Sins of A Red Dragon
[timeline: approx. 300 years after the splitting of the worlds]
Part One: Forbidden Attraction
Isabo gazed at Jalala as she stood in the waterfall in her human form rinsing her dark hair. She is so beautiful, the young girl thought. So few of the Unicorns had dark hair. Most of her friends thought she was odd but Isabo loved the fact that her sister was different, a black Unicorn like her Uncle. It made her sister special. Jalala was the oldest of their mother's last cycle. There were suppose to be ten siblings but instead Isabo was the last, now eleven to her sister's sixteen years. Their mother was killed just days after Isabo's birth. The young girl barely remembered her. Her sister, a mere six years old, suddenly became Mother. The rest of the herd helped, one of them nursing Isabo until she could be weaned, but because they were the children of their herd's leader, they remained separated, thus bonding closer to each other than to the herd.
Her sister had reached mating age and wore the ringlet crown which indicated her first cycle had started. Once the crown was on the wearer had five days to come to a decision. She will have to choose another Unicorn to mate with or else... Jalala had plenty of suitors but she refused to choose any of them. Ten years of responsibility made her mature beyond her short number of years. To her, the available bachelors, especially the boys her age, lacked the qualities and the maturity she craved. She knew time was running out and if she didn't choose a mate on her own, she would end up either in the Ritual or mating with a Unicorn of her father's choosing.
None of their brothers understood her reluctance and fear, but Isabo did. Being the only two girls in a family of males, they were as close as twins, despite the age difference.
Isabo undressed and joined her sister in the water. Jalala waded over and started washing her little sister's white hair.
"You have such beautiful hair Isabo." Jalala told her.
"That's all I have." she said, looking down at her flat chest.
"Give it time. Don't be in a hurry to grow up Isabo. Time moves fast enough as it is."
"But what's time to us? We're immortal."
"If that were true, then Mother would still be here. Age and illness may not affect us, but circumstances can."
"That Dragon that killed Mother, she got away didn't she?" Isabo asked. "What was her name?"
"I believe her name is Dai. She's a Green Great Dragon. I don't know her full name. They say she was once one of the Ancient's Great Dragons, but she went rogue. She's killed a lot of innocents besides Mother but she always manages to evade capture. She's cold, calculating and vindictive, almost like a lesser Dragon. Most of the Great Dragons, are not like that. The Great Dragons helped the Ancients who were our creators. They are usually valiant and noble." Jalala said. "It's a miracle that Dai didn't kill you too. Mother did a good job hiding you from her. Did you know it took us three days to find you? If we hadn't found you when we did... One more day and we would have lost you too!"
Jalala embraced her little sister, empathically sharing with Isabo all the love she felt in her heart.
Isabo accepted her sister's physical and empathic sharing but through it she could feel her sister's fear: fear for her own future. For Jalala, time had passed too quickly. She was facing the same undesirable fate as her mother, Tifla, had. The Ritual - where all the available Unicorn stallions would compete for her and she would be forced to mate with winner.
Their father kept using the fact that he and their mother mated this way, but Jalala remembered that day. She may have been an infant at the time, but she was still aware. She felt her mother's fear and sadness that day and then she saw it flare up again after her brother's birth until Tifla finally decided to mate permanently with Kalid. Jalala was not Kalid's daughter at all. She was the last offspring produced by the love between her mother and her mate of love, Jalal. Tifla cared for Kalid but it never turned into the soul mating she had with Jalal, despite all of Kalid's efforts.
Jalala had adult full siblings who helped her mother care for her and her first cycle brother, but when Tifla mated with Kalid, everything seem to change. Jalala's siblings didn't care for their new step-father. They understood why their mother mated him but he was too different from their father. Unlike Jalal, who believed love was more important than bloodlines, Kalid frowned on outside matings. He rejected any of Jalala's siblings and friends who found unconventional love, even when the offspring were still strongly Unicorn. Thus most of Jalala's siblings left the herd and when her mother died, it was her that was left to care for her cycle siblings, under the watchful and caring eyes of the Unicorn who became her father. Kalid was loving and supportive of her and his children but he believed his way was "the only way". Now she felt trapped by that belief, unable to seek out her own love. In these trying times, there were few places she could search for love anyway,
When Rais and his heir were killed by Demons, Kalid was chosen as leader. He and several others who believed has he did, made living with the herd difficult for the "mixed" couples, usually male Unicorns and their human maidens. Kalid didn't trust the humans even though the Ancients had placed them and their lands in the Unicorns' care. He had lost his family to them and couldn't get past that memory. Finally the "Impure" ones left with their families and formed their own Unicorn herd, gentler and mortal, but still magically strong and beautiful.
The girls' uncle, Fahd, and his Demon Wolf mate were another pair that felt out of place, both with the Unicorns and the Demon Wolves, but that happened before Kalid ruled. They moved into the Western Lands of Demon World before Jalala was even born. When Kalid became the new leader, it wasn't long before Fahd and InuTala were joined by several others with similar matings. Their offspring were quickly dubbed Dog Demons because the majority of them transformed into dog-like demon forms instead of Unicorns. The new Dog Demon clan quickly discovered that they were stronger and more intelligent than the other High Demons in the region. They ended up establishing themselves as the protectors and rulers of the Western Lands, replacing the lost Unicorn herd of that region.
"Come, Isabo" Jalala said as she released her, "rinse off now. It's time we were getting back."
Isabo turned and faced her sister, her mouth open, to say something but instead she squealed in surprise and shrunk down into the water.
Jalala whirled around and then covered herself as she also sunk into the water.
"Who are you? How dare you watch us!" Jalala yelled at the man casually sunning himself on a boulder next to the pond while he watched them.
"Oh please, ladies, don't stop on my account." Kyo said.
"Pervert!" Isabo yelled at him.
"Now don't be that way. I just stopped to have a drink. I was not expecting a drink for my soul too. I was so enjoying myself."
"Do you even know who we are Dragon?" Jalala said, unable to control the blush, nor the feeling as her body responded to his human form. What is this feeling? Is it because of my heat or something else? Or is it just one of the Dragon's mind games? She wondered.
Jalala changed to her Unicorn form and stood between the Dragon man and Isabo.
"Isabo, change and get back to the herd."
"But what about you?" Isabo asked, afraid to leave her sister alone with the Dragon.
"I'll be fine."
"Indeed," Kyo interjected. "I mean no harm. If I did, you both would already be dead."
To Kyo, Jalala said "You're not helping your case, Dragon. Isabo, go!"
The young lady transformed into a white Unicorn and fled the scene.
"Really?" Kyo said continuing the conversation. "Am I on trial here?"
"Tread softly Dragon. Our mother was killed by one of your kind. It's not a teasing matter to us."
Kyo's teasing smile faded.
"Please accept my humble apology. I didn't know." he said, bowing to her. "I assure you, I would never do such a thing."
Kyo picked up the clothes laying near him and held them out to her. She gave him a calculating look.
"Turn away."
Kyo sighed as he turned his head away, but he couldn't resist peeking again as she transformed and took the clothes. She was so irresistibly beautiful.
Normally after enjoying a peek at a beautiful young body, he would leave to seek out someone else with more experience, but this time he didn't. His attraction for this young Unicorn woman surprised him. Usually when he was considering another species for a "fling" he avoided the inexperienced. He resorted to spells that would capture women for his needs and when he was done the spells would wear off. But with virgins the spells would linger. They became too attached. When he was ready to move on, they just couldn't understand that his affection was just a short-term relationship.
This Unicorn, on the other hand, was drawing feelings from a different place. He felt the urge to learn more about her. He wanted to be attached her. And he wanted her to become attached to him, in a natural way, without spells. It was a new experience for him.
Jalala finished dressing and started to leave.
"I see from the crown you wear that you are of mating age. Do you have someone picked out yet?" Kyo said.
The brazenness of this Dragon continued to amaze her.
"I don't see how that is any of your business." Jalala said. She sounded irritated but she was actually glad for the excuse to stay. There was something about this Dragon that attracted her. She was both afraid and excited at the same time. It was a new feeling for her. She wasn't suppose to have these feelings outside of the herd. Maybe that's what made her attraction toward him so strong, the forbiddingness of it.
"So you haven't," Kyo said, relieved. "Why not?"
She shifted on her feet, not sure how to answer him or even if she should.
"Let me guess," he said when he saw her reluctance. "None of your suitors have a clue about what you're about and they lack the maturity to make you interested enough to teach them. They think it's all about looks and prestige where as you're far more interested in their soul."
Jalala looked at the man. His red eyes were hypnotic. How could this demon, this Dragon, know her heart so well? She was undeniably attracted to him now. Oh why did he have to be a Dragon? Why couldn't he be an Unicorn?
"My feelings and needs are irrelevant," she said, She sat on the boulder beside him. "Because, if I haven't chosen a mate in a couple of days, I will have to go through this awful Ritual."
"What is this Ritual?" he asked. It obvious to him that she was not looking forward to it.
"It's barbaric!" she said, turning from him, blushing deep red with tears threatening to break surface.
"Do you know how Dragons mate?" Kyo asked. "It's not pretty either. The female comes into heat and all the males in the vicinity fight each other for the right to mate with her. Then the winner has to chase the female and be able to catch her, even if he's exhausted and wounded. If he can catch her, he mates with her for the first time right there in the sky and they have to finish before they crash into the ground. The following times are better but the first time is always brutal and heat driven so it can hardly be called romantic. That's why you don't see usually see Dragons in pairs."
During his rendition of Dragon mating, Jalala had turned back to him and listened, watching his eyes. He didn't like the way his species mated anymore than she did hers, at least during the Ritual.
"The Ritual is very similar but Unicorns rarely fight each other. The chase is the same though. See this crown?" She touched it as he nodded. "It's keeping my pheromones in check. My heat started two days ago. In two more days, if I have not chosen a mate, this crown will be removed and I will be forced to go through with the Ritual."
"But surely, this is your first time. Forget about love, that's no way to introduce sex to a young virgin. It's nothing short of rape. I find it shocking that Unicorns would even consider doing that to their daughters."
"We don't usually, but because there are so few females, it's the only way to preserve our species, at least that's what my step-father believes. There are far more males than there are females. We are given every opportunity to find mates within our herd but we're not allowed to look outside for love. If there are none that we find of our own choosing, then that is our choice, either the Ritual or an arranged mating. We mate for life so if we choose an arranged marriage then we are stuck with whomever our parents choose for us," she said
"A lifetime is a very long time, especially when you're an immortal like we are. Our parents usually have our best interests in mind but I can see were that option could be undesirable, too." His heart was really going out to the girl. She was in such a predicament. It would be so easy for him to rescue her from it. He looked deeply into her sad blue eyes. Suddenly his feelings took over. He reached out, gently held her head and kissed her.
Jalala tried to back off, surprised by his advances, but his hand held her until her emotions made her surrender. It was her first passionate kiss and she was rendered helpless by it. Her heart cried out in joy while her brain cried out in pain. A Dragon. She had fallen for a Dragon. Oh gods why did it have to be a Dragon?
Jalala broke the kiss, blushing from the heat of it. She got up from the boulder.
"I must go," she said with her back to him and she started to flee.
Kyo quickly rose and grabbed her hand. "Please, don't go. I don't even know your name."
"Please... Let me go," she pleaded.
"Not until you tell me your name."
Suddenly Kyo was grabbed by several Unicorn men, one in true form, who pointed his horn at Kyo's throat while another locked a collar around his neck. The collar, by it's mere presence, prevented him from changing. The Dragon was careful not to resist, for he knew better than to fight overwhelming odds.
"Father!" Jalala cried, grabbing his arm. "What are you doing? Let him go! He didn't do anything!"
"On the contrary," Kalid said, "this Dragon has been accused of attacking the human village. Since he is not resisting arrest, we'll give him a fair trial."
"Is this true?" she asked Kyo.
"I don't know what they're talking about. I only just arrived here this morning," he said.
"Father?"
"Go home, Jalala. This is no place for you." Kalid said.
"Jalala, what a beautiful name." Kyo said. "My name is Kyo."
"Shut up Dragon." Kalid snapped.
Seeing that her presence was only making things worse, she transformed and ran down the road a span. Then she circled around to watch the scene from behind the brush in the woods. She followed them until she saw her father turn the Dragon over to the Humans and then the young Unicorn sprinted home.
"Jalala! Are you alright? I was so afraid for you!" Isabo said as she ran to her sister.
"I'm fine," Jalala said as she transformed, but in fact she was far from it. She had fallen in love with the forbidden and now he was captured. She knew what would happen to him if he couldn't prove his innocence. If her mother hadn't died at the hands of that Great Dragon, maybe her step-father would have been more open minded. If only her real father hadn't been killed by those bandits, she wouldn't be stuck in this predicament.
"You're lying to me." Isabo said, as they headed toward a private area of the field. She could feel her sister's turmoil. "What did he do?"
"Nothing. We just talked."
"And?"
"And nothing." Jalala said, blushing.
"You're lying!" Isabo demanded.
"Alright... We kissed." Jalala whispered.
"YOU KISSED?!!!"
"Shhh... Don't tell the world."
"Sorry. What was it like?" Isabo asked.
"Oh Isabo, it was so wonderful. My whole body responded to it! I didn't want it to stop. I don't think he did either, which is why I had to end it. Then Father showed up and captured him. He accused him of crimes against humanity and put him in the hands of the Humans. What am I going to do?"
"You fell in love with him? Are you sure? You know that Dragons have the ability to enchant with spells." Isabo pointed out.
"He didn't say any spells. Besides, I'm an empath. They wouldn't work on me." Jalala said.
"You don't know that." Isabo insisted.
"I suppose you're right, but I'd know if he really had feelings for me and he did, Isabo! I felt them!"
"Father will never approve. Besides, you said he's in the hands of the humans now. What if he's guilty? For your own sake and for the herd, you should try to forget him." Isabo said.
"I can't. You're too young to understand. The heart has its own path to follow and once it finds its course it won't be altered. How can I submit to the Ritual now? Kyo is right - it's just wrong. I don't want it to be my first experience. I want to be with the one I love. I want Kyo to be the first." Jalala said.
"But you're in heat now. Our species are so different! If you mate with a Dragon, you may never have children. If you do, what will they be like? And what about your pheromones?" Isabo asked.
"What about them?"
"If you don't get pregnant, won't they keep producing?"
"I'll keep the ringlet crown on."
"Okay, Again, what if he's guilty? and even if he's not, what are you going to do? Break him out and runaway with him?" Isabo asked.
"He's not guilty. He said so and I believe him! And yes, running away with him is exactly what I plan to do."
"But if you do that, I'll never see you again." Isabo said, her tone approaching a whine.
"Sure you will. I'll take him to that hidden meadow in Demon World. It should be safe enough there." Jalala said, giving her sister a hug.
Isabo hugged her back as she resigned herself to the fact that she could not detour her sister from this path. She could only pray for her happiness.
"When will you leave?" she asked.
"Tonight," Jalala said, "after everyone's asleep."