I took a few steps back and suddenly felt like maybe I shouldn't have brought Octavia. But I wanted to fly. I wanted to feel the air wild and free caressing my body. I wanted to sink into the black velvet night and shine like stars.
I spun around and the monochrome night blurred in shades of grey and black and dark green. It wasn't good to keep it all pent up inside. I had to let it out.
There was a sharp pain that lasted a split second as my wings ripped through my skin and god the release as they stretched out to their full span. It felt like wearing a pair of tiny sweaty shoes for days and days and then finally taking them off. That 'aaahhh' feeling.
The horns were less pleasant. Itchy and scraping as they forced their way through my scalp. I was blessed with relatively discreet horns hardly more than three inches long and dark enough to blend in somewhat with my hair. Others of my kind weren't so lucky sprouting huge horns that curled around their ears like a rams or else curved a foot into the air like a freaking gazelle. Sissy and I were lucky.
The pointed ears and the fangs were nothing I couldn't live with but I had to wonder why fangs? As far as I knew biting was a personal preference not a characteristic of my species? For defense maybe?
Octavia was staring at me her mouth hanging open and Barapha wolf-whistled his eyes shining in the night.
"Shut that up, honey bunches, or you might start catching flies," he said coming to stand by Octavia and she snapped her mouth shut. She was still staring at me and I was too high to decipher her expression. At least she wasn't running away.
"Oh, Chase, your wings are so beautiful!" Quetz exclaimed. "Like a European dragon. May I touch?" I nodded and felt warm fingers on the thin, tight leathery skin of my wings. It had been a long time since I had let my wings out let alone had someone touch them. It was odd to have a body part go so long without being touched even by yourself. Everything felt new.
Quetz grinned and said, "It's my turn now."
He took a few steps back into the field and I felt a cold arm circle around my waist pulling me back several yards to stand by Octavia who was still staring at me. I looked up at Barapha and I wanted to kiss him. His gaze met mine and I saw my own heat flicker through him like red light beneath his skin.
Octavia's eyes finally left me and widened so much I thought they might pop out of her head and her mouth fell open once again. I felt a surge of heat and glanced away from Barapha to see Quetz engulfed in a flurry of teal and gold flames glittering intensely bright in the darkness.
I squinted against the light of the fire and when it cleared it was my turn to gape in awe. I had never seen an Amphithere and had no idea what to expect. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured in my head when Barapha said Quetz was a dragon.
He was quite large, his serpentine body stretching nearly forty feet across the field, eight feet tall at the shoulder. His head and body were covered with scales in varying shades of blue and green, his wingspan was nearly as long as his body, feather in shades of dark green shimmering with a golden sheen like the feathers tufted at the end of his tail and wreathed around his neck.
There was a line of small feathers running the length of his body from the collar of feathers down to the tip of his tail. His large eyes glowed with golden fire pupils dilated in the dark.
"Oh my," I whispered my eyes trying to take in all of him at once.
"It's impressive, isn't it?" Barapha said his own eyes shining in the darkness. I nodded and then glanced at Barapha.
"You sound almost proud," I murmured and he smirked replying, "I am proud. Amphithere's are rare, almost as rare as you, Chase...and I've got both of you." I stared at him for a long moment and then looked back as Quetz shot up into the air with a mighty downward sweep of his feathered wings. The sight took my breath away.
Come fly, Chase! I heard his voice in my head and I so wanted to join him leaping and rolling through the air. I glanced at Barapha and Octavia and pointed at the two of them saying, "Be nice to each other or I will put you both on the ground."
Barapha smirked and retorted, "Not much of an incentive, Chase. I happen to like it on the ground." Octavia blushed bright red and I was too ecstatic to come up with a witty comeback so I flared out my wings, bent my knees and kicked off from the ground forcing the air down beneath my wings.
I soared into the air and flew for what felt like the first time in centuries.