One Soul Book Two

Chapter Twenty-One

Harlee POV

“Shut up.”  I hissed.  I still found it embarrassing, the strange ways my Demon Form manifested.  Purring was relatively new, the sensation strange and an uncomfortable betrayal of what I was feeling.  I tried to pull away from Zeev, but he wrapped his arm around me tighter, holding me against his chest, his arms like steel cables.

“I like it.”  He murmured next to my ear, rubbing his face along my cheek.  The purring started back up, unbidden and he chuckled delightedly.  My whole chest, throat and teeth felt like they were going to rattle out.  It was strange and I struggled to quiet the noise.  “Don’t do that.  It’s so.. cute, so very you Harlee.”  Zeev chuckled.  “I love it!”  As if to emphasize his point, he continued to rub his face along my head, keeping the purr from fading, even as I rolled my eyes again.

“Cute?”  I griped around the noise.  It cut out long enough for me to force the word through my lips almost on a pant.  “This.. is.. Embarrassing.”  I tried again to struggle free of his grip.  Unfortunately, our small spat was drawing attention.

“What is that?”  Ash walked around the couch.  “Is that..  Harlee purring?”  Ash practically squealed and dove on top of me, trapping me even further in Zeev’s embrace, sandwiching me between the two of them.  Ash rubbed their face on my chest, placing an ear there as they hugged me, their head riding up and down as my chest heaved to maintain the obnoxiously loud purr.  “Oh my God I love it!”  Ash gushed and Zeev chuckled again.  My face was heating up and I was pretty sure it was blood red by now.

“This is so freaking embarrassing.”  I complained through the purr while Ash and Zeev discussed me as if I wasn’t there, excitedly chatting about the latest ‘cute’ development.

“What the Hell is going on in here?”  Sam’s voice cut over the din and my purr hitched, but Zeev rubbed his face along my cheek again and it resumed, filling the silence.  I could almost smell my own embarrassment stealing across the room.  If Ash and Zeev had let my hands free I would have covered my face.

“Harlee purrs!”  Ash cried enthusiastically, nuzzling their face between my breasts.  Sam was looking at me with an expression somewhere between amusement and interest.  He stepped closer as if to see for himself and I closed my eyes.

“Yup, this is my Hell.”  I griped and all three Demons abruptly laughed.   Small hand patted my face and I opened my eyes again to see Cael looking at me seriously.  A wide grin split his face, and the purr hiked up another notch.  Good Lord did I love the kid.  Ash pulled him onto the couch and Cael curled up on my chest, ear pressed to my sternum.  Zeev released my arms without me asking and I wrapped them around my baby boy.  So he wasn’t much of a baby anymore, but at that moment, with me cradling his head against my chest, the purr rumbling through us both, feeling his small body relax, I was at peace.  Maybe this purring thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.  I allowed myself to close my eyes, drifting between wakefulness and slumber as Zeev wrapped his arms around Cael and I while Ash laid down with their head on Zeev’s shoulder.  Even Sam sat down at the foot of the couch, resting a hand on my calf.  I let myself sleep.  The love I felt for my family sustaining the purr long after I was unconscious.

Zeev POV

Harlee’s purr had come as something of a shock, but I had to admit, I adored it.  She was nursing our daughter now in the chair across the room.  I sat on the bed and watched quietly as she crooned to the babe softly as she rocked her.  My girls.  I felt my heart swell almost to bursting.  Even if Harlee was talking forever naming our daughter, saying she didn’t want to give the girl a name she would regret as she aged, since the child was a Succubus.  At present Leila was the family favorite, however and I felt that’s what she’d get stuck with.

“If you don’t stop staring Zeev, I'm going to bust out a claw and use it on you.”  Harlee threatened in a sing-song voice.  I chuckled.  She adjusted the babe’s light head of hair.  The babe had Ash’s light skin, Harlee’s light brown hair, and eyes of blue that were slowly changing to green.  She was going to be gorgeous.  Already was, and I wasn’t saying that because I was biased.  “How long do you think before Heaven catches up with us again?”  Harlee sighed abruptly.  I winced.  I had hoped we’d be able to keep these worries off her shoulders for a while longer, but…

“They.. already did.”  I said softly.  Harlee’s head jerked up.  “You notice how there’s usually only one or two of us around you lately?”  I gestured vaguely between us.  “And somebody’s always gone?”  I grimaced as her eyes narrowed.  I could feel her rooting through my memories.  I ran a hand through my hair and opened up my mind with a wince.  “You could just ask.”  I sighed.  Harlee sucked in a breath.

“That many?”  She squeaked.

“They’re just scouting parties.  They know something’s out here, but they don’t know what.  Usually it’s just one or two at a time.  But sometimes it’s a little more…”  I exhaled as she gasped again, seeing the reason we were alone in the house again today.

“Cael too?”  She clutched the baby to her chest even tighter.  “He’s been fighting and nobody told me?!”  Harlee’s voice rose and I looked at the child in her arms who fussed and moved fitfully.

“Harlee..  He’s not truly a child…”  I offered, but she stood up so swiftly it was like she’d teleported instead of just standing.

“He’s my child.  My baby!”  She hissed and tried to stomp past me out of the room.  I reached out and grabbed her, hugging her to my chest.  I felt her pain, her fear and panic.  I tried to ease some of it, take it as my own.  I didn’t want her to suffer, but I was not Sands.  All I shared with Harlee was her soul, I couldn’t take her suffering.  The most I could do is hold her close and let the two halves of our soul try to comfort each other.  She struggled for a moment before a sob ripped out of her chest that I felt deep in my own.  Then she burrowed into me like she intended to crawl into my Form for protection.

“Harlee..”  I exhaled, my Heart aching for her.  I could feel my soul fragment reaching for her, dragging my Core, my very Being along for the ride.  Her pain screamed at me and my Form suddenly answered.  In a second I had surrounded her silent cry for help, surrounding her in my shadow Form, swarming Harlee and our daughter protectively.  My Core pulsed before her chest, closer than ever.  The baby fussed and Harlee drew back, calling my name with worry, but I couldn’t stop what was happening any more than she could.  My Core brushed her lightly and she gasped and arched, this time calling my True Name before our soul sank into her skin, the two soul pieces joining into one joyous whole as the shadows writhed into her body.  Harlee’s eyes and mouth flew wide.