Breath of Fire

Chapter Five

"Oh, um, hi! You can call me Sammy," I replied as I stared at the girl in shock. She had a short pixie haircut that highlighted her sharp features. I also noted that her nose was pierced as well as one of her eyebrows. I had served plenty of guys and girls at the bar who had any number of their body parts pierced but never really thought it was a good look for anyone to have. Nevertheless, on this fiery red headed female, it worked. I reached out and returned the handshake as I looked at the black leather jacket and matching boots that completed her outfit.
    "So you're the human girl everyone has been talking about! You don't seem that scary," Blair commented as she started to dig into one of the meat dishes I had seen earlier. I laughed.
    "You've got to be kidding me. The dragons here are scared of me! Me?" I guess not all dragons are brave if the majority of the school's population was terrified of one human girl.
    "More like, of humans in general, not specifically you. We were raised to be very cautious of the human world since all the old dragons are paranoid of our existence being discovered. Personally, I think the old farts just need to take chill pills and unknot their knickers." I laughed loudly. I liked her.
    "Blair!" Blaise exclaimed with a frown.
    "Don't give me that look, brother! I know for a fact that you feel the same as I do." I turned to stare at Blair.
    "Wait, you two are related?" My eyes flickered back and forth between the two red heads. Hair color was the only thing at first glance that the two shared, but the closer I looked, the more I noticed other similarities. They also shared the same pointed jaw and nose.
    "I know, it's hard to believe. If it wasn't already obvious, I'm the fun sibling! Blaise, over there, is the stuck up, boring one." I laughed for a third time as I nodded.
    "Yeah, I noticed as much. Does he ever smile? Matter of fact, does he even know how to smile?"
    "Oohh, I like her! Can I keep her?" Blair turned to look at the four guys sitting at the table, her body practically vibrating as she bounced up and down in her chair excitedly. Then she turned back to face me. "We've been asking that question for years. I think I saw him crack a smile once when we were kids - but it was so long ago now, I don't know if it is a real memory or one I constructed for myself," she added with a wink. I coughed as I fought the urge to laugh yet again. As much as I liked Blair already, I could tell that hanging out with her was dangerous. In less than ten minutes she had made me laugh more than I had thought I was capable of. Had I not just given myself a lecture about making sure I kept my guard up? I needed to remain alert at all times!
    "I resent that," Blaise said, still scowling. "I know how to have fun, but one of us has to be responsible! We can't both go flying around shirking our duties," he added, shaking his head reproachfully at his sister; though I thought I saw a flicker of regret in his eyes.
    I stopped paying attention to what the siblings said as they started bickering back and forth; my focus having suddenly been diverted down to my thigh as something soft and incredibly warm covered the length of it.
    "What the bloody blazes do you think you are doing?" I growled at Elios; whose hand had snaked down under the tabletop to land on my leg.
    "What I want," he answered with a shifty grin as he extended one of his fingers and began to trace a circular pattern with it. I hissed as I glared at him, attempting to ignore how pleasant the sensation was and hoping that no one noticed the low moan that escaped my lips as his hand started to inch higher. My cheeks burned when I saw Terrance and Caspian's ears twitch as they turned to stare at the spot where Elios's hand disappeared from sight. I even saw Blaise glance at me quickly before returning to his argument with Blair. How completely mortifying! I continued to glare at Elios as he grinned down at me. I shifted uncomfortably as liquid heat spread throughout my body at his touch. From the sly smirks the brothers were sending each other, they knew exactly what was happening and could sense my reaction. As I squirmed in my seat, a small part of me noticed that I had yet to attempt to remove Elios's hand...This was so unfair! Why did these men have to be so freakishly attractive? It was incredibly unsettling to say the least.
    "Keep your hands to yourself, buddy!" I finally managed to declare as my mind cleared and I was able to resist the urge to find the nearest empty room. I shook his arm off roughly as I scooted as far from him as possible; causing me to bump into Blair. She stopped talking as she looked down at me and then towards Elios.
    "Aww, poor Sammy. Was Elios being a bad dragon? You'll have to watch out for him; well all of them really...They don't seem able to comprehend the idea that not every female wants to sleep with them," Blair said with a laugh as she draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer. I heard several growls from the guys as she did so but Blair just chuckled and tugged me further into her side. "You four keep your sticky claws off of my new bestie!"
    Before I could open my mouth to say anything, a loud gong echoed throughout the room.
    "That would be the warning bell. Evening classes will be starting in ten minutes," Blair explained, seeing the confusion on my face. I stood up and followed the four guys over to the trash cans where we dumped out our trash and then set our plates on the revolving apparatus that would carry the dirty dishes into the back of the kitchen to be cleaned. I waved back at Blair as she dashed past us.
    "So, what now?" I asked as I faced the dragons before me.
    "Now? Now we get your cute butt into bed," Terrance replied with a grin. I blushed at the look on his face as I rolled my eyes at him. Were all dragons this incorrigible?
    Back out onto the grassy fields we went and I stared up at the sky as I watched several dragons flying around above my head. The next thing I knew, I was colliding into a solid body. I smiled apologetically up at Caspian as he chuckled and reached out to steady me on my feet.
    "I think one tumble is enough for today, don't you?" I huffed in irritation, but nodded in agreement as we trailed after the three in front of us. "I can see we are going to have to keep a close eye on you, sugar. You strike me as the clumsy type," Caspian commented as we caught up to the others.
    "Hey! I'm not that clumsy!" I exclaimed...right as I tripped over a stray rock on the ground and would have gone flying forward if it hadn't been for the arm that quickly wrapped around me.
    "I beg to differ," Blaise said with a scowl as he removed his grip from me and brushed off my attempt to thank him. I kept my eyes on the ground the rest of the way; determined to prove him wrong.
    "Wow...this is...wow," was all I could say when the door opened to the suite that would be my place for the night. The interior housed a large open lounge area filled with expensive looking furniture. There were four doors on each side that must lead to the bedrooms.
    "You will be staying here for the time being. There are only three girls living here at the moment so Professor Pyrion gave orders for the fourth room to be made up for you," Terrance said as he walked over towards the door on the right and pulled it open for me. I felt my jaw drop. That was one mighty fine looking bed! It was the nicest bed I had ever seen, let alone would have the pleasure of sleeping on. Don't get comfortable, Ari. This is only temporary, I reminded myself as I walked into the room and sat down with my legs crossed in the center of the bed. I looked around the room and spotted another door that must lead to a private bathroom. I spent the next few minutes taking in the scenery before a sudden cough reminded me that I wasn't alone.
    "We'll leave you to get some rest, if you need anything, our quarters are located right across the field. Just walk in a straight line over the hill; you can't miss it," Blaise said; his tone of voice making it clear that he was hoping I wouldn't be taking him up on his offer. Oh, please, I know better than to expect any help from you, Blaise.
    I waved the guys out of my room and walked over to the dresser to discover that a set of pajamas had been brought out for me. I stripped off my dirt covered clothes and draped the clean ones over my body to find that they fit perfectly. I was too tired to question this as I clambered back onto the bed and slipped under the covers with a heavy sigh of relief.

***

    I woke up to the loud crash of my door being kicked in. Before I could realize what was going on, a pair of hands were yanking me by my hair out of the bed and into the living room.
    "What the fuck!" I cried out as I blinked up at the three girls that loomed over me; their pretty faces marred by the angry looks they were giving me.
    "We don't want some pathetic human girl hanging around here. Get out!" I slowly got to my feet; not needing to be told twice. I had barely gotten more than a few feet towards the door before I found myself being knocked back down.
    "If you know what is best for you, human, you will return from where you came. Your kind doesn't belong in the dragon realm."
    I hissed in pain as the three brunettes started kicking and punching every inch of me they could reach. I curled up in a ball, protecting my face and vital organs as best as possible. When the three had finally had enough, they yanked me back up, opened a window, and sent me sailing out into the night air. I groaned as I landed with a crash; my head slamming hard into the ground, causing my ears to ring. I sat up with a grunt and waited until the ringing had died down to a dull buzzing before standing back up and looking back at the building and noting that I had just fallen four stories. I cursed, not knowing what I was supposed to do now. It wasn't like I knew where anything around here was, let alone how to make a portal to get back home...
    That isn't entirely true, I realized as I remembered what Blaise had said before he, Terrance, Elios, and Caspian had left earlier. But did I really want to embarrass myself further by showing up in the middle of the night on their doorstep like a lost puppy? I resisted the urge to scream in frustration as the logical side of my brain battled with the emotional side. In the end, logic won out. It wasn't like I had any other options.
    I mumbled a string of curses as I started to make my way over the field, doing my best to brush off some of the dirt that now covered my clothes. This was beyond ridiculous...I couldn't even go twenty four hours without being covered in some sort of gross substance! First it was dirt, then purple goo, and now dirt again.
    The cold night air had formed droplets of dew everywhere which made the grass wet and softened the ground enough that my latest tumble had sent me into a pile of mud. I stomped my way forward, regretting more than anything else that I didn't have my shoes. I couldn't care less that those bitches didn't want me staying with them, but at the very least, they could have let me grab my shoes before tossing me out on my ass! My feet were frozen and covered with mud up to my ankles by the time I reached the top of the hill and started down the other side.
    Just like Blaise had said, I was able to spot my destination with ease. I had been expecting to find another large building similar to the one I had just been sent flying out of, but instead, I found myself staring at what looked like a cottage from a story book. It had even been built right at the edge of a forest and had a quaint little chimney that was blowing clouds of smoke into the night sky. I rolled my eyes. Just add it to the growing list of things that seemed straight out of a damn fairytale around here.
    I trudged my way forward; avoiding the larger puddles of mud, but unable to avoid them entirely. Great, just great.
    I finally made it down the hill; which was good, but raised a new concern. The path that led to the cottage was, of course, lined with pebbles. I groaned as I gingerly shifted my weight and tried to proceed as light-footed as I could. The small stones cut deep into the soles of my feet and I winced with each step. I glanced up and groaned again. I'm sure under the light of day; when I wasn't bruised and shoeless, the path would have been easy enough; but under my present circumstances, the house appeared unreasonably far off.
    What couldn't have been more than a few hundred yards of path took me more than an hour to cross. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a smidge, but it sure felt like it took that long as I was making agonizingly slow progress. If I didn't know about dragon healing I would be worried that I might never walk the same after this. Even in the dark, I could see that the mud covering my toes was now mixed with blood and remnants of stone.
    Eventually I reached the door to the house and I moaned in relief as I knocked loudly on the door. I heard several grunts and the sound of shifting movement from within as lights turned on inside. A few minutes later, the door was finally opened.
    "Hey," I grinned sheepishly at the four pairs of eyes that gazed at me. "Don't suppose I could crash here tonight?"