Ethereal Flames

Escape

"Alright," Xen answered reluctantly. "You can stay."

"Yes!" I whisper-shouted, doing a little dance.

"If," Xen interrupted, "You protect us from the other demons."

I nodded once, I would /always/ protect them. I turned around and found Lilly hiding in between Xen's legs. I reached for her as she ran for me, and I scooped her up into my arms. She used this opportunity to climb onto my back and grab my backwards horns for balance. I smiled.

Xen was looking strangely at us. /What is that look?/ I asked myself, genuinely curious as to what the look was. I tilted my head in curiosity as Xen started to talk.

"Where is your mouth?" Xen asked, startling me.

"I might show you later." I replied. My mouth was located in an... /awkward/ place. No, not there. It was where a human's bellybutton would be.

I felt a light tug at my horns and looked up to see where Lilly was pointing. Several drakons were approaching, but one caught my eye. A blood-red drakon was with them, and I knew who he was.

"Look, Pini! Demons!" She squeaked in a scared voice. I gasped and grabbed Xen, ducking into the nearest nook for protection while tossing Lilly off my back and into my arms.

It was Algra-Tan.

"Search the area! Find the worthless deformed beta!" He shouted loud enough for us to hear.

"He's looking for me." I whimpered. /He shouldn't be here. None of them should be here./ I thought desperately. I tried to squeeze myself closer to Xen so that I could protect him. /No no no no.../ I repeated in my head, desperately hoping that none of them would find us.

"Oi, you!" Algra-Tan shouted once more, calling for his comrades. "Find the red one called 'Rose' too! She'll make good money with Tutes!"

My desperation and fear hardened to hard, cold, anger. Seething, blistering anger. /Tutes is hunting for my friends./ Relief came when I realized that they weren't hunting for Lilly; my ruse worked. She might still survive. I cuddled closer to Xen, holding Lilly between us. /If they found us, I would protect them. If they tried to surprise us, Lilly might still live. Lilly is all that matters./ I paused before thinking again. /Xen matters too./

It was probably around three hours before anything spoke; anything moved. We stayed inside our little safe nook, it was better than getting caught. The wind blew the freezing cold night air directly into the little nook we were hiding in, making us shiver with cold and slight fear. I shivered especially strongly as my wings caught the brunt of the cold air. I tried to wrap myself closer around myself to preserve heat. Lilly let out a gentle snore. She had been asleep for around an hour now and was still in my arms.

Xen must have noticed my cold; he sighed silently and gestured for me to come closer.

We scooted close enough that I was sitting almost in his lap, but yet not really. /How is he so warm?/ I asked myself as his comfortable warmth enveloped around me as soon as we touched. /It must be because he is a fire-type ghost./ I answered myself, nodding in my head.

It was almost an hour longer before we heard any noise.

Xen had fallen asleep with me in his arms and Lilly in mine. I was starting to nod off, the warmth making me comfortable and the two I was cuddled up with making me content.

A loud crash directly outside out nook shook me out of that immediately.

They had found us.