263 Into His Mind

Dawn was left standing out as she watched her dragon going back to his abode like a little baby. She could feel his anguish and how he felt about his dependency on his rider. 'Quetz talk to me,' she said. 'I am sorry as to what happened up there, but I told you already, the things just went out of control.'

There was no answer, only the sound of raking the branches. 

'Vampires don't exist. Why are so scared of something that doesn't even exist?' she goaded him. 'Why don't you open your mind to me so that I can see exactly what your fears are.' 

'Vampires exist…' came a soft whimper. 'They exist in the Lore. We all are creatures of the Lore.' 

Dawn's eyes became wide. The blood-sucking creatures existed? She rubbed her forehead and shook her head not believing a word she heard. She had never ever heard of vampires, only read about them in fiction, but she knew that Quetz didn't lie, so she asked him, She struggled to find the right words. 'And where did you encounter a vampire? I mean, are you that you saw a vampire? It is possible that you saw an illusion.' It was extremely difficult to believe him. 

'No…' he replied. 'Illusions…' 

Irritated that he was giving so little and hiding in the Eoben, Dawn said in a loud voice, 'If you want me to believe you, you have to fill in the details. Stop sulking like a child.' 

After a moment's pause, he said, 'Do you remember that I had gone to the Amazon jungles?' 

'Yes,' she said and came under the tree. One of the branches bent down for her to climb. She climbed it, held it firmly and it rose. Soon she was face to face with Quetz who had crouched on a flat sort of bed that was intricately interwoven by the branches. His wings are tucked behind tightly and his scales were smoothened. 

'What happened over there?' she asked as she clambered to him and leaned against his big warm body. She was amazed at how big the tree was and how beautiful it looked. Thin streaks of sunlight stole their way through the leaves and lit the place dimly.

'I am closing my eyes Dawn. If you touch my head with your hands and concentrate, maybe you can enter my mind. I don't know if you can get inside my mind, but if you could pull that nightmare out, maybe you can actually see what happened with me."

'Then let's do it. I want to know what has made my dragon so upset.'

Twenty more feet inside that area, and she found Quetz. His wings were stretched to the fullest as he was screeching and breathing fire. He was nervous as hell. Dawn ran to protect him from whatever he was fighting with, but an invisible wall stopped her. "No! Let me in!" she rasped. "Quetz!" she shouted to get his attention, but he had launched a full-blown attack. There was fire everywhere lighting the vista with orange. Quetz had created a ring of fire around him. She couldn't understand who he was fighting until a woman in red cape and a black gown emerged on the periphery of the ring. With her claws jutting out and fangs as sharp as knives, she was hissing at him. 

"Come here, dragon," she hissed at him. "I am going to shred you into pieces!"

Quetz attacked her with his wings with its bat-like talons forward. He covered the woman with them and went for her head. It would have been an easy peel of the head but the woman pierced her claws into his wings. The dragon roared with pain and removed his wings back. He stepped back into the ring of fire. There was blood everywhere. Quetz breathed fire again, but the woman leapt away to protect herself. Her skin had started burning and almost half of her body was charred. She was also in a lot of agony. In a last bit to save himself, Quetz flapped his wings hard and lifted himself off the ground in order to attack her again. But suddenly the scene changed again and the scenery was restored. The woman had disappeared. 

With a bellow to the sky, Quetz spread his wings and pushed himself off the ground, his wings bleeding. 

Dawn pressed her hands to the invisible wall, crying as hell. She wanted to go to him and tend to her dragon. 'Let me in,' she said. 

'That was Emma, a vampire, wife of Lord Lorza.' 

'I will kill her!' Dawn said with hatred pouring out of every part of her body. 'How dare she attacked her dragon.' 

'Come out Dawn,' a soft voice coaxed her to leave the place. She looked behind to find a branch with pink leaves. She held it and it pulled her out of the black shadowy hole.

As soon as she came out, she said, 'Take me to her Quetz. I will kill her!' She wrapped her arms across his neck.