Dragon Girls: A New World

Chapter 6: A Demon in the Alley (Paintsplash)

That day started out rather pleasantly. I was treated to an early morning trip to Starbucks by Toothless (geez, it had been so long since I had had coffee), and then we stopped at Starry's Eatery.

The restaurant was a quaint little place, run by one of Toothless's sisters. We got breakfast there. We both shared a huge stack of pancakes.

Afterwards, we had gone for a little walk around town.

"So," Toothless said as he slipped his hand into mine. "What's it like in your dragon world?"

"Amazing!," I replied. "You can fly, and breathe fire, and your senses are much more honed than a human's, and, and, and, and..."

Toothless laughed. "Sounds fun."

"You have no idea."

He smiled at me, and I leaned against him. "You're so cute when you're excited, Paint," Toothless said.

I blushed. That was a compliment, but then, something about it was familiar. I felt like someone had told me about it before.

Then I remembered.

Mom.

Suddenly, all these sad memories flooded over me, and I fought the tears back valiantly.

And won...for once.

Toothless seemed to notice my mood swing, as he gave me a sideways glance, but didn't say anything; he knew better than to upset me.

Instead, he opened his mouth to start a new conversation when someone pulled him backward. We whipped around.

"Hey!," Toothless yelped, whipping around. I giggled as Toothless glared, embarrassed, at his younger brother. "Diamondspirit! Cut it out! How many times have I told you NOT to do that?!"

"I lost track at fifty," he said. He shrugged.

Echogreen turned to me. "How was your sleep?"

I smiled. "It was a great sleep. I haven't slept that hard in ages." I bit my lip and grinned at Toothless, who furiously tried not to blush; it was hopeless. She narrowed my eyes at me.

"Paint....."

"Oh, it's fine," I said. "He just treated me to a milkshake before bed. And gave me a hug. And..." I turned a little red. "Yeah."

Diamondspirit smirked coyly at his brother. "He just gave her a goodnight kiss to help her sleep."

Toothless launched at his brother. "DIAMONDSPIRIT YOU LITTLE BRAT GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE!!!!!!" They disappeared down the street, yelling insults at each other.

"Boys." Echo rolled her eyes. "When will they ever learn?"

"Never." I watched them tear after each other. "Say, we haven't talked in a while," I mused. "Wanna meander aimlessly and get hopelessly lost while we chitchat?" I laughed.

Echogreen thought about it. "Get hopelessly lost? Hm. I vote yes. We might actually see some of the sights that way!" She shifted her eyes like she was plotting something and grinned evilly. "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She ended up coughing. "Not .… enough air," she wheezed.

I giggled. We walked around a corner into an alley, and suddenly I knew something wasn't right. A twig snapped, and the two of us slowly turned around. A terrifyingly familiar figure stood in front of us, a bloodstained switchblade protruding from her long, shredded sleeves. Her jacket had brownish stains (again, probably blood) all over it, and the hood covered half her face. Two black eyes stared at us with maniacal bloodlust. A wide, crazy, terrifying grin showed pointed teeth.
SweetbabyThorinathunderstorm, I thought. My mind knew who this was, but, it couldn't tell me the name.
We whipped around, and suddenly she was there, too. I began to shake.
The crazy woman stepped forward, and held out her weapon, pressing the button on the hilt and extending the blade.
"A switchblade," I whispered through dry lips.
The homicidal lady cackled.
"Yeeeeeeessssss, a sssssssswitchblade."
"C-Cinderpaw?," Echogreen gasped.
Cinderpaw laughed. "Yes."
"No," I stammered. "N-no, it can't be..."
The next thing I knew, Cinderpaw had rammed her knife into my gut. I screamed in pain, and Cinderpaw ripped her blade forcefully out of my side. She then disappeared. I fell to the ground, bawling as the blood gushed out of my side. Everything in my vision turned red, then purple, then it began to fade into blackness.
                                                                                                                     ~*~
I was somewhat aware of Toothless cradling me in his arms as he ran to the ambulance. When we got in it, the medical personnel put me on a stretcher hurriedly. I vaguely remember Toothless rubbing my head and screeching sirens above me. I can still see his big green eyes brimming with tears.
"You're gonna be okay, Paintsplash.
"Everything will be okay."