The Heart of the Dragon

Continuing down the trail, everyone kept their eyes out for Angie or anything that could lead them to her while at the same time watching out for any danger.

“Can I try to call her?” Tammy suddenly asked, “I mean I know I shouldn’t draw any unwanted attention, but what if she’s hurt somewhere and waiting for a miracle.”

“The only miracle that will happen is when we get off this damn island” Eli grunted.

Tammy rolled her eyes before turning to Mr. Monroe.

“Mr. Monroe?” she asked for his answer.

“Very well” he sighed, “I’ll only let you do it twice.”

“Thanks” she replied as she cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted “Angie!”

Her call echoed throughout the jungle, loud enough for Hayden to hear as he stopped walking.

“What is it?” Angie asked him.

Before he could answer, he heard Tammy shouting out Angie’s name again.

“I can hear your friend calling for you” he responded.

“What?” she gasped.

“They’re getting closer, we’re almost there.”

Meanwhile, everyone waited for a response from Angie, but nothing.

“Oh damn,” Tammy breathed worriedly, “That better not mean she’s dead.”

“Let’s just keep going” Mr. Monroe ordered as they went back to walking.

“So Hayden,” Angie spoke as they kept on walking “How long have you lived here on this island?”

“Ever since I became who I am” he answered casually.

“And how long has that been?”

“I was 9 when I became a hybrid.”

“So you weren’t born a hybrid?” she concluded.

“Correct. Us hybrids aren’t born like this, we become a hybrid when dragon blood mixes with our own blood, and it’s usually done on purpose.”

“Really?” she remarked, “Why?”

“Well first off, you may think that all dragons are evil from what you read and watch on the media, but they’re not all like that. A dragon can save someone’s life by turning them into a hybrid, all of the hybrids on this island were once dying at some point, but they were saved when they were turned by the dragons.”

“And how many hybrids are there exactly?”

“I don’t know the exact number, but a lot.”

“Whoa” her eyes widen “How exactly do they end up on here?”

“It’s mostly from getting shipwrecked or crashing down. One time, a plane full of college students crashed into the water near the beach, and they all survived when we turned them into hybrids.”

“Oh my God” she gasped amazed.

“Yeah,” he snickered “It was the most people they had to save.”

“Well let me ask you this, do they ever get to leave the island? What if they have family out there?”

He gave a sad sigh, “I’m afraid that once we become hybrids, we can’t leave the island. To the outside world, we’re considered imaginary monsters. We must stay hidden for everyone’s sake.”

“So no one is allowed to see their families and friends again?”

“No” he mumbled gloomily “To the outside world, they’re either considered dead or missing.”

“Oh my God” she gasped sadly “That’s so sad.”

“You have no idea” he sighed while looking down.

“Do you remember your family?” she asked softly.

“I remember my grandparents, and I was never really close to my other family members. But my parents and I actually crashed onto this island in a helicopter.”

Angie gave a small gasp.

“It was just supposed to be a fun vacation, but as we were flying in a helicopter, a storm happened and we crashed here. I was the only survivor, but I was really close to death due to my injuries. But then I was found by a dragon and he made me who I am now. I’m grateful that they saved my life, but at the same time, I wished they could have saved my parents.”

Seeing the sadness in his eyes made Angie’s heartbreak, even she felt her eyes began to water as she thought of her parents who probably still had no idea what has happened to her.

“I’m so sorry Hayden” she mumbled.

“It’s fine” he sighed, even though it clearly wasn’t, “I mean, being a hybrid and living here is pretty cool. But at the same time, I wanna explore the world, visit my hometown, see all my friends and families, and just live like a normal guy. But, I can’t, once a hybrid, always a hybrid.”

“You can’t turn back?”

“Nope, we stay like this forever.”

“Oh,” she responded sadly.

“Don’t feel bad, I’ve gotten used to it.”

“Sure you have” she snickered “So um, are you close with all the hybrids and dragons?”

“Well, most of them. We’ve all become like family, but of course, like families, we don’t always get along.”

“Who are you close with?”

“Well, I’ve got a lot of friends, both male and female. Although one of them I consider as my big sister, her name’s Candace, she was a hybrid before I came along. She helped me with my new body and showed me around, made me feel more comfortable, she’s great.”

“Well she sounds nice” Angie smiled.

“She is unless you get on her bad side. Oh who am I kidding, you never want to get on our bad sides.”

“I’ll try to remember that” she smirked as he snickered.

“So uh, you got any siblings?” he asked.

“Nope, only child.”

“Do you wish you had siblings?”

“Sometimes, but I consider my two best friends Tammy and Eli as my siblings, they can be annoying, but I love them to death.”

He smiled before adding- “Speaking of your friends, we seem to be getting closer to them.”

“You can tell?”

“Being part dragon means my senses tend to be stronger than a human’s, and I can tell we’re getting closer by the sound of their footsteps and their scents.”

“Wow,” she remarked amusedly “I wish my senses were as strong as yours.”

He chuckled as they continued to walk until Angie spoke up.

“So um-” she began, “You said that you don’t always get along with your clan, who are you not close with?”

He suddenly stopped walking as he looked down while biting his lip.

“Well-” he sighed, “Not only are there some dragons and hybrids who I can’t stand, but there is one son of a bitch hybrid who I would love to kill someday, even though it most likely won’t happen cause I don’t like to kill. His name’s Conner, he’s been a hybrid since he was 13. But what I hate about him is that he gets jealous about everything, he’s always trying to make it to the top, and when he does, he’ll do anything to keep it that way. He’s always pushing others down, thinks he’s so much better than everyone else, and apparently, I’m his favorite to pick on.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know” he grunted, “All I know is that I stay away from him whenever I can, and whenever he does come at me, I’m always ready.”

There was a stern look in his eyes that made chills go down Angie’s spine, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel drawn to those eyes, there was something about them to made her knees go weak. But her admiration was suddenly cut short when Hayden’s head sprang up while quickly turning to his left as he stared into the jungle.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He didn’t reply as he just stared deeply into the jungle while narrowing his eyes.

“Hayden?” Angie spoke, now feeling uneasy “What is it?”

“You need to run” he suddenly ordered while standing still.

“What?”

“You need to run now.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

What happened next went by in a flash when something jumped out from the trees with a roar and its claws spread out towards the girl. But before it could even reach her, Hayden jumped in front of her and tackled the creature to the ground, unknowingly to Angie that it was similar to the beast that had tried to kill her earlier. She stood there in shock as she watched Hayden tackle the beast as they exchanged growls and grunts while the hybrid pinned the beast to the ground.

“Angie run!” he shouted.

Even though she wanted to watch, Angie didn’t want to disobey as they took off running down the trail. She could still hear the fight from behind, she kept hoping that Hayden would be okay. She didn’t want to run that far fearing that she’ll get lost again, but that’s when she went herself tripping over something as she fell onto the ground. She was about to get back up and run when she suddenly heard a growl from behind, but when she turned around, expecting to see the beast, she instead fell back onto the ground when Hayden suddenly hovered over her with his hands on both sides of her head.

Angie felt her cheeks turning pink by how close he was to her as she stared into his piercing eyes just as she heard the beast appear. She couldn’t see the beast that well due to Hayden still over her, but she could hear it growling while prancing around them as Hayden made threatening hisses and growls at the beast while keeping still over Angie and wrapping his wings around her in a protective manner. Feeling the beast’s breath near her head, Angie kept still while hearing the growls as she closed her eyes while feeling her heart racing. After a moment of anxiously waiting, she could hear the beast storming off as she opened her eyes to see Hayden looking down at her concernedly.

Once again, she felt herself blushing again, not just because he was close to her, but he had protected her from an attack.