Fire & Ice

by Alice Brown

  She looked around once more before standing, keeping one hand on the bed to help brace herself until her legs felt like they could hold her. On bare feet, she silently and carefully made her way over to the portrait, taking in the remainder of the room as she passed by. It was a full-out bedroom all right, to the max. Two plush velvety high back chairs and a stained-glass table sat before the fireplace. Ah, now she was close enough, she could finally make out all the small details of the painting.

  The painting’s background was a blooming, slightly breezy, spring afternoon with the sun high and bright in the sky. A two-headed dragon with a charcoal colored body was in the center of the painting. One head was a searing ice-blue and the other head a burning fiery-orange. Sitting tall and proud behind this dragon was a single-headed deep crimson red dragon. The creatures in the painting were breathtaking, but she found it a bit odd for someone to display a painting like this of supernatural creatures that didn’t exist. For some unknown reason, this portrait made her want to smile, and she found herself chuckling as she felt an unexplained closeness to the dragons in the painting.

  Clearly, whoever owned this portrait had a deep love for the large winged creatures, yet she felt no fear about this. It almost seemed surreal.

  “Hey, beautiful, it’s good to see you up and about.”

  Evangelina gasped, startled that someone had entered the room so silently, and was relieved when she spun around to see that it was Aiden. He was carrying two large trays of food. Adrian followed with a smaller tray of food. After they had settled, Adrian shut the door.

  “Hey, darlin’, you look wonderful, well rested and refreshed!” Adrian exclaimed, kissing her cheek as she stood there, stupefied, watching the two big men taking the platters of food over to the table and acting like this was something they did every day.

  She stood gaping at them for a moment, not sure what to say in return. Too many questions were swirling about in her mind. Where was she? Where was Angel? Was she all right? Why were both the twins here? And why were they walking in with platters of food large enough to feed a huge party of people?

  Adrian turned to find her silently watching them, head cocked to the side and looking at them like he and his brother had lost their minds. Or maybe she thought she had lost hers. He really was not sure. “Come, sit and eat, love. You are still weak from your accident.” He gave the order as gently as he could, pulling out a chair for her, and waiting for her to comply.

  She looked from Adrian to Aiden and then back again. The food smelled delicious, her stomach agreed loudly, and she was already feeling a bit tired from standing. As if to further emphasize that fact, her knees started to shake a bit, making her feel weaker. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to eat a bit of food, she slowly crossed the room to the table and sat in the seat Adrian offered her. The men took seats on either side of her, Aiden pouring her something to drink while Adrian sat the smallest tray of food before her.

  She licked her lips at the savory slab of meat sitting before her. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was, because it only partially resembled a steak, but the aroma coming from the meat and the juices oozing out of it had her mouth watering.

  “Eat, darling,” Aiden spoke softly, his hand lightly touching hers. She hadn’t realized she was just sitting there staring at the plate of food.

  “But I can’t eat all of this. It’s too much,” Evangelina said, looking back and forth between the two brothers.

  The brothers smiled. “Don’t worry, sweets, eat only what you feel like. We didn’t know what you would enjoy, so we brought a lot of different things for you to try,” Adrian stated.

  She looked down at the plate and nodded. Here goes nothing, she thought, picking up her silverware and cutting into the meat. Sweet, hot juice seeped out as her knife sliced into the tender meat. She wanted to moan just at the sight of it; even the oddly-shaped vegetables looked enticing. She did moan however, once the flavors of the food began rolling over her tongue. The meat tasted a bit like pork, but with an exotic zing of spices mixed in.

  “Mmm, what is this? It’s so good!”

  Aiden smiled brightly. “So you like the Boarskon?”

  “The what?” she asked with a confused look on her face. She thought she heard the word boar in there, but had no idea what the rest of it was.

  Aiden realized his slipup. There was no way of explaining the food to her without explaining everything else, and by the looks of it, she was in no shape to deal with all of that. He reached over, picked up an Agaton, and held it up to her lips.

  “Try this,” he requested. The Boarskon that she had eaten a moment ago was their version of Earth’s pork, only their Boarskon grew to be the size of a rhino. The Agaton was shaped very similar to Earth’s bell peppers, but the Agaton could grow to be as large as Earth’s pineapple. He noticed his brother was cutting into a loaf of Wheadirskon, which happened to be a specialty of his land. Made from Wheadirs grain, the very light, sweet bread tasted like it had Earth’s honey in it. It didn’t, of course, but Wheadirs was a naturally sweet grain.

  Evangelina took a bite out of what looked like an extra-large bell pepper, and was shocked to find the taste was completely different. It tasted almost like a spiced rice dish, but she found she enjoyed the flavor, once she got over the shock of it.

  She managed to get out, “Wow! This is good,” before a slice of bread was being brought to her lips. She took a bite and let out a low moan. She could make a meal of the bread alone. Sweet and soft, it reminded her of croissants, only she knew that couldn’t be correct when she looked over to where Adrian was cutting another slice off the largest loaf of bread she had ever seen. It was at least twice as long as a regular loaf of bread, and three times taller.

  The food was marvelous all the way around, yet so different from what she was used to eating. She did however, notice that neither of the brothers had answered her question about what type of meat she was eating. That’s okay, boys, you won’t be able to avoid me once I fill my stomach.

  She was quickly getting full and could feel herself growing more exhausted with every bite. Who knew you could wear yourself out just eating? She wished she wasn’t as tired as she felt. She had so many questions and she had to find Angel and make sure she was all right. Then I need to figure out exactly where I am.

  Seeming to read her mind, Adrian stated in a gentle tone, “Come, sweets, you should lay down for a bit and rest. You have not fully recuperated, yet.”

  She smiled at him kindly as he stood and Aiden pulled out her chair, again questioning as to why these two drop-dead gorgeous brothers were doting on her. It really made no sense. They could have any woman on the planet, yet they always seemed to be right there every time she turned her head. She cautiously took the hand held out before her and let Aiden guide her back to the bed where his brother was already pulling back the covers and fluffing the pillows a bit to make sure everything was perfect.

  She crawled into bed and allowed Adrian to tuck her in. She was about to say thank you for the meal, then state that she wanted some questions answered when she woke up until she was suddenly unable to make a sound as both men climbed onto the bed and settled in on either side of her. Her eyes went wide as her heart started pounding against her chest.

  “Wha…” She was cut off by Aiden’s silencing finger over her lips.

  “Shh, love, there’s no need to worry, everything is all right. We are not going to do anything besides talk.”

  Adrian’s voice on the other side of her caught her attention. “We know you have at least a hundred questions, love, and we thought we would try to explain a few things. Now, first, we want you to close those gorgeous eyes of yours and relax. We will start telling you everything that has happened, and then we will talk more when you wake up.”

  Exhaustion was quickly claiming her, body and mind. Evangelina closed her eyes as she listened to the soothing tones of Aiden’s voice as he began to speak.

  “Your apartment was broken into
the other night and vandalized. You went home with Angel, and she drove you back over to your place on her way to work because you wanted to pick up your car. Unbeknownst to anyone, it had been rigged with explosives, and as soon as you hit the remote start, the car blew up.”

  As the memories of her car blowing up right in front of her came roaring to the forefront of her mind, she felt Aiden’s fingers gently massaging her scalp to help her relax.

  “Angel was not injured in the explosion and called us immediately. We met both of you at the hospital.”

  Okay, so far, so good. Angel wasn’t injured, and evidently neither was I since I was just able to get up and walk to a table to eat. But what about the rest of it? Oh, I must have hallucinated all that stuff about Aiden and Adrian being princes, and meeting their dad, the king. Still doesn’t explain why I am in a room that looks like it belongs in a castle though.

  Adrian’s voice cut in with more explanation. “This is where things are going to be hard for you to understand, baby, but we are telling you the truth.” He kept his voice at a soothing lull, and she could feel herself starting to drift off. “Aiden and I are not from the United States. We are not even from Earth. We are from a place called Dragonose, and our father is the king of this land. We stole you out of the hospital to bring you here so we could heal you more rapidly and thoroughly.”

  Why is it that every time I go to sleep I keep dreaming about faraway lands and kings, and…oh, I give up. I’ll figure things out when I wake up.

  Adrian glanced over to his brother and opened their silent communication path. 'I think she is asleep. Should we stay here with her, or leave her be?'

  Aiden was looking down at their sleeping mate with a sappy expression on his face. 'I don’t know about you, brother, but I could just stay right here, feeling her body pressed against mine for hours.'

  'Yes, I agree, but I think we should go find Angel for when she wakes up. She seems to be having a hard time believing anything we say and try showing her. Maybe if we get her best friend involved, it will be easier.”

  ‘Good point! Yes, let us go see if we can find Angel and Zen.’

  Evangelina woke feeling refreshed and better than she had in…well—she wasn’t sure how long. All she knew was that she felt like a million bucks.

  “Well good afternoon, sleepyhead, I was wondering if you were going to sleep the entire day away.”

  Evangelina popped her eyes open and they immediately landed on her best friend, Angel, sitting in a chair just a few feet from the bed.

  “Angel!” she cried out as she threw the covers aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed to go hug her friend.

  Angel met her halfway, and they hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. Upon thinking about it for a moment, it felt like years since she had seen her best friend. When she pulled back to get a good look, she immediately noticed a sparkle in her friend’s eyes, along with a smile that Evangelina knew had to do with more than just her finally waking up.

  “I am so glad to see you!” Evangelina exclaimed after giving her friend another hug.

  Angel chuckled and shook her head. “You are the one who had us worried over the last few days. How do you feel? Do you want to climb back into bed?”

  Evangelina gave her friend a smile as she shook her head. “I feel fine—better than fine as a matter of fact.” She then looked around the room they were in and remembered some of what Adrian and Aiden were telling her before she fell asleep.

  “Angel, will you tell me what has happened? Where are we? The last thing I remember was my car exploding.”

  Her friend gave her a gentle smile as she steered the two of them back over to the side of the bed. “Here, sit, Evangelina. Sit down and I’ll explain everything the best I can.”

  “I called Aiden and Adrian immediately after the explosion. I knew you trusted them, and they had been so nice to you at your apartment the night before, well, I just felt like I needed someone I could lean on to help get you through what I was sure was going to be a long, painful recovery. They met the ambulance at the hospital. The doctors ran their tests, but really were not doing a lot. I mean, I guess there wasn’t much they could do, besides just waiting.

  “Anyway, Adrian took me outside and told me a secret. It is a secret that I am now going to share with you, but please promise me you will listen to me and not freak out, okay? I know some of this is going to sound outlandish, and believe me, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it either. But, hon, I’ve never lied to you, and I never will. Everything I am about to tell you is the absolute truth.”

  Evangelina watched her friend for a moment in bafflement. Gone was the easygoing smile that had played on her lips just moments ago. What in the world did Angel have to tell her that she didn’t think Evangelina would listen to her or believe her? Besides, after some of the wacky dreams she’d been having, at this point, they couldn’t get too much stranger than being in a faraway land that no one had ever heard of before.

  Angel reached over and gently took hold of Evangelina’s hand. “Okay, so remember how Gerald ranted and raved about there being other creatures on Earth besides humans? Well, turns out he was right. Only they don’t go around trying to take over the world, or killing off humans, or anything like that. As a matter of fact, it is strictly against the rules on Earth for them to divulge that information to humans, so I’m really not sure how Gerald stumbled across it. Anyway, Adrian and I walked over to a secluded park bench, and he told me he and his brother were not from Earth.” She stopped for just a second and chuckled. “I, of course, immediately became irritated and told him to stop playing games, my best friend was in bad shape in the hospital, and now was not the time for his nonsense.

  “He then proceeded to tell me that both he and his brother were dragon shifters, and before I had time to protest too loudly, he allowed his dragon to show through his eyes.” She shook her head as she recalled that memory. “Believe me, I was scared to death at first, but he was quick to reassure me that their dragon was completely safe, and that he had healing powers that would help you out a lot. He also told me that his land had medical equipment far superior to anything Earth had, so they wanted to take you to Dragonose, their home world, to get the help of their physician and Fadri, their dragon, to make you better.

  “At that point, I didn’t know what to do, I just wanted you better. Then I get told that the men from Dragonose believe in having one true mate, and many go through a long and painful journey trying to find their special one.” Angel stopped for a moment and leveled Evangelina with a pointed look. “Evangelina, not only are they dragon shifters, but their father is the king of this land. Oh, and they believe you are their mate.”

  “What! No, they don’t even know me! Besides, just how are you so certain that they can change into a dragon? Adrian might have been trying to play some elaborate trick on you.”

  Angel was shaking her head and frowning. “Well, if seeing their dragon through Adrian’s eyes wasn’t enough, after they took you from the hospital and stole an ambulance to transport you to the portal that would lead them home, I not only watched them change into a dragon, but rode on its neck through the portal to get to where we are now!”

  Evangelina stared at her friend for a moment. Angel had never lied to her about anything. But dragon shifters? Riding the back of a dragon to some foreign place? Then she thought back to her dreams. She remembered two large strangers being in the room with them. One was introduced as a doctor, and the other was introduced as the guys’ father and the king of this land, wherever the hell this was!

  She looked around the room they were in. There were stone walls, like the type you would see in a castle, but modernized with large windows to let the sunlight in. Then her eyes settled on the fireplace, and more importantly, the portrait above the fireplace.

  “Is that them?” she whispered to her friend, as her eyes refused to move from the picture of the two dragons. The one w
ith two heads had a body that was charcoal in color. Each of the heads were a complete different color. One head was fiery-orange, and immediately made her think of fire. The other head was a light blue color, and made her think of ice. Fire and ice.

  The second dragon was larger than the first and was sitting tall and proud behind the first. He was a deep crimson red. She remembered seeing this portrait when she had woken up earlier, right before the guys came in and fed her. Then she was whisked back to bed.

  “The two-headed dragon is them. They join forces when they shift into their dragon form, each brother representing a head. The bigger one in the back is their father, King Thoran, I would imagine.”

  Slowly, Evangelina’s eyes left the portrait and found her friend again. “So, where exactly are we, and are we safe?”

  Angel chuckled before replying, “Yes, silly, we are perfectly safe. They have shown me nothing but kindness since we arrived. And to answer your question about where we are, we are in a place called Dragonose. Don’t ask me how we got here other than the dragon stepped through this magical portal. It was really windy and I couldn’t see anything, I just clung to him for dear life. When we arrived, I climbed down but my knees were so weak, I fell to the ground immediately.”

  “Okay, what happened after we arrived?” Evangelina’s eyes kept returning to the portrait. As crazy as it was, the painting was just too real and lifelike to have come from someone’s imagination. She felt a shiver go up her spine. She was in a foreign land, with no way of getting back home. But then again, what was so important for her to return to anyway? A psychotic ex who wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and broke into her apartment, trashed it, and then blew up her car. Her body was wracked with a sudden shudder as she thought about what would have happened to her had she not used her remote starter. If she had been sitting in the driver’s seat when the car blew up, she would no longer be around.