First Demonic Dragon

Imani was sitting at home on the sofa.

In her arms, she held two small children who- after a prolonged struggle- finally collapsed on top of each other.

Imani was afraid to let out a breath of relief or risk waking them.

Odessa and K’ael were easy babies to care for. Usually.

But for some reason, the past few weeks had made them restless. Odessa wasn’t sleeping through the night like she normally did. And K’ael wasn’t eating like he normally would either.

No one really needed to guess the reason why.

Imani had never felt such a complex set of emotions in her life.

She wanted her son home so badly that she could scream. Abaddon needed to be here with his family.

And yet, there was also a part of her that did not want him to come back just yet.

She feared what would happen if he found out Thea was missing.

Imani had raised her son in three different timelines now. She knew the boy like the back of her hand.

When it came to parenting styles, the two of them were cut from the same cloth. When their child was in danger, their first instinct was to neutralize the threat. Irregardless of collateral damage.

Abaddon wouldn’t waste time running all over Earth looking for Thea like the others had. He would just make sure there was no more earth.

And Asherah, no matter how much she favored him, would undoubtedly have to see the dragon punished.

A fate that would undoubtedly hurt them both.

Imani just wanted all of this to end. Even now, she prayed that she would shut her eyes and when she woke up, her son would be standing right beside her with her grandchild on his shoulders.

She had lived a very privileged life. But even she didn’t get everything she wanted.

Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound and Yara felt the first few presences return home.

In a microsecond, she blocked the children’s ears to any sounds above a certain decibel.

She had a feeling that things were about to become slightly chaotic.

“B, please, I can explain!”

“I do not wish to speak to you, Thrudd! The matter is over!”

The first thing Imani heard was the sound of a young couple arguing. A rare thing for this household.

She heard the sound of a door slamming, and figured that would be the end of her eavesdropping.

Besides, Imani had bigger concerns. Like the fact that Zheng had just waltzed into the living room with holes all over his body.

“Oh, my god..!” Imani covered her mouth in horror.

Zheng waved his hand dismissively. “I appreciate the concern, grandmother, but I promise it’s not as bad as it looks. Merely a flesh wound.”

“I can literally see my wife through you.” Imani said pointedly.

Zheng looked down at his torso, then turned around to glance at Yara.

“…Okay, I could understand why you might be bothered by that. But I promise, I just need a few minutes to purge the anti-magic from my system and I’ll be fine.”

Imani was only getting more and more alarmed.

Zheng hobbled over to the sectional sofa and fell down face-first.

“Would you… like some tea or something…?” Yara asked.

*Muffled* “Chamomille please…”

Yara moved towards the kitchen without another thought.

While her partner was brewing tea, Imani turned her gaze towards the archway, where a group of humans were standing around unsure of themselves.

Imani nodded towards an unoccupied side of the sofa.

“No need to be shy. Please, take a seat.”

Shin’s knights glanced amongst themselves uncomfortably.

“Please, we’ve all been allies on this day. You can be comfortable here.”

At that moment, another party returned from battle.

Nyx walked in, but she was different from normal.

Her face was completely black with no visible features. She was a mass of pure darkness in armor.

The only thing visible about her was her eyes. They burned with an impossible anger.

“The nerve of that mother fucker… threatening my children as if I won’t-“

Nyx let loose a string of the foulest obscenities that Imani had ever heard. Even with a lifetime spent in the Louisiana bayou.

Nyx was carrying an unconscious Ziz over her shoulder.

Imani started to ask what was wrong with him, but Nyx just threw him on the couch like dirty laundry and started moving towards the kitchen.

“I need a fucking beer…”

Shin, fully comfortable in the house, sat down beside the unconscious Ziz. “Oh, make that two if you don’t mind.”

Nyx, rustling through the fridge, threw him a beer from across the room.

The guys joked on Shin for his cybernetics a lot, but if he didn’t have them then his hand definitely would have been obliterated just then.

Everything has its uses after all…

Once Shin’s men saw him sitting on the sofa without a care, they also deigned to sit down. Though they did so with perfect posture, and didn’t even bother to lean back in their seats.

“So, does someone want to tell me what I missed or are you all going to keep me in suspense?”

Shin took a sip of his beer before placing it on the coffee table in front of him.

“Well, the first part of the mission was a success. We were able to destroy the flower field and collect some samples that… Why is Zheng covered in holes?”

“Shin.”

“Right, right. Anyway, we collected some samples of the soil, the burned plants, and even the carcinogens in the air. But it must’ve pissed someone off because reinforcements were called in fairly quickly.”

Nyx slammed an empty beer can on the counter and almost splintered it.

“They tried to jump us like some weak ass bitches! Beelzebub, you fat fuck, when I catch you there won’t be any more god damn running!”

Yara silently handed the goddess another beer. It seemed like the only way to stop her from screaming out obscenities was to keep her drinking.

“…Right, well, that one’s battle was pretty one-sided for the most part.” Shin pointed to Nyx. “The bad part is, so was his.” He pointed to Ziz.

Imani winced.

“He was beaten that badly..?”

“Like a toddler’s drum set!” Nyx yelled.

“””NYX!”””

“I’m just saying… bastards.”

Imani checked to make sure the spell she’d placed on the children’s ears was still working.

To her relief, it was.

“So… is it safe to assume everyone was attacked?”

“I think that’s a fair assessment.”

The group looked up all at once to find Helios and Mira entering the room together.

Shin was the only one whose jaw didn’t completely drop at the sight of them.

It had been a long time since Mira had come back into this house injured. It probably hadn’t happened since she came back from her seclusion training.

But seeing her now with bruised arms and a busted lip, it was almost like witnessing the creator duo put on ski-masks.

It just didn’t happen.

“No need for everyone to look at me like that.” Mira smiled innocently. “I promise the other guy looks a lot worse.”

“That I can attest to..” Helios nodded.

The golden dragon wiped his mouth and stared down at the multicolored blood running from it.

How long had it been since he was sufficiently injured? He certainly couldn’t remember.

The one thing he knew for certain was that his wives were undoubtedly going to freak when they saw him.

Imani patted the seat beside her. Helios and Mira sat down without another thought.

They glanced at Ziz and Zheng who were both unconscious.

Their moods were slightly uplifted. Things definitely could have been worse.

“Who got to you guys?” Shin asked.

Mira snapped some of her fingers back into place.

“Lucifer Jr. and Mammon, that greasy bastard. I should’ve cut one of his ears off to keep.”

Helios glanced at Mira out of the corner of his eye.

“He wouldn’t have landed that surprise blow on you if you hadn’t taken so long to charge up that spell. What were you thinking?”

Mira looked down in embarrassment. “I thought I could rewind time on only him. To back when he was a baby or something so that I could leave him in a hot car or throw him in a washing machine…”

That was perhaps the first time that Shin considered he might’ve been spending too much time around the Tathamets. Hearing Mira say something like that didn’t even faze him.

It didn’t crack the top ten list of crazy things he’d heard her say.

Helios placed his hand on top of his great-granddaughter’s head.

“I’m afraid that was foolish, Mira. You know that a spell like that takes far too much time to cast and it’s not even guaranteed to pay off.”

“I know… I just thought I would have more time since he’s… you know…” Mira puffed out her cheeks to mimic Mammon’s.

Helios laughed despite the pain in his side.

He felt no need to lecture Mira about underestimating enemies. At this point in their lives, their battle experience was about even.

There was no point in telling her something she already knew.

One by one, the parties began returning from their harrowing battles.

Almost all showed some signs of injury. The only ones who came back without a scratch were Kanami and Karliah.

The return that shocked everyone was Asmodeus’. He had gone against his father, and the battle looked to have taken quite a lot out of him. Even if he was determined not to show it.

Belphegor and Satan usually don’t miss the opportunity to pick on their brother whenever they can. But even they were silent.

For a whole five minutes after everyone returned, they all stared at each other.

They added up every scar, broken bone, and drop of blood spilled among their loved ones and added it to the outstanding tab Percival owed them.

And make no mistake- whether Abaddon was there or not, they would surely come to collect.

Asmodeus took his sleeping granddaughter from Imani and held her close to his chest. It seemed to heal him in a way no magic could.

“So… shall we call Sei and start comparing notes?” He finally said.

Everyone more or less nodded. Sei was summoned relatively quickly and sat down with everyone else.

However, before another meeting could begin, everyone heard the sound of footsteps coming into the common area.

When they looked up, Nubia and Mateo’s group were standing in the doorway.

No words needed to be exchanged between the two groups.

With a single glance, they could tell that Nubia had found something on earth.

And with that, the exhausted and battered dragons were filled with life once again.