Author's note: Some angst ahead here.

Chapter IV: The Curse

"N. Gin! What are you doing out here? What's the matter?" Nefarious sounded genuinely concerned, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of his fangs that glistened in the light of the moon. There was no more blood; he must have cleaned up after his kill.

I didn't know what to say. I was panting very hard, and my mind was racing.

There was another one of those dusty "poofs", and the human Nefarious came running to my side.

"Are you all right, N. Gin?" I walked past him. He put his hand on my shoulder but I pushed him away and ran to the edge of the cave.

There must be a way to climb down. I thought frantically.

"Get away from there, Gin! You'll fall!" he yelled. I didn't see the patch of ice near the cliff. I couldn't stop in time.

"N. GIIIIIIN!!" I heard Nefarious bellow as I fell from the icy mountain top. I close my eyes, waiting to die.

Tick ... tock ... tick ... tock.

Loud, echoing clock sounds filled my ears, and made me open my eyes. I was still falling, but very, very slowly. I looked around me. Darkness. And specks of light that glittered like stars in a black sky. They were snowflakes which appeared to have come to a standstill. I reached out and touched one with my finger. It drifted away sluggishly.

I looked down. There was the ground. It was still so far away.

I looked up. I saw a big blue dragon diving toward me, his wings pinned against his body. Unlike myself, he was moving very fast. He opened his mouth wide. Then his jaws appeared to get larger and larger, and suddenly I was ascending up into the air.

I ... I'm alive. He saved me. I felt quite relieved.

His jaws held onto me firmly. I could feel the slight pressure of his teeth on my belly. His tongue was warm and wet on my back. Suddenly I was reminded of the mountain goat, and felt ill again.

I expected the dragon to drop me as soon as he landed on the cliff edge, but he kept moving forward -- back inside the cave.

I struggled and asked to be released.

Not so fast, my diminutive daredevil, he reprimanded me telepathically, You're going back inside, where you won't be able to pull another stunt like that again.

Nefarious took me to a room I hadn't yet seen: his own bedroom. He set me down in his nest and once again took the form of a human.

"Now we shall have a much needed discussion, like two mature adults. No more behaving like a fledgling." He sat down in front of me, looking quite exasperated and somewhat tired.

"And speaking of which, why did you even go near the edge of the cliff? What has gotten into you, Gin?"

I was silent for a few moments. When I finally spoke up, it was in a low and shaky voice.

"Call me a fledgling, will you? As if I'm a child. Some ... dragon child. I saw what you did to that mountain goat, so why the hell would you even give a damn what happened to something considerably smaller, as I?"

Nefarious made a small noise of surprise.

"Y-you ... that's why ... you ... I woke you up, didn't I? N. Gin," his voice became more solid, more desperate to convince me of the truth. "N. Gin, you know what I really am. And I'm not so different from you. I must eat, you know. It's not like I'm some cold-blooded killer."

"Then what happened to Ginger, will you explain that to me?!" I ejaculated, removing the papers from my pocket and throwing them into the air. The blue man's eyes grew quite wide, but he stood still where he was standing.

Nefarious drew in a deep, long breath.

"I understand why you're upset. And I was a fool to think you'd never have discovered this. But it was only a ... matter of time. You deserve to know the full truth. All I ask is that you stay calm and let me explain everything."

So I listened to the whole story. Nefarious told me all about how the last human to have ever lived in this world was a changeling. Because he was raised by faeries, his true identity was kept secret for quite some time. His name had been Ginger due to his flaming orange hair (just like mine).

Ginger's tutor was a wise fire dragon named Aotoa. He taught Ginger the ways of fire magic and made the boy his apprentice. Aotoa was also the author of Humanology, with the help of Ginger.

But there was one dragon who wished not only to exterminate any human outsiders, but also to devour any that he could find. He had believed in the myth that eating a human could prolong a dragon's life -- and that one could even achieve immortality by eating enough of them.

"That dragon," he explained grimly, "was my great-grandfather, Nefarious. I am ashamed to admit that I am his descendant, and that the book is in my hands through such terrible circumstances. However, given the fact that I bear his name and that you are here, this could mean the end of my family's curse."

"Curse?" I asked.

Nefarious nodded. "My great-grandfather was a fool. He thought he could live forever, but after shedding the blood of the innocent, a curse was placed upon him and his descendants. That is, his remaining family was exiled to these mountains, far from the other dragons and the rest of civilization. If we attempt to venture outside of these snowy lands, we will die within hours.

"N. Gin, I am the last of my family line. When I die, not only will the curse come to an end, but so will my legacy. But I was awfully happy for your arrival, for, you see, there has not been a human here in ages."

"I don't understand."

"The curse will break once a member of Nefarious' family shows great kindness to a human being. And it's about bloody time, too. I'm certain the gods answered my prayers when you were sent here." he sounded more like his jovial self again.

"Is there something that you need from me?" I inquired.

"I don't think so. But perhaps simply helping you get home is all that I need to do." He looked me in the eyes and took a hold of my hands, "But don't get me wrong, N. Gin. Please don't think I'm just using you. I ... I really am fond of you. I think I even dreamed of you a few times before in my lifetime. It may sound silly but I truly feel as though I've known you for the longest time."

I watched as Nefarious crawled into his nest and curled up in it, looking terribly tired. Coming from outside I could hear the early morning cries of snowbirds.

"I don't think that's silly at all," I said, "Because I've had the same exact feeling."

And although it wasn't the exact same feeling -- though, the truth was that it wasn't that far off -- it would have felt wrong not to say it.

"Nefarious?" I called him softly. He didn't answer. When I turned to look at him, he was sleeping.

I nestled down beside him, against his back, feeling the warmth of his body. He smelled familiar as well. The soothing fragrance of someone who you could feel safe being around ...

... despite the cursed blood running through his veins.

+End of Chapter IV+