Page 9

A pollo finished his wine and his food, and his headache eased back to a tolerable level. He drained the bottle of water that was also on the tray for him.

He didn't know how long their goodwill was going to last. Probably not long unless they showed Apollo the door after this ridiculous meeting.

Alain opened the door for him, and Apollo took note of the keypad just outside of it. No keys. That was annoying.

They walked out into a corridor made of brick and stone—no windows, just the soft glow of electric lamps. Definitely underground. Also annoying. Of course, Apollo had to be taken by smart people.

"Where do these doors go?" Apollo asked, pointing to the ones beside his own. "Am I not the only guest?"

Alain only smiled his placid smile. "Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to say."

"Of course," Apollo replied and slid his hands into his pockets. He was good at masking his emotions and playing the fool, and he had a feeling he was going to need both skills to get out of this mess. It was all too organized and creepy.

They walked and Apollo tried to count the turns they made before they came to an elevator.

Three left, one right. He didn't ask any more questions.

There was no point unless he wanted to try and beat them out of Alain, which didn't seem fair.

He was only the help and wasn't the one responsible for his kidnapping.

The elevator went up and up and up, and Apollo's skin crawled at just how far he must have been underground. When they stopped, it was on the top floor. He stepped out into a world of light and glass. Before him was the skyline of a nighttime Paris.

So he had been held in a part of the catacombs. They ran under the city in a maze, and it seemed the Sanguis Vitae had repurposed them for their own uses. He started humming 'Court of Miracles' from Hunchback of Notredame but quickly stopped himself. He had to be professional.

They walked through the foyer, the silence broken by their footsteps.

The reception desk was unmanned and the screens above it showed a commercial for Chrysopoeia products.

There was water and a mermaid, which made Apollo think of the ad in Zoolander .

He bit his tongue so he wouldn't slip out, 'Moisture is the essence of wetness.

' Somehow, he didn't think Alain would get the joke.

He needed to get his brain under control.

The butler knocked three times on a polished wooden door before entering. A woman and two men sat at a table made of black glass.

"Madame, messieurs. Apollonius Greatdrakes," Alain said with a bow.

"Thank you, Alain. You may go," the woman replied. Her pale gold hair, streaked with grey, was done up in an elegant chignon. She wore a tailored black suit with a crimson shirt.

"Monsieur Greatdrakes, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please sit," she said and gestured at the chair on the table opposite her.

Apollo slid into the chair and crossed his legs so they wouldn't bounce. "I don't appreciate being kidnapped, even for the sake of tradition."

"Our society has remained secret since 1560 only because of such traditions," the woman said, completely calm. "I am Dr. Marianne Bellerose, the head of the Sanguis Vitae."

"And Chrysopoeia Labs ?" Apollo asked sweetly.

Dr. Bellerose smiled. "They are the public-facing arm of the order.

We have many areas of interest besides cosmetics, as you will soon learn.

Allow me to introduce Dr. Antoine Mercurie, a geneticist specializing in cellular regeneration and manipulation.

" She gestured to a fox-faced man with tortoise-shell glasses.

He inclined his head and said nothing. "And this Dr. Lucien Delavie, our neurochemist. He also is responsible for translating ancient alchemical concepts into more scientific processes, including using AI to de-mystify some of the more obscure texts. "

"There is no taking the mystic out of the mystical.

Especially when it comes to alchemists," Dr. Delavie said cheerily.

He had to be in his seventies but was beaming with life and good humor.

He gave Apollo a big smile. "It's an honor to meet one of the famous Greatdrakes clan.

I come from an old family that has been practicing alchemy since the eleventh century.

I have grown up listening to stories about the magicians in your family. "

Apollo raised a brow. "And yet this is the first time you have reached out?"

"This is the first time an alchemist of your caliber has come through the bloodline," Dr. Delavie replied.

"And you are obsessed with blood, aren't you?" Apollo said.

Dr. Mercurie cleared his throat. "The Sanguis Vitae have always known that blood is the key to life and the greatest of magics."

"Yes, I have seen some of your work. Alas, Jean won't be coming back to the fold any time soon."

Dr. Mercurie's smile was as cold as his blue eyes. "He panicked under pressure. And that spell was not one of mine. Too crude."

"Gentleman, we have not brought Apollonius here to spar," Dr. Bellerose chided softly. "Or to argue the merits and efficacy of blood magic. Not yet, anyway."

"And your family? I imagine the head of the order has to be a part of the oldest, yes?" Apollo prompted.

Dr. Bellerose made an elegant gesture with a long, pale hand. A ruby the size of a grape set in gold filigree shone on one of her fingers.

"But of course. I was the first of my ancient family to properly decipher the family grimoire, which had recipes for some of our most successful products and experiments. I brought us into the modern age," she said, her voice tinged with pride.

Apollo smiled politely. "And what kind of experiments would those be?"

"Nothing slips past this one, Marianne," Lucien chuckled.

"We wouldn't be trying to recruit him if he wasn't bright," Dr. Mecrurie said. His cold eyes never left Apollo, and he wondered if 'recruit' was the right word Apollo would use for this situation.

He was also bright enough to know if they were revealing their identities to him, there was no way in hell they were going to let him go without a fight.

"Is that what this is? A recruitment?" Apollo asked, trying not to panic.

"It can be. You see, we have been watching the Greatdrakes family for a long time.

You are famous in Europe. The magic in your bloodline has always been strong," Dr. Bellerose said, steepling her hands on the table in front of her.

"And now the Greatdrakes have produced the perfect specimen.

A powerful alchemist that can turn into a dragon. "

Apollo laughed. "You don't believe that old legend, do you? I'm no shifter." It wasn't a lie. He hadn't shifted once.

"Really? Then how do you explain this?" Dr. Mercurie asked and pointed a small remote at the screen on the other side of the room.

"We got reports recently of a dragon roar shaking the very foundations of Dublin.

We knew of only one family that could have dragon lineage in Ireland, and our drones captured this. "

Apollo's skin crawled as the screen lit up with footage. Bas, Apollo, Valentine, and Bridget were all in the back garden. Bas was shifting back and forth between human and dragon. It had been a part of their own tests.

"You were spying on us? That is incredibly gauche of you," Apollo said, his horror slowly being replaced by anger.

"Feel about it as you must. You can't lie about the dragons in your family."

Apollo crossed his legs. "I never lied. I can't shift. You grabbed the wrong brother."

"I wanted Valentine, but Marianne thought he would be…too much trouble," Dr. Mercurie replied.

"He would be. He would have demolished this place by now," Apollo said, and he couldn't help the flicker of annoyance that his magic had chosen to specialize in alchemy. He was dangerous, but he needed his elixirs to really create chaos. Valentine only needed to be in the wrong mood.

"No, we made the right choice. You have an alchemist's heart, Apollo, unlike your brothers." Dr. Bellerose got to her feet. "Walk with me. I wish to show you our vision."

Apollo didn't object. There was no point. Besides, he wanted to see what these assholes were really up to. He followed Dr. Bellerose out of the conference room and back to the elevator.

A guard appeared out of nowhere to join them. He had a severe blonde crew cut and a face that looked like it had been broken more than once. Despite that, there was a low hum coming off him that Apollo recognized as magic.

"Apollo, this is Mr. Viktor Kovacs. He's the head of our security branch," Dr. Bellerose said.

"So this is your new dragon. I thought he would be bigger," Kovacs grunted and followed them into the elevator.

"Let me guess. You're the one that taught Jean the suicide spell?" Apollo asked, ignoring the comment about his size. Just because he wasn't built like a tank meant nothing. He could probably take Kovacs in a fair fight, but nothing about his man suggested he ever fought fair.

"Good guess. Did you like it?" Kovacs asked.

Apollo lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Effective if inelegant."

Kovacs made a grunting sound, and it took Apollo a moment to realize he was laughing. "Effective is more important than elegance in my line of work."

Apollo didn't ask him what line of work that was. He knew that Kovacs was the Sanguis Vitae's brute that would do their dirty work. Apollo could all but smell the violence on him. And the crazy.

"Play nice, Viktor. Apollo was only making an observation."

Kovacs smiled, showing too many teeth. "I would like to show him some of my other magic, Dr Bellerose."

"Perhaps later, Viktor," she said, patting the big man on the arm like he was a pet mastiff.

Apollo followed them through a set of labs where machines and people worked together to make Chrysopoeia products. He had joked to Lachie that they were after his shampoo recipe and fought not to smile despite the situation. He missed Lachie.

Mate , his dragon whispered.