Notes: Everyone, thank you so much for staying with me all this time and encouraging me along the way! I really appreciate it! This last chapter was very hard for me to write, for several reasons. I’ve already moved on to other stories and lost all my spark for this one, but it was also hard because I love these characters so much.

The chapter didn’t turn out right by a long shot, but I’m leaving it like this because I doubt I can be satisfied no matter what I change or add. Writing Hellbound has been a rocky, but fun journey for me, and it was my first attempt on writing a long, original story. It has countless faults and flaws, and I’m aware of that, but nevertheless these guys and girls are special to me.

Also, important notes at the end.

Thank you.

Disclaimer: The poem “A poison tree” is written by William Blake.

29

“Give me the panda teddy, will you?”

Asmodeus bent to take a closer look at the toys that had been spread all over the baby blanket on the floor, picked up the stuffed panda and handed it to Aeron. His brother’s brow was furrowed while he looked down at the infant cradled against his chest and waved the panda in front of her face. Little, happy sounds came from the baby, but even so Aeron looked like he was concentrating really hard not to make her cry.

It was indeed a peculiar sight, one which Lucious would have been certain to scoff at had he been present. Asmodeus hadn’t said anything yet (and wasn’t planning to either), but his brother had half monopolized baby Sasha today and hardly let anyone but her mother and father hold it was the bonding at work, but Asmodeus thought Sasha must be much too young to be able to recognize Aeron’s presence among everyone else that stayed here and held her before. But bonding worked in the most mysterious ways.

He had seen demons bind mates to them and treat them as if they were all that mattered, he’d seen female demons grow ferocious with rage when someone touched their mate (female demons were known to be hot headed. You simply didn’t mess with a mated female demon) and he’d seen mates that worked together as one to complete tasks.

Asmodeus didn’t know to which group he belonged.

Obviously, Lillith and he did not function as a synchronized unit, or even close to anything like it. Humans and demons were much too different, as he had seen countless examples of already. And it was uncommon for higher ranked demons to take human mates, which left him with no one to ask for advice, apart from Aeron. But asking Aeron would probably lead him on a wild goose chase rather than help him- he knew his brother well enough to say so.

“Do you think Lillith might be avoiding me?” he asked suddenly.

Aeron glanced at him, but hardly took his eyes off the baby for more than three seconds. He touched his cheek with a finger and scratched it while he looked thoughtful.

“Did you do anything? Something inappropriate, maybe?”

There was a wicked gleam in the 6th Prince’s eyes as he asked this, but Asmodeus wasn’t even sure what hidden meaning the word “inappropriate” had to make his brother smirk so, so he just shook his head.

“She kissed me.”

Now, that made Aeron’s eyebrows rise a tad, then grin even wider.

“Then what the hell are you waiting for? You two should be molesting each other by now, if that’s the case, no?”

Sometimes Asmodeus found it hard to believe that the two of them were both ‘born’ in Hell, as brothers.

“What do you mean?” Asmodeus asked slowly with a frown. Aeron rolled his eyes and finally looked at him, as if he was some stupid toddler who needed everything spelled out for him.

“Well, if she kissed you it must mean that she wants you, right? Lillith is the kind of hard-headed girl, she wouldn’t kiss you unless she wanted to. And if you want her, and she wants you then what is the problem? Any human boy knows this stuff.”

Asmodeus wanted to argue that he was not “any human boy”, but a full fledged Prince. How was he supposed to know anything about girls from another realm? Aeron seemed to guess what he was thinking (which happened a lot lately whenever he was brooding) and snorted.

“Don’t make excuses. You don’t need to know about what a lot of girls want as long as you can understand her, that’s the point I’m trying to make. You are a mind-reader, brother, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what she wants from you,” he said with a little sigh, “Hell, she accepted you as a mate, so why not get over with it already? Now shush, go make peace with your silly mate.”

Aeron motioned for him to get going, so Asmodeus supposed the conversation was over.

He left the room with even more questions in his mind than earlier. Lately it seemed like brooding was all he ever did when Lillith was around to confuse him. Had he decided to take a demon for a mate things would have been so much simpler. Demon females were straight forward and blunt- always right to the point. Or so he had heard. He hadn’t actually dealt with that many of them before since all of his siblings and “childhood” tutors were male.

But perhaps Aeron was right? Perhaps he needed to actually clear things up for himself with Lillith and try to come to an understanding about where they stood. Yes, he could do that. Of course, he suspected it might lead to a whole lot of giggles and smirks on Ana and Aeron’s behalf if they found out.

Asmodeus touched his pocket and felt the edges of the letter he kept there. It was rather small and a little wrinkled now since he’d carried it around since this morning. He would give it to her tonight, after things had calmed down. Ana’s many cousins had already roped him into carrying boxes for them the whole morning. Aeron had been lucky enough to get away because someone needed to look after the baby and he’d volunteered. All in all it had been a very bothersome affair. He could not understand why the humans had brought so many presents and tried to cram them all into the place under the Christmas tree. The result had been half hearted at best, but the females had finally let go of him and the other men after that.

Ana had told him about the various Christmas traditions that people were so fond of, and those too were beyond his understanding. Really, there was too much fuss over nothing special.

He hardly heard the two children approaching until they zoomed past him with shouts and laughter. Their minds were filled with thoughts of the food they were going to eat, the gathering around the Christmas tree and the presents they were going to open later. Asmodeus felt a tingle of joy, affected slightly by their happiness, and thought that even though the humans were noisy, intrusive and hard to understand they were also to be respected, to a certain extent. The range of emotions they showed was amazing and never stopped to puzzle him.

“Asmodeus! I’m glad I found you,” Ana blurted out as she came around the corner and nearly bumped into him. She crossed her arms under her breasts and sighed tiredly. “Aeron’s in the living room, right? I need to take Sasha to the ceremonial room now. Everyone’s getting together for the cleansing ritual.” She smiled when he gave a simple nod.

“Are you alright? You seem a little…out of it?” she asked and frowned.

“Yes. Go get the infant.”

“The two of you have to sit out on the ritual though, we can’t let demons inside. It would ruin the aura and energy in the room,” she apologized with a grimace and hurried off to find Sasha.

Well, that hadn’t been a surprise. White magic and demons? Those were two things that didn’t get along well. What had surprised him the last time he was here as well as this time was how easily Aeron and he had been accepted by the Evergreen family. Unlike how an angel would have reacted to their presence, the family of white mages had been surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal. Asmodeus’ hair was pretty popular among the females, and only his dismayed stare had kept them away (though, he thought Lillith’s glare might have helped too. He’d noticed that it seemed to displease her when other females were too cosy with him).

-

“So, tell me, why aren’t you two talking today?” Ana nudges me in the ribs with an elbow to gain my attention. I glance at her from the corner of my eyes. Surely she’s going to laugh at me if I tell her about kissing Asmodeus. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes my cheeks flare up. Next to me Ana slowly grins and reaches over to pinch one of my red cheeks.

“Ouch! Knock it off, will you?” I sound pretty grumpy, but I’m not. Really. I’m just…

“Did he hit on you?” she whispers. I whack her on the head.

“No, he didn’t. I hit on him.” It nearly makes me wince to admit it, because Asmodeus obviously didn’t catch my drift. Or if he did he hasn’t made a show of it yet. I’ve barely seen him all day. Ana’s eyes blink, surprised, before she chuckles. I pout at her.

“Don’t look so smug, he didn’t do anything.”

“Is that why you’re so awfully grumpy, Lilly?” she teases.

“No way,” I bite back.

“Yes, it is!”

When did we revert to being toddlers? This is just too stupid.

“Okay, I’m grumpy! Don’t be such a pain, Ana.”

She leans back in the chair and clicks her tongue thoughtfully. I’m not angry with her, but maybe if I pretend to be she’ll back off and leave me and my grumpiness alone.

“You should corner him and kiss him senseless, Lilly. I’m sure he can’t resist that,” she says. I huff in response. “He’s just a little dense when it comes to these things. You can’t expect anything else from someone as asexual as Asmodeus, can you? He is from Hell.”

“But-“

“Come on girls, we’re having dinner now,” one of Ana’s cousins interrupts. Ana pats my shoulder as she stands up and waltzes off to the kitchen while leaving me to my brooding. Maybe she’s right? Asmodeus may be a man, but he’s first and foremost a demon. I’d be stupid to think he understands everything we girls do. I get up and follow Ana to the kitchen, which is pretty stuffed with people.

“Lilly, over here!” Darcia and Gretchen, the twins, shout in unison and pat the seat between themselves. I make my way over with a little smile and pull out the chair. It’s noisy because of all the kids, and I can’t feel Asmodeus’ mind nearby. He isn’t sitting at the table with the rest of us, unlike his brother Aeron, who’s making funny faces at baby Sasha.

“Did you girls see Asmodeus?”

They look at me, then each other and shrug.

“Nope, not since this morning when auntie made him help with the presents,” Gretchen says. “Maybe he’s hiding from everyone. Not all of us can see him, you know.”

“Maybe.” I doubt that though. I know he doesn’t like being around all these people, but he has been pretty calm about it since we came here.

Everyone falls quiet when the family head enters the room, fashionably late. Grandma walks to her seat at the end of the table and clears her throat. Her sharp eyes scan all of us, then she smiles and claps her hands together. “Merry Christmas, everyone. Please do enjoy yourselves with this meal. And as for the presents, we’ll be opening those after dinner.” She sits down, which means we are free to dig in. I see her glare at Aeron across the table, but he just grins when he notices and reaches out for the bowl of mashed potatoes.

Christmas dinner at the Evergreen family’s place is probably the most luxurious dinner I’m eating every year. With so many people there’s a large variety of food since some of us are pretty picky. There’s the traditional food- salted and dried rib of mutton, there are potatoes and vegetables, there is lyed stockfish. Just looking at last one makes me want to shudder. I can’t imagine what it must taste like if sways like jelly on your plate when you take a bite with your fork.

By the time everyone’s finished two hours have passed by, and I doubt I’m the only one that feels like she needs to be lifted from her chair and and be rolled around on the floor to get anywhere. My stomach is full enough to make me feel a little sick when I get up, and Ana pats her own with a happy, sated look. The kids are rushing off to the living room, yelling and play fighting over who gets to open the first present.

“I bet I gained a pound just from this dinner,” Ana says, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, I’m sure you did. What would Lucious think if you got fat, huh?”

Her glare is reward enough.

“Oh shut up. He doesn’t like me like…that,” she huffs and curls her used napkin into a ball of paper sulkily.

“How would you know? Oh well. Let’s get going, it’s present-time.”

Ana links her arms with mine when she stands up, as if she’d an old lady that needs support, but I let her anyway.

‘Lilith.’

The sound of his voice inside my head startles me enough that I stop, and Ana casts me a puzzled look. I shake my head at her. “It’s just Asmodeus,” I explain, to which she grins and nudges me in the shoulder.

‘Upstairs. There is something I’d like to show you.’

He’s not avoiding me?

‘Okay. I’ll be there in a moment.’

I hear the restlessness in his voice, even though his mental voice is different from the normal one. It is a peculiar thing, this mental connection that I have with him. After I…claimed him for myself it seems to have grown enough to let me feel his emotions, to some extent. I’m sure he can feel me a 100% in return, and that is disturbing.

“Just go ahead, Ana. Asmodeus wants to talk to me.”

“Oh, does he now? Snog him senseless, Lilly. No protests, you know you want it too,” Ana says smugly and lets go of my arm to chase me off. I roll my eyes at her for being childish, but I know she is right. Thinking of kissing Asmodeus gives me butterflies.

For crying out loud- I’m not thirteen!

But all the way upstairs to our bedroom I can’t put it out of my mind- the fierce, possessive looks he has shown me before when he was jealous, the way his eyes darken when he’s angry, his hand touching my arm and his arms wrapped around me in my sleep. My skin tingles.

I open the door quietly (as if he wouldn’t notice me coming either way), and Asmodeus is standing over by the window, staring outside with his hands on the window ledge. When the door clicks into place behind me he turned his head and offers me a small smile.

“So, what is it?”

“I have something for you,” he simply says.

A present? I didn’t find anything in my luggage and he did not bring any, but for all I know he could have teleported back home to pick it up. Maybe that is why I haven’t seen him all day.

Wait a sec- I have a present for him! I totally forgot!

He stares at me oddly when I suddenly rush to my bag and start searching through it. “Ha! Found you!” I pull out the gift wrapped box and hand it over to him with a little grin. He stares at it, confused if his thoughts are reliable, and I have to shove it into his chest for him to take it.

“It’s your present- open it.”

‘Present…? She is giving me a present?’

The frown on his face is adorable, and it doesn’t go away while he unwraps it slowly, taking great care not to tear the paper. I’m waiting to see his reaction (though I don’t expect him to understand what I’ve bought for him). He folds the paper neatly and puts it on the window ledge, then turns the box in his hands with a puzzled look.

“What is it?”

“It’s a Gameboy, silly. You play games on it,” I chuckle and take it from him to open it. “See, this machine- you put a game in here and turn it on, then play.” I put the batteries in, then the game that came along, Tetris, and turn it on. Asmodeus blinks when the screen comes to life and the machine makes little, funny noises. His mouth forms a silent ‘oh’.

“I see. Almost like a television, no?”

“Exactly. You love technology, so I figured you’d like something like this.”

He is the one leaving me surprised when he stretches out one of his arms and uses it to pull me into his chest. His mouth breathes right next to my ear, and the white blonde locks tickle my cheek. I shudder.

‘Thank you, Lilith.’

Licking my lips, anxious now, I wrap an arm around him in return and bury my face in his shoulder.

‘You are welcome.’

He smells good- a mix of male and Christmas mixed together, along with that other special scent that I can’t name. The one that reminds me of rain and water. We stay like this for a long time. How long I don’t know, and maybe it is only for a couple of minutes, but it feels like an age when he moves away. His hands take the Gameboy from mine and turns it off, puts it back into its box and places it on the ledge, next to the folded wrapping paper.

“Lilith…”

From his pocket he takes out a small, black envelope that’s wrinkled and hands it to me. My name is written on the front in white pen. This is what he wanted to give me? I glance at him, but his face is blank and tells me nothing, and he urges me to open it. Inside there is a single page of black paper, and a neat, pretty handwriting (adornes) it in white, same as the envelope. It is the kind of handwriting that is difficult to read, but beautiful to look at- is it his own? I have never actually seen what it looks like.

‘A poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow…

….‘

Signed, Asmodeus.

“This is…This poem, where did you find it?” I look up at him with a frown, and this reaction seems to be unexpected to him since he looks away.

“Your book. I found it under your bed.”

So that is why I could not find it…

“But how did you know?” The unvoiced question is; did you read my mind? I can tell that he knows, and he knows too how much I hate having him invade my personal privaccy. But my anxiety melts away when he smiles, a genuine, sweet smile.

“I looked through your books. None of the others had as many tagged pages as that one, and your scent lingered the most on that particular poem,” he says.

I look at the words again, and the paper shakes a little in my hands.

“Asmodeus…”

“Yes?”

“Kiss me, please?”

He needn’t be asked twice to do so, and the paper falls to the floor when I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back greedily. His mouth is cold against mine, as is his tongue, sending shivers down my spine. His hands are on the back of my head, on my sides, on my shoulders; touching anywhere they can reach while they keep me crushed up against his chest. A gasp of surprise makes me break the kiss for a moment when he lifts me up and puts me down on the window ledge, his hands wrapping my legs around him before he’s there again, invading me and tasting me.

‘Mine. All mine. Cel-in.’

‘…Cel-in…?’

His mouth leaves mine then, and I’m breathless and panting for air when his dark eyes hold mine without blinking.

“My mate. All mine.”

“I suppose I can’t argue with that.” I grin.

“No, you cannot,” he says, a smug smile on his lips when he leans in to kiss the corner of my mouth teasingly.

‘Sure took you long enough to say it out loud, you stupid Demon Prince.’

The End.

-

Notes: Those of you who read my notes might remember that I said two one shots have been written-one Asmodeus/Lilith and another Lucious/Ana. And well, you seem most interested in the first one, so that shall be posted first.

Armith-Greenleaf’s Heavenbound follows this story, but there is also a third installment in our series. Obviously, following the name tradition, that story is named Earthbound XD This one will be written by me, and is Aeron’s story. But! I need to see where sis takes Heavenbound before I post any chapters, so meanwhile, go read her story!

Thank you for your patience, and see you soon!

Dedications: Armith-Greenleaf, my muse and awesome big sister. To Ronin, my sweet big brother who draws amazing fanart for me. To goldeneyedfury, JadeDream, mapusyaw, Plej, jeai, , bela13, Morgan Davis, lostlette, Oceania Beoul, Stahlut, gardner3, Freddy Teddy, The One Dork- Stacy, violet-eyez, chibi houkou, Crimson Petals, Sixpence Fortune and Mister Black.

Silent readers, thank you too.