First Demonic Dragon - Chapter 1011 - 1011: Detective Mateo

“Sorry I’m late!”

Courtney rushed up to Mateo and Nubia with a flushed face.

Her godfather and her sister gave her a quick once-over.

Nubia giggled in response. “It sure is nice to be young…”

Mateo folded his arms across his chest. “And what were you doing just now, young lady?”

Courtney’s face was flushed.

“I-I was just saying goodbye, god… As much stuff goes on in this house, I wouldn’t think you all would be so hyper vigilant over little kisses.”

Mateo and Nubia were astounded.

“…Oh…” Nubia muttered. “So it was just… a kiss then?”

Mateo scratched the back of his head anxiously. “That’s all there has ever been… right?”

“N-Not that it’s anyone’s business, but yeah!” Courtney insisted.

Nubia’s wife, Adeline, popped out of her shadow from the waist up.

“You mean like… not even some over the clothes heavy petti-“

“God, no!” Courtney recoiled. “Not everyone in this house is just chomping at the bit to do it.”

Courtney wouldn’t say it, but Aj was having some trouble staying… rigid.

Something about knowing your girlfriend’s fearsome and all-powerful father knowing everything that you two do in your time alone can really take you out of the mood.

Who knew?

“Whatever, can we just go please?” Courtney sighed. “I’m itching to do some demon killin’.”

Nubia gave her sister a light flick on the head. “We’re going to save our sister, not necessarily spill blood. And believe me, where we’re going, fighting shouldn’t be a priority.”

Courtney actually seemed slightly disappointed to hear that. Making Nubia wonder if her cute, mostly human sister was taking after the understandably less cute one. (Mira)

“Excuse me…”

A quiet voice came from down the hallway and surprised most of the group.

Standing a short distance away were young Aubrey and Sabine.

Both women looked tired, and maybe even a bit worried.

With a glance, Nubia knew exactly what they wanted.

“Coming along?” She smiled.

Both women nodded.

Nubia wrapped her cloak around herself resolutely and gave Mateo a nod.

“Alright, godfather. Seems like we’re all here now.”

“Right then.”

Mateo cracked his knuckles, and suddenly a portal opened up right in the middle of the hallway.

“Alright, everyone, let’s try to-“

“I’m dropping everbody I see!”

Courtney rushed through the portal.

Not a second after she left, there was a loud screech, and a splash of water came through.

Mateo sighed as he slicked back his hair.

“This… is going to be an eventful little trip.”

– Earth, United States of America, New York: Central Park…

Courtney spat out a mouthful of lake water as she swam towards the shore.

Even if it was night out, she was still at risk of being spotted by someone and utterly humiliated.

“Maybe don’t just rush through openings without waiting to hear what’s on the other side, mija.”

Courtney glanced above her head at Mateo’s outstretched hand.

He lifted her out of the water with ease and wrung her clothes dry with magic.

“My bad… feeling a little overzealous here.” Courtney scratched her cheek.

Mateo felt like he was staring back at a mirror version of his younger self.

That thought filled him with just as much dread as it did nostalgia.

Courtney had just stepped into the world of her powers, but as someone who once was quite overzealous when he developed abilities, Mateo wanted to prevent her from making the same types of mistakes hedid.

Though this time on a global scale…

“Listen, mija.” He placed his hand on top of her head. “You can’t behave too erratically while we’re here. The best way to help your sister is to stay rational while we search.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney caught sight of Sabine and Aubrey.

They were taking turns spinning around in circles, clearly trying to expand the range of their bonds past the park.

Judging by their disappointed faces, the results weren’t anything positive.

“…I get it.” Courtney nodded before she looked around the park. “But can you at least tell me what we’re doing in New York..?”

Mateo assumed a proud expression, as if he couldn’t wait for her to ask.

“Well, the metal man and your grandmother said that Thea had to have been called by a one-way summoning. I figured that the best place to start searching would be to look for those who are most familiar with this type of magic.”

Courtney still didn’t understand.

Mateo knelt beside the surface of the lake and gave the surface a single tap.

Instantly, the lake became tranquil and undisturbed. It was a most miraculous sight.

“Fae ingredients are quite popular on Earth’s black market. But they only have a handful of suppliers, and actually compensate the fae for their materials. This leads to signs of a working relationship. One might be able to give us information on the other.”

Courtney let out an impressed whistle.

“Woah… I almost forgot you used to run Earth’s underground.”

Mateo looked up from the lake and smiled at her.

“I may have been away for a while, but make no mistake, mija. I still run this shit.”

Suddenly, the surface of the water shone like a beacon.

Mateo smiled confidently, almost like he was gloating.

“You see? We’re getting the royal treatment already.”

Mateo jumped into the lake first.

After him went Sabine, and then Aubrey.

Adeline and Nubia stood beside Courtney, who was wearing an expression of deep contemplation.

“I might be remembering things wrong, but doesn’t our family-“

“”Yes.”” Both women said at once.

“So should I be expecting anything annoying to happen…?”

“”Probably.”

Courtney sighed as she prepared to jump in the water again.

Her last fleeting thought before entering was just how much she wished her mother was there…

–

While Abaddon was living out his adventures as M’anari on Earth, some of the wives handled his absence better than others.

Valerie, in particular had some of the most difficulty.

The routine of talking to her husband every day, and every night, even about nothing at all, was just too hard for her to break.

Walking through the home that they shared wasn’t much better. The echoes of their lives together kept flooding back into her mind like a broken dam.

She cried every day for five years. Sometimes in secret, sometimes spontaneously with the others.

Valerie got tired of living like that. There was a point where her body and mind could no longer handle the longing.

So Valerie also went to Earth.

She would steal glances at her husband from time to time while he was living out his life, but she had to stop after she saw a village girl confess to him, and she sent a flood.

So, she found another way to occupy her time.

The fairly realm.

The fairy realm is easily accessible through Earth, as the two of them have been connected since Gaia first formed. In a way, she is also their patron deity.

Fae are particular beings.

Like vampires and sirens, they are creatures of great beauty that do not always have particularly altruistic motives.

Faeries like causing mischief instead of murder.

They do things like making your belt loop get caught on door handles, or poking holes in condoms. Some also like to do extremely raunchy things like supergluing the testicles of werewolves together.

However, faeries cannot lie. If you ask them if they did something, they have to tell the truth. But they can distract you from getting the answer through any number of means. So, while they cannot lie, they don’t usually tell the truth unless they’re forced.

Faeries are a popular sexual partner for a number of supernatural beings.

All of them, regardless of whether they are male or female, have small physiques with androgynous appearances. They have soft voices, soft skin, and they’re quite romantic as well, with almost none of them having a set orientation.

This makes them preferential to vampires, since they are less likely to murder or compel their partner after coitus. Though they might steal from them if they weren’t being watched.

Faeries are also habitual partyers. They throw festivals that last weeks at a time for any manner of occasions. The fairy queen’s last birthday party raged for six months straight.

For these traits, Valerie decided to spend a bit of time partying in the fairy realm.

While she never cheated on any of the partners she had waiting for her back at home, she drank enough alcohol to put even Thor’s myths to shame.

And with her role as a deity of festivals, her presence amplified the sensations felt by the festival attendees over a thousandfold.

The alcohol was sweeter. The buzz was more surreal. The sex was mind-altering and transformative.

Valerie could also feed on their inhibitions to give herself vivid illusions of her husband and wives. It was how she subsisted herself around all of that intoxicating desire while not breaking the bonds of her marriage.

When Valerie first arrived in the fairy realm, the party lasted for almost nine years.

She spoke to the wives during that time, of course, but they didn’t disturb her. Mostly because they were relieved that she was finally in a place where she didn’t feel a need to cry herself asleep at night.

But on the day Yesh arrived in the realm and told her that Abaddon was coming home, she abandoned everything without a second thought.

However, leaving so suddenly like that, Valerie had no opportunity to wean the faeries off of her connection.

Meaning they were like a bunch of addicts who had been cut off cold turkey.

For a while, they became a bit more malevolent in their pranks. Some humans even died from them.

But all faeries, except for the queen, have a relatively short memory.

Soon, they didn’t even remember what was making them so antsy, and they forgot all about the kind of high that Valerie’s presence brought.

But they passed down stories, enough so that they had become part of their people’s legends.

And faeries love their legends.

“IT’S A TATHAMET! THEY’RE BACK!”

“SOMEONE GET MY COKE!”

“TELL THE QUEEN!”

‘THE ORGY IS ON, BABYYY!!”