They didn't linger long after that, everyone eager to get away from the area.
"What are we going to do?" Etani asked after they had passed through another rip and the rain was suddenly gone.
Stepping away from the group, her wings flicked to rid themselves of the water and she turned to her friends, smiling at their being soaked while she had remained relatively dry.
"The mongrel was right about one thing, a gift will do the job," Uzo said as he took off his jacket and wrung it out onto grass.
"Where do we get a gem that would tempt a dragon?" Kai asked, his own jacket being waved before him to try and dry it. Jaia had simply begun to spin his, water flying out in an arc.
Daemon looked like a drowned puppy and was moody, but he did at least seem to be thinking.
Suddenly he smiled and without a word, the man vanished through a tear in reality, and left them alone.
Looking to Kai in concern, the vampire was staring at the spot the demon had vanished through, a small crease between his eyebrows before he turned his attention to her.
"What do we do if it doesn't come back?" Kai asked slowly and she frowned, realising that unless Uzo was able to get help from another demon or a gatekeeper, they were trapped in an unknown place. They might be a year's walk from Ayathian if they were even on the same part of the world.
"I don't think he will abandon us," Uzo said gently.
He was right, the demon returned in only a few minutes, and he was laughing, a shout coming from inside the portal and they got a glimpse of a long hallway before it zipped shut and the voice was gone.
All eyes turned to Daemon and from under his coat he drew out an enormous ruby.
"Where did you get that from?" Etani asked wondering, her breath sucking in as she stared greedily at the ruby. She wanted it so badly it hurt, and she didn't understand her sudden urge to jump on the demon and take it from him.
"Ayathian vault," Daemon said with a wide grin.
She immediately began to laugh, imagining the fury and indignation of Alaric when he found out they had stolen one of his rubies.
"I don't even know what to say," Uzo said, staring at the pretty thing.
The twins were smiling, Versalis was frowning but seemed happy enough.
"Alaric is going to skin you alive," she laughed, taking it and looking it over curiously. It was a very pretty red colour, polished and cut to perfection. It was lovely really.
Offering it back to Daemon, she met his grin with her own and they set off in the direction of a mountain to the west.
The cave was weirdly easy to find, and she could only assume it was because most people weren't stupid enough to try and annoy a dragon like they were.
Inside the cave they followed along a large passage that led downwards. Around midway down they started coming across skeletons and scorched armour, some of them having marks of enormous teeth.
They started getting nervous around that point and Daemon toyed with the ruby, ready to throw it at the dragon if they needed to.
The passage was fairly well lit from the opening, and from a warm red glow below, allowing them to see when the passage ended and a large cavern was filled with a mass of jewels.
The rumour about dragons being hoarders wasn't wrong and she stared around at the sheer mass of gold, jewels and precious stones the dragon had collected.
To their left, a post stood and hanging from a cuff was a single arm from elbow to fingers. It looked fairly old, and the small hand suggested it had once belonged to a woman.
Kai squeaked when he followed her attention and she turned back to the cavern, searching for the dragon, her mind reaching out but she found nothing.
"Is he not here?" she asked finally, stepping away from the group to peer around a large pile of coins. The others had spread out, searching but she felt nothing.
"He is here," a voice whispered in her ear, and she spun, coming face to sternum with an enormously tall man.
Looking up slowly, she found a pair of ruby red, slitted eyes and a wide, fanged grin staring back at her. His fingers caught her around the throat and hoisted her up off the ground, his grin growing wider as the vampires moved to help.
A single wave of his hand was all it took to stop them, a line of fire bursting up between them and his eyes returned to her, watching as her cheeks flushed and she tugged at his fingers.
When they didn't budge, she pulled herself up and planted her foot against his chest, using her legs to help push herself back from him. It only aided in tearing the skin of her throat and she whimpered, stopping that line of escape.
He was wearing long black pants and black boots, his chest bare though massive spikey shoulder guards stuck out up around his head and trailed down the tops his arms to protect his hands. She hadn't realised his fingers were so sharp with the guards.
There was no denying the man was incredibly attractive, his chest muscled without being bulky, with glittering silver hair that reached to the middle of his back. Grey-faun skin and a strong jaw adding to his rugged attraction. She might even had fancied him if he hadn't been choking her.
"What are you doing here, little winged vampire?" he asked and smiled as she gave him a hard kick to the stomach. He didn't so much as twitch and her foot was burning.
"Let go!" she snarled, deciding to use his belt as leverage to keep herself from choking.
He seemed to be enjoying her struggle more than wanting to hurt her in any real way.
Tilting his head slightly to allow his silver-white hair to fall away from the left half of his face, he studied her with both eyes.
"Pretty thing aren't you…" he said thoughtfully, his eyes turning from her to her friends who had moved to circle the dragon though they were unable to get any closer. "And you have a collection of pretty friends."
He suddenly let her go and she landed hard on her feet, staggering only to have him grasp the front of her shirt and he bent down to her level.
"Why would so many pretty things come wandering into my home?"
"We've come to make a deal," she said, wiping at the blood on her neck though the wounds had already healed.
His brows lifted in a note of surprise, not expecting that.
"What kind of deal?" he asked curiously.
"We have a jewel to exchange for magic," she said and motioned to Daemon.
The demon lifted the gem out from under his coat and the dragon's slitted pupils thinned even further as he saw it.
"Is that right? What use have I for such a little bauble?"
Frowning slightly, she studied him and then smiled, prying his fingers off her shirt and taking a step back from him.
"Don't try and fool us, dragon. You seem to be lacking in the department of rubies."
His eyes snapped to her, narrowing at her attitude but when he reached for her again, she danced back and out of his reach though that only seemed to amuse him more than anything.
"Who are you?" he asked curiously, taking a step forward to try and catch her again but again she evaded him.
"Etani Daewen," she said, and the dragon paused, squinting at the name.
"Daewen? That Fae's spawn?" he frowned down at her, taking her in and coming to some conclusion. "I don't like liars."
"I'm not lying, Lutheral was my father, but a lich stole my magic and now I need to get it back."
He looked doubtful and he tried to catch her for a third time, barely missing her as she skirted him and the flames while trying to avoid slipping on coins.
"A lich stole Fae magic? How is that even possible?" He looked irritated that he couldn't catch her, studying the way she moved.
"A lich who also happens to have a hold on me."
The dragon growled in understanding and his hand seemed to vanish, suddenly appearing again and everything went dark as his fingers curled around her face.
She yelped as he tugged her closer and his armour grazed her jaw as he leant down to sniff her shoulder and hair.
"You smell like a newling vampire, and a number of other things. Is that werewolf?"
He lifted her just enough that she was on the very tips of her feet, gripping hard onto his wrist in case he pulled her any higher
"Let me go!" she yelled, her voice muffled by his palm against her face.
Growling, she pulled herself up using her arms and swung forward, wrapping her legs around his arm.
He grunted and straightened, lifting his arm up to study her clinging to it.
"Strange creature you are. Why are you here if you need your magic back?"
"I need your magic!" she yelled, unsure how well he could hear her.
"My magic?"
"Yes, your magic. Dragon magic."