First, Damian took a quick shower. A pleasant smell always went a long way towards making people look at you favourably.
Next, he pressed his hand against his chest and slowly pulled it back. Along with it came his catalyst: Nox Aeternum. He couldn't use its storage function without taking it out, so he quickly gathered the pieces of last night's suit and stored them away. Then, he took out some new clothes.
After putting on a more casual yet stylish appearance, Damian left the hotel room, looking impeccable as always. He didn't doubt Luna had simply taken the elevator down to walk home, but Damian had a car waiting for him.
Just outside his room, he found Lyra, his personal guard. She was a pretty, brown-haired woman in her mid-thirties who'd been his shadow since he was born.
"Good morning, Lyra," he smiled charmingly at her. "You could have spent the night inside the room instead, you know?" He winked suggestively. "I don't mind having you watch."
A small blush crept onto Lyra's cheeks, but she remained calm. "I know, Master, but it's not appropriate," she said, conviction in her voice. "Watching you like that would… distract me. Assailants are also more likely to come through the door."
Before answering, Damian started walking down the hallway, and Lyra followed.
Meanwhile, he could hear the protective warmth in her voice and smiled a little. "I do appreciate your dutiful mindset, Lyra. Will your duty allow you to celebrate my awakening by joining me in my room tonight? I'd like to reward you, and I could use a little comforting. Luna left early again…"
Even after only just having an argument with Luna about this, Damian remained incorrigible. In the end, their conflict revolved around a fundamentally different view of sexuality, and Damian had no doubts about his stance.
He could hear Lyra gulp slightly behind him. "It would be my honour, Master…"
Unsurprisingly, this woman had long since fallen into Damian's clutches. His mother had actually helped by making Lyra his unwitting practice target for her lessons about manipulation.
By the time he turned sixteen, Lyra had become fanatically devoted and deeply in love, despite the age difference. She happily offered herself for Damian's first time.
Yet, her love was a secret she hadn't shared with anyone, not even Damian himself, something he liked to occasionally tease her with.
"An honour, hmm?" he murmured playfully, the eternal smirk playing on his lips. "Is that all?"
Suddenly, he turned around and grabbed Lyra's chin. Despite being more powerful than him, his guard didn't resist even a little. In fact, she appeared like a deer in headlights. "I— I—"
"Tell me, Lyra," he whispered softly, his crimson eyes boring into her hazel ones. "Did I ever give you permission to love me?"
She gulped, still frozen in place. "I— Y— Yes… You did, Master…"
"I see," Damian nodded, as if he'd really forgotten. "So, do you?"
The teasing, sadistic little devil inside Damian did a happy dance as soon as he noticed the struggle in Lyra's miserable expression. She opened her mouth once but then quickly closed it again, as something still prevented her from admitting the truth.
Seeing that, Damian chuckled and turned around again. "Oh well. Maybe next time."
Behind him, Lyra's blush deepened, but she ignored it and rapidly followed in his footsteps. Her eyes bore into Damian's back, filled with embarrassment and shy love yet suppressed by duty. She'd been trained from birth as a shadow protector, meaning she was supposed to blend into the background, still and emotionless.
Yet, Damian was rapidly breaking down that part of her training.
Without the need for an elevator, he checked out digitally and left the hotel through a parking platform. It was a grey, early morning, but the city was already a bustle… after all, Eryndor never slept.
With Lyra on his heels, Damian made his way to the luxurious, flying fortress that was his car. Or, rather, the car his chauffeur drove him around in. Damian loved driving—or rather, flying—but he only drove himself when he wasn't still on his way home after an important event like last night's.
He was a desirable target for kidnappers, after all.
His driver, Hans, was also a powerful guard, just like Lyra, but he was a family guard, not a personal one like Lyra. Having slept in the car, Hans was immediately ready to go.
"Young Master!" he greeted, a sincere smile on his grizzled face while he moved to open the passenger door. "Today is the big day, isn't it? How do you feel?"
While not a particularly good person, Damian treated his people with respect, rewarding loyalty and competence equally. Because of this, he was universally well-liked among his family's servants.
Still smiling slightly, Damian nodded at Hans in greeting. "Yes, it is, Hans, and I'm feeling terrific."
"Really?" Hans lifted an eyebrow in mock scepticism. "So that wasn't Luna I saw bolting out of the hotel earlier, looking sad and heartbroken like always?"
Chuckling, Damian stepped into the car. "Alright, so life isn't perfect, but what is? I'm still excited for my awakening."
"Hehe, good lad," Hans nodded appreciatively, speaking more familiarly than most servants would have dared. But, since he'd served the Moroi family longer than anyone, such was his right.
After closing his young master's door, Hans took a seat being the car's controls, and Lyra sat down next to him. Mere seconds later, the car took off and filed into one of the busy skyways.
Like the good son he was, Damian decided to call his mother to let her know he was on his way. "Nova, please ca—"
Awoooooh
Suddenly, a devastating howl rocked Eryndor's sky. The power behind it immediately put all occupants of the car on high alert. "That power…" Hans muttered slowly, his eyes scanning the horizon cautiously. "There's only one moonkin that powerful, but why—"
He was interrupted by a heavy boom that reverberated in the surroundings, instantly telling them the sound barrier had just been broken. Immediately afterwards, something crashed into their car, forcing it to lurch sideways as metal groaned under the sudden impact, and several alarms started blaring.
Lyra let out a sharp gasp as Hans fought the controls, his knuckles white against the dashboard. Damian cursed, trying to find his balance as he roared at Nova. "Nova! Call my mother!" Whatever was going on, he knew trouble had arrived.
Through the reinforced glass of the windshield, they could see it—a massive, transformed moonkin. Its fur bristled in dark shades of silver and black, and its claws glowed faintly with destructive power. Its grey eyes gleamed with predatory focus as it clung to the top of the flying car, the wind whipping past its monstrous face.
"Damian…" it snarled in a deep voice, even infiltrating the car, quickly identifying it as a man. "You're coming with me!"
"Like hell!" the three occupants roared at the same time as they pulled out their catalysts. Yet their bluster was more instinctual defiance than anything else. They'd recognized their assailant, and none of them had the power to stop this mass of fur and muscle.
While the car was still crashing to the ground, the Moonkin proved that this moving fortress of a car was no more than tissue paper to him. Smashing through the glass dome, he extended his claws towards Damian, but both Hans and Lyra cried out, attacking the arm with all their power.
Unfortunately, their efforts had no effect. Their weapons slid off the Moonkin's fur like so much rain, with only the more powerful Hans drawing a drop of blood. Damian looked at his incoming fate with cold defiance, holding Nox Aeternum in front of him, just as his mother picked up Nova's call.
"Damian?"