Chapter 4 - Changes

Fiona

The lake was beautiful this time of night with the moonlight dancing across the top of it, and now was the perfect time to test out the abilities of the suit that I managed to make. The suits themselves are meant for warriors as they are not only built to help conceal underneath any color of water, but they also have the ability to stick with us while we shift, no matter what specific water fairy we are.

Because of the fact that my sisters and I will be going in our own directions soon, specific warriors were chosen to train at home in preparation for traveling with us to our new realms. I may or may not have stolen multiple suits from them to make my own, causing a blame game and more needing to be brought in. I recommended them going nude, but no one was nearly as amused as I was about it.

I dove head first off of the tall cliff into the water below, and my skin tingled with pleasure as soon as contact was made. I swam around, covering distance quickly to make sure that I was in fact alone before shifting into my large dragon like water serpent.

Unlike a werewolf, there wasn't another soul residing in my mind and body. My serpent and I were one, and I could shift whenever I felt the need. My large reptile matched the dark green color of my hair, and tonight I was testing the suit's ability to change that color as well.

I covered every surface inch of Lake Powell that I could before traveling to its depths. It had been so long since I'd been able to shift away from everyone and fully enjoy it, I wanted to relish every second that I had. It wasn't until I reached the bottom that my built-in sonar was able to pick up the sounds of motion back at the surface. I grumbled to myself in irritation. Of course, something just had to interfere now. With my luck, it was probably divers out looking for things that tourists might have lost during the day and I'd have to sneak out of here without getting questioned on where my vehicle was. For some reason, I didn't think their human mind could handle "I teleported in the waterway".

I started slowly making my way back up towards the surface, trying to pick out any other odd sounds or movements that didn't belong. Even though there wasn't anything out of place other than the rhythmic splashing from the same location, I decided to shift back to my human form to play it safe.

Once I broke out of the water, I immediately saw what had been making the annoying noise that took me away from the depths of the lake, as well as my peaceful solitude. A large blue dragon laid on one of the cliffs, swaying his tail which was splashing in and out of the water in a rhythmic motion, a cheeky grin on his face. The sound made my eyes twitch in irritation.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I didn't hesitate to confront him as I stared into his aqua-colored eyes, nor did I bother playing polite, as there was no one else around to attempt to correct me.

The dragon huffed out a small amount of smoke from his nose. I couldn't tell if it was in his own irritation or amusement, and I really didn't care. "You really don't know who I am, do you?"

"First off, not only do I not know who you are, I also don't care who you are. You interrupted my peace and quiet, so as far as I'm concerned you can go fuck yourself." I continued to lightly tread the water even though I honestly didn't have to, but the feeling of it moving against my skin brought me pleasure that I wasn't ready to give up.

Snorting more smoke from his nose, the dragon glared his eyes at me, and now I knew that he was irritated. "Pretty bold for just a fairy, don't you think?"

Just a fairy?! Did he seriously just say that?! "I thought that dragons were supposed to be smart? Clearly, the saying you're smarter than you look doesn't apply to you!"

I saw his lip curl up, showing the constant flame from within glowing inside of his mouth. I knew he didn't intend to use it on me. If he did, he would have already.

I don't know what his deal was, but I wasn't one to miss out on the perfect opportunity to put someone in their place. Hiding my smile so he didn't know that anything was coming, I sent a steady stream of water towards his face, directly crashing into the place where his arrogant lip curled up.

The dragon immediately shook his head like a dog that was sprayed by a water hose. I couldn't contain my laughter at seeing the prideful reptile's reaction to having a simple female fairy make an act of defiance against him. We stared at each other in silence, each one waiting for the other to make their next move.

"I'm not here to fight you little fairy."

"I honestly don't care why you're here. As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing more than an arrogant creeper."

His nose twitched and I could tell that he wanted to snarl in irritation again, but thought better of it this time. Instead, to my horror, the reptile dove into the water and immediately blended in with it. Not only his coloring, but sound and motion as well. He became completely camouflaged with the water we were in.

I sighed, now realizing the predicament I found myself in. A fucking water dragon of all things. The arrogant prick probably got a glimpse of my serpent and thought I was one as well, only to be disappointed in finding out I was a fairy. But what's he doing around here? Yeah, the North West hemisphere is their territory, but usually they stay closer to larger bodies of water, or at least where it's cooler.

Ripples finally appeared about 30 yards in front of me, only instead of the dragon emerging he had shifted into his human form. His impossibly ridiculously handsome human form with his aqua-colored eyes and anchor cut goatee. Of course, his facial features would represent water in almost every way possible.

"I don't care if you are in your human form, if you don't stay back, you'll get more than a burst of water to your face."

"Do you show this attitude to everyone? Or am I just that special?"

I wanted to smack the smirk off of his face, I just didn't know if I wanted to do it with my hands or lips.

"Don't flatter yourself, dragon. You're not special. It's more like there's no one around to criticize me for my words and actions."

He slowly started swimming closer and I immediately backed away. "I told you I'm not here to fight you."

"And I told you to stay back."

Still, he worked his way closer. I wasn't left with many options. Dragons are, and I hate to admit this, superior to a lot of the other supernaturals. This is why they're so arrogant, as well as why they stay true to the purity of their kind.

Realizing that fighting wasn't an option, my flight instinct finally kicked in. I quickly put myself in a bubble of water and started raising myself up until I reached what I thought was a more than sufficient distance from his human form.

"Wow, you really are clueless as to who I am!" The handsome man below me had a wickedly evil smile on his face as he chuckled.

His smile was sinister in so many ways. How it mocked me and how it lured me in at the same time, making me conflicted if I wanted to punch him or kiss him.

No! Do NOT think that way, Fiona! I snapped out of my moment of lust, quickly moving my hand sideways to create white-capped waves on the once calm lake.

"Like I said, I don't care who you are! You're nothing to me, no one! Go back to your dragon kingdom, back to your elders of the council, back to your high and mighty deity! Arrogant bigots have no value to me!"

"ENOUGH!" The man's expression turned from amusement to anger as his voice echoed around us.

My eyes widened as the waves I created immediately came to a halt. It felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest as fear consumed me. I wasn't dealing with your every day of the mill water dragon, he wouldn't be able to control his element like that in human form. I was dealing with ....

Before I could finish my thought, my bubble of water gave out and both the water and I fell back into the lake. I regained what composure I had left as quickly as I could and returned my gaze back to the aqua eyes of the water dragon's deity. Of all beings to be stuck alone with. He could easily kill me, or worse.

"I told you I didn't want to fight you." His voice sounded honest, almost calming, but everything told me not to trust him.

"Then what is it you want, exactly? You have no reason to seek communication with me."

"Maybe I'm here wanting an alliance?"

"In the middle of Lake Powell? With no witnesses? No documentation? With a fairy princess that hasn't even taken over yet? Yeah, right. And I'm housewife material. What do you really want?"

He swiftly closed the gap between us before I even knew what was happening. His mouth crashed against my own and his tongue found its way into my mouth while his arms wrapped around me and pulled me against his slender yet well built body. For a brief few seconds, I deeply enjoyed the sensations that his skin caused as it touched my own, but that was all that I would allow, as everything about what was happening was wrong.

My knee lifted and found it's mark as my teeth bit down on their own target and the unusually sweet yet metallic taste of his blood landed on my taste buds. I smiled as he moved just out of my reach, an extremely shocked look on his face that I was willing to bet he had never shown before.

"Leveetan, isn't it?"

"Leviathan. Those who know me call me Levi." I had to give the devil his dues, he bounced back from the unexpected pain like nothing happened at all. It made me wonder if I didn't hurt him as badly as I intended? Or was he immune to feeling any pain at all?

"Well, I don't know you, so Leveetan it is. Look, I know what you are, but that doesn't give you any right to play games with me and think that I'm just going to open myself to you. I'm sure you have females of every species constantly throwing themselves at your feet, but I'm not one of them. And I sure in hell will never be your fling, so if that's what your goal is, you can simply fu.ck off."

Leviathan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. I had no clue what was going on in the little man brain of his, but I wasn't having any part of it. I quickly backed my way to the shore, keeping my eyes on him the entire time. I figured if I could somehow jump back into the river a good distance away from him, and do so out of the element that he could control, I might stand a good chance at making it back home before anything could happen. Despite our elements being the same, I knew that I didn't stand a chance against him.

"Wait!" Leviathan's aqua eyes drilled holes into my own. I swore they were pleading with me, but I knew better than that. I held my breath as I obeyed him, not knowing if I really dared to be obstinate at this moment in time. "Are you telling me that you feel nothing at all?"

I shook my head in confusion. What on Earth is he talking about? "What do feelings matter? I'm just a fairy, one that doesn't want to be involved in any of the games you're trying to play!"

"Just answer the question I asked you." Was he pleading with me?

"No. I feel and felt nothing." Ok, it was a partial lie. I was attracted to him, and I enjoyed being held in his arms, but that was completely besides the point. I refused to be the bimbo sidepiece to a dragon deity.

A low, deep growl escaped Leviathan as he shifted back into his dragon and took flight, pausing in the air to look down at me.

I held his gaze with my own, not knowing what to expect, nor what just transpired between us. "Wish I could say it was nice meeting you, Leveetan!" He blew out a puff of smoke before taking off and I quickly made my way back home.

After taking a quick shower and putting on some PJs, I decided to make my way to the kitchen to look for something to settle my nerves. Hot coco made with milk and a little bit of peppermint schnapps sounded good right now.

"That was quite the little show you put on tonight, dear sister."

I didn't bother turning around to look at the unapproving look I knew that Shaylee had to have on her face. "Someone needs to make a stand now and then."

"Look, we all fight with each other, it's what we do. But I love you, and I want you to be careful. Do you understand me?"

I finished making my drink before I bothered to look her in the eyes and give her an answer. When I finally did, I could see the worry that her blue and brown eyes contained. "You just focus on yourself and being the perfect princess, OK? I'll be fine. Are you ready for the move to Aunt Aella's?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, how about you going to Aunt Nixie's?"

"Same."

"Did you enjoy your swim?" Her voice contained a tinge of sarcasm. Fucking Cerulean, he couldn't simply keep his mouth shut.

"Not so much. I ended up not being alone. Hey, you're well versed in the social side of things. What do you know about Leviathan?"

"The water dragon deity? He was here tonight with his kids. It's the first time he's made an appearance at one of the princess announcements in ages, by my understanding. Why do you want to know?"

Great. So he saw the entire show on top of everything. "No reason, really. He lives up around Aunt Nixie's, right? So I'll kind of be neighbors with him?"

"Yeah, not super close neighbors, but still. By my understanding, he has stayed to himself since his chosen mate left him, so you shouldn't have to worry about anything."

"That's right, I forgot about that. Why'd she leave again?"

Shaylee raised a brow at me, but answered my question all the same. "Rumor has it she couldn't handle being his chosen mate any longer and had a breakdown. Poor woman. Imagine being chosen to have children with someone you don't love and spend day after day with them."

I shook my head in disgust at traditions. "Their old school ways are worse than ours. Pompous assholes anyway."

Shaylee was quiet for a minute, as if she was deep in her own thoughts. "I'm going to go to bed now, it's been a long day. Have a good night Fiona."

"You too, Shaylee." I sat alone in the dark kitchen, sipping my peppermint flavored hot coco, thoughts of the day's events running through my mind.

I decided to go to bed long after Shaylee, as well as my drink, were gone. I needed to get some rest before a long day of packing, plus Cerulean needed to make his announcement about where he had decided to live. I knew my life was about to change, but little did I realize just how much.