The Invasion of Cassidy Manor
Ivan was trapped. Stuck. Imprisoned. He rarely got to see his wife or daughter. Instead, he was trapped in the basement of a mansion that used to belong to him. Not that he didn’t deserve this punishment. He lied, killed, and tortured. His wife’s father, Snapdragon, wouldn’t let him be with her unless he did. So, he’d had to do it.
“Mr. Cassidy! Mr. Cassidy!” Shouted a squeaky voice that was getting louder as the source descended the stairs into the basement. Ivan sighed. He hated it here. More specifically, he hated this kid, he would not leave Ivan alone no matter how many times Ivan tried to scare him away. Ivan just wanted to live out his punishment in peace, but this kid Sun Tae-Woong would not let him.
Sun barreled into the room at top speed, which was fast considering his power is super speed. He skidded to a halt, the rug slid out from underneath him, and he fell backward onto the floor. This didn’t stop him though, as he was instantly back on his feet. “Mr. Cassidy, my mom told me to wish you a Happy Father’s Day,” Sun blurted out.
“Thank you,” Ivan replied, exasperated.
“Are Lavender and Hyacinth coming to visit?” Sun asked.
“Yes, they are. So, you should leave me alone so that I can prepare for their arrival,” Ivan told him.
“I’ve always wanted to meet them. We’ve heard so much about Velvet and the others from Devon, but we’ve never gotten to meet them.” Devon was the owner of the mansion that now acted as Ivan’s prison. Devon doesn’t live here, but he visits a lot to catch Ivan up on the latest goings on at the East Coast Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures. What seems to be even more of an insult is that this home once belonged to Ivan. Devon being Ivan’s younger brother, inherited the land when both Ivan and Shane, the eldest of the three Cassidy brothers died.
Ivan and Shane were brought back to life to seek revenge against the people that killed them, but ultimately ended up failing. Shane wanted to live in the Sanctuary where he got to see his two sons on the weekend. Ivan, however, still wanted revenge, so he was locked away. Now, he was stuck in a mansion that used to belong to him, was constantly bothered by the young children who lived here because Devon turned the building into a safe space for Supernatural Creatures. Not only that, but he was stuck being a ghost. After he died, his body was destroyed in an explosion, without his body, he had to be brought back as a ghost. Velvet was nice enough to give him a necklace that transformed him back into his vampire form for a short period of time, but it had a long cool down.
Ivan adjusted his clothes while looking at himself in the magic mirror that Velvet also made for him. Then he turned back to Sun. “Listen-” Just as Ivan began to speak, a purple ring with a black center appeared on the other side of the room.
“Ooo,” Sun stared at the ring, his eyes wide in awe. As the two watched, a woman stepped out of the ring. She was holding a child’s hand. Both newcomers had blue hair, the woman had purple eyes, and the toddler had one purple eye, and one red eye.
The child ran over to Ivan. “Daddy!” She yelled.
“Hyacinth!” Ivan said, crouching down in front of his daughter, careful not to touch her in case she got frightened.
“That was so cool!” Sun gasped, he was still staring at the woman, who just realized that he was there.
“Just ignore him. He was just leaving,” Ivan said gruffly.
“Hello. Who might you be?” The woman asked Sun, kneeling to get closer to his level.
“I’m Sun! I’m one of the people who lives here,” he explained. “You must be Lavender! I’ve always wanted to meet you.”
“Ivan’s mentioned me?” Lavender asked.
“Well, no. Mr. Cassidy doesn’t talk much, but Devon’s mentioned you!” Sun told her.
“Nice to meet you, Sun,” Lavender smiled. “Would you mind giving Ivan and I a chance to catch up?”
“Okay, I’ll come visit later!” Sun replied, zooming back up the stairs to go bother someone else.
Ivan stood up and walked over to his wife. “How’d you do that? I’ve been trying to get him to leave me alone for months.”
“There’s a lot of small children running around the Sanctuary. You have to know how to manage them in order to even a second of quiet,” Lavender told him. “Speaking of children, Sydney just had her second child.”
“Don’t forget about Cousin Leonidas!” Hyacinth called, as she reached for the necklace Velvet made.
“Well, I’m sure Uncle Devon told your father about his new nephew,” Lavender said.
“Yes, my brother told me all about his and Katy’s child. A Dragon-slayer for a nephew, after my hard work to kill them all,” Ivan growled. “A zombie for a brother, and another zombie for a Sister-in-Law. I, myself, am a ghost after being killed by the very people my family chooses to surround themselves with.”
“To be fair, you were the one that killed Katy and attempted to kill Sydney. And treated Devon awfully. They never intended to kill Shane, either. They took in Milek and Zakhar after they became orphans, and offered Hyacinth and I a place to stay,” Lavender pointed out.
“The Cassidys, the most notorious family of vampires in the world, and not a single child blessed with the vampire gene. Two Shapeshifters, Shane’s sons. A Dragonslayer, and a Dragon. If only our parents could see the state of this family now.”
“Well, your father is dead.”
“Yes, but my mother can’t die. They’re an immortal deity.”
“I got it!” Hyacinth called, as she held up the necklace. Ivan took the necklace from her, and went to put it on, but hesitated. Something didn’t seem right.
“I’ll put it on later,” Ivan said, pocketing the necklace.
“Hyacinth, you should give your father his present,” Lavender turned to her daughter. Hyacinth nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. A purple ring appeared parallel to the floor. A large rectangular box fell from the portal.
“You’re getting really good at that!” Ivan exclaimed. Of course she was, she had Lavender to teach her how to create portals. Ivan just hoped she was practicing her fire throwing just as much. Lavender reached down and began to open the box. Inside was a sword that appeared to be made of meteoric iron.
“Velvet and Ace made it!” Hyacinth squeaked excitedly. “It’s specifically designed to interact with the Fireball power, and the blade will catch on fire!”
“How did they manage to get the materials?” Ivan asked.
“Velvet stole them,” Hyacinth replied.
“Of course she did,” Ivan muttered. As much as Ivan wanted to dislike the Sorceress, he had to respect her. Despite attempting to change the world for the better, she wasn’t afraid of doing something illegal for her or her friend’s benefits. She was a true chaotic good. But if Velvet decided that Ivan needed this sword, then something big was about to happen.
Right on cue, Sun came barging back into the room. “Mr. Cassidy! Devon called! He said that we’re under attack! Well, not right now, but the humans are on their way to attack!” Sun yelled.
“Why didn’t they warn us ahead of time?” Hyacinth asked Lavender.
“They did,” Ivan said grimly, staring at the sword. “Although I don’t know why they think I’ll help defend this place.”
“W-what? You’re not going to help us?” Sun asked, the disappointment in his voice extremely evident.
“This place is my prison, not my home. Why would I want to help you protect it? It’s not my problem,” Ivan growled.
“Devon said they captured a dragon! We need your help! We need all the help we can get!” Sun argued.
“Ivan...” Lavender whispered, stepping towards him.
“I am not wasting my precious time with my family by helping fight a battle that isn’t mine to fight!” Ivan locked eyes with Sun. The look on the usually energetic kid’s face hit Ivan like a truck, and he felt a weight drop in his stomach. Ivan steeled himself and turned away. There was a whooshing sound as Sun ran back up the stairs.
Ivan turned to look at his family, who were staring at him like he was insane. “You’re really not going to help them?” Lavender asked.
“No,” Ivan answered.
“You’re going to let the humans win. All because you want to be stubborn? What happened to you?”
“What happened to you,” Ivan retorted, “siding with the people who killed me?”
“They killed you because you wouldn’t leave them alone even after my father died! They’re not the villains of this story! They have actively attempted to made up for what they did! While you have done nothing but despise them. My father is dead, why do you still side with him? This is no longer about protecting me. Or about seeking revenge against them. It’s about you. You can’t stand the fact that you keep losing.”
Lavender stormed up the stairs before Ivan could even open his mouth, and Hyacinth followed. She’s always been excited to prove herself in a fight. Only Ivan remained in his lonely basement. A horn sounded from above. Ivan had had enough encounters with armies to know that was signal to attack.
Ivan paced the basement, his mind spitting out 39 thoughts per minute. He pictured Lavender clashing with the Dragon, too distracted by the fight to bother using portals. Or Hyacinth not being able to aim her portals due to the chaos and ending up stuck in a tree. Despite these thoughts, Ivan had no doubt that his girls could fend for themselves. No, the thought that worried him the most was Sun’s scandalized face as he realized that Ivan wasn’t going to help them. He thought about the kid that hasn’t had a single day of formal training in his life battling an army that has been trained to fight since the day could walk, and he made up his mind. He had to fight.
Lavender knew that the other dragon was larger than her, most dragons were. Blue scaled dragons were one of the smallest breeds. Second only to Green Scaled dragons. She was fighting a Red Scaled dragon, which was one of the largest breeds.
Lavender also knew that this dragon was being mind controlled. The source was the leather collar around his neck. It was similar to the collar Ivan made for Tyler that he used the night he died. They must have been made by the same person. The only way to end this fight is to free the dragon, without him on their side, the humans will flee. The only problem is that most dragons are trained to protect their necks during a fight.
Hyacinth soared high overhead, watching the battle below. She wasn’t so desperate to prove herself that she would just jump into battle without watching first. Sydney and Velvet had been giving her lessons, probably preparing her for this moment, giving her advice on how best to use her powers while she was so small.
As she watched, a blurred streak raced across the battlefield, and she knew that had to be the kid from earlier. He seemed to be a good fighter without any formal training, his power does give him an advantage in any situation. Sun was clearly just a human with superpowers. Nothing special, but he’s still treated like one of the “creatures.” Hyacinth continued to scan the ground below. There was a young-looking hawk that kept diving at one human’s face, clawing him, and then flying away. After a few of these, the human finally caught the hawk in the net he was carrying.
Instantly, Hyacinth dipped into a dive. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Fire. Fire. Hot. Burning. She thought as she fell. Melt. Heat. Flame. Blaze. Hyacinth felt her body begin to warm up, and she knew she had done it. The ground was getting closer. If she didn’t work fast she was going to collide with the ground.
With a tiny bit more concentration, she felt her body pass into Limbo. Limbo is the blank space in between portals. Then, she passed back into the mortal realm. It only took a few seconds before Hyacinth smacked into something. She opened her eyes.
She was standing on top a human being who appeared to be winded by the impact. She did it! She hit her target! Hyacinth leapt off of the human and cut the hawk free, one of his wing appeared to be broken. She grabbed him in her talons and leapt into the sky.
Sun was having fun! He loved running. He never got to run in the house without getting yelled at. This was even more fun than running in the house. Out here, with all these people, he got to do as much damage as he wanted to. As long as they were the bad guys, of course. There was no way anyone could catch him. He was simply too fast.
While he was running, he saw a streak of orange flames appear in the sky before disappearing through a purple ring. He knew it was Hyacinth. Sun knew that she inherited both of her mother’s powers, she was a Dragon Shapeshifter, and had the ability to create portals. Hyacinth also had a rare mutation that gave her three powers, so she also had her father’s Fireball ability.
Sun was distracted. He ran into a tree. Something grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. “What do we have here?” The man holding him asked. “A human child. Born with an unfortunate malfunction.” The man sneered at him. “You’d be a great addition to our army. It would just take a little manipulation.”
A wall of fire came to life around the two humans. “You won’t be taking him anywhere,” A voice growled. A dark figure appeared in the flames, and a man stepped through. The man’s red eyes seemed to glow with rage. He wore a necklace around his neck, it was a gold chain with a glittering red ruby.
“Mr. Cassidy!” Sun shouted, reaching his arms toward the newcomer. Ivan stepped forward, one of his hands held a single blue flame, and his new sword was slung across his back.
“Cassidy,” The man carrying Sun gulped.
“Oh good. You’ve heard my family’s name. So, you know what we’re capable of. I suggest you drop the child and leave. Immediately. Before I kill you,” Ivan told the man.
The man dropped Sun, and jumped through the flames and away from Ivan. Song wrapped his arms around Ivan. “I knew you’d help us, Mr. Cassidy,” he said.
“You were right,” Ivan replied. “I couldn’t leave you to fight alone, and please call me Ivan.”
“Okay, Mr. Ivan!” Sun said happily. Ivan smiled at him. Maybe this child wasn’t annoying. No, he’s annoying, but in an endearing way.
A roar filled the air followed by a loud crash as the ground shook. Lavender had fallen during her fight. She lost. The red dragon had one of his talons on her side as he raised his head and roared in triumph. Lavender lashed around, but the dragon only dug his claws in deeper.
There was a fluttering of wings as Hyacinth dropped the hawk onto the ground next to Song and transformed back into her human form. “We have to do something to help! We have to save Mom!” Hyacinth said.
“I have an idea,” Ivan responded as he drew his new sword. He pushed a little fire into the hilt, instantly the blade burst into flames. “I have to cut the collar. We’re lucky it’s not metal like the one I put on Tyler.” Ivan looked down at his daughter. “Do you think you can get me up there?”
“Yeah. Definitely. I think,” Hyacinth said.
“Okay. Sun, I need you to take Germaine inside. Her arm is broken, she needs medical help,” Ivan told Sun. “This is very important.” Sun saluted Ivan before instantly running off to do his job. Ivan nodded to Hyacinth and prepared himself.
The ground fell out from underneath Ivan, and suddenly he was falling. He passed quickly through Limbo. Then he fell out the other side of the portal. Ivan was expecting to land on the dragon’s back, but the portal was off by about a foot. He reached out with the hand that didn’t contain the sword. He managed to grab the collar and he felt pain shoot up his arm from the impact.
Ivan swung himself up to get a better grip on the dragon. He planted his feet on the dragon’s shoulder He wedged the sword in between the collar and the dragon’s neck. Then, he began to use the sword the way one would use a handsaw. A constant back and forth motion, as the leather began to split.
Eventually, the leather gave in completely, and Ivan felt himself sliding down the dragon’s back. “The dragon’s free! Retreat!” A human shouted. There was a commotion as all of the enemies began to flee back into the town. The mind-controlled dragon returned to his human form, and Ivan, who was still on his back fell a few feet before smacking into the ground. Now that the battle was over, Ivan could enjoy his Father’s Day.
Back at the East Coast Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures, Devon and I locked eyes, and a knowing look passed between us. I stood and raised my glass as I said, “to a fantastic Father’s Day for us. And an incredible victory for Ivan, Lavender, Hyacinth and everyone else who calls Cassidy Manor their home.”
There was a chorus of “cheers” as the others at the table raised their glasses. I sat back down and simply could not hold back a smile. “What has you so happy, Vee?” Tyler asked.
“I just love a happy ending,” I replied.