It met her

This is nice

Asmodi used his tail to flick the key in her direction. While moving toward the stairway he spoke. "You are not allowed to leave this basement, not yet. You have my vow that no harm will come to your children in your absence. Try to get yourself under control." He stressed the last sentence. He could sense her anxiety, she was drenched with worry for Elizabeth but he couldn't let her leave until he'd gotten Leviathan under control. Cerulean wouldn't be a problem, Mother Nature's commands aren't as deeply engraved in him as they are in his brother.

The moment he was up the stairs he was met with the angry orange eyes of the eldest, he also noticed the absence of Cerulean and the twins.

"We're keeping it prisoner?!" He asked with disdain. "Asmodi, we need to kill her."

"Her and her offspring?" Asmodi asked him, knowing both boys had grown attached to the twins. He didn't like the challenging tone in Leviathan's voice and bared his sharp teeth in a warning growl. Leviathan instantly remembered himself and assumed a submissive stance, eyes lowered and head bowed but he turned away in annoyance as well. That made a muscle in Asmodi's jaw twitch.

"We have no proof that they will-" He began to say but Asmodi cut him off.

"We know damn well they will. It would make sense to kill them now then, wouldn't it? Do you think you can do it, Leviathan?" He watched him tick at the mocking tone. "We deliver punishment to one then we'll have to do the same to all."

His eyes swarmed with conflicting emotions. There was a long pause before he spoke again, the anger returning to his voice. "The twins are something different. We know Monika is a monster. We have to kill her."

Asmodi growled again, this form of defiance from a younger kin was grating at his nerve but Leviathan didn't back down. "They are under my protection, hatchling. You will not raise a hand against her."

"Mother Nature commands it." He said through gritted teeth, nostrils flaring. That was when he did it. Leviathan took a step closer to Asmodi; too close. A challenge. Asmodi struck first. Growling he swiped his claw along Leviathans face, his aim was to pin his head down and damage his throat but he twisted at the last second and got out of his grasp. Rearing back, Leviathan released a stream of dragon fire. All types of fire breathing dragons are resistant to fire but if one fails to close his eyes quick enough it can cause a temporary lost in sight. Asmodi closed his a fraction too late and when he opened them again the world was a blur of colors. That would only put the larger predator at a slight disadvantage and Leviathan knew that so he quickly lunged for him, maw snapping he went for Asmodi's throat but he held him back. Suddenly they were a tangle of scaly limbs. Leviathan being a dragon, basically giant lizards, had a more aggressive fighting style, his instinct was to keep going for the throat and to rip off any limbs that tried to block him. Wyverns, on the other hand, are more snake like. His movements were fluid, dodging and maneuvering around each of Leviathan's attack. His instincts were to keep moving and wait for an opening to present itself, then strike quickly. A tactic that got him a hit straight to the joint that connected Leviathan's wings to his shoulder blade. Leviathan pulled away and released a ball of fire that managed to push Asmodi back. Leviathan tucked his wings closer to his body; the wing wasn't severed and would heal soon if not bothered. Asmodi used this moment to speak.

"Yield." He spoke in a voice laced with authority and dominance. In response Leviathan let out an ear piercing roar and lunged for him again. What was holding Asmodi back was the fact that he didn't want to kill his sister's first born. Additionally, this wasn't a fight for dominance, territory nor dragon law. He was just a child, too young to realize he could disobey his Mother. What Leviathan didn't realize, however, was how fruitless his fighting style was. Wyverns have really long necks, any animal would look at it and think that was the weak spot but it isn't. There was nothing harder that the protective line of scales that run from down a wyvern's neck to their stomach. For dragons, it's their undersides that are most vulnerable because the scales are smaller and thinner. Wyverns on the other hand have fully developed scales all around. Their weakness is their wings because they're unable to tuck them away during battle. They continued as they were, Leviathan delivering blow after blow while Asmodi either embraced or dodge them. When Asmodi finally decided it was time to end this, he took advantage of Leviathan's unprotected head by clamping down on it. Leviathan's roars of pain were muffled by the teeth digging into his maw. Before he could further resist Asmodi released the stream of dragon fire he'd been holding in since the beginning. Heat seared over Leviathan's face and neck. Dragon fire wouldn't burn another dragon, no matter how long they stay in it but with his face fully engulfed in flames there was no way for Leviathan to get any air into his lungs. He panicked, flailing wildly to be released but Asmodi held him down firmly. It wasn't long before Leviathan's body eventually went limp, only then did Asmodi stop and release him. His body fell to the ground, immediately he gasped for breath but he was still too weak to move. Asmodi stilled, watching him. He waited until Leviathan regained enough strength to stand again. He was fairly certain his point had been made but he still readied himself in case the hatchling would try anything stupid. Without saying a word Leviathan, shot him a glare before he weakly pulled himself up and out one of the cave openings.

Asmodi watched as Leviathan flew off, barely keeping himself up with the damage done to his right wing. He turned and made his way to his room, trying to ignore the pain of the damage he'd also taken, most around his neck. It would've ended like this one way or another. Full grown males were too dominant to live this close for this long.

He found her immediately; she was in her usual corner of the room, looking through her stuff. She looked exhausted. She had bags under her eyes and glossy, bloodshot eyes she could barely keep open.

"What are you doing?" He asked, coming up behind her. He could feel his body attempt to close up his wounds but his constant moving was making it hard.

"I..." She jumped when she heard his voice; there was no way she hadn't heard him coming. Did she not even hear him fighting? He hadn't been attempting to sneak up on her. "I'm trying to find something?"

"What?" She didn't have a lot of stuff to look through, how something could get lost was beyond him. Though he already had a clue what it was

"My book." She sagged in defeat.

There went his lead but maybe it was a good thing that the book vanished. Whatever creature that lived in it must've evacuated at the sign of danger. He circled her space before laying down, finally allowing his body the stillness it needed to heal faster.

"It was so odd. I had it, I was writing in it, it's like it vanished the moment I looked away." She finally looked at him then, her eyes widened in shock. "What happened to you?" She moved to touch one of the gouges on his neck.

"Don't touch it; you'll just make it worse." He said, causing her to pull back. She turned her concerned filled eyes on him and suddenly he found it hard to look at her. "Leviathan and I fought. It was short, he didn't have a chance but I let him live."

Her eyes darted from injury to injury before she spoke. "It was over Monika." She didn't even bother to ask. She twiddled her thumbs and sighed before taking a seat near his neck, she looked to make sure there were no scratches there then leaned on him. "The storm is dying, the water will go down and soon my mother and I will be able to return to the village and relieve you of the burden our company has caused." Now she sounded exactly like her mother. He didn't respond to that. He wouldn't deny her her freedom to leave, though he had to admit to himself, he wanted her to stay here. She'd make a good addition to his hoard.

Stressful, this whole thing felt too stressful. Elizabeth closed her eyes and got comfortable where she sat. Comfortable? When had she ever felt comfortable around someone other than herself? Lorelei had made her feel comfortable at one point. Since then all she's ever had was herself and she was content with that. Still, she felt the muscles in his neck relax, 'This felt nice'. 'Wait, wasn't I doing something before this?' she thought. 'Searching, I was searching for something... But what.' Her mind went into a haze the harder she tried to think about. She clutched it when a sharp pain stabbed at her temple. Asmodi immediately brought his head to hers. She could see some of the cuts in his neck open up but he hardly seemed to notice.

"Just a headache." She put up a hand and answered his unasked question. "I'll be fine."

He just watched her with an intense gaze before laying his head back on the stone floor. He closed his eyes before speaking again. "Elisabeth, tomorrow, I will mark you again." It wasn't a question. She instinctively put her hand to her neck where he clawed her so long ago.

"Why?" She asked, her voice trembled but it wasn't from fear.

He kept his eyes closed when he answered. "It'd be in your favor if I did."

'Could he have been anymore vague?' "I see." She uttered, this is the kind of thing people would have a conversation about but instead she just chooses to accept it. Which Elizabeth is she right now?

They stayed like that for a long while before the exhaustion she'd been fighting finally overtook her. Closing her eyes she fell asleep, the last thing to grace her vision was the image of Asmodi, looking as though he might be asleep as well. Again, she found herself thinking 'This is nice.'