Bound By Blood: Chapter 2

They looked at each other for a while, she tried to look stronger than she felt, the pain inside her was too much, he could see it in her eyes. He finally sighed some and joined her in bed, he held her close comforting her.

"You'll be ok, I promise"

"How can I be ok? My parents…" But she never finished her sentence. She just looked down squeezing her teeth not to cry.

"It'll be ok, I won't let any harm get to you. I'll protect you."

"No you can't. My parents are dead and I'm all alone." She said and broke down crying again.

"Shush dear…it'll be ok. Maybe you could stay with us. I don't think my parents would mind it."

Kelly was surprised by this. Kenny wanted to still help her after everything that happened. She blinked a few times as she looked at him. she couldn't understand how he can be this nice to someone who's been nothing but trouble. She and her parents had been by themselves for so long that she never had a chance to make any friends and all humans were enemies because of the knights. Yet, Kenny was different than the others. She had that strange feeling inside of her that she could trust him. she just smiled some and clutched to him. somehow he knew she was thanking him and he smiled gently rubbing her back.

"Let's try and get some sleep, what do you think?"

She slowly nodded as she started to feel a wave a tiredness hit her, without knowing it, she laid her head on his shoulder and quickly fell asleep.
He yawned, and shifted his position a bit careful not to wake her up. He held her close to him and closed his eyes falling asleep at once.
Kelly slept peacefully that night as she laid on Kenny. For the first time in her life she felt safe. There was no one outside chasing her, and for some reason, Kenny holding her was rather comforting.

When she woke up again, his parents were standing beside the bed looking at them and smiling. His mom caressed her face gently saying : "You had a good night dear?"

"I did ma'am." She said a bit weakly and sat up in bed looking around as if she's seeing the place for the first time.

"What's your name sweetie?" his father said.

"It's Kelly sir." She said as she looked at them, they shivered a bit. Her eyes were ice blue and filled with hatred against the world. They gulped some and backed off, but Kenny's mom pulled herself together and smiled a warm, anxious smile.

"Nice to meet you darling, I'm Amanda, and this is my husband Jake."

"…Nice to meet you." Kelly said quietly as she looked away. She knew they feared her, she could sense it.

"Can you tell us what happened to you? Or how we can call your parents or anyone from your family so they can come and get you? They must be worried sick about you by now."

Kelly just looked down, biting her lower lip to hold her tears back, then she looked at them again and said: "I have no one left to come..."


Amanda gasped when she heard Kelly saying this, she couldn't believe what Kelly's just said. She looked at her husband who was shocked by this as well. They looked at each other for a few seconds then Amanda held Kelly close to her and took a few deep breaths to hold her tears back.
"You can stay with us dear," she finally said.

"Stay…with you?!"


"Yes, Kenny seems to have loved you already and well, it'll be better for you to stay with us other than being sent into foster care." she said still holding her tight.

"I'm shocked by your mercy…that's for sure." She whispered faintly as she pulled herself away from Amanda, she didn't want to be touched by humans, even if they were nice people.

She didn't know what to say or how to react, no one had ever been this nice to her except for her parents. She opened her mouth a few times to say something but ended up closing it and staring blankly at them.
"Thank you... I guess." She finally managed after she overcome her shock.

"It's ok little one, you'll be ok." they both whispered and hugged her
Kenny slowly woke up and saw all of this and smiled weakly.
"I told you they'd say yes." he whispered with a smile.


"You did," she answered looking at him, she didn't want to shrug his parents away so he won't be hurt, she just endured the hug.

"The doctor sais you'll be discharged in a few hours." Amanda said letting go of Kelly who sighed in relief making sure they don't hear her.

She looked at her shoulder, the wound was almost gone and she was able to move her arm freely again. She clinched her fist a few times and smiled some, the pain was gone.
She looked back at Kenny and his parents. They were talking happily, but she couldn't care less. She just wanted to lay low for a while till she could find the rest of her clan.

Kenny's parents left after a few minutes to fill the forms needed to get them out.
She watched them go out then started taking the bandages off of her shoulder.
"What are you doing? You're hurt!" Kenny said staring at her wide eyed.

"Not anymore! And quit staring at me!" she hissed and he looked away blushing as she lowered the hospital robes to get the rest of the bandages off.


"Your parents are nice by the way," she said after a few moments of silence. "and you can look now if you want."
He sighed in relief and looked back, she had the robes back on and she was staring at him weirdly.

"What?" he said brushing his hair to the side, he was wondering what to say to comfort her a bit. It was obvious to him that she was trying her best not to cry again.

"Nothing, it's just…no nothing, never mind."

"No really, come on. What is it?"

"You just look like someone I know." She said shrugging.

They were soon leaving the car and heading back to his home. Kelly was leaning her head and staring out of the window not answering anybody's questions. She only glanced at Kenny a few times and mumbled a few words but other than that she was way too silent.

They soon got back home and Kenny laid down on a chair in the living room trying not to think about his pain but it was useless.

"There you go sweetie," His mom said giving him some pain killers. "You'll feel better in a while." Then she looked at Kelly who was sitting on the other chair staring at them with tears staining her face.

"Oh Kelly dear," and she trued hugging her but Kelly pulled away at once.
"Don't touch me…I'll go out for a walk." And she ran outside not wanting them to see her tears.


"Kelly, please wait." Kenny said and weakly got up and tried to follow her.

"Where do you think you're going young man?" his father yelled and grabbed him forcing him to lie down again.

"But Dad! Kelly…I need to talk to her, I can't let her go!"

"Let her go son, she'll come back, give her some time for herself. Following her now won't do anyone any good, it'll only make her panic even more. She'll come back, don't worry."
Kenny just looked down and sighed some and lied back wishing that she'd be ok.
Hours passed and she didn't return, he started to get worried about her and couldn't sit around doing nothing while she was out there by herself. He took the advantage of his parents going out of the house and quietly snuck out to look for her. The first place he went to were the woods and made his way there slowly.

His wound was hurting him, but he had to find her, he started thinking that she might be in danger or that she's hurt and he got real worried.

"Kelly, where are you." he called out as he continued to look for her in the woods.

The pain was increasing by the minute and his wound ruptured all of the sudden and started to bleed again. He dropped to his knees holding his chest in pain, he couldn't give up. He had to find her, she was his friend and he needed to get her back safely.
He didn't know what to do as he screamed in pain and fell to his side as blood was seeping out onto the ground. He started coughing hard and was still thinking of Kelly's safety instead of his own.

"Ah you fool!" he heard her saying over his head, then he felt a drop like water falling on the wound and the pain was gone, he looked up to see Kelly in her draconic form looking down at him.

"How did you do that?" he asked as he sat up and noticed that the wound was gone.

"A dragon's tear cures it all." She calmly replied and shifted into her human form. she was still looking at him as he slowly got up off the ground still looking t his now clean chest.

"B-But how is that possible."


"One of the dragons many secrets. Now, go home! Your parents will be worried about you."


"O-Okay, but come with me Kelly, please." he said and looked at her.

"Why do you want me to come with you? I'm trouble for you and your family."

"I don't care Kelly, I made a promise to protect you from anything and I keep my promise." he said as a tear ran down his face.

"You're crying?! For me!"

"Yes I am Kelly." Kenny said as another tear ran down his face.

she titled her head a bit looking at him, his kindness shocked her. she didn't know what to say, he was too nice.
Kenny smiled softly at this and wiped the tears from his face. "So, are you going to come back with me Kelly."

"I guess ok...no harm staying with you for a while...till I figure out where the rest of my family is.."
He smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked back towards his home.  Suddenly, he realized something. His parents would ask them how he was instantly healed and was able to walk around easily.

"What's the matter?" she asked when she noticed his obvious nervousness.

"My parents...they'll ask how i healed so fast..."

Kelly went wide eyed at this. She had completely forgotten about his parents and looked down at the ground.

"You have no idea what to do, do you?"
"No...I don't, but I think you can fake it a bit can't you? I mean walk around like you're injured?"

"I can try Kelly, but we will have to tell them sooner or later." Kenny said.

"Later is better...please, promise you'll keep my secret! I beg you!"

"Don't worry Kelly, I'll keep your secret as long as I live."

They soon reached the house and he was hoping his parents didn't return yet. He quietly walked over to the chair and sat down. He looked over at Kelly and smiled a bit and started to get ready in case his parents came into the room.

She sat on the opposite chair. She was silent again, she just leaned back in the chair and sighed some before looking out of the window before her.
They soon heard footsteps from outside and the front door open as his parents come in.

"Hey Kelly, you've returned...you feeling okay sweetie?" his mom asked, stroked Kelly's hair. Kelly just looked at her and nodded some, wishing she would just leave her alone.

"Um, where did you go." Kenny asked as he looked at his parents

"To get Kelly a few things. There you go dear." they said handing her a bag that had some clothes inside.

"Thank you." She murmured.

"You're welcome Kelly."

The next morning, the Brinson family was already in the kitchen when she came down. It was obvious she got no sleep at all, she had black marks under her swollen eyes. They knew she cried all night long.
Kenny got up slowly and pretended to still be hurt. He slowly walked over to her and embraced her in a hug as he knew that she was still hurting inside from her parents dying.


"I don't need your pity!" she hissed pushing him away, strong enough to knock him down to the ground, then she glared at his parents.
"I am grateful for your help, but I don't intend to stay here forever. I'll leave as soon as I get a hold of the rest of my family. So until then, I'd appreciate it if you kept the emotions down to a minimum."


Kenny went wide eyed at this. Just the other day, she was calm and thought was open. He thought that they could be friends at least and actually let him put his arm around her when he said that he would help her and keep her secret. He couldn't believe that this was the same dragoness that actually healed him the other day as well and was completely emotionless now.

She barely had anything to eat, then she went out without saying a single word or even apologizing for knocking him down.

"Well, that was...scary." His father said.

"Are you ok Kenny?" His mom said glancing worriedly at him. Kelly spared no effort in pushing him.

Kenny nodded and slowly walked out of the kitchen. Once he was out of view, he quickly went outside and started looking around for Kelly. He wanted to know why she was acting like this all of a sudden and wanted an answer.

He was searching everywhere for her, but she vanished into thin air, he went into the woods again and ventured deeper than before. He finally found her in another clearing. But he hid behind a tree and watched, she was kneeling before two tomb stones and crying bitterly. He knew that she built them for her parents by herself.
He felt sorry for her and stayed behind the tree and continued to watch her. He didn't know what to do, but he knew he couldn't leave her alone right now with her in that condition.

She sobbed uncontrollably as she laid beside the graves, she couldn't get herself to stand up and be strong and now, she's made the only people she's safe with angry.

Kenny started to feel even more sorry for her and slowly stepped out from behind the tree and slowly walked over to her, being ever so quiet. He didn't know what would happen if she heard a twig snap while she was in her condition. He quietly got up to her and looked at the tombstone and saw that it was blank except for two names etched into the stone.

He bent down, and gently grabbed her shoulders to lift her up but she pulled herself away again.

"Stay away from me!"

"Kelly easy, it's only me, calm down!"

He tried grabbing her again, but she turned to him and slashed him with her claws on his arms and chest, ripping off his shirt. but he didn't give up, he blocked her strikes and held her between his arms.

"CALM DOWN!" he yelled, she just looked at him and sniffed a few times before bursting into tears again.

"It's my fault! I should have been there! They died because of me!" she cried almost chocking down on her tears.

Kenny held her close to him and started comforting her. "Kelly, you did all that you could do. They may be dead, but they'll always be with you in spirit and in your heart. They wouldn't want you to be like this Kelly, they would want you to live your life just like they wanted you to, happy, not sad and distraught like you are now. I'll always be here for you and you know it. I'm never going to leave you."

"No, no it's my fault!" and she tried releasing herself from him again, but he held her tighter and she eventually stopped struggling. She just clinched to him, breathing heavily as tears kept trickling down her face.

"Kelly, it isn't your fault. They most likely knew that the knights were following you and wanted you to be safe." Kenny said and continued to comfort her.

Her body shook between his arms, she had no sleep at all and she was starting to feel real sick. She pushed herself to throw up the little she ate on that morning. Everything was spinning around her and she couldn't last any longer... she collapsed between his arms.
"Kelly, wake up come on!"



Kenny was starting to get really worried at this and picked her up and started walking back to the house. He didn't know what was wrong with her and guessed that she needed rest. He got back to his house quickly and went inside.

"MOM, DAD, HELP!" he called, they hurried and saw her unconscious between his arms.

"What happened to her?" his mom asked worriedly.

"She was crying, then she threw up...and..she just passed out..."


"Get her upstairs quickly, we'll call the family doctor."

He got to his room and gently laid her down in his bed. He sat down beside his bed and quietly waited for the family doctor. He soon got out a pad of paper and a pencil and started sketching something out on it. he kept glancing at her every once a while, just to make sure she was still breathing. She was barely breathing, and she kept coughing while she slept.
He sighed some and stroke her hair, he couldn't believe that she broke down like this and he started to get really worried when he realized that she had a fever.

Minutes passed slowly as the doctor checked on her, he had to give her a dozen needles to lower her temperature, then he turned to them and sighed some before speaking.

"She suffered a nervous breakdown, she needs to rest at any cost. And try not to bother her...if she kept  going like this, she might die...her brain was almost fried because of the fever. Listen, if this happens again, if her temperature rises again you must take her to the hospital."


Kenny nodded at this and looked back down at Kelly. He was the only one who knew why she had a nervous breakdown. He promised that he would keep her secret at any cost and he meant it. He sat back down beside the bed and picked up his sketch book again and started working on a sketch for the tombstone that she'd put up for her parents.

He was there by her side all day long, she kept talking in some sort of strange language in her sleep. He knew she was having nightmares and he was sure of that when she finally woke up with a scream

He quickly got up and grabbed her by the shoulders and held her close to him and started to comfort her. "Kelly, it's alright, you're in my house right now and as long as you're here, nothing will happen to you. I promise you that."

She looked around her and realized she was in his room, she noticed the open sketch book on the ground and she saw the sketch.

"What's that?"

"It's a sketch that I was working on for your parents tombstone." he said and picked it up.

"And why did you sketch it? Isn't it enough I'll have to see it in real and now I have to see it on paper?" she snapped at him

"Kelly, I was sketching out a pattern to put on the tombstone. I thought they should have a proper one and I was planning on putting some writing on it as well."

"I don't want to see it!" and she lied back in bed, turning her back to him.

Kenny sighed at this and looked at the sketch. He had written out a saying for the tombstone and read it quietly to himself. "Here lies Alaric and Indrani, loving parents, noble dragons. Gave their life protecting the jewel of their lives."

He rubbed Kelly's shoulder a bit, then put the sketch in front of her eyes.

"Just look at what I wrote for you, please."

Kelly reluctantly looked at the saying and read it quietly. She went wide eyed at this and tears started to run down her face again. She couldn't believe that he actually wrote that saying. He had never met her parents and didn't know them at all. Yet, she couldn't believe that he would do something like this for her.

She looked at him, she couldn't manage to get words out of her mouth, she just hugged him tightly.
Kenny smiled softly and hugged her back warmly. He had finally gotten through to her was a bit glad. "We'll go fix it when you're all better okay?"

"okay." she whispered clutching to him. she still felt safe between his arms for a reason she couldn't tell. She was feeling warm and her eyes started closing again. she just yawned and closed her eyes falling asleep.

Kenny gently lied her down on the bed and covered her back up. He smiled lightly and got up and stretched. He turned around and was surprised to see his mom standing at the door.

"Mom, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know that there's more to her story than what you've told us. Show me that sketch!"

Kenny gulped at this and picked up the sketch and slowly walked over to her. He lifted it up for her to see the sketch.
She looked at it and read the saying a few times, then she gave Kenny a long strange look.

"She's a dragon? They actually exist?"

"Yes they do and yes she is mom. And a young one at that."

"How about you tell me what really happened then?"

"Okay, but you won't like it mom, you should really sit down for this."

she sat down on the side of the bed beside Kelly as Kenny started telling the story.

"how terrible..." his mom said when he finished telling.

"I know mom. And I made a promise that I wouldn't tell anyone her secret, so please don't tell her you know or else she wouldn't trust me anymore."

"Don't worry, I won't tell."

"Thank you mom." he said and hugged her warmly.

"Get some sleep young man, you both need it."
He just nodded and went to the guest's room.
His mom stayed behind looking at Kelly for a few moments, she felt sorry for her. A little girl watching her parents die before her eyes like this…she sighed some and printed a kiss on Kelly's head then went out

The next morning, she came down wearing black all over. She was so calm as she sat beside the window staring out, she was so still that they could barely see her breathing.

Kenny slowly walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He didn't know if he should or not, but felt like he should do it and be there for her every step of the way.

She looked at him then looked back out of the window, she didn't want to say anything or even pull away.
Kenny just stood there and looked out the window with her. For a brief second he could've sworn he saw the images of two large quadruped dragons looking at him and smiling. They practically looked like Kelly in her dragon form. He smiled softly as he saw them nod gently and almost whisper something to him and only him before they disappeared.


"You saw them didn't you" she asked quietly as she sniffed a few times.

"Yes I did Kelly, they said thank you for saving their daughter." he said quietly.

She just smiled sadly staring out again, she started humming a song in the same language she was talking in while she was sleeping but somehow, that song seemed very familiar for Kenny.
He listened to her humming the song and soon started to sing the words to it.
She looked at him surprised. "How do you know this song?" she asked standing up all of the sudden.

"I don't know, before my real parents died, I remembered my mom singing that song to me to put me to sleep."

Kelly gave him a strange look from head to toe, and before he could react she had his arm in her hand and she ripped off his shirt.
"Oh my god! I knew it, I knew you looked familiar. I knew it!" she said looking at the big scar on his chest.

"What?" he asked as his parents came to them as well.

Kenny was speechless by what Kelly did and didn't have time to react when his parents came into the room and he turned around and looked at them.

"What's going on here? And why are you topless?"
"Um...mom, I can explain...it's just" but Kelly interrupted him.

"Who are you?" she asked his parents

"They're my adoptive parents Kelly. I told you before. They took me in when my real parents died in a car crash when I was still a baby."

"No...no way in hell!" she said glaring at his parents as she took a few steps forward.


"Kelly, what's going on here. Why the heck did you rip my shirt off all of a sudden."

"Your parents didn't die in a car crash...and these two...well, I bet they had no idea who the heck are you when they found you in the middle of a forest somewhere...am I right or not?" she asked his parents

"Yes you're right, we did find him in the middle of a forest."

"What? What's going on here? What do you know that i don't?" Kenny desperately yelled, he had no idea what was going on here and all this was too strange.

Kenny's mom sighed at this as she looked at the floor. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to tell him until he was old enough. She looked back up at him as tears were running down her face. "Your father and I found you in the middle of the forest when you were a baby and you were by two dead dragons and crying. We didn't know what to do so we took you in and made up the adoption papers in case."

"You never got curious about your past or if you found out you were adopted. We also found a medallion next to you that had some sort of royal crest on it and found two similar ones around the dead dragons necks." she said.

"A medallion like this one?" Kelly said showing them a medallion.
"Yeah, exactly the same, how did you get it."
But Kelly didn't reply, she smiled looking at Kenny. He was confused by all of this and didn't understand why she's smiling, but the next thing she said shocked him like never before.

"I've missed you brother."