ASMODEUSMETA
ARONNEDEAMADORE
It had all been an accident, really, during the middle ages. Soliana had been so beautiful that it had caught Asmodeus’ gaze from the start. The fact that she was studying to take her vows? It.. had made it something more of an irresistible challenge.
She’d been bright, and so very sweet– and things at home with Lilith had been difficult… Asmodeus hadn’t been able to talk himself out of speaking to her. And eventually, when speaking became more, to slipping through the convent window.
It was an impulsive mistake he regretted as soon as she took with child.
In a jealous fury, Lilith whispered poison into the ear of the Mother Superior. Soliana had never been seen with a man, and her door- like all of the young women, studying for their vows- was locked at night. Who else, but the Devil, could have done this?
Kept in isolation, Soliana plead her innocence. But when Aronne was born, his hands six fingered, and his eyes pure black, even she couldn’t believe her own stories.
Delayed by his jealous wife, Asmodeus wasn’t fast enough to glamour his son before the priests burst into the birthing room.
Soliana was executed for her sins.
During her execution, Asmodeus slipped away with his son, and placed him in a warlock home to be raised and cared for. Unfortunately, the couple– while they loved Aronne desperately– taught him to revile his demonic heritage.
He despised Asmodeus, and believed himself damned; cast out from the light of God, for his tainted blood. Aronne spent the whole of his life attempting to uphold the scriptures, and to help the less fortunate, in the hopes that a life lived well could spare his immortal soul.
MAGNUS(SON)
He had made the token effort of waiting outside, listening to the sound of her wailing gasps turn concentrated and focused. The Indonesian summer was hot as he lounged beneath the rubber tree in their yard. The mundanes noticed nothing, as usual; but they had thrown open the shutters to let in the cooling night air.
He’d known from the beginning that the wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to go inside; but this part always took so long. The waiting that seemed to drag on eternally– even for one who had seen millenia pass. He would be there, as he had for all of his children.
Even Asmodeus couldn’t predict how his children would be marked, only that they would. And mundanes had never been accepting of things they didn’t understand.
Time stopped as his son entered the world, bloody and screaming, and beautiful.
Ignoring the frozen expressions of the mundanes, Asmodeus tenderly lifted his son from the midwife’s arms. He was perfect, with a shock of dark hair and his mother’s caramel skin beneath the flush of newborn crying and the slime of birth.
And like every time before, Asmodeus felt his heart swell painfully in his chest. “Shh, little one..” He murmured, his long, slender fingers curled beneath his son’s dark head, as he cradled him close to his heart. “Ayah’s here, my sweet boy..” Soon, he would have to hand him to his mother, but for that moment, he guarded his stolen seconds jealously.
He had no wings, or scales. No claws, or gills. Just.. Asmodeus breathed a laugh as the newborn blinked up at him, hazy and struggling to focus in his first seconds of life. “You have my eyes, anakku. But as beautiful as you make them, your mother isn’t ready for them, yet. She’ll learn, sweet one– but we must give her a little time.”
Carefully, Asmodeus passed his hand over his son’s face, the brilliant gold-green eyes, slit pupil, fading to a remarkable but human shade of amber. “There will be days, anakku, in the future, when I won’t be there to protect you. But know that your Ayah has loved you before you were born, and loves you still.’
“If you never believe another thing I tell you… believe that.”
---
She was at the end of her tether, and still the screaming wouldn’t stop. The child squalled, face red and tears streaming down his rounded cheeks. Already her husband had left the house, just for a moment of peace and quiet, and she wished dearly she could go with him!
“Hush child, please!” She pleaded at Magnus’ cradle, rocking him endlessly, even though it didn’t seem to help. He’d been fed, and changed, and there was no way he was cold, and still, nothing soothed him!
“Shh..”
The voice came from the open window, and suddenly, she was tired. So very tired, her eyes drawing closed against her will. For an instant, she wondered if her husband had returned, if it was his arms that were lifting her gently in her bed. Of course it was.. it must have been…
“Anakku… You are being trouble.” Asmodeus drawled, lifting his sobbing son from the cradle. He was so light in his arms, feverishly warm from screaming, and Asmodeus chuckled quietly as his cries almost immediately faded into wobbly sniffles. “There now.. We’re going to let mama sleep.. And you are going to stop crying.”
With a tiny hiccup, Magnus finally looked up at the new figure, his little head cradled safe in the crook of Asmodeus’ arm.
Impossibly bright, amber eyes looked up at him, and with a resigned sigh, Asmodeus tried to ignore the pang of familiarity in the pit of his chest, “Not just yet, beautiful boy… Mama isn’t ready for that, yet. And you have to give her time.” Already the dark pupils of his eyes were starting to elongate, to mirror his own.. And soon, even the glamour he placed on the boy wouldn’t be enough to stop his nature from shining through.
Hopefully it would be enough time for his mother to love him. To overcome any horror she might feel.
Slowly the High Prince of the Abyss walked around the room, shifting his little boy higher against his shoulder so he could look out the window. Giggling suddenly, Magnus waved his tiny hands at the shadows of the fluttering leaves, and even Asmodeus couldn’t quite smother an almost inaudible laugh.
“You’re growing so fast, my son..”
Leaning down, Asmodeus brushed a kiss across Magnus’ forehead, his heart clenching at the babyish giggle it earned. And when he pulled away, Magnus’ eyes were amber, a strange colour.. But the glimmer of the infernal had once again been hidden. For a few more months, at least.
“Now, we need to wake up mama, and you’re going to stop fretting for her. She’s going to take care of you, since I can’t be here.”
A few moments later, Magnus’ mother woke with a start, feeling strangely refreshed after her brief nap. In his cradle, Magnus was watching her, babbling cheerfully to himself– and maybe he had just needed a good cry?
That must have been it…
THETWIN
All of the Heavenly Host looked on one another as brother and sister, created by the hands of the Almighty.
But Asmodeus and Azazel were different; they were shaped from the same handful of clay, and the bond between the twins was strong.
When Azazel left the Shining City, following Lucifer… for surely God, in his infinite love, could understand the injustice of giving mankind free will, while the angels had only service… there was no question that Asmodeus would go with his brother.
And when He met their protests with blood and violence, Asmodeus found himself searching through the battlefield for his twin when they were separated. It was a fear he has never forgotten.
In the end, damned by their creator, they fell together.
BEINGSUMMONED
Asmodeus has lost track of the number of desperate people who had tried to summon him. They plead with him to rid them of their cruel lovers… to make them rich… To cure their hurts. They ask for armies and power beyond human comprehension.
And in return, they offer him incredible things. The poor offer their bodies, their blood; they offer the scant years of their remaining lives. And the lives of people they will sacrifice in his name. The rich offer their wealth, their souls. And try to bargain with other people’s blood on the table.
Most of the time, Asmodeus ignores them. What does he care for mortals and their mayfly lives? He’s no errand boy or hired hand.
On the rare exception, the poor souls summoning him should read the fine print carefully.
Even the seraphim can’t save someone who has signed themselves away.