by E. J. Krause
Rico snarled, dodged the sickly-green streams that threaded out of Ben's fingertips, and landed, battle rage burning in his eyes. Ben pushed both palms out, sending two cones of dark energy forward. Rico whirled around in a blur, too fast for Ben to see, and kicked him hard in the back. Ben's concentration disrupted, the magic ceased, and Rico brought his hand up to strike.
"If it wasn't for your mate and her family, I'd end you right now. It's easy enough to figure out why those who cry evil might not be far off."
Ben bucked the demon, not hard enough to knock him off, but well enough to gain a bit of leverage. If he had his sword and shield, he could do some serious damage. And as quick as that, they were in his hands. He could tell right away they weren't his actual weapons, but identical facsimiles, made of pure energy instead of steel. Their heft proved they'd serve every bit as admirably as his real blade and shield.
Rico back-flipped off Ben and crouched in a defensive posture. Fear shone in the demon's eyes. What was that about? Why would he be afraid of the sword and shield when he dodged the best magic Ben could throw at him? Before either could make the next move, Andi's voice flooded Ben's mind. Since his head didn't explode in pain, she must've transformed into her dragon form.
"Would you knock it off? Jeez-Louise, I wanted to have fun tonight, not get into a smackdown with a demon. Who's our friend, no less. Sort of."
Ben didn't answer. Andi slithered in between the two, and though either could have side-stepped her to get at the other, neither did. Rico stood and dusted himself off, his fear now gone. Ben likewise dropped his aggression, and his weapons dissipated into the ether.
"So you think you can come into my workplace, my home, uninvited, and try to harm me? Were you trying to kill me? That anger of yours isn't just going to get you into trouble, but your level-headed mate, too. Is that what you want?"
Now that it was over, he did feel bad about it, but he wasn't about to apologize. Rico would view that as a weakness.
"I'd planned on talking to you, that's it, I promise." That was kind of the truth. Actually, he hadn't really thought about what he was going to do once he got here. Maybe Rico was right. Maybe his temper would get him in trouble. And if he were in trouble, it meant Andi would be, too. He couldn't let himself, and Andi by default, turn evil.
"I don't know why you two have such animosity towards each other," Andi said, back in her human form, "but it's stupid. There are enough bad things out there that you two should save it."
"Agreed," Rico said. "But I'll remind you all I did was open my door for the two of you to come in. I initiated nothing."
Ben opened his mouth to say Rico had done plenty of instigating in the past, but Andi silenced him with a glare. Rico grinned, but there was no malice behind it. For whatever reason, the demon enjoyed every little interaction between Ben and Andi.
"Yes, you're innocent today, but you've goaded Ben plenty in the past. He went a bit overboard," she said, hitting him with another pointed look, "as he's tending to do a tad too much lately."
"If you continue to ply your influence over him in such a way, my dear, the prophecy will have no chance but to play out to the righteous side."
"Oh good," Ben said, "Then I won't have to worry about destroying humanity."
"No, no," Rico said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Ben's shoulder, as if they hadn't run through their death dance a minute before. "That's not the problem. The prophecy speaks of you either ruling the multiverse as a tyrant or as a benevolent leader." He motioned towards Andi. "With your lovely dragon by your side as an equal in either case."
It took a second, but what Rico said sunk into Ben's brain.
"So either way, we're going to be powerful leaders?"
Rico gave a shrug that read, "Yes, but who's to say?"
Andi had her eyes closed and her jaw set tight. Even though she didn't need to concentrate so hard to access the encyclopedic portion of her mind, she tended to do so. All dragons, once they were bound to their mate, had a vast amount of knowledge of dragon and other lore stored in their brains. It meant lengthy research sessions were rarely needed. The problem was that, more often than not, Andi forgot all about this perk. He had to admit he was impressed she remembered to use it now.
"But prophecies don't always pan out, even if the criteria is met," Andi said once she finished scouring her built-in data.
"True enough, but unless death takes you before it's all said and done, this one looks to be a slam dunk, if you'll pardon the human expression." He frowned at them both. "You two have an extraordinary talent for worming valuable information out of me for free. It must be all of that raw power that emanates from you. I could have procured delivery of a lucrative pile of spice from a distant dimension for that same info. I'm not sure if I'm slipping, or if you're gaining my respect. Whichever it is, you two have more power than I've ever felt on non-demons." He gave them an appraising look. "Maybe even more."
Rico moved to snap his fingers, his way of sending them back to the mortal realm, but stopped. "I should warn you to remain vigilant. I have a task for you two sometime in the next few nights that will fulfill our arrangement." Rico had given them the proper incantations to use to rescue Andi's parents last year with the payment of an owed favor, which he obviously meant to collect on sooner rather than later.
They both nodded, and this time he did snap his fingers, sending them to the exit gate of Reach for the Sky. Ben sighed and started to say something about the prophecy, but Andi cut him off.
"We can dwell on everything he told us later. For now I'm hungry, and I'm holding you to your promise of letting me plan our evening."
He nodded, kissed her nose, and let her lead him to Whirlybird Burgers. She was right; the prophecy talk could wait another day. Tonight he wanted to have fun with his Alexandria.
Chapter 2
Andi stood in the dirt of the arena she and Ben found themselves in last year at the end of their quest to retrieve that strange statue for Rico. Supposedly it was a likeness of the Demon of Dreams, the one who made dreams work. It had been a big deal to Rico to get that statue, enough to where he would allow Andi and Ben to go into double debt in order to save her parents. After a slew of dangers, obstacles, and enemies, they'd entered this huge, sandy-floored area, where they'd slain a giant bat-monster in order to win the statue.
Now she was back, this time without Ben. At least the giant wasn't here. No, she stood alone. But why?
A couple of steps around, a few jabs at the soil with her bare feet, and a glance down to see she was clad in her nightshirt, proved this to be a dream. It felt so real, but didn't they always? A few minutes after she woke up, it'd be a distant memory, if she remembered it at all. But what was the point? Her subconscious had nothing to work out here. They'd accomplished what they needed to with no moral dilemmas. Evil died that day, and for that, nothing weighed on her mind.
She wandered for a minute until something in the distance caught her eye. She transformed into her true form and hurtled forward, careful to get close enough to see, but not so close she'd draw attention to herself. The statue stood in place, as it had before they'd delivered it to Rico, though it was three or four times bigger now. It was as ugly as she remembered, but somehow held a regal look. A couple of black-robed figures appeared. They stood roughly the size of humans, though full hoods hid their heads, not letting her see if they were truly human or not. They hadn't been lurking on the other side of the statue. No, they weren't there one second and there the next. Two more popped up. Then two more. And so on, until a few dozen surrounded the statue.
Though there was no cover and Andi's large blue-scaled body stuck out against the hard-packed sandy ground, none of the robed figures paid her any mind. They grasped arms at the wrist, and stared at the statue, not making any sounds. It gave Andi the chills, but she wasn't sure why. She wished Ben was here to tell her if this was some sort of evil ritual. He'd know thanks to his powers, though she had no clue if that aspec
t was because he was her Dragon Guard or if it was due to the prophetic powers he would have possessed anyway. It was cool that he had them. Most of the time, anyway. The thought that they could turn him, and her by proxy, evil still soured her stomach. Rico mentioned the prophecy also foretold them being good, and her own research explained that it might not ever come to fruition, even if that was the longest shot of all.
The circle of black-robed weirdoes shifted as each took two steps to their left and dropped their hands to their sides. With no sort of cue that Andi saw, they rushed the statue as one, pummeling it with their fists. Tiny cracks showed in the once-smooth surface, and grew deeper and longer with each smash delivered. It was as if they were one organism broken into many different parts. Small pieces of rock rained down, followed by bigger and bigger chunks, until whole stone body parts littered the ground. The robed figures stopped, collected themselves for one final blow, and unleashed their pent-up power at the statue's head. When they pulled back, reforming their circle, the head teetered and fell. When it hit the dirt, everything went dark.
Andi gasped and woke with a start. Ben stirred next to her and opened his eyes.
"Andi?" he asked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"Yeah, sorry, sweetie." She sat up and kissed his forehead. "I had a nightmare."
He sat up next to her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her head to his chest.
"Want to talk about it?"
"It was something about that statue we rescued for Rico. A bunch of black-robed weirdoes destroyed it."
"I've had a few dreams featuring that dream master statue, too."
"Demon of Dreams," Andi corrected.
"Whatever. The dreams are hazy in my memory now, but I think I remember those black-robed dudes trying to break the statue." He stifled a yawn. "Wonder what it means? Are we dreaming the same sort of stuff because we're so close, or is it something important?"
"I don't know." She kissed his cheek. "But let's talk about it in the morning. I'm sorry I woke you."
"Don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry. I'll always be here for you." He leaned forward and kissed her. His tongue brushed her bottom lip, but she could tell it was a half-hearted attempt at a make-out session, so she pulled away and kissed his cheek again.
"We'll do that tomorrow, too."
"M'kay." He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow. Andi wasn't as lucky, but at least she got to watch him sleep.
As much as she hated the chastity spell, being able to sleep with Ben every night was a major perk. Even Daddy had no problem with the arrangement, since they couldn't do anything more than kiss. Some nights they slept in her bed, and some nights in his, but always together. They hadn't missed one yet.
She brushed a stray strand of hair off his face, and then closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a busy day, so she needed all the rest she could get. She still hadn't got Ben the perfect Christmas gift, so she was taking Melissa to the mall to find something. A trip to the mall two days before Christmas would prove to be an adventure in itself.
Andi had to suppress a laugh, like every time she thought of how Melissa was now probably considered her best friend. Apart, of course, from Ben, her parents, and his. Her best girlfriend her own age, and that thought almost sent her into another fit of giggles, considering the age difference was almost 750 years.
Melissa had been Ben's sort-of girlfriend when Andi moved here near the beginning of Sophomore year. Sort-of because Ben only dated her because she wanted a boyfriend to boss around and he let her get away with it. All because she had a pretty face and occasionally let him kiss her. Ugh, boys! When Andi came into his life and he ignored Melissa, she lashed out and spread nasty rumors about Andi and Ben. Only when Melissa stumbled into a huge zombie attack, which Andi and Ben saved her from, did the rumors stop. All of that should have made Andi dislike her, but the unintentional goofiness of the spoiled little rich girl tickled her to no end. She did have to put up with Melissa's constant fawning over Ben, but that was no big deal since she knew there was nothing Melissa could do to get him away from her. Ben, really, was the one who had to put up with it. Only when he realized Andi didn't care, was amused by it all, did he learn to laugh at the situation.
As these thoughts, along with what to get Ben tomorrow, ran through her mind, sleep at last crept up on her. This time she didn't remember any dreams.
*****
The Yorba Linda Mall couldn't have been more crowded. If Andi had been alone, she wasn't sure she'd have put up with it, but Melissa made her forget about the uncomfortableness of the crowd by talking non-stop about school gossip, celebrities, and shallow and casual comments about people they passed.
"So after Jordan asked Candi out, she totally freaked. I mean, can you believe it? She's so far out of his league. He's sort of cute and all, but such a nerd. She almost accepted because he could so help her with homework. It's like when Whimsy went out with Ned on Glamour World. Did you see that episode? Oh my gracious, do you see what she's wearing? I wouldn't be caught dead in that. It's so trashy, but I guess it works on her."
On and on it went. Andi tried to count the number of times Melissa asked her a question, but moved to another topic before she could answer. She got to nineteen before giving up. There was too much going on around to keep count. Too many people to dodge to do more than listen with half an ear in case an odd moment came up where Melissa actually did expect a response.
They wandered into practically every store, and she still had no clue what to get Ben. There were plenty of possibilities, things he would absolutely love, but not that perfect thing. Last year had been easier. They'd bought each other cheesy dragon and knight t-shirts and iTunes gift cards. Those had been nice, and she still wore her shirt and listened to the Dollface Mirror album she'd purchased. This year, though, needed to be extra special. Especially since he had hinted he'd gotten her something perfect.
As they headed towards the food court for lunch (Melissa needed to eat at the Mongolian-style grill because it was the trendy choice), a shadowy figure caught Andi's eye. When she looked closer, she saw how apropos that description was. It was a shadow, and it moved through space like a ghost. It was humanoid in shape and size, but its arms were much longer, like that of an ape. It glided along with the help of its oversized arms, but with a grace that reminded her of a cat. Instead of dodging around people, it passed right through them. Neither it nor they noticed. While it made no move towards her, she knew it was here because of her. Was it for a specific purpose, or just randomly drawn to her power?
"And we have to get Boba Tea at Teriyaki Hut. Jessica — you know her, right? — says it's the best thing she's tried in ages, and that everybody should get one. So of course I tried one, and O-M-G she was so right. It was amazing."
Andi wanted to tell her she'd had Boba Tea in Japan, but doubted Melissa would make the connection between Japan, Boba Tea, and the Teriyaki Hut. Besides, more shadow figures had popped up, and while they still hadn't done anything except keep pace, she knew they were up to something. As they passed by Paper Paradise, she grabbed Melissa's arm and ducked in, wondering what the shadows would do.
"Why are we going in here? This store is so lame. Ooh, scrapbooking stuff!"
Andi rolled her eyes as Melissa gravitated over to the far wall. She then turned her attention back to the shadow figures and saw they hadn't followed. She let out a deep breath, looked around the store, and smiled. She'd found Ben's perfect Christmas present.
When she'd met him, his parents were constantly at each other's throats, so much so that they paid little attention to him. He'd been a video game player ahead of anything else, meaning he basically ignored his schoolwork. Since then, his parents had mended their differences, and they and Andi had weaned him off the video games and pushed him to become a better student. Because he desired to please his now-attentive parents (and lived to please Andi, as she did him), he thrived academically this past year. Instead of spending what little free-time he had b
lasting pixilated creatures, he spent it developing a love of writing. While his short stories and poems were so far amateurish at best, he showed a real talent, and would only get better. Andi wanted to do everything she could to nurture that. Hence the perfect gift.
"Are you buying something for your grandma?" Melissa had grown bored with the scrapbooking supplies and was back, presumably to pull Andi out of the store as soon as possible. "I thought we were here for Ben."
Andi held up the journal with a drawing of planets and stars on the cover and the fancy gold-plated pen with the refillable cartridge.
"These are for Ben. They're his perfect gift."
Melissa scoffed and walked with her to the register. "Whatever. Like he even wants that. It's going to be so sad when he loves my gift way more than yours."
"You got him a gift?"
"Yes, and it's a good thing I did. He'll get so much more use out of my Wailing Banshees concert tee than…those." She scrunched up her nose as she pointed to the journal and pen.
"I don't think he got you anything."
"Of course he didn't," Melissa said, as if Andi were the slowest girl in the whole mall. "He'd know if he got me anything, it might make you jealous. You know, since I was so special to him."
"But it won't make me jealous if you get him something?"
Now the look said Andi might be the slowest life form on the planet.
"We both know you won't be. He has to be with you because…well, you know." Melissa had no idea Andi was actually a dragon and Ben her guard. After the incident with the zombies, she'd jumped to the conclusion that Andi and Ben were zombie hunters, and since Melissa wouldn't dare confess to knowing that, from fear of being ostracized by the popular cliques at school, they decided there was no need to correct her.