Firstborn [malexmale]

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Whoa, he's so tiny!"

I smiled as Castiel and Remi leaned over the crib to look down at Hadrian, who gazed up at them with big blue eyes, suckling on his panda pacifier. They had been cooing and gushing over the baby for the past half hour after everyone else in the family had come in to have a turn.

I stood near the windows, watching them, my arms folded over my chest. Beside me, Thorn had his arm around my waist, his head cocked so he could watch them in amusement.

"At least now we have babysitters," he pointed out, making me roll my eyes and giving him a little elbow. He smirked, leaning in to kiss me on the temple. I turned to him with a smile, kissing him back before I went back to watching Castiel and Remi argue over who was going to teach him how to talk first.

It'd been two days since I'd come back.

A day since we moved back into the house back in Purgatory. The coast appeared to be clear, though, we did still have guards on duty throughout the house, inside and out, including Viviana, who was staying just a room down from our own. She proved to be trustworthy from the time she rescued me to offering to protect us, just in case something happened unexpectedly. She was actually turning out to not be as bad as I thought she was. I had been skeptical for a while, but seeing her interact with people was proving to be a pretty good indicator of what kind of person she was.

She was a bit ditzy, but definitely not stupid. She was intelligent when it came to the universe and its workings, when it came to helping others and providing for them. She loved really lame jokes and puns, but most of all, she adored people. She even liked Theo of all people and Theo was like a pickle; took some getting used to. She had also told her siblings that she'd been taking care of Rowan since she first arrived in her vessel. In fact, Rowan had been the first person she'd met.

She even seemed totally at peace with the idea of Rowan leaving her constantly, unlike Xiphrus and Stanton, who threw hissy fits whenever the guy didn't pick up his phone or changed his number on them.

"He's lost," Viviana had told her brother when he'd asked her of Rowan's constant disappearances, "He doesn't know where he belongs, so he tends to wander in hopes of finding where it is he feels safest." Xiphrus had appeared surprised, and hurt, by her words.

"He is safest with us," he told her, "Michael and I would be happy to have him stay with us." Viviana had given him this delicate smile and patted his shoulders.

"He is not a child, Xiphrus, he cannot stay with you forever."

"Why not?"

"That is not how adulthood works in this era. Besides, he cannot find his place in the world if he is living under your roof all the time. He is a free spirit. Let him come and go as he pleases, and he will find his way to you again."

Xiphrus still didn't look convinced. He also didn't seem entirely comfortable with the idea that Viviana was his sister.

Geara, on the other hand, appeared to adore her. She was also staying here in Purgatory with Viviana, mostly so Viviana wouldn't feel lonely, and vice versa.

"Joxeia and Xiphrus spend so much time together," Geara had told me, "I should like to become connected with my sister in this way as well." Of course, Joxeia and Xiphrus had both thrown fits at the thought of Geara not staying with either one of them, at which point Geara had to give them the talk; the talk being that she was an ancient all-powerful demon who needed her space and wanted to explore the universe now that she was awake. The only reason why Joxeia and Xiphrus backed off in the end was that Geara threatened to turn them into rabbits.