First Demonic Dragon

Despite that, it\'s a vulnerability that his children don\'t really take advantage of him for, and they only ask him for something when they really need it.

Or when they\'re hungry… which means Mira asks him for lots of things.

That aside, the most independent of his children are by far Nubia and Gabbrielle.

Abaddon could count on his hand the amount of times they had selfishly asked him for something.

As such, when Nubby asked him if her boyfriend could attend the planned guys trip, he replied without even thinking about it.

"Yes."

Nubia stared at her father strangely.

"J-Just like that..?"

Abaddon smiled sadly.

"I know that I probably disappointed you a lot with my reaction when I found out… so I will atone however I am able. If you want him to come, then we will bring him."

Nubia hugged her father with a warmth only an empath like her could possess.

This gesture, though small, was more meaningful to her than she could express.

"I just want you to get a chance to get to know him better, you know? So this really means a lot to me."

Abaddon smiled softly as he hugged her back, and he promised to give her his best effort possible.

Even at his own expense…

Abaddon hadn\'t told any of the guys that Nubia was dating Adeline or Zheng.

The reason why? The shit that Satan and Darius would have given him for it would have certainly reached porta-potty level proportions.

But for one of his precious daughters? There was no cost thst was too big to pay.

- 2 Days Later…

"Why aren\'t we invited on this trip again?"

Abaddon was pacing about the foyer by the front door; waiting for Courtney to return home from school.

Behind him, Ayanna, Sif, Apophis, Belloc, Straga, and Thea were all seated on the staircase watching him burn a hole in the floor.

He briefly stopped pacing for a moment to roll his eyes at his youngest son.

"You have school and work. You\'re not going anywhere until the summer gets here."

"I could just leave a clone here and-"

"You\'d leave Monica lonely?"

Straga\'s face paled almost immediately.

"Nevermind. You geriatric dragons have all the fun you want."

Abaddon was too worried about Courtney to respond to such an insult, so he simply scoffed and let it be.

"Well I\'m still feeling a little excluded." Thea pouted. "Why can\'t girls go on this trip?"

Jasmine was seated in her lap and nodded her head firmly. "Yea, I hang out with you guys all the time. But suddenly I can\'t take trips with you?"

Belloc raised his brow at them. "Uncle Darius said the focus of this trip is abstinence from sex and women. Do you really want to endure something like that when you don\'t have to?"

Thea and Jasmine looked at each other for less than two seconds before coming to an unsurprising decision.

"Nevermind, Dad. I\'ll just hang back and wish you luck."

"Can you bring me back a souvenir or something instead?"

Sif and Abaddon made the same pained expression at the same time.

Everyday, it grew harder and harder not to mourn the loss of their daughter\'s innocence.

Ayaana were the only ones who seemed to be fine either way.

Ignoring the pain in his chest, Abaddon glanced at his oldest son who had yet to really say anything.

"What about you, son? No interest in attending?"

Annoyed, Belloc responded before his older brother could.

"Are you just overlooking me on purpose? Why aren\'t I being invited??"

"You don\'t want to come anyway? You can\'t bring manga, or your new human girlfriend onto a nonstop battlefield."

"Doesn\'t mean I don\'t atleast want an invite."

"Son, do you want to come to war with us?"

"Nah, I\'m cool, dad. Thanks though."

"Idiot." Abaddon chuckled and shook his head.

The thing that he disliked about his son sometimes was that his dry wit was so unironically amusing.

Apophis too chuckled at his brother\'s antics before answering the question that was originally meant for him.

"It does sound like a nice little reset… but I think a week and a half might be too much for me to be away. But if you have room for me on the next mission then…"

"Say no more. We\'d be quite happy to have you." Abaddon smiled.

"Why will you even be gone for so long anyway, dad?" Straga questioned. "Couldn\'t you just use one of your more showy powers and make all your enemies hang themselves or something? You could be done in a minute."

Sif pouted to herself as if she had also thought up this exact same scenario already.

"I could, but I\'ve been urged against it by grandfather and the others… apparently they don\'t want the trip to be over in just a few minutes." He shrugged.

At that moment, the front door finally opened.

Abaddon caught Courtney in his arms before her foot even fully crossed the threshold.

"Uwah?!"

"You finally made it! How was school?! Did you make any friends?! Are you having trouble seeing the board???"

"Can\'t… talk..!"

"Sorry.." Abaddon significantly lessened his grip on his daughter and returned her ability to speak clearly.

"How come you never asked me all that stuff after the first day I went to school?" Straga asked.

"You were knocking grown vampires through walls before you even knew how to speak. I had to worry about the other kids, not you." Abaddon dismissed.

Straga started to get offended, but he realized that his father\'s lack of concern was only a testament to his greatness and might.

Making it much harder to have a problem with his perceived favoritism.

"You know what? I\'m fine with that."

"I bet you are." Abaddon didn\'t need to actively read his son\'s mind to know what he was thinking.

Courtney finally pulled herself together and wiggled out of her father\'s grasp.

"It was fine." She sighed. "Lunch wasn\'t that good so I\'m really hungry…"

Hearing this, Apophis stood up and held out his hand for the little girl to take. "Well let\'s go and raid our sister\'s mini fridge while she\'s out with her friend." (Gabbrielle)

"Okay, big brother." Courtney really seemed to perk up and took Apophis\' hand without reservation.

Once the two of them were out of sight, Abaddon looked down at the floor in front of him.

Adeline rose up out of the shadows and lowered her head in a deep bow. "Emperor."

"How was it? Did she seem comfortable there??" Abaddon asked.

Adeline bit her lip uncomfortably for a moment before confessing the bitter truth.

"It seems the princess is actually quite shy… she didn\'t manage to talk to a single classmate the whole day and at sometimes even went out of her way to avoid them.

As far as her academics goes, she has expressed no issues so far.

Her teacher gave her much more attention than the other students since she was starting in the middle of the semester, but the princess hardly needed it.

I can only assume that Empress Lailah\'s lessons were the reason she excelled so highly. In all honesty she could skip this grade if you were so inclined."

Inside of Ayaana, Lailah was glowing with smug satisfaction and pride.

The other girls, and even Sif gave her a small smack.

"So she has difficulty making friends…" Abaddon muttered. "I never would have guessed it. She\'s always been so vibrant."

"I would not place too much worry on the subject, Emperor. It is not unusual for children in new spaces to require a brief period of adjustment."

Abaddon knew that she was right, but ultimately he was still a parent, and worrying a little bit was just apart of his DNA at this point.

"Was there anything else of note?" Ayaana suddenly asked.

Adeline nodded.

"The princess is downplaying it a bit, but the food in the cafeteria made her slightly queasy.

The vast difference in quality of food here compared to earth is resulting in trouble with her diet, so I believe it may be best to pack her a lunch from now on. And…"

"And..?" Ayaana raised a brow.

"…I noticed that one of the teachers had a particularly… unethical interest in the children at school."

Abaddon\'s eyes began to resemble a black hole.

"What..?"

"I took the liberty of investigating further for a moment while the princess was having nap time, and I fear my suspicions were correct. His cell phone contained numerous-"

"Kill him." The entire room responded in unison.

Adeline could not withhold the small smirk on her lips, but she hoped that since her hair was covering her face no one would notice anything.

"I believed you all might feel that way. As of 2:45 this afternoon Mr. Dade has suffered an irreparable hemorrhagic stroke."

Adeline wasn\'t expecting much praise for her efforts, but she received something that was even more surprising.

"Lift your head, dear."

Ayaana\'s gentle voice in Adeline\'s ear was certainly a shock, but when the Empress suddenly pulled her into an embrace, she believed she might faint.

"I can see why our daughter chose the both of you. But you don\'t need to be so stiff and formal all the time though dear. You are family now, you know?"

"I-I couldn\'t possibly-"

"You can and you will."

"Y-Yes ma\'am."

Abaddon watched this scene thoughtfully.

It took him longer than he would like to admit, but he finally realized that this was the kind of scene that Nubia was trying so hard to cultivate.

As he left the room to find Courtney, he silently resolved himself to welcome Zheng in the exact same way.

However, he had forgotten that just because he was of that mind, didn\'t mean that a few of his other relatives would be the same way…

But all would reveal itself in due time when the men left for their trip in just a few short hours.