I sat at the kitchen table, trying to savour my hot chocolate while the sounds of sex were screamed out through the darkness.
Ever since the female had joined us, Quinton was focused entirely on her. I felt like a third wheel in my own relationship.
And Ethel had completely been smitten by her too. She was always following her now, and even keeping her skin on that had been partially torn through this time.
I hadnt seen my baby all day. No matter how many times I called her name or searched for her, she didn't return.
She was close though. I had still heard her clicking away in whatever place she had been hiding behind.
The female, whatever her name was, was bringing forth feelings of jealousy I had never felt before.
While she cried out in pleasure, I tried to ignore what could have been me. Both of them had been going for hours, and could still be continuing for many more.
Demons had no limits like humans did. Quinton didn't have to restrain himself with this new mate and wasn't going to start anytime soon.
I didn't realise I had slept at the kitchen table until I was shaken awake.
A half finished drink was beside me, stone cold and bobbing with bits of abandoned tea cake crushed around me.
Quinton pushed the hair out of my face when I lifted my head to him, then picked off a piece of cake from it that he enjoyed for himself.
"Good morning beautiful" he smiled and kissed my head that his fingers stroked "I hope I didn't keep you up too long."
"I'm more worried about our daughter trying to sleep through that" I grumbled back.
Quinton took my dishes to the sink with an amused grin.
"Slept like a baby."
"At least one of us did" I muttered to myself.
Quinton noticed my sourness but didn't delve into it. He knew perfectly well what the cause of it was.
"You know that'd be you under different circumstances" Quinton placed a fresh cup down before me and pulled up a seat "but I want to make sure we have every chance at this, OK? I'm going to make sure her nest is full for us to use, just in case."
Just in case.
Was he expecting danger?
With all of the spores floating around and the state Quinton had returned in, I was assuming so.
Ethel.
Instantly, I was on my feet and looking around for her again. Quinton saw my distress when I went to leave the table, and grabbed onto my arm after a swiped attempt.
"She's fine" he said and led the way to the nursery "see?"
The female was there in the rocking chair, looking down lovingly at the baby she cradled in her arms. The baby grabbed for her while it nursed greedily, never leaving her breast.
The female looked up at us when she realised she had company, and I saw her hands tighten on Ethel.
"Poor darling is starving" she spoke and dropped her eyes again "no wonder she hasn't kept her skin."
I felt every word stab through me. There was no way I could care for Ethel the same way a mother could. I felt like I had failed her.
"I can't build a nest and feed her at the same time" she continued "it takes me two days to regrow a skin, and feeding her in my natural form like this is not possible. She needs food in both forms to stay strong."
Both forms. If the others had survived as long as Ethel did, they would have starved if they didn't resist like she had.
"I'll buy formula to help you out" I suggested.
The female wasn't shy in displaying her disgust in the idea.
"This is a bond that needs to happen naturally. It's like your connection as mates; this links me to each of my children. As a demon, it has to be made."
"A pump then" Quinton added as he slid his hand around my waist.
Ethel continued to suckle while her tiny fingers held onto the female's. She looked content with that decision and softened her stance.
"I hope we can make this work" she finally looked up at us with a small smile "it'll benefit me as well to have my babies survive to adulthood. And I'm sure you'll take good care of them..."
"Silas" I smiled.
"I'm Alina" she replied sincerely "thank you for giving me this chance."
Alina was easy to find during her stay here. If she wasn't feeding Ethel in the nursery, she was outside the fence, weaving her orb web in the trees only a few meters away. She made sure it was large enough to fit her and most of her brood she was expecting.
Seeing as we had welcomed a couple of hundred last time, she was cutting no corners.
The eggs she tied into sacs hung from the roof of the nest when a week of mating passed. One was quickly implanted into me so it could begin flourishing.
The others would remain in the nest until they were needed. Growth could not happen without the warmth and nutrients my body provided. Those eggs could remain in stasis for years, if they dodged danger for that long.
The spores pouring from Alina filled the air around the home and flitted between the trees. It was already starting to attract the attention of rival males who hammered on the door or scratched at the windows when I slept on the lounge at night.
None of them dared to enter with the presence of a spider demon inside. Quinton kept Alina and Ethel protected in our bedroom, just in case one of them got a bit too brave.
Seeing as all of our future children were hanging just beyond the fence line, things were going to get violent quite quickly if one of them tried.
Alina was busy weaving her webs when it was time for our children to come into the world.
Quinton was helping her, both in their natural forms, when hundreds of babies came pouring over the floors and made their dash for freedom.
They scurried for both spiders, swarming around them and fighting to nestle into the fur on Alina's back where she could protect them.
The first started dropping dead only ten minutes later. Soon, more followed. The grass was becoming littered with bodies that we just hopelessly watched.
Alina had no more children to protect when the last five withered away the next day. Her arms scraped the bodies of her babies towards her in shock. Quinton was already forcing another sac under my skin to try again before the death of the first one even hit me.
We only had five prepared attempts at this. Alina would need to prepare more if we grew desperate.
The strain of preparing so many eggs and trying to feed Ethel at the same time was going to take its toll on the poor demon. She was already spreading herself thin, and that was with my help of giving Ethel the milk we had pumped for her.
She would not be able to keep birthing like this. It would kill her if Quinton forcing her to refill her nest for him.
There was nothing we could do.
We lost another brood just as quickly as the first. Two weeks of waiting all amounted to three days of joy before we were piling bodies together again.
Alina was starting to see our struggle and feel the weight of the loss tearing me apart over and over again.
These were her children too. She was losing everything she had put her heart into right before her eyes.
It was making us all desperate for success. We were already harvesting our third and only had two more attempts left before the nest was empty again.
Whenever Ethel wasn't being fed by any of us, she was sleeping in her crib. She was oblivious to the anguish that jolted through us, or the desperate noises that pierced the silent nights to replenish the empty nest outside.
She was steadily growing with each day that flew by. With her mother here, all she wanted was to be nursed. She didn't leave her human skin anymore that cried out for the warmth of the breasts returning to her every two days.
Around Ethel's demanding schedule, those children were all we focused on. It was hard to focus on much else with Alina's spores filling out lungs anyway; you could practically smell how badly she wanted to be mated.
The day of the third hatching was upon us before we knew it.
Everyone was tense when life cascaded once more and made its bid for freedom from me for the best chance at life.
It was a few hours now when the first dropped dead.
A few more followed the next day, with more throughout the week. We still had seventy left that all developed their first skins.
Quinton and I were rushing out to buy multitudes of bottles to keep the hungry horde fed when they screamed for their mothers milk she tried to share between those closest to her.
Ethel took priority though. She was the strongest and oldest of the broods. We couldn't have her needlessly suffer over the uncertain future of the others around us.
There were casualties of course. Fourteen arms and two breasts between the three of us was not enough for everyone. Those that didn't drop from starvation were taken by trying to keep their skins severed.
There was no time for hunting anymore. We were already struggling to keep everyone fed in their skins, rather than risking them return to their demon forms where they could be butchered by lurking males. The ones who ripped at their skins like Ethel had, doomed themselves immediately.
It was a cruel fate for the fight to survive. Eventually, we were left with only seven who all plunged through the milk reserves and drained them dry.
And out of those seven, four remained with us after the safe period of a month.
Five children was more than manageable.
But we all got greedy. For a demon, five out of hundreds was dismal. For me, five could be extended to a comfortable eight. There was always room if fatalities started cropping up again.
With the next birthing, six more survived to the month, to exceed all expectations.
We still had one more sac left from the original clutch. Seven more had been created before Alina had remained in her skin to provide for the ones swarming us now.
There were no more plans to extend our brood. Twelve was more than enough to keep consistently fed for the first year of their life.
Alina was not going to leave until they were all weaning from her. She wanted to create that bond with each and every one of her babies, and was determined to breastfeed all twelve through cycles up to that first year.
After then, they would be left to us so Alina could continue to grow her family elsewhere; as she had done before us and would do after.
We were finally parents. After so much heartbreak, I could hold the tiny babies I had been waiting for, with my mate holding me close as we marvelled what had been created.
The nursery was no longer big enough for our family. The lounge room had been converted into one instead, until we could extend our home to accompany everyone as they grew.
Twelve cribs lined the room in two neat rows. Each one had a board hanging over the end with the name of the baby within.
It had taken forever just to think of all the names we wanted. Apart from Ethel, we had another eight girls names to decide between, as well as another three boys.
Eight of them were Orchid Spider Demons, including Ethel, while another four were just like Quinton.
The mixture of skin tones from the three of us was incredible. Some didn't even resemble any of us and bore completely different colourings in both their skins and natural forms.
It couldn't have been more perfectly overwhelming.
ns 18.68.41.179da2
