First Demonic Dragon

The wives sat and listened to everything Nyx had to say without attempting to rush her.

When she had finally said her piece, the wives all glanced among each other as if they were trying to come to some sort of decision.

Since she could tell that they needed just a bit more of a push, she thought of a way to ensure their assistance.

“How about this. Since I am sure that you are wary of handing off your power to someone whom you do not know, I invite you to spend a brief period observing my children.”

This turn of events admittedly caught Abaddon by surprise.

Nyx did not strike him as a particularly patient goddess, and yet she was willing to give both Abaddon and his wives some much needed time to deliberate.

“I believe that we will take you up on that. We’ll endeavor not to keep you or your children waiting for too long.”

“See that you do not. Their safety is paramount to me.”

‘Yes, there’s that authoritativness that Primordials are known for…’ Abaddon thought as he rolled his eyes.

“Umm… excuse me?”

Always polite and gentle, Lisa tentatively rested her elbows on the table and leaned in to stare eye to eye with Nyx.

“I don’t mean to question your parental style, but I do wonder… Are you sure that going against your son’s wishes like this is worth the damage it could do to your relationship?”

Normally, Nyx would have been highly offended, and maybe even homicidally angry.

But as she stared into the eyes of this radiant woman with chocolate brown hair and yellow-gold skin, she couldn’t make herself be upset.

Lisa was just asking her a sincere question, mother to mother, with no judgment whatsoever.

“Since you asked… No, I am not. But I have no choice. You have no idea what would become of me if I were ever to see him lose his life… the depths of agony that it would bring me to.”

Nyx forced a smile onto her face in an attempt to hide an immense amount of pain.

“You are a mother too, so I’m sure that you can understand… It is our responsibility to protect the children that we bring into this world, no matter what.”

Lisa smiled reassuringly. “I understand quite well… I believe that I would do the same for our children.”

Oddly enough, those words did seem to make Nyx feel better.

Much more than she cared to admit in fact.

She held out her hand and a black card appeared in between her fingers.

“Here. You may use this to contact me at any time with your decision.”

Lisa took the black card from the ancient goddess and found that it was similar to a business card.

“The Greek goddess of night… has a phone number?”

“Is that strange?” Nyx held out her hand and a device that resembled an iPhone appeared in her hand.

All: “A little bit.”

Nyx just shrugged as if she didn’t understand. “I guess this is what happens when you have human children. You become interested in their creations.”

Valerie: “But your children aren’t-“

“Want to see some pictures of my grandbaby??”

The Wives: “YES!”

Nyx had excitedly started pulling up pictures before the girls even answered.

Turning her phone around, she showed Abaddon and his wives a picture of a cute, slightly chunky looking baby girl.

Like her father, she had black skin, purple eyes, and shining silver hair.

“This is when they let me babysit for the first time and I ended up letting her stay up too late on accident. Look at her trying to hold up her little head!”

“And this is her eating her favorite food, mashed apples with a little bit of blood mixed in!”

Tatiana: “Blood?? What is she exactly??”

“Ah, she is part vampire.”

“Oh! Awwww…!”

“And this is a picture of the moment that she realized she played too hard and accidentally filled her diaper.”

“AWWWWWWWEEE!!!!”

As Abaddon sat amongst a sea of divine estrogen, he silently contemplated the path laid out in front of him.

While he stewed in his thoughts, Seras suddenly pulled out her phone and started pulling up pictures of their children.

But before she turned her phone around to show her a picture of the twins in matching onesies, she had a sudden thought.

“Ah! Don’t take this the wrong way, Ms. Primordial, but would you mind fighting me?”

At that moment, Abaddon remembered exactly what kind of nutcase he married.

–

“…I sense that I have made you upset?”

Back at home, Abaddon was in the highest room of the manor, in a room that appeared to be a miniature planetarium.

He, Seras, and Bekka were in there alone, and Bekka was pulling on Seras’ red, scaly cheeks.

“What is wrong with you, you big idiot? Why would you pick a fight with that goddess who was so nice to us??”

“I-I wasn’t picking a fight! I just wanted a friendly spar! A friendly spar!!”

“Babe… what does spar mean?” Abaddon asked exhaustedly.

Seras turned her head to the side and began to whistle inconspicuously.

Abaddon shook his head then returned to what he was doing.

But Bekka was still on the warpath.

“Why do you always have to do this?”

“I-I just want to know how far beneath the Primordials we are in terms of strength! Isn’t it good to find that out now while we are on friendly enough terms with one of them and can do it safely?”

Admittedly, Bekka couldn’t dispute this logic, but she wasn’t fooled by Seras’ sudden reasoning.

“I know you, Seras. This is just your blind pursuit of strength again.

Every person who you meet that’s stronger than you is seen as a threat that has to be neutralized.

Your paranoia is never ending and it’s time to address it.”

Though she was over seven feet tall in her real form, Seras seemed quite diminutive in this moment.

“Bekka… I can’t rest easily if I know that there are forces out there that will make me feel powerless again. I don’t want to live like that. Can you blame me?”

Bekka suddenly looked very, very, sad.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Abaddon held out his hand first.

Seras took it without asking why, and Abaddon pulled her in closely until their bodies were against each other.

“Seras… when will you be satisfied?” He asked.

As always, his wife’s answer was instantaneous.

“When there is no one else above me. When there is no one else capable of threatening me.”

“Then does that mean you will eventually subject myself, Bekka, and Tati to this same scrutiny? Will you only be satisfied with life when you are the best of us?”

“I-I wouldn’t-“

“You don’t know that. Remember what we are. A natural greed runs through our very blood.” Abaddon reminded gently. “Left untended, it ruins us.

I love you because you are ambitious, we all do. But ambition is poisonous if it grows unchecked or it is rooted in trauma.

You need to solve the problems in your past before they cause divides between us.”

Abaddon felt Seras tremble in his arms and she bit her lip to stop from whimpering.

If you asked Seras what her biggest fear was, she would tell you nothing.

But if you were somehow able to peer into the depths of her soul and mind, you would learn that she feared a crack in her relationships.

Her sisters were her best friends, and that was something she had never in her life had before.

And her husband… was everything to her.

The love and care that he showed her day in and day out in their relationship was sometimes all that got her out of bed.

The thought, the very idea, that she could ever lose everything that she had all but tore her into pieces.

” I don’t… I don’t want that..!”

Abaddon allowed Seras to sob into his chest as he kissed her on top of her head.

“I think.. you should go and have a talk with your mother. It’s time.”

Seras nodded as she cried silently.

Bekka approached the two of them and the three engaged in a silent but meaningful hug.

For twenty entire minutes, no one moved, no one spoke, and at times it seemed like they forgot to breathe.

The only reason why they finally looked up was because they sensed a few familiar presences incoming.

“Quick, change back!”

Instantly, the three of them shrunk back down to their familiar heights and lost their scaly colored skin and black eyes.

Bekka fished out an eyepatch from her pocket and put it over her eye.

“Wrong one!”

Bekka quickly swapped back before the door was opened.

Mira: “Eh?! Mommy is crying!”

Belloc: “What did you do to her, you fat headed old man?!”

Thea: “Don’t cry, mom! I’m sure dad didn’t mean to say whatever he did! You know he’s a little thoughtless sometimes!”

The Twins: “”Did you try to cheat on them again?!”

Gabbrielle: “It was that homewrecker Demeter, wasn’t it?!”

Seras and Bekka laughed cutely, but Abaddon was not amused at all.

“Kids… your father didn’t do anything wrong. Quite the opposite in fact… he is taking care of me, just like always.” Seras smiled as she kissed Abaddon on the cheek.

“But thanks for the vote of confidence, you damned animals.” Abaddon tried to flip off his children, but Bekka stayed his hand.

“What are you all doing here anyway? It’s rare for you to travel in a pack like this.”

“Wolves often do…” Abaddon muttered.

Seras and Bekka pinched him in both his sides.

Thea held on to Apophis and Belloc’s hands as they stepped forward.

“We’ve… come to accept your offer. We all want to become Nevi’im.”

“Offer expired.”

“Dad!”

Bekka / Seras: “”Abaddon!””

“Fine…but are you sure this is what you want.. all of you..?”

Thea smiled as she nodded her head proudly. “We are… all of us are-“

“Who..is that..?” Apophis suddenly asked.

The first prince’s focus was on the ceiling, where a series of images were already playing.

The room Abaddon and his family were currently in was very special.

Sitting at the top of the manor, this place functioned like a magical telescope.

But instead of stars, Abaddon could see alternate realities like they were playing on tv.

He had more than a few images qued up right now of Nyx’s children’s universe, and had been watching for quite sometime.

Once the siblings saw what Apophis was looking at, Belloc and Thea had their jaws go slack.

Apophis: “H-Hey old man… who’s the girl with the pink hair..?”

“Hm? I dunno. She’s a friend of Nyx’s children.”

Thea: “W-What about the girl with grey hair!?”

“Nyx’s youngest daughter… why do you-“

Belloc: “A-And the girl with short black hair..?”

“…I don’t know, I think it’s another friend of her son’s or maybe something more complicated… Why are you all so interested in-“

“””I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!”””

“Christ.”