“I AM…” I began yelling out loud. “I AM A DRAGON!” I screamed.
I tightened my grip on the ribbon, feeling a truth settle into my core as I stared at the brilliant snowy luminescence directly in the middle, watching it glow even brighter. Watching it spread.
I opened my mouth a second time to finish my statement.
“AND WE ARE ONE!” I shrieked, my voice holding steady.
All at once, a burst of light filled the room, the ribbon glowing brightly as all the color vanished. What had once been the merging of violet and gold, was now a unity of magic, solidified into a single color. A single unity. A single bond.
I collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily, the room spinning all around me. My chest and back were still on fire, though it wasn’t painful anymore. I stared at my humanoid hand, limp on the ground, unable to process what I was seeing, unable to understand why my palm was dark gray while the back of my hand was dark purple – why it was covered in scales. Why those scales only went up to the middle of my forearm before transitioning into dark gray skin. Why the colors complemented each other so perfectly.
After what felt like forever, I heard someone calling my name.
I blinked, my eyes finally focusing, only to realize my mom and dad were both right there, trying to get me to respond to them. I couldn’t think though. I pulled my hand closer to my face against the floor, running my gray fingertips from my forehead to my lips, my claws just barely gliding over my skin. It felt normal, at least until I touched my jawline. Suddenly my skin…no, my scales were hard. I reached down further to feel the smooth hard surface of my neck, only to be confused when my soft skin returned just past my collar bones.
It was like I had a casing of leathery jewels covering my throat, the same texture on my forearms and the back of my hand.
My mom grabbed my hand then, pulling it away from my body as she clasped it in her own.
“Sweetie, say something,” she urged, sounding desperate.
I blinked again.
She looked at my father, even more distressed. “Axel, I don’t know what’s wrong with her! I don’t know what this is!”
I blinked yet again, before my mind unexpectedly began working. A single thought – a single word – a single name, popping into my head.
I abruptly sat up gasping. “Jasmyn!”
I quickly shoved past them on my hands and knees as I urgently crawled towards the limp form lying unconscious across the room. It was pitch-black now, because the lamps in the room were all destroyed, but I could see her just fine.
I sucked in a sharp breath as I wrapped my arms underneath her back and pulled her limp torso into my lap. Once I got her head against my shoulder, I reached up with a clawed hand to touch her cheek, only to freeze when I saw something peeking out of the top of her clothing. I quickly grabbed her shirt and pulled it down, revealing a familiar symbol in between her cleavage.
I gasped again, uncertain of what this meant. Did it accept her after all? Was she going to be okay?
I immediately tightened my embrace as I lowered my head, resting my pointy ear against her chest, trying to hear her heart better. Normally my senses were sharp, but they felt temporarily muted, like when I was human – I suspected due to the strain of what I just experienced wearing my body out.
Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.
It sounded normal.
Unexpectedly, I felt a hand run through my black hair as the sound of her heartbeat was eclipsed with a low groan. I tried to lift my head to look at her, but she immediately tightened her embrace, pressing my cheek firmly against her chest.
“T-That…was…awful…” she said almost inaudibly. Her body was trembling now.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pressing my face into her even more.
She freed the arm pinned between us and wrapped it around my back, her fingers reaching up to grab my neck as she hugged my head more tightly. She then gasped, feeling the scales there more intently.
“W-What happened?” she asked. “This feels like my scales.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “And I don’t care right now. I just want to know you’re okay.”
She pushed herself upright more, so that now she was facing me, my head still snug against her. I looked up at her, my chin on her sigil, confused when I saw her glowing gold irises.
“You want something?” I whispered.
Her eyes widened in surprise, before she shook her head, the glow dimming. “N-No. I mean, I wanted to know what happened.” She paused. “And I’m okay,” she added.
I nodded, pulling away until we were sitting in front of each other, me on my knees, while she looked like she was sitting on her rear with her tail snaking around everywhere, her torso turned towards me. Our hands were clasped together in my lap.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
She didn’t get the chance to answer as we were both momentarily distracted by a yellow light suddenly appearing in the room. I glanced behind me to see that my dad was hanging the lamp from the kitchen on the wall. I didn’t see my mom though, so I spun around the other way only to flinch when I realized she was standing right there.
Her expression was reserved, speaking up when I noticed her. “I’m not sure we should risk giving you mine,” she admitted quietly.
She then dropped to her heels, and reached out to pull my shirt down a little, before her eyes flickered towards the more visible marking on Jasmyn’s chest thanks to my tugging on her shirt earlier.
She sighed. “It’s already a miracle this worked with your father’s sigil with you two being bonded.”
“What does that mean anyway?” I asked seriously. “Why did it affect Jasmyn?”
She took a deep breath and then leaned backward to fall on her butt, before tugging on her leather pants as she crossed her legs. She looked at each of us before responding. “It means your magic is sort of connected now. That ethereal thread linking you two is always there, even if you can’t always see it.”
Jasmyn and I exchanged a glance, still holding hands, as she continued.
“Bonding is usually a good thing. Mages who successfully sync their magic together can increase how quickly they can recover their energy. They can also sometimes defend against certain types of magic, like curse spells, so long as both individuals haven’t been cursed. Or, so long as one of the mages has an immunity to certain types of curses.”
She paused. “For example, Alyssa you should be immune to a lot of basic curse spells because you’re part demon. But now Jasmyn will share that immunity because your magic is bound together.” She sighed. “But it’s a bad thing for something like receiving a sigil. Everything becomes unpredictable then. In this situation, it seemed to actually speed up the process, but that isn’t always the case. It might have tortured you both for hours before rejecting you, all because you’re connected to your friend.”
I gawked at her. “Faster?!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean by faster?!”
She gave me a weak smile. “Sweetie, that whole thing only lasted a few minutes.”
I just stared at her in disbelief. “It felt like forever,” I whispered.
“An eternity,” Jasmyn agreed, shivering at the all too recent memory.
My mom nodded. “Pain will do that, unfortunately. It can make each second seem like it never ends.” She sighed again. “But, it’s over now. I really wanted to give you my sigil too, but I don’t want to risk it after seeing that. I was sure it would have accepted you easily, but now…”
I let go of one of Jasmyn’s hands and reached out to grab my mom’s. “It’s okay,” I replied quietly. “Dad’s was the one that counted, right?”
She nodded somberly. “Yes, you’ll be fine without mine, but you absolutely must have his. The fact that you’re a demon with a draconic sigil will indicate to most that you’re my daughter anyway. Normally demons and dragons wouldn’t be able to have children – your father and I are a unique case, since he can shapeshift. While i
t’s possible that there may be other demon-human hybrids running around, no other of our kind would have such a marking on them.” She glanced at Jasmyn. “And certainly no Nagas would have a draconic sigil.”
“I’m sorry,” my friend whispered.
My mother shook her head. “No need to apologize. While what you experienced was even worse than I would have anticipated, you actually made this easier on Alyssa.”
“I did?” she asked in surprise, holding her gaze, before looking at me shyly.
“Yes,” my mom continued. “Like I said, the whole process lasted a few minutes, which is about how long it would have been had the sigil accepted her right away, minus the pain. In a way, you took on Alyssa’s burden and protected her from the majority of it.”
Jasmyn looked up at her in shock. “I…I protected her?” she whispered.
“You did,” she replied confidently. “Just like you promised.”
Jasmyn looked like she was about to cry, prompting me to reach out and pull her into another hug. After a moment, my mom spoke up again.
“You two should go to bed. You both look like you haven’t slept in days.”
I nodded in agreement, letting go of Jasmyn to get to my feet, feeling a little dizzy once I did. My mom reached out to steady me, already on her feet herself, only to walk with us to my room. I crawled into bed, feeling relieved when Jasmyn laid down behind me and pulled me against her like she was snuggling a doll again. I could feel that my body was back to normal – normal, as in, my demon form. The scales were all gone now, absorbed back into my body much like my wings and tail did.
The door slowly closed until only a crack was left, before my mom disappeared into the kitchen. I could hear them begin to discuss what had happened, wondering what the purple scales meant. The most logical conclusion was that I had inherited some of my dad’s traits after all, though they had assumed that wouldn’t have happened given that he was a human now. Granted, it wasn’t like shapeshifter relationships were very well documented. This was all new for them.
My dad also explained that he had mentioned the bonding in the letter he sent – the one she hadn’t received because she was already on her way. After a short discussion about it, they both grew silent for a little while. I was beginning to wonder if they had gone to bed and I hadn’t noticed, but then my mother spoke up again quietly.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
My dad sighed. “I yelled at you too,” he reminded her.
“I know,” she agreed. “It’s just that…we’ve been together for four-hundred and seventy-one years, and I don’t think I’ve ever yelled at you.”
“Umm, yeah you have,” he retorted, his tone sounding playful.
She made a sharp hiss. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” She paused. “That doesn’t count!” she added more loudly, as if she was responding to his expression. She then groaned in annoyance. “I’m about to take you outside mister,” she retorted.
“Please do,” he said cheerfully.
“Maybe I will,” she sneered.
I heard a chair scoot as someone stood up. There was a short pause before another chair scooted too, and then the front door opened and closed. I heard giggling slowly fade away into the night as they moved further away from the house, thankful when all I could hear was chirping insects and Jasmyn’s rhythmic breathing behind me.
I sighed heavily, pushing against my best friend more as my mind drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 18: Magicbound
I woke up to the sound of glass quietly clinking together in the living room, only to realize I was alone. I urgently sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed, stopping when my eye caught something gold on the small table in my room.
I gasped.
It was the ring I had given Jasmyn.
I immediately bolted for the door, sucking in a sharp breath of relief when I saw her carefully setting a piece of glass in a small wooden bucket. For half a second, I was afraid she left. She hadn’t noticed me, probably because I could move so quietly in my demon form, so I retreated back into my room to grab the ring, realizing the gold chain was broken.
Now that I thought about it, she wasn’t wearing the necklace after we received my dad’s sigil. I realized it must have gotten torn off when she was writhing around in pain. The memory of seeing her body move the way it did made me cringe, but I pushed it aside.
I went rummaging through a drawer to find my old pendant necklace, which was still one of my most precious possessions even though the onyx gem was gone. I had snagged the necklace many times before, but the chain never broke. Now that I knew it was magical, I suspected it might have been spelled to be a lot stronger than it looked, which meant…
I carefully picked up the gold ring to thread the delicate-looking chain through it, admiring the crimson gem as I did so. I then hid it in my hand behind my back, and carefully stepped out of my bedroom to approach Jasmyn from behind while she continued to pick up shards of glass from an oil lamp. She was dressed in her black corset again, revealing an intricate pattern on her upper back that matched my own.
The room really was a mess. No one had bothered cleaning up yet, and I could tell from my friend’s expression that she was beating herself up about it. At least it didn’t look like she had gotten hurt last night. Her tail was usually pretty tough.
She finally noticed my approach in the corner of her eye and bolted upright. “Oh,” she gasped in surprise. “Alyssa, I’m sorry. Did I wake you up? I was trying to be quiet.”
The sun had already risen, but it was still fairly early in the morning.
I shook my head even though she had woken me, my expression determined. I then pointed in front of me. “Come here,” I demanded, my voice sounding a little more firm than I was intending.
She blanched, looking like she was about to pass out. But she complied, slithering closer.
“Lower,” I whispered more gently, prompting her to lower her upper body until she was actually shorter than me. I then held out my hand, her eyes widening as I let the ring dangle freely, before trying to slip on the necklace.
However, unexpectedly, she pulled away a little, raising herself back up to my height.
I gasped in surprise. “What’s wrong?” I whispered.
She clasped both of her hands over her chest, her voice coming out almost inaudible. “I feel like I stole this from your family,” she admitted quietly.
That’s when I realized her hands were clasped in front of the sigil on her chest.
She quickly continued. “And I’ve taken some of your mom’s clothing too. I don’t feel right about it. Any of it.”
With the necklace in my left palm now, I reached out and grabbed her clasped hands, pulling them away from her chest a little. “You didn’t steal this,” I reassured her. “You’re sharing it with me.” I then held up the necklace. “And this is mine,” I agreed firmly. “Just because you’re wearing it doesn’t change that.”
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“But because it’s mine,” I continued. “You have to wear it. You don’t get to choose not to wear it, as if it was yours. This isn’t just some random accessory. This is my necklace – my ring – and you’re my friend. My best friend. So you have to wear it, even if you don’t want to.”
She stared at me in disbelief, her eyes slowly filling with tears. I knew that my tone, and my overall argument, was a little too intense. A little too possessive, implying that both she and the ring were mine, but I didn’t really care. And she didn’t try to argue with me either.
Even if it was intense, I felt like this was the only logic that would work on her. She’d likely feel bad about wearing the ring otherwise, even if I insisted, but if instead she felt like she didn’t have a choice…
As I held up my hand again to try to put it on her, my expression firm, she lowered her upper body a few inches, allowing me to slip it over her white hair. This chain was a little smaller than the other had been, but
I was still able to get it over her head easily. I definitely needed to give her a haircut though. And soon.
“It shouldn’t break again,” I reassured her. “So, from now on you can’t take this off unless you need to use the ring, or I give you permission first, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered, feeling the chain and ring with her fingers. She then cleared her throat, looking up at me from her lowered position. “H-How did you fix it?” she wondered.
“Oh. I didn’t. It’s not the same chain,” I explained. “It’s the one from my pendant, so it’s extra special now.”
She nodded again, her cheeks turning rosy.
I sighed then as I glanced around the wrecked room. Jasmyn had already cleaned up most of the shards of glass, even meticulously picking up the tiny ones, but my dad’s books were still everywhere, some of them damaged. The bookshelf and small table were both broken, my dad’s chair overturned, and one of the boards in the wall was even cracked too. At least none of the damage was completely irreparable, assuming one of the torn books wasn’t overly valuable.
I nodded to myself as I began heading across the room, only for the end of Jasmyn’s tail to snake around my waist, pulling me to a stop. I looked back at her in surprise.
“I can do it,” she whispered. “I made this mess, so you shouldn’t have to clean it up.”
I shook my head, gently reaching down to rub her blue leathery skin. “That’s what friends are for,” I reassured her. “Besides, I’d really like to cut your hair, so we can comb it out properly. If I let you do all this, then I’ll be waiting forever.”
She looked at me in surprise. “O-Okay,” she stuttered.
“It’s fine if I cut your hair, right?” I clarified, feeling like I was letting my previous argument go to my head now. She didn’t get a choice in regards to wearing the ring, as far as I was concerned, but that didn’t mean she didn’t get to have choices at all. Although, with how timid she could be, I wouldn’t be surprised if she let me make most of her choices without complaining. But I certainly wasn’t going to do that. I wanted her to learn how to be more confident in her decisions.
Magicbound to a Snake Girl Page 23