They didn't attack. Why didn't they attack? “Why aren't they moving, is a trap?”
Azy didn't know how she push those words out, because there was no air in her lungs. It had all been sucked out and she couldn't seem to get herself to inhale.
“Annanuki. They mustn’t let them pass.” Fallyn watched just as rapt as Azy.
In another moment they saw two Annunaki standing like sphinxes guarding the path through the desert. Her mate handed the scarf to one of them. It’s face remained emotionless, but it stepped to the side and outstretched its arm to indicate that they could continue.
“Holy fuck, Jett. What the hell was that all about?” His words floated through the mirror, muffled like they were watching bad TV.
With the sound of her mate’s voice, Azy found the ability to breathe again.
The black dragon shifted back into its human form and patted her mate on the back. “The first gate of hell, Cage. Hope you brought some more trinkets to give to them, because we have six more to go.”
“The seven gates of hell? You couldn’t have warned me?”
“Nope.”
They watched the two men go through five more of the passageways guarded by the Annunaki. At each, Cage, such a strange name, removed another piece of clothing and handed it over, until he was bare footed and bare chested. All he had left for the last gate was his sword and his pants.
She wouldn’t mind seeing his butt, however, she’d been naked in hell. It wasn’t fun. When they reached the Annunaki, Jett indicated that Cage should hand over the sword.
“Can’t do it. Someone told me not to give it up. So, pants it is.”
The Annunaki went from its usual stoic face and stance to a monster in a moment.
“I don’t think it wants your undies.” That was the last thing Azy heard before Jett shifted back into his dragon again and Cage raised his sword. Why didn’t he shift too?
A river of demon dragons ascended on them. Cage slashed and chopped as fast as he could, turning the enemy to instant black stains. He wouldn’t be able to hold out long in his human form.
“Oh no. Why are they attacking now?”
Azy turned, but Fallyn was no longer watching along with her. She was at her bucket o’death, shoving daggers into pockets, up her sleeve, and one down her shirt.
“The seventh gate is death. One can not pass into the underworld if they are alive.”
Shit. “I don’t understand. We’re not dead.”
“You didn’t pass through the gates to get here.” Damn it, hell was a confusing ass place and nobody seemed to know all the rules.
Cage yelled, his voice coming through loud and clear through the mirror now. “What do you mean you can’t kill an Annunaki? And where the fuck am I supposed to go, you bastard?”
Azy grabbed up one of the swords and dropped it like it’s hot. Because it was. She reached for another, and it fell over. She tried one more time, finding a sword with a dragon inlaid into the handle. It fit into her hand perfectly. Not that she knew how to use it. But, it couldn’t be that hard to at least maim a few demon dragons. “Where is this? I have to go to him.”
Fallyn shook her head. “Why would you choose someone who will end you?”
“I’m not choosing him, I’m saving his ass. I don’t have time for this. He’s not going to hurt me, he’s my mate.”
“Mates are evil, but you are not. But you are a mate, but you are not.” Fallyn frowned and shoved more daggers into her pockets.
“I don’t have time for your riddles. Where are they?”
“At the seventh gate.”
Argh. “How do I get there?”
“Run.”
“Fallyn, I’m going to break every single one of your Christmas ornaments into teeny tiny pieces unless you tell me exactly how to find Cage, right now.”
Fallyn didn’t like that one bit. She was in Azy’s face in an instant. Literal fire burned in her eyes and she smelled of smoke and brimstone.
Azy didn’t back down, not an inch. She’d learned real young not to.
Even when Fallyn withdrew one of her daggers, Azy didn’t flinch. “How do I find Cage?”
Fallyn glared, the fires inside of her burning hard. Then she lifted the dagger and tapped the shard around Azy’s neck with the tip, making the crystal ting. “It will lead you to him.”
At first Azy thought it was another of the damn cryptic messages, but then she remembered how the shard glowed earlier. That had to have been when Cage had first entered the caldera.
Yes. She bolted for the entryway to this cave of wonders, grabbing the mirrored ornament on her way.
“Hey, don’t touch my stuff.”
Azy ran, and she ran, and she ran. The shard got brighter, she’d take a wrong turn and the shard would go dark. Damn it. At this rate Cage would be dead by the time she found him.
The only luck she was having was that the Black Dragon, the Black Witch and the demon dragons all seemed to be nowhere around.
Her lungs and muscles were burning. She was not used to using her legs this way anymore. A slow jog was all she was managing at the moment. The shard was glowing again, so at least she was going in the right direction.
She held the ornament up, trying to see what was going on. It was dark. Her heart, that had just been pounding hard, skipped a beat. Did that mean Cage was dead?
“Cage, where are you?” she whispered at the mirror.
“Azynsa?” That was his voice, he was alive.
The view in the mirror fumbled around and then she was looking at his face again. His skin was marred by a giant burn mark that started at his hairline and went all the way down his face, slicing through his eyebrow and cheek.
She recognized that kind of wound. Fire whip.
“Can you hear me? How does this thing work?” The view tilted and it looked like he was banging on the side of the ornament.
He must have a mirror on his end too. “Cage. Where are you?”
“We're pinned down behind an outcropping of rocks, but that's all I can tell you.”
“I'm coming. I'm getting close.” The glow from the shard was brighter than ever before.
Azy also thought she heard the screeches of demon dragons and the clang of a metal sword on rocks up ahead. Yes, she did.
“This is not the way I imagined first hearing those words from your mouth.”
Seriously? He was bringing up sex now?
She grinned despite herself. No, no. There would be no liking this man just because he could keep a sense of humor in a rough situation. She would not let his good looks go to her head. She needed her head if she was going to make it through the rest of this day alive.
“Keep it in your pants there, buddy. I wouldn't want you to lose any important bits before we get a chance to use them.”
That was not what she meant to say. Not out loud.
Stupid head. Hadn't she just decided there would be no flirting? Besides, only a crazy person would get their flirt on in the middle of a battle with demon dragons. She needed to stay sane here.
“Oh, I plan to use it, not lose it.” Cage said that at the same time as swinging his sword and running through a demon dragon who had dropped into his hiding place.
Jesus, that was close.
Azy saw where the tunnel she'd been following opened up. It was a steep climb to that cavern. Some pseudo-stairs had been carved into the incline. There was barely enough room for her toes to get a grip as she climbed. There were fresh scratch marks all along the floor, and it seemed that this was the same path the demon dragons had used.
This was a new area to her. She thought she had explored almost all of the bottom level of the caldera, but the route the shard had taken her on she never would have found on her own.
Her instincts told her they were much closer to the surface than the level she normally spent her time on.
At the top of the steep staircase, she peeked over the ledge and into the ensuing battle. Two Annunaki demons had th
eir great feathered wings out and were divebombing a black dragon, tearing at his scales with their beaks, beating it with their fists, like some kind of dark demonic angels. Demon dragons were surrounding it. But, each time one would try to join in the attack Cage, with his golden sword, would pop up from behind the rocks and chop off its head, or slice it open, turning dozens of them to ash.
Azy recognized the black dragon. He had brought her food and water when she had first been kidnapped. She had thought he was just a more intelligent or more developed demon. She'd never gotten a good look at him like this before and hadn't realize that he was significantly more than those pawns.
“They've got to be coming from somewhere. Find it, get out. I can't hold them back much longer.”
Cage’s head popped up again and quickly surveyed the small cavern. The place had many dark alcoves where demon dragons were manifesting. No wonder she hadn't seen any in the tunnels, they were all here, or on their way here. That had to mean Kur-Jara wasn't far behind.
“The bastards are coming from everywhere.”
“I know there is a side tunnel in here somewhere. Fucking find it.”
That was Azy's cue. She climbed out of the tunnel and raise the sword over her head, She-Ra Princess of power style. Her shard lit up the room as if the sun was suddenly shining underground, and a warmth and power seeped into her, giving her strength. Demon dragons shrank back and whined at the power of the light.
Okay, now what?
Cage had sunk to one knee, both he and the black dragon looked over at her. In fact, every eye in the room was on her. Out of the side of her mouth she stage-whispered to the two of them. “Come on.”
One of the demon dragons shook off the effects of the bright light and screeched out at her. “Mate. Get mate. AllFather want.”
The room erupted into answering screeches, and en masse they moved toward her.
“Shit.” She extended the sword out in front of her, because that was going to do anything. “Bring it on, mother fuckers.”
The black dragon jumped in front of her and spread his wings wide, blowing a swath of fire, eviscerating the front row of demons. “Go, go, go.”
Cage barreled out from behind the outcropping of rocks and crashed into Azy, taking them both tumbling down the steps and into the tunnel.
They landed with an oomph at the bottom, him on top of her, but cradled in his arms so she’d barely felt a thing. He’d taken the brunt of the fall, but didn’t seem hurt by it.
He rolled so he wasn’t crushing her, but she ended up straddling him.
“That’s more like it. Hello, mate. Nice to meet you.”
Chapter Five
Chp 5 - Claimed
First Dragon, above and below, Azynsa straddling him was the most beautiful sight under the sun. She was finally in his arms and her dark skin and long black hair was calling for him to touch and tease.
Before another second passed he needed to mark her, claim her, unite their souls for all time. He knew that just as he’d known a new power had sunk into him when he’d seen her. Both had hit him so damn hard, it had knocked him to his knees.
He couldn’t feel any stronger, except if he had his dragon back. That part of him still felt empty, but the warmth of having his mate by his side filled that hole with the strength of a thousand suns.
“Get up, you damn fools, and run.” Jett whooshed over their heads and farther down the tunnel. Not far behind him was the horde of demon dragons.
He thought there had been a lot of them at the battle he’d fought with Jakob and Ciara. This was ten times that. They screeched and came at them like pissed off pissants whose hill been smashed.
But, who cared. Cage had found his mate and now they were going to fight their way out of here.
He and Azynsa scrambled to their feet and he grabbed her hand. He shouted to Jett’s behind. “Lead the way, oh black–souled one.”
Together, they ran, twisting and turning through a maze of tunnels. Demon dragons popped up at every corner. Jett dispatched the first few with his talons or his fire, until they figured out where the weakness was. Mainly Cage and Azynsa.
“To where? Now that they have seen you and your mate, they will be everywhere. Kur-Jara won't be far behind. He wants her bad. The demon dragons are all wound up about it.”
One of the little bastards popped up behind them. Azynsa squealed and shoved her blade right through its eye.
That was fucking sexy as hell. He’d known she was a badass, but to see it in person was hot. He’d love to spar with her someday, just as foreplay. First, they had to escape.
“Can we get out the same way Jakob and Ky did?” Jett was turning out to be a shitty guide.
“Not unless you are a green dragon and not a gold one, or your mate there has some special powers I don't know about.”
They hit a dead-end and both he and Jett turned to look at Azynsa.
“What do you want from me? I can turn into half a fish. But, unless you think these guys want a dragon fish sandwich for dinner, that's not going to help.” What she didn't say, but that was clear in her voice, was that she thought the two of them were dumbasses.
God, he could kiss her right here and now. Smart mouth with a sense of humor in a damn tight situation. Adorable. However, he would save kissing for later when they weren't all about to die.
A great roar reverberated through the tunnel followed by a swath of fire that disintegrated the majority of the demon dragons. The remaining ones shrank back.
Unless that was miraculously Match, they were about to get a visit from the Black Dragon himself.
The only way out was to fight. There was no way he was making it through six out of the seven gates of hell, surviving an attack by Annunaki and demon dragons, and actually finding Azynsa alive and in good shape, to die at the hands of that son of a bitch. But, he was still weak, and a mirror and a sword weren't helping him come up with anyway out of this situation.
Cage was no God damned knight in shining armor here to slay the dragon.
Azynsa gripped his hand tighter. “Anyone got any bright ideas on what to do now?”
Oh, fuck yeah. Bright was exactly the right idea. He yanked the mirror off of his belt and shoved it into her hand. “Hold this.”
He traded the mirror for her sword, shoving the extra blade into his belt. He may need it later.
Not at all how he had planned to gift the mirror to her, but maybe he would not die in the next twenty-seven seconds and could do a better job later. Azynsa stared at the gold and glass and gasped.
“Where did you get my mother's mirror?”
“Later. Hold it up and out like a cross at an exorcism.”
“Whatever your planning, hurry the fuck up.” Jett lifted his snout and blew his own fire back into the tunnel. “Because that is only going to hold him off for about three and half seconds.”
“When I say go, point that mirror right at the Black Dragon’s eyes. Jett, when she does, hit him with everything you've got and then grab us. We'll have only an instant to get by him and back on the run.”
Neither of them had time to agree to his plan because just then, the Black Dragon showed up.
Its huge body filled the only exit and it sauntered in like it owned the place, which it did.
Cage held his sword out with one hand, keeping the demon dragons at bay and cupped his other hand, concentrated every shred of the sunlight inside of him into a dense ball. When he opened his fist, the light filled the area around the dead end in a blinding flash.
“Go, love. Hit him with the light.”
The initial explosion of light diminished and Azynsa was right there with the mirror manipulating the reflected beam directly at the Black Dragon's face like a laser.
The Black Dragon growled and recoiled. Azynsa had to adjust and maneuver so that the light continued to hit him. She found exactly the sweet spot and drilled that beam of light directly into his black eyeball. When she did, Jett blasted the Black Dragon with
a burst of flames and threw his own body at its chest.
The distraction of sunlight in this bleak underground hell and the fact that Black Dragon must not have expected them to put up much of a fight, because, even though Jett's body was half the size, they tumbled backward into the wall behind. The cave all around them shook and rocks tumbled from the ceiling.
Jett thrashed and pounded at his opponent, not following through with grabbing the two of them and flying out of there.
Azynsa could no longer focus the mirror with Jett and the Black Dragon fighting each other. Cage pulled the power of the sun back inside himself.
Good, he’d have some energy for later.
He slashed at the demon dragons nearest them who disappeared, not into the black puffs of ash and smoke with their death, but teleported across the room.
Each time he struck one of them, the sword hit flesh and bone, but then glided through it like a puff of wind. They reappeared around the Black Dragon.
Great. Another new trick to fight against. At least they weren’t able to get to Azynsa and her mirror.
Jett hit the Black Dragon again with his tail, but it ducked, and the spikes on Jett's tail hit the wall, causing more of a cave in. Jett did not relent, which was not the plan. Cage could see there would be no reaching the rogue in his current state of mind. If ever there was a berserker dragon, Jett was it.
He was out for the Black Dragon’s blood. Cage should have guessed this was Jett’s original intent.
The Black Dragon retaliated with a swipe of its own tail which caught Jett in the shoulder. He cracked against the wall and a fissure snaked its way up the rock. Cage glimpsed the tiniest bit of light leaking through that crack. Wherever was on the other side of that wall, was the only escape route.
The ground shook like an earthquake under the force of the dragon’s battle. It wouldn’t be long now.
Cage pressed his mouth to Azynsa ear, which might have been necessary for her to hear him over the din, but it was certainly no hardship. The scent of rain over the ocean enveloped him and he would never forget it. Damn it, he needed to concentrate on getting her to safety not on how he couldn’t wait to taste her. “On his next hit, run.”