Magic and Mayhem: How To Date A Dragon (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Baba Yaga Saga Book 2) (10 page)

“This is unbelievable. Do I even know you?” Jezibaba demanded, running an agitated hand through her long red curls as she fought the urge to scream.

Ultimately she lost and let out the anger in what could have passed for a war yell. The look on Damien’s face was priceless, matched only by him flinching, but she was too upset to enjoy having startled him. She was done playing nice and done letting Damien feel superior just because of his species. Her displeasure grew inside her until the emotion had to be completely unleashed.

“I have a warlock in a magical coma, a power dilemma the goddess hasn’t been able to fix yet, and two teenage witches to finish training. Of course, there’s the rest of the magical community to guard from the freaking corruption within the Council of Witches too. Today you have added dealing with a backstabbing, traitorous boyfriend to my growing list of challenges. Well, I don’t need this additional worry, Damien. I just don’t need this. But I guess what this all really means is that I don’t need you. Hildy and Carol—their safety—has to come first no matter what you or anyone else believes. My instincts are flashing warnings and I plan to listen to them.”

“Elenora… please. Can’t we talk about this tomorrow when we’re both calmer? Perhaps we can sit down with Thane and discuss these concerns. I’m sure it won’t take long for you to see he means the girls no harm.”

“Why wait for tomorrow? Call him. Let’s talk to him right now,” Jezibaba said.

Damien sighed and leaned back in his chair. “No. Right now you’re being irrational.”

“
Irrational?
” She rose from her seat. “What you see as irrational is the kind of instinct that has kept me alive so long. So go ahead and take the word of a lying male of your kind instead of the word of a female you have asked to be your mate. This discussion has proven the utter futility of us having a future connection.”

“Elenora. This is a lover’s spat, not a real argument. In time you’ll see Carol and Hildy are exaggerating. Soon they will forget all about my assistant and move on to tormenting other young males.”

Jezibaba held up a hand. “Don’t call me by that name ever again. The female you call Elenora is an illusion you created for your own purposes. I will be the Jezibaba until Carol and Hildy have taken my place. That’s who I really am, Professor.”

“Whatever your name… I know who you really are,” Damien promised softly.

Jezibaba snorted. “Do you? I don’t think you do. I came today as the Jezibaba, not as your lover, but all you see in my face is the female you’re bedding. Thane is a threat to their safety, Damien. If you are that unwilling to see this for yourself, maybe you should head back to your lair while your illusions are still in place. This is the only warning you’re going to receive. If your assistant makes another move on either of the Chosen Ones, I will not hesitate to kill him. ”

“There is no need for threats,” Damien said sharply. He stood, staring at her in shock. “How did we go from calmly discussing teen angst to you being so angry with me over nothing?”

“I usually don’t bother being this polite to people who insult me or those I care about.” She lifted her hand and power surged through her. Goddess, it felt good. Had she been repressing her own power? Because of a sexy dragon?

Jezibaba narrowed her gaze on him. “Carol and Hildy’s speech might lack the use of words as big as your dragon asswipe of an assistant might be capable of throwing around, but there is a lot of power in simple words. Here’s the best example I can think of...
Goodbye, Professor Smoke
.”

Everything lose in his office lifted into the air as the Jezibaba’s travel portal sucked her away. He’d have a mess to clean up, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the mess his doubt had made of their relationship.

They stripped down as far as they dared on campus and left their excess clothing on a set of benches near the training ring. Pugil sticks in hand, they walked around the dirt area taking some practice swings to loosen up.

Hildy sighed. “Warlock Edo told me they moved the Jezibaba back into her old quarters. She didn’t even bother to replace the bed this time. Edo said she sits in the chair and stares at the wall, except for when she visits Nathaniel. Then she sits and stares at Nathaniel in his coma. Edo’s worried about her. All the warlocks are. They said she’s never been like this in all the years they’ve worked for her.”

Carol’s face wrinkled in thought. “Are you dating a warlock now? I thought you didn’t like warlocks.”

Hildy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Edo’s the warlock initiate in the Jezibaba’s posse. He’s the one who doesn’t bother with his cowl unless they’re all wearing them.”

“Oh,” Carol said, shrugging. “I guess I didn’t notice. Her warlocks are always so quiet you forget they’re around.”

Hildy sighed. “The Jezibaba and Professor Smoke broke up, Carol. That’s the important part of what I’m saying. Pay attention. We have a big problem here. ”

“I heard you already,” Carol said as she nodded and chewed on her lip. “Do you think it was because of Thane?”

Hildy nodded. “Can you think of any other reason for them to fight? Jezibaba said she would take care of things, but Thane is still here on the campus. I saw him go into the biology building earlier. Professor Smoke must have sided against her.”

Carol snickered. “Are you stalking dragon boy?”

“Not in the good way,” Hildy declared, swinging her pugil stick until it whizzed through the air. “I can’t stand thinking about this. Charge me so I can knock you out. Maybe I’ll feel better.”

“You? Knock me out? In your dreams maybe,” Carol bragged, tossing her stick from hand-to-hand.

Hildy snorted. “That’s it. You’re going down, girlfriend.”

In the end, they both charged each other. It was after all what they’d been trained to do. Neither had been taught to wait passively for an attack to happen.

Their sticks clashed and bounced off each other. End met end, and then Carol scored a hit to Hildy’s shoulder. Hildy screamed in anger and stomped away to cool off.

“Don’t go away mad. You almost had me,” Carol said.

“No, I didn’t. Don’t patronize me, Carol.” Hildy spat the words and grunted as she came back to face her friend again. “You think you’re always going to be a better fighter than me.”

“Because I’m awesome at it,” Carol bragged, shifting her stick just in time to block what she knew Hildy meant to be a surprise blow. “But my real edge in fighting you is that I know you. I know how you think and I know exactly how long you always hesitate before striking out.”

Sticks slammed together. Clash. Slam. Clash. For every move Hildy made, Carol countered it.

“Temper won’t help you win,” Carol said softly. “I learned that lesson before I turned twelve.”

Hildy snorted as she charged again. “I’m never going to beat you in a fair fight, am I?”

Carol was breathing hard as she met and matched each of Hildy’s blows. “No. I’ve spent ten times the amount of time in the training ring than you have. I volunteered to train others so I could put in even more time. Unlike you, I know I was meant to be a lot more than a glorified babysitter.”

Hildy froze before glaring. “Babysitter?” she repeated dryly.

Striking with one end of her fighting stick, she punched Carol’s shoulder hard enough to bounce her friend back a few steps. When her friend laughed at the successful hit, she swept the other end down and knocked Carol’s legs out from under her. It was the first time she’d ever put Carol on the ground. It felt amazing.

She stood over Carol and glared down into her face. “I’m a volunteer… not a freaking babysitter.”

Carol laughed. “Actually, you’re a freaking cheater who has a hellacious forward thrust with a pugil stick,” she said, rubbing her shoulder.

Hildy swung her pugil stick over Carol’s prone body. “And you’re a freaking sore loser. Now get up and finish this fight.”

Carol’s groaning as she rolled over in the dirt eventually had Hildy giving in to her amusement. “Wimp,” she spat. Reaching down a hand, Hildy hauled Carol to her feet.

Clapping erupted around them and ended their joking. Their fight in nothing but their sports bras and training pants had drawn a crowd without their awareness. She was sweaty and hot. Carol was sweaty and dusty. About a dozen guys were grinning at their sweaty-ness. The whistles and teasing calls to keep fighting sort of cemented that the boys found them entertaining.

Hildy leaned close to Carol. “They’re finally looking at us like we’ve been wanting them to for years. Do you think the Jezibaba is ever wrong?”

Carol snorted. “Maybe we should test her theory about other men tomorrow wearing push-up bras. Oh, and we should trade our pants for shorts or really cute sports skirts.”

Hildy giggled and fell against her friend. When she pulled away, she brushed at some black dirt on Carol’s shoulder. It was wet and sticky.

More dirt dropped on them both as Hildy brought a swipe of it to her nose and sniffed.

“Guano,” she whispered, looking up. A colony of bats circled over their heads. She kept her voice low and calm.

Carol snorted. “Just say shit, Hildy. You don’t have to get fancy with your swearing.”

“No, Carol. I’m not swearing. We’re covered in bat poop.”

“What?”

“Don’t make any sudden moves. Just look up.”

Carol did finally, stifling her groan as best she could. “What in the Morgana’s name are they doing over our heads?” she whispered back.

“Getting ready to attack us, I think,” Hildy supplied. Carol started to drop her pugil stick but Hildy grabbed it. “No! No spells. We want to stop the bats, not wipe them out of existence. When they attack, just knock them down. They won’t get back up.”

“Are you nuts?” Carol demanded in a furious whisper. “There has to be a couple hundred of them. One chant, Hildy. One chant and they’re history.”

“And then how will we figure out who’s making them do this?”

Carol nodded. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Hildy?”

“I am if you’re thinking somebody let Professor Moth’s military trained bat mutants out of their cave. What are you thinking?”

Carol gawked at her friend and then shrugged. “Nothing better than that, Ms. Conspiracy Theorist. At least we have a prime suspect.”

Hildy looked away from the agitated bats back to her friend. “We do?” she asked.

Carol snorted. “You just said you saw Thane going into the biology building.”

Hildy growled softly and gripped her pugil stick. “Next time, I’m going to turn that dragon into a rat and put him in a cage.”

“I’ll hold the cage,” Carol said, just before she was dive bombed by seven bats at once. If she’d been any slower swinging her pugil stick, two or three would have attached themselves to her head.

Hildy swung her pole and took out the first few attacking her. She flipped her stick end to end to take out a second round. She looked at the boys who were opened-mouthed in surprise and doing nothing. “Don’t just stand there, you idiots. Help us knock the bats out.”

Beside her Carol snickered. “What?!” she barked, swinging at two more bats.

“That was very mean, Hildy,” Carol declared. “I’m proud of you again.”

“Stuff it, Carol. Swing your damn stick.”

“But not at Yo Baba Yaga Sister, right?” Carol said, giggling as she swung.

An earthquake-like rumble shook the training ring and them. They wobbled, but righted themselves fast enough to not fall. Bats screeched around them.

Carol screeched louder when one latched onto her hair. Hildy swung her stick and ball bat and knocked it off. It pulled some hair, but worked.

***

“Stop. Just fecking stop, already. This is pure troll shite.
Vespertiliones prohibere
!”

The bats froze in the air. Carol stopped to stare at them. Hildy stopped in shock and spun toward the strange voice. Finally they both stared at the older man who walked into their training ring. His hair was red as a fox, nearly the color of the Jezibaba’s.

“Ya best be fecking glad I decided to pop in today. The early squads were meant to distract ya while the hundred plus geared up to take ya out. What the feck were ya thinking knocking them down with sticks? Yer tongues can’t make a spell?”

Carol huffed. “Hildy didn’t want to hurt them.” Her words earned her another punch from Hildy’s stick. “But apparently she doesn’t care about hurting me. Owww…”

“Those bats are being used as a weapon against ya. Who did ya two piss off?” he demanded.

“Wait. Who are ya to ask such a question? I mean, who are you to ask us anything? We’re the Chosen Ones.” Hildy sighed, catching herself in emulation mode. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to mock your speech. It just sort of happens with me. Nervous habit. I’m a nervous repeater.”

Beside her Carol snorted. “That’s better than being premature enunciator,” she said, dodging Hildy’s next jab before laughing.

“Shut yer cake holes. As yer fecking teacher, I can’t very well fulfill my promise if yer both fecking dead from a bat bombing, now can I?”

They drew in a breath. “
Zenos
,” they both whispered in surprise.

Zenos snickered. “Aye. That be me. It’s pleasant to have two young, nearly naked lasses stating my name with awe. That might just have been worth the fecking trip if ya hadn’t turned out to be the two eegits I have to train.”

“Ewww,” Hildy said. “You’re old and disgusting. You’re not allowed to like my nakedness.”

“Don’t worry lass, yer a wimpy witch with small tits. So ya be completely safe. If yer of a mine to swap real insults, I have quite a few better ones to add to the pile.”

Carol grabbed Hildy’s arm and squeezed. “No sir. Zenos, sir. Hildy is not of a mind to do anything. It’s just been a very bad week for her. She’s a little testy.”

Zenos nodded. “Yer week might improve if ya give up the naked wrestling and act like witches. I can’t keep these flying black bastards hung in the air forever. One of ya needs to blow them up.”

“No,” Hildy exclaimed. “This is not their fault.”

“
Et irrumabo
.”

“I know what you said. I speak Latin and seventeen other languages,” Hildy yelled.