First Demonic Dragon - C.630: Ah, Shit. Here We Go Again…

Shiva could tell why Lailah was upset.

Perhaps he would have been too if the roles were reversed.

Everyone here had just seen the divine power of the Hindu world tree come from up high and attempt to fall down on her husband.

While no one was exactly certain what exactly the wish made was, since it involved Abaddon it could hardly be good.

Though Shiva was wholly uninvolved in this plot, he was relegated to doing damage control.

"I assure you, whatever act is afoot has no affiliation with me or anyone here whatsoever. I came here today in pursuit of genuine negotiations." Shiva said honestly.

"You'll have to forgive me if that seems a little hard to put confidence in given present eventsss." Lailah hissed.

"I understand how it may look, but I can promise you that it is the truth. The use of one of the wishing trees for any kind of evil purpose is wholly unacceptable. I am just as upset at this as you."

"I would highly doubt that."

The air within the atmosphere wasn't becoming any less tense.

Shiva didn't even want to look at Abaddon. He didn't want to see a betrayed look on the face of someone whom he wholly considered a budding friend.

But he didn't know how else to convince those here of his uninvolvement.

"Mothe- I mean, mama."

Lailah briefly looked down at her feet.

There, Gabbrielle was standing in her three year old form and pulling lightly on her dress.

When her mother was this mad, the only things that worked on her were sugar, Abaddon, and cuteness.

Gabbrielle happened to have the last one in spades.

"Peach… not now, please." Lailah asked softly.

"Shiva would not resort to such a horrificly underhanded method as this one. He is notoriously confident in his own power."

Shiva blinked his eyes in recognition as he squatted down to Gabbrielle's eye-level.

"…The serpent of infinity...?"

"I no longer adhere to that name."

"Is this what rebirth has in store for us…? You are… 'cute'."

"I am aware." Gabbrielle replied curtly.

Lailah lifted up her daughter into her arms.

Gabbrielle affectionately touched her mother's cheek and her face slowly returned to normal.

She looked at Shiva with mild distrust until Gabbrielle stole her attention yet again.

"You need not scrutinize him any further. Shiva would hardly have the…need for father that I believe the wisher might have had."

"What does that mean, peach…?"

Gabbrielle rubbed her little foot against Lailah's lower stomach.

"Your wedding crests." She reminded.

Again, Lailah's brain began spinning.

The matrimonial symbols on each of their bodies linked the eleven of them together forever, through life, death, and whatever may come after.

They are an unseverable, un-corruptible marking that are completely immune to any outside interference or tampering.

The fact that the girls' crests activated on their own must've meant that someone was trying to infringe upon that bond.

Someone had just tried to take their husband from them.

Gabbrielle watched awareness spread across her mother's face and she felt immensely satisfied.

It was nice that there was another smart person in the family so the amount of time that she spent explaining things could be nearly cut in half.

With Lailah's understanding, the knowledge began spreading to the other girls' minds without them even having to do anything.

And they were all less than pleased.

Lailah's own face was hidden behind her curtain of black hair; leaving her emotions unreadable.

"…I'll apologize to you for my accusations." Her voice was currently so low that even Shiva could have missed it.

"It is no issue. I understand that you-"

Quickly turning away, Lailah then addressed the entire party and all of the guests in attendance.

"I'm sorry, but I must insist that you all retire for the day. You are free to retire to a hotel or return to your respective realms, but I fear my family has reached the threshold of our capacity for social interaction… Duke will see you out and discuss rescheduling."

Lailah, Gabbrielle, Abaddon, and all of the wives suddenly vanished from the garden and left their guests standing around in a daze.

Not even Shiva reacted fast enough to stop their hasty exit.

However, he couldn't let things continue on this road.

Not when they were so close to achieving peace for not one, but five different pantheons.

Far too many lives were at stake for them to just let this be the end.

powered-by-MvLeMpYr

He had to speak with the Tathamet family before they had a very volatile knee-jerk reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid our banquet is ended for the day."

Duke stepped through a cobalt blue portal in the middle of the festivities while still looking as crisp and fashionable as always.

"Though our business here is concluded, please feel free to remain in the city for as long as you like. A guide will be provided for you at your request to show you around and ensure your stay is comfortable."

Shiva started to request that Duke call Abaddon back, but at the last moment, Ganesha placed a hand on his father's shoulder to stop him.

'It is useless, father. Let us return for today.'

'But-'

'Abaddon and his brides seemed not to have wholly closed themselves off to the idea of peace, but they will want blood for this. We need to return to Svarga, root out the culprit, and provide them with a satisfactory answer.'

Shiva was not the kind of father who was incapable of listening to his children.

Especially when they were gods of wisdom.

'Indeed… Let us hope we can avert another repeat of Asgard.'

-

Abaddon and his wives appeared in the living room with little Gabbrielle in tow.

Lailah placed her daughter on the ground and gave her kiss on the forehead and both her cheeks.

"Thank you for coming to be our little helper again, peach. Sorry it interrupted your little date."

"I-I was not on a date!" Gabbrielle replied in a rare flustered tone.

"Friends can go on dates, dear…"

"…Oh. That's what you meant.."

On any other day, Lailah would have chuckled and continued to tease her daughter even further.

But today, she was a bit too preoccupied with other matters.

"I'm sorry, but mommies and daddy need to have a private conversation for a moment. Can you give us some time?"

"Mm."

Gabbrielle waived her parents goodbye as she finally made her way back to the cafe.

As she was heading down the hall, her body reverted back to her 18-year old form.

While straightening her shirt, she ended up running into Sif who had just randomly decided to poke her head out of the door.

"Oh? Hey there, little miss."

"Good afternoon, stepmother." Gabbrielle waived.

"Do you know what's going on today? With that weird little rainbow comet I mean?"

Gabbrielle just pointed towards the area she'd just come from.

"Mothers and father can fill you in. I've got to get back to see my friend."

"Oh? Alright then, kiddo."

Sif watched Gabbrielle open her own portal and step through it.

It wasn't until she was gone that a small thought finally occurred to her.

'Wait a minute... Since when does she have friends?'

Shaking her head to herself, Sif quietly crept down the hallway in the hope that she could eavesdrop on her ex and his wives while they were talking.

Peeking around the corner, she was finally able to get a glimpse of what looked like a rather serious debate.

She had to use the faintest bit of her divine sense to get the full picture, but she was able to do it without interrupting them.

Abaddon was leaning against a marble pillar with his arms folded across his chest and a small smile on his lips.

In front of him, all of he wives were assembled like bowling pins and their eyes aglow.

Not even their irises were pupils were recognizable- just the same multicolored light found in each of them.

It would have been unsettling if they weren't all so unspeakably pretty.

"...Do you remember our vows?" All of the girls spoke in unison, with their voices sounding identical to Ayanna's.

"...I do."

Abaddon's wives allow him to act with impunity against any who would dare try to take them away from him.

And he allows them to do the same.

"We will have the life of the one responsible for this. Irregardless of the ramifications that may follow."

"We will deal with it as a family, just as we always have. You need not hesitate on my behalf, my loves. I wish you good hunting."

Abaddon, sentient amalgamation that he was, felt dangerously horny for the first time in a while.

He finally stopped leaning on the pillar and turned around to go walk it off when Eris suddenly grabbed him by the wrist.

The heat from her touch almost made him erupt prematurely.

"Where are you going..? Are you forgetting our custom?" She asked.

"I thought you all would want to begin preparing."

"This is more important for now. As you have done for us time and time again..."

Eris usually let her dress fall to the floor and the girls standing behind her mirrored her actions.

"We want to make sure you remember exactly who you belong to."

Abaddon didn't know how many times he was going to say it, but he really, really loved being married.

He picked up four of his wives indiscriminately and threw open the door to their bedroom.

The rest of the girls streamed in behind him while giggling like mad.

The last one to enter the room was Tatiana, and she paused just before shutting the door.

She locked eyes with Sif who was doing a horrible job at hiding.

Her blue finger curled provocatively in a beckoning gesture that made Sif's face turn red.

But even though she was embarrassed about being caught, it didn't stop her from peeling off her own robe and heading towards Abaddon's bedroom.

- The Next Morning...

Though she was usually the last one to get out of bed, if she even got out at all, Bekka was the firs to open her eyes this morning.

This already surprising turn of events was made even more alarming because it was still pretty dark out.

Bekka checked the time and saw that it was exactly 3:50 AM.

'Damn, I'm late already.'

Ever so quietly, Bekka sat up on the edge of the bed.

Normally, everyone always slept pretty closely together, but after last night the girls and Abaddon were really bunched up.

So much so that it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began.

It was more comfortable than it seemed, so Bekka was almost tempted to ask for this to become an every night thing.

Before she left, she crawled around discreetly and found everyone's lips to give them each a small peck.

Though Abaddon received much more than a short kiss, and because of that she almost woke him up on accident.

Once she was out of the bed, she made a beeline for the bathroom to wash last night's 'passion' off of her body.

When she returned, she finished getting dressed in the dark without making so much as a sound to disturb her loved ones.

However, she still ended up feeling a pair of eyes on her back as she prepared to leave.

Her blinding orange eyes met Sif's red ones, and for a moment she could tell Sif felt conflicted and nervous.

Almost as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have.

It nearly made Bekka laugh aloud.

'Sleep well.' she mouthed.

Finally, Bekka cracked open the balcony door and flipped over the railing- leaving Sif smiling to herself as she closed her eyes again.

While falling in midair, Bekka allowed the feeling of the wind whistling through her hair to wake her up fully.

Only once she was about to hit the ground did she sprout her wings from her back and take flight.

While heading for a very specific destination, she began replaying events from last night in her mind that made her smile softly to herself.

'I can't believe we're about to do this again... We're all a bit nuts, aren't we?'