Asgoroth sat his throne, watching the demon approach. Fau'tang was tall and crimson, with great wings and a barbed tai. His deep black eyes held a calm intelligence, and that was the reason he was Asgoroth's chief minion and general.
When the winged demon came to the dias, he dropped dutifully to his knees, pressing his forehead to the stone floor of the throne room. "You summoned me, Lord," he said to the stone. Even in his quiet tone, Asgoroth heard the menace that had frightened so many thousand pathetic humans.
Asgoroth was silent for a few moments, scratching idly the head of one of his beasts beside the throne.
Finally, he said, "The woman, Amelia, is pregnant." The bluntness of his statement brought Fau'tang's head up sharply.
"How, my Lord?" the minion asked. "One of the other prisoners?"
"No, fool!" Asgoroth said quietly, a wicked grin distorting his blackened face. "The child is mine, of course."
The demon Lord nearly burst into laughter at the confusion painted on Fau'tang's crimson face.
"But, my Lord," he almost stammered, "forgive me, but I thought no such quickening was possible. That is what we have always been led to believe."
Asgoroth made a musing sound deep in his throat that bubbled out in a growl. "It would appear," he said after a few moments of silence, "that you believed incorrectly. The woman is with child."
"What would you have me do, then, Lord? Shall I dispose of the human and the runt?"
This time Asgoroth did laugh; a hissing, sibilant sound, as bones grinding under stone. "No, Fau'tang. This child will be brought to term and born into the world. He will usher in a new era of Hell's might. He will be the scourge that finally destroys the pitiful, stubborn remnants of humanity from this planet. I will teach him to hate, and bring out the demon in him so ferociously that he will cleave this world in two with his malice.
"That is your mission, from here on: to make sure that no unnecessary harm comes to the woman or the burden that she carries for me. See that the child is born, then bring him to me. If you fail me in this, Fau'tang, the consequences will be dire. Understood?"
Fau'tang nodded his comprehension, and Asgoroth flicked his hand in dismissal, the smile on his face revealing his gleaming fangs.