Hello guys! Thank you for the reviews, favs and follows!

I'm very very very very sorry for not updating this story for…OH MY GOD! Six months!

Sorry for such a delay... I really feel bad that I made you wait for so long!

Well, here is the new chapter and I hope you enjoy it ;)

P. S. I imagine them being seventeen but they look like in the second movie.

Chapter two

Driving by the shady house with her dad at the wheel the blond girl with cold blue eyes felt shivers running up and down her spine. The memories of the previous night were still fresh in her memory and the cuts that now were healing on her back never let Astrid forget about the black monster, its sharp claws and enigmatic green eyes. The monster that left the slits on her skin.

Now it was obvious that Toothless was not an ordinary human. He changed to look like the second beast, which meant that the first monster might have had a human appearance too. Was that his lanky dorky friend? Was that Hiccup? Astrid could only guess, but that variant seemed more or less probable.

Toothless' transformation was the most astonishing thing she had ever seen in her entire life. The way his limbs grew thick and dark, the way his head changed and long tail appeared, that all made her doubt the condition of her own mental state. Did she really see that or was that only one of her nightmares?

Nope. That was not her bad dream. She experienced sharp pang in her back again and that feeling brought her back to earth. She saw that. She really did.

"Are you okay? You seem to be… rather tense…" Astrid's father said parking in front of their new house. The man looked slightly worried. His daughter was sitting straight the whole ride and never pressed her back against the seat.

"Just got a bruise at the Friday training. I'll be fine" the blond girl brushed the problem aside. She won't tell her father about the cuts. Or she will have to explain how she got them, what she was doing in that damned house and why she did not tell about that before. And she will be grounded till the rest of her days. As well as Ruff as her dad would definitely call her parents.

"So, here we are" Arthur smiled at his daughter stepping out of his car.

"Great" Astrid grumbled with a ghost of a fake smile on her lips. Their new house. Too close to the place that is believed to be haunted.

The Hoffersons unpacked most of their boxes and Astrid even managed to make her new room cosy.

"Astrid?" Arthur knocked at his daughter's room door.

"Come in, dad" the girl was standing on her bed attaching to the wall the poster with the cast of her favourite TV show.

"Wow, your room looks really like… your room" the man patted the girl's shoulder and she made an effort not to hiss. Still too painful. "Gobber called me…"

"It's Saturday evening!" Astrid rolled her eyes. Another emergency call from Gobber and her dad had to spend the rest of the weekend at work, which meant she would be alone in their new house. And two evidently flying monsters are somewhere nearby. The girl won't be sleeping today.

"I'm sorry, I have to go, sweetheart! We'll unpack the rest of our stuff tomorrow!" Arthur bended to give his daughter a kiss on her forehead and moved back too fast after he did that. "Are you okay? You have a fever! Your skin is burning hot!" This time he pressed his palm to her forehead.

"Really?" Astrid looked aside trying to avoid her father's gaze. Actually she felt more or less okay. The cuts and the skin near them were on fire but nothing else bothered her. The blonde supposed that that was the reason why the temperature of her body suddenly ran high and decided to keep her mouth shut. She is almost an adult, she can handle some tiny scratches. Nothing bad will happen.

"I've probably caught a cold…" Astrid lied still not looking her father in the eyes.

"Go to bed! Now! And promise me you'll take the medicine to reduce fever!" Arthur insisted. "They must be somewhere... in the boxes" the man sighed.

"I promise, da-ad!" the girl crossed her fingers behind her back. She did not need any medicine, as she was not ill.

"I'll try to come back as soon as possible!" the man promised, though Astrid knew he wouldn't come till the next evening.

"I'll be here" the girl said in a low voice, and after the door closed behind her dad she whispered "maybe".

Astrid loved to stay alone at home... before she met Toothless and his sharp-clawed friend. Now to say she is uncomfortable with being alone in a big house in the evening is to say nothing. She tried to watch a movie or listen to music or even do her homework to get distracted but pain and anxiety did not let her enjoy the process, and soon she gave up. That would probably be the longest night in her life.

She put on her favourite T-shirt and shorts that always made her feel better and went downstairs to drink a glass of coke when someone rang the doorbell. Astrid squatted and pressed her left side against the wall trying to become tiny or even invisible. Who could that be? Her dad has the key. Ruffnut won't dare to come close to the monsters' house anymore. And other people did not know where she was living now, did they?

The bell rang again and Astrid became numb with fear. Wishing to calm herself down the girl thought about other neighbors that might have witnessed them moving in, so now they probably wanted to say hello and maybe give her something tasty.

She grabbed the frying pan from one of the opened boxes and went towards the door trying not to produce any loud noise that would give her away.

"Mmm… Hello?" Astrid heard the familiar voice from behind the door. That was him. Hiccup. "Astrid?! Astrid, we need to talk"

The girl kept silent not daring to move a single muscle of her body.

"Oh… Come on! Just let me in! I know you are there!" Hiccup knocked at the door impatiently and nervously at the same time.

'Don't move, don't move, don't move' Astrid was repeating the words in her head. 'He will go away, just don't move!'

"Astrid, you are right behind the door. I can smell you!" he admitted.

"Go away or I'll call the police" the blonde threatened still numb with fear. He could... smell her?

"I'm not going to hurt you! We need to talk about the cuts that I left on your back and... the consequences" the boy was almost begging. How could she not understand how important it is?!

That was him. One of the monsters Astrid was afraid of. That was impossible that such a handsome boy was turning into such an ugly beast. And after all, how could anyone turn into something or someone else? It was beyond girl's comprehension.

"Your skin must be burning now! I know how to take care of these cuts! I can help you" the boy promised.

"I said go away!" Astrid screamed, and then she heard him going away. She was surprised that the beast gave in so easily.

The girl took her breath and finally went to the kitchen to gulp down a glass of cold water. Her legs were unusually weak and shaky and her throat felt unbearably dry, as if a fire was ready to appear in her mouth. She must have really caught a cold.

"I just…" Hiccup spoke behind her back.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Astrid screamed turning around to face the boy. He was wearing a green sweater matching his eyes and brown pants, his hair was shaggy and eyes glittered in the darkness of the room.

Astrid moved back and bumped against the kitchen table hitting the small of her back.

"The back door was open, so… I… came in" Hiccup blushed.

"I told you to go away!" Astrid hissed at the boy trying to find by groping the frying pan that she left on the table.

"You don't understand! I really need to talk to you! Please?" the boy was very persistent.

"Are you alone?" the blonde gasped rubbing her back to stop the frying pan was nowhere to be found, so she was observing her unwelcome guest unflinchingly.

"Erm… yes…" he rubbed the back of his head shyly.

"Good" she said in a low voice. At least his creepy friend was away. Or is was not good? Last time Toothless tried to save her. Hiccup was the one who wanted to… eat her?

"I'm sorry… about… the cuts… and… Listen, I didn't want to scare you! People never came to our house before! If we only knew… Just sorry!"

"You wanted to kill me yesterday?" Astrid dared to ask the boy.

"No… Dragons don't kill… they…"

"Dragons?!" the blond girl yelled.

"I'd better show you" Hiccup said coming closer to his love interest. He noticed that she was wearing shorts and did his best to concentrate on her face instead of starring at her perfect long legs. He took a lighter out of the back pocket of his pants. He started to play with the fire that was coming out of it. He was holding the fire too close to his skin not to leave a burn on it, but nothing happened.

"Give me your hand" he ordered offering her his hand.

"What? Noo!" the girl wanted to step back, but she was stopped by the kitchen table again. Then Hiccup gently took her shaking hand and a second later fire coming from the lighter was licking the girl's skin. She wanted to jerk her hand away but Hiccup did not let her do that holding her rather tight. She was staring at the boy spellbound trying to remember how to breathe. She did not feel pain. The fire was… pleasant on her tender skin. When he finally let her go she examined her hand not to see a single burn on it.

"What the damn hell was that?" Astrid's voice was trembling, as well as her limbs.

"Now you see that we need to talk?!" Hiccup chuckled. "But before I have to take care of your slits"

"Ok" Astrid breathed out shrugging. She won't be able to ran away now, so she has no choice.

"Before I do anything promise you won't punch me!" Hiccup was confused.

"What?" the girl slightly raised her right eyebrow.

"I'm afraid you won't like the curing process" the boy turned red and Astrid noticed a wide grin on his face. What was he up to?

Cliffhanger he-he!

Please, review and follow!

I'll do my best to update soon! :) And by 'soon' I mean 'this week'.

Next chapter will be longer and I promise a lot of fluff ^^