Dark. Dark room, dark castle, dark stone, dark claws, dark heart. She liked darkness, it was so much better than light. The Demon Queen was sitting on a throne made out of obsidian as black as the night sky. She sat straight and proud, the perfect picture of grace and deadliness but her blood red eyes were filled with hate.
Jezebel. She liked that name, even if it was a human one. It meant 'the impure one.' It fit her well, her demon slaves agreed with that. Queen Jezebel; it had a wonderful ring to it.
Jezebel scowled, her long, sharp claws digging into the human skull she was holding. She had just heard about the intruders and how they had escaped; three humans, a wizard and a fairy. She hadn't been pleased with how her slave had let them escape. Jezebel glared down at the skull, it had belonged to the last human who had come to the castle. How long had it been since she had last heard the screams of a human as he felt her poison running through his veins? She missed the look of horror on humans' faces when they saw her; with her snake scale skin, red eyes, poisonous fangs and long, deadly black claws.
It was all because of that mayor! Who did she think she was? Chasing all of the demons' prey out of town! Jezebel's scowl deepened, she'd make sure that that pompous, bloated woman paid.
Careful, you don't want to waste your anger, the demon Queen smiled as she thought of her plans. After sending the worthless demon slave away to be killed, Jezebel had thought of a plan. One that couldn't fail. She wasn't about to let the humans go so easily, not after how long it had been since she had killed one. No, she planned to catch them and kill them as slowly as possible.
Wanting to catch them and kill them wasn't all because she hadn't killed a human in so long. She also wanted to catch them because they had made a mockery of her and her kind! Trespassing into her territory and then escaping without a single scratch! Her long black claws dug into the arms of her throne, digging holes into the obsidian and her red eyes flashed with rage, a sight that would have made even the bravest man faint.
Jezebel relaxed, getting off her throne with grace that shouldn't belong to something so sinister. She walked down the long room, the long claws of her feet clacking on the hard floor, a cold smile playing on her black lips.
It didn't matter now, the intruders would pay and she'd enjoy catching them herself and watching them squirm in pain as she killed them.
Her smiled grew wider and she laughed, a laugh that could only belong to someone who was used to laughing over the sounds of people screaming. She planned to catch them herself and bring them back to her castle and she knew just how to do that.
The demon queen walked out of the throne room and down the hall, passing one of the few windows in the castle.
The light from the morning sun bathed the black floor. Jezebel hated light, it gave her a headache and if she stayed in it for too long if felt like her scales were on fire but the number one reason she hated it was because it gave people hope. But it did prove to be useful every now and then. As soon as Jezebel stepped into the light she changed.
Snake scales were replaced by smooth, pale skin. Black claws melted into long, graceful fingers. Long red-gold hair brushed her shoulders and her eyes changed from blood red to deep green eyes flecked with brown.
Jezebel would have passed as a human except for the malevolent smile on her lips; a smile that told of lust for blood and other peoples' pain.
Yes, she knew exactly how to meet those intruders so that they didn't expect a thing.
She could almost hear their screams. Jezebel stepped out of the sun and back into the shadows, transforming into the demon that she was, her smile widening.
She couldn't wait.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An owl hooted for about the hundredth time. Sabrina rolled over and glared up at the tree she thought the annoying owl might be hiding in. She thought about throwing a rock or something at it but the thought that it might not be an owl changed her mind.
Who knew what types of creatures roamed the mountains at night?
Sabrina sighed and looked over at her little sister. Daphne was sleeping peacefully beside her, snoring her head off. A small smile appeared on Sabrina's lips, she didn't have to worry about anything coming near them. The sound Daphne was making would scare anything and Puck's smell would make any creature stay away.
Sabrina's eyes wandered over to the fairy, he was sprawled out against a tree a few feet away. She stared at his sleeping face; he looked peaceful, not at all like the mischievous fairy when he was awake. He was actually kinda cute . . .
Sabrina scowled, what was she thinking? This was the fairy that had given her a tail! He was also the fairy that had saved her life on a number of occasions and he was the fairy whose green eyes always made her heart beat faster than usual.
Sabrina groaned, she was losing her mind! This was Puck! The smelly, annoying, fairy!
She rolled onto her back and tried to see the sky through the screen of branches hanging over her head.
Uncle Jake had decided that they should sleep under the shade of trees instead of out in the open, just in case the demon came back.
Sabrina shivered at the memory. She could almost picture the black claws reaching towards her through the branches. A shuffling sound made her freeze. She turned her head and watched as Uncle Jake stood up and walked away, careful not to step on anybody.
Where's he going? She wondered, waiting five seconds and then standing up and following him. She walked through the trees, trying not to get distracted by all the strange creatures she passed. She could have sworn she saw Tinker Bell's cousin fly past her head.
Sabrina stopped when she spotted her uncle standing in the middle of a small clearing, staring up at the night sky. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it gently. The rose from Briar Rose's grave. Sabrina watched as the brave mask her uncle put on during the day cracked and fell away, revealing the heart broken man underneath.
Uncle Jake whispered something and Sabrina leaned forward, trying to hear what he said. Her foot stepped on a twig, snapping it in half.
The snap sounded like a gunshot in the quiet forest and Sabrina froze but her uncle had already spotted her. Immediately the mask was back and he gave her a small smile, leaning his head back to look at the sky again.
Sabrina walked out and stood beside her uncle, staring up at the sky, trying to find out what he was looking at.
"You know," he said, "I always thought stars were cool even though no matter how hard I tried I could never see the constellations. Briar had said I was trying too hard. But no matter what I do, I can only see part of the Big Dipper." Uncle Jake frowned up at the sky, "Or is it the Little Dipper?"
Sabrina shrugged.
The smile left Uncle Jake's face and he stared intently at the sky, as if he could find Briar somewhere among the stars.
Uncle Jake sighed, "'Brina, why don't you take the others to the camp? You'll be safer there."
Sabrina shook her head, "The only way I'm coming to camp is if you come too and you know Daphne's not going anywhere without you."
Uncle Jake's gaze drifted back to the rose, "I can't go back, 'Brina. I have to try."
"And if you die?" Sabrina said even though she didn't even want to think about that.
Uncle Jake shrugged, like dieing was no big deal, "Then I die but . . . I can't live without her. You should understand better than anyone. How did you feel when you thought your parents had died? Didn't you cling onto the hope that they were still alive? Wouldn't you have done anything to see them again?"
Sabrina looked up into the star filled sky. She did understand how he felt. The only thing that had kept her from going off the deep end when he parents had gone missing was Daphne.
Sabrina sighed, "What are you going to do if it doesn't work?" she asked, staring at her uncle.
Uncle Jake shrugged again, "I don't know. I'll probably either stay with Charming's army or leave town."
Sabrina looked at him in shock, "Leave Ferryport Landing?"
That had always been her wish; leaving Ferryport Landing. It didn't sound like something Uncle Jake would do.
Uncle Jake nodded, "I'll do what I can to help the Everafters with the Scarlet Hand but after that I'll leave. There's nothing here for me now but painful memories."
"But what about us?" Sabrina said, "What about your family?"
"You still have Mr. Canis. Even though he doesn't have the wolf in him anymore, he still won't let anything happen to you guys. And you have Mr. Seven and Charming, even though the prince is arrogant and will say otherwise, he'll make sure none of you get hurt."
Sabrina opened her mouth to speak but Uncle Jake shook his head, "No, 'Brina. Just drop it, okay? You may not understand, but I have to do this."
He gave her a quick hug and walked back to the others.
Sabrina stood there, staring up at the sky again, marveling at how many stars there were. She tried to imagine how it would feel if her parents, or Daphne died but she couldn't. It was like her mind kept trying to but her heart kept telling her that it would never happen.
Uncle Jake was right. She didn't understand.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Hey, ugly, wake up!"
Something squishy hit her face. Sabrina sat up quickly, punching the air around her. After seeing that nobody was attacking her, she felt her cheek, now covered in the juice of a rotten fruit.
Sabrina glared at Puck. The fairy boy was leaning against a tree, another rotten fruit in his hands, smirking at her.
"I told you I could wake her up." He said to Daphne, who was trying hard not to laugh.
"You're dead, Puck!" Sabrina growled.
Puck lifted an eyebrow, "Really? Usually you say that when I'm done throwing fruit at you."
Sabrina's gaze drifted down to the fruit in his hands, "You do it and I'm going to beat you to a pulp." She growled.
Puck snorted, "I'd like to see you try!" he said and threw the fruit at her. Sabrina ducked and covered her head as the fruit splattered against the tree behind her. She ran at the fairy but he just flew onto a tree branch, high above her head.
Sabrina shook her fist at him, "Cheater!" She yelled, "Why don't you come down and fight fair?!"
Puck just laughed, "I can't help it if you're a pathetic human!"
"Hey!" Daphne shouted, looking offended.
"Puck, stop messing with Sabrina. Sabrina, stop threatening to kill Puck." Uncle Jake said, walking towards them with a smile on his face, "Now, c'mon. We'd better start moving."
Uncle Jake unrolled the magic carpet and hopped on, quickly scooting over for Daphne, "Why don't you drive?" he asked.
Daphne grinned and hoped on, by now she was an expert on controlling the flying carpet.
Sabrina sat down beside her sister and Puck's giant insect wings popped out of his back, lifting him into the air.
Sabrina watched as his giant pink wings flapped in the sunlight, he grinned down at her and she forced a scowl onto her face, trying to ignore her fast beating heart. She looked away from Puck and saw Daphne smiling at her.
"What are you smiling about?" Sabrina asked.
"Oh, nothing." Daphne said, giggling, "Where are we going, Uncle Jake?"
"Just fly over the forest and then I'll tell you where to go." Uncle Jake said.
"Up." Daphne told the carpet and it shot up, swiftly avoiding branches.
"Look, you can see the town from here!" Daphne shouted, pointing her hand to Sabrina's left.
"What's left of it." Sabrina muttered. Smoke rolled into the sky from the numerous building that had been burned down by the fires the Scarlet Hand caused.
Puck flew down beside them, "I wonder what they're going to do when they burn the whole town down." He muttered.
"They'll probably burn down the forest too." Uncle Jake said, motioning Daphne to go to the left.
"What will Charming do if that happens?" Daphne asked, a worried expression on her face.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Marshmallow! The ugly Sabrina Grimm will scare them off soon." Puck said, sneering.
Sabrina turned to him, a sharp retort on the tip of her tongue but it quickly flew out of her mind. Puck was flying sideways, his hands behind his back like he was lying on a couch, his face close to hers. Puck gave her a small smile, a smile that filled her stomach with butterflies.
"What's that?" Uncle Jake's voice broke the spell and Sabrina shook her head while Puck flew around to the other side of the carpet.
Sabrina looked to where her Uncle's hand was pointing and drew a quick breath. Two dark shapes were racing towards them, with a sound louder than thunder.
"Dragons!" She shouted as the dark shapes grew closer.
"Daphne, take us down!" Uncle Jake shouted, searching his pockets for something that could stop the dragons.
The dragons quickly reached the carpet and slowly started to circle it, one blasted fire underneath the carpet, stopping Daphne from bringing the carpet to the ground.
Each dragon was as long as two semi-trucks, with sharp teeth longer than Sabrina's arm. One dragon was covered in black scales, its red eyes looked at the group like a cat looks at a cornered mouse, but it was its companion that caught Sabrina's attention. The dragon's scales were dark blue. Its blue eyes, instead of being filled with malice like its companion, were filled with curiosity and while its companion flew in an aggressive way, the Blue Dragon flew with a certain grace.
"What, exactly," The Black Dragon growled, blasting the group with his hot breath, "Do you think you're doing flying into our territory?"
"We come in peace," Uncle Jake said, staring at the dragons with hate, "We just need something."
The Black Dragon snorted, "You hear that?" he said to his companion, "The human needs something! As if that's a shock! What do you need? More of our relatives and children to be your slaves? Why should we help you?"
"Because if you help us we can bring Briar Rose back!" Daphne said.
The Blue Dragon looked at them thoughtfully, "Briar Rose?" it said in a feminine voice, "Who's Briar Rose?"
"A friend of ours who died." Sabrina said.
"Don't worry; you'll soon be joining her!" The Black Dragon growled and opened his mouth.
Before he could blast the group with fire, Puck flew out of the sky and slammed his feet onto the dragon's snout. The Black Dragon roared with rage and lunged at Puck, but the fairy easily dodged.
"Wait!" The Blue Dragon yelled, "Maybe we should take them to the king."
"As soon as I kill this pesky, little fairy!" The dragon roared, trying in vain to catch Puck.
Sabrina felt her heart creep into her throat as she saw the rows of sharp teeth snapping at Puck. What if the dragon caught him?
"NO!" She shouted.
The Blue Dragon eyed her curiously, "Stop." She said, "Leave the fairy alone, the human is obviously attached to him."
Sabrina's face turned as red as a tomato, "No, no, no! It's not what you think." She sputtered but the dragon ignored her.
The Black Dragon turned to the blue one, spite filling his red eyes, "Is that an order, princess?" he sneered.
"Yes it is." The Blue Dragon said.
"I still think we should burn them to a crisp." The Black Dragon muttered, glaring at Puck as the fairy sat down on the carpet.
"The king can decide that." The Blue Dragon said, positioning herself behind the carpet.
"What should I do, Uncle Jake?" Daphne whispered.
"I guess just follow them." Uncle Jake said.
The Black Dragon, with one last glare at the group, flew in front of them, leading them around the mountain.
Sabrina stared down at the mountain below her. There wasn't much too see, just a bunch of trees, a river here and there and there was a giant, deep, jagged crack racing down the side of the mountain, as if someone had cut it with a knife.
The Black Dragon let out a loud roar that echoed in her ears. Sabrina looked up to see them flying into a cave on the side of the mountain. It looked like a giant mouth had opened there, waiting to swallow anything that was stupid enough to go in.
The Black Dragon disappeared into the cave and Daphne looked nervously at her uncle.
Uncle Jake nodded his head and Daphne steered the carpet into the cave.
Sabrina gasped as she looked around. She had expected it to be pitch black in the cave but it wasn't. The cave walls were covered with multi-colored rocks that gave off light. Sabrina stared around in amazement, the cave was huge! The cave's ceiling was so high that she couldn't see it and the cave was large enough to hold a hundred dragons but there were only five dragons and one baby in the cave. From all the empty nests around the cave, Sabrina guessed that there used to be a lot more than that.
The Black Dragon started making strange noises at the back of his throat. Uncle Jake whispered something to Daphne and the little girl brought the carpet down to the ground. Sabrina looked around and saw the other dragons lifting their heads, their gazes switching from the Black Dragon to the group on the carpet. Sabrina gasped when she saw the dragon the Black Dragon was talking too. It was much larger than all the other dragons and golden scales covered its body, shimmering in the rocks strange light.
That must be the king, Sabrina thought, warily eying the dragon.
The dragon lifted his head and eyed the group, boredom in his golden eyes.
"What is this?" The dragon's deep voice rumbled in the cave, filling every nook and cranny.
"The humans need something," The Blue Dragon said, dipping her head respectfully to the dragon.
The King Dragon eyed the group, "And what is it that you want?"
"We just need a drop of blood." Uncle Jake said his eyes filled with hate as he stared at the creatures that had killed Briar.
"Tell me, human," The King spat, "Why should we help you? How do we know that you, who eye us with such hate, would only stop at one drop of blood and not kill us all?"
"You have my word." Uncle Jake said.
The Golden Dragon burst out laughing, "Your word? As if that's reliable!" The King stopped laughing and his glare made Sabrina's blood freeze, "Look around you! There used to be many of us here in this cave! Living peacefully until you humans came and enslaved our children and twisted our warriors to do your will."
"But that wasn't us! That was the Scarlet Hand!" Sabrina shouted.
The Dragon King's eyes bored into her, "That just proves that humans and Everafters are evil, twisted, liars and deserve to die!"
"Father, wait!" The Blue Dragon shouted, "Please, give them a chance! You heard them; they're not the same people who enslave our kind!"
The King Dragon stared at his daughter for a few seconds and Sabrina was afraid he would just ignore her but then he turned his head back to the group, "Fine, I'll give you humans a chance. If you can convince me to give you a drop of blood in the next five seconds I'll spare you, if not I'll burn you to a crisp."
"Listen!" Uncle Jake shouted, "The Scarlet Hand enslaved the dragons! We have nothing to do with them! In fact we're trying to stop them!"
"Are you saying that if you bring back this friend of yours the Scarlet Hand will be destroyed and our families will be freed?" The King said skeptically.
Uncle Jake paused but that was all it took.
The Golden Dragon lifted his mighty head and glared at the group, "You have failed to convince me that you are different than all the other humans and so, I will kill you one by one. Starting with this one."
The dragon turned his head to Sabrina. Sabrina's heat leaped into her throat as the dragon opened its huge mouth. She found herself staring into the giant mouth and she could already see the fire coming up his throat, the heat was enough to make sweat break out on her forehead. Sabrina squeezed her eyes shut as the dragon took a deep breath, ready to burn her to a crisp.