“Enough,” Edan growled at her.
She didn’t stop. A crack formed along my shield and I tried to repair it. She hit me with her magic again and I fell to the ground. If she were my enemy, I would have killed her instantly, but I could not harm her.
“Enough!” Edan bellowed and let his magic out in a tidal wave of pure power.
His mother staggered a step back and gasped. “Edan…”
“Leave her alone,” he ordered her and then picked me up.
“What are you?” she asked me. “You’re not a dragon and you’re not human.”
“She’s mine and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t attack her again,” Edan growled.
He walked out of her chambers with Isaac right on his heels. “Do you think that was wise?” Isaac asked him.
Edan glared at him and continued on his way.
“You can set me down. I can walk,” I told him.
His fingers gripped my sides and he didn’t respond. Alright, I guess I was getting carried. We walked into a white room that was sterile and smelled funny.
“Demons!” A man yelled as he ran down the hallway.
What?
“How many?” Edan asked.
“An army!” the man snapped. “At least two hundred.”
“Who is leading them?” I asked and pushed myself out of Edan’s arms to stand.
“I…I don’t know,” the man said, surprised to see me.
I headed towards the way we had come in so I could get out. Between the Queen attacking my shields and now, Beel had slowed the spell down so I was able to regain my normal power.
“Where do you think you are going?” Edan growled.
“I’m going to have a word with the demon army,” I said as I continued walking.
“You are not in any condition…” he began, but I interrupted him with a jolt of electricity.
“The spell was slowed. I can’t explain this, but I need to go confront them so that they don’t cause any damage to this realm,” I explained.
I stepped outside and was shocked to see an army of dragons, some in dragon form and others in human form, gathered to fight the demons. Increasing my speed, I began to run in the direction everyone was looking. “Tell them to stand down!” I yelled at Edan who had been stopped by an older man that looked exactly like him and I had no doubt was his father. “I can handle this without any of you needing to be involved.”
Edan said something to his dad while snarling in my direction. If I could convince them to leave without needing to reveal who I was to them, I could keep my secret a bit longer. The army finally came into view and my eyes widened at the number of demons gathered. Why were so many here? At the front of the army was Arton, a very low level demon who was always causing trouble.
“I should have known,” I grumbled and hurried towards them.
The army stopped and Arton stepped to the front and roared at me.
“Pathetic!” I screamed at him.
He flinched and snarled at me. “What do you want, human?”
I rolled my eyes. Even though I was in a different form, he should have sensed that I was a demon. “Go back to the Demon Realm immediately!” I ordered them.
The dragons approached behind me in formation with Edan and his parents at the lead. I needed to get the demons out of here now.
“Who do you think you are?” Arton growled.
I let a bit of my demonic power out and allowed my eyes to change into their true shape and color. “Leave or I will punish you,” I threatened them.
A few demons rushed forward and I electrocuted them immediately. Arton charged at me, but Beel appeared in front of him and stopped him. Beel said something to him and Arton’s eyes widened. “That can’t be her,” he snarled at Beel.
Beel said something again to him and Arton said, “I don’t care. I’m moving forward.”
Beel turned towards me and smiled. “Unless you reveal who you really are, they won’t leave.”
“Let us handle this,” Edan called to me and moved forward.
I put up an invisible wall between the dragons and us. Edan ran into it and snarled. “I’m sorry,” I said as I turned to face him. “I should have told you the truth. You were right, I am scared of your reaction.” I looked at his parents. “And your family’s reaction. I can’t help what I was born as.”
“I don’t care what you are,” Edan told me. “Break this wall and let me help you.”
“This is one time that you can’t help me,” I said. “If you decide that you don’t wish to continue our relationship, please just let me leave after this. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Tora,” he called softly. “Please.”
“Kill her!” Arton yelled.
The army began to move forward, shouting and releasing their powers. It was now or never. Inhaling deep, I released the restraints I had placed on myself and my shape and allowed my true self to come through. It felt like breaking out of an egg. My horns grew from my head, my tail slit a hole in my pants, and smoke poured out of my nostrils. My eyes were glowing as was my entire body.
I opened my eyes and felt free for the first time in a very long time. “Return to the Demon Realm by my order!” I bellowed at the demons.
Several turned tail and ran as soon as they realized who I was. Arton stood, dumbstruck with his mouth open.
“Both of you as well,” I snarled at Arton and Beel.
“I don’t care who you are!” Arton bellowed. “I will complete my mission!”
“You dare to challenge me!” I bellowed back.
“You don’t frighten me!” he snarled.
“How about me? Do I frighten you?” The deepest male voice I had ever heard asked.
“King!” some of the lesser demons who had stayed gasped.
“You dare to challenge your Princess?” Father asked as he came to stand next to me.
“I can handle this,” I assured him.
“I know you can, but I have been on the sidelines too long. Sometimes the king must come and remind his subjects why they fear him. This should last us at least ten years,” he explained.
“What are you going to do, kill us?” Arton asked haughtily.
“For challenging your Princess, I claim all of your souls for eternity!” Dad bellowed. He flicked his finger and every demon fell, except for Arton and Beel. “Would you clean the field up?” Dad asked me.
“Yes, Father,” I said and with one exhale engulfed all of the bodies in white fire. They turned to ash an instant later.
“Arton, you’ve been a nuisance lately, but I think you just need some retraining,” Father said. “To the pit with you,” he ordered and snapped his finger. Arton disappeared leaving Beel alone.
“You can’t kill me,” Beel said smugly.
“Oh?” Father asked. “Why would you say that?”
“Because if you kill me, she dies,” Beel told him with a wide smile.
Father turned to look at me and growled angrily. He grasped me by the arm. “You’re dying, you idiot. Why didn’t you summon me?” He pointed at me and I froze in place. “They always tell you that children are stupid, but you have surpassed all of my wildest dreams.”
Fire engulfed my chest, but I refused to cry or scream. A moment later it was gone and so was Beel’s spell, returning my full power to me.
“What! How?” Beel demanded.
Father set me so that I sat on the ground and smiled at Beel. “Did you think a spell like that would be difficult for me to break? Clearly, you have all forgotten how powerful I am.”
I had not. I knew that he was the most powerful being in existence. He could destroy the world in a matter of minutes if he wanted to.
“She’s mine!” Beel screamed.
Edan snarled, shattered my wall, and flew over to tackle Beel in his dragon form. His dragon form was glorious.
“A dragon?” Father asked. “What are the dragons doing here?”
Beel held his own for a bit, but
Edan was too strong. “She’s mine,” Edan snarled at Beel and then killed him with one swipe of his claws.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve killed dragons,” Dad said excitedly.
I leapt up and let my powers out again. “You will not touch them!” I growled at him.
Dad smirked and asked, “Are you challenging me, Daughter? Do you want a test?”
“I’m stronger than the last time I challenged you,” I assured him.
“Tora,” Edan called from where he had returned next to his parents, but I put up a stronger wall this time that he could not break.
“Stay out of this,” I ordered him.
He growled, but his mother grabbed his arm and said, “This is something she must do alone.”
“Are you sure?” Father asked. “You know the penalty.”
I roared at him as loudly as I could, the ground beneath me shook.
Father smirked and instantly pissed me off. “Don’t laugh at my roar! I don’t sound like that anymore!” I screamed.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “but whenever you roar I will always hear the sound you made when you released your very first roar as a toddler.”
“I’m not a child any longer. I’m an adult.”
“A stupid one. How could you sign a contract with Beel?”
“It was better than what you wanted for me.”
“Come, I grow weary of this place,” he ordered me.
I sent electricity through the ground and fire from my mouth at him. He smiled proudly and then I was on the ground as he stood over me, unscathed.
“You have grown stronger, but you have a long way to go before you can stand up to me.”
Dammit.
He grasped one of my horns and said, “You know the price.”
I nodded. “Yes, Father.”
“Stop!” Edan yelled.
“Would you like to take her place?” Father asked.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” I screamed.
While looking at Edan, Father snapped the top half of my right horn off. It hurt worse than anything else could, but I would not cry or scream in front of my father. I could not show weakness.
“Tora!” Edan bellowed.
I took a shuddering breath as I lay on the ground, pain coursing from my horn throughout my entire body.
Edan charged forward, but Father easily caught him and held him on the ground a few feet away from me. “A dragon? The Prince of the Dragons even,” Father said with a smile and looked at me. “Things are progressing quickly between the two of you, aren’t they?”
“How’d you know?” I asked. How could he possibly know that?
“You’re both creatures of fire and prince and princess.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Bonding is accelerated for royalty. I don’t know why, but it is,” Father said and shrugged. “I approve of this match.”
“I don’t need your approval,” I snarled.
“Perhaps I should kill him to keep him from sidetracking you,” Father suggested.
I stood up on shaky legs and stared straight into his eyes. “If you touch a single hair on him or any of the dragons, I will destroy the demon realm.”
Father’s eyes widened and then he beamed at me with pride in his dark eyes. “Come home with me.”
“You have another heir,” I reminded him. Though I had not seen D’marcus in many years.
“D’marcus is dead. I thought you knew,” Father informed me.
“Dead? How?” I asked softly.
“Picked a fight he could not win. You, my dear, are heir once more.”
“I don’t want to be your heir. I don’t want to run the Demon Realm.”
“I need to return,” Father told me. He looked down at Edan and said, “Come see me in three days and bring the dragon.”
“Yes, Father.”
He disappeared and Edan rushed over to me as I collapsed from the pain of my horn. My wings disappeared as I fell.
“We need to get you to a healer.”
“Just cauterize it,” I ordered him.
“It will hurt.”
“Just do it.”
He took a deep breath and then blew fire across the top of my broken horn. I grunted from the pain and his grip on my shoulders tightened.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have tried to have a relationship with you.”
“Why not?” he asked and pushed my hair away from my face.
“Because of who I am.”
He shook his head and said, “I told you already that I don’t care what you are and I meant it. I don’t care that you’re Princess of the Demons just like you don’t care that I am Prince of the Dragons.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
“Come on, let’s get you to the healer,” he said.
I stood up and leaned on him for support. “You’re really not going to try to kill me?” I asked him.
He tilted my chin up and kissed me. “No. I will never hurt you.”
“Prince Edan,” Isha called as she walked towards us with flames on her hands. “Please, move away from the demon.”
“You are out of line,” Edan growled at her.
“Stand aside and let me kill her. The sooner we kill her, the safer we will all be.”
“Isha, return to the castle,” The King ordered her.
“Sir, I can…”
“That was an order, not a request.”
She glared at me and then disappeared.
“I apologize. We should have fired her a long time ago,” the King told me. He held out his hand. “I’m Elam.”
I shook his hand and felt numb from shock. He’d protected me? “Tora.”
“I’ve heard all about you,” he assured me with a smile.
“Father,” Edan growled.
“Come, join us for dinner,” Elam offered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered and looked down at my tail which was draped across my right foot.
“Please,” the Queen asked. “I have to make up for my misbehavior earlier.”
“Please?” Edan asked softly.
It would not be a good thing to upset the rulers of the dragons, so I nodded my head in agreement.
“I’ll meet you after I take her to the healer,” Edan informed them.
I looked down at my pajamas. “I’m not exactly, um, dressed for dinner with your family.”
“We’ll make it a pajama party,” the Queen said with a smile. “It will give me an excuse to wear pajamas early.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why are you being so nice to a demon?”
“You’re not a demon,” Elam said, “You are our son’s girlfriend.”
“I told you they would like you,” Edan whispered and then flew up into the air and glided towards the castle.
“Did you know royalty bonded faster?” I asked. His body was incredibly warm, which was comforting at the moment.
“Yes, my parents told me that. I assumed that meant you were royalty.”
“You did?” I asked and looked up at him.
“I thought you might not know,” he said and then smiled. “Obviously, you do though.”
“I won’t be able to switch forms for at least an hour,” I mumbled in embarrassment.
“You’re beautiful in either form,” he whispered, kissed my neck where he had marked me, and exhaled loudly.
“I can’t believe you marked me without asking,” I grumbled.
“It’s removable,” he said, “and I wanted to be sure I could locate you.”
“In case I ran away,” I teased.
“Who would run away from this?” he asked and flexed the bicep on his left arm.
I laughed and shook my head. “Your ego is as big as your dragon form.”
He dropped through an opening in the ceiling, right into the white, sterile room we had stepped into before the army had come. “Ingrid!” he called.
A blonde-haired woman with oran
ge cat ears walked out of a nearby office. Her tail was orange and white striped and it swished behind her as she walked. “Prince,” she greeted, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“She needs to be healed,” he explained and set me on an empty table in what was their infirmary. The hole in the ceiling was a smart tactic for bringing their injured, but also a security risk.
“What if someone tries to break in through here?” I asked, face tilted up to look at the opening.
“Ingrid is more than capable of protecting the entrance,” Edan explained.
Ingrid scanned my body and then placed her hand against my horn. “I can’t heal this any more than it already is.”
“Why not?” Edan asked.
“When the King of Demons punishes you, it must heal on its own,” I explained.
“I’ll tend to the minor wounds you have,” she said and healed a few bruises on my arms and face that I had likely gained from Father pinning me to the ground.
“Thank you,” I said to her and played with the end of my tail. It was triangle shaped, sharp, and convenient for fighting.
“You’re welcome,” she said, bowed, and then returned to her office.
“You’re scowling,” I said to Edan who had stood in silence beside me with a frown the entire time. “What’s wrong?”
“If I take over as King of the Dragons and you have to rule the Demon Realm as Queen, where does that leave us?”
“I’m never going to rule the demons,” I assured him. “I’ll find another heir for Father.” I would create one if I had to.
“It is your birthright,” he countered.
“I don’t want to rule the demons,” I said sincerely.
“And what about the dragons?” he asked.
“I’ll leave that to you,” I mumbled. “If we ever reach that point.”
“By default, you would become Queen.”
“Stop scaring the girl with such serious talk so soon in your relationship,” his mother chastised him. “Come on, it’s time for dinner.”
“Give us a moment,” he requested.
She nodded and left the room.
Uh oh.
Edan turned towards me and his serious frown turned into a smirk. “I’m sorry. I’ve always been told that I focus on serious things too often. I did not mean to frighten you by talking about a future which is far off.”
Demonic Contract Page 5