“No windows or door. We are much too far below the surface, in a place where time moves differently.”
At the reminder, her heart stopped. “If I’m underground, how do I get out?”
“You don’t. Not until I have to go somewhere and take you with me.”
“Meaning I’m your prisoner.” She hugged herself. So much for that brief moment of connection. He’d just reminded her of why he’d kidnapped her.
“More like a temporary guide through this new world.”
“A guide? What kind of guide? Where? Can you be a little more specific? Because, while I know the city kind of well, I’m not too good navigating outside of it.”
His lips pressed into a thin line and his fists clenched before he relented enough to say, “It is not actual directions I require but assistance in understanding how things work now. Things like those boxes that contact people far away. Passing for a modern human without drawing notice.”
“How about you start by not calling us human with such a sneer?”
He stared at her. “And that is exactly why it has to be you. You’re not intimidated by me.”
“You mean on account of the whole dragon thing?” She rolled a shoulder. “I’m not one to put something on a pedestal that easily. People do that too much with celebrities. I’d like to think I’m a little more discerning.”
“In my day—”
She interrupted him. “I get it, in your day you walked twenty miles to fetch water, made your women stay home and have babies, and acted like veritable asses. But guess what, this is the twenty-first century. Things have changed. Women have rights. We are equals.” She held herself ramrod straight.
“Why wouldn’t you be?” He sounded genuinely confused. “My kind has never had the sexist separation that plagues the humans and other races. Strength of magic is the key element.”
“What about compassion and wisdom?”
“Can only be applied if you have the strength to force it.”
“Dude. That’s not how you rule. You should rule with fair laws and justice for all. Where the strong help the weak.”
“And I begin to see the problem with this time period.” He shook his head. “The Shaitan won’t care about your laws. They only understand force.”
“We can fight if we have to.”
“With guns?” He arched a brow. “They will turn to smoke and never suffer a wound.”
“We’ll pull a Ghostbuster on them and suck them into a containment unit.”
“They have magic. Without spells, they’ll escape.”
She frowned. “The dream I had said you’d vanquish them when you returned.”
“Maalik predicted that. Yes.”
“I hear a ‘but.’”
“If that was true, then why did Maalik disappear? You would think the person who predicted our victory would have remained to play a part of it, especially given the decimation in our ranks.”
“How did your friends die?” It was a morbid question, and yet the desire to know proved strong.
“Not all at once, if that’s what you’re wondering. We began as eight men, five women in a confined space with limited entertainment and supplies. Add in a long time waiting.” He rolled his big shoulders. “Some deaths were accidents. Some weren’t.”
“I thought you were immortal.”
“Not exactly. We don’t age, like normal people would. But we can be killed.”
A demigod, in other words. Why did he have to get more interesting with every word uttered? “You said before you wouldn’t have agreed if you’d known how long you’d be imprisoned.”
He glanced at her. Pressed his lips tight. “Would you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let me answer for you. Being immortal isn’t a gift, but a curse.”
“In other words, you regret your decision.”
“Regret, yes, and at the same time, I would still make the same choice,” he said in a weary voice.
“Because you’re a hero,” she softly stated. A sexy one who could have stepped out of the pages of a book.
“Fuck.” He grimaced. “Hardly a hero.”
His denial only made him sexier.
“Really? So you’re not going to try and save the world from the Shaitan?”
He glared.
She smiled. “At the museum, you said something about seven seals. If two are broken, then we need to locate the other five bottles and protect them.”
“Not all of them are bottles. Only four are amphora. There are also two rings and an amulet.”
“Which, if destroyed, will open a gate to the netherworld, releasing a monster. Got it.” And her mother said reading all those dungeon and dragon books as a teen wouldn’t come in useful. Now that she’d accepted this was really happening, it wasn’t hard to grasp what had to be done. “Finding those seals is only part of the problem. The true task is getting rid of the genies.”
“The Shaitan.” He tucked his hands behind his back and glanced upward at stalactites that dripped to join the stalagmites on the floor, all of them carved into columns, telling a story.
But how much of it was real? That giant spider looming over the man with the spear was probably an exaggeration. Right?
“Surely they have a weakness. Something that can kill them.”
He shook his head. “You think we didn’t try? They are tricky, which was why we had to trap them when we couldn’t find a way to destroy them.”
“Seven seals. Does that mean seven Shaitan?”
“Seven servants of the Iblis. If they were to ever combine their strength, they could rip open a portal to Hades.”
“Because of course Hell exists.”
His brows rose. “You’ve heard of Hell, but didn’t know of dragons? In my day, humans worshipped us.”
“In my day, dragons have a thing for virgins and make billions at the box office.”
He blinked. “Why would we want virgins? They cry.”
“Speaking from experience?” she declared hotly. She couldn’t have said why she was miffed.
His lip quirked at the corner. “No, but I have friends who were fond of seducing the innocent.”
“That is seriously messed up.” Then she blurted out, “Are you married?”
“I was a captive.”
“And? There were twelve other people. Surely you hooked up.”
“Others did. Not me.”
“Didn’t you miss it?” She didn’t have a super active sex life, but even she needed the touch of another.
“I kept busy.”
“And must have switched hands often or you’d have one super-strong right-handed grip,” she muttered.
His lips twitched. Of course he understood the dirty joke.
“What part of the legends are true? Dragons obviously fly. What about breathing fire?”
“That is a red trait.”
“There are colors?”
“Yes. The colors determine the types of abilities the dragons have.”
“What’s your special power?” she asked.
“I’m a mage.”