Chapter 5 - 'Do not enter'

I watched in horror as his spines shot out of his back and scales grew on his former smooth skin. I moved back as he grew bigger and taller. His feet now had brown long frightening talons, wings grew out of his back and his golden eyes looked like those that could rip anything to pieces.

The red dragon standing before me made me tremble as I thought it would eat me, roast me or whatever dragons did, but I felt a hand cover my eyes.

"Cut it out…" I heard from behind me.

Damien removed his hand from my face and I saw Julian putting his shirt back on. I still felt shaken as I replayed the whole thing in my head.

"Wow…you really are scared, good thing there's no one more terrifying than that"

"You can leave, Julian," Damien said again. Julian shrugged, folding his hands across his chest.

"a..a.re you gonna kill me?"" I stammered.

"I'm not, I've got better things to do, and since I'm not wanted here, I'll be on my way" Julian said walking towards his limo.

"C'mon, let's go inside, you've seen enough for one day" Damien said and I followed. I've seen enough indeed. I mean I just learned that I'm some hybrid, my dad isn't my dad and there are people out to kill me…what more could be worse than that.

I asked questions and I got answers, but am I ready for this big change?

"Try not to think about it…you'll understand everything but take it one step at a time" Damien said as he opened the door to my room.

"Did my dad..I mean.." I didn't know what to call him anymore but he didn't put me away in some orphanage despite knowing I'm not his child so I guess that's a plus.

"...did dad know about all this, about me?" I asked.

"No, he didn't,"

"What am I gonna do?"

"Don't run away…that's the only thing you should do" Damien said and I couldn't agree more.

"…and don't wander around where you shouldn't be" his voice sounded deeper than normal, holding more authority than the first time.

"Why aren't you both out to kill me too? Why are you protecting me?"

"That's pretty much not important, get some rest" he said and walked away.

Walking into the room, I made my way through the massive room, observing everything I could lay my eyes on. If I'm gonna be here for a long time, I might as well get used to my surroundings. I hadn't really focused on the interior designs. Though it gave off the dark vibes, I still liked it. There wasn't really much to look at in the room, except the magnificent paintings of the floating lanterns, the huge pillars standing firmly on the ground on each side of the room, and the balcony at the far end of the room, leading outside to a captivating view of the whole mansion.

After a while of observing nature from the balcony and still couldn't sleep, I decided to walk around the mansion, maybe I'd find something interesting to fill my eyes with.

The corridors had exceptional artworks of old artifacts that looked interesting and quite old to still be in existence, if I say so myself. I opened one of the huge wooden doors and found it was a library filled with all sorts of books. I used to love books a lot when I was a kid, but not as much anymore, ever since mum died. I moved on to the next room and it was totally empty, dark and void. The silence was loud and the mere feeling of emptiness made me shut the door quickly. I moved on and found music rooms, storage rooms, the maids quarters and more empty rooms on the west part of the mansion. The mansion seemed to have more empty rooms than occupied ones.

I looked ahead, staring at the corridors on the east side of the mansion, which seemed darker than the other parts. My curiosity took over and I found myself walking through the dark passageway. It was dark but I could see, which amazed me. It was like some sort of night vision. I found a door that boldly wrote, 'DO NOT ENTER' and for some reason, I entered, ignoring the all so dramatic warning.

As if the corridors in this region weren't dark enough, the room was pitch black making it impossible for me to see anything at all.

Suddenly, fire lit up on torches around the room and I feared for my life as I looked around and found no one.

"Don't you read?" I heard a voice from behind and just like that, Damien walked out of the shadows, like he owned them. His eyes were a shade of golden brown but I could see the anger in them.

I didn't know what to say and just prayed I hadn't crossed the thin line of his patience.

"Your curiosity is gonna put you in big trouble princess" He said, his voice sounding calmer.

"Foxes and their high level of curiosity" he said again walking towards a huge painting on the wall.

"I knew you'd go snooping around where you shouldn't be…so here's something to fill your eyes" Damien said. I sighed relieved that I wasn't in trouble.

I looked around the room and found sculptures of things, weird things and beings I've never seen before. One of the sculptures looked like Julian but with shorter horns and a lot less spiky.

I turned to one of the huge paintings he was staring at and I saw a fox-like creature with lots of tails…its eyes were plain white and it had a striking aura which I assumed was as a result of the creative exaggerating imagination of the artist.

"...is that what I look like?" I smiled observing the beauty of the fox.

"yes…" Damien said.

I studied the people and creatures around the animal and they all seemed to be bowing to the fox.

"Is the nine-tailed fox really powerful?" I asked

"yes…but not as powerful as the fox in the picture"

"Who's the fox in the picture?" I asked further and Damien looked at me, his gaze firm on my eyes, empty, but tempting.

"You'll know…"

"... eventually" he finished and I looked away, feeling a bit timid.

"And over here, we have…" Damien spoke but I was distracted as I observed the words at the bottom frame of the painting, It read…

"Let all evil be…"

"STOP!!!" I heard Damien yell but then I couldn't hear anything anymore, except faint whispers in my head calling my name and the sound of screams echoing across the room. The feeling felt familiar and I wanted to connect to it but I felt a pair of hands on my face.