First Demonic Dragon

Did Mira generally live her life on autopilot? Yes.

However, it was on missions that she retained a general seriousness and remembered an insane amount of details. Right down to the placement of every rock she came across.

She would never forget a face from a mission.

Mira told her father exactly where she had seen Kayla and Aj before.

He froze up like a deer in headlights. This was his subconscious mind's involuntary reaction to protect the promises that he made for the day.

Courtney wanted a normal, happy day full of nothing but her biggest supporters.

She deserved that.

But Abaddon also had his concerns about her security.

Was Courtney being shadowed..? The gods all knew he had an adoptive daughter now. One of them could have slipped the information to the Order and sent these two here as observers.

But Audrina had already made sure that none of the world's deities could find Courtney.

The only way for the order to find her… was if they stumbled upon her randomly.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

They might not've known anything at all. But if they did then… he wasn't sure what purpose the order could have here.

They weren't so bold as to take his daughter or harm her out in the open. No matter how much resentment they had for him.

One thing was for sure- the next few hours would be the deciding factor as to whether or not he would be able to keep his promise to Courtney.

He quickly recalled Helios and the others back, and Mira explained the situation to everyone.

But as Abaddon swept his eyes over the group, he realized that one person was missing.

-

AJ and his sister Kayla were at the ticket booth; paying to be granted entry into the track meet.

Aj cracked open his wallet and started to take out his money when he paused.

"Why am I paying for us again? I bought you dinner three nights in a row already."

While AJ dressed in more plain clothes, his sister was a lot bolder.

She wore a pair of dark baggy pants that came all the way up to her bellybutton, and a black mesh top that barely obscured the bra underneath.

The heels she wore also helped to make her look even more attractive and noteworthy.

Who cared if this was just a track meet?!

The world was her runway and she would look fucking amazing every time she stepped on stage!

Kayla pulled down her shades and stared at her brother.

She plucked the twenty out of his open wallet and handed it to the lady at the desk; making her giggle.

AJ couldn't do anything but force a smile as she handed him the change.

He had two sisters and both of them kind of just did whatever the hell they wanted whenever the hell they wanted to do it. They never got any less infuriating.

As the duo were given their tickets, AJ started his retort as soon as they walked into the event.

"You act like you don't get a transfer into your account every three weeks from Pops. More than me I might add!"

Kayla shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to tell you. It costs to look this good, AJ."

"Spending three grand a month on clothes is asinine."

"I couldn't agree more… that's why it's more like twelve."

AJ felt an unimaginable pain in his wallet just then.

He also felt that his adoptive father had a serious case of favoritism.

"He's giving you twelve grand a month..?"

"No, just seven… but he also gives me his card whenever I ask for it too." Kayla clarified.

"You get seven thousand dollars a month but you're hassling me for food money?? Those vegan places you like ain't cheap, you know?"

Kayla shrugged as the duo took their seats in the stands.

"I know, that's why I send you."

AJ ground his teeth together until he created a sound that resembled a sander.

"What? How much is he giving you?" Kayla asked.

"Two!"

Kayla fought the urge to laugh. Because that sounded exactly like something their adoptive father would do.

Shin Nagumo was caring, but slightly old fashioned.

Since he had been a young man before, he knew what young men needed. He gave AJ exactly what he needed to comfortably survive on as a young adult male, but nothing else.

But Kayla and her older sister were different.

They didn't have any older women influences in their lives because Shin was unwed.

He didn't know how much money they needed- what with feminine care products being a necessity and the cost of bras and underwear and…

He kind of just threw money at them so that they could live without complaint. Both to spare himself an awkward conversation, and because he felt a little guilty.

One might think this was creating financial monsters, but Kayla was actually a finance major with several high value stocks under her name.

She just liked spending money as much as she did making it.

"Come on, don't be mad. Tell you what, I'll make it up to you. We can hit the mall and I'll get you a whole new wardrobe." Kayla offered.

"I think I would rather you just go buy me whatever I want from the concession stand.."

"Well too damn bad." Kayla struck her brother over the head. "Your closet needs some serious work because I'm sick of looking at it. It's frustrating that someone as pretty and kept together as Andrea would have an interest in somebody like you."

"Yea, well I don't…" Aj's brain kind of fritzed out. "Wait, come again?"

Kayla stared at her brother like he was one great gargantuan idiot.

"…You're fucking with me, right? You seriously can't tell that girl likes you?"

AJ turned around slowly like he thought his sister was talking to someone else.

There was an old man wearing an ice cream cone not far from them. Aj slowly pointed at him with a questioning look.

"No I'm not talking to him, you doofus..!" Kayla hissed angrily.

Aj slowly pointed at himself.

"Yes, dickhead!" Kayla punched him hard in the side.

Aj didn't look any less stupefied.

"That… doesn't make any sense. Why would Courtney like me?!" He asked with his head in his hands.

"Believe me, I'm asking myself the same thing." Kayla huffed.

Courtney was objectively the most attractive person on campus. Why would someone like that have an interest in her dimwitted brother of all people??

Aj grabbed his sister by the shoulders and shook her like a stripper. "How do you know she likes me?? Did she tell you that?? Are you just picking with me because you're bored again??!?"

Kayla fought the urge to slap her brother as she wrestled herself from his grip.

"It's obvious if you'd pay attention! She never started coming to our dorm a lot until you told her you were over there all the time!"

"S-She said she was homesick before..?"

"She said she would really, really, really like it if we, and by that I mean mostly you, came to watch her run today."

"F-Friends support each other at stuff like this all the time?"

"She asked you to go to that car show with her."

"S-She knows I like cars!"

"Anthony-James!!"

"Makayla!"

The two warring siblings had accidentally drawn the attention of everyone around them without meaning to.

The old man from earlier tapped Aj on the shoulder to get his attention.

He smiled thoughtfully as he adjusted his ill-fitting glasses.

"As you urban youth like to say these days… You're fumbling the bag." The old man looked very proud of himself for knowing that phrase.

"Ah… My fault, OG."

The old man didn't understand that one, but he was too deep in the trenches to turn back now. "Foshizzle."

There were many emotions that Aj felt in that moment. None of them were wholly identifiable.

As if the hand of fate were gently turning his head, Aj found himself staring at the track.

There, Courtney was warming up with the rest of her team. He was actually one of the last ones to notice the sight of her beauty, judging by the way everyone else was staring.

Aj couldn't believe it.

Someone as radiant and magnetic as this had an interest in him?

It felt like another one of his sister's cruel pranks that she had taken too far.

And then their eyes met.

Courtney's hair was gently blown by the wind and she looked up into the stands at him.

She smiled softly and waived.

He waived back awkwardly as he felt his chest contract. Calling this feeling unbelievable didn't even begin to fully cover it.

"Great. You two have liked each other for all of two minutes and you're already making me sick." Kayla rolled her eyes.

Aj didn't hear a single word his sister said. In this moment almost nothing could have gotten his attention.

BzzBzzBzzBzz!!!

As if the fog obscuring his mind had been cruelly ripped away, Aj was thrusted cruelly back into the real world.

Both siblings wore some very expensive looking smart watches on their wrists that were now glowing bright red.

Kayla's face paled and she dropped her Dior sunglasses under the bleachers.

"This has to be wrong.." She whispered. "More than ten Class-SSS'…. Fourteen Quintessence Class..?? Twelve Class Zeroes..? Here??"

"It has to be a malfunction…" Aj was already trying to recalibrate his watch.

"Hello there."

The blood in the sibling pairs veins turned to ice.

They slowly turned around to find a young man with very dark skin and cornrows sitting in the row right behind them.

Kayla wasn't this lackadaisical. She had been watching every person who came to sit in their bleachers ever since they had sat down.

This guy did not get here by walking, that was for sure.

His voice was surprising- as it was both unusually deep and contained faint traces of an accent. Maybe… Greek?

"You both seem to know my sister quite well. Do you mind if I ask you about the extent of your relationship with her?"