Ash tightened her hand on the hilt of her sword. As amazing as it was to see a real-life dragon in this crazy place, the animal’s emerald scales shifting with each movement. Its brow furrowed and with an inhale, it blew her hair back. The creature snarled. Yep, someone wasn’t happy.

Did dragons eat humans?

Then it would have to roast her first, if it could catch her. She'd tightened her grip on the sword, ready to battle until death even though she was bone-weary from fighting the damn demons earlier. The devils had burst into the forest, chasing her. Guess they thought she'd be an easy meal.

They thought wrong. And so did this dragon if it believed she'd make a tasty snack.

“Are you responsible for all of this?” a baritone voice echoed in her head.

Shit! I must be more tired than I thought or this was one hell of a dream.

But it felt more real than any fantasy. Her arm shook as she raised her sword higher between her and the dragon as it stomped closer.

“Tell me, human, are there others with you? Did you see what befell these Tryns?” the voice rang in her again, this time louder, almost sounding irritated.

Why was the dragon upset? Were these demons friends of it? She shook her head. No, that was impossible. Her Grams had said dragons used to fight demons alongside mankind during medieval times.

“Are you incapable of answering?” he asked.

“Wha—no.” She lifted her chin. “I killed these monsters.”

The dragon looked behind it to the carnage spread across the bright yellow grass. His head swung back to her and his emerald eyes narrowed. “You? Bah, a helpless human female? I'd believe in zbouks before I believed your tale.”

Arrogant bastard. She shrugged. “Think whatever you like, but they are dead just the same. My blade coated in their vile blood.” She marched past him. On the back of her coat was an insignia or sigil: a black painted skull. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to clean my sword and find my way back home.”

His tail flopped in front of her, blocking her path. “I've not finished with you, human.”

“Look,” she moved her sword where the flat of the blade rested across one shoulder, “my name is Ash.”

He snorted and a trail of smoke puffed out his nostrils. “What a bizarre human name.”

“It's short for Ashley.” She nodded her chin to him. “And you are…?”

“Xilon D'Kohralx Vorian Churgo.”

“Wow, that's a mouthful and you're making fun of my name?” As much as excitement coursed through her that a dragon would be here in this different world or dream or whatever, she was too tired to care. Fighting the demons had sapped her energy. Almost like the time she had altitude sickness when she went skiing with her parents in the mountains the winter before their death.

Xilon lowered his head, if he did breathe fire like the stories said, she'd be extra-crispy in a second.

“Tell me what happened with these Tryns.” His voice sounded in her head as if he were gritting his teeth.

She moved her sword off her shoulder and swung it to the nearest corpse. “I killed them all. Now will you stop glaring at me? If these creatures are friends if yours, then I guess that makes us enemies.” Narrowing her eyes, she widened her stance, ready to fight.

“With Tryns? What do you take me for, a traitor to my kind?” He shook his wings, stirring up the dust and dirt, and forcing her hair back.

God, he is a magnificent species. She relaxed her stance and relief flooded her that he wasn’t buddy-buddy with demons. Really hated the idea of having to kill him if he was. Wait ‘til Grams heard about this. She'd be so envious. Damn, if this wasn't a dream, Ash owed her an apology for never believing her. Too bad she couldn't take this bad boy back with her. Dragon’s fire breath could kill demons. With his power, she could eradicate the demons on Earth. No one else would become possessed or die because of the monsters.

“Maybe we could make a deal.” She wiped the edge of her sword across the grass. “You get me out of wherever we are and come back to Earth with me. There, you'll find more of these demon-Tryns as you call them.”

He smiled or as well as a dragon can, showing his teeth that were bigger than her arm. Or was it a smirk?

“Are you telling me that you did all of this?” He shook his head. Laughter filling her mind. “A puny human...and a woman killed these Tryns here? Impossible.”

“Believe it or not, it’s true.”

“How did you get here?” His scaled brow furrowed. “Did a Tryn kidnap you like they did Kohl’s mate?”

“I don’t even know where here is.” She scratched her cheek with the sleeve of her leather jacket. “For the longest time, I thought I was stuck in some amazing nightmare. Great landscape, but shitty inhabitants. Until you swooped in on the scene.”

“And you’re sure a Tryn didn’t bring you here?”

“No.” She pushed back her hair off her face. Tiredness crawled through her along with hunger and a bit of nerves. She was on another planet. Had to be, no dream had ever been this real.

“This is Renjer. And a human can’t get here without aid or—” he paused, “—or magic.”

Renjer? Where in the galaxy was that? “Sorry, can’t help you there. If I had magic, I’d have led a different life and saved my loved ones. We’d all be in Cancun downing Tequila shots and dancing all night.”

“What do you remember last?” His tail twitched across the grass and she blinked not to get hypnotized.

Maybe she was more exhausted than she realized. How many hours had she been here? The demons had swarmed her and she fought her way past them. More came. Her sword arm cramped up and she had to switch to her non-dominate hand. At least she was somewhat ambidextrous when it came to fighting.

“I was hunting a demon outside my Grams’ house. Then I was here.”

He circled her. His emerald scales picking up the last light from the sunset. Would he be offended if she touched him? Was he cold or hot?

“There has to be something else. Was it lightning when you were outside on Earth?”

What did that have to do with anything? “Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged. “It was pouring and suddenly I was in the forest and it was bone-dry.”

He paused in his pacing around her, his wings folding down to hug his back. “How is it a mere human can ride lightning? That had to be what happened.”

“Whoa, what? No, no, no way did I ride a bolt of lightning especially to another freaking planet.” But as she said the words, the memory of scalding heat and blinding light flashed in her mind.

He snorted, then stomped a foot closer to her, his nostrils flaring. “Unless you’ve taken Renjerian blood and used dark magic to travel through space, then that would explain your presence.”

“As I told you before, I don’t have any magic.” She sighed. “I’ve no spells or incantations to be able to do anything like that. Nor do I have any dragon blo—” Wait, could he be talking about her Grams’ remedy when Ash was in the hospital and declared dead? Was the bottle of Castor Oil more than what she thought? Would Xilon be happy or angry that she and her Grams had Renjerian blood, as he called it?

He roared, his tail thumped on the ground, rocks soared in the air at the impact. Charging her, he snapped his teeth. Not wanting to hurt him, she leaped away, her back striking a boulder.

“Lies! I smell the blood on you!”

Fuck, now she was going to have to fight a freaking dragon.