Two Hearts, Connected

Chapter 5

It was cold. Scratch that. It was freezing! The moment I had hit the water, the temperature took my breath away. I could feel the cold water seeping into my clothes--into my skin. I began to shiver as I tried pulling apart the rope tying my wrists together. I began to black out, losing focus as I began to float down to the bottom of the lake.

I became alert once more when I felt the rope give way. With a grin, I managed to swim up to the surface, my eyes immediately latching onto Rookery's shocked ones. "How did you--?!" I paid him no heed as I spun around, using my adrenaline to ignore my pain and swim across the lake.

Once I was a ways away from Rookery and his companion, I stopped, unable to go further any longer. My limbs were tired, and locking up. I fell below the surface of the water, but managed to push myself above it once more. My teeth chattering, I put my lips together and tried my best to mimic the whistle that Rudolph had taught me.

"Hurry Rudolph....I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on for." I muttered to myself. I felt my wings dragging me down below the surface. No.... I thought, my arms shutting down. Rudolph.....I...can't....

Just as my eyes closed, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, pulling me from my watery grave.

I snapped open my eyes to see Rudolph looking at me with relief. "You're freezing." He said worriedly. "I'll be fine." I shivered. Rudolph gave me a look of doubt, but turned his head forward anyway.

We flew back towards the castle, and landed on one of the roofs, only to see Rookery getting into his truck and driving away. "They're going after my brother and the rest of the clan!" Rudolph growled out. "We have to get there before them!" He said, looking at me. "Before sunrise." I added, biting my lip worriedly. I saw him clench his jaw, before he grabbed my hand pulling me away with him once more.

As we were flying through the air towards Transylvania, I noticed Rudolph continuously glancing over at me. "You have questions, I'm assuming?" I sighed, looking at him. He gave me a sheepish smile.

"What exactly are you?"

I sighed at the question I had heard so many times. "I'm a dragon-kin. Probably the last of my kind as well." I revealed. "But, wouldn't that make your family--" I cut him off by shaking my head. "I'm adopted. Mom and dad don't know my true nature, but Tony had seen me transform once. I had to swear him to secrecy." Rudolph nodded in understanding. "So, what is a dragon-kin?" He asked. "Back when dragons were still alive--millennia ago mind you-- they were hunted down by humans who despised them. In a last-ditch effort to preserve their kind, the elder used the last of the ancient magic to transform the remaining dragons into humans. All the turned dragons were eventually killed, but not before a few of them were able to conceive children." I looked down at the lake below us, feeling a tear crawl down my cheek. "The children that come from a mortal parent and a dragon parent are what is known as a dragon-kin. We carry similar attributes to dragons, along with our own magic. Which is why I was able to hide my true self." I gently wiped away the tears gathering in my eyes. "Much like vampires, dragon-kin can live for a long time. The difference being that we still age--only much, much slower than any human." I finished my explanation and refused to make eye contact with the vampire beside me. I was waiting for him to let go of my hand and let me fall to my death. Who would want to touch such a disgusting monster anyway? I thought to myself. "So....how old are you?" My gaze snapped over to Rudolph, and I looked deep into his ruby eyes. There was no sign of disgust, only intrigue. "About 213 years old. Which makes me look 13 in human years. Around this age is actually when we female dragon-kin stop looking older." I explained.

Rudolph gave me a smile, before his face turned serious. "We're being followed." He said, pulling me down under a bridge. We both watch as a familiar looking cow flies above us, seemingly looking for something.

"It's your cow." I chuckled out. "Hold on, what makes it my cow?!" Rudolph asked incredulously. "You bite it, you bought it." I smirk at him playfully. A dark gleam flashed in Rudolph's crimson gaze. "Does that apply to you?" He smirked back, his voice low. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as my eyes widened. It didn't help any when he let out a sultry laugh before flying with me up towards the cow.

The cow looked at us a mooed happily. Following us like a puppy. Well, a puppy that could fly.

"Alright then. Onwards to Transylvania!" Rudolph announced, speeding up.

*****

"We may beat Rookery to Transylvania by hours, but we may not make it before sunrise." I announced, catching Rudolph's attention. Just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, we landed in a graveyard.

"You stay here. Get some rest. I'll keep going." I said to Rudolph, as we were looking for a coffin for him to sleep in. I was mostly dry, and it seemed like my wound had stopped bleeding for the most part. Unfortunately, I was still too weak to hide my extra appendages, I didn't have enough magic stored up. As a gust of wind blew over me, I shivered slightly, but Rudolph's head snapped up, and he sniffed the air. His head whipped around to face me, and his red eyes darted down to the wound on my stomach. My dark blue sweatshirt had an even darker stain covering the lower half of it, it didn't help that there was a large hole there was well. "You're wounded!" Rudolph gasped out, bending down to get a closer look. I took a step back. "I'm fine." The vampire glared up at me, his fangs bared. "Was it Rookery?!" He demanded. "It doesn't matter, you need to--" He hissed out of anger, cursing the hunter under his breath.

"Rudolph!" I snapped, grabbing him by the shoulders. "There's no time. Tell me where to go." I demanded, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Just follow the road. But, Rookery blocked off the entrance with a steel net. You need his special spanner to get it off." He frowned, looking down at me in worry. "Then I'll get it. But you two need to get out of the sun." I said, nodding towards the cow as well, who mooed and flew to a nearby mausoleum, before closing the door behind itself.

I gently pushed Rudolph into the open coffin. "I'll meet you tonight." Rudolph said, frowning slightly. "Please be careful." He said, before pulling me into a hug. I stiffened slightly, before hugging him back. "I will, Rudolph." I muttered, before pulling away. He smiled down at me, placing his cold fingers under my chin, before lifting it up to his face. I felt a pleased sigh escaped my lips when his cold, blue lips finally came into contact with my pink, warm ones. We both closed our eyes in bliss, and Rudolph pulled me even closer to him. His arms wrapped around my waist, mine wrapped around his neck.

As we pulled away, I was blushing heavily, and he had a soft smirk on his face. "You need to get under cover, and I need to get going." I managed to get out, my face bright red. Rudolph chuckled lowly, before laying down in his coffin, and pulling the lid over himself.

I followed the dirt road up, and it connected to an asphalt road. It was completely clogged with cars that were barely moving. Several horns were honking, but my eyes caught sight of a familiar red truck.

I smirked. Best time as any to nab that spanner.

I hid on the side of the road, sneaking around to the back of Rookery's car. As I hopped on the small platform it had, I immediately saw the spanner Rudolph was talking about. Just as I grabbed it, the truck veered off the side of the road, nearly sending me flying off of it as well. I held on tightly to the spanner as Rookery took a side path that was very bumpy.

As the hunter drove further into the forest, the rocks in the road he was hitting were beginning to tear his truck apart. I barely managed to dodge a chunk of metal flying at me as I was hanging onto a bar on the back of the truck. It seemed like Rookery had lost control of the car when it slammed into a tree stump, sending me and the spanner flying through the air. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but a pair of back wheels had separated from the truck, and I managed to land on them. It was all I could do to keep my balance as I flew down a different path than Rookery and his beat up truck.

There was a large stack of cut logs ahead, and I let out a scream as I was once again flying through the air. I held on tightly to the spanner, and felt my tail instinctively wrap around a nearby tree branch, stopping my descent.

As I stayed there, swaying back and forth, I glared at the spanner. "You had better work." I growled at it