Title: In Your Arms
Summary: After Thorn actually kills a mythical creature, she stops fighting for good. Yay, right? Wrong.
Genre: Angst/Action/Adventure/Romance
Rating: T
Disclaimer: If you recognize something, I don't own it! Okay?
AN: By the way, I rate all my fics T, just because I don't know what will happen. I'm a "write-as-you-go" person.
Chapter 1: Innocence
It was midnight on the warmest day of the year, August 29, and there was a full moon out. Thorn stood out in the open, bathing in the full moon. She was smiling under her mesh mask. She wore a leather shirt that ended just below her breasts, and she had a white zig-zag design on her right arm. Coming from the bottom of her shirt to the top of her cotton pants were four criss-crossing strings, two from the front and two from the back. In the front, whenever the strings crossed, there was a small keyhole circle. Just to the right of her belly button was a tattoo of a rose. This revealed the true identity of Thorn, but only two people knew that: herself and her Huntsmaster. Her pants were black, matching her shirt, and on each leg was a red Chinese dragon, which looked much like the dragon her Huntsmaster had killed almost one year ago, the American Dragon's dragon master. She wore black shoes, high-heeled for maximum efficiency when fighting. They were easy to walk in because the heels were very thick and not too high.
A few months ago, she had cut her hair to shoulder-length. She no longer braided it, she just held it out of her face by putting it in a ponytail. Her eyes were still bright blue, and her hair was still naturally blonde. On her wrist was a birthmark: a red dragon, similar to the ones on her pants, that twisted and turned around her wrist. The head of the dragon rested on the palm of her hand, like all other members of the Huntsclan.
She was by far the best fighter in the Huntsclan. Even better than her Huntsmaster. Better than her parents, her cousins, and other relatives. Not all of her relatives were members of the Huntsclan. Some members married outside of the Huntsclan, therefore their spouses did not bear the Huntsclan symbol. Their children, though, did bear the symbol. However, both of her parents had been members of the Huntsclan. They had been fourth cousins, both bearing the Huntsclan symbol. Perhaps this is why Thorn was a good fighter. Who knows?
For five years now, she has been fighting the American Dragon, and losing. True, she was a great fighter, but the American Dragon was a better fighter. Even without a dragon master, he was still doing very well. Another dragon started fighting by his side, and Thorn had finally stopped fighting them after losing many times. She couldn't risk getting hurt again.
She had never actually killed anything before. She had just captured the creatures for her Huntsmaster to kill. Today, though, things would certainly change.
Thorn stood just a few hundred feet from a female centuar. The centuar had a red body and red hair, with red eyes as well. Her human torso was the same color as Thorn's, and the centuar wore a red shirt that had two strips going from the shoulder to the waist on the opposite side. She wore a halo of daisies in her hair, a very beautiful centuar. Carefully and quietly, Thorn took out her net. It was no ordinary net; it was a net that held magical and mythical creatures against their will. Under the net, the creature was defenseless. The centuar's tail flipped, then remained motionless again.
In a mere three seconds, Thorn had successfully captured the centuar, who couldn't escape. Thorn was out on her own tonight. She hadn't even told her Huntsmaster that she was out hunting. She was going to do this alone, without any help.
The centuar looked at Thorn with question in her red eyes. Thorn looked away, the guilt setting in. Regaining her composure, she turned around with a dagger in her hand. It was an ordinary dagger that you could buy from a store, with a black handle and a double-edged blade. She lifted the dagger up high over the centuar's body, and let gravity do its job.
Thorn opened her eyes and looked down at the centuar. The dagger was embedded in her chest: immediate death, no doubt. She pulled the dagger out and blood spilled from the open wound. Yes, it had penetrated the heart. Thorn's eyes drifted from the chest up the torso to the face. Thorn bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying out. The centuar's eyes were still open.
"Oh my god," Thorn whispered. "What have I done?" She fell to the ground and buried her face in her hands. Soon, she felt another presence beside her and looked up to see a familiar face. She mumbled something that couldn't be heard into her hands, which were now covering her face again.
"Thorn, what happened?" a deep voice asked. She just shook her head. She really didn't feel like talking to anybody. When a hand was placed on her shoulder, she shoved it off angrily and looked up, her face stained with tears.
"Leave me alone, Dragon!" she snapped before disappearing. The red dragon jumped back in surprise.
AN: Okay, how did you like my first chapter? This is by far my favorite story, so I should be updating this pretty soon. I take constructive criticism and suggestions as well, just don't go to far out on the suggestions.
-Ayla-