Halfling (editing in process)

Epilogue

After the battle, everyone strived to return to a sense of normal. Human cities slowly recovered along with the elven community. The state of hell went back to normal, save for the complete redesign of Azael/Lucien's home; which now housed Catherine and her new familiar Vanessa.

Aria, Payne, Javen and Maven moved out of the safe house and built their homes in a beautiful valley close to one another. There was plenty of space for Marcus and the babies to grow and play.

The wounds of the battle, both physical and mental, healed. Aria and Payne made frequent trips to hell to visit Catherine, and Payne went every now and then to torture the damned when she felt the need to hurt. Life healed, and moved on.

Three years later...

"Mommy?"

Aria yawned and rolled over to find Lilianna standing next to her bed, her blue eyes filled with tears and Marcus by her side.

"What's the matter Lily? Have a nightmare?" Aria questioned.

The little girl nodded solemnly, a tiny sniffle leaving her. Aria smiled softly at her and pulled her up onto the bed, putting her between her and Payne. The movement caused Payne to stir, the woman yawning and blinking sleepily at them.

"What's wrong?" Payne questioned, her voice heavy with slumber.

"Lily had a nightmare, nothing a few snuggles won't fix."

Payne smiled and drew Lily close to her, her fingers moving through her hair, careful of her horns.

"My darling, you have nothing to fear of this world or the world below, if anything were to even look at you the wrong way, Marcus would eat them up. You remember what happened to that snake?" Payne questioned.

Lily smiled and nodded. "He ate it up."

"That's right, he ate it up. I think you just wanted to come and snuggle between your mommas."

Lily smiled and buried her head into Payne's chest, electing a soft laugh from the demoness. Marcus jumped up on the bed and curled up at the bottom, going back to sleep instantly.

"Get some sleep my darling, I'm sure you'll want to go play with Nicholas tomorrow, and it should be warm enough to where you can splash around in the river some." Payne commented.

"I can feed Marcus fishies!" Lily exclaimed.

Aria smiled and moved close to them. "Yes, you can feed Marcus all the fishies you want to, and you can practice your magic too."

"When will Natty be able to play?" The girl questioned.

Nathaniel, or Natty as Nicholas and Lilianna called him, was the newest addition in Javen and Maven's family. The two boys kept them busy, but they were happy.

"Not for a little while, don't you like playing with Nicholas?" Aria questioned.

"Nicholas keeps pulling on my tail." Lily whined.

"If he pulls on your tail again, you show him that trick with the vines that mommy has been teaching you. He won't do it again." Payne said with a smile.

Aria reached over and smacked Payne.

"Don't teach her to hang Nicholas upside down in a tree, I'll never hear the end of it from Javen." She scowled.

Payne grinned mischievously at her, looking down as Lily gave out a quiet yawn. She was asleep in a few moments.

Aria looked to Payne, love and warmth glittering in her eyes. She moved down and kissed the top of Lily's head, reaching over and entwining her finger's with Payne's.

"I love you." Aria whispered.

"And I you, my beautiful, darling Halfling."