First Demonic Dragon

Mateo might've needed a moment to get his gears turning, but he shrugged off his surprise very quickly.

In the span of time that it took one person to blink he'd thrown back his chair and unslung the large weapon on the wall.

He went towards the only window in the room and jumped out of it like he was a modern day superhero.

As soon as he leapt outside, he saw the problem.

Three individuals that he didn't recognize were standing just outside his mansion.

One was a tall young man with a ripped physique and a domineering aura.

Mateo easily mistook him for an Egyptian deity due to the traditional skirt, wesekh, and armbands that looked like they could've been found in a museum.

But Mateo had no time to sit and question this stranger's fashion choices.

Especially not when he was holding the two of his guards by the neck.

Letting out his own distinctive war cry, Mateo swung his weapon wildly as if he intended to cut the intruder's head off.

The young man casually looked up and did something Mateo never expected.

He dropped the guards entirely.

"Godfather!" One of the women waived.

Mateo lost all of his hostility and stumbled awkwardly to the ground.

He landed just shy of crashing into the Egyptian man, and used his weapon to hold himself up.

"W-Who..?"

Now that he was on the ground, he could see that the two young women accompanying the man were identical twins. Perfectly identical at that.

He thought that he might've had some idea as to their identities, but it quite literally wasn't possible for his hypothesis to be true.

"Godfather!" One of the twins ran up to him and wrapped his neck in a hug. "It's me, Yemaya!"

Mateo felt his eyes water involuntarily, and he returned the young girl's hug in kind.

One of the bodyguards who was being held by Apophis rubbed his neck. "B-Boss, who are these-"

"Be silent, pendéjo! How could you see my family show up here and not alert me immediately??"

"How was I support know that they were your family?? They don't even look like you!"

"Nonsense! Are you telling me you don't see this resemblance?!" Mateo smushed his cheek together with Yemaya's.

""…"" The guards looked back and forth between themselves.

"You're right, boss. The resemblance is uncanny."

"We fucked up, that's our bad."

"Tch."

Mateo returned his attention to the young girl and his face lit up considerably.

He held out his arm for Yemaja, who was standing a bit farther back with a smile.

"Still not too keen on affection?"

Yemaja smiled wryly and went to hug her godfather as well.

The last time she saw him, she wouldn't even let him hold her. But she still had some issues to work out back then.

"It's good to see you, God-Dad."

"It's good to see you girls too… How long has it been for you? I believe it's only been about two years, but you're already all grown up."

"Well, telling time in Tehom is funny since it's usually depended on how dad feels and the location… but Nevi'im children grow pretty fast anyway."

"I-I see… Did your Dad come with you as well?" Mateo asked with un-hidden excitement.

The twins shook their heads.

"Nope."

"Just us and our brother. We're here on business!"

Mateo finally took a proper look at Apophis and realized that he did look familiar.

He shared a resemblance to Abaddon, yes, but he had a resemblance to Lailah that was even more uncanny.

"It's nice to meet you." Mateo smiled. "I don't know how much the others told you about me, but you're like family. Please, don't hesitate to ask me for anything."

The earth's vampire king held out his hand, and Apophis shook it instantly.

"That's very kind of you. I appreciate it, Uncle."

At that moment, Mateo remembered something that Yemoja had said only a second ago.

"Did I hear you all mention that you were here on business? Do you have somewhere to stay?"

Yemaja immediately brightened up. "We were going to make reservations at a luxury hotel over the course of our vacation! Dad gave us his card too, so I might do a bit of shopping and-"

"No, no, no, little Yemoja." Mateo shook his head.

"How can I allow my family to spend money when they don't have to? We have plenty of rooms here, so you can stay with us for free."

"Eh?"

"Now I know it may look simple, but we have a home gym with a sauna, a private chef, and a home theatre. I can assure you that you will be very comfortable here." Mateo insisted.

Apophis suppressed a snicker.

He knew that his sister was dead set on a little spa treatment and even some champagne room service, but their godfather had put that all to bed in the kindest way possible.

And there was nothing she could do to refuse.

"If we won't be a bother to you, we'd be happy to accept." Apophis smiled.

"Y-Yes. That sounds very nice." Yemaja forced a smile onto her face.

But the way that Mateo lit up at their acceptance almost made it all seem worth it.

Almost…

…Not really.

-

Mateo was able to get the kids settled in relatively quickly.

After meeting everyone else inside the house and getting a feel for their surroundings, the group was led upstairs to Mateo's own office.

Not long after entering, Apophis narrowed his eyes. He discreetly used his forked tongue to taste the air around him.

There was a woman's scent in the air, mixed with Mateo's.

That shouldn't have been unexpected or out of the ordinary for an adult man, but this scent was mixed with a bit of divinity.

Though it was hard to tell what specific brand of divine power it was…

Apophis was wondering how he should go about asking something like that. Or even if he should ask at all.

But depending upon who it was, it would have no doubt posed a serious conflict of interest.

"So, what is so important that it brings my only god-children here from the very bottom of the universe, huh?" Mateo finally asked.

He had been treating the twins like they were still babies ever since they arrived here. Hence the reason why they were both sitting on the couch eating ice cream at 9 am.

Only now did he remember that they weren't exactly children and had expressly said they were coming here for business.

"We're looking for.. friends of mine." Yemaya nodded.

"Friends?"

"Erm, a really big bird and an even bigger dinosaur." Yemaya nodded.

Mateo nodded slowly, as his mind began to piece together this particular puzzle.

Truthfully, he wasn't the biggest mythological buff two years ago.

But after he'd witnessed the rebirth of the mythological Leviathan and Typhon, he decided it was high time for him to begin studying.

"These big friends of yours.. are they perhaps the Behemoth and the Ziz?"

Yemaya seemed surprised that her God-father actually knew who she was alluding to. "Actually, they are. Do you know where to find them?"

Mateo chucked. "Please, mija. The moment a hundred meter beast from the apocalypse shows up to make waves, every news outlet in a developed world will be rushing to cover the story."

Yemaya sighed. "So we're going to have to look for them the old fashioned way, huh..?"

"I'm afraid so, mija. But look on the bright side, we can all…" Mateo's words suddenly trailed off as a sudden thought filled his mind.

"M-Mija, come with me just a moment."

Mateo led Yemaya to his desk, and Yemaja followed behind too just because she was nosy.

Mateo pulled up a world map with several locations and areas already circled with detailed coordinates written beside them.

"Do you think that any of these places might be where your friends have gone to rest?"

Yemaya thought hard as she looked at the map, and eventually her finger guided her to two specific places.

"Ziz always did like making his domains above places with warmer sea water, so I think this time of year he would be around here..?

And the last time I heard from Behemoth she said she was traveling through this region, and I felt her mind enter a slumber about three months later, so maybe… here?"

Mateo's eyes went wide as he slowly backed away from the desk.

"Unbelievable… So this is what they were looking for… But why?" He scratched his head.

"Godfather?"

"Ah, sorry, mija. It seems as though you and my enemies are likely looking for the same person."

Yemaya's face hardened. "Last night my sister and I shared a vision of my friends being killed… it's the reason why we came here."

Mateo gained a serious demeanor that he usually only acquired wherever breakfast was concerned.

He put down the maps and picked up his weapon and a charismatic smile.

"Then it seems like we better get going now, no?"