Cass gulped, striding towards the giant, warm beast who was still billowing out smoke and barbeque scent while the rest of the nobles were running and screaming.
There was a small (small) part of Cass that was a little upset that he didn’t get to tease people more, but hey, the King truly brought this upon himself. He hoped he had a fun time explaining what happened to the other nation’s Duke. It wasn’t Cass’ fucking problem.
He tried to steal their Saintess. The gods were the ones who made him pay the price. Technically, it was the Red Dragon himself who had told him that he had made a poor choice. The gods they believed in had put him in his place.
If the others didn’t see it the same way, that wasn’t on Cass. They needed to go to the temple more and pray. The gods would probably like that too. Maybe they could go touch grass too. Especially if there were demons and monsters out and about.
Without protection or knights.
Cass shook himself slightly, trying to shake away the anger that really shouldn’t be there anymore. He’d made his point, loud and clear. Had he finished up his business with his grandfather? No, but he’d made it clear that he wasn’t going to be pushed around by him anymore. That was a good thing.
Or a bad thing, since it meant he couldn’t be as sneaky as he had been before, but that was okay. It was about time that his grandfather realised that Cass, Lord Blackburn, wasn’t going to let the man take what belonged to him.
The Ridgewood family was probably going to be in scrambles. Maybe Cass should also reveal to the fuckers that he was a hero too? That would really send them spiraling. Cass felt his lips curl up at the thought, especially since Duke Ridgewood was still being held up by Cass in this situation, even though it was clear that he wanted to go to the King and protect him.
Especially as Cass came closer and closer to the other man.
Was he on his way to intimidate the King? No. He had no need to. The man was already quaking in his boots. He was on his way to speak to Lucian, and check to see if the fucker was dead. It would be greatly surprising if the man had somehow survived it, but honestly, Cass wasn’t putting it past anything. Except the fact that everything smelt like barbeque.
Hey, maybe the guy wasn’t human, and instead needed Fiona’s hero power to kill him? Wouldn’t that be wild?
Cass climbed the stairs upwards, getting closer to Lucian’s current face, and also getting closer to the King. He could tell that those who were still in the ballroom clearly thought something was going to happen between them, but Cass stopped a few steps away.
Honestly, he didn’t need to put his hands on the man to kill him if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. He could just...force kill the guy. He had magic. He didn’t need to get up close and personal, he just did that to the other Ridgewood to make a statement, and get some pent up aggression out.
"Cass?" The sound came out of the dragon, but Cass had no idea how or why. He also had a feeling that the man wasn’t speaking English, or any language he should be able to understand, but somehow, it rang out in his head. It sounded like just a rumble, but Cass was able to tell that it was Lucian speaking to him in dragon form.
Cass felt his legs grow weak. Oh fucking shit. This could not be happening to him right now. He could not be getting turned on by this fucker.
Cass let out a shaky breath, glancing up at Lucian and the large, orange eye that he had turned to stare at Cass. Cass blinked a few times, knowing that his face was going bright red. He could also feel his heartbeat in his chest, his pulse thumping away.
He didn’t know how, but he just knew that Lucian was smirking at him as more smoke billowed out of his nostrils.
"Cat got your tongue?" Lucian teased, that deep rumble making the walls shake. Cass sputtered.
"I-I’m allowed to be surprised! This is the first time I’ve seen you fully transformed!" Cass snapped, then wanted to smash his head against a wall. He was supposed to be calm, collected. A Villain. Like Lord Blackburn.
Right now he was just being Cass, and Lucian rumbled again, shifting slightly so that his body shifted more towards Cass.
"Hmm, true. How did I do? Did I do what you wanted? Am I going to get a prize for it?" Lucian, the giant, red dragon who was crunching the floor, pillars and stairs under his weight and who was speaking into Cass’ mind in a way he had never experienced before outside of interacting with gods, was asking Cass if he did a good job?
Cass let out a hard exhale, his gut twisting, flipping, as he felt something warm and wet soak into his pants. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, something he hadn’t experienced before. Normally he was naked before this happened, and Cass blinked slowly.
Shit.
"You did a great job. I came over to check if the bastard was actually dead." Cass said. "Lady Ava is feeling a little...worried." He said and Lucian rumbled again. This time, there weren’t any words attached to it, he was just upset.
"Understood. Here." Lucian eventually said, before he lowered his head so that Cass could peer into his mouth. It was an awkward position for him, but Lucian didn’t seem to mind. He opened his maw, showing off the burnt up corpse inside. But, contrary to both what Lucian and Cass thought, Cass saw the fucker breathing still.
And, there was something strange about his body.
Cass blinked, surprised, before something, a strange knowing, filled him.
Oh, that made perfect sense. Demons had been involved in this dealing. That...honestly made a lot of sense.
"Fiona!" Cass called, not taking his eyes off of the twitching body inside. Now that Cass was looking for it, he could pick out some things that weren’t quite right about the body. It was bigger than the man they had sent in.
Cass could hear Fiona rushing over, and Cass frowned.
"Don’t rush. Be careful. We don’t want to strain your body." It was hilariously easy to make jokes like this, and Cass heard Fiona’s heavy sigh as the words left his mouth.
"Oh shut up. This much isn’t going to bother me." She muttered, before she climbed up to where Cass was and turned to look into Lucian’s mouth. At first, she didn’t seem to see what he saw, cupping her eyes as if that would give her a better view inside. After a few seconds, she jerked. "What am I looking at?" She asked and Cass let out a soft sigh.
"That, my dear Fiona, is the not quite dead body of a demon who had been possessing the man Lady Ava was supposed to marry." Cass turned his gaze towards the King, who was still frozen where he was.
He probably thought that Cass and Fiona had forgotten he was there. Cass just didn’t consider him important enough to acknowledge until now.
"Do you see what you almost did? You almost married her off to the literal fucking enemy." Cass snarled, knowing damn well that he was technically an enemy to humanity on all sides. His human blood wasn’t friends with humanity either. He was a Blackburn.
Fiona rumbled, a mimic of what Lucian did on a regular basis, before rubbing her hand over the top of her head, getting frustrated at the hairdo she was in, and then glancing around.
"I don’t have a fucking sword on me." She declared, pissed, and Cass glanced around. When he spotted a nearby knight, Sir Sanders, he waved the man over. Sir Sanders came over easily.
"Yes, my lord?" He asked casually, like seeing a dragon show up at a ball was completely normal. Cass was growing to like the man more and more.
"Can you hand over your sword to Fiona? Just for a moment? We have a demon to slay." Cass told him and Sir Sanders glanced at Fiona, the open dragon mouth, and narrowed his gaze. He then took off his sword, handing it over to Fiona.
"Of course. Who am I to interfere with what the hero does?" It should have sounded like a slap, but Cass had a feeling that wasn’t the case. He was being genuine, but Fiona clearly didn’t feel the same. She looked conflicted, until Cass nudged her shoulder.
"Come on. We don’t have all day, Fiona. Lucian, Fiona is entering your mouth to finish off the job. Don’t eat her." A puff of smoke from Lucian’s nostrils that had Fiona coughing.
"I would never do so." Lucian growled in Cass’ mind, while Fiona began to step into the dragon’s mouth. It was a bit mind altering to realise that the man, the dragon that had been uh, in bed with Cass only a few hours before was now so large that someone, no, several people could walk into his mouth and still had room to move around.
Lady Ava’s shout filled the now silent air.
"I-Is everything alright?" She asked, her voice a little shrill. Cass couldn’t blame her. Cass kept his gaze on Fiona, ready to jump in if something strange happened, but responded to Lady Ava, and the vultures who had stayed around for any more drama.
"It’s a demon! Fiona is just taking care of it!" Cass called casually. He half expected Lady Ava to screech, be terrified, but instead, the response he got was rather lackluster.
"I knew that! Will she be okay? Do you need my holy powers too?" She called back and Cass let out a soft chuckle. Well, he’d have to ask her how she knew this guy was a demon, but not Cass, but right now was not the time.
"We’ll be fine! I can just...step in if things get weird!" Cass called and that seemed to be an acceptable answer since she didn’t speak again. Fiona made her way towards the hunched being, and with a quick jab, it was over. The blade had glowed for a second before she stabbed down, waited a second, and then the body melted back into a human shape. Then Fiona turned and headed back towards Cass, her expression grim.
"There are a lot more demons active then I realised." She muttered, and Cass couldn’t help but agree.
"I think we’re the only kingdom that’s mostly safe." Cass told her, and Fiona glanced at him, glanced towards the King, and then snarled.
"Fucking figures. Has to be because we have a Saintess, where other countries do not." Cass felt his lips twitch as Fiona handed the sword back to Sir Sanders and marched towards the others. Lucian closed his mouth before making a dramatic show of swallowing.
"So? What’s the plan?" Lucian asked as if he hadn’t just eaten someone. Cass let out a sigh.
"Byron? Come on over. We’re heading out of here. We’ve made our point." Cass said, and was pleased to hear several people gasp as Byron pulled himself from the wall nearby and joined Cass.
Cass had entered as a man others had looked down on, with only a few realising how much power he held. He was now about to leave as a man others would have true, real nightmares about.
He smiled a little at that thought.