Chapter Eight
Vanessa
“What?” I asked, dumbfounded at the lighthearted taunting. “You can’t seriously expect me to walk through that thing, can you? That’s what you meant, isn’t it?”
“Why can’t I expect that?”
I struggled for words to explain the absolute ridiculousness of it. “I don’t know you. I don’t even know what that is! I don’t know where I am. Why on Earth would I trust you?”
A sly grin crossed his lips, and my throat dried up at all the things it could possibly promise me.
“What an oddly perfect question to ask. Now, take my hand, and let’s go. Trust me. You’re going to like this.”
“There you go again, using the word ‘trust,’” I said.
“Have I led you wrong yet?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. “That’s not fair. I don’t know if you have or not.”
Vil considered my answer. I felt a little proud at leaving him momentarily stumped. So far, he’d had a comeback for everything, and it was good to throw him off stride for a second.
“I promise you I haven’t. Now, walk through the Rift with me. Then your life will truly begin.”
What? I stared at him, then at the shimmering energy field contained underneath the metal arc. Then back at Vil. Then at the arc.
“This is insane,” I told him. “No. I don’t want to do this. Please take me home. This is too much. I would like to go home now, to my home.”
Vil stepped closer, forcing me to look up at him. I was five-nine, but he still looked down at me to the point that my head would fit under his chin. That didn’t happen with a lot of guys.
Stop it. He’s a stranger who kidnapped you to his house. Do not go daydreaming about how well you would work as a couple! That is not going to happen. Period. At all.
The idea of dating threw a bucket of water over my head that nothing else had been able to do so far.
After all, dating meant ... other things, and although Vil could awaken instincts and urges in my body that I’d managed to ignore for a long time, I wasn’t ready to act on any of it. Certainly not with a stranger.
“Come with me,” he said. “And if you still don’t want to know more, if your curiosity dies completely, then I’ll take you home.”
I frowned. “You promise?”
He nodded, his eyes never leaving mine, boring straight into my brain like he could read my every thought. “I promise,” he agreed.
“I must have hit my head harder than I thought,” I said. “That’s the only explanation here. I’m not thinking straight. Why else would I agree to this?”
“Because you’re curious, and deep down, you know you can trust me—trust that I would never bring any harm to you,” he said.
The words rang with a truth I doubted I could explain to anyone who didn’t hear it. I just knew he stood by that statement. Knew it on some level that made no sense.
“I …” I faltered, my resolution to go home fading.
Damn it. Damn him. Damn everything.
“How are you right so much?” I complained without malice. “Men aren’t supposed to be this right this much.”
Vil threw back his head and laughed. The sound reached into me and warmed me until a smile broke out on my lips, and I laughed as well.
“I promise, it’s probably a case of all the stars aligning for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s absolutely not normal.”
“I hope not,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m crazy. I have to be.”
“So, does that mean you’re coming?” he asked, holding up his hand for me to take.
“This is how people end up on documentaries about serial killers ten years from now,” I moaned.
But I took his hand and let him guide me toward the waiting energy field.
And then, just like that, we were through it.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said, my body feeling a slight tingle but nothing more.
The shivers from holding his hand were stronger than anything else. I dropped it just as a giant shudder ran down my spine, prickling my skin with tiny bumps all over.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking around at the gargantuan room. No, cavern, I corrected, realizing we were somewhere underground.
“Deep under Mount Drakonus,” Vil replied.
“We teleported.” The full impact of that fact hit me like a sack of bricks, and my legs gave out.
Vil caught me, gently lifting me to my feet. His hands were warm, and his touch firm but gentle. I tapped one hand with my own to let him know he could let go since my legs were working again.
“Thank you,” I said, awed by the reality of what had just happened.
“You’re very welcome. I will always look out for your well-being.”
I smiled, still staring upward, now aware of the four massive holes in the cavern ceiling. Behind us, a giant version of the arc, or Rift, as he’d called it, stretched high above us.
“Everything here is so big. Why?”
“Because of its occupants who often use it,” he said.
“And they are?”
“You’re under Mount Drakonus,” he teased. “You figure it out.”
I shot him a glare, but he was smiling wide, and the heat inside me died swiftly. Damn his peculiarly attractive and disarming charm.
“Drakonus,” I repeated. “That sounds oddly close to …”
The look on his face urged me on.
“Dragons?” I asked skeptically. “Come on, Vil.”
He laughed. “You just teleported. You’re no longer on Earth, and you think dragons are a stretch?”
“W-what did you just say?” I asked.
“You aren’t on Earth anymore, Vanessa. You’re in the realm of dragons.”
“The realm of dragons,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“Yes,” he replied, moving away from me and spreading his arms wide. “Welcome to my home.”
And then he began to change.
“What the actual fuck!” I yelped, backpedaling away from his swiftly expanding form so fast I tripped over my heel and fell to the ground. My body screamed with pain from the impact, already overburdened by the accident, and I cried out.
A giant dragon head came darting toward me, one giant yellow-orange cat-like pupil focusing on me with an intent that was more than a little unnerving.
Vil’s voice came from its mouth. “Are you okay?”
I stared up at the head, the scales the same silvery color as his eyes. The voice, while deeper and more powerful, was very much Vil. There was no denying it. But he was …
“You’re a dragon,” I said lightly, then lay on my back as the world swam around me.
“Vanessa, are you all right?”
In a flash, Vil was back. Human Vil. He came and crouched over me.
“I’ve been pushing you too far, too fast,” he said, trying to scoop me up from the ground.
“Just let me lie here a moment, will you? I need to process this. And stop the room from spinning.”
There was silence, and the only thing I could see was Vil’s worried face as he stared down at me.
“Why are you doing this to me? Why are you showing me all this?” I asked, my voice sounding slightly … cracked. Like I was on the edge of a breakdown.
“Because I must,” he said. “You are … important.”
“Me. Important to dragons? I don’t believe that for a second.”
“I told you I would never lie to you,” he said insistently.
“That’s ridiculous. I’m a nobody.”
A deep growl of denial ripped from his throat. “You are far more than that, Vanessa. Far more. Don’t sell yourself short. Believe in yourself.”
“Uh, thanks.” What else did you say to something said so passionately that you didn’t really believe? And why was I willing to believe him when he said he didn’t mean me any harm, but when he tried to talk me up, I could ignore it?
“Good.” He smiled again. “Now, are you ready?”
“For what?”
Vil grinned. “It’s a long walk from here to our destination. A much quicker flight, though.”
“Flight?” I squeaked. “You want me to …”
“Come on,” he said, backing away again. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”
“You and I have way different ideas of fun,” I said as the giant silver dragon reappeared.
Way different.