Cassandra looked unimpressed. "A summoning portal? Unleashing demons isn't going to last long. Nations go to war to stop summoners doing their thing." Demons, much like dragons, were outlawed. Cassandra blew out a sigh, though, as she made that comparison. "So what are we getting?"

"An old friend." The Evil Pig of Evil was rubbing his little trotters together in glee. "An ancient evil so powerful as to wipe this annoyance of a goody-two-shoes out of reality. A demon prince. A lord of the most evil host." Gesturing to the huge summoning circle engraved on the floor of the throne room, the Evil Pig of Evil paused for dramatic effect. "I call upon you, Aharon, master of conflagrations!"

The names of demons weren't typically known, though the various titles were. Enslaver of All was the biggest demon, and his arrival in the world was foretold in many doomsday cults as the end of times. Beguiler of Emotions was a demoness of such unimaginable beauty that tomes spoke of men and women alike removing their own eyes so they could never see anything lesser ever again. There were others, each with horrific explanations for their titles and how the world would suffer were they ever manifest.

Cassandra knew the legends of the Master of Conflagrations. Were he to be made manifest upon the world, any that raise their hand against him would need to be archmages at the very least to survive with their wards intact. "Y—"

The portal opened. A gaping hole in reality appeared in the middle of the summoning circle and a furnace of heat radiated from it. Three kobolds fell down and were immediately set on fire.

"Who dares open a portal to my realm? Step forward, identify yourself, and die!" The words were twisted and warped; the pronunciation of every syllable sounding like it was spoken from too many mouths—each more alien than the previous.

"Aharon!" The Evil Pig of Evil stepped forward. "It has been an age!"

"Pig? Now there's the last primordial evil I expected to see!" The demon's voice had normalized and sounded like it had a slightly nasally whine to it. "It's been what, fifteen thousand years? We should have lunch somewhere!"

Strutting to the side, the Evil Pig of Evil gestured to the throne room. "Why not here? Aharon, I could really use some help dealing with a pest. A hero"—the Evil Pig of Evil put as much dripping scorn on the word as he could—"is starting to get annoying. You know how it is; every plan you come up with they have some clutch new power to deal with."

Aharon groaned and slapped one of his foreheads with a mighty palm. "Don't I know it! Last century I managed to get a good cult going. They even caught the hero, but right as they were about to kill the last line of defense against evil… You know how it goes."

"Right? It's always the same. Anyway, can you come and just stomp her? It'd be a five minute job."

"Any other millennia, Pig, and I'd be your agent of destruction." The defeat that filtered through the portal was palpable. "But right now I have a problem. I have… a daughter."

"Huh?" Cassandra felt a rising hint of annoyance at the implication that a woman would be more of a problem than a man.

"Who is that? A mortal?" Aharon asked.

"My latest project. This realm had such delightful creatures as dragons. This wonderful young lady wanted power, so I'm giving it to her. As much as she wants." Now it was time for the Evil Pig of Evil to sigh. "But, though she's doing splendidly, the hero—"

"My condolences, but I think I have an idea." Smiling, revealing myriad teeth, Aharon cleared his throat and prepared himself. "Gisse Daughter of Desire! Get yourself in here, young lady!"

Up until now, only the barest hints of Aharon had been visible through the portal. The demon's scale was such that all Cassandra had seen was fire and the odd gesticulating hand. Now she saw a demon moving into the frame from the left.

Gisse had tried to walk out, but Gisse was shoved, stumbled, and finally turned to glare at something to her right. "Dad! You are so not doing this!" She was a tall, red-skinned demoness with piercing violet eyes that seemed to glow with an inner fire. Any mortal that sighted her in such a state would be at her complete beck and call if only she exposed so much as a square inch of skin between her chin and her wrists.

Wearing a thick, loose hooded top, Gisse had what looked like a cozy and fluffy pair of trousers on as well, and wore a scarf around her neck. "Did you turn the heat down, too? It's freezing here."

Cassandra blinked in surprise at the visible demon. She looked to be about fifteen, though Cassandra knew that their forms could be very deceiving. "Are we really going to be stuck with—?"

Whirling around and glaring through the portal, Gisse narrowed her eyes and adjusted the large, round-rimmed glasses she wore. "It looks far too cold there, too. You're doing this because Mom made you look after me until I am a thousand. Admit it!"

"Look, Pig, if you keep Gisse busy for another six hundred years, I'll invest her with enough power to level a galaxy." With that, Aharon pushed his daughter through the portal and said, "Thanks!" before slamming it closed.

Spinning back around, Gisse's mood soured even more when she saw the portal was closed. "Open it again." When there was only the sound of shuffling feet behind her, she turned and looked at the assembled kobolds, dragon, and pig. "If one of you doesn't make this portal open again, right this instant, I'll—" Cutting off her demand short at the look of surprise on the dragon's face, Gisse narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You look much shorter than you did on the other side of the portal," Cassandra said. Around her, hundreds of kobolds all nodded in agreement. Though they would generally nod to anything she said. She was, after all, a dragon. "Also, I kinda get where you're coming from. Uh, not the Pit. I mean, having an authority figure beating you down."

"Ugh! No. You aren't going to sympathize with me because you weren't kicked out of your home plane to a literal ice realm where nothing interesting will happen except you getting your butt kicked by some hero because the heroes always win." Looking around, Gisse noticed a complete lack of doors to slam. "This place is terrible." Instinct told her they were underground. With a snap of her fingers, Gisse teleported herself to the surface.

The night was a little cool, and since the sun had gone down the warm yellow mage lights that dotted the main streets had lit up and provided illumination for the late workers going to their jobs and a few late shoppers picking up end of day bargains.

Looking around, she shivered and picked a random direction to walk in, pulled her hood up and over her head, and started off looking around. "Why is it so cold here? I'm going to be so angry at Dad when I get home."

Still shaking, she realized that the people of this plane were mostly fleshy and seemed tolerant of cold weather. They were nothing like the dragon and kobolds underground. "And he gives me all this power to use here and then—" She froze mid-complaint. Looking across the street, she saw a man that stole her breath away.

Her hearts skipped several beats as she fixated on him, even adjusted her glasses to better see his features. Compared to the demons she saw on a regular basis, and the slaves her father kept, this man was gorgeous. She licked her lips in mute excitement, but then his eyes started to stray toward her and Gisse ducked out of sight behind a corner.

Tilting to the side, she looked around the edge of the building again and saw the man looking away again. While she watched, though, he gestured into the air above him and created a bunch of flowers out of thin air.

Gisse gasped in excitement. "He's not just cute, he's a wizard." Wheels ticked over and gears started to mesh, then the whole lot stopped working and she let out a little squeak of excitement.

"There you are." Grabbing the back of Gisse's hoodie, Cassandra pulled her back into the shadows between buildings. "What do you think you're doing? If anyone sees your face here, they'll call the army. This city will get flattened while they look for you."

"B-But then he'll have to go." It was what made Gisse look back to catch one last look at the guy—dragging a shocked Cassandra in her wake. The pretty man was gone and the world looked several shades darker again. "I want to smell those flowers," she said in a soft voice.

"No. Get back. I didn't even have time to get rid of this—"

"Dragon!" Stanton, at the opposite end of the alleyway, was wearing his Super Lupine Girl form. Beside him was Lorissa, similarly in her feline form, wearing the gi and hakama that were now standard kit. "You have no chance. Let them go and surrender!"

"Let who—?" Cassandra looked at where Stanton had gestured and smiled. "Very well. Never let it be said I would put an innocent in peril." Looking Gisse in the eyes, Cassandra whispered, "If you go over there, kiss her, seduce her, we can win thi—"

When Gisse slapped Cassandra, turned and stalked out of the alleyway—leaving her alone to fight Stanton and Lorissa—Stanton couldn't help but laugh. "No one likes a tyrant, dragon. The people have spoken. Surrender without causing any bloodshed and I will make sure the law goes lenient on you."

Smarting from the slap—coming from a powerful demon as it was—Cassandra turned back to glare at Stanton and Lorissa. "Two fuzzy nobles thinking they know what's best for the working class? You make me sick." Opening her mouth wider, Cassandra let loose with a blast of lightning at the pair.

Momentarily blinded by the arc, Stanton had pivoted out of the way when he felt the danger coming. Lorissa, however, didn't have that kind of precognitive ability. He expected her to collapse or worse—instead he saw her running as fast as she could at Cassandra.

With her sword still sheathed, Lorissa let her reflexes sing as she dodged two more spells flung her way. She got within striking distance, but a stray talon coming for her face caused her to dodge wide.

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The tiniest click as Lorissa's thumb popped her sword an inch from its sheath was all the warning Cassandra had that she needed to move. Jumping back, the deadly blade of Swiftpaw Deathbringer sliced through the air where she'd been a heartbeat before. She wouldn't be able to use directed strikes, not with Lorissa able to dodge around them with such impunity, so she instead sent a weak, wide-area pulse of electricity out that surged into her opponent.

All the muscles in Lorissa's body bound up at once. She clutched her weapon so tightly her knuckles became bone white and, slowly, she folded sideways and hit the ground. It was humiliating and doubly so when Cassandra's talons grabbed her hair and dragged her upright.

"Back away, Super Lupine Girl," Cassandra said with as much derision as she could. "Or this fleabag will be learning how to breathe through five new holes."

Stanton was about to say something, but saw the young woman sneaking up behind Cassandra. He was just about to shout a warning to Gisse when she reached around Cassandra's body from behind and pressed a glowing, red hand to the dragoness' chest. "Don't you ever—ever—tell me to seduce someone again." Spreading her wings, she enchanted Cassandra, blowing past her draconic protection against sleep, and let her slump to the ground motionless.

Staring, trying his best to figure out what was going on, Stanton drew tense as Gisse approached him. "What are—"

"You're the hero, right?" Gisse asked. She was already bored, but when Stanton didn't immediately reply, she nodded back to the unconscious dragon. "I don't care if you are, and if my dad hates heroes—no one pushes me around. Get your friend and leave."

Letting Stanton leave with a trembling Lorissa, Gisse got a good grip on Cassandra's wrist and started dragging her toward a manhole. "I can't believe I'm even bothering to help you. You let my dad dump me into this world, you then assume I'd just use succubi seduction powers, and then you want my help." She paused. "Not in that order. Whatever."

Dragons being nearly indestructible, Gisse had no compunction at all in throwing Cassandra down into the sewer, though she followed at a more sedate pace. "And all that on top of interrupting me when I was watching a cute guy. Not that he's that cute, he just looked nice is all."

When she alighted on the floor of the sewer, Gisse stopped and grinned for a second. "But he was cute."

----------------------------------------

"That was a demon," Stanton said, when Lorissa was able to think straight again and had asked. "A dragon was enough, but did you see how she— Boom, lights out. A dragon! She must be highly ranked…" The word was obvious, not that Stanton wanted to say it because despite how effortlessly Gisse had disabled Cassandra, she didn't act like that word at all.

"Aren't female demons succubi, nya?"

"Not all. Succubi and incubi are the noble tier, though. Kinda like werewolves here." Stanton shivered at the memory of Gisse's large wings and red skin—what little of the latter he had actually seen. His brain was so focused on what he saw that it took him a moment to realize what he hadn't.

"So she wasn't a succubi?"

"I didn't say that— Wait, what was I just thinking? Dammit." Stanton slumped back in his seat and picked up Angel. "I want to put protective wards on Battlemaid. Unlike us, the slightest bit of magic can completely overwhelm her. With a demon and a dragon around, things are going to get much worse with magic." Hugging Angel tight, Stanton felt like he was getting overwhelmed.

Patting Stanton on the cheek, Angel said, "You're handling this well."

"No I'm not. I'm falling apart and you're a terrible liar." Stanton didn't give up Angel, still hugging her.

"Stanton?" When he didn't meet her eyes, Angel prodded his cheek with one paw. "Stanton?"

"What?"

"You're a good girl, Stanton." It was perfectly crafted to strike him, and strike him Angel's barb did. His eyes widened for the barest moment, and she was sure she heard his tail swish twice before the words finished processing and fury overcame him.

Wanting to throw Angel, Stanton didn't have to think far to see why she'd said it. "Ugh! We're leaving. I need to research who that was. There can't be too many succubi who could even come to our world without making a mess the moment they arrived. Thanks, Angel."

Lorissa kept quiet on her way home, one hand on Swiftpaw's hilt. For all her training and practice, she hadn't been able to do her big move and finish the dragon. Instead, she'd been completely at their mercy.

Swiftpaw Deathbringer didn't need her to speak aloud, though, to know what she was thinking. "Faster reflexes. You're a cat. You could dodge time itself if you noticed it coming. Learn what her magic looks like while she's preparing it, then dodge in advance."

"Stanton, nya?"

"I think you mean Super Lupine Girl, but what's up?"

Lorissa had to remind herself that she needed to use his hero name. She still wasn't sold on having her own. "How do I tell when someone is going to use magic? Swiftpaw said I could learn to spot it, nya, but she didn't use any of the spell casting I've seen in what I've been learning."

"That's because what you're learning is first year casting. Since it isn't offensive, you don't need to obfuscate it and hide how and what you're casting. I can show you what to look for, and even enchant you a talisman that will help you see magic itself." Stanton began navigating around the twists and turns they took to throw off anyone who might follow, having to do a little random math in his head to ensure it wouldn't be the same path he took last time.

When they reached the rear entrance to Stanton's tower, Battlemaid opened the door to usher them in. "How did you know we were back?" he asked.

"Battlemaid tracked master with a homing beacon." It was important, after all, for Battlemaid to know where her master was at all times. "I have a bath drawn for you both. I hope the temperature is to your liking. Dinner will be served at seven."

"Uh, Battlemaid?" Stanton asked.

"Y-Yes, master?"

Lowering himself into a curtsy, Stanton reached out and took her hand, then brought it to his lips. "You are amazing. Thank you."

All of Battlemaid's internal overheat alarms started blasting that she was several degrees outside the nominal temperature for non-combat operation. Staring down at Stanton in his wolf form, she couldn't stop the little gasp of shock as he let go and stood back up. "M-M-Master s-shouldn't d-d-d-d—"

"Relax, Battlemaid. I am the master, remember?" He waited for her nod. "And that means I get to compliment you. Oh, and I want to see you later. I think there's something extra special I can do just for you."

Optics increasing her field of view without her input, Battlemaid finally connected cause and effect and decided it was her master that kept making her overheat. Somehow. She wasn't sure of the mechanism. What she needed, since her vocal system was malfunctioning now in addition to her cooling system, was a way to put some space between them. "Activating rocket thrusters!"

Jumping back before he became a barbecued noble, Stanton watched as Battlemaid shot upward—through several ceilings/floors. When the sound of her thrusters ceased, he looked up through the holes and saw her peeking back down. "Are you alright?"

Looking down through the holes from her position in the attic, Battlemaid spotted Stanton and ducked back out of view. She didn't trust her vocal system, so used the next best method to contact her master and reassure him.

When a little folded paper dart zoomed down and expertly dove into Stanton's hair, he plucked it out and looked at the page. "Battlemaid, this is just the number zero and one over and over. What's wrong?"

Swapping to a redundant vocal system in the hope it wasn't compromised by heat, Battlemaid gave a status report. "I-I-I k-keep over—overheating!"

"Stanton," Lorissa said, "every time you go near her, she blushes. Maybe you need to back off a little?"

"Overheating…" Running the thought around in his head, Stanton grinned. "I can help with this overheating. I promise, Battlemaid, I can help you."

Not wanting to risk damage to her circuits, but trusting her master implicitly, Battlemaid lowered herself back to the ground floor of the tower and kept a good bit of distance. "Please, master, I don't want to overheat and—" She froze in the most literal sense. "Why is my temperature going down? How is this happening?!"

Working the cold spell, Stanton smiled and stepped closer, clasping one of Battlemaid's hands and bringing his other to her cheek. "This is magic."

Blinking rapidly, Battlemaid could feel her thermal output rising, but no matter how high it was going, her master was keeping it from affecting her. "M-Master…" Her eyes shimmered as she looked into Stanton's face.

Caught in a spell he hadn't cast, Stanton leaned closer to Battlemaid and, bringing his lips to hers, kissed her.

It would have been far more romantic, Battlemaid knew, if Stanton had human lips at the time, but that didn't change the fact that this was her first kiss and he was drawing it out into a long, lingering affair. Then, after what seemed like an eternity to anyone without picosecond accurate atomic clocks, she realized he was trying to get free but couldn't.

His lips freeze-stuck to Battlemaid's, Stanton struggled with his own panic until he remembered the trick to disengaging body parts from a frozen surface. With careful effort, he lowered the chilling output of his magic and slowly felt his lips warm up enough he could disengage from Battlemaid. Licking his chilled lips, Stanton said, "Wow."

"M-M-M-More—"

"More?" Stanton asked.

"M-More cold please, master!" Battlemaid's sensors were registering a heating event in her lips, cheeks, and across her nose.

"Huh? Oh!"

The heat bled off as cold once again enveloped Battlemaid in its comforting embrace. "Thank you, master." If Battlemaid had come with a tail, it would have been wagging. The chilling spell was exactly what her systems needed to operate even beyond peak capacity. "Can master work this magic on Battlemaid when she is fighting?"

"I can do better than that. What would be the best method would be to make an ongoing spell that you can manipulate." Lifting his head to look at Lorissa, Stanton saw the biggest feline grin of his life. "What?"

"You are adorable, Stanton, and I can see Triana is going to have her paws full with you, nya." Lorissa shook and used that moment to shift herself back to human. Not that she minded hanging out as a werecat, but she intended to enjoy her bath—and that precluded fur. "Swiftpaw, do you want to join me in the bath?"

Jumping down and turning to put himself in the way of Lorissa, Swiftpaw Deathbringer narrowed his eyes and said, "How would you like to be fed a length of bamboo?" then walked off.

Laughing, she left her familiar, Battlemaid, and Stanton behind, her mind now getting caught on what Stanton was to her. The bath was the main bath in the house. The water steamed and she checked it with one finger before her eyes widened. "This is perfect. Thank you, Battlemaid!"

"Would master need Battlemaid to attend upon him and mistress Lorissa?"

Stanton shook his head. "No. You relax and—and thank you. I promise I'll get you a cooling system and some magic protection before you need to go out and fight with us."

"Protection? But Battlemaid has laminated armor hard plating." Confusion reigned as Battlemaid tried parsing the sentence again and again. "Is magic protection different from armor-piercing, explosive, and kinetic impact protection?"

Following in Lorissa's footsteps, Stanton was acutely aware that Angel wasn't around for bath time. "A second enemy has revealed themselves. Now, on top of a lightning-wielding dragon, we also have a demon of some variety. Fire magic is common to them, and I don't know if a simple cooling spell will be enough to stop that."

It was something different, it seemed, and she had no idea what it was except that her master could make things cold with it. "Oh. Can Battlemaid try to analyze this magic and attempt to integrate it?"

Walking into the bathroom, Stanton held out his wand. "Wand, you're the master of clothing and all that. How about going back to being human and getting a nice bathrobe?"

Unlike Lorissa, who could transform without all the theatrics, Stanton apparently needed rainbows and ribbons and vast amounts of pink light every time he changed. Though, one thing he could definitely say with absolute conviction, his wand knew its stuff. "You are the best, you know that?" The wand seemed to vibrate in his hand.

Walking to the big tub, Stanton started stepping into it and, when he was up to his knees, slid the robe off and slipped down into the hot water. "Oooh. Battlemaid, this is perfect. Thank you."

Nodding her head, Battlemaid slipped out of the room and headed for the kitchen. It hadn't been easy to procure the raw ingredients, but she'd located a vendor who had been willing to trade her foodstuffs for a few rare metals.

When she had the mix just right, according to the excellent flat-form storage media she'd found, she started to hum as she put the pot in the oven to braise.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.