Demons' Home Ch. 20-24

"Nazar," Zhora said sharply. "Cease with the rudeness."

"Oh, yes Mother. I forgot. Introduce me formally," he stopped and stared flaming eyes at me, taunting, "to Essshhheeerrra."

I finally understood Carlos' restraining twitch as I ached to pull my gun. All I knew for sure was that Ezra and I were a joke to Nazar. I walked until I stood at the edge of Ezra's prostrate form. The dragon inside of me stalked back and forth, its hiss low and intense.

He took a step closer to me, but their mother intervened between us. I got it that she was protecting me, but I wanted him near so I wouldn't miss when I shot him. Zhora continued to stand in my way, even shifting slightly when I moved to get him in my line of sight.

"I will not touch her or that little dragon that smells so sweet when it talks through her." He walked to Ezra and crouched close to his head. "How did one such as you twine with another and have your self come out smelling so wholesome? The scent of an autumn night." He leaned closer to Ezra's ear even though the volume of his voice didn't lessen, "Like harvest. Ready to be plucked and devoured. To satisfy a dragon's," he moved close enough that the flame out of his mouth moved Ezra's mane, "every need."

Ezra's eyes flared, his own facial muscles twitching much the way Nazar's did. Otherwise, he didn't move from his position on the ground. His older brother moved even closer until his lips were on Ezra's scales and he inhaled, mouth wide. He stumbled back, "You tried to hide the reek of cloves!"

And he laughed. He laughed so hard he clutched at his stomach.

Next to me, their mother sighed long and hard, "Nazar! Quit laughing at your brother."

That halted him and he stood up straight, "I have no brother. He was stolen from me," he turned to look Ezra in the eye, "by this demon spawn! And then he cursed my Dame Genesis into a lesser being." His words ended in a shout and he backhanded Ezra's snout. I watched as fire spiraled out of his dragon nostrils and he opened his mouth with a harsh breath.

That was it. I wouldn't stand here and watch this family spat. I realized that Ezra would just lay there and take it. "How long, Ezra? How long did you stay here until you were so broken that you couldn't stay anymore?!"

He never acknowledged me.

I tried to move closer, but Zhora stopped my every move. I shook my head trying to dislodge the incubus magic that seeped out of her and focus on the drama at hand. My dragon and I let out twin growls of frustration. "This isn't helping." The force of my words demanded she understand.

Nazar moved around so he was closer to us. I couldn't see from my vantage, but I knew his claws speared into Ezra's face. "You no longer whimper like a whelp. Did the cloves numb other parts of you, but not your power?"

That stopped me from trying to advance. "What are you talking about?"

Nazar ignored me and continued to harass Ezra. Zhora never turned as she explained. "Cloves mute and paralyze a dragon's power. It is used as a form of punishment, medical treatment and ritual. Any amount present would prevent them from transforming between dragon and guardian form. He did it to assist him with his search for you. I suppose so he would not out-right kill you." Her sigh had multilayers, "Obviously, Ezra was not effected which only proves to his brother that he is not dragon."

"He smelled like cloves the entire time I've been with him. I had no idea he smelled any different until recently." My voice trailed off as I stared at the demon... dragon... that I'd been living with for months. All this time and I still didn't know who Ezra was.

CHAPTER 23

I watched as Ezra's older brother stepped back and form a ball of fire in his palm. Zhora shouted at him, but I was already moving. A short left movement of distraction and I was darting around her right, ducking from the sweep of her arm. I barreled past her and stood facing Nazar with my pistol pointed in his direction for the second time. The dragon inside me breathed in full angry inhales and grew and grew, searing itself in every net of magic I possessed until I saw the world through flames. I yelped and the heated gun fell from my hands.

Nazar hesitated and sinuously moved his head closer to me, taking in scent searching breaths. He shook his head and broke his hiss into parts, "Only mated dragons should smell like that. And you are not a dragon and neither is that thing behind you!"

He hurled the fireball at both of us. Time seemed slow as I focused on the beauty of the flames dancing over each other in their sphere. He was too close. I didn't know what to do, but the little dragon inside me did. She opened her mouth and didn't stop. I became a yawning hole and she ate the fire. Then I had the longest hot flash of my life and lowered myself to the ground, unable to stand.

Behind me, Ezra moved. One of his wings flexed and arched over my head as he maneuvered around me. I looked up, mesmerized by the galaxy spread out on its underside. When he tucked it close to his body I realized that I was almost completely ensconced by him, his tail curved protectively around my kneeling form. He stared down his elder brother and glowed from between his scales, it was blinding white and cold. His fire was the stuff of stars.

This time Nazar stood in front of Zhora and wouldn't let her move past his body.

"Nazar," she said impatiently with a harsh breath.

"He has broken protocol."

She swatted at his wing and her bells chimed, "You tried to kill them!"

His arm came out to bar her way again, "It is my right as Premier."

Zhora hissed low and long, her garments flashing with sparks, "Only if there is a threat!"

Nazar started calmly, but didn't end that way, "His very existence threatens me. Our Creator should have never cursed you for having spawned that!" He jabbed in a knife like manner at his brother. "I will never understand why you had to be blamed for Meloch-Ezra's wrongdoings!"

Zhora started to talk again, but Nazar interrupted her and turned those flaming eyes to where I peeked around Ezra's wing, "Hurt him."

"Excuse me?!" I asked.

"If he really believes that you are his Eshera he will do what you ask, he will follow where you lead and he will take any and all hurts you give him. Prove it."

I stood and placed my hand on the dragon next to me, his scales turning pliable and soft where I touched. That was a good thing since I'd forgotten how deadly they were while completely preoccupied with Nazar's demand. Ezra's white glow faded and he cocked his head, his face still pointed in the direction of his older brother. I moved so I could stare into an eye that swirled with the movement of exploding stars.

Was that what Ezra had been searching for the entire time I've known him? Was that why he never stopped me from doing something, always seemed to follow and wait patiently for me to make decisions? Reluctantly interfered with my decisions. Was I suppose to lead him? And where? Back to his family and heritage... was I suppose to change him, the way their history said the original Eshera did to Meloch. Oh my God, how did I do that?! That was a lot of responsibility that I never knew I had and may have carelessly disregarded because I never fully understood.

"Hurt him?" I whispered and leaned against his body, "Not if I can help it."

"Then leave and never come back. Never. Come. Back. Meloch-Ezra."

Zhora made a sound of distress.

I felt his body shudder violently, vibrating through my own. I looked up at him, 'Tell me,' I pleaded. 'Please hear me. What do you want?'

I don't know how long we'd been in this cave, but it felt like days. Heavy, life changing days. If I could do this would it mean he never left again... One event at a time, I told myself.

"You said there was something that no dragon would tolerate. It's a no win situation. If he tolerates it I am his Eshera, but he is no dragon."

Nazar laughed scornfully, "It is the trial of Eshera and Meloch. I could have no dispute were you to follow the protocol of an epoch."

Ezra hissed and spat fire off to the side so it sprayed and zigzagged across the ground. His disapproval was evident to all of us.

"It is true," Zhora confirmed.

"What is it?"

Mother and eldest son looked at one another and Zhora took over, her voice a sad lyrical rhythm, "Before the calm, Meloch loved. Power sharing all for one. Fiery passion, stream of tears, Eshera harming none. Release is sought. Mending not. Water burn. Fire flood. Crevasse deep. Power of two becoming one. Broke his storm. Shook the skies. Turned triumph into Goddess cries."

I was silent as I tried to decipher what she sang. Ezra flashed before me and stood as a guardian.

His voice, quiet and deadly, "There is no way I will allow that. You two must have lava breakage in your mind to think I would agree to meet our creator. Especially given that our particular Goddess is not happy with..." He paused.

"Me, Ezra. Our Eternal She is not happy with me. I do not know what she thinks of you. Perhaps it is time to find out."

Nazar spoke at the same time as Ezra, "She is not happy with him, Mother!"

Ezra's wings snapped out as hard as his hiss, "Not at the expense of Dove dying!"

It finally all fell into place for me, "Oh... Oh! Oh my gods! You mean for me to kill myself and meet your Eternal She! You two are out of your mind!"

Ezra made an affirmative gesture towards me, "Not your best idea."

Zhora weaved her head back and forth, bells clinking. "Think of it as giving yourself to the Eternal. It is not as bad an idea as you think, Meloch-Ezra, Eshera."

"Dove. Really. My name is Dove," I asserted.

Ezra shook his head, "Premier Nazar-"

He gave Ezra a look of angry disbelief and interrupted, "You have broken protocol by changing form without permission and you still call me Premier!"

"You would have killed Dove for taking your fire and now you want her to fall in a crevasse, drown and kill herself." His voice turned hard and angry, "I will not let her do that."

"And she would not let me blind you. The question is will your Eshera," he spit out the name scornfully, "do what needs to be done or will she let you control her? She is not your Eshera if by your decree she refuses." He looked at their mother, "I am done."

I shouted after his retreating figure, "You make no sense! I'm not refusing to drown myself because Ezra told me not to!" Nazar ignored me and looked up, continuing to move away. He leapt at a giant fire rimmed hole above us and turned dragon, shooting through the opening at ferocious speed. My mouth dropped, "HOLY SHIT!" How the hell did I miss a huge gapping hole in the ceiling. I felt Ezra's fingers firmly closing my jaw.

"The heat in the air. It masks the caves if you are not being observant, makes you sleepy so we can sneak up and eat you." He answered my question as if he read my mind.

I eyed him warily, wondering if he could mind talk with me and was refusing to.

His eyebrow rose, "You were getting better at not swearing." In a quick swirl he was human looking, his hair tied back in a queue and looking as well dressed as Taurin usually did. He grabbed my hand and brought it up to his mouth. His lips and teeth caressed my knuckles in a most provocative manner.

"Not really," I replied distractedly as I gazed at the handsome demon holding my hand.

"Scion Ezra." Zhora walked closer to us.

"Mother."

"Your brother is hurting."

I made a noise of contempt at her statement and Ezra tightened his hold on me.

"I would say we are all hurting, even you."

She barely acknowledged his statement. "It would pain him to see you thus concealed." Her hand flashed up and down as she indicated his form.

Ezra chuckled, "It is familiar for Dove and keeps her from being so awestruck that she may actually pay attention to me."

My mouth dropped open for what seemed like the gazillionth time that day, "WHAT!? You did not just say that!"

Ezra gave his reverberating laugh.

Zhora glided past us with the delicate sound of bells as she kept moving towards the passageway. "It is good that she makes you laugh. These stones have missed you."

Ezra stared after her for a long moment, then turned to me. "It occurs to me that you have not seen anything of my world. Would you like to? You will appreciate it."

I blinked. I'd forgotten that the only place I'd seen was this cave. "Is it winter here too?"

He cocked his head at me as if I asked a silly question, "Winter never lands on our home. The snowflakes melt before they reach the stones. Too many fire born dragons."

"Don't you mean hot headed?" I asked, tongue-in-cheek.

He smiled and traced a vein behind my ear, "That too. Get your gun and get on."

In a blink he shifted to his dragon form and bent his shoulder to me.

"You're out of your mind, Ezra." I said as calmly as could at the enormous being next to me. My quickening pulse belied the words though.

He puffed smoke in my face and angled a huge night sky eye at me.

I threw my hands up in surrender, "Fine, but if I hurt you, don't blame me."

I swear I saw amusement in his facial expression as I climbed up his arm inelegantly. Eventually I made it to his shoulder blades, between a deep nook that fitted itself around me snugly. My hands braced on his neck and found that it formed around them into an easy handhold. 'Oh, that's so weird' I thought just before I felt his shoulders tense and his hunches crouch.

"No somersaults!" I screamed as he flung himself up, straight through the tunnel of fire.

CHAPTER 24

Tears were streaming out of my eyes at the strength and speed of our ascent and I could feel an excited screech from the dragon inside me as she took flight with him. When we reached the top of the gap my ears popped and a great whoosh of wind buoyed us up. Ezra flared his wings and they arced like a parachute. Then he was flying straight towards the orange glowing sun. His wings stretched out and he slanted in such a way so I could have a better look around me. There were no words for the view. He was right, I was amazed.

We were surrounded by mountains and none of them had snow. I looked at the tree line and couldn't identify a single one. Ezra soared higher and I hunched closer to his body heat, battling the cold of the altitude. A quick turn and another inclination of wings had me looking down at an endless grass valley with horses screaming and kicking their way as fast as they could from the descending dragon. One turned and reared, a horn sparking shafts of sunlight and I blinked trying to reign in my shock at seeing a unicorn.

Ezra payed them no mind and circled lazily in the sun letting a spiraling draft keep us afloat while his wings made small adjustments. When I became concerned about the swiftness of the approaching ground he made a leap into the middle of the spiraling air. I screamed as it shot us straight up, like being launched out of a canon.

Ezra rumbled and I swatted him, "You're laughing at me!"

He made a quick turn back to the mountains and flew past. As we soared away from them and closer to the coast I could actually make out what looked liked human habitation. He stayed high in the air and maneuvered so I could look again. High turrets seemed to mark the boundaries of a large seaside town. His shadow caused a lot of frantic movement here too, only this time he didn't descend.

I watched the seemingly impossible stretch of his wings as we flew directly into a flock of large white birds moving towards the sea. We soared with them until he dived abruptly and another scream would have been torn from my throat if I had breath. A short curving rise and he skimmed us just above the waves. I tried to look past the surface of the water as he dipped the tips of his wings in the ocean. My concentration broke when he moved the flat of his wing farther in and splashed me. I laughed and buried my face in his neck. His scales forgiving and soft on my skin.

My body moved in concert with the huge sweeping turn as we stayed inches above the water. Farther out, between the strokes of his wings I could make out ships heading towards the town port. He flew fast and unwavering to the head of the harbor. His swiftness made their own waves on the surface and soon something that looked like dolphins started leaping all around us. The closer we got to a ship the more I could hear the sounds of a blaring alarm. Goosebumps rose on my arms as I thought about what a frightful sight Ezra must seem to these men. He made a sharp, flat winged left before impact, but not before my shocked look collided with sailors. We were gone before I could make out if I could understand anything they were shouting.

"Ezra! You crazy dragon!"

He rumbled again and twisted back and forth over the water, playing a game with the sea creatures swimming below us. I laughed in joy as they jumped higher and higher to touch the sides and bottom of the dragon I rode. Then Era stopped for a mere second and I felt us drop, my stomach went up while the rest of me went down. A huge splash sounded underneath us and the dragon was lifted by a huge waft of air and thankfully my insides went back into place. His wings beat hard as he pushed us higher and higher into the sky. We got to the height he wanted and he stopped again, only to fall head first.

It was a free fall and I would have screamed obscenities if I had a voice and not my heart in my mouth. His body rumbled around me again and he went into a controlled spiral the closer to the water we got. Tears streamed out of my eyes and I shivered from the unexpected rush of excitement that tore through my body during the uncontrolled descent. He pillowed out his wings and slowed us down gently before he started to fly unwavering towards the marina.

"Ezra!" I screamed in frustration.

He flew right up to the wooden mooring and landed delicately. Men and woman screamed and Ezra puffed out his scales to look like shiny black feathers. I peaked around his neck to see armed men coming directly for us with long lances. The people pointing at me were just as unnerving.

I spoke drily, "You can't be serious. You're gonna just stand here and wait for them to spear us."

His whole body shook in mirth and he shot straight up just as the men loosed arrows and javelins. He turned back to the mountains and I could still feel the warmth of the setting sun on my back. Small tight twitches of his wings had us skirting the craggy edges until he landed on a huge ridge. His shoulder sloped down and I recklessly slid down his muscles, eager for the earth. I stumbled on the loose rocks beneath my feet and felt strong arms wrap firmly around me from behind. His body moved sinuously around mine until there wasn't a breath of air between us. That flexible tail of his twined firmly around my leg and I had never felt so safe in my life.

A giggle erupted from me as he blew warm breaths around my loose hair, tickling my face. I closed my eyes in bliss as his mouth latched onto my earlobe and he sucked lazily. It was tugged on little by little until he no longer clenched it in his teeth.

He licked behind my ear and a shudder went through my body. "You will not fall when you are with me."

"I've already fallen," I whispered.

He snorted loudly in exasperation and I smiled over the tightening of his arms around me. I had never felt closer to Ezra than I did now. I jerked and jumped with joy, painfully knocking his head back with my skull.

He chuckled and obliged me as I turned around. His wings sailed out behind him and one hand rubbed his jaw and chin. I watched a smirk settle on his face as I massaged the back of my head. My smile eased into seriousness as I stared into those flickering eyes. I was drowning in flames that didn't burn.