Trapped between a Demon and a Dragon

Chapter 7

The sound of footsteps echo around her as Harper walks down the corridor. The glow of the emergency exit lights reflect off the lockers, painting the halls of the school an eerie red. The faces of the clocks plastered on the walls are hazy and unreadable but the darkness of the bit of the sky Harper can see through one of the classroom windows tells her that it has to be midnight or later. But why was she in the school at this hour?

"Harper..."

As she approaches the end of the hallway, she hears a voice calling her name, but as she turns the corner, she sees that the hallway is empty. Harper takes a few steps down the aisle and feels her heart stop.

Painted on the wall in front of her in what she prays is red paint is a message: " You have chosen to lay with monsters. Now is the day you will die like one."

" ... Harper..."

A sharp pain shoots through her chest as her front begins to feel wet. A loud cough tears its way out of her throat and with it comes a splattering of red on the laminate flooring.

Glancing down reveals a large knife blade protruding from slightly left of her sternum. A strong tug pulls the weapon from her chest and sends Harper to her knees.

"Harper!"

A figure moves from behind to stand in front of the fallen woman, but, as blood continues to pour onto the files below her, Harper doesn't have the strength to lift her head up to see her attacker. The only thing in her line of sight is the knife as it races towards her neck.

"Harper? Harper !··"

She lets out a loud gasp as she is yanked out of the nightmare by the sound of Aeron's voice and his gentle shaking of her shoulders. As she pries her eyes open, she moans as the sunlight assaults her vision, sending waves of agony through her head.

"Shh, close your eyes once again and provide me a moment to banish the sunlight." A part of her relaxes at the sound of Aeron's voice echoing through her ear. Her eyes slip shut again until he returns to the bed with a soft declaration of "it should be safe now to once again open your eyes."

Harper slowly opens her eyes and feels her whole body relax as she takes in the sight of Aeron kneeling by her side. "Hey, you're back. How are things in Hell?"

"Things are adequate there," he replies softly. He reaches up and strokes the bruise on her cheek, a disturbed look crossing his face. "It seems your suspicions about a lurker were correct. I regret that my knowledge of this event came too late for me to prevent the assault."

"It's okay. I'm fine. A little banged up but I'll live." Harper raised a hand to trace the inch long cut near her hairline. "Honestly I thought I was hurt worse than I am. Thought this cut was at least two inches or so at first but now it doesn't seem that bad."

Aeron peers at the wound for a moment before he leans over and licks the length of the cut.

"Oh gross! Why did you do that? I don't even let Sherlock--"

"The wound on your forehead has been infused with magic," Aeron interrupts with a look of puzzlement. He licks his lips as a brow furrows in confusion. "A curative spell of some type. I cannot identify the strain or origin of the magic, but it is ancient and powerful."

Harper feels her throat close as the urge to panic starts to rise up. "Magic? But I don't know anyone who can do any magic besides you. Plus Misha is the one who saved me, and there is no way he has magic. Unless he actually does and that is another lie he told me. He has a habit of lying to me. But I think I would have noticed him casting spells. Then again apparently his whole family hates me and I never noticed that so maybe I wouldn't have noticed him being all 'magical' anyways. And oh god," she moaned, hiding her face in her pillow. "I just ranted all about my ex to you. I suck. No one wants to hear about the ex."