Abaddon listened to everything that Lisa had to say without offering a single word in response.

At some points, his eyebrows were higher than others, but the rest of the time, his expression was surprisingly neutral.

Abaddon was quite surprised by his own lack of a reaction. However, that might have further proved the legitimacy of what she was saying.

It was almost like he already knew it to be true even on a cellular level.

“This is weird though. What could you have been dreaming about to just start spontaneously creating food out of thin air?”

“I ain’t complanin’!” Bekka had already sampled everything that her husband had made.

Eris patted her on the head like she was one of their children.”Yes, well, no one really thought you would, my love.”

Abaddon rubbed the back of his head as he glanced at Tatiana.

“I suppose I missed watching you on television more than I realized…”

Tatiana let out a happy squeal as she hugged her husband tightly. “AWW, really, babe? The studio’s been bugging me for another season, but I’ve been blowing them off a bit. But if my husband really wants it, I can…”

“Maybe wait until our family isn’t facing some imminent danger. But yes, I would love to see you on television more.”

“Oh, you can do a season where you go around trying to help restaurants on earth!” Seras added as she wiped Bekka’s face of crumbs.

“I think they’ve already got a guy for that, sweet face.” Bekka burped.

Lisa glanced to her side and found Abaddon and Tatiana embroiled in a rather heated embrace.

“Umm, you guys. I know it’s been a while and stuff, but don’t you think we should finish talking about the matter of your hatching before you get too far into it..?”

Abadddon and Tatiana responded by pulling each other out of their underwear. Their lips didn’t pull apart for even a second.

Lisa started to hit them but controlled herself at the last second. “Well, could you at least tell us if you’re feeling possessed or something?”

Tatiana must have felt that Lisa was talking too much because she eventually tore off her nightgown and pulled her on top of them.

Obviously, Lisa didn’t have much of an issue with it, because she certainly took her time pulling away…

Lailah watched them for a few moments, and after being sufficiently hypnotized, she started to peel away her own clothes as she nudged Valerie.

“Do you think you could use some of your expertise here?”

Valerie rubbed her hands together like a predator. “Oh, I’m sure I can-”

“Not on me, dear.”

“Boo.”

“On our husband.” She emphasized. “Do you think you could maybe make something to help prevent him from making things in his sleep?”

Valerie glanced at Abaddon with a head full of thoughts known only to her.

“I suppose, but… I wonder if the thing we should do instead is try to figure out how to make him a little less Azathoth.”

Lailah was perplexed. “Why would you…”

At that moment, Lisa, Abaddon, and Tatiana all pulled apart from one another.

They flung themselves off the edge of their beds while attempting to reach their discarded clothes.

A moment later, there was a knock at the door, and Thrudd entered the room with Thea just behind her.

“Mothers, father, the light of your lives are here!” Thrudd said obnoxiously. “Oh, food!”

Abaddon certainly loved his children… but due to their timing, he currently loved them just a little less than normal.

Thrudd, as always, made herself comfortable in her parents’ bed like it was her very own.

She sprawled out on top of the covers and placed her head in Lillian’s lap. Her mouth remained open until someone started placing finger food inside of it.

By now, her parents were so used to her behavior that they didn’t even bat an eye.

Thea, however, did not seem interested in eating.

Instead, she went over to her father and sat beside him.

“We’re glad you were awake… We wanted to come by and check on you to see how you were doing.”

“I’m managing.” Abaddon responded as if what happened to him were no big deal.

But even after two days of rest, his skin was still sporting some old burns and his hair had yet to return to it’s normal red color.

Thanks to spending some time with Bekka in the bathroom, he was at least recovering a bit of his muscle mass, and his horn had grown back.

Thea could still see the scene of her father being stabbed every time that she closed her eyes.

The feeling of his blood splashing against her face was permanently seared into her mind.

She had never witnessed anything or anyone handle her father like that. It was the most mortal she had ever seen him.

“You don’t have to keep staring at me like I’m fragile, you know?” Abaddon flicked her on the forehead.

Thea blinked as if she didn’t realize what she’d been doing. “Sorry…I guess I was just worried you wouldn’t live long enough to get to know your grandchildren.”

Abaddon almost choked on air.

Thrudd seemingly had enough to eat and she crawled to the edge of the bed where her father sat. She let her head hang off the edge like a bat taking roost.

“Hey, we know you’re almost dead and all, but-”

“Not almost dead.”

“-D’you think you might have time to come outside with me?”

Once again, Abaddon was reminded of his children’s terrible, horrific sense of timing.

“Well, I mean… I-Is it urgent?”

“Yeah!”

“Regular urgent or-”

“Dad!”

“Fine, fine…”

–

Against his better judgment, Abaddon allowed himself to be pulled away from the scintillating embrace of his wives and hurled back into the hallway with his oldest children at his side.

As far as he could tell, they didn’t really have any set destination in mind, and instead, they were just walking aimlessly while trying to figure out how to break some sort of news to him.

While they were walking around, they came across another duo who seemed to be armed to the teeth.

“Where are you two going..?” Abaddon yawned.

Mateo and Mira froze like children with their hands caught in the pantry.

They looked at each other, with axes, swords, and halberds strapped to their bodies, and considered a possible excuse that would fit the situation.

Eventually, they folded when they couldn’t think of an adequate lie.

“…We’re going to beat up the twins and call their mom.” Mateo confessed.

Mira clutched her knife. “Then we’re gonna fuck her up too.”

“And capture her.”

“Real brutal. Mob style.”

“Belt to ass.”

“Not safe for television.”

Mira and Mateo exchanged a small fist bump.

Abaddon chuckled. “Okay, well need any hel-”

“”You can’t be serious.”” The two of them pointed at his body.

“Hey, I can handle one little edlritch horror! You guys are treating me like I’m Odie!”

Somewhere, Odessa sat up when she get someone talking about her…

Mateo gave Abaddon an apologetic pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t be in such a rush to go out and start a fight. Something tells me that in the near future, you’ll have plenty of time for it.”

Abaddon didn’t look fully convinced.

Thea grabbed her father by the arm and started pulling him away from a potentially hazardous situation.

“Come on, Dad. Let’s leave all the fighting and heavy lifting to someone else for a change.”

“B-But…”

“You can’t say no to me. I was kidnapped. I have lingering trauma and I’m in a very vulnerable state right now.”

Abaddon was drug away with a crestfallen look, leaving Mateo and Mira to skip away scot-free.

They settled in one of the empty living rooms, but Abaddon took his time in sitting down.

His mind still wasn’t settled on staying home while Mira and Mateo went out to risk their safety.

He probably never would have sat down if Thrudd didn’t forcefully sweep his legs from underneath him and toss him in a chair.

She then smiled innocently at him as if she hadn’t done a single thing wrong.

“Okay, okay…” Abaddon conceded. “You both seem to be working very hard to capture my attention, so do you mind telling me what this is all about..?”

Thrudd started to clam up again. “Oh… w-well…”

“I’m going to find your sister.” Abaddon started to stand up.

“No!” Thrudd placed her hands on her father’s shoulders and slammed him back into his chair.

“Thruddie, what is-”

“Percival went and found a version of Thor from a parallel universe to turn against our family and I didn’t know how to tell you or Mom about it!” Thrudd blurted out all of her words at once in one, big mouthful.

She only started breathing again after she’d gotten everything off her chest.

Abaddon was aptly stunned. “How do you know that..?”

Thrudd found it hard to meet her father’s gaze. “He might have showed up shown up a few months back while we were burning those flower fields.”

“Might have?”

“Okay, he did…” Thrudd dropped her head before lifting it up in a panic. “I-I promise it wasn’t that big a deal though! Barely anything even happened so you don’t need to worry about anything cause I have it handled!”

Abaddon guided Thrudd by the hand and made her take the seat next to him. Now, Thrudd was the one who couldn’t get away even if she wanted to.

“Tell me everything.”