Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Armed with a large chuck of meat, Azrael strode purposefully towards the training room while holding Rosa with his other arm. 

Oh, God, Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Odin and any other gods that might be listening – please, help me survive this in one piece.

Rosa had no doubt that once the little beast hatched, she would be its first choice for a snack. If the egg was any indication of size, then the newborn dragon should be at least twice as big as Rosa. The meat they procured in the kitchen did little to calm Rosa's nerves. It wouldn't satisfy a dragon for long. Not if it was at least a little bit like the dragons were described in stories.

"It'll be alright. Worst case scenario I kill the little beast," Azrael forced a smile.

No, no, no! You can't do that. If you kill the 'gift' from Alphegor, then he will no doubt level the whole castle to the ground. Along with everyone in it.

"Father angry," Rosa objected.

"I think he'll be angrier if I let the thing eat you," the demon retorted, and Rosa nodded.

There's no winning here. Better get this over with.

They entered the empty training grounds, dragon egg sitting menacingly in the corner, waiting to cause mayhem. Rosa glared at the thing, hoping that the egg simply wouldn't hatch.

But how would it even hatch? We don't have to sit on it like hens do, right? 

"Hatch how?" Rosa asked and tugged on Azrael's shirt. The demon seemed to be glaring at the egg with the same intensity Rosa did.

"Hatching a dragon isn't easy, little Princess. I imagine only a handful of demons would be able to do it. Unfortunately, I just happen to be one of the few who can…" 

Suffering from success?

Azrael was about to put Rosa down, but she held onto his shirt with an iron grip.

Don't you dare to put me down! I don't want to be eaten.

"Don't worry. I swore an oath, remember? I have to protect you no matter what. And you still have my talisman to protect you from physical harm," he said, and Rosa thought back on his oath. She couldn't remember it clearly – it had happened so fast – but there certainly was something about him protecting her. Question was if the dragon eating her whole could be some weird loophole.

"It'll be alright. As I said, if the worst comes to worst, I'll kill it."

Rosa released her grip, and Azrael put her on the ground. Then he stepped in front of her and took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing…" he muttered and pointed his hand forward. Angry, blue flames erupted from his hands and engulfed the egg from all sides. Heat instantly filled the room, and Rosa felt herself beginning to sweat.

Azrael continued roasting the egg for a while, sweat rolling down his face, his eyebrows furrowing from concentration.

"Hatch already, you little beast…" he muttered, his flames wavering a little bit. There was a small cracking noise from the direction of the egg, and Azrael stopped the fire.

Rosa clutched onto his leg, and peered at the red egg. It looked like the flames hadn't done anything to it, while the ground and even the nearby walls had started to melt. Even with the flames gone, the room still felt blazing hot.

"C'mon! Hatch you infernal thing," the demon muttered, not even blinking as he observed the egg. 

Then another, louder crack echoed through the room. Rosa and Azrael both leaned closer, searching for any visible marks on the egg. 'Crack, crack, crack'. There was a tiny, barely noticeable shake. 'Crack, crack, crack' came from the egg, while Rosa's heart beat like crazy. Finally a little hole appeared on the top, and some movement could be seen within it.

Can it not get out?

As soon as she thought that, the egg burst open, eggshells and the inner fluid flying everywhere. Rosa clung onto Azrael's leg as if her life depended on it, trying to understand where the eggshells ended and where the newborn dragon began.

"That's anticlimactic," Azrael exhaled, unimpressed by the little creature. "It's a runt."

The little red dragon laid on the floor, each leg going in a different direction. It had large, green eyes, two little numbs for horns and small appendages on its back which probably should have been wings. Not to mention that it was small. In fact, it was smaller than Rosa.

What a waste of real estate. Tiny dragon in a huge package.

Azrael went up to the tiny creature and lifted it up by its tail. The hatchling began thrashing around and mewling piteously, completely helpless. 

"This is not a dragon. It's just an oversized rat," Azrael poked it in its soft belly, and the dragon yelped. It looked so sad and weak that Rosa felt sorry for it.

"Food?" Rosa pulled on the demon's pants and pointed towards the meat sitting in a bowl some way away. 

"Yeah, I guess we should feed it," Azrael agreed with a sigh and threw the dragon to the ground without a second thought. It yelped and then whimpered, curling up in a small shivering ball. 

There's no need to be so mean towards it.

Rosa went up to the trembling creature, debating whether she was brave enough to actually comfort it. Runt or not, it was still a dragon and she had no doubt that it could bite off her hand, if it decided to do so. But as it continued to whimper and tremble on the hard floor, Rosa made up her mind and went to pat it. It moved away when it saw her approach.

"Shhhh," she soothed it and outstretched her hand. She didn't move it closer but rather waited for the baby dragon to at least sniff it first. She saw it in a movie once so maybe the logic could be applied to a fantasy world. For a moment, they both just stared at each other, then the hatchling itched a bit closer and sniffed her hand.

"Hey, Princess! Don't approach it so carelessly," Azrael reprimanded, but Rosa shook her head.

"Stop," she instructed him, but her voice was quiet and calm so as not to scare the dragon. It flinched when it saw Azrael looking at them, but relaxed once the demon remained still.

The hatchling itched closer and closer to Rosa, sniffing the air cautiously. Finally its tiny snout gently nudged against her palm. She shivered from the sensation of its scales, they were still wet from the egg fluid, but at the same time – warm and tough like stone. 

"Good dragon," Rosa praised the little creature, and reached out to pat its head. The dragon allowed her to do so, and purred with delight under her touch. She even saw its little tail swish from side to side.

It really is like a dog.

Azrael nodded approvingly at the sight, then slid the bowl of meat closer to Rosa. The meat was neatly chopped into pieces, ready to be eaten.

"Hungry?" Rosa asked, and presented the bowl to the little dragon. It sniffed the bowl cautiously at first, then instinct took over and it began chomping down meat hungrilly.

"It has a good appetite at least," Azrael noted, standing next to Rosa. "And he seems obedient, so that's good. But way more docile than other dragons I've seen."

Not going to complain about that. I'd take a docile runt dragon over a regular dragon any day. 

"Even so… Where are we supposed to put it?" Azrael thought loudly, tapping his foot as he was trying to come up with a solution. "Why don't you call your daddy over so he can decide?"

Rosa shook her head at that. She already called him once that day already and had no intention of making it a regular thing. The novelty of this activity would surely wear off quickly for the King.

"Really? Now when he's actually needed, you won't call him? I can't just keep a dragon in my bedroom," Azrael grumbled. 

I'm not keeping him in my bedroom either.

Rosa just pretended to not have understood him, and turned her attention back to the little dragon. It was still scarfing down the meat energetically, its tail swishing from side to side.

"Name?" Rosa pointed at the dragon. 

"It does need a name… Wait, is it a girl or a boy?" the demon mused, walked over to the little beast and lifted up its tail. The dragon yelped, but Azrael just grinned and released its tail. It looked a bit offended, but realizing there was still meat to be eaten, it returned to munching.

"It's a boy."

A male dragon. What would be a good name?

"Oh, I know. Let's call him Blaze," Azrael exclaimed, a spark of childish excitement in his eyes.

Really? You're a two hundred year old demon and you want to name a dragon Blaze? Are we sure there's not a twelve year old boy sitting inside that body?

Rosa didn't bother to hide the disappointment she felt.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. It's a good name for a dragon. He is red and can breathe fire."

She shook her head vigorously, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine, fine, Your Highness," he mocked, sticking his tongue out. "Why don't you come up with a name then?"

A name for a dragon… What would be a good name for a dragon?

Her mind wandered back to all the stories and movies she's seen with dragons in it. One animated movie instantly popped into her mind, and despite the dragon within it being completely different from the one in front of her, she couldn't help but want to put a little bit of her home into this new world.

"Haku," she said resolutely.

"What? Haku? What kind of a name is that? I've never heard a stupider name in my whole life," the demon pouted. "Blaze is a better name."

"No, Haku," she argued and stared Azrael straight in the eyes. He stared back and for a minute they had a staring contest. His purple eyes trying to fight against her silver ones. Her eyes began to water, but she did not dare to blink. Azrael's eyes began twitching, until he finally blinked and turned around dramatically, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Fine! Have it your way," the demon grumbled. "Just don't come crying to me if the daddy doesn't like it."

Rosa smiled victoriously, and went to pat Haku on its head. The hatchling had finished its meal and was cautiously observing Rosa and Azrael both. It mewled happily at her touch, and coiled around her.

"Good Haku."

"Yes, yes, good Haku. Now where do we put him?" Azrael grumbled.

The door to the training grounds swung open, and an angry looking Lucius entered, followed by a few bulky demon guards.

"Azrael, what the hell are you doing? I could feel the heat from your flames all the way from His Majesty's office…" the older demon trailed off as he saw the dragon coiled around Rosa. His expression turned to that of panic and he waved at the guards. "Get that thing off Princess at once!"

"No!" Rosa and Azrael yelled at the same time, stopping them in their tracks. Her sudden noise startled Haku, who curled up into a ball by Rosa's feet and began trembling.

"For Darkness's sake, at least let me explain the situation first," Azrael sighed, and then hurried to explain to Lucius the whole ordeal with the dragon.

"I apologize for my rash behavior. I had completely forgotten about His Majesty's… present," Lucius eyed the trembling dragon from behind his glasses, then cleared his throat. "Nonetheless you should have informed His Majesty about your actions. He was quite furious that the temperature suddenly rose."

Azrael paled a little bit, then straightened up and leaned closer to the older demon. "What do I do about the dragon though?"

"I'm not sure. His Majesty charged you to deal with it, didn't he? So deal with it," Lucius said dismissively, then turned to Rosa. "Do you like your present, Princess?"

Rosa thought for a moment as she patted the sleeping dragon. While initially she was terrified of the idea of having a dragon, now that the creature was sleeping peacefully curled up next to her, she was happy. It was like getting a puppy. And she had never had the pleasure of owning a pet before.

"Yes!" Rosa replied, and Lucius nodded with a smile.

"Wonderful. I shall go tell the King the good news then," Lucius bowed towards her politely, then turned on his heel and began striding towards the exit.

"Wait… Where do I put the dragon?" Azrael shouted behind him.

"Figure it out!"