Enigma
Summary: Dragon's weren't put to sleep; they were sent to another realm. The Dragon Realm—where the weak are that, and the powerful unmerciful. And Sandrine wants to escape it.
Prologue
~Have you ever walked beside Death and have the feeling that you decided who lived and who died? ~
Don't look in his eyes, those dangerous exotic eyes that hold worlds beyond a human's imagination. Those eyes are dreams themselves, for they are impossible to be real. Eyes that could trap your soul and rip it right from your being until your inner self is naked before him, so he could reveal your deepest, darkest secrets.
Secrets that are meant to be kept.
Those eyes—those beautiful eyes—could make you weak in the knees or tense as a rock. They could be readable as a book or like Braille to those unlearned.
Those eyes could make you forget what you stand for. Or who you are for that mater.
"Chimera!" screeched a high-pitched voice.
"Yeah?" a lazy voice replied, carrying through the empty house.
"Find her yet?" the first voice asked, carrying a feminine tone. Steps were heard walking towards the direction of the second voice.
"No." A flat out answer that drove the woman angry.
"And why not?" she shrieked, and the male swore he heard windows, mirrors, and any other type of glass shatter into tiny fragments.
"Because she's as good at illusions as I am," the male voice replied quietly. "And stop shrieking, my ears are going to burst."
A loud snort echoed through an empty bedroom as a girl stepped into the light.
Blue hair tipped purple skimmed her ears as her head turned back and forth, searching for the scent of a young girl. Lilac eyes with catlike pupils searched the corners intently. A pointed chin and high cheekbones with pale skin made her look almost beautiful—almost, that is, due to the bleeding gash from temple to jaw.
Anjasina Tierlan pounded a fist against the doorframe in the opening of the room, long lilac nails biting into her palm. "Dammit, Red, this is annoying as finding your way through all nine hells."
"Patience, Anj. I'll find her, eventually," the male voice said, stepping out of the shadows from a corner. Glinting flame-red hair seemed to chase shadows from the small room. Black eyes with burning red rings showed slight annoyance and amusement.
"Not quick enough!" Anj's hand applied more pressure to the doorframe. "She's only a Dragoness of Thin Blood; you're a Dragon! A Dragon king! The king of our damned species!"
"Trying to make the frame stop bleeding, Tierlan?" Raymond Chimera asked casually, leaning against the far wall from her. After the female rolled her eyes, he continued, "And I'm not king—yet. Nor do I wish to be." His eyes pinned Anj to the spot with those strange eyes.
"But—"
"Also, she matches my skills." A fire burned in his black eyes; an emotion dancing like a tongue of flames. "In everything, Anj. She is destined to be my Queen."
"She. Is. Destined. To. Die." Each word was clipped angrily by Anj as her fist applied more and more pressure to the wooden doorframe—so much that pricks of pain began to dance through her wrist and down her arm.
"Maybe by my hands, not yours." His voice was quiet and deadly, that of a prince.
"She's just a low born, good for nothing, little Dragoness that harmed the Maiden of Dragon's!" Her opened hand gently touched her wound, pulling a way with blood on sharp nails.
"Just a scratch. We all lose our temper sometimes, Cousin." Red beckoned towards the doorframe as Anj slowly removed the first.
"Red—"
"What?" he snapped, eyes lowering to the ground and Anj could see lights dancing on the wooden floor from them.
Suddenly, curiosity filled the Maiden. "Is she worth it?"
Red's eyes looked up and held hers. Twin flames of unreadable emotions danced. "Undoubtedly," he said, and Anj knew he meant it as chills of premonition crept up her spine.
Oh no, oh no, ohnoohnoohnoohno, San thought, eyes watching the two Dragon's converse not three feet before her. Please don't find me. Oh please don't. I'm not ready to die yet… She let the thought trail off as she pushed more of her power into the illusion spell surrounding her.
She could hear their conversation clearly with her enhanced hearing, and something about the talk was disturbing. Sandrine Transinale felt as if the Dragon Prince, Red, knew that she was in the room. But if it was she that they were searching this old abandoned house for, and he knew she was in the same room, wouldn't he pull her out of the weak illusion spells she hid behind and hand her over to the Maiden she had harmed? After all, it was a major crime to strike the blue haired girl, and was considered death to those who committed such a thing—especially a lowborn Dragoness who had betrayed her Lord and ran after doing such a thing.
San bit her lip and prayed to the old, faire Dragon Queen, Sandrine Chimera, who had not lived for millennia's: Please, Queen Sandrine, Mother of the Golden Time, do not let one of your Dragonesses be caught at this crime, though she does know she should be punished. But all she has ever wanted was to be free of the Dragon world and go to the Human one! Is that too much to ask? And if I could, I would take back that blow I'd done to Maiden Anjasina Tierlan—
The pray was cut short as she overheard Anjasina say in her cruel way, "Is she worth it?"
She shut her iridescent eyes and waited for the no, waited for the word that would give Anj enough reason to kill her—that the High Prince did not want her around, did not think she was worth him sticking up for her anymore. It might not seem a good enough reason to any ethical beings, but to Anjasina Tierlan it was reason enough.
And what a shocker it was when his cool words that were as quiet as gentle rain in a summer storm said, "Undoubtedly."
San's eyes opened in shock. The Prince actually thought she was worth saving from his insane cousin. It sounded like a lowborn Dragonesses dreams come true! Except for the fact that Sandrine never wanted such a dream--never wanted to mean something to the Prince besides being some peasant, or thin blood, in his kingdom.
Anj laughed loudly and San wanted to cover her ears from that awful sound. It sounded like nails on a chalk board, very cliché, but it was good enough for San. A more complicated person would say it sounded like a crows caw, or the sound of two speeding cars ramming each other full speed. Nevertheless, it sent chills and gooseflesh through her body.
"Fine," Anj said, sweeping her lilac eyes over the room and passing over San. "I'll leave it to you to do what you wish. Just find someone to take my anger out on and I'll be fine." She crossed her arms over her chest and her pupils narrowed to needle thin strips.
This time, it was Red's turn to laugh. His laugh was almost the exact opposite, deep, cool, and straight-minded. It chased the after affects of Anj's laugh from San and she almost forgot to keep pushing her power into the spells around her.
"Like you would have trouble, Anjasina," he said, a cruel smile spreading across his handsome features.
Cat eyes rolled and straightened to read her cousins. "Well, I would like to know exactly what ones you wouldn't mind me killing. After all, it is quite unusual for you to stick up to a Thin Blood, cousin. I would expect it from Theo Trandor, but from you? Never. You never conversed with Thin Blood's while I was around—was it while I visited the Human World for a week?"
Red actually hesitated and then spoke calmly, "Actually, yes, it was. While you were gone and before, too." He smiled and the nonexistent light gleamed off of his white teeth that were as dangerous as a dagger blade.
Anj's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Raymond Chimera. "No, you couldn't have," she said desperately. "No, no, no. I would have known. I'm better at reading and shielding minds than you are. You couldn't have hidden it!"
Red laughed again, this time sending chills down San's spine. "Oh, cousin, do you have any idea how hilarious you are in denial?" The amusement faded and a red ring surrounded his pupil and spread through his eyes like a river. "But I am better. I've known when you have entered my mind, changed my thoughts in order for you to control me. I've known ever since I was a child and you were a teenager. How foolish you have been, Tierlan. How foolish."
Lilac eyes were still wide as her hand traveled to her mouth in continuous shock. "But… I'm older! You cannot excel farther than someone older than you in telepathy… Not in our race!"
He laughed once more, seeming to feed on this denial stage from his older cousin. "But I have. Maybe it's because I am Prince and of higher status, than, let say, the Maiden?"
A low growl filled the room coming from Anjasina. She turned on her heal and stormed out, the spot where her fist had been on the doorframe bursting into dancing flames. Red turned his gaze on it at the same moment San did and both sent a thought to diminish the small fire before it grew.
Red's eyes whipped around and met San's eyes. Black and iridescent white—like that of the inside of a seashell—met, and the red slowly receded back into the pupil in Red's eyes. San thought, No one should have those eyes. They are like untouchable, nonexistent dreams that confuse the mind and disobeyed the soul. He smiled.
"Have fun, Sandrine Transinale. I'll see you soon." He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Sandrine staring after him with shock.