40. The Dungeons.

Dungeons, the name is enough for someone to imagine its horrible atmosphere. Niya went ahead into the darkness as she didn't bring a torch with her but she soon realized that she could use her powers to make light. She opened her hand and a golden light ball appeared on her palm and made everything visible around her.

The walls of the dungeons were all black, greasy, and smelly. There were small rooms on both sides with strong iron bars gate that went from the ceiling to the floor. The floor was greasy too, Niya could see how sticky it was. She scrunched her nose at her surroundings and moved ahead.

She tried to look into every room to find her father, moving her palm close to the bars but far enough that no prisoners could grab her. But instead of her father, she was greeted by different kinds of monsters inside each cell. Some had long teeth, some had horns on their heads, and every one of them was tied with iron chains on their hands, feet, and neck. After what felt like hours, she finally saw a familiar figure, her father, sitting in a small room.

"D-Dad?" Her voice cracked while looking at his condition. She stood at some distance from the window. He glanced up and his eyes glowed up for a second. His face was full of bruises, his hair was messy and greasy. At that very moment, her whole world collapsed in front of her eyes, her heart sank and all the good memories she had with Archie just crumbled into pieces in her mind. She froze, she didn't know what should she say or do at that moment. As soon as she went near the little cabin, the golden light ball disappeared and the room filled with darkness again. She frowned, looking at her palm.

"Niya? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," he said, looking around with fear in his eyes. He came closer to the little window. Niya could see his face a bit more now.

"Dad! I'm here to save you," she said, wiping her tears.

"You can't. He is a monster, a powerful monster. He'll kill you if he finds out that you’re here." He pleaded with his eyes to go back.

"I'm the most powerful creature in this world, only next to God. How can he even think about killing me?" she said, roaring in anger at her father's words.

Her father shook his head in denial, gulping the emotions down his throat, and looking down. "No, your powers won't work here, princess," he said, looking at her, trying to control his tears. "Please, go back as soon as possible and never mention to anyone that you were here."

"No, I won't go without you. Even if my powers won't work here, even if he will kill me, in any scenario, I'm not going without you, Dad. I will fight for you." She touched her father's hand through a little window of the cell.

"Try to understand, Niya. My survival is not as important as yours. I can't let you die in his hands. The only ray of hope to save our kind is you. And I won't let that hope die. I won't," he said, looking at her.

***

In his room, Archie was changing his coat after an online meeting with the president of one of his provinces when he realized that his keys were missing. He frowned for a second thinking about where he had placed those keys last time and let out a relieved sigh when he remembered that they were in his blue coat.

He went to the laundry room and took out the blue coat, searched all of its pockets but couldn't find the keys. He exhaled deeply. *Niya! No, no, no... please, no,* he thought and rushed to the dungeons. The scene in front of his eyes made him clench his jaw. The guards were asleep.

"What the—" he whispered while looking at their bodies. He controlled his anger and entered the dungeons.

*Shit, this is not going the way I planned. What should I do now? I think it's time to take out all the masks and let's just make it a fair game,* he thought while smirking, running through the dark corridor.

"Ni, please! Just go. You need to go. Please." Her father pleaded again but Niya shook her head in denial, tears were running down her cheeks. She had never seen her dad in such a miserable situation before. She was helpless, he was helpless, they couldn't escape the reality, and said the reality was way crueler than she ever expected.

"Hey, bestie! I think you’ve lost your way, haven’t you?" A familiar voice greeted Niya's ears, her heart sank again knowing who the voice belonged to. She turned, wiping her tears, she didn't want to look weak in front of him.

"You bloody traitor!" Niya grabbed his neck harshly in anger, trying her best to squeeze the life out of him but he didn't even flinch. He smirked at her helpless effort. He grabbed her hand and made her wince in pain, her grip loosened and a tear escaped from her eyes even though she tried her best to stop it.

"You shouldn't be here, Niya! You shouldn't be!" he said, tightening his grip on her wrist. "This isn't the right time to know about this... you were supposed to marry me before knowing all this shit." He exhaled loudly in frustration.

"I'm gonna make you suffer for this, Archie. I'm gonna cut you in pieces and make your soul suffer in hell," she said, looking fearlessly into his eyes. He looked at her for a second and chuckled.

"Sweetheart! Don't be so rude. You are going to be my wife soon so you are not supposed to be badmouthing your soon-to-be husband," he said, smirking at her.

"Wife? Husband? Hah! I will rather die instead of choosing you as my husband," she said in anger, her red puffy eyes directly looking into his soul.

"Who said you have a choice to choose? I am not asking, sweetheart! I'm telling you." He grabbed her waist, pulling her towards him, their faces were only inches away, and the agony of her anger could be felt through her warm breaths on his face. "I didn't want to force you, Niya, I didn't. I planned to make you fall for me but you just ruined everything. Now I'm helpless. I have to force you now, you left me no choice," He brought his face near her but she turned her face in disgust.

She didn't want to feel him that close but no matter how far she tried to move her head, she could still feel his warm minty breath on her neck, making a shiver go down her spine.

"I had this feeling that one day you'll do something stupid, so, I have already prepared a room, a special room in the dungeons, just for you," he said, smiling and grabbing her arm harshly. He dragged her to the end of the corridor.

"Archie! Please, leave her," her father screamed and Archie ignored his plea with an evil smile on his face. He opened the door of the cabin and there it was, a special room prepared for her by her so-called best friend. There was a bed in the middle of that room, he threw her on it with force and using his vampire speed, the next second her hands were tied to the back of that bed with iron chains. She tried to free herself but failed miserably. Because of her constant efforts to let herself free, she felt an instant ache in her wrists.

"Shhh! Calm down. Your magic and your strength won't work here. This place is magically protected by a spell. No magic, except for mine, will work here. Nobody can save you, not even the gods above." He smirked, caressing her cheeks softly.

"How can you be so cruel? I thought you had a good heart, I stood against everyone just to prove to them that you were good. I was so wrong, Archie. You are the definition of pure evil," she said, gulping down her emotions, trying hard to control her tears. She wanted to cry, to make herself feel better but she couldn't. Plus, she didn't want to make herself miserable in front of that evil creature, she didn’t want her suffering to be his enjoyment. Archie looked at her for a second

"This is all your fault, Nini. All your fault. I didn't plan it like this. I wanted a happy future with you. I wanted to marry you but not like this. Not by forcing you. You made me do this," he said, wiping her tears softly.

"William will kill you when he finds out about this," she said, exhaling loudly out of frustration.

"Nobody can kill me. Nobody," he said, tying her legs with a chain, his face was so blank as if he had no emotions inside him. "Pray for him because if he gets to know about my plan, I have to kill him and your other friends, so pray that they never know about this." He cupped her face softly in his huge hands. His face glowed up as soon as he looked into her eyes and a creepy and scary smile appeared on his lips.

Niya remained still, glaring at him with watery eyes.

"Good girl. Now I have to leave, there are so many things I have to manage. See you soon," he left the cabin immediately.