First Demonic Dragon

"No. Try again."

A throbbing vein pushed up against Abaddon's forehead.

"Courtney… isn't all of this a bit unnecessary?"

"Nuh-uh. You're not leaving this house until you look like a perfectly normal, respectable, lame dad. Every time you come up to my school there's a new thirst trap edit of you getting sent to my phone and I'm sick of it!"

"My human form is already as mundane as possible." He insisted.

"Bull. Shit. You're six foot five and built like a pro football player. And you've got a face that anyone with a functioning cerebrum would love."

"You have the strangest way of giving me compliments." Abaddon rolled his eyes.

"Love you, dad."

"Yea, yea."

He reached back inside of his closet for something his daughter would deem an acceptable outfit for him to go out in public in.

It was the hardest thing he had done in recent memory.

"Track suit?"

"You always zip your jackets too low and everyone can see a bit of your neckline. Not happening." Courtney lay back on the sofa and pulled out her phone.

"Collared shirt and slacks?"

"So the desperate college girls who are thousands of dollars in debt can identify you as a potential sugar daddy? Nice try."

Abaddon sighed. "How about just jeans and a t-shirt?"

Courtney paused momentarily as if she were envisioning the idea.

"…Jeans have to look cheap with no rips and your shirt has to be long sleeved and at least two sizes too big."

"Fine." Abaddon sighed in relief- just glad that this was all over.

"You think you could give yourself a gap in your teeth or something? Or maybe a mole?"

Abaddon sighed again. Who knew that sending your daughter to college would be so demanding?

"Ease up on your father now, pumpkin." Lillian said. "You know he's not used to putting any thought into the clothes he wears."

She finished getting little Odessa dressed in a an adorable onesie with Courtney's track number on it.

"Hey!" Abaddon narrowed his eyes defensively.

Valerie patted his shoulder reassuringly. "She didn't mean anything by it, handsome. But you have to admit that the only time you wear something new is when Nubby designs it for you."

"Perhaps I care so little because I know you're attracted to me no matter what I wear." Abaddon leaned in.

"True, but I'm most attracted to you when you aren't wearing anything at all." Valerie smirked ran her hands across her husband's neck and chest.

"Guys. Innocent daughter still in here!" Courtney held up her hand and pointed at herself. "Let's keep it family friendly please!!"

Valerie rolled her eyes as she leaned against Abaddon. "Honestly, babydoll, you're a big girl now."

"I won't ever be big enough for whatever that was just now." Courtney looked sick.

Valerie shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what you want me to say. Ya daddy look good."

"Mama!"

"Fine, fine."

Valerie shot Abaddon one last parting look. "Finish this later?"

"You know that's not even a question."

"Good boy." Valerie winked.

Abaddon felt something deep, dark, and primitive stir within himself. He unconsciously buried his head within his closet to hide his face from view.

But the claw marks he had left in the doors might have betrayed just how un-christlike he was feeling in the moment.

The phrase 'violently horny' isn't really one that Abaddon uses lightly, but it was more than fitting in this scenario.

"Alright… I give up."

Courtney walked over to her youngest sister, who was now gently nudging the extremely large black egg that was resting near the fireplace.

She squatted down and gave Odie a few necessary nuzzles on the cheek.

"Hold on to your innocence for as long as you can, Little Orange. This house has a way of ripping it away from you…"

"HEY!" Everyone yelled aloud.

Courtney seemed unbothered as she made her way directly to the door.

"Hey, wait! What are we supposed to wear?" Lisa questioned.

Courtney didn't turn back. "Hats and sunglasses and any shirt big enough to obscure the view of your butts."

"And why is that last one a requirement?" Lailah raised a brow.

Courtney paused just shy of shutting the door. All she did was look back and stare at her mother.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Okay, fair point." Lailah conceded.

Courtney could have cried.

It was almost unthinkable that she had to do this twenty more times for everyone in this house.

And she still had to worry about the other really big issue of the day…

-

The sun was shining brightly on the south of the United States. It's warmth was only mitigated by the nice, refreshing wind blowing across the terrain.

It was the perfect day for a run.

A fleet of black trucks pulled up inside of a buzzing parking lot.

They drew attention as they passed, with several spectators for the event taking a moment to pause and wonder who could be arriving in such a manner.

The cars found a set of parking spaces and a squad of chauffeurs rushed out of the vehicles.

Stepping out of the lead car was an older Asian man in a… questionable outfit.

A set of brown pants a bit too short for what could be categorized as fashionable, and an oversized white tee-shirt with an image of a chibi version of Courtney on it.

Aside from his outfit, he was alarmingly handsome.

He had sharp, handsome features with cool gray eyes and a full head of shiny silver hair.

After getting out of the car, he turned around and reached inside for someone else.

A woman stepped out this time- equally as beautiful as the man.

Her soft, caramel colored skin was almost delectable enough to be compared to the real thing. Like her husband, she had powdery silver hair that seemed to give her an air of youth instead of age.

She was dressed equally catastrophically.

As if this weren't shocking enough, together the two of them pulled out a third person.

Equally as beautiful with rich, dark skin and long black dreadlocks, and every bit as catastrophically dressed.

"Well, don't we all look-"

""Like a circus act."" Yara and Imani said.

They were both catastrophically embarrassed.

If anyone but one of their grandchildren had asked for this brand of favor, they would have swiftly rejected it.

But with the goal of making Courtney feel more comfortable, they were willing to put up with it.

"Aww, don't be like that, darlings." Asmodeus smiled. "There is hardly a fabric in creation that could do you both justice anyway."

Both women blushed slightly and rolled their eyes.

"You sweet puffs done fraternizing each other yet?!"

Satan emerged from one of the other cars wearing a human disguise for the first time in gods know how long.

"Why're you saps dressed like you couldn't see?" He looked them up and down.

Asmodeus hissed. "Hush, fool. This was Courtney's idea to keep everyone here from becoming too enamored with us."

Satan folded his arms across his broad chest. "She didn't ask me to do any of that nonsense…"

"Oh? I can't imagine why." Belphegor rolled his eyes as he arrived.

Satan scared too many people away for them to consider him physically alluring.

He was like that guy you avoided walking past the street because you were afraid they would tear your head off just for breathing too close to them.

But what Satan heard his brother say was more of a comment on his attractiveness than anything.

"Something you wanted to say to me, you fucking pi-"

"Alright, alright, not the time for that."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Abaddon arrived with the full entirety of the Tathamet family at his back.

Minus Apophis and his wives…

But all of them were equally horribly dressed and looking like perfect humans.

Abaddon lowered the brim of his hat over his vision and tried to warn the warring brothers as gently as possible.

"Neither of you had better make a spectacle here. This day is for my daughter and if you so much as use your powers to light a candle on fire, I'll kill you sixty times before you can blink."

"Yea, yea…" Satan sounded dismissive, but the tone in his voice was noticeably lower.

"Never mind that for now!"

Helios, Darius, Iori, Hajun, Straga, and Belloc emerged together with simmering fearsome auras.

"Where is this… boy that our dear girl has found herself fascinated with? We wish to measure his merit with our own eyes." Helios said firmly.

In the back of the group, Zheng exhaled a sigh of relief. He was just glad that everyone had found a new potential son-in-law to haze.

"There'll be none of that." Abaddon shook his head. "The one thing that Courtney asked every one of us was to behave normally and not-"

"Oh, there he is!" Yemaja pointed with a big grin.

Everyone's eyes darted across the parking lot towards the sight of a young man entering the track meet with a young woman who he bore a slight resemblance to.

Helios and the others were moving before they even heard another word. Even Asmodeus followed along.

Before Abaddon could break all of their necks in retaliation, Mira suddenly grabbed him hard by the wrist.

When he looked back at her, she had a serious look in her eyes that he rarely ever saw.

"Dad… I need to tell you something..!"