Chapter 61: Chapter 59: Family Matters

For what seemed to be the thousandth time, Jameson reached into his pocket and nervously fingered the box therein. It was a couple of months after Lilith had gone to sleep, and he and Anna had been getting closer and closer the whole time. They had spent most of each day together, training, talking, and generally just…bonding.

Their weekly double date with Kali and Lilith had been suspended for the time being for obvious reasons, so they had been having their dates alone. And, it was on one of these dates that Jameson had decided to finally go for it. They had been dating for a couple of years and had known each other for most of their lives, and Jameson was increasingly sure that he was making the right choice.

So, after dinner, he had driven her up into the mountains, parking them in one of the many secluded areas just off of the main road. He killed the engine, opened up the viewport on the top of the car, and reclined his seat, laying there and staring up into the sky.

“You know,” he began, “if, ten years ago, I had been told I would find the woman of my dreams and be happily dating her, I’d call whoever told me that nuts. If they told me it was you, I probably would have laughed in their face.”

Anna smirked. “Well, I, for one, wouldn’t have been surprised. You just needed to grow out of your awkward phase and get some confidence. Though, I probably would have laughed too if someone told me I was going to date you.” Anna reclined her seat as well, reaching her hand over and grabbing his. “I’ll be honest, I’m glad we didn’t start dating until recently. If it had been when we were younger, we probably would have messed it up and wouldn’t be here now.”

Jameson laughed. “Let’s be happy that we were too blind to see what was right in front of us, then.” He leaned in and the two shared a quick kiss, then separated, leaning back in their seats and just looking up for a while.

Jameson let the comfortable silence stretch on for a few minutes before he took his hand from Anna’s and once more put it into his pocket. “I really love you, Anna, you know that?”

“Duh. It’s painfully obvious by the way you act.” She ran a hand along one of her horns, giving him another smug look. “Besides, you can’t keep your eyes off of me. You really know how to make a girl feel wanted.”

“I’m just making sure to express myself.” He replied. “And apparently I’m doing a good job of it. I want you to be mine, forever.” He extracted the box from his pocket, springing it open.

Anna’s hands flew to her mouth, eyes suddenly damp.

“Will you marry me?” He asked, looking her right in the eyes.

She gave him a huge smile, tears starting to spill. “Of course I will! I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

He took the ring from within the box and held it out. “I had Nuwa make this for me.” He told her. “It’s nothing fancy, but it’ll act like Familial Bond and ensure our love for each other lasts. You can give it a couple of twists and you’ll teleport straight to me. And, of course, I’ve got a matching one at home.”

Anna slid her finger into the ring then held it up, letting the ring catch the moonlight. It really wasn’t an ornate ring – just a simple gold-colored band, but when it was on her it somehow shone, not really physically, but mentally. The eye was drawn to it, and it just felt right, like it was exactly where it belonged.

With her other hand, Anna gave Jameson a light punch on the shoulder. “You beat me to it.” She laughed, wiping her eyes. “I was going to propose in a couple of weeks.”

Jameson smirked. “Well, I think that either way we would both win that particular race.”

The two gave each other a giddy kiss, ready to spend the rest of the night enjoying the other’s company.

---

The wedding was a quiet affair held a month later in Lilith’s dungeon. Jameson and Anna had debated for a bit as to who should actually officiate, but had, in the end, decided to have Kali do it.

And Kali was more than happy to oblige. So, Anna and Jameson invited their families as well as the dungeon’s residents to a quick ceremony that had all the trappings that would be required to please the couple’s parents.

But they rushed that as much as they could so that they could get to, what was in Anna’s eyes, the real event – the reception.

While both her family and Jameson’s family had briefly met Lilith, that had been their only real exposure to the supernatural, so Anna had been looking forward to the carnage.

The first “skirmish” came when Lilith’s parents went to greet Anna’s. The sets of adults (Siph excepted) were good friends, going all the way back to when Anna and Lilith were growing up, so Anna made sure to surreptitiously sneak her way into earshot for the inevitable shock her parents would be getting.

“Edith, Carl, so good to see you again!” Mike said, waving them down. “I can hardly believe that Anna’s already getting married! It seems like just yesterday she was out making mud pies in our backyard with Lilith and Jameson.”

Anna’s father laughed. “That it does, that it does.” He stopped for a moment, looking Mike and Jessica over, brow creasing in confusion. “This may sound strange, but…you two are looking way younger. Did you manage to find some backdoor in the system to manage that?”

“Something like that.” Jessica replied, smirking. “Now, before we go any further, let me introduce you to our new wife, Siph.” She motioned over to Siph, who gave nodded her head in acknowledgement.

“I’m Siph, nice to meet you.” She said. “Your daughter’s been a great friend to mine, you’ve done a fine job of raising her.”

Anna’s mother laughed nervously. “R-right.” She replied shakily. “I’m Edith, and this is my husband Carl. Um…if you don’t mind me asking, where are you from? I haven’t seen you around town, and I’m sure I would remember someone as unique as you are.”

Siph shrugged. “Lots of places, really. I doubt you’re familiar with them.”

Anna’s father raised an eyebrow, rallying. “I’m pretty well traveled, try me.”

“Well, I lived in the wilds of…” She frowned, turning to Mike. “What was it called again? I always forget what they call it now.”

“Asia.” He prompted.

“Right, that was it. I lived in Asia for a while, and then the war happened, and I had to move out into the uninhabited parts of Haven, mostly to the northwest of the three cities. And I lived there until I met Lilith, and one thing led to another and here I am.”

Anna’s father stared, expression a mask of confusion. “But, wouldn’t that mean…”

“That I’m from the magic side of things? Yeah” She looked to her spouses, smiling slyly. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”

“I’ll do it.” Jessica said. “She’s a dragon.”

There was a moment of silence as Anna’s parents digested that.

“And we are too, now.” Jessica said innocently. “It’s why we’re looking so youthful.”

Anna’s mother gave another nervous laugh. “I-is that so? Is there a…story behind that?”

Mike shrugged. “We wanted to be stronger to help protect Lilith, our father-in-law came up with the idea, and so we thought “why not” and did it.”

“You’re not just yanking our chain, right?” Anna’s dad asked. “I know you all like to joke so…”

Jessica’s arm turned into a claw clad in brilliant white scales, and from the reactions she got, it didn’t look like she was holding back too much with her freezing aura, either. After a few moments, the arm morphed back, and Jessica patted Anna’s dad on the shoulder. “Serious as the grave. But, that’s neither here nor there, today’s all about Anna and Jameson.” She turned her head to face Anna and gave her a wink.

Caught red-handed, Anna blushed and turned her attention back to the people who were looking to give her well-wishes.

And things went without incident until the children began grouping up to play. A large mob of assorted children ended up forming, one which, Anna noticed, contained Raphael and…Eve?

Eve didn’t seem to be there entirely out of her own volition, though. She was blustering and gesticulating wildly, but one of the kids was holding onto her and it looked like Eve was trying to avoid using brute force to get away.

A few minutes later the kids scattered, leaving Raphael alone in the middle with her eyes shut, mouthing something that Anna couldn’t hear.

Anna wasn’t going to avoid being dragged into it, though. Eve bolted straight towards her, diving behind her and Jameson while they were in the middle of talking to some of Anna’s cousins. “Hide me!” She hissed. “They won’t believe I’m an adult and keep trying to drag me into things.”

Anna’s cousins gave her a weird look, and Anna excused herself, dragging Eve a short distance away. “Just go to your room or something, then!” She whispered. “This is your house, remember?”

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“That’s rude!” Eve shot back. “I can’t exactly leave in the middle of your big day!”

Anna had to suppress a laugh. “You’re still technically here.” She said, motioning to Mae. “So it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine! You’re going to be in my party in the future, so I can’t dip out in the middle of the reception! Think about what people would say!”

Anna rolled her eyes. “No one would care, Eve. Look, you’re…what are you all doing right now? Hide and seek?” Eve nodded, so Anna continued. “So, just hide better than everyone else. The longer it takes them to find you, the longer you don’t have to listen to them. Think of it as stealth training or something.”

“Excellent idea, minion!” Eve replied. “I’ll make sure to hide so well no one will ever find me!”

“No cheating.” Anna said sternly. “Raphael will know and complain, which means the other kids will know, and you don’t want to tarnish your reputation to outsiders before you officially reveal yourself as leader of our party, right?”

Eve visibly wilted. “Fine. That’s fine. It matters little. I could never be outdone here, of all places.”

With that over, Eve scampered off purposefully, and soon vanished from sight.

About half an hour later, Anna noticed a very smug Eve facing the children. She appeared to be laughing, before one of the kids said something, and her attitude once again worsened. Suddenly, the kids all ran, leaving a pouting Eve all alone. But she shut her eyes and began to count, so Anna supposed that everything was fine, at least for the time being.

Aside from those events, though, the reception went…disappointingly smoothly. There was no more drama (aside from the occasional wary look given to some of the non-humans), so Anna just had to be content with her family (both old and new) being more open about things than she expected.

Or too intimidated to do anything about their inclinations, but she would like to think positively of the situation, so she did. The reception wound down after a couple of hours and everyone went home, leaving Anna and Jameson alone in the large room that had been prepared for the reception.

“Well,” Jameson said, scooping Anna up into his arms, “what say you we make things official?”

Anna giggled. “I’ve been looking forward to it. I believe you mentioned something about Mae making you able to change into that catkin form Titania put you in whenever, did she not?”

Jameson blinked in surprise. “I…yeah, you’re…cool with that? I mean, it’s not…male…”

“You know I am.” She said, leaning up and giving him a quick kiss. “And I want to see all sides of you tonight.”

Jameson blushed. “I suppose I shouldn’t keep you waiting.”

He carried her off into a smaller room a little ways off that had been prepared for their…after party, where they proceeded to further cement that day as one of the best of their lives.

---

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Eve harrumphed, looking to the side. “They’re just your average, everyday wolf monsters. Haven just so happens to natively have powerful monsters living in it.”

“Fenghuang literally walked on air to take down a monster out of our reach.” Anna said flatly, pressing closer to Eve. She had cornered the girl in one of the training rooms, surrounding her with the “dogs” to help cut off potential escape routes.

“A-anyone could learn a Skill like that.” Eve replied nervously. “It means nothing.”

“Dog or cat monsters flee the moment they get even a sniff of Fenrir and Sekhmet, and some of the weaker ones will even offer immediate submission.”

“Ummmm…Well, you see…”

“And what’s up with Fluffy?! I swear I saw him spit poison the other day! You can’t tell me he just picked that up!”

Eve was frantically looking from side to side. “Uh, um, Kali just called, so I, uh, gotta go.”

“No, she didn’t.” Anna said firmly. “I made sure she wouldn’t before I came here.”

Erymanthos placed a comforting paw on Eve’s knee. Just tell her, boss. He said. She was going to find out someday, there’s no harm telling her now.

“Fine!” Eve snapped. “They’re not wolf monsters, happy?”

Excuse me! Fenrir huffed.

“Except for Fenrir. Fenrir’s a wolf monster.”

Better.

Anna put her hands on her hips. “So, what are they, then?”

“Well, they’ve got impressive sounding names, right?”

“Get to the point, Eve.” Anna growled.

“I was getting there!” Eve protested. “They’re kinda those monsters. Like, the originals.”

Anna sighed. “I thought it was something like that. What about Fluffy?”

“I miiiight have made him a Plague Wolf.” She panicked slightly at Anna’s stare, waving her arms wildly. “It was for both of your benefits, I swear! He’ll live way longer even before you apply any Skills you get, he can get stronger, and he’ll be able to make it so none of you ever have to get sick again! It’s a win-win!”

Anna pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fine, whatever. Can we turn these guys back to how they were before? No need to keep up the façade anymore.”

No! Fenghuang blurted out. She started, then looked away, clearly embarrassed. I mean, not permanently. We won’t fit in like that, so these forms are advantageous. I wouldn’t mind being able to go back and forth, but…

You just want to stay in a form that you can get more pets and belly scratches in. Cernunnos teased, I get it, though, they are rather addicting. She has a good point, though, we are more inconspicuous as dogs, and if we just get a toggle that lets us go back and forth at will then it doesn’t even matter what we are most of the time.

And I like matching with Fenrir! Sekhmet said, tail wagging furiously. But our other forms are more…impressive, so it can’t hurt to have them as options.

“Whatever.” Eve said, pouting. “I can have Mae do that later. Can I go now?”

“That’s fine. Thanks for coming clean, Eve.”

Eve left the room sulkily, and Erymanthos stuck his head under Anna’s hand. I did a good job, right? And good boys get pats, yeah?

Anna couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, you all did great. I’ll give all of you all the pats you want.”

She sat down, and the “dogs” carefully maneuvered around her, forming a line for her affection. And…hey, so what if they were really big scary national emergency-level monsters? They weren’t doing any harm now, and they had been more than cooperative once they had gotten a taste of the pet life, so Anna figured she could let their origin slide.

And, thinking back to when she had first got the “dogs”, she realized that she had been right; they weren’t so bad after all.

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