Heina: The Red Demon Dragon

Saved By Her Mates And Best Friends

HEINA

"What is going on here?"

The men bowed immediately, Aslan's dragon and Irana too.

"We need to get rid of this curse, Your Highnesses." The silver haired man began desperately, raising his head to meet their deadly gaze.

As though controlled by some twin telepathy, in a single identical move, their gazes stationed on him, moving closer. "Klaz, you brought the elders of the tribe to kill her? You chose to betray our trust in you?"

"My Highnesses, you can not keep the life of one while it serves to destroy the lives of many. She is a curse, you know this." Klaz, that was his name, spoke but he didn't dare try to be challenging.

His stance portrayed respect and loyalty.

"You will not decide for us who should live and who should die in Black Flame." One of the twins coldly spat. He could as well be breathing fire right now seeing how fiery his eyes had gotten. I couldn't even differentiate between either of them this time.

Their blues were now same shade of fiery red.

"No one is deciding, Your Highness. We just want to protect this tribe as we expected you two to be of support as well." The one who was a leader finally spoke up. He had black cropped hair and hazel eyes.

He was the one Irana had referred to as 'dad'. Their father was an important person in the tribe.

"I am disappointed in you, Elder Ollan Finch." The second twin put in, he too, looking as furious as his brother.

"For what? For doing the right thing? By wanting to protect the people? You don't even know this girl, Your Highness." The man sounded exasperated. "She is stronger than all of us combined. We can not let her ruin this community because of some long aged anger she holds against the tribe for a wrong she caused. She's not supposed to be alive. The girl might be innocent before the heina's reincarnation. But she's already the demon dragon. She is contaminated and needs to be eliminated before it's the other way round."

One of the elders let out a ferocious growl and sent a long haul of fire my way.

A helpless cry left my lips the same time the twins blocked the fire. Aslan's dragon, Tano, vomited a big sizzling ball of fire toward the man who'd thrown fire at me.

It caught him.

"Aslan, what are you doing?!" The father was both angry and surprised.

"The right thing, dad." Irana came for me, pulling me up quickly and helping me to Aslan's back as the twins readied themselves for the fight the rest of the elders instigated. Only Klaz didn't have the guts to fight them.

The last thing I saw before flapping away on Tano's huge back with Irana behind was one of the twins dodging fire. Using his speed to his advantage, he reached one of the elders and grabbed his throat, forcing the man to swallow the fire he was about to expel.

Weak and in pains, I let myself go lax on Tano's back, wrapping hands around his huge, scaly belly — it didn't even go halfway round.

Irana placed a hand on my back, rubbing gently.

"You guys came." My voice was weak, unsteady and heavy with emotions.

"Shh. Let's go get you cleaned up. You're a mess." She observed.

She was right. I was a mess. But I couldn't stop thinking about what their dad had said about being reincarnated.

What did that even mean? Was it possible for someone who had died to reincarnate? Not the body but the soul possessing another body? Were they trying to say this soul wasn't mine? That it belonged to some vengeful demon who was also a dragon? Or was it a dragon who was a demon?

The rest of the ride was silent except for the flap of Tano's big wings as it rode against the wind and the shrill calls of other air beasts.

Gently but steadily, he reduced his flying pace, getting ready to land on a building that was already in sight.

Swooping down, he finally landed on the roof of what was a big building. Irana helped me get down. "I'll be right back, Astano." Irana promised, leading me towards a flight of stairs that led down into the house.

Tano voiced out something that sounded like a disproving grunt, Irana merely chuckled.

"Astano?" I asked, carefully taking the steps one at a time.

"Sometimes, I don't know who I'm talking to. If it's Aslan or Tano. So I shipped them together, easy for me." She was taking my bag from me, wearing it over her one shoulder. "And Tano hates it. Maybe Aslan does too, I don't know."

Despite the state of my well being, I had to smile. Irana had a bubbly nature. And she came back for me. She... woah!

She giggled when she saw my eyes widen. "Yeah, don't say something cliché like, oh your house is big. It's like a palace. Because it's not. Have you seen the Clawthornes'? Now, that's majestic. You live there, you know better."

"But this is big too. I know...wait, the twins' surname is Clawthorne?"

She nodded. "Yes. The one with the topaz blue eyes is Ryno. Ryso is the sapphire. Such beautiful eyes, they have. I envy them. Mother dragon really blessed them with gorgeous looks, it's so unfortunate they have unapproachable personalities."

"You have a crush on them?" My small smile still in place, she led me through hallways, past maids, till she stopped in front of a room, opened and led me inside.

"Just a tiny one. Nothing too intense. Enough to make me wish I was their mate and if I wasn't, that's okay. Mine will come... eventually." There was something in her tone when she said that last word.

But my brain was kind of stuck on the 'mate' part. "Mate? You mean girlfriend?"

"More than that. Soulmate."

"Two guys and a girl?" I was sitting on a soft, plushy sofa.

She gently propped my injured knee on a table. "Hold that thought. I'll be right back. Astano needs clothes."

I nodded. "Okay."

That gave me the opportunity to study the room. It was a big room, female-occupied — judging by the soft colors used.

It was Irana's. Pictures of herself stood on every corner. Plastered on walls. There were some of her brother and their parents. Their mother was really beautiful. They looked like her — same brown hair, only Irana had a lighter shade.

Aslan had his mother's winter gray eyes while Irana's hazel was from her dad.

The door opened, she and Aslan — now fully clothed — walked in. He immediately came to sit beside me, cradling my face, concern and anger masking his features.

"Did my dad do this to you?"

I shook my head. "No. It was... someone I never thought I'd see again. Someone I thought I was free from."

"What do you mean 'free from'?" Irana sat on an edge of the table my leg was on.

Someone knocked, she invited them in. It was a maid. She was holding a bowl of hot water, a towel and a first aid kit.

Irana took it from her and proceeded to clean my face which had dried blood on it.

I swallowed, tilting my head to give her better access. It was going to be hard to talk about but they were my friends...and they had come to save me. "This is hard for me to say but I'm going to tell you guys that long story of my life."