First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1134: Hair Clips

Lillian was gentle, forgiving, and naturally very adaptable.

But as death, she was also firm.

She rarely put her foot down, but when she did, even hell has no gates sturdier than her will.

It was clear just from looking at her that the two outcomes she had set forth were the only ways this standoff could end.

Asherah was conflicted.

Lillian was generous even when she didn’t have to be.

Michael was basically just a human with wings now. If she wanted, she could have killed him with half a thought.

Asherah understood why everything was happening, but that didn’t mean she didn’t wish to change it.

It did not escape her notice just how defensive everyone was for Odie. And rightfully so.

By all accounts, Odessa had nearly died one time before. And Lillian, driven mad by her own grief, did not hesitate to use all of her power to die for her child.

The results were costly.

Odessa lived, but her very existence was damaged. Even in an entirely new timeline, Odie inherited none of the power that her family was renowned for and she was born altogether human.

The gifts that she should have possessed were linked to her, trapped within her very shadow.

But according to what transpired today, when the powers were active, the strain placed upon Odessa’s human mind was too much for her to bear.

This time, the family was lucky it only ended in a small seizure.

But if Odessa’s powers were to rampage again, there was absolutely no telling whether or not her symptoms would be worse.

Lillian’s heart ached for her child. Thinking about everything Odie was denied and everything she should have possessed was too burdensome.

And she hated Michael more than anything.

It was clear that he had been released from Lucifer’s clutches.

As a fellow mother, Lillian was thrilled for Asherah to be reunited with her child.

And yet, she couldn’t help but wish that Lucifer had kept his brother locked and buried in whatever deep, dark hole he had been trapped in.

“Make your choice quickly. Otherwise, I will make it for you, and-”

“It’s alright… I’ve already made my decision.”

Michael stood up abruptly and walked over to the place where the one-handed sickle was buried in the floorboards.

He wrested the reaping tool from the wood and shrugged off part of his robe.

“I’m afraid my reach doesn’t quite stretch as far as it used to, so… would you mind?” Michael presented his back to Lillian.

She was slightly surprised by this, but she had no visible reaction.

Her eyes narrowed sharply as if to question his pattern of thinking.

“You had best reconsider. I will make the act excruciating.”

“That’s fine. I would at the very least deserve it. And perhaps… no, never mind. You may get on with it.”

Michael stuffed a part of his robe into his mouth and bit down as hard as he could.

He offered the sickle back to his original creator, and waited, trembling for the moment he felt the first cut and the subsequent wave of agony it would bring.

He waited until he broke out into a cold sweat.

And then, before he knew what was happening, he felt warm water running down the left side of his back.

He strained his neck to look over his shoulder and gasped at the sight.

The wings on the left side of his body were missing. Severed so smoothly at the skin on his back that, provided he was given enough time to heal, that side of his body would be indistinguishable from a human’s.

Michael looked down at the sickle in Lillian’s hand.

So sharp and so incredibly thin that even calling it a razor didn’t seem sufficient.

He hadn’t felt the pain until just now. It was, at best, a mild sting instead of the unbearable wave of pain that he had been told to anticipate.

“I thought-”

Lillian punched Michael in the back of the head so hard that his face bounced against the floorboards.

Lillian bent down and picked up the severed wings.

“…I don’t have the right to say if you’ll ever get these back. Things like that are best left to the victims of crimes. Their judgment is the only thing that truly matters.”

Lillian finished gathering up the wings and encased them in a glass display case.

“Do not come near my daughter or my family ever again. If needed, she will be the one to find you and decide whether or not you can have these back.”

Lillian turned away, but Michael clawed to get off the ground.

“Wait…”

Weakly, Michael pointed a trembling finger towards the countertop.

There, a folded bit of paper was stationed next to a small inkwell and a quill pen.

“It’s… for him.”

Lillian narrowed her eyes at the piece of parchment.

She closed her eyes and calmed her breathing before holding her hand out and calling the letter to her hand.

Without sparing anyone else in the room a second glance, she vanished from the place she stood instantly.

Michael collapsed on the floor and lay there, bleeding out all over himself.

His mother cleaned him up quickly, whispering soothing words as she helped him heal and redressed him appropriately.

All the while, Michael continued to lie on the floor in a state of disbelief at what had transpired.

“Lillian’s punches are no joke. You know they say big bitches hit the hardest, right?” Yggdrasil slapped Michael on the head in a brotherly manner. “You alright there, pussywillow? Everything still in one piece and it’s original place?”

Michael took his time answering. Almost as if he was checking internally before he gave a false assessment of himself.

But in truth, he was still burdened with shock from the events that had just transpired.

“I just… I didn’t think there would be any mercy left for me.”

–

What Odessa Tathamet lacked in raw power, she made up for in perception.

She could tell when things weren’t quite right or when people were not acting normally around her.

She sat down, playing with an assortment of colorful blocks when she suddenly put them down and stared.

Looking up, she found eleven different pairs of eyes staring at her, not saying a word.

That alone wouldn’t usually be enough to get her attention as people stared at Odessa all the time due to her cuteness.

However, this time there was a weird atmosphere in her parents’ bedroom that made her feel almost suffocated.

She hit the bed hard and pursed her lips as a way of voicing her frustrations.

Wry, meager smiles arose on the faces of her parents.

“We’re not bothering you, are we?”

’Yes!’ Odie babbled back.

Lisa was surprised at her straightforward answer, but Odessa was at the age where she was better learning to articulate her emotional needs and wants.

If only these developments were being applied to her potty training as well…

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom opened and Lillian walked in.

At the sight of her, Odessa stood up and pointed at her parents.

’Be weird!’

Lillian was slightly surprised by her daughter’s choice of words.

The tension she was experiencing slowly left her chest and was replaced by mild laughter.

“Someone’s learning more words all the time, isn’t she? Though I wish they were a bit nicer.”

Lillian moved towards the bed and kneeled beside it, allowing her upper body to rest on the edge.

Odessa instinctively came close to her, and Lillian smiled as she touched her cheek.

“I have something for you, pumpkin.”

Odessa’s eyes sparkled.

“It’s nothing sweet, it’s already 9:00.”

Odessa turned away, uninterested.

“Wait a minute, Bekka junior.”

Lillian grabbed her and pulled her daughter onto her bottom.

Next, she placed three identical-looking hair clips in her daughter’s wild orange locks.

Lillian then held up a mirror to the young girl so she could see just how pretty she looked.

“Aren’t they pretty?” Lillian smiled.

Odessa nodded her head hard. So much so that she nearly sent the clips flying.

“Oh, thank goodness…” Lillian let out a massive sigh of relief. “I’m so relieved you’re better than your sisters.”

Odessa turned her head as if she didn’t understand.

In fairness, she would never know that every other daughter aside from her hated having ornaments put in their hair.

She was the first in the Tathamet line not to pull it out immediately and chuck it across the room.

“Angel wings for my angel… I guess it was always meant to be.”

Lillian wrapped her arms around her daughter and placed several kisses on her plump cheeks.

As she did so, she discreetly slid a folded letter across the bed towards Abaddon.

The dragon smelled it before he even opened it.

He looked back and forth from the letter to Lillian and tilted his head slightly.

His wife would only shrug before shutting her eyes and burying her face in Odessa’s hair.

Abaddon stared at the paper for a long time.

When it became evident that he was having difficulty deciding between reading it and burning it, Lailah crawled into his lap and took the paper from him.

As she read the first line to him, Abaddon realized exactly what kind of evening he was about to have…