Draconess

Chapter 34

Everything about who I am had changed. My monstrous hunter form, was totally bad ass. As a mortal, I was susceptible to vulnerable thoughts. As a Draconess, I had no vulnerable thoughts.

I stalk my way up the hill on all fours, my claws silently piercing the soil as my body remains low, eventually my head pops over the crest of the hill to see the little crack below.

From the red line growing from the split earth, came demons. Fully grown. Only three at a time. They'd sneak out as groups of centaurs, sometimes wicked fae, sometimes goblin monsters. They would shriek when they found the bones of their dead nearby, then I would swoop in and attack while they were distracted.

I watch now as one stray fae pokes their head up from the crack under an overcast sky which blocked out most of the sun. The creature is wisping up quickly into the air the first chance it gets with its long insect like wings; half the size of a mortal, they call to their friends. Two more pull up, covered in red tattoos.

They wear the skin of others, whether it was leather or reptilian scales or beaten dried skin off one another, they always had teeth as sharp as pin pricks and wide beautiful contrasting eyes. These three fae hold up their hands and cry out in disgust at the corpses around them.

We were in the middle of nowhere and no one could watch this show.

So, I had my fun while isolated; I had no worry of eyes.

I launch up into the air and swoop downward, inches from the grass, I head for the fairies.

Two of them see me coming and disappear in a mirage while I snap up the first unwitting fae between my jaws, crushing them easily in my mouth. My saliva acts like acid and they just melt across my tongue.

I spin around, growling and excited to kill more bad demons.

I find the remaining two fae holding up bones of their fallen, sharp centaur legs with the hoofs still attached by tendons. The ends are sharply broken across their knees and the fae throw the weapons at me.

I burn one to dust, but a sharp pain emanates from my chest area as the other makes contact. I ignore it and launch forward, breathing out a fire blast that completely cooks them both until the fae creatures explode in a mist of blood and magic. I snort out my disgust and take off.

After four weeks of living alone in the forest, this was my first real injury from a demon. I fly across a dense forest to a tall cliff. I land at the base and shift into my mortal form. I make my way into my cozy cave, where I have a basic set up.

A little bed, a fire place, a bone fruit basket, bowls from a few demon skulls, stone tools for cutting up meat and fruit, a cooking flat rock in the fire for my meals, rabbit bones for sewing and drawing up my plans on the walls and to remember spells through art. My white dress was ruined and I had replaced my clothes with a fur bra and ripped the dress to make a small skirt.

I sit naked by a skull of water and a cloth, and I look at my chest wound that stretches to my collar bone. It's not deep so I clean it roughly, I lie down on the floor and I decide to sleep. Until it healed.

I dream of nothing and I sleep lightly.

Many hours later I wake up to the smell of smoke in the middle of the night.

Not my smoke.

It's someone else and it's more than a small one. It's more akin to a party of soldiers cooking meat with a bon fire.

I sit up quickly, glad to find I'm still alone. However, the pain in my chest is quite phenomenal for a wound that should have healed by now with my natural pull on demonic power. When I glance down, the wound is bleeding lightly, barely healed.