First Demonic Dragon

Long ago when Courtney first started going to school on earth, Valerie in her excitement, thought it would be nice if their adorable little girl had a place to bring her adorable little friends so that they could hang out and play.

So she made a house.

A three story, modernist style, impeccably decorated house with a big backyard and a small maid and groundskeeper coalition for upkeep.

Valerie justified the decision to the wives and her husband by saying that Courtney's school needed an address on file.

Which was true… but this still felt kind of overindulgent.

The place had a home gym and a basketball court for crying out loud…

Nevertheless, it was nice that they were finally getting to use it after all this time.

But they were hoping to do it with more… friendly company.

"Your staring is really annoying."

Flames rose up as Abaddon poured beer over the Cornish hens roasting on the grill. "Why would you stare at me when there's all this gorgeous meat here?"

A few feet away, Shin was no longer playing a mild mannered facade and was blatantly staring at Abaddon with his arms folded.

"What are you doing here, Dragon King?"

A vein bulged in Abaddon's head. "You are trying to piss me off. You know that's a totally different individual."

"You don't like him?"

"I don't make it a habit to say that I 'don't like' any of my descendants, but… admittedly he is not among my favorite."

Shin rolled his eyes as he removed his jacket. He unfastened the buttons on the sleeves of his shirt and began rolling them up.

"I hope you aren't trying to intimidate me." Abaddon snickered without looking back.

"It's a warm day, you son of a bitch."

"Is it really though?"

"Unimportant. What are you doing on earth, Abaddon?"

Without looking away from the grill, Abaddon gestured to the backyard.

Shin followed his gaze.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! You kids don't know nothing about this! Your granddaddy had all the moves back in the dark ages!" Asmodeus proudly performed a series of odd, jerky dance moves to the beat of the music while the twins laughed.

Shin looked elsewhere.

On the basketball court, Valerie was dribbling the ball menacingly as she stared down her son Belloc.

"I promise you don't want this, son… I'm about to put so many hands on you you might file charges."

Belloc smirked as he maintained a defensive posture. "Whatever you say, Ma. You spend too much time in the forge to-"

Valerie shot a perfect three from half court before Belloc could blink. "Ball game, little boy!"

"W-Wha..?? You cheated! We said no powers!"

Valerie flexed her impressive arms and kissed her bicep. "No magic necessary, son. You better ask your daddy about my ball handling skills."

"Nevermind, I don't want to play anymore."

"Teehee!"

Shin's gaze kind of unconsciously wandered again.

The women of the family were either out sunbathing or stepping into the pool.

The men were alternating between cigars, helping Odie get her first swim lesson and coming over to give their input on the meat Abaddon was cooking.

"M-Make sure to keep the water level around her waist now. I worry about how her skin might react to this chlorine." Hajun said with no small hint of worry.

"Obviously I know that…" Helios hissed back. "Grab my phone. I need to get a picture of this."

Darius came wandering over with Mateo in tow. Both men had something to say about the fact that Abaddon was cooking.

They stared at the grill with awkward looks on their faces.

"You, uh… you didn't put too much worcestershire sauce in that burger mix, did you? Just because we don't defacate anymore doesn't mean you can abuse my stomach whenever ya feel like it." Darius looked back and forth between the grill and Abaddon.

"Chicken is looking a little dry there, brother… Did you baste them in butter or beer?" Mateo asked as he rubbed his jaw.

""And what's going on with those ribs???"" Both men leaned in.

Abaddon showed a smile that was not a smile. "Both of you get away from me before I serve you your own cerebellum."

"Oooooh, what a sensitive chef-dragon we got here." Darius held up his hands and backed away.

"Oh, but when it was me on the grill in June, everybody told me that my complaining would infect the meat with estrogen." Mateo rolled his eyes.

… Shin was having a hard time processing all this. The longer he watched, the worse his headache seemed to get.

Abaddon finally turned back to him and folded his arms across his broad chest.

"I'm spending time with my family as we celebrate my daughter's massive accomplishment. What more are you looking for?"

"Don't have enough backyard barbecue space in Tehom?"

"She won her race on earth, so we're celebrating on earth. It seems fitting, don't you think?"

"Oh sure, provided that you don't plan on destroying it while you're here."

"If I didn't do it when Nick Saban retired then I likely won't do it ever."

*Snicker.*

Abaddon and Shin glanced behind them.

Courtney was sitting at a table close enough to hear her father's conversation. Aj and Kayla sat across from her.

Previously all three had looked substantially nervous, but Aj had covered his mouth suddenly and looked embarrassed.

"…I, uh, just sneezed…" He lied.

Courtney suppressed a small smile. Kayla seemed as if she was embarrassed to share dna with this simpleton.

Shaking his head at his son, he turned his head to look at Courtney.

He had been looking for some signs of distress or abuse the entirety of his time here.

Either Courtney was really good at hiding it, or she was perfectly fine.

"The Judicator of the Gods has adopted a human child… Can't imagine that your citizens are too happy with that." Shin prodded.

Abaddon twirled his finger and all the meat on the grill was flipped or rotated.

"You've a very close-minded view of my Nevi'im. Courtney is quite beloved at home."

Shin nodded slowly. "So… My children attend school with a possible heir then."

Abaddon rolled his eyes.

"Courtney, you want to be my heir?"

"Nuh-uh."

"There you have it."

Shin didn't know how much of anything he was supposed to believe. He never had.

That's the tricky thing about dealing with deities who preside over any facet of human connection or emotion.

They know exactly how to get into a person's head and make them feel exactly what they want them to feel. And as evidenced by the exploits of numerous love and sex gods, their motivations were hardly always altruistic.

Abaddon was the metaphysical personification- the living consciousness of sex and sexual attraction. Every single instance of it tied throughout the multiverse.

That meant he was just that much more dangerous than everyone else.

Shin had to question everything that was put in front of him, because if he didn't then he might get sucked into the dragon god's natural orbit and never be able to pull himself out.

And he couldn't take that chance.

Not when Abaddon had long been prophesied to destroy the world.

"Now that I've assured you there is no threat, can you kindly tell the briefcase brigade to fuck off?" Abaddon pointed.

Standing on the patio were around a dozen of the other reinforcements that Kayla and Aj had called earlier.

They were all holding briefcases and staring at the aforementioned dragons menacingly.

They were really ruining the mood of the party, what with them just standing around and whatnot…

"I think I'll have them sta-"

"Nyx!" Abaddon called. "Little help??"

A shadow swallowed the entire briefcase brigade and whisked them away.

"What did you just do with my men??" Shin roared.

Nyx appeared at the table wearing a floppy hat, sunglasses, and a dangerously alluring bikini.

"I just dropped them into the fountain out front. Seeing them stand there menacingly was really ruining my mood, you know?"

See?

"You're… really.."

Kayla was understandably gobsmaccked. This was her first time seeing a quintessential class being before.

The fact that it was Nyx only made it that much more impactful.

Who didn't know about the most famous goddess in modern media?

And Nyx knew all too well when she was being revered.

She placed her elbows on the table and leaned forward with a smile that had robbed many of their underwear.

"Aww. Do I have a little fan? How cute." She laughed musically.

Shin didn't know what was going on here but he didn't like it.

"Knock it off. She's 19."

"So what I'm hearing is she's an adult?"

Abaddon covered his face in shame.

Meanwhile, Courtney stuffed down her pride and tried to talk to Aj for the first time since coming here.

"This is all… pretty weird, huh?"

Aj nodded slowly. "Little bit… Are you like…?"

"A Nevi'im..? N-No.. Well, kind of, but.." Courtney inhaled when she realized that she wasn't making any sense. "I'm… special. I can either be completely human or completely demon, or dragon or… My dad gave me the ability to make a choice."

Aj was amazed. He could barely believe what he was hearing.

Generally, unzipping and altering one's DNA is a feat reserved for beings with no physical body.

If anyone else tried to force continuous changes like that then they would be turned into sludge after the third go around. It just takes far too big a toll on the flesh.

"…Does that mean you were cheating today?" Aj realized.

Courtney looked horrified. "H-Huh?? No! I promise I'm 100% natural on the track! I only use my powers to give myself wings and maybe grow a tail to scratch my back! I don't even know how to do magic!"

"O-Okay, calm down…"

"Yea, girl, we believe you." Kayla said honestly. "This is all just…"

""Weird."" The duo nodded at once.

Courtney smiled apologetically. "Yea, I get that… I just… you two are kind of the only friends I've ever had and I don't want to lose you because of… I dunno." Courtney ran her hands through her hair in embarrassment.

Kayla wasn't sure what to say either.

Aj was hurt over Courtney's use of the word 'friends'.

Shin was unsure if this was all some carefully meticulated plot.

The Nagumo family all had a lot of thinking to do.

But that was when a white feather floated down to the table. And a woman's voice was heard above them.

"Do you all mind if we join you?"