Inner Demons

Chapter Seven: Enemies and Allies

Several words described the ride on the dragon. Bumpy, cold, but above all else, windy.

Quinn clung to the saddle with a vice-like grip, her hands numb in the cold air. It had been chilly on the ship but nothing compared to the cold she felt flying a mile above the Earth, her hair went all in her face for the third time, she didn't bother fixing it. Jamie was seated in front of her, Vanth in front of him and all their things tied to the back. A few times she had taken a look back and saw nothing but inky blackness behind her, she tightened her grip at the thought of plummeting down and hitting the ocean with the force of a slab of concrete hitting the waves. 

She instead looked up at Evander, she knew next to nothing about the dragon other than his name and the British-ness he gave off. His scales were a very deep purple and glinted like hard diamonds in the light given off by the moon. His eyes were deep, she could hardly tell their colour. His wings were vast, twenty feet of muscle, sinew and leathery webbing on each side. 

A particularly hard gust of wind struck her and she could feel Evander's muscles pushing the wind past below her, she was in awe. In total, the ride took no more than an hour, but by then, she had blisters upon blisters due to the rough leather between her legs and the constant jarring from Evander's wings. 

She felt the dragon's descent and her heart jumped into her throat, he at first began to slow, then his right wing tilted down and the entire saddle shifted, she let out an alarmed squeak as the ground spiraled up from below. 

"We're gonna dieeeee," she wailed when he lurched. 

Meanwhile Jamie's hands were in the air in front of her, he was screaming too, but for a different reason. 

With a sudden final lurch, Evander spread his wings wide and landed on the ground below with a thud. Quinn's heart was in her throat as Evander laid down, waiting for them to dismount, Vanth went first, apparently this wasn't the first time he'd done this. He landed cleanly on the ground below as Jamie wrenched at the straps, cursing vividly. Quinn had a small flashback when Jamie first freaked out at the safe house and was quick to get them undone for him. Once Jamie had stumbled to the ground, Quinn unstrapped herself and turned to toss the few bags down. She braced herself as she slid off, the scales tugging at her jeans as she landed in a crouch. Evander flared his wings, Quinn flinched a bit. 

"If that's all, I need to get home..." With that, he was in the air again, Vanth looked annoyed. 

"Evander get back...here..." he dropped off, sighing. "What am I going to do with that kid..." he broke off and turned around, facing Quinn and Jamie.

"Listen you two, stick close, this place isn't safe," Vanth spoke, now that he mentioned it...

Quinn turned and surveyed their surroundings. They were on the edge of a cliff, overlooking what was either an Island or some sort of peninsula, water visible in the distance from every angle. She turned around, a large mountain behind them, a set of stairs carved into the stone, leading up the slope. 

"Dangerous?" Jamie echoed from beside her. She turned to listen in.

"...I'll be straight with you, the leader of our clan was defeated by an outsider just a few days ago. And the man who defeated them is bad news. I planned on coming here to reason with him but..." Vanth paused to shake his head. 

"I was hoping to have more backup. But Evander took off before I could ask him..." Vanth leaved a sigh. "I guess we have no choice but to go speak to him. I doubt he'd attack us with you two here." he said, looking up at the two young demons. 

"But why?" Jamie asked, strangely serious sounding. 

"He would love to get his hands on new younglings like you two, to corrupt." Vanth said, crossing his arms.