The daily life of a demon teen
Disclaimer: I do not own How to train your dragon
KEY
'Thoughts/memories'
"foreign language/projected thoughts"
"Close-link/Private message"
Emphasis/yelling
"Magic incantation"
(A/N: More problems for Hiccup. New poll on my profile, please vote!)
Review responses
Arraia: If the Dragon-Viking war causes problems for him or his clanmates, yes. Train a dragon, maybe?
NightHowler0: Yes, the reason Astrid was so prominent in my other story was because she was Berk's viewpoint. Her importance has become unnecessary since Hiccup regularly visits Gobber. BTW, check your PM inbox.
OechsnerC: Thank you, just more of Hiccup being awesome.
Umbra Lycan: Thanks, here you go.
Back to the action!
Chapter 11: Wrath of the Alpha
A few days later, Gobber's forge
Nar POV
Once again, Hiccup was hard at work helping Gobber catch up to the backlog of work after the dragon raids. After dunking the heated sword into water barrel beside the anvil, he tossed it into the growing pile of repaired weapons and moved onto the next one. One after another, Hiccup fixed weapons and tools without breaking a beat. While his body moved out of habit, the teen's mind wandered back nearly a week ago.
Flashback, morning after the dragon raid
Hiccup violently coughed after inhaling a mouthful of dry toast, spilling much of his devil-spike tea. "Hiccup, are you ok?!", Cyrai asked while patting his back.
He nodded to her, "Yeah-cough-wrong pipe", then drank from his mug. "Alright-", he composed himself, "Who blabbed?". Hiccup glared between his betas with a look of irritation, waiting for an explanation. Cyrai motioned her roommate, Zia sheepishly raised her hand.
Hiccup marched up to her, clunk, giving her a light hand chop on the head, "Ow".
"You're doing all the chores for the next three days", he huffed.
"Aww c'mon, isn't that a bit harsh?", Zia groaned while rubbing the spot.
"How about a week, hmm?", earning a quick head shake from her. Hiccup took a deep breath, then looked down at Heather, "I'm not sure you know the repercussions of what you're asking". He rubbed the back of his head, "Becoming one of our kind means giving up your humanity, your friends, even your family".
Heather squeezed her fist tighter, "I have no more friends, they're all gone". She trembled as her rage grew, "My family murdered them, he destroyed everything I loved". Hiccup saw tears threatening to spill when she whipped her head up and glared at him, "If that's what humanity mean is, then I'm not losing much!".
Flashback end
"Hiccup?", he stared off in a daze, sparks flying as he worked the grinder. "Hiccup?", Zia tried to rouse him from his stupor with little effect. "BABE!", her yell jarred him free before he irreparably damaged the sword he was supposed to fix. Hiccup shook his head clear, finally noticing a scowling Zia with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.
"What?", she motioned to the 'over sharpened' sword, "Oh, thanks".
"Maybe you should take a break?", taking it from his hands.
"Um, sure", noticing the size of the pile.
Later, Dragon training arena
Gobber sat beside Gustav in the stands, observing the two masked teens stretching below in the arena. The boy sees a pair of pennant flags in his hand, catching the eye of the blacksmith, "Yeh want one?".
He holds them out for Gustav, one had a white silhouette of Hiccup's horned mask on a red background and the other had Zia's on violet. He hesitated for a moment before pulling out Hiccup's, "Thanks", he meekly muttered.
"Yur' welcome", Gobber sat up, "Looks like they're startin'!". Another person walked up and sat beside him, "Guntha', what'cha doin' 'ere, 'idin' from tha' missus?".
"Nothin' like that, just saw ya' headin' here with Hiccup and got curious", he shrugged. Gunther wasn't the only one, a couple of villagers dotted the mostly empty stands.
Below, Hiccup called over Diggy, "You mind casting 'Safeguard', just in case we get too crazy?".
"Acknowledged, Master", the lantern-like construct flew up to the center of the arena roof. He chimed before projecting an inverse geodesic barrier molded to the inside of the arena. The red hardlight barrier surprised the crowd, but they relaxed when it became invisible.
"Good" Hiccup sighed and turned back to Zia, "Any rules before we start?". She was rolling her hips to stretching out her abs, he eyes her mounds as she leaned back. Zia smirked when she sees where he's looking, Hiccup blushed and looked away.
"Let's keep to our weapons and up to tier three, ok?", finishing up her stretches.
"I'm cool with that", Hiccup formed his gauntlets from his bracers, Zia freed her khopesh and spun it in her hand. They walked in opposite directions until getting a fair distance from each other. Diggy began ringing out, the teens waited until the third ring then charged at their opponent. Clung, his claws collided into her sword, echoing around the arena. Hiccup quickly swiped at her, Zia blocked and retaliated. The crowd began oohed and awed as the see a blur of crashing slashes and swipes between the teens.
Hiccup backflipped to avoid her horizontal slash, he landed crouched then lunged at Zia. She spun to avoid being pounced on, "GO HIX!", cheered an enthusiastic Gustav. He spun back around and faced the readied demoness.
Hiccup swiftly evaded the flurry of sword slashes, "Give it to 'em, lassie!", shouted Gobber as he waved his violet pennant. He leapt over her and lashed at her back, only for his claws to strike her sword held across it. She held it blade out, smirking over her shoulder.
"Looks like we've drawn quite a crowd", grunted Hiccup as Zia pressed down her khopesh on his crossed oversized armored forearms.
"Huh", her eyes glinted deviously, "Why don't we give them a real show?". Zia backpedaled then spun her khopesh behind her, making it emit violet flames throughout the blade. She brought it back in front of her and tilted her head, "Shall we?".
Hiccup pounded his fist together, "I love the way you think", blood red plasma flames enveloped them. When their weapons met each other, the reaction was even more explosive. Cheers erupted at the spectacle, their audience amazed at the colorful flashes and sparks. Hiccup slid under Zia's slash, getting some distance between them. He stood in the center of the arena and held his hands palm up, "Cyrai told me how agile you were".
"Yeah?", she wondered what he was scheming.
His eyes flashed, 'Kindle wisps', "Why don't you show me then?". Flame engulfed glowing skulls appeared from his hands, then floated behind him and began spinning in a ring. Zia's eyes widen before she sprinted around the arena edge, dodging the seeking fireballs. The crowd watched as she eluded them by sliding or kicking off the walls and spinning in the air, with an occasional cartwheel to spice things up.
"Impressed?", she puffed as she slid to a stop, Hiccup paused summoning wisps to let her catch her breath.
"Very", he said coyly, making her blush a bit.
Zia took a deep breath, "Then you're definitely going to like this", she held her sword to her side. Hiccup summoned another group of wisps and launched them one at a time at her, she got into a stance and eyed the closing skulls. Zia began swinging her khopesh, sending flaming crescents into the wisps and causing them to explode. Hiccup was shocked for a moment, then smiled and resumed his attack. Gobber, Gustav and Gunther's jaws hung as the teens shot each other's projectiles out of the air like fireworks.
Diggy chimed, signaling the end of the time limit, he deformed his gauntlets and both teens dispelled their magic. "Well color me impressed!", Hiccup hive-fived Zia as the crowd cheered. Diggy deactivated the barrier and floated over to Gobber.
"That was awesome!", Gustav screamed beside the blacksmith, jumping with glee.
Most of the crowd was getting ready to leave when an annoying voice rang out, dripping with venom and laced with pride, "Who the hel let these losers in?". Snotlout snarled, "Beat it, we're usin' the arena!", pointing to the open gate. The bags under his eyes and weary face made Hiccup smile slightly, knowing the curse he placed on him was working like a charm.
"What!", Zia was about to reach for her sword but was stopped by a 'calm' Hiccup.
He shook his head then looked at Snotlout, "We were just leaving", he huffed while leading the growling Zia out.
"Yeah, that's right Useless", he sneered, "Get outta here, you and your girl-freak!". Hiccup stopped mid step, a deathly rumble coming from him. Zia felt compelled to put some distance between herself and him by an unknown force. The air around Hiccup became boiling, making steam flow off his hoodie. The ground around his feet also began heating up, releasing steam of its own.
Hiccup flashstepped toward the chortling teen, forming his left gauntlet and grabbing him as he passed by. The mask's horns and his ethereal tail reformed as he slammed Snotlout into the wall, then lifted him up by his head. The short teen's legs dangled as he tried to pry the large black metal hand off, Hiccup held him at his eye level gutturally growled, "Listen closely, you pitiful slug, you can insult me all you want". "But-", he started to squeeze his helmet onto his head, "Insult MY beta more time and I'll open you from your belly to your brain and feed you your intestines!".
"What are you idiots doing?!", Snotlout barked at the twins and Fishlegs, "Get him!". Hiccup dropped him and deformed his gauntlet, leaving the teen to try and free his head from his warped helmet. The masked demon walked towards the three, Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked at each other. They shrugged then rushed at him, Hiccup effortlessly sidestepped their charge. Fighting a Viking was like fighting a drunk, slow and predictable.
"Stay still so I can hit you!", he bobbed away from Tuff's punches, Hiccup gib-slapped him after spinning around him. He then bowed to avoid Ruff's hook and with a pirouette, hooked his foot around her leg and sent her to the floor.
Snotlout managed to painfully pry off his helmet, "Stop using your magic, you coward!".
Hiccup tilted his head mockingly, "Ha, you really think I'd waste a drop of my mana dealing with you morons?".
"Grrr, Fishlegs!", said large teen meekly ran at the teen and reeled back a weak fist.
Hiccup caught it and got right in his face, his mask less than a centimeter from Fish's nose, "I don't want to hurt you". The heavyset boy whimpered as he growled, "I can smell your fear, you're afraid of him, aren't you?". He nodded, "I'm going to let you walk away unscathed just… this… once, understood?". He released his grip on Fishlegs' hand, letting him flee to the gate. Snotlout tried to tackle Hiccup from behind, he simply sidestepped and smacked him into the ground with an open hand.
He walked away as the bully weakly lifted himself up, "C-c'mon you two, g-get up!".
Ruffnut helped her brother up, Hiccup groaned, "Ugh, this is getting bo-ring". Both males wobbly charged at him, "Fine then", his eyes flashed. Suddenly, a pulse of energy washed over the entire arena, desaturating the color and locking everyone but a select few in place. The ones not affected were Hiccup, Zia and Gustav, due to their magic and his talisman.
The small boy looked around the greyed stands, 'weird' , everyone else seemed frozen in time.
Hiccup changed his mask back into his glasses and sauntered up to Ruff, the shieldmaiden frozen in a readied stance. He could sense her trapped in her body, terrified as she couldn't move at all. The young woman's grey-blue eyes trembled, his eyes remained glowing as he lifted her chin with his finger and whispered, "Don't worry Ruff, I'm not going to hurt you". Hiccup trailed his eyes over her body and smirked, "The way you're developing, I wouldn't want to damage such a good looking female".
'What?!', she couldn't fight a slight blush from forming.
He leaned over to her ear and moved her right braid aside, "I won't do anything to you". Hiccup decided to mess with her a bit more, "Unless you ask me to", he finished by blowing gently into her ear. He relished the scent of embarrassment spewing from her, 'That was fun'. He walked over to Zia by the gate and dispelled his magic with a snap of his fingers, making Snotlout and Tuffnut crash into each other. Ruffnut stumbled and caught herself, she tried to calm her thumping heart.
Edge of the village
Zia slugged him in the shoulder as hard as she could, "Ow, what was that for?!".
She changed her mask into her choker and snarled, "That was for flirting with another girl in front of me!", Hiccup rubbed the hurting spot.
"I was just playing with her, we're demons, aren't we?", he sees her scowl and march up to him. He held up his hands, "W-w-wait ok, I'm sor-!". Zia pinned him by his shoulders to the wall and smashed her lips into his. She grabbed the sides of his face and gently pulled him down, making him open his mouth. This time he tried to resist but like before, he didn't stand a chance.
Zia broke the kiss to breathe, "And that was for standing up for me", she sighed.
Hiccup leaned on the wall to steady himself, "S-sure", she gave him a light pat on his cheek. He stared mesmerized as Zia swayed her hips while walking back to the forge, 'I love my life'. The teen composed himself before Cyrai hissed from his comm, "Just wait till you get home, Hiccup!", 'Ahh… crap!'.
The next morning
Hiccup was out on patrol near the maze of sea spires, he sat atop one that poked above the morning fog. The chilly sea breeze was overpowered by the warm feeling flowing inside him from the day before. When he walked in, Cyrai was waiting for him in the main room. After seeing his and her fellow beta's private moment outside the arena, the tall demoness demanded equal treatment.
Hiccup won't admit he enjoy it, he really did, but didn't expect how aggressive Cyrai would be. He did worry for a second that his tongue might have been torn out by her powerful liplock. The only thing that stopped the frenzied female from going too far was Zia returning from tending to the crops in the greenhouse. He chuckled, 'Man, I hope I didn't disappoint her', remembering how he easily he gave in.
His comm chimed, "Hiccup, Heather just woke up", he jumped to his feet and leapt off the spire.
A second later, Hiccup shot up out of the fog, "Are the straps holding?!".
"Umm, just come home as soon as possible", he wondered why Zia sounded calm. Hiccup zigzagged his way through the maze, leaving behind a slowly vanishing pair of red glow trails weaved throughout it. He cleared the spires and flew close to the calm sea, smiling when he sees his mask in his reflection.
Far off the coast of the village, Mulch and Bucket were dragging in their empty nets from the water, the smaller man sighed, "Looks like the fish ain't biting today".
The larger Viking tapped his crewmate's shoulder, "Hey, Mulch?".
"What is it, my faithful friend?", Mulch looks to where he was pointing with his remaining hand. In the distance, a small winged shape was heading towards them, its speed creating a sizable wake behind it.
Hiccup spots a small fishing boat ahead of him, he zooms in and sees two familiar Vikings, 'I wonder what those two are doing so far from the village'. He slows down and rights himself, 'Water stride'. His feet touch the water, but he doesn't sink in. Hiccup holds his hands behind his back and begins to 'skate' towards them, driving a shoal ahead of him. The fish swim into the nets still in the water, "Hello Mulch, Bucket, how's the catch?". He circled around their boat, scaring a few fish that broke away back into their net. Hiccup leapt up and twirled as they looked on, "Alright, catchya' later", he tipped an imaginary hat and shot up in the air.
The cove
Hiccup landed in front of his home, Cyrai was sitting on the couch reading a book from their study. She set it down as he closed the door, "Welcome home, Hiccup".
"Thanks", he cleared his throat, "Zia said Heather just awoke but she sounded calm, why?".
"Oh,… I'll explain after", Cyrai stood and moved to the med-room's door. It slid open and Zia walk out with her arm around a stranger who kept her head low. She was dressed in an oversized black cat-eared hoodie, the sleeves went to the knuckles of her fingerless gloves. She wore a green and dark grey plaid skirt over black leggings, which ran into calf high black boots with green laces.
"C'mon, let's not keep him waiting", Zia lead her out into the main room, she rubbed her shoulder to try to calm the girl. She whispered something Hiccup couldn't hear into her ear, the girl nervously nodded then looked up to him. Heather's eyes were the same color as before but were just slitted with black sclera. She tried to speak, which revealed her cute little fangs. Her free-flowing raven black hair had bright green highlights, standing out from the hood's green lining. Her pointed ears flicked as he examined her in silence, Zia looked to him, "Well, doesn't Heather look cute?!".
Hiccup smiled, "Yes, very cute", Heather's faced was flushed at his genuine compliment.
Cyrai stood beside him, "I agree", confusing everyone else in the room.
"Cyrai, are you ok?", Zia asked with concern.
"Yes, why?".
"Well, you didn't like her before", Hiccup shrugged.
"I detest all humans, but Heather's a demon now", the tall blonde strolled over to Heather and wrapped her in sisterly-like hug. "An adorable little demon!", she squealed while swinging the smaller female in her arms, making Hiccup and Zia uncomfortable.
"Ahem, Cyrai?", said demoness stopped her swaying, "Can you let her down?".
"Thank you, Hiccup", she fixed her clothes, "I guess I better get to work".
"Nonsense", Heather was shocked, "You're no longer a servant but a part of our clan".
"Yay!", Cyrai tried to snatch her again, but Zia intercepted her.
"Now that you're one of us, we'll share the chores", the two other demonesses grappled in the background with their tails puffed out. The two waited for the betas to stop, Hiccup groaned, "Guys, can you two please give it a rest?".
The two humphed and obliged, Cyrai threw a glare at her, "We'll settle this later".
"Ditto", Zia huffed while fixing her hair.
"Thank you, now Cyrai", the blonde looked at him, "You were going to explain something to me, weren't you?".
"Right", she held up her hand, a projected screen displayed the recording of Heather waking up. Hiccup listen intently as she explained, "Normally, the final phase of 'Kin's bite' usually wakes the person due to extreme pain. I say normally, but some individuals react to it differently, Heather seems to be the 'one in a thousand'. Her skill level matches Zia's when she was turned, she also seems to have an uncommon elemental affinity".
"Uncommon?", Hiccup raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, you and Zia's affinities are fire, one of the four common elements", the silver haired female crossed her arms and pouted. "While mine is ice, an uncommon element", she said with a bit of pride in her tone. "Hers is lighting, very uncommon in demi-kin", Heather blushed in embarrassment.
"Interesting, does she have any magic school affinities?".
"Unfortunately, she does not", Heather's shoulders slumped.
Zia went over to comfort her, "It's ok, that just means you have to work a little harder".
"Zia's right, even though you don't have a school affinity, you should be proud that you have a rare elemental affinity", she responded to his smile with her own. "What do you say we have a party to celebrate Heather's initiation?", both betas rushed to the kitchen.
"I'll bake a cake while you roast some mutton", Cyrai snatched her apron.
"What, no way!", Zia held the mixing bowl in her hands, "I'll bake, you roast!".
"C'mon, not this again!", Hiccup groaned while brushing back his hair.
Heather smiled, seeing him try to break up their spat, 'I think I can get use to this'.
Noon, Berk's dock
Mulch and Bucket's boat coasted towards the dock, Stoick, Spitelout and Gobber stood ready to meet them. Thunk, "Mulch, Bucket, how'd ya' do?", the chief said ready to be disappointed.
"Actually Chief, our catch as so big that we had to leave our nets down to hold the rest of it", Mulch pulled off the covering from over-stuffed barrels and crates. The less used smaller nets held more fish, "It was so much, we thought we might've had to throw some back".
"Wha… where do you go?!", Stoick grabbed the smaller man by the shoulders. Gobber helped Bucket pull up the heavy-laden nets, Spitelout organized the other workers to carry the barrels and crates to the food storage.
"A little ways away from the meridian of misery", a few workers stopped in their tracks.
"Wha, that spot was cleaned out weeks ago!", Spitelout snapped.
"How'd ya' catch so much from there?", Stoick was even more intrigued.
"Well actually, we didn't", Gobber hobbled over to them. "We were gonna pull the nets in after they came up empty, then we met Hix", the blacksmith smiled. "He drove a huge group of fish into our nets", the workers muttered amongst themselves.
"Wha, that demon probably cursed the fish!", the Jorgenson warned, Gobber scowled at him.
"I don't think so, all he did was slide on the water to scare them towards us", Mulch said calmly.
"Stoick, we shouldn't keep these, they might be tainted", muttered Spitelout.
"Winter is drawin' close and we have an entire village to feed", the chieftain turned to his second-in-command. "I'll ask Gothi to check the haul, we can't afford to waste any food", Stoick marched towards the ramps, Spitelout snarled at the scowling Gobber.
Up on the ramps, the gang had eavesdropped on the conversation between their elders. "He slid on the water, amazing", whispered Fishlegs.
"Shut it, Fish!", barked Snotlout.
"Mmm, roasted fish", they turned to Tuffnut, "What, I was getting sick of awful gruel".
"Whatever, let's go", Astrid and the three boys moved towards the top, leaving Ruffnut deep in thought. She kept feeling her right braid while staring off in the distance, making the four uncomfortable.
"Hey, sis?", Tuff tapped her shoulder.
Ruff flinched, "Huh, what?".
"You okay?", only Astrid noticed a faint trace of a blush on her.
"Yeah, I wasn't thinking about him or anything", she muttered.
"Uhh, what?", Tuffnut turned to Snotlout and Fishlegs, who looked at each other confused and shrugged.
"I mean, what are we talking about?", she sheepishly grinned.
"Umm… right, we were going to the great hall for lunch", Snotlout remembered.
"That's right, roasted fish, let's go before they run out", the boys raced up the ramps, Astrid looked back to Ruff before the twin fixed her clothes and ran after her brother. She thought about her reaction, then shook off the thought and jogged after her peers.
Late morning, the next day
Heather was wandering through the forest alone, a basket hung in the crook of her arm. Hiccup was at work in his workshop, while Cyrai and Zia were on patrol on berk's side. She had just finished her turn in the greenhouse and decided to take a stroll through the woods. Hiccup had gifted Heather her own mask, identical to Zia's but its eyes glowed green instead of violet and lacked horns. The circle on her brow lacked a line running through it, ranking her as a 'Gamma'.
'Remember Heather, if you're in danger, call out while wearing this and we'll come as quickly as we can', she thought back to when Hiccup had given her the mask. A breeze carried fallen leaves, making her hair dance. They brought her gaze to a small cluster of faintly glowing daffodil-like flowers growing between the roots of a pine.
'So pretty', Heather knelt and went to touch them. A flower was drawn towards her hand and delicate filaments emerged from within the trumpet, they wrapped around her finger gently. The flower slowly transitioned from a bright yellow to emerald green, 'Wow', then began to hum softly. "You guys are beautiful, want to go home with me?", amazingly, the flowers humming grew a bit louder. Heather carefully dug around the roots and placed them in a small pouch filled with wet dirt.
She was about to head back to the cove when a guttural snort made her freeze in place. The bushes to her right were trampled as a stone boar muscled its way through, looking for roots to eat. Heather quietly tried to walk away, snap, when she stepped on a twig. The boar snapped its head at her, she stood still hoping it would ignore her. It tensed before squealing and charging at her.
Heather took off sprinting in the direction of the cove, "Help, anyone!".
A moment later, Zai answered, "Heather, what's wrong, are you ok?".
"No, a giant boar is chasing me!", her foot slips and she slides into a shallow ravine. Heather thankfully is unhurt, but the boar appears at the opening. It squeals and smashes into the rock, she looks around and realizes it's a dead end. The walls are too smooth for her to get a good hold, the boar continues to try to break through, "Please hurry, I don't know when it will break through!".
"We're on our way as fast as we can!", bits of rock fall away, Heather was starting to panic. The boar stops when a growl comes from above, they both look up and see a large dark gray wolf perched on the top of the ravine. Its snarling revealing sharp fangs, the wolf looked between the slender girl and fat boar. It locked onto the boar, who stood its ground. The wolf howled, causing the patch of fur on its back to glow red. Black smoke spewed from its shadow and swirled on either side. The smog took shape and became a pair of smaller black ethereal wolves, both of which growled. The original wolf leapt off and chased after the fleeing boar, its ghostly copies following it.
A minute later, Zia touched down first, she grabbed her by the shoulders, "Heather are you ok, where's the boar?!".
"It got chased off", Zia released her.
"By what?", Heather was about to answer when Cyrai landed and scooped her up in a hug.
"Oh, my cute little Heather, I was so worried", Zia groaned while Cyrai swung around with the smaller girl in her arms.
Later, Cove
The four teens held a meeting in the main room, the girls sat on the couch while Hiccup stood pacing. He brushed his hair back, "Let me get this straight, three wolves saved you from a stone boar?".
"Well, it was just a big one at first", Zia rubbed Heather's back comfortingly.
Cyrai was tapping on several projected screens, the gamma's mask connected to them by translucent tendrils. After a moment, she managed to pull bits of images from it, "Found it".
Hiccup eyed the still of the wolf standing with two smaller ghostly copies of itself, "Interesting".
"That's one big dog", Zia's eyes widen.
"Looks like this wolf used 'Dark effigy'", Cyrai hummed, "Another spell like ability, just like the stone boar".
Hiccup groaned, "We're gonna have to step up security", while rubbing his forehead. "Zia", the beta turned to him, "I need you to train Heather, Flying, Fighting, you know the works". She nodded, he looks to his other beta, "Cyrai, have some monitors patrol the forest at ALL times".
"You can count on me", she dispels the screens, freeing the mask.
Hiccup picks it up and hands it to Heather, "I'm glad you're alright".
She gently takes it from his hand, blushing at his smile, "T-thanks".
"Alright people, let's get to work!", he claps his hands together, getting everyone attention. Hiccup walks to the front door with his betas and gamma, ready to begin a busy day.
(A/N: I'm thinking of calling them 'Dire shadows', because you know the size of dire wolves and they use shadow copies. Dire can mean grim or ominous, it also sounds cool. The next story poll will close one week after my next update.)