The coach slowed down and, eventually, dropped to a walking speed as they neared the castle wall. Stanton had noticed, when the conversation ran down, that Gisse was looking more and more furious. She was staring at her hands, flexing them into fists repeatedly. "Hey, uh, Gisse?"

Blinking in surprise, dragging herself back from the fury she felt building inside, she looked up at Stanton. "Yeah?" When he moved fast, striking like a cobra to place his lips on her cheek, she almost incinerated her clothes she got so hot and bothered. "Stan—"

"Gisse, you don't have to fight my battles for me. I like that you're upset by this—because I like you and it's nice to have some support—but it's time to get everything settled with my mommy and then go and beat the snot out of that dragon. Can you let me do that?"

"I don't think I can. You've helped me adjust and find a place to be me. That means a lot."

Smiling, Stanton nodded. "Yeah, I get that. You'll at least listen if I ask you to stop?"

"I'll listen. I might not be able to stop. Dad— Violence runs in my family." Reaching one hand up, she felt her left sleeve and let out a happy sigh. "This jacket is so nice."

The sound of someone talking to the coach driver silenced them. "… check what you're carrying."

"Group of nobles, sir. Honest."

"Still have to look." A knock came on the door. "Please open up!"

Looking at Gisse and Catherine, Stanton grinned and opened the door. "Good evening! I hope we're not too late for the big fancy dress ball?"

"Fancy… dress?"

"Absolutely. Stanton Raveel-Sharptooth, Baroness Catherine Glow, and Lady Gisse of Dite." Stanton gestured between the three of them as he explained. "Yes, I know, I normally cut a fine figure in pants and a shirt, but this is fancy dress, and when a Raveel-Sharptooth aims to impress—he aims to impress."

Gisse couldn't believe the guard seemed to be spending more time looking at Stanton than her, until she figured out Stanton was flashing his cleavage at the guy. At first, it seemed to work to draw the man to look closer, but when he casually mentioned he wasn't a woman, the poor man seemed to panic and pull back.

"O-Of course, sir. Please, go ahead with our apologies." It was probably the worst thing ever for a young officer in the Castle Guard. He recognized Sharptooth as a name to fear and respect within the military, and absolutely didn't want to be on the bad side of anyone from that house.

Stanton waved a hand in dismissal. "Nonsense. No apology required! My mother brought me up to respect guards and you are, after all, doing your duty—and doing it well. There might be some other, uh, less than common-looking nobles coming in tonight. Make sure you investigate them as well as you did this carriage."

Snapping a salute, the guard felt pride and relief in equal measure. He didn't know who Stanton's mother was, exactly (what with all the Sharptooths in the military), but he would give thanks to whatever god was listening to his thoughts that she raised a good, respectful son. "Of course, sir."

With the door closed and the carriage moving forward, Catherine found herself staring at Stanton. "How did you do that?"

"How did I pick a single reason for a demon, a half-demon, and a woman with a man's name to be in the city? Would you believe I was trained to do it?" Delighted to see her staring, trying to put together her next question, Stanton got comfortable. "Now, does your coachman know where the Sharptooth estate on East High Street is?"

"Yes. Let me tell him." Leaning forward and to the side of Stanton, Catherine opened a small door in the end of the carriage's interior, then called to her coachman the address. When she slumped back, she felt like the world was going to end. Not just in the company of a Sharptooth scion, but now going to one of their dens on the most high ranked street in the capital. "I should have stayed at home."

"If you'd have done that, no one would have seen you in this shape—and you wouldn't have Gisse's protection or my willingness to stomp my social standing around to make people accept you. You'd have to hide your beautiful wings and horns, like your father, rather than showing them off for all to see." Leaning forward, Stanton put his finger under Catherine's chin to make her look him in the eyes as he spoke. "Now, when we get out, you walk on my left, Gisse on my right, and don't let go of my arm for a second."

Nodding, at least as much as she could with her head stuck to Stanton's finger, Catherine's mind raced. He thinks I'm pretty. He likes my horns. He likes my wings. Did he say "beautiful"?

The confidence and surprise on Catherine's face, that Gisse saw, didn't make her jealous so much as introspective. "Strength of personality," she said, not precisely meaning to.

"Huh?" Stanton asked, releasing Catherine from the confining grip of his index finger.

"You. You could make anyone feel good about themselves with just words and—and charisma. You could have proposed to her then, and she would have said yes."

Nodding to her patron, Catherine still felt like she was floating on a giddy high.

"It's not that strong. I couldn't do this with the dragon. Could you imagine me asking her to marry me?" Screwing his face up a little, Stanton shivered. "But, there are ways to talk to people and help them believe in themselves. I try to do that, because when someone gets like that, I feel they can do anything. Even if they're demons or half-demons." He tapped his chin and shook his head. "Especially if…"

They rode in silence for a while, then the coach stopped again. Flicking back the curtain on the window, Stanton could see his childhood home lit up, with magelights in all the windows. "Well, we're here." Went unsaid was I hope this works. Stanton knew that a large part of this was going to be about appearance, and if Gisse and Catherine didn't project enough strength to compliment his own, his mother would tear them both apart.

Opening the door, Stanton stepped out first. The doorman approached and gave him a hand down, and given his dress, Stanton took it gratefully. "Thank you."

"You're most welcome, Master Stanton."

Turning, holding out his hand as the doorman had, Stanton helped Gisse down the steps of the coach next. "Lady Gisse of Dite," Stanton said for the sake of the doorman. "And the lovely Baroness Catherine Glow."

Seeing the lady of the house's son comfortably filling a dress and taking it in his stride, the doorman did grow a little more wary and almost unprofessional when he saw the demon and half-demon accompanying him. "I'll see that they announce you all in a moment. Your mother will be glad to see you."

Gisse wanted to hide. She'd caught the brief moment of surprised look on the man's face when Stanton had helped her out, and assumed that's the same reaction Stanton's mother would have—but less guarded. She followed him into the house, through the entranceway, and toward a pair of double doors. A man of advanced years stood at the door. He wore a suit unlike any Gisse had seen before, and he had a look on his face that she would swear was worse than her father's.

It wasn't his mother's usual butler, Stanton knew, but his aunt's. Stopping, he dipped his head before the man. "William, it's an honor to have you here, keeping my mother safe."

"By all rights, Master Stanton, that would mean ejecting your—ahem—plus twos?" Waiting for Stanton to flinch, William was impressed to see steel in the young man's eyes. "But I am under strict orders to show you through. Will you vouch for these two?"

"Yes. I assume mother is having one of her usual ballroom soirées?" Stanton noticed the doors opening as William turned.

"Not quite. Of the three of you, you're the most overdressed." Clearing his throat softly, William addressed the huge room. "Announcing Master Stanton Raveel-Sharptooth, Lady Gisse of Dite, and the Baroness Catherine Glow."

The ballroom looked nothing like how Stanton remembered. Huge rocks decorated the room's edges, and in the middle was a huge pool of sparkling clear water. It was a feast for the eyes, seeing the nearly three dozen beautiful women talking, relaxing, and generally enjoying themselves. Some were dressed, others scandalously naked, and yet more had decided to ignore the negatives of wet fur and let their wolf sides free.

"Oh," Stanton said, blinking at the nude and seminude aristocracy in the room. "Wand?" The dress pulled and twisted, but Stanton said, "Wait, Gisse and Catherine need proper outfits too. Just leave Gisse's jacket be."

The wand flared bright, blinding all in the room as it picked up werewolf, demon, and half-demon and twirled them around in the air, fitting each with very revealing two-piece bikinis.

With the finale being some ribbons that coiled in Stanton's hair, he felt one of the rocks press up against his feet and stood on the edge of the huge indoor pool. "Mother?"

Clarissa Sharptooth-Raveel-Brightfang didn't miss her son's entrance. She watched the light show with curiosity and greatly approved the extroverted attire that his magic had spun. His companions, though, worried her. The Glow family, she'd long known, dabbled in demon worship, but their unwillingness to let it bend them away from the kingdom's cause had left them under the radar. An actual demon at her son's side was different.

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Stanton saw his mother's furred shoulders tighten a little, and in the pool her hand shifted to a spot behind her back where he was sure she'd have a sword. "Mother, while their names and titles are known, I must tell you of the harrowing adventure that led to me being late to my own betrothal."

Launching into the tale, Stanton did his best to capture the entire audience. When his aunt, the head of Sharptooth pack, walked into the room and settled beside his mother in the water, Stanton knew this was make or break. "So, to protect this would-be guardian against the dragon's foul magic, I dashed to deflect the banishment an—"

Stanton's aunt cleared her throat with an audible growl. "The result of getting in the way of a greater banishment, like that a dragon would cast, are known. You would up in the Abyss, in the vicinity of this demoness' domain. I'll be questioning you about this dragon later, young man."

It was as much as Stanton expected. "So, there we were, stuck in the Abyss. We were in a huge desert and then Gisse, this lovely, animal-soul-eating-only demoness who had tried to free me from the dragon, says she knows where we were. She helped me disguise, ostensibly as her slave, so that I wouldn't be fought over as a prize. She even managed to convince her father to have a portal opened back here so we could return. Truly, without her, I would not be standing here before you."

When two werewolves looked in her direction, Catherine wished she had a method for vanishing. Both could have killed her where she stood, even if that was at Stanton's side.

"Then the baroness opened that portal? Is she affiliated with…" Duchess Forthright Sharptooth, Stanton's aunt and leader of the Sharptooths, gestured to Gisse. "Gisse, was it?" When Gisse nodded, she continued, "So then, where does the baroness' loyalties lie now?"

"That's why I brought both my lovely friends tonight." Stanton took control of the situation and drew the gaze of his aunt and his mother. "Gisse has not just saved my sorry butt from being sold and who-knows-what in the Abyss, but she has assisted me so far in dealing with the dragon in Conjur. That's why I will nominate her to be accepted as a citizen of the kingdom."

"Don't say that outside this room," Clarissa said. "She is a walking crime just—"

"She's not, Mother. She hasn't committed any crime of her own free will while here. She has, in fact, actively worked to curtail the efforts of the dragon in taking over Conjur."

Forthright liked his energy, liked a lot about her nephew, but something was annoying her. "Nephew, you keep mentioning a dragon. Surely you don't expect me to believe there is a—"

A crash that shook the building came from above as rubble and glass exploded down. Of everyone in the room, mostly werewolves, only three had magic usable in the situation.

Gisse, of the three watching, was quickest to react. Spreading her wings, she threw a shield of magic out that caught all the building materials up and burned everything smaller than her fist to ash. Her power, that she'd never fully exercised before, blossomed into a shield of flames that directed all their heat upward—toward whatever was coming through the ceiling.

Stanton reached out with his magic, amplified by the wand still in his hand, and grabbed all the larger pieces of masonry and glass. Grinding them into a ball, he dropped the rubble in a corner of the pool that was vacant.

Slamming into the water, Cassandra looked around the room. It was filled with scantily-clad women, some not wearing anything, and about a third of them were already furry. Two of the werewolves, though, were bigger even than Triana. "You've got this?"

The Evil Pig of Evil gave a soft "oink" of concentration before activating the ancient magic they'd stolen. Shoving down with the weight of a star, he crushed the two matriarchs down and turned the remainder of the power on Stanton.

Glad that he'd lost the heeled shoes in his last transformation, Stanton nonetheless felt the weight of the world on his shoulders—almost literally. Power poured through him as he tried to shove back, but it took every ounce of power he had to keep from being crushed against the rock under him.

Gisse's eyes widened at the size Cassandra had reached. She was, now, almost thirty feet long and looked stuck on all fours. A huge neck and furious expression completed things. She wondered, for a moment, if she'd be able to talk her way out of things.

"Demon! Tell me, where is Stanton?" Cassandra's voice, when projected, was deep and commanding. She loved the way she sounded now.

Sparing a glance toward Stanton, Gisse realized that Cassandra didn't recognize him. What she also noticed was there was a complete lack of enticement she'd had before whenever Cassandra had given her an order. "No." Reaching out with one arm, Gisse made a fist and turned the knuckles toward Cassandra. "Not just no, but sit-on-this no." She raised a finger.

"Minion of the Abyss," the Evil Pig of Evil intoned, "heed my call! You will assist us!"

Struggling as he was, Stanton watched as a surprised Gisse raised her other arm, similar to the first, and gave a second raised finger.

"So, funny thing about controlling a summoned demon—when you banish them, you lose control." Gisse noticed the look of surprise on the Evil Pig of Evil's snout. "Second, when a demoness second only to Aharon Master of Conflagrations gets her own minions to summon her, she isn't under anyone's control."

Whatever Cassandra had expected, to be attacked with demonfire was not on the list. She struggled against the searing heat while shielding the Evil Pig of Evil as best she could—though she smelled sizzling hair and bacon.

Forthright Sharptooth stood up, fighting the spell's force back and glaring at the dragon. "My nephew picked his allies better than I thought, but that is something to look at after I've dealt with you. Sister?" At her side Clarissa stood too, and each of them brandished what would have been impossible for anyone but a twelve-foot tall werewolf to hold. The swords, monstrous claymores, hummed softly with magical enchantments.

Cassandra, having only figured out the trick to becoming a huge dragon in the last few hours, felt more than a little worry at seeing two of the kingdom's most deadly fighters squaring off with her. Then, before they could do more than size her up, she realized there was one thing to her advantage. Tilting her head down, she breathed out a blast of magical lightning into the water.

Everyone in the water froze as the charge locked their bodies up. Then, as Cassandra's breath hit its full strength, they began to slump into the water.

Gisse's eyes widened as heads disappeared under the water. "No…" Her thoughts raced at what she could do, and the best she could come up with was to turn the water into mist. Leaning on her power, drawing it out in a rush, she hoped she had what it took to displace the entire volume of the pool.

Still struggling against the weight the Evil Pig of Evil had put on him, Stanton watched as Gisse lit up magically like a nova. Almost blinding, her power reached out and flash boiled the water—but not those in it. It was an incredibly delicate use of so much magic, but she held it until everyone stunned in the water was dry—and then she fell over.

Rushing to catch her goddess, Catherine's mind raced to think about what she could do next. The sight of two huge werewolves in the empty pool filled her with panic at realization that there was nothing that could stand in the way of the dragon.

Ignoring the struggle of the werewolves and the demons, Cassandra turned to Stanton. "Finally, Super Lupine Girl, after everything that happened I can finish this fight once and for all." Reaching her huge foreclaw out, Cassandra put all her weight behind her forelimb and brought it down.

Several important things happened in quick succession as Cassandra attempted to smash Stanton:

Battlemaid sent a hail of rockets into the huge doors securing the end of the room.

Lorissa saw Stanton, Cassandra, and started putting a plan together as she rushed into the room.

Triana Eyesbright, in her huge werewolf form, growled as she pounced at the dragon.

Agony exploded in Cassandra's foot as Lorissa, holding Swiftpaw Deathbringer, raked the underside and pulled Stanton out of the way. At the same time Triana slammed into her side and, to Cassandra's shock, shoved her sideways enough that when her foot finally came down, it missed its intended target.

"You think you can get away with beating up my intended at my betrothal party?!" Triana raked at Cassandra with her claws. "Kidnapping? Murder? I'd hoped all this dragon stuff was just messing around with a local thug, but this is too much! Give me your name, dragon, so I can remember who I killed to secure Stanton's hand."

Cassandra's mouth dropped open. "What are you talking about? Where's Stanton?"

Thanks to the impact to Cassandra, the Evil Pig of Evil had been tossed aside in a smoking arc of seared pork, to land hard on the other side of the room. Being a primordial evil, the pig shook the multiple fractures and third degree burns off and rebuilt himself. It took a force of will not seen in millennia to squeeze more of his power through the multidimensional porcine gateway, but the effect of it was instant.

Growing to nearly three times its previous size, the Evil Pig of Evil was now the Brutal Boar of Badness.

Stanton and Lorissa turned at the furious squeal from the other side of the room. The Brutal Boar of Badness launched itself into a charge straight for them. Stanton dove to one side and Lorissa the other, though Lorissa also scored the Brutal Boar of Badness' side with her sword.

Watching as Lorissa drew its attention, Stanton turned to look at the dragon and watched as Triana boxed it around the face while Battlemaid pulled out a projectile weapon that looked and sounded as deadly as her missiles.

Her gun was something Battlemaid had been working on. High caliber, she only had limited materials to make the high explosive rounds, but when she got a clear shot on the dragon's back half it began to cough out the shells.

Trying to hold off a furious werewolf wasn't easy, not when it weighed almost as much as her, but Cassandra now had explosions slamming into her side and she realized this fight wasn't going to end well unless she turned the tables. "Stop!"

Triana felt herself cease. She didn't simply stop attacking, she stopped moving completely. The word echoed in her head as she tried to focus on working her muscles—to no avail.

"Running analysis. . . Completed. Seventy-eight percent chance dragon used magic to stop Lady Triana. Probability of shots scattering into her: zero." Grinning, Battlemaid sighted down her gun and started sending the explosive rounds directly at the dragon's face.

The new hail of explosives distracted the dragon long enough for Stanton to slip into its guard and start punching it. He couldn't stay around the front end too long, and even his danger predictions weren't going to make him able to keep dodging explosions and talons.

While the fighting happened, Gisse and Catherine rushed around to check on people and pull them from the emptied pool. When Cassandra had demanded everyone stop, Gisse had shrugged off the effect and, brushing the cobwebs of the mental attack from Catherine, she saw that Lorissa had halted in her tracks. "Keep this up, I need to help fight."

When he felt demonic energy gathering, the Brutal Boar of Badness tossed up a ward against evil magic without a second thought. He ignored it and sighted on Lorissa, braced his legs, and started to charge. When the demonic magic slammed into him, bypassing the ward, it threw him across the room in a squealing arc.

Staring at the demoness as she rounded on her, Lorissa couldn't look away as she walked up and kissed her on the cheek. The moment her lips made contact, Lorissa felt energy burn away the command in her mind. "What—?"

"Shh. It's a temporary claim." Gisse was trying her best not to blush. It wasn't so much kissing a girl (which she had learned lately wasn't as terrible as she had ever thought it would be), but more that she was sharing her power with someone who wasn't doing anything to earn it. "You're free to move so long as my lips' mark remains."

She couldn't help herself. Lorissa reached one hand up and touched her cheek. She could feel the slight tackiness of lip gloss and, bringing her fingers back, confirmed it was blood-red. "Th-Thanks, nya."

Watching Stanton dodging the dragon's attacks, even as he climbed up one of its legs, Triana raged at her inability to break the command the dragon had given her. When Gisse slipped over and had to flap her wings to fly up to face level, it was a surprise to have the demon lean in and kiss her cheek. The moment her lips touched, though, Triana could move. She looked down her muzzle at the demoness and flashed a big, fanged smile. "Thanks."

"Don't let Stanton kill the dragon," Gisse said.

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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.