The fact that the twins were able to be at the event showed just how far they had come in a short time. The two were devious enough that they could cause any sort of trouble, but they were now old enough to know better.

Well, mostly.

There were a few moments where Lewis and Simone each gave the twins a look as in ‘Don’t you dare’, which of course got dramatic pouts. Lewis, of course, was distracted though by his two boys as they clapped and cheered for their father as he did little peek-a-boo’s and other childish games.

“I sweat to the Gods this isn’t the same Lewis,” one of the more serious acolytes stated with a shocked expression. “That cold hearted killer never had anything close to a smile on his face, and here now he’s…smiling.”

Which was true. The smile on his face was as real a smile as could be, but to those who saw that smile, it looked unnatural.

“What…” Lewis’ face went back to normal the moment he looked up at them. “The staring is creepy, you know…”

Simone was proud of how far Lewis had come. They had worked hard on their life and it showed in front of them from how much their family was happy and healthy. “He always smiles for the kids… and for me I suppose.” She rubbed Janus’s hair and smiled down at him. “Right Janus?”

“Yeah, he alright.” Janus was content with his mother’s snuggles. Lewis gave him a look before reaching over and ruffling his hair.

Everett ran up to Lewis and whispered in his ear but it really wasn’t a whisper, “DAD DAD! DAD! That kid is hitting on Alshaya and trying to get a date!” Everett was pointing and Alshaya had a dissatisfied look on her face as a teen was talking to her.

Her fist was scrunched up but she kept looking over at Simone. Simone’s eyes were trained on her and Alshaya huffed and put up with the idiotic teen. “DAD!” Everett had started it as a joke but someone was seriously going to get murdered.

“Maybe if you wanted to say some kid… Your father is the last one you should have told…” Simone said dryly.

“You know.” Lewis said rather loudly, getting more attention from the whole crowd. “I once skinned a man alive for courting my oldest daughter, Ezili…” He was, of course, bluffing. Not about the skinning a man alive, but the reasons behind it. No one had ever really died attempting to court any of his daughters.

Yet.

“I sweat that girl, though…she hadn’t the slightest clue. Only had eyes for Lucas…” Lewis grinned. “But if I had to say who the most dangerous daughter I had was…it would be a toss up between Lila and Alshaya…” He glanced over to his wood nymph daughter. “And she knows how to say no…”

Simone cleared her throat, “And knows when to do it tactfully,” she added. “Meaning she knows not to start something when she has no reason to…”

“Well she also knows how to deck someone, so…” Everett added in. “Her punches hurt…”

“Now, now…I would recommend that if any of my daughters says to back off…you do it. Because whatever damage they can incur, I can do so much worse….”

Lila had a cup of juice that Osiria had brought to her. “Thanks, Auntie,” Lila said it sweetly and Os hesitantly rubbed her white hair. “Shaya’s a bigger brat.”

“I AM NOT!” Shaya yelled back at the now-smirking five-year-old. Shaya swung herself and let her fist connect with the boy’s nose. “DADDY GAVE ME PERMISSION!” The teen looked proud of herself.

Simone on the other hand… Had palmed her face. “I am so sorry Rodrick…” By the man’s response, it was his son. He had been another one of the acolytes and seemed pretty proud of his boy who was bodied on the floor.

“Guess he could learn a thing or two how to court a lady,” Rodrick crossed his arms and sat back.

“I’m dating a prince!” Shaya proclaimed. “Daddy I wanna go see Llolan!”

“You don’t need to be shoved up his ass Shaya…” Simone sighed a bit.

“Why not? You were almost my age when you and Daddy were shoved up each other’s asses! Darren told me!”

Darren coughed and looked the other way, “That is not how I phrased that…” Shaya the bold struck again.

Lewis closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “Yes, but we didn’t have anyone to teach us how incredibly dumb we were being, and you do. It’s better if you learn to be yourself without him…” He gave a deadly look towards Darren. “Also, we might need a new groundskeep…”

Everett grinned, “So ‘Shaya can’t live without her lover? Gross… do you need his touch to survive? His caress to thrive? Hi-”

Alshaya flew over and punched Everett as well, throwing her brother to the floor. “OH DID YOU WANT SOME TOO!?”

The white haired boy was laughing even through the tears as Alshaya held her fist up angrily. “I’LL SHOW YOU A CARESS TO YOUR FACE!”

Janus and Lila were watching with mild enthusiasm. “Oh dear,” Lila said with fake surprise.

“Oh my,” Janus replied, putting his hands over his eyes.

Simone was up in an instant, and pulled Alshaya back. “To your room, young lady. And you’re grounded from seeing Llonan this week.”

“BUT MOM, THIS WEEK HE’S GOT ANOTHER STUPID PARTY! WHAT HAPPENS IF A GIRL HITS ON HIM!?”

“Then I guess that’s your loss,” Everett replied as he sat up with a grin. “Llonan and Sarraahh sitting in a tree, K-i-s-s-i-n-” He was cut off as Alshaya managed a kick square into his jaw, and he was knocked back to the floor.

Lewis was up as well at this time, pushing the boys into Xeik’s arms.The two parents dragged their misbehaving teens through a portal and disappeared for a moment.

“Well that was…something,” Xeik said with a sigh. “Guess I better go as well…” He stood up, still holding the other set of twins. “We’ll be…back..”

Janus and Lila each hopped up onto the counters, sitting on either side of Osiria.

“We’re bored,” Janus said with a yawn.

“Very bored…” Lila replied sleepily.

“Anyone want to play tag?”

When Simone and Lewis made their way back in they were met with a sight. “They made it eleven minutes without doing something like this…” The Terrowin wife wrapped her arm around her husband’s as they stared at the twins they had spawned.

“They are fucking little hellions!” Rhenakos yelled from a chair he was in all the way over on the side of the cabaret.

“No one wants to play with us,” Janus said with a frown.

“This is most disappointing…” Lila followed up.

“Adults are so boring…” The twins said together as they took each other’s hands.

“…So you tried to make friends by scaring the literal shit out of them? We’ve talked about this…” Lewis sounded so exhausted saying the same thing over and over.

Simone looked at her adoring twins and waved her finger. “I promised you Glynn after five minutes but I should have said the entire night. We negotiated with terrorists…”

“And this is why we don’t negotiate with terrorists…” Lewis sighed.

“Apologize…” Simone put her free hand on her hips.

“We’re not sorry…” Janus shrugged.

“You shouldn’t apologize for what you aren’t sorry for…” Lila followed up. Both of them had Lewis’s deadpan look.

“That’s like Daddy apologizing for slitting the throat of someone who pats Mommy’s butt,” the twins said together pointing at Lewis.

“Nuh uh uh,” Lewis said as he walked up, shaking his finger. “None of the sass.”

“Yes, Dad,” Lila replied sarcastically.

Janus frumped, “I’m sorry. If only because I want Mamma cuddles.”

Lila glanced over to her brother, “I guess I’m sorry…but only because I want bacon.”

The crowd that was in the corner was slowly starting to disperse back to their seats as the argument between the twins and the parents continued on.

“”You know that you’re not allowed to scare people like that,” Simone said as she crossed her arms. “What did you even do!?”

“They were boring,” Janus said with a matter of fact tone.


“So boring,” Lila yawned. “We wanted to play a game.”

“So we hid Uncle Xeik and Glynn.” Janus clapped his hands, and Xeik, holding baby Glynn, fell into the chair next to them.

“WHY DO YOU HAVE BOARD GAMES AND SNACKS IN A BASEMENT!?” Xeik exclaimed. Glynn was merely clapping and giggling happily.

“And after that, we showed them what we can do when the lights go out!” Lila said with an evil grin. She snapped her fingers and the lights went out.

Immediately Simone snapped her own fingers, “Absolutely not.” The lights came back on immediately. “You two are to go home immediately to your room. Do you understand? You’re both grounded.”

Janus pouted, “Daddddyy?”

“Grounded,” Lewis replied, agreeing with Simone. “You already know the rules.”

“Finnneee,” Lila replied. “We’ll just play later then…” She waved to the rest of the partygoers. “Hide and seek with all of you would be so much fun…”

“Funn,” Janus replied with en evil grin. Without warning, the two stood up, and walked out of the room, presumably portaling home.

Simone watched as her twins walked in and she looked at Lewis, “They are going to be a pain in our asses in ten more years…” She put her hands on her hips.

“They are little devils! They are doing shit they shouldn’t be able to already! They were doing it when they were a year old!” Rhenakos was throwing a fit.

“You just don’t know how to handle them… They only act out when no one they respect is watching them.” Simone’s eyes went to Darren. “What did you do that they aren’t even listening to you right now?”

“I took the caramels away from them as you told me to…” Darren waved his hands. “You said none for breakfast and they could only have two after school and I followed that. They’ve been glaring at me for days.”

“…So that was their stash we found,” Simone hit her hand in her palm. “We finally got it.” There was a pleasant look on her face.

“I feel like your sacrificial lamb in this situation,” Darren frowned a bit. “But at least we can use the candy to leverage them.”

“Careful, you never know when they will do something else unexpected,” Simone put her hands on her hips once more. “You have to be careful around them. Weakness is something they latch onto… Which is why they got rid of Xeik… and why Rhenakos was left alone.”

Osiria was still at the bar, “They left me alone.”

“You gave them juice,” Simone shrugged. “They like offerings.”

Jack had a grimace on his face, “They really are like Lewis… It was horrifying. It was like when Lewis used to beat the shit out of acolytes in the temple only… childlike.”

“…Can’t say they aren’t Simone and Lewis’s… They look like a perfect mix of the two,” one of the other acolytes said.

“Yeah, Damond and Remy though… They look like Lewis,” Jack followed up and Simone was immediately over the twins looking at them.

“You said they had my ears…” Simone glared over at Osiria and snapped her head over to Lewis, “I demand more babies this instance!” She snapped her fingers and pointed at Xeik. “Get working on a solution for my infertility Xeik!”

Simone watched as her twins walked in and she looked at Lewis, “They are going to be a pain in our asses in ten more years…” She put her hands on her hips.

“They are little devils! They are doing shit they shouldn’t be able to already! They were doing it when they were a year old!” Rhenakos was throwing a fit.

“You just don’t know how to handle them… They only act out when no one they respect is watching them.” Simone’s eyes went to Darren. “What did you do that they aren’t even listening to you right now?”

“I took the caramels away from them as you told me to…” Darren waved his hands. “You said none for breakfast and they could only have two after school and I followed that. They’ve been glaring at me for days.”

“…So that was their stash we found,” Simone hit her hand in her palm. “We finally got it.” There was a pleasant look on her face.

“I feel like your sacrificial lamb in this situation,” Darren frowned a bit. “But at least we can use the candy to leverage them.”

“Careful, you never know when they will do something else unexpected,” Simone put her hands on her hips once more. “You have to be careful around them. Weakness is something they latch onto… Which is why they got rid of Xeik… and why Rhenakos was left alone.”

Osiria was still at the bar, “They left me alone.”

“You gave them juice,” Simone shrugged. “They like offerings.”

Jack had a grimace on his face, “They really are like Lewis… It was horrifying. It was like when Lewis used to beat the shit out of acolytes in the temple only… childlike.”

“…Can’t say they aren’t Simone and Lewis’s… They look like a perfect mix of the two,” one of the other acolytes said.

“Yeah, Damond and Remy though… They look like Lewis,” Jack followed up and Simone was immediately over the twins looking at them.

“You said they had my ears…” Simone glared over at Osiria and snapped her head over to Lewis, “I demand more babies this instance!” She snapped her fingers and pointed at Xeik. “Get working on a solution for my infertility Xeik!”

Lewis gave Osiria and the other acolytes who mentioned the twins and their similar, Lewis-like appearance. It was Xeik, though, who had it much worse than the rest.

“Angela and I are working on it,” the Divine Mender replied. “You know as well as I do that we’re doing everything we can to fix it…” Which was mostly true. After all, they had regular check ups with Simone’s progress, as well as all of the experiments. There was a lot of time and effort being put into working on Simone.

“Well, we’ll just have to make sure the next set of twins is after you, then,” Lewis said with a smirk. “If we’re lucky, it’ll be that simple.”

“You do realize that means you’ll have to deal with two Simone’s as children. And watch them grow up. And get boyfriends. And get married…” Xeik knew exactly what he was doing. Getting his revenge… “Wonder if Alshaya is off to sneak a visit with Llo-”

Lewis was giving Xeik the deadliest stare he could muster. “I’ll just have to go on a killing spree soon…”

“And what about Lucas?” Xeik replied with a smirk.

“I…he…” The ex-assassin was turning red.