An all-powerful Demon lord stood before her.
"Have you come to kill me?" Lillian asked the bloody figure, standing over her.
It looked down at her, but its face was out of focus. The only thing she could make out was the fury in its nightmarish red eyes. She could only imagine that they were the same color eyes that the rulers of hell have. The same rulers who, according to Talion, killed all of the gods of old, gods whose powers were said to be unmatched by any, even the gods that are worshiped to this day. The same rulers who have yet to wipe out every person on Solaris not because they can't but because they find the task to be nothing more than a waste of their time.
She wanted to cry.
Quickly reciting a silent prayer to whichever god would listen, she screamed as the demon descended upon her blocking out the rest of the world and then... Everything went black.
******
Kaeron eyed the now unconscious brat. The drug must've really messed her up because she actually thought he was going to kill her (not that he hadn't thought about it before), but if he killed her, Lex would kill him. So he knocked her out instead because calming her down would be... a hassle. Besides, he didn't have time to play nurse.
The movement in his peripheral pulled his attention away from the girl and back onto his prey. He rose back up, standing to his full height, and cracked his neck, smiling deviously.
There was still work to be done.
"Ted, Orion, take Collin and go now! He's after me. I'll buy you all some time, so go. Now!" Leonidas growled, but the shaking in his legs made his little hero moment feel... unimpressive.
"What!? Dad, No! I Won't Leave You! Dad!" The boy protested as Leonidas's companions fought to get him into the back seat.
"Don't. Don't worry, son." Leonidas swallowed. Fear wafted from him like a cologne, and Kaeron reveled in it. "There is nothing to be afraid of. I know you've always hated what I do, but hopefully, one day, you'll understand that I did it all for us. For you. For those who the legal system has deemed as disposable. I..."
Kaeron began to slow clap, and Leonidas went silent, exposing his fangs. "Bravo." Kaeron applauded, voice dripping with sarcasm, as he continued to clap. "You vamps kill me. How do you do it? Pretending that you have soul, I mean? Do you practice this stuff in the mirror or something? Seriously. What's your secret."
"Fuck you. Like you're any better, Fire Breather. You leave a trail of bodies wherever you go and feel nothing for the ruined lives of the families you leave behind, and you're standing there judging me!?"
Kaeron scoffed. "Says the rapist pedophile drug dealer."
"No, dad! Stop, please!"
Kaeron ignored the sound of the cars engine starting and the screeching of tires, as it took off headed for the main road. Leonidas was right. Kaeron had no interest in the other three, only him.
"DAD!" The kids' scream echoed throughout the alley.
"The history books will call you a hero standing up to an evil villain." Kaeron cracked his knuckles. "But we'll both know the truth. You're nothing but a vile creature who needed to be put down before more unsuspecting victims stumble upon your web of drugs and lechery."
"Fuck you!" Leonidas spat pulling out a small plastic bottle of what Kaeron assumed to be filled up with Virpetro, uncapping it...
That's as far as he got.
"Famous last words." Kaeron yawned, holding Leonidas's detached head in one hand a dagger in the other.
Blood suddenly gushed from Leonidas's body where Kaeron had severed the head, as if he had moved so quick that the body was only now catching up to what had happened, and it then dropped to the hard, cold ground, spilling the pills everywhere.
Kaeron stared at the dragon inscribed on the pills for a moment in silence and then dropped Leonidas's head on top of the rest of him and breathed fire until all of it was nothing more than a pile of ash, including the pills.
Once he was satisfied with his work, he walked over and picked up the sleeping princess.
"All of this of this fuss over a girl who can't even hold her own in a club." Kaeron huffed, shifting back to normal.
He stepped over the satyr he had killed and walked the two back over to the door he had melted through just in time to see it.
The satyrs battle axe was mid swing headed straight for Ratfords torso. Shit. With Lamb in his arms and no longer shifted, he'd be too late to...
The sound of impact reverberated across the room, and Kaeron watched as if in slow motion as the upper half of Ratford Orintail's body went flying through the air, leaving the rest of him where he once stood.
His upper half landed in front of Kaeron (because, of course, it did), and Kaeron took one look at the tired smile on the fools face and was just about to drop the princess and burn the satyr alive when he heard a multitude of gun fire, and he looked up in time to see the creatures face get turned into swiss cheese.
It crumpled to the ground and stayed there lifeless.
"Captain! One of Ratfords lackeys shouted as footsteps raced over from Kaerons left. A man reached the body first, and all though Kaeron didn't remember his name, he remembered the man was a part of the group that had been joking back at the van with Ratford.
The others arrived seconds after, all looking disheveled and grief stricken.
Kaeron turned away. "What a fool." He muttered to himself.
"What was that!?" Asked the man first to the body. "This is all because of you! Why did we have to go in, Huh!? Ratford had said that we didn't need to go in yet! We could have waited and stuck to the fucking plan! But no! The big baby gets what he wants." He laughed obviously historical, voice cracking. "And then, you, the almighty dragon shifter, left him to fight not one! But two! Satyrs by himself, to rescue some mortal girl who wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if you would've just shut the fuck up and stuck to the fucking plan!"
"Are you done?" Kaeron loosed an annoyed breath, and half turned back toward them. He glanced at the body briefly before looking the man in the eyes.
"Ratford was weak."
Somebody actually gasped.
"What the hell did you say!" The man growled, picking up his rifle and pointing it at Kaeron. The others quickly followed his example.
Kaeron narrowed his eyes on the man. "Do it. I dare you."
The man was visibly shaking; anger, pain, and determination clouded his eyes, but Kaeron knew how this would end.
"Fuck!!!" The man tossed the rifle the opposite direction, and the others scowled at Kaeron before they also lowered their weapons like the scared little bitches they were.
"Thought so." Kaeron sneered.
He took one last look at the smile on Ratford's face, turned, and walked away, carrying the still unconscious Lamb out of the club. Nobody followed after him.
Kaerons senses were still heightened from the shift, and he could hear law enforcement on it's way about four minutes out. When they get here and find all of the death and they get the statements from the club goers, the media is going to swarm all over this mess. Kaeron had made sure that they'd at least have a headstart before anybody found out about Leonidas's death when he incinerated the body, but he doubted that the kid or the other two witnesses would stay quiet for long, and Draefin would come looking for answers, and the moment he finds out that Ratford died, Kaeron would be his next target, and Kaeron really doubted that Draefin would ask so nicely this time.
Kaeron wanted to scream. He wanted to snap this little girls neck and just be done with all of it. He wanted to...
"Kaeron?" His head snapped towards the one person who could sneak up on him while his senses were this hot wired.
"Lex." He said, letting himself take the breath he had apparently been holding in.
"Are you ok? I felt something off.." her attention was pulled to his arms, or who was in them. "What happened? Is she ok!?"
Why was he even surprised at this point.
"She's fine. In fact, she's probably having a better time than I am right now." He scoffed.
Lex looked at him, waiting for further explanation.
"She's high. Like off of the planet high, and she was acting historical because she couldn't handle being that high, so I knocked her out so that she could sleep it off."
"Oh." She eyed him again. "Are you ok?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, just tired, but do me a favor. I need you to drive, please. I need to take a quick nap."
Her face contorted a few times, clearly holding back whatever multitude of questions she had, but eventually, she sighed. "No problem. Sit Lily in the passenger seat."
He nodded again, and they made their way over to his car where he did as he was told.
He stretched out in the back seat as Lex started up the engine. The sound of law enforcement was getting too close for comfort, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Lex questioned.
Kaeron yawned and flipped to his side, facing away from his sister. "Maybe later."
"Ok." There was so much disappointment in the word that Kaeron almost broke, but instead, he closed his eyes, knowing damn well that he wasn't going to get any sleep, when he couldn't stop seeing that tired smile.
******
"It's ok, pea. He's gone, honey. I kicked him out for good this this. He won't be coming back, I swear upon Lordarus god of truth and suffering. I'm so sorry, honey. I know that I'm a terrible mother, but I'm trying..." Marie Deitas said, smiling through her tears.
"No, you aren't a terrible mom." Kaeron hissed. He could still remember the pain in his jaw from the beating he had received that night.
She hiccuped laughed, but he wasn't joking and refused to break eye contact to show her that he was serious.
Marie's smile grew a little. Kaeron used to love to see that smile. She cupped his cheek with a hand.
"One day, Pea. It'll just be me. You. And Lex, I swear. You do still believe in me, right, Pea?"
Kaeron nodded once, and she cried, laughed as she pulled him into one of her bone crushing hugs.
A week later, she had gotten back together with that bastard. She stayed with him for another year in a half on and off, and Kaeron got four more beatings like that. With four more speeches just like that one, and like the naive kid he was. He believed her each time.
******
Kaeron watched as the woman who gave birth to him was ushered toward his car by Lex, who was carrying a bunch of the woman's belongings in four large bags that, if she weren't his sister, he'd be amazed by her ability to do so while making it look so effortless.
"Kaeron. Kaeron!" Lamb giggled.
"What!" Kaeron snapped, pulling his attention away from the woman to face Lamb, who was still stupid high. Who would've ever thought he'd envy the little girl.
"No need to be so rude." She slurred, puffing her cheeks. "Now I don't want to tell you the secret."
"Good, sit there and shut up." He said, turning his attention back onto the incoming topic of why he needs a therapist.
He was already regretting this, even though he was the one who ordered that they take the woman with them, because he knew that Draefins' first stop would be the house Kaeron was currently parked outside to use the woman as leverage against Kaeron to get Kaeron to spill his guts about the moron in his back seat, so taking the woman with them was the smartest play, and even though he promised Lex what seemed like a million times that he'd be fine and to just worry about herself, he could feel himself regretting all of it with each step the woman took toward the car.
"You've got a nice butt." Lamb giggled.
Kaeron sighed. "Thanks. I guess."