny lilac hand latched itself around her finger, nearly cutting off her circulation as her daughter wailed. Janna’s face softened — it was almost like she was scared, grabbing at her mother for comfort that she couldn’t really provide.
“Maybe...we’ll just sit here for a minute?” she guessed, as if Lily could answer her. Once she began to move the rocking chair back and forth with the balls of her feet against the floor, the infant’s cries began to quiet, and Janna exhaled in relief. Closing her nightgown and robe over her chest again, she readjusted Lily so she was resting comfortably in the crook of her arm.
And then her eyes locked onto Janna’s. Those huge ruby red Lucitor orbs that sparked fear and represented anger and power within a fearsome dynasty. Janna didn’t know how her baby had managed to make those same orbs look so irresistibly cute, but somehow she had.
Cute? Oh gods, I sound like Star. No child of hers was cute. Lily had fire and sorcery running through her veins, a bundle of force to be reckoned with. It fascinated the queen, making her swell with pride, and she couldn’t wait to see what her powerful demon baby was capable of.
But until then, she had no idea how to care for her. And that scared her. Just as it had the night she finally told Tom her news — that the two of them were about to become three.
Janna could already see her stomach beginning to bulge, massaging it as she felt a light scratching on the walls of her stomach. The child was forming inside her, and before she knew it, it was going to show. Tom needed to be told tonight.
Scanning the crowd on the dance floor in Butterfly Castle’s ballroom, she spotted him bending to kiss Moon’s gloved hand, no doubt wishing her a happy fiftieth birthday and many more. And as much as she didn’t want to risk ruining the Queen Mother’s special day, Janna also knew she would find another way to put it off if she didn’t go through with it now.
“Hey, can I steal you for a sec?” she asked once she was at her demon king’s side. Whirling around to face her, Tom gave her a fanged smile.
“Do you even need to ask?” he replied slyly.
“Janna, is that a new foundation?” Moon asked, indicating her own face.
“Um, no?” she replied, raising her eyebrows. “I’ve had this for awhile.”
“Forgive me, I’ve never noticed how much it makes your face glow. It’s lovely.”
Janna’s heart dropped. “Tom, now. Please.” Shooting a quick “Happy birthday” to Star’s mother over her shoulder, she didn’t wait for a response from Tom as she yanked him across the floor to a secluded corner behind a statue of Queen Solena.
“Kinda rude, babe,” Tom chided, but changed his tone immediately once he saw the seriousness in her eyes. Normally her dark brown pools were sultry, playful, and hungry for mischief. Never as grave and terrified as they were now. “Hey…”
“No, don’t do that,” his wife pulled back as he made to slide his arms around her waist, no doubt to pleasure her back into a smile. “Don’t make this harder. I gotta get this out.”
“Get what out?” He only looked slightly alarmed, and Janna steeled herself.
“Remember when your dad said you didn’t have to worry about producing an heir with me?”
“Heh, yup.” He chuckled. “Man, watching Marco get all jumpy whenever I mention the baby is the funniest thing. Which, of course, I can only do ‘cause I don’t have to worry about that. We’re not compatible anyway.”
“Yeah, about that.” She paused, twirling her finger nervously around a strand of blue-black hair. “Turns out we are compatible.”
Tom blinked all three of his eyes. “What?”
“We’re having a baby. I found out on Monday. W-when you were out at the lava lake, I spent all day in the infirmary. It’s for real.”
Tom shook his head. “You’re not having a baby.”
Janna frowned. “Yeah, I am.”
“I know you think you’re good at lying, but I’m not falling for it.”
“This isn’t a joke, Tom!” She seethed, for the first time in her life wishing she hadn’t pulled so many pranks on her friends. Now not even her own husband took her seriously. “There’s a goddamn demon child clawing all over my stomach as we speak!”
Her outburst echoed, bouncing off the marble walls. And as if someone had pressed a mute button, the ballroom grew quiet. Moon dropped her champagne glass, where it shattered on the tiles, Marco was facepalming beside Star, whose eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her head — whether from excitement or anger that she hadn’t been told, it was impossible to tell.
But Janna’s eyes were fixed on Tom, who was slowly backing away from her. As if she were a dangerous creature or a freak of nature, and not his wife and queen. Or to her, the one person who had accepted her for anything and everything she was.
“Tom...babe, say something,” she pleaded in a whisper, feeling a tear roll down her cheek. She wanted him to scream, his red eyes to glow white hot, to ignite his flaming fists and throw a tantrum so she could yell at him to grow the hell up. But this — this silence, those shaking breaths, that utter fear. Janna didn’t know how to respond to that, and this helplessness was shredding her cold unfeeling heart into pieces.
“No,” he finally squeaked as his wife silently cried, another tear sliding down her opposite cheek. That was the sign. That was how he knew she was dead serious about this, not one iota of her usual dry humor involved. Janna never cried. “No — no, no—”
“Babe!” she called again in a broken voice, but Tom had already taken off down the front corridor and out the side door into the night. She was hot on his heels, never losing sight of him even in the pitch dark evening, finally reaching out and latching her hand around his arm once she caught up.
“Don’t—”
“No, you don’t.” Janna’s voice throbbed with rage, “I’ve been scared and alone, trying to face this thing by myself, trying to figure out how to tell you, how to ask you what I’m supposed to do now. Do we go through with it or not? I-I have no clue how to handle this! That’s why I had to tell you now — I need you, Thomas!”
He stared straight ahead, still and quiet, not turning to face her even when her grip on his arm trembled, hitched breaths that sounded like sobs quaking her shoulders. Janna was so petrified that she was actually crying, begging for his help, hurling questions he didn’t know the answers to. All he could do was stand there like a zombie as his brain tried to process what was happening: He was going to be a father after all. Did he even want that? Did Janna want to be a mother? Would they be any good at it?
“Shit,” was all Janna could mutter as she noisily sniffled, scrubbing her sleeve across her damp face.
“You wanna keep it,” Tom concluded, eyeing her sideways with his back to her. “You wouldn’t be reacting this way otherwise. Hell, if you really wanted to get rid of it, you would’ve done it already.”
She couldn’t answer, all she could do was cling to him from behind, pressing her forehead into his back. Facing the ground, tears dripped from her nose and chin, splattering the grass at her feet as she uncharacteristically let them fall freely. She had never been so scared in her life...and he wouldn’t console her, or even look at her.
“You really thought I wasn’t gonna talk to you first?” Janna blubbered through the tears hanging off her lips. “Not giving me much credit, are you?”
“I’ve pretty much accepted that when you want something, you just go for it,” Tom said in a dry husky voice. “Marrying me didn’t change that. And to be honest, I didn’t really want it to. It’s...one of the things I love about you.”
His wife dug her nails into his upper arms, gross sounding sobs puncturing her every breath, trying to convey without words that she wanted him to hold her. She would never ask it aloud, clinging hard and fast to her pride and unromantic reputation, even in private.
“Just...quit ignoring me like I’m the most repulsive thing you’ve ever seen, would you?”
Tom didn’t say a word. But he did finally turn, unlatching her hands from him and remaining at arm’s length, staring into her face as if examining her. Once he dried her cheeks, he kept his hands cupped around them, watching the moonlight catch on the shine of her silky raven hair chopped to her neck, and make her dark eyes glisten as they stared up into his.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “You’re not repulsive, Janna, you’re anything but. I—I just don’t know what to say to this.” He growled under his breath, “We should be happy. My mom’s gonna be thrilled to have her first grandchild so soon.” He felt Janna’s lips press softly against his cheek, which caused the rage in his throat to die down. At least he wasn’t alone in this, like he had been used to feeling for most of his life. “Maybe...this isn’t a curse. Maybe it’s a good thing.”
“How?” Janna snorted. “Tom, we’d be the worst parents in the world.”
“Why?” he countered. “I grew to like kids. So did you.”
“Kinda,” she shrugged.
“We give each other love and support. So we’d just have to do the same thing for our kid,” He paused skeptically, “Right?”
“I...guess?” Janna took his hands and wrapped hers around them, idly linking and unlinking their fingers together. “They’ll be half-witch, so I’ll have to teach them how to control their powers.”
“And I’ll help with controlling the demon stuff,” Tom agreed. “Including the anger issues. I...I think we can do this. It could be the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”
“Getting married was the best thing that ever happened to us, Tom,” Janna argued.
He kissed her lips warmly, sending what felt like literal sparks through the tips of her fingers and toes. “Sure was, babe,” he whispered when they broke apart. “But you gotta admit, we’re kinda dysfunctional. We fight a lot when we spend too much time together, but miss each other like crazy when I’m home running the kingdom and you’re off with one of the covens. We’re kind of a mess, and we need a common ground to balance us out.”
Janna blinked in disbelief. “You wanna use our kid to save our marriage?”
“No — I — Jan, c’mon, our marriage doesn’t need saving!” Tom sputtered out, taking a step back when her eyes flashed. “It just needs some fine-tuning. There has to be something more than just royal duties and sorcery and saving the Butterflys’ necks every time they get themselves involved in another war — all this shit that stresses us out to the point where we can’t even be in the same room with each other. We need someone besides ourselves to come home to. Someone who trusts us and depends on us, a kid we can devote our lives to.”
“Wow,” his wife exhaled, sounding a bit winded. “Didn’t know you’d wind up so gung-ho about the idea.”
“I wasn’t, until I just talked it out with you,” Tom replied, just as shocked at himself as she was. “I can’t believe that helped.”
“Yeah, all that crap they teach you on those kids’ cartoons actually works in real life. Who knew?” Her chuckle faded when she saw Tom’s eyes travel down past her chest to her middle. “What?”
“Can I…?” He trailed off, sliding his hands down to her stomach level.
Janna shrugged, “It’s your kid, too.” Holding her breath, she felt Tom’s claw-like hands hold her belly, gently rubbing his thumbs around the already present bulge. All of a sudden, she gasped, doubling over as a sudden pain shot through her.
“Janna!” Tom cried out, catching her by the shoulders before she fell on top of him. “You okay?”
“That was the worst one so far,” she panted, her tan face turning ashen. “Like the baby was trying to bust right through.” She managed a wan smile, “You’re the dad alright. And they knew it.”
Tom’s three eyes never lost their trepidation at the fact that a response this early in her pregnancy had sent her reeling. Despite that, he kissed her again, this time a bit longer as he wrapped his arms around her petite frame. Janna was still a human, despite her abilities in witchcraft, and for the next nine months, she and the baby were going to need the best care his kingdom could provide. And since their child was only half of this world, that also meant…
Janna pulled away when she felt his lips vibrate with a groan. “What was that?” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“I just realized we may have to ask a certain other couple having a hybrid kid for tips and advice.”
Now it was Janna’s turn to groan. “I hate asking them for help. Marco acts like such a know-it-all, and Star throws her whole self so far into it that she forgets her own responsibilities.” She let out a long sigh, “But I guess we at least gotta go back in there and tell everyone. I feel bad we ruined Moon’s birthday.”
“Eh, I think she’ll be cool with it,” Tom said, sliding an arm around her waist. “And look on the bright side: We’ll have to recruit Marco to babysit an out-of-control demon baby in the future.”
And Janna finally grinned that mischievous grimace of hers that left him weak in the knees.
Nine months later, she delivered a miraculously healthy baby girl, one of very few female heirs born into the Lucitor bloodline. Janna didn’t believe in love at first sight, but giving birth to a freakish-looking demon child might have made her rethink that. So overcome was she that she had wanted to go for the full blown hellspawn name Lilith. Oddly enough it was Tom who wanted something sweeter, and they compromised over the name Lily. It was one of the first times they successfully compromised over something in such a short span of time, which made Janna wonder if maybe their new daughter was going to be the best thing for them.
The rush of joy had worn off quickly, however. Star had pointed out that Tom seemed off in the immediate week or so following, which Janna chalked up to “dad nerves or whatever.” Still, she did notice that he either dumped Lily on her or dropped her off with the Butterflys more than he actually had one-on-one time with her himself. But before she had a chance to ask him about it, Janna had quite suddenly found her husband sitting on their bed with Lily in his arms, lulling her by playing one of those god awful Love Sentence songs and talking softly to her in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice. A day or so later, he was smiling again and singing that burrito song to their baby, so Janna guessed he had worked through whatever was bugging him.
She honestly hadn’t really paid attention, because Janna was in a funk of her own. She was snapping at people even more than usual, not eating or sleeping, and much to her secret guilt, not connecting with her child in the ways she probably should. She was the one being stupid, and Lily didn’t deserve that. Lily, who was still keeping a tiny grip on her finger, the right index that Janna referred to as her “magic touch.” When she didn’t feel like summoning all her inner sorcery to perform amazing feats, she could lazily point and make little things happen, like pouring tea, straightening a bookshelf, or drawing a charm to cure a headache across her forehead.
Janna blinked down at Lily as a thought occurred to her, removing her finger from the laxed lilac hand. Maybe just a little charm, a gentle brush of a spell could speed this along...she could create the most special bond between mother and daughter that would put all others to shame with just a flick of her finger. Maybe she could…
Force yourselves to love each other?
A gasp slipped past her lips as Janna instantly jerked her finger back, which had been inches from Lily’s heart. What the hell was she doing? She couldn’t force herself to bond with Lily any more than she could have forced a bond between her and Tom. But it was there for Tom, his bond with Lily was starting to grow. Why not her? Why did it take Janna years to get her act together and own up to the mushy soft center of her charred blackened heart?
‘Cause this kid could break your heart someday, and you don’t wanna get attached before that happens.
She thought of the Butterflys again — their glittering perfect life had a constant shadow hanging over it when their kingdom’s Oracle confirmed the worst: That Princess Pandora had a fifty-fifty chance of leading Mewni down a dark path. Janna had stopped joking about it a while back when she saw how upset Star and Marco clearly were, and now that she had a child of her own, she didn’t find it all that funny anymore. She and Tom both knew going into this royal thing that there was a significant element of danger to it, with enemies and traitors lurking who could strike at any time, but it was a risk they knew was worth it. Now, with a little princess in the mix? Small and helpless, who wouldn’t be able to defend herself for years to come? She was in the most danger of them all. And it instinctively made the queen curl her baby even more securely within her arms.
Why am I crying? Janna inhaled in shock as a burning lump clogged her throat, her lip trembling as the tears she publically swore she didn’t have brimmed in her dark eyes. It was just Lily settling back down, nestled in the crook of her arm, her cheek pressed against her breast. They had done this a hundred times. Her awesome little demon...a sweet fragile thing who needed love and care, no matter which dimension she was from. Whose wonder-filled eyes fell closed at last, tiny fists relaxing as her mother felt the dam break wide open.
In a twist of irony, it appeared the roles had reversed. Lily was now sleeping peacefully and Janna was choking on cleansing sobs in the darkness, tears streaking her cheeks with no means to wipe them away. One salty bead dripped onto her chest and rolled down the satin fabric until it touched Lily’s forehead. For the first time in years, Janna let someone weaken her, chip the ice around her frozen heart, smash through her defenses until she had nothing left but raw emotion. With no one to witness her, she gave in and let her heart fill up and her eyes overflow, pressing her lips to Lily’s soft velvety skin.
You’re all mine, she thought fiercely, as if a predator was coming to take her baby away. You’re my Lily, and I’ll protect you with my life. You got that?
As if the child could hear her thoughts, she turned into Janna’s chest and cooed in her sleep. Gulping on ugly snot-filled hiccups, Janna rocked her daughter to calm herself until her epiphanic, sleep-deprived weeping subsided. Standing slowly from the rocking chair, she took her time shuffling back over to the crib, afraid her heart would bleed afresh once she relinquished Lily. Thankfully, she held it together, smiling down at her baby before smoothing down her wispy hair once more.
As Janna turned towards the door, two gentle hands cupped her cheeks as she found herself face-to-face with a familiar lilac chest perfect for burying herself against.
“Not a fucking word,” she croaked as his fingers wiped her face and chin dry. “I don’t have tear ducts, remember? And don’t you forget it.”
“Sure thing,” Tom chuckled in a low tone, holding her closer as her nails latched onto his nightshirt.
“Look, I’m sorry, Tom,” she muttered, tracing a nail idly along his chest. “I dunno what’s been goin’ on with me, if it’s hormones or some magic shit or—”
“Hey, whatever it is, you got me to talk it out with,” Tom stated in a low rumble, like he was ready to physically fight whatever mental demons had taken over his wife. “After all the times you’ve been there for me? I owe it to you at least this once.”
With that, he kissed the air, producing a heart-shaped ring of smoke that Janna pointed at with her finger, sending a spark of magic through the heart as if pierced by Cupid’s arrow. And a smile graced her softened features at the sight of their private little trick before she indulged herself in a real kiss from her king.
“But can I tell everyone you’re officially a mom now?” he hissed against her cheek.
His wife laughed softly, shifting her head around so she could look back at the crib, where Lily slept so still and deep in her own dream world. And when she realized she wanted nothing more than to keep her in that world forever so nothing would ever harm her, it was then she knew Tom was right.
“Yep, tell everyone,” she breathed out as he planted kisses on her neck. “Tell them we’re ready to show off our kid to the universe. And it better be ready for her.”