First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1224: Our Last Bit of Normalcy

Apophis stared into the sky with an unnaturally serious gaze.

“I feel… a disturbance in the force.”

In his arms sits his young niece, Yggdrasil. He feeds her from her bottle while they sit together underneath the midday sun.

Beside him, his human wife is busy texting on her phone.

She looks up after hearing her husband say something supremely nerdy that only her best friend would say.

“Well, yeah, the world as we know it is about to end. I’m sure there are a bunch of ’disturbances’ or whatever.”

“…”

“…Why are you staring at me like that? Do my eyelashes look funny??” Serana stuck her face in her husband’s space and blinked rapidly.

Apophis shook his head. “No, they’re fine. It’s just… if I say it, I don’t want you to misunderstand.”

“Why would I misunderstand? Just ask what you want to ask, babe.”

Apophis swallowed. “Do you think you or the girls might be… pregnant?”

Serana covered her stomach, crestfallen.

“I knew it, I’ve gained weight, haven’t I?!”

“No.”

“I-It’s your family’s fault! T-They’re always cooking all of this good food and never worrying about calories because none of you ever put on any weight, or get stretch marks, or-”

“My moms do.” Apophis noted.

“…O-Okay, but that’s different, your moms would look good if they were covered in cellulite from head to toe, they are equals of your father who was the most beautiful man in existence for like a bajillion years.”

“Aww. You’re memorizing my family’s lore.”

Serana blushed slightly. “It’s my family now too, right?”

“…That it is.” Apophis smiled.

At the same time, the two of them lean in for a kiss. Serana only remembers to snap out of it at the last moment.

“W-Wait, no, I’m mad at you!”

“Babe!”

Serana and Apophis weren’t the only ones outside and their arguing had done the job of attracting more family members to their yelling.

“What’s wrong with the two of you..?” Kanami wrapped her arms around both of them. “You’re usually so cute and infuriating together.”

“My husband called me fat..!” Serana whined as she threw herself into Kanami’s exposed abs.

She opened one eye and gave them a small poke with a look of jealousy in her eye. “Man, I gotta start working out… or maybe I should have just let father-in-law turn me into a dragon after all.”

Kanami laughed and patted Serana on the head like the adorable critter she was.

Apophis on the other hand rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his sister in the pool.

“Nubby!”

Nubia stared dreamily into the eyes of her wife and husband as they floated together in the water.

“I’m not in the mood for you right now, brother~” she replied without looking at him. “If Yggy poops, deal with it on your own please.”

Apophis dropped the temperature in the water to near freezing; making his sister and her partners let out yelps.

“Like I was saying… do you have that feeling again?”

“You mean like homicidal rage..?” Nubia held up her claws.

“No, more like someone’s pregnant again.”

Nubia paused and looked toward the sunbathing area.

“Don’t even look at me.” Thea responded without moving her sunglasses. “I’ve had my two, and I’m done.”

Nubia glanced at the chair next to her. Gabbrielle seemed offended that she would even suspect her.

“Children are noisy.”

Finally, Nubia turned to Straga, who sat with Monica in his lap.

The two of them looked sickeningly in love, but it wasn’t very different from usual.

“Hey! You skipped over me!” Mira raised her hand.

Nubia rolled her eyes and went back to swimming.

“Don’t make that face! I could be if I wanted to!”

“Are you?”

“…No. I just wanted to be asked.”

Nubia could only roll her eyes helplessly as she turned back to her brother. “Maybe you’re just being overly sensitive. If someone were pregnant, our moms would have been fluttering around the house first thing this morning.”

Apophis nodded as he thought about his mothers. They were bad about keeping secrets, and pregnancy was kind of their Achilles heel.

He was sure he would have seen signs of them behaving in their usual overtly cheerful manner if someone in the house was expecting.

“Where are your parents anyway..?” Serana asked. “They never miss barbecue day stuff.”

Her simple question made Apophis pause and look up.

He realized for the first time just then that he hadn’t seen his parents the entire day.

Usually, Lillian at the very least gets out of bed and is walking around doing chores before anyone else has gotten up.

The fact that his mother, who never sat down, was suddenly not present, was an alarm bell in and of itself.

“Hey, when is Mom and Dad’s anniversary again??” Apophis asked no one in particular.

All of his siblings looked at him as if he were stupid.

“Not today, that’s for sure.” Belloc grumbled.

Apophis’ brow furrowed with worry.

He looked over his shoulder at his youngest sister, who was busy stuffing her cheeks full of cut fruit.

“Hey, chipmunk. You mind going to check on our parents to make sure they aren’t dead in a ditch or something?”

Odessa nodded, cheeks wobbling like water balloons.

’Okay!’

She got up from her seat with Gandora trailing behind her.

She opened the sliding door to the house and started to step inside when she stopped in her tracks.

’Oh, I was just about to come looking for yo… Is that a..?’

Izanami stepped out of the house first with a small bundle wrapped in her arms.

Everything outside seemed to come to a standstill. Karliah even turned down the stereo and pulled down her sunglasses.

Courtney looked up from Fiona’s eyes for the first time in an hour and a half. She pointed a trembling finger at her mother. “Ma… please tell me that’s a loaf of bread.”

Izanami smiled beautifully. “No… not quite.”

All of the children practically dove on top of each other to reach their parents first.

They crowded around Izanami’s footsteps, joining Odessa in slack-jawed wonder.

“God, do you guys have some kind of weird fetish or something? Why do you keep having kids??” Mira pointed at her cute face. “Wasn’t I enough for you, or-”

Lisa reached out and clasped her daughter’s jaw shut. Her smile was terrifying, and not at all motherly.

“Now… that’s not what you say when you’re meeting a family member for the first time. Is it??”

Mira shook her head with a look of terror in her eyes. Lisa let her go and patted her cheek.

’Can I see them..?’ Odie asked reverently.

Izanami smiled as she shifted the baby in her arms to pass it to her daughter.

Wrapped tightly in a pure white blanket was an awake and alert newborn boy.

He had a fair, caramel complexion with a few small blemishes Odie recognized as scales.

His eyes were a bright crimson color. The small curls making up his hair were an inky shade of black.

Odessa warily touched one of the little boy’s cheeks.

A violet undercurrent rippled beneath his skin as he released a small coo at the unfamiliar sensation.

’…What’s his name?’ Odie looked up.

“Agheel.” Izanami smiled. “You need to set a good example for him, okay?”

Odessa nodded fervently.

As more and more people crowded around, trying to get a look at the baby, Abaddon stepped out into the backyard and took a deep breath.

It was the first breath he felt he’d gotten to enjoy in days. No longer did breathing feel like a chore that he’d rather not commit himself to.

The air was sweet. The world was calm. He almost couldn’t believe the world was going to end in three days.

He stepped over to the cooler and liberated a beer from the ice.

As he twisted open the cap, he felt a pair of hard eyes on him from behind.

“…You just can’t help yourself, can you? Don’t we have enough cutesy shit in this house? Now you go and bring that chubby-cheeked caramel angel baby in here and this place is a damn nursery again.” Satan complained.

Abaddon snorted. “You say that, but you’ll be the first to watch him if you’re asked.”

A light of hope showed up in Satan’s eyes. “You mean you’re going to let me watch them agai-”

“No. I just know you would if we were stupid enough to let you.”

Satan formed a deep sneer.

“I don’t want to watch the brat anyway. Shame, for him that is. He’ll never get to know what it’s like to be a real man! The only knives he’ll learn to use will be made of plastic! How do you expect him to survive in preschool like that??”

Abaddon realized that this was one of the moments it was better to just let Satan talk until he tired himself out. He could drink and tune all of the nonsense in the meantime.

But at that moment, another firm brown hand clasped Satan on his shoulder.

“Ah, worry not, my friend. Abaddon may not let you watch his child, but I just want you to know… you cna’t watch mine either.” Mateo grinned.

“Oh, fuck you, you big- Wait, what?!”