A/n: I'll be updating this story every Friday now :)
Just a warning, this chapter contains a scene that probably wouldn't be shown in a PG-13 movie, more likely an R. So, I'm upping the rating to M for mature teen. If it offends anyone, or you don't like "steamy" scenes, I completely understand – I don't like writing them as much. But, as this is partially a romance-themed story, I could hardly keep it out, especially after a bunch of ya wanted some Drago on Jade action. LOL. Anyway, if it bothers you I'll see you next time. If not, without further ado, here is Chapter Nine! ;)
"What?" shock made Jade's voice strained. She disentangled herself from the dragon demon, mostly just to keep her wits about her. She needed all of her sanity to cope with what he was saying, and his caressing of the inside of her wrist wasn't helping.
Drago released her, watching her turn around slowly and determinedly. She was the woman he loved - he should have guessed she would want to know everything, anything, about the situation. To come up with a plan, and win. To save the world. Even if that's what fate didn't have in mind. The set of her jaw, rigid posture, and determination shining in her eyes dared the world, demons, and Hell itself to try and take over. He sighed, rubbing his head. They just might have to go through hell before this was over.
"Yes, Jade," he frowned. "I know this because it happened already. Erm... in my past, but your future."
"What?" She repeated. "Can you start from the beginning?"
The son of Shendu rubbed his temples slowly, looking at the expectant woman sitting across from him. Where to begin? "Before I went to the past, Shendu had a backup plan. I'd forgotten about it until now... but it's nearing the alignment of the bad chi stars, when the demons –even Shendu, trapped in his spirit realm– will be at their most powerful. That must have triggered my memory."
"Well, what was the plan?" Jade questioned. She seemed to be taking it well, so far.
"The plan was that if the immortal dragon teeth failed to bring him back, he would wait until the alignment of the bad chi stars. With his power on the spirit realm end, and mine in the mortal realm, we could open a portal to this one and let loose all the demon inhabitants, Shendu included; even those previously banished. It would be a complete takeover, an apocalypse of your world as you know it. The entire human race would either be killed or enslaved." He spoke passively, as if observing his memories through a lens. She sensed that he was trying to remain calm.
Jade frowned, seeing a major hole in the story. "Well, if that was the case, wouldn't an apocalypse have happened already? You demons have been trying to take over the human world for centuries."
He absentmindedly rubbed his upper arms with his hands while he talked. Jade wondered at the gesture, seeing how defensive it made him look. "Well, along with these specific stars aligning only every hundred years, no demon has been present on each end of the connecting gate, and ready, with the knowledge to use the spell. Also, even if all of those things would have happened before, I don't think any demon would have been ready to make the sacrifice necessary to open the gate."
She swallowed, the sound loud to her ears in the silence that followed. She didn't know if she wanted to know what the sacrifice was. "Drago.." she began, her voice a little breathier than she would've liked.
He nodded, knowing what she meant. "The reason no demon would do it before, even if they knew how, is because... whichever one is in the mortal realm... must give up their life. They will die expending the energy to guide the others to this world."
Jade felt the color leave her face. "Die?" She repeated. Then her face darkened with anger. "Drago, don't scare me like that!" She looked like she wanted to throttle him. "You're sitting right in front of me, and you just professed your undying love to me. Why would you choose to act against the humans now?"
Drago sighed again. How would he ever explain this in the right way? Time paradoxes were just too confusing. "Okay, so, Jade. Think back. Try to recall the first time that I ever met you. Do you remember? When you were a girl, and your older self came back in time. What did she say?"
The woman's eyebrows furrowed, not quite understanding where he was going with this, but trusting his judgement for the time being. "She said that–I mean, I said that-" Jade corrected.
Shaking his head, Drago cut her off with a warning. "Just stick with saying 'she' and 'future-Jade'. We are in a very dangerous position, but I'll get to that later. For now, just think of you and her as two different people, because you are. Your time-lines diverged when she chose to return to the future and leave me in the past."
"That's right," Jade realized. "We really are different people!" She gasped, her mind going blank. She suddenly felt unspeakably old and rubbed her face with both hands, sighing. When she had first met her older self, she had thought she was awesome. Her future self was her idol, and she had striven to become the amazing young lady that had helped the Chans destroy the dragon teeth all those years ago. She had also known it would happen, because, the future is set in stone, right?
...Wrong. How could she have let herself forget that key thing? Obviously, she had helped change the future with her own two hands by helping to destroy the teeth. The fact that she was not the same person as her future-self slightly unhinged her. She felt as thought the glue that held her world together was becoming undone. If I am not myself, than who am I?
The demon saw all of this flit across Jade's face and frowned. "Jade," he said, not unkindly, but with steel in his voice. "Whatever you do, do not overthink this situation. You are who you are, and the unknown must not scare you so that you lose your confidence. They don't call it a paradox for no reason. It's why time-travel shouldn't exist. Now, think back..."
It clicked. Jade shifted a hair closer to him with her intensity. "Future-Jade didn't grow up with you in her life. But... I did. I remember now, the answer to your question. Future-Jade met you shortly after she took control of Section 13."
"Precisely," agreed Drago.
"I can't believe I never thought about this before," she mused, "but... there is another Drago in my time now. You existed while Future-Jade grew up, too. You just didn't know her yet. So... there is another Drago in this time, one who hasn't even met me, and doesn't know that you exist."
"Yes, I did exist back then. That's the problem with all of this. Demons are forbidden from time-travel by our ancient laws – it's part of what we gave up to become so powerful originally, in addition to losing most of our sympathy and other 'soft' emotions. If my past self meets me in this time, then the rules of the universe will be broken. I don't know what will happen, but it would be bad. Earth-shattering, perhaps quite literally. I would most certainly die instantly, perhaps even others would be dragged along to my untimely fate. Don't you see, Jade?" His voice grew bitter, unhappy. "I don't belong in this time. I have far overstayed my welcome here. My love for you isn't the only reason I've been going easy on you as of late..."
Jade caught her breath. "You've been losing your power..." she covered her mouth with her hands involuntarily in her shock, expressive eyes the only feature that Drago could see. They were filled with horror as what he said sunk in. He felt a surge of affection for her, smiling at her. "What..." she was at a loss. She coughed, swallowed and tried again, the words coming out less thickly this time. "What will happen if you stay here?"
"I'm really not sure," he mused, looking away. "I could just fade away to nothing. I could survive as a shadow of my former self. Or, I could simply die."
"So... either way you die." Jade's whisper was almost too soft for him to hear.
They stared into each others' eyes, neither saying what they knew to be true. Drago would have to be returned to his own time. Something broke inside of Jade, a final gate that had restrained her emotions thus far. Part of her had thought that maybe he was bluffing, that he was trying to psyche her out in some way or manipulate her love of him to his advantage – but now the doubt was erased, replaced completely by a solid yearning. For, she realized, the love had always been there. Even when she was a child, she had had a horrible, forbidden crush on the eternally infuriating, hot-headed, arrogant, but still inexplicably attractive dragon demon.
Drago was still looking away when he glimpsed something in his peripheral vision. Jade was moving. His eyes snapped to her slim form as she agonizingly slowly, purposefully crawled towards him. His body filled with a sudden, pulsing heat. He couldn't quite believe it, and for all his playful banter and thinly-veiled flirting over the years, the situation was unnerving. He had mostly kept his feelings for her under iron lock and key, only succumbing to his lustful needs in his dreams. He had never deluded himself into thinking he could ever even approach her, much less have her reciprocate his feelings.
Not quite knowing what to do, especially having never courted a human, he sat, as still as a board – and just as stiff. She crept up to him, a playful light in her eyes, cheeks partially flushed. His eyes glued to her fit form, he felt his mouth start to salivate as he watched the flesh of her full breasts ripple lightly in time with her knees. "Drago..." Jade breathed slowly, cocking her head to the side. She pulled herself up from her knees, rising to his head-level. Tracing a finger seductively down his jaw, she tilted her own head back and surveyed him through half-lidded eyes, a wicked smirk on her face. Though he could tell she thought she was teasing him, he could see the want in her eyes as well.
His arms seemed to move of their own accord. Before he knew what he was doing, he had hungrily jerked her to himself, locking her soft body against his own. He licked her from the top of her shirt all the way up her neck, to the tip of her jaw, inhaling deeply, her scent a drug. She whimpered like a wounded animal when his tongue scratched her collarbone. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that her bone was still broken, but the notion was dwarfed by the raging thoughts her moan had produced, blood rushing to his extremities. His fingers, almost having minds of their own, moved down her smooth back and inserted into her clothes, tracing her panty lines, twitching with want.
Her eyes widened slightly as his scales rubbed back and forth on her sensitive areas and tickled her hairs simultaneously. She shifted a little and giggled. He shuddered, getting closer and closer to the opening of her vagina. With each stroke went a little further. Her eyes melted into liquid pools as he probed, gingerly at first, and then more strongly. He went deeper and deeper with each successive exploration. She turned to rubber in his grasp as he thrusted in and out with his fingers. She gasped and moaned, feeling the fire down under and throwing herself upon him with a passionate intensity, biting his lip and exploring his mouth with her tongue. The two tongues met as if they were long-lost friends, embracing and dancing in unison.
A particularly deep finger-thrust had Jade almost screaming mid-kiss. It was too much for Drago, he couldn't sit still anymore. He broke the kiss removed his fingers, licking them clean, his long tongue lapping with a painfully slow but teasingly erotic intensity. He didn't break eye contact during the entire display. They could both feel the heat radiating from each other. His eyes went hazy for a moment, the scent making him want to place his mouth on Jade where his fingers had been. The thought fueled him and he bodily picked Jade up, then pinned her to the ground. He cautiously worked his one of his hands inside of her shirt, while the other grabbed a fistful of her hair, hard enough to pull her head back. She inhaled sharply through her nose, brown eyes flying open as the hard scales of his fingers rasped against her sensitive flesh. His long nails left patterns in their wake. She cried out softly. Drago felt a tremor wrack his body as he reacted to her moan, predatory instincts combining with his lust to create a whole new need.
Savoring the feeling of her soft, fleshy, perky breasts, he grinned, a euphoric smile on his face. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."
Jade rolled her eyes slightly but grinned back up at him, returning his enthusiastic smile. Men and their breasts – "aaaaaaaaaahhh!" She cried out again as he pinched the soft skin of her nipple. The erotic cry sounded like it was being dragged out of her with a hook. It sent his skin sizzling and shifting, desire burning within him.
As they had moved together, she had felt his growing erection straining at her the whole time, the hardness undeniable. Drago had almost subconsciously snaked it around into different positions while they messed around, burning for satisfaction. She could feel the swollen tip probing her body stiffly, seemingly seeking for an entrance. She could sense under his happiness a bit of frustration, the need to go farther. Her mind was fried, a white haze of emotion. She had wanted Drago for so long. She wanted more, she wanted to feel him inside of her, making her not just moan, but scream with pleasure. She wanted to see how much harder he could be, how much further they could go. She recklessly threw her legs open, inviting him in. They shot out to wrap around his torso.
Drago sensed the subtle change, her want, and need for them to be joined in the most intimate way possible. His paused their kissing to smile down at her in ecstasy, eyes blazing with frenzy. She thrusted herself up at him and he pumped his pelvis eagerly in response. His erection was now flirting with the questionable area between her legs and it nearly drove him mad. He could feel himself getting closer to the edge, almost losing himself in his urge to take her here and now. He growled and hooked a nail beneath both her pants and her underwear, meaning to rip them down in one fell swoop.
And then, something snapped. His eyes cleared out of their haze for a moment and he pushed her away, springing back as if she were a viper instead of a beautiful woman. He was panting heavily, torn. His expression flitted between aggravation and anger. He wanted her, he wanted her so badly. But they couldn't. He paced back and forth, eyes averted from that perfect, tanned skin. She scrambled to right her undergarments and clothes, hugging her legs to her chest. She looked completely dejected.
"Jade. We cannot. Do. Anything," he hissed through clenched teeth.
His raked his eyes over her regretfully, letting them linger for a last swollen second on her panting chest. He gazed at her sad but confused expression. "I'm sorry," he said, voice strained from more than one emotion. Suppressing himself took a supreme amount of will. "I have to get out of here before I do something we both regret." Then he turned and sprinted from the room without a backward glance.
A/n: Dang, quite a harsh ending there. Sorry to those of you who were enjoying it. Anyway, I really hope you guys liked the chapter and I hope the romance wasn't too trashy, LOL! Please give me some feedback with a review if you have time, I'd love you forever!
Until next time, take care everyone
-Lucky