Demon Spawn

By Stephanie Barr

Maligned and misunderstood, demons were seen as the enemy of humanity, even when other magic users are accepted and used. But how did it come to such a pass that demons were killed on sight and what was the truth behind the war engineered to put humans and demons on opposites sides of a great divide when once they had worked together?

The answers can be found by following one particular demon's spawn...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephanie Barr
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463318430

Stephanie Barr

Although Stephanie Barr is a slave to three children and a slew of cats, she actually leads a double life as a part time novelist and full time rocket scientist. People everywhere have learned to watch out for fear of becoming part of her stories. Beware! You might be next!

Book preview

Demon Spawn

Precursor stories for Add a Cup of Chaos

by Stephanie Barr

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2020 Stephanie Barr

Discover other titles by Stephanie Barr

Conjuring Dreams: Learning to Write by Writing

Tarot Queen

Beast Within (First of the Bete Novels)

Nine Lives (Second of the Bete Novels)

Twice the Man (Third of the Bete Novels)

Saving Tessa

Musings of a Nascent Poet

Curse of the Jenri

Legacy

Ideal Insurgent

The Taming of Dracul Morsus

Pussycats Galore

Catalyst

The Library at Castle Herriot

Dedicated to Stephanie, Roxy and Alex, always.

To Mirren Hogan, Chuck Larlham, Jen Ponce, and Assaph Mehr, proof that good beta readers are worth their weight in gold

Cover by Ryn Katryn, Digital Arts

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Table of Contents

Path to Peace

Demon Spawn

About the Author

Preview of Add a Cup of Chaos

Path to Peace

The pounding was relentless.

Prudens Portens opened one eye and regarded the bright daylight coming through the windows high on the rounded wall with disfavor. Maybe it wasn't the middle of the night—so she couldn't blame them for the untimely disturbance—but she was still in mourning for her husband of more than eight hundred years. Couldn’t she wallow for a couple of decades without interruption?

Mother! she heard before the pounding resumed.

Fortis. Well, no way she'd ever get back to sleep. That boy was stubbornness incarnate and she should know. She had raised him that way. He might be nigh on eight centuries old himself, but he wasn't too old to get an earful from his mother.

She dragged herself from her bed, wondering idly why she couldn't shake her lassitude no matter how many hours she'd slept. Maybe she was dying. No, she couldn't be that lucky. She'd used up all her luck up finding a human mate as remarkable as her own mother was. And loving him as deeply as her father had loved her mother. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil, had been named, he'd said, for a Mayan ancestor before she'd seduced him from revitalizing his own culture and joining her in hers. She'd called him Chan and he'd let her, shared his warmth and his kindness, his wishes for peace, his impractical beliefs that people could work together for the good of all. He'd fathered her many children with joy and enthusiasm, including the stubborn rock of a son currently pounding on her door.

A part of her reminded her that Fortis—called Port by everyone for reasons that eluded her—was a wonderful son, the first of her children. He was well respected in the community and a rock of support for his dozens of siblings. Not that it would spare him a tongue-lashing today.

She made it to the front door, a tiny bent over wisp of a woman, more than 1700 years old. She deserved peace and she was about to get some. She waited for him to start his pounding again and wrenched the door open just as he hit it, so he nearly toppled into her foyer.

Fortis stumbled but grinned up into her face before straightening and beaming that same grin down on her. Hi, Mom!

Don't, 'Hi, Mom,' me! Pounding on the door like a lunatic or a delinquent. You're a police officer and here you are disturbing the peace.

I tried calling but you refused to answer.

Take the hint, she said coldly, then gasped as he walked past her into the kitchen.

Sheesh, Mom, when was the last time you cleaned? And what have you been eating?

The ice cream would have gone to waste, Prudens said tartly. And I'm a good millennium too old to be taking lectures from you.

Mm-hmm, Fortis said. Hold out your hands.

What? she demanded but her wrinkled crooked hands cupped anyway. Fortis had that tendency to compel effortlessly. She'd once had that skill and she regretted, for the moment, that it no longer worked on Fortis.

Into her knobby fingers, he dropped a tiny kitten smaller than the palm of her hand, eyes still closed. What's this, a new familiar? Odd coloring, she thought as the tiny creature nosed around her fingers. More like a fox, but definitely a cat. As the kitten rolled over, she saw two bottle-brush tails and gasped. Fortis, you didn't!

Fortis had gone to cleaning her kitchen as she'd examined the tiny creature. He pulled milk from the fridge, sniffed it, recoiled, and then whispered a spell to restore it to freshness.

Yes, mother, that's my son. I thought his mother smelled suspicious when I passed her by yesterday so I followed her and, sure enough, she delivered a child in the park and just left it there. Left him!

How did you get a demon pregnant, Fortis? What were you thinking? Did you learn nothing?

Mom!

Yes, I know most demons don't care, using each other for sex and leaving the babies to die, but I expected more from you.

Most still don't treat their human mates much better. Yes, Mom, I know it has to be willing. You made that law happen, but millennia of thinking humans lesser doesn't disappear overnight. And they still tend to discard the humans as soon as they're no longer necessary, Fortis reminded her.

There are exceptions and I thought you were one of them, Fortis. Only human mates for procreating, and nothing frivolous without protection. Being a parent is a responsibility not a game. And this! You know the children of a demon match are often underpowered and always undersized. Some are even sterile. He'll be teased his whole life.

More than likely, but he's entitled to a full life rather than being just left to die. I made sure he wasn't abandoned. He was coaxing a crystal container into the shape he wanted with magic and looked up at her. I might have been drunk when I copulated. She could have aborted the baby if she didn't want it, but she didn't bother to. She bore it and someone needs to care for it. At least spare me accusations that I would let that little creature pay the price for it. His mother is signing on to the war and I'm going to raise my son. He handed her the crystal bottle filled with milk. Here. I need to see the state of the rest of the house.

I'm not feeding it! You're not tricking me!

Him. I named him Paulum. Of course not. I'm just checking on my beloved mother who turned into a hermit nine years ago. I'm making sure she has what she needs.

The kitten mewed softly and plaintively, desperately nosing her fingers for milk. It's not like she could let the tiny thing go hungry,