by Arizona Tape
“Ready when you are,” she echoed my earlier statement.
I nodded and stepped forward, Tate in tandem with me. We reached where the barrier was, and to my disappointment, it bounced me back again.
“Well, so much for that.” I sighed, turning to find Tate, only to discover that she was on the other side of the barrier. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking slightly frantic. “Can’t you get through?”
I pushed against the barrier again, before shaking my head. “Apparently not.”
“Maybe it’s the baby?” She didn’t seem so sure.
“What do you mean?”
“The baby is a full dragon?”
Oh, right. That actually made some kind of sense. “Oh.”
“Let me come back through,” she said.
“No,” I protested. “Go find Sian and Devon, I’ll be alright here on my own.”
She looked torn. And I wasn’t surprised. In her place, I wouldn’t know whether to go find the love of my life, or stick with my body twin so she wasn’t alone.
“Go,” I repeated. This time she nodded, and turned to waddle down the corridor Sian and Devon had disappeared down.
Damn, I hoped I didn’t look like that when I walked places. One of the perks of pregnancy I guessed.
She disappeared, and I slumped back against one of the pillars, not too sure what to do with myself, especially as I hadn’t thought to grab my phone out of the bag Tate had with her, and I could hardly snoop around on Tate’s. Even if we had been sharing things recently. It felt different, because then, it was almost with permission.
I closed my eyes, just for a moment, and began to drift off into a far deeper sleep than I’d encountered before.
Chapter 9
A strange silence befell me as I left Ayra outside. The single fell heavily around me as I entered the marbled structure. My footsteps echoed through the building as I ventured deeper into the temple. Rows of archways domed up on both sides of the empty hall.
“Sian?” I called, wondering where they had gone. From the outside, I could never even have guessed there would be a hall in here, let alone multiple halls.
“Dev?” A weird shiver ran down my spine and I quickly turned. “Hello?”
My voice filled the void and I was almost certain I was being watched. But by who? If Sian and Devon were playing games, it wasn’t funny. A prickling sensation stung the back of my head and I checked around me again. Devon and Sian were supposed to be in here, but why couldn’t I find them?
“Eesh.” I let out a startled shriek as I noticed a marbled dragon curled in the rounded ceilings. Had that been here before? Why didn’t I see it when I came in?
But then again, this was a dragon temple. We did like our dragon decorations. Although this one was rather… Frightening. I could swear the statue snarled at me, but that was impossible. Statues couldn’t growl.
A little spooked, I backed away from the balustrade, not daring to take my eyes off of the black dragon. The sapphire set eyes seemed to follow me, but that wasn’t possible. It must be my imagination. Regardless, I refrained from calling out again. It didn’t want to disturb the ‘guardian’.
“They have to be somewhere,” I muttered to myself, deciding to search the temple like I’d explore buildings in Realms&Rebels. One room at a time, strategically rotating through them. “Left first.”
Without taking my eyes off of the statue, I shuffled to the nearest archway and left the dragon behind. The tiles under my feet cracked the way ice would, and I darted back until I hit the wall. A flash of pain shot through me and I cried out. The egg twitched in my stomach and I couldn’t understand how Ayra liked this. This was just uncomfortable and weird. But Ayra and Devon loved this little one, so I needed to take care of her.
Carefully, I tested the floor and found it as solid as the floor in the main hall. Of course, it was. This was an ancient temple meant for meditation and reflection. Falling into a basement wouldn’t exactly count as relaxation. The next archway took me to another empty space without Sian and Devon. Where the hell were those two? How many more rooms could fit in this little temple?
A soft breeze brushed past my cheek and drew my attention to the far end of the room.
Ayra?
Did she manage to make it inside? Oh, that was great! We could try and find our partners together. That would definitely be nicer than running through this marbled monstrosity on my own.
“Ayra!”
Hastened, I ran towards my new friend and FUCK. Before I good and well realised what was happening, I crashed straight into the polished wall in front of me. It was a mirror? Why the hell was there a mirror in a sacred temple? So our ancestors could trim their beards or paint their scales?
The egg twitched and another burst of pain shot through me. Oh no, the egg. Concerned, I touched my stomach and winced as I found a sore spot. That wasn’t good.
“Be good, little one. Just a little bruise, nothing to worry about,” I muttered, not sure whether I was trying to comfort her or me. The egg twitched almost as if it understood me and I rubbed my stomach, hoping to calm her down.
Devon and Ayra didn’t seem to know if their egg was a he or she, but I was pretty sure. They were having a little girl, just what Devon always wanted.
Assured that she was okay, I looked back up at the mirror. Blue eyes stared back at me and I hardly recognised them. Even less than a couple of months back.
I smiled at my reflection. With the swapping, it all made more sense. The green flecks I used to find in them were far more familiar than the blue. They were my eyes, the eyes I had in my vampire body. But these blue ones? They weren’t my eyes. They were always meant to be Ayra’s. And so was this body.
Huh. I hadn’t looked at myself in a good while now. I looked weird and it had nothing to do with the egg bump. Although that surely was a strange sight. I never expected to see myself pregnant. Well, I wasn’t the one pregnant, Ayra and Devon did this all by themselves. Horny dragons.
The mirror was still strange. I could’ve sworn this was just another archway and yet, as I felt the cold glass under my hand, there definitely wasn’t a way out here.
I turned and smashed straight into another wall of mirrors. Huh? How was that possible? Was the room getting smaller? How could there be a wall right behind me now?
Unsettled, I stared back into Ayra’s blue eyes. Even though I knew that it was me behind those blues, they felt foreign. Accusing. Judging. As if everything was my fault, but I knew it wasn’t. It couldn’t be…. Could it?
Another breeze tugged on my shirt and I turned to the side. Carefully, I stretched out my arms so I wouldn’t run into another mirror again. I didn’t trust this temple and it seemed to be playing tricks with my head. Maybe it was punishing me for never being a proper dragon. Hah, that was just bloody great. Well, if my stupid ancestors wanted to weigh in on my dragon nature, maybe they could’ve done it when I was still a child. They let me go twenty-five years pretty much shunned from my community, it was a little late to weigh in now.
Screw them, I didn’t need their approval or blessing any longer. After the trip on Devon’s back, I no longer had any hidden desire to become airborne. It was terrifying and unpleasant in every possible way imaginable. No, I was happy with the vampire body Ayra gave me. More than happy.
The egg twitched in my stomach and I grunted. Oh, I’d have no trouble giving this form to her either. I didn’t want to be dragon and I certainly had no jealousy over pushing an egg out.
Why did we come here anyway? The ancestors never helped or answered any of my prayers, they probably wouldn’t start now. Tss.
Angered, I kicked the mirror. I didn’t need anything from them anymore. I was here for Ayra and Devon, and their unborn child. When I permanently swapped bodies with my twin, they could deal with the ridiculous ancestors. For another moment, I studied the reflection in the mirror. The longer I stared, the more it became clear to me
. This wasn’t me and I had no right being in this body. I should get out and change bodies with Ayra again. It was better to be outside of the temple in my own body, than running circles in the wrong one. Everything about this temple was annoying me. And it didn’t help that my mouth had gone all fuzzy from not feeding. They kept insisting I was addicted, but it was just overbearing on their part. I wasn’t withdrawing, I was hungry. But I would tackle that as soon as I was in my own body again. I couldn’t drink in this form, regardless of how much I wanted it.
I just needed to leave an find Ayra again. The ancestors couldn’t help me.
Sacred place? My ass. Forgotten temple, more like it.
I turned and found the mirror behind me to be gone. Thank fuck, or I’d start trashing this place down. I left the strange rooms behind me and found myself back into the first hall. The beady eyes of the stone dragon bore into me and I glared back.
“You suck!” I called out into the temple, hoping I’d offend as many of my ancestors as I could. They deserved it. If they weren’t going to help us, they were useless anyway.
With all my might, I pushed the heavy door back open and was greeted by a gust of air.
“There you are!” Sian called, running to me with open arms. She pulled me into a tight hug and a desperate kiss. “We were looking all over for you!”
I relaxed in her warm embrace and happily wrapped my arms around her waist. Her reassuring scent swept over me as it erased the stress from the temple. “I was looking for you,” I muttered, burying my head into the crook of her neck.
“Dev and I found an old altar with incantations, but it didn’t do anything. So we just came back and then Ayra said you went inside? But we didn’t see you in there?”
“I must’ve been in a different room?”
Sian pushed my chin up, confusion dancing in her eyes. “What do you mean? There was just one room. The one with the altar?”
I pulled away from her. “What do you mean? I didn’t see an altar and there were multiple halls?” I turned to Devon and Ayra sitting cosily together on one of the steps. “Dev?”
He looked up and scratched his head. “There was just the one room. And the big stone altar. How did you miss that?”
“Huh… I don’t know. Anyway, I didn’t find any helpful answers. What about you?”
Sian and Devon exchanged a look, as if they were contemplating who was to tell us the bad news. I chuckled as I met Ayra’s eyes and we concluded the same thing. We knew both of them too well for them to be able to have any secret conversations.
“So no luck?” I answered in their place, intertwining my fingers with Sian and pulling her down the stairs. The stone felt cold under my ass, but I didn’t really care.
“Sorry, Tate. I didn’t find anything of use,” Devon apologised.
“Me neither,” I replied, holding my heavy stomach. Now that I was back outside, I wanted my body back. “Ayra? Want to swap again?”
Her green eyes flickered and she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I want my egg back.”
“Good.” I held out my hand, mentally preparing for the switch. I wasn’t sure how often I’d have to do this again, but at least all four of us seemed to get along quite nicely. That would certainly make the search for a solution easier.
Ayra’s pressed her hand against mine and—
Chapter 10
Nothing.
“Why isn’t it working?” Tate asked, a little panic coming through. I was with her there. Panic was exactly how I was feeling right now.
“I don’t know. Try again.”
We touched again, though I was pretty sure we both knew it wouldn’t do anything. We weren’t idiots.
Devon hovered between the two of us, looking unsure about whether he wanted to be closer to me, or our egg. I must admit, Sian was being much cooler over the whole thing. Which surprised me. Weren’t doctors supposed to be calm under pressure?
“What do we do now?” Tate asked, flinging her hands up in the air.
“I don’t know,” I replied, tears pooling in my own eyes. How had we ended up here? Stuck in the wrong bodies again, but this time knowing they were wrong. Never mind the fact that if we didn’t sort this out, we were going to die. Death by egg. That’d be a fun way for Tate to go. Then my choice was either going to be ripped apart by an angry vampire, or blood starvation. Neither sounded particularly pleasant.
“Helpful,” she snarled. Uh-oh, moody Tate was back.
“No need to be snarky,” I responded. “I’m in this position too.” And had it worse.
No. That was unfair. Just because I was separated from my egg, didn’t mean I had it worst. Tate had her own issues to deal with. It wasn’t fair to compare potatoes to broccoli.
“I’m sorry,” she said, though she was still pouting. There wasn’t really much we could do about that. We were both suffering, it was going to make us both a little bit more difficult to be around. “I’m just really thirsty.”
I stared at her. And could sense Sian and Devon doing the same.
“Thirsty?” I repeated, apparently I was the first to recover from the shock there.
“Yes. As in, should probably drink blood.”
“But you’re in the dragon body?” I half-asked, half-stated. I wasn’t really sure how I was saying that really. I needed her to explain a little bit more about that one.
“You shouldn’t need to drink,” Sian replied.
“Well, I do,” Tate snapped again. It was like the angry beast of a vampire was just below the surface. Which made no sense. She shouldn’t be thirsty. If anything I should be the one feeling thirsty. It was this body that was addicted after all.
Or was it the person? How did that work.
“I need blood,” Tate demanded of Sian.
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” she replied.
“Why the fuck not?” Tate bared her teeth, which would probably be a little more threatening if she had fangs, but in our dragon body, they were definitely missing.
“You’re not in your vampire body, it’s not going to do anything but probably make you throw up,” she pointed out.
Devon and I exchanged worried glances, and I was a little relieved to know he was thinking along the same lines as I was. I didn’t really want Tate drinking any blood while she had my egg inside her. I didn’t know how that would affect our child, and wouldn’t risk their health for anything.
“Then why am I thirsty?”
Sian shrugged. “I don’t know. As far as I know, no vampire has ended up stuck in a non-vampire body before.”
“Helpful.” The look in Tate’s eyes cut me right to the core, and she wasn’t even aiming it at me. Part of me wanted to go comfort my ex, but that would bring Tate’s scorn down on me, and that was a little scary.
“Why can’t we try it?” I asked softly.
“No,” Devon growled.
“Look, I’m not crazy about the idea either. Not with our baby in there. But do you think it’s helping the egg having Tate so upset?”
Indecision crossed his face. His doctor side warring with his daddy side, no doubt.
“Please, Dev,” Sian pleaded.
“Fine, but I don’t think it will work,” he added.
I wouldn’t say it out loud, but I doubted it would work either. I did have one other idea, but that appealed even less to me personally. Even so, I’d do it if I had to. Anything for my baby.
“Pass me the cool bag please?” Sian asked me, and I was grateful we’d even thought to bring it with us. If we hadn’t, then who knew where we’d be right now.
She unzipped it, and withdrew one of the blood bags. From the small peek I got, I knew there wouldn’t be many chances to get this right. I’d counted three bags, and we were about to use one of them. I’d pray to the gods it worked.
Sian ripped open the bag with one of her teeth, and Tate’s eyes followed it hungrily. Even when she wasn’t in the vampire, she was addicted. That was slightly concerning. She and Sia
n were going to have some serious problems when she was back in this body. A feral vampire wasn’t fun for anyone.
Tate just about snatched it from Sian’s hand and pressed it to her lips, sucking it down.
Nausea filled me, and I pressed my hand to my stomach, trying to squash it down. I glanced over at Devon, who took that as an excuse to close the gap between us and pull me into his arms. He even leaned down to kiss me, but I shook my head.
“No.”
“Why not?” He frowned down at me.
“I’m not me,” I replied, looking away.
“Oh Ayra,” he started, turning me around so I wasn’t facing Tate and Sian any more. He tilted my chin back so he could look into my eyes. My green eyes. Not the blue eyes that were really mine. “You’re not defined by your body.”
“Really?” I arched my eyebrow, not believing him. Why were we even here if not for how important our bodies were?
“Yes, really. You’re not defined by the body you inhabit, or the species you are. What you eat, or need to drink. Your soul defines you. Your actions, your mind, your heart. Can you tell me they’re different just because you’re in Tate’s body and not your own?”
“I suppose not,” I murmured, not quite wanting to give into his logic, no matter how romantic it sounded.
“No, not suppose. You’re you, no matter what body you’re in. If the two of you can’t swap back, then that won’t change how I feel about you.”
“If the two of us can’t switch back, we’ll be dead,” I pointed out.
“Of course you won’t. No matter what happens, we’ll figure this out.”
“Yeah,” I begrudgingly admitted, still not quite believing it.
The sound of Tate retching interrupted before either of us could say anything more, and I spun back around to see her bent over with Sian rubbing her back. The contents of Tate’s stomach were on the ground in front of her, tinged a dark red from the blood she’d just drunk.