Me and My Shadow (10 page)

I was distracted for a moment by the vision the shard provided to me, but gently eased myself out of it, focusing my attention on my body as I slowly, inch by inch, urged the dragon form to withdraw back into my normal one. Savian nodded, and went to help the others examine the rocks for the entrance.

“Half-babe, half-dragon, and me with no camera,” Jim sighed as it plopped its big hairy butt down on Magoth's still form. “Life sucks. There's just no two ways about it.”

“He's not dead, is he?” I asked, nodding toward Magoth.

Jim snuffled Magoth's dirt-splattered face. “Naw, just knocked out.”

“Good.”

“May, we need you,” Gabriel called.

“Sorry, can't right now. I've only got one leg done, and almost a whole arm,” I answered, waving my mostly human arm at him.

“We need you in dragon form.”

“You do? Why?” The shard stopped imagining hot, steamy, dragon-form sex with Gabriel under a moonlit sky, and focused on him again.

“There she goes. Bah. Nothing exciting about seeing a dragon in its natural form,” Jim said with a disgusted snort.

“The shard you bear was Ysolde's. She has a tie to this place because of her relationship with Baltic. If you are in dragon form, you will be able to utilize the power of the shard easier.”

I let the shard take over as I marched over to Gabriel. “You're both dragons. Why can't you do whatever it is that you want done?”

His grin warmed me to my toes. “Ah, but we don't have the same delectable dragon shape as you.”

I gave him a look.

He laughed. “Neither Kostya nor I can detect the opening of the lair, but the shard might let you find it.”

“It is well hidden, even from me,” Kostya agreed, scowling at the stones.

“I still say you're barking up the wrong tree. I'd feel it if this was the opening to a lair,” Savian said, shaking his head.

“Fine. But if I can't shift back, and end up staying like this, I'm not going to be happy,” I grumbled as he stepped out of the way so I could scramble up the rocks.

“How do you feel?” Gabriel asked, watching me carefully.

The dragon shard wanted to dance with happiness.

“Right now?” I paused for a moment, gathering my inner strength, both my own and the strength of the dragon within me, allowing the two to merge for a moment before I brought my tail down onto the rocks with a force that knocked the people around backwards several feet just as if they were made of paper. The stones crashed inward with a muffled explosion, dust and debris swirling around me in a whirlwind that blocked my vision for a moment. As the air cleared, a black, gaping hole slowly became visible at my feet. The dragon shard celebrated, the teasing, heady scent of gold drifting out of the darkness. “Right now I feel great.”

Gabriel was first to his feet, but Kostya, with a snarl, flung himself forward over the hole into the lair. “It is mine!”

“Gold,” I crooned, stretching sensuously at the thought of it.

“Mine!” Kostya bellowed.

“We outnumber you,” I pointed out.

Cyrene, who had been grumbling as she dusted herself off, hurried over to stand with Kostya. “Oh no, you don't!”

“We have Jim and Savian,” I pointed out as Gabriel, his eyes lit with familiar lust, took a step toward the hole, his breathing deepening. I knew the gold scent had hit him, as well.

“The agreement was for the shard,” Kostya yelled. “You will get use of the shard until May can re-form the heart and reshard it. That is all! The rest of the lair belongs to the black dragons!”

“Yeah!” Cyrene said.

I slipped down the edge of the rock, back to the almost-invisible pathway where Magoth lay gently snoring.

Gabriel watched me for a moment.

“Kostya's right,” I told him, overriding the shard's demand that I take it to the gold. I separated my mind from it, and started the process of shifting back to my own body again. “Much as I would love to see the gold that smells so very nice, we did agree to the shard only in exchange for our support with the weyr.”

Gabriel sighed heavily, but jumped off the stones and returned to my side, waving one hand at Kostya. “I bow to my mate's demands. I will not challenge you for the lair so long as you let us use the Modana Phylactery.”

Kostya wasn't happy over the idea of letting the shard go, even temporarily, but he had agreed to the terms, even if he was now regretting them. He nodded curtly at Gabriel and, grasping a convenient bit of vine, swung himself over the edge of the hole into the yawning darkness. Cyrene started to follow, stopping when his head popped back up, a familiar scowl on his face.

“This is my lair, Cyrene. Only black dragons may gaze upon its treasures.”

“I'm your mate,” she said, trying to shove his shoulders aside so she could climb into the hole.

He sighed heavily, casting me a plaintive look.

“You made this particular bed,” I told him, wrestling with the shard to regain control over my body. “I'm afraid you're going to be lying on it alone. Dammit, Gabriel, the smell of gold is too much for me. I can't shift back to my normal form here. I'm going to have to do it somewhere else.”

“I am so your mate! Well, all right, not technically, but I'm mate lite, so that counts.”

“Then we will go somewhere you feel more comfortable,” Gabriel said immediately, pushing a branch out of my way. I knew he would prefer remaining to take charge of the phylactery that Kostya would retrieve from the lair, but he selflessly escorted me up the almost-invisible path.

“No, it doesn't count,” Kostya said as we left. “You are not a black dragon, Cyrene. I appreciate your help and support—”

“Oh! I like that! You string me along and now you dump me just when things are going good? Well, I have a few things to say about that, Mr. Dragon!”

Luckily, we moved out of earshot of Cyrene's harangue. It took a good five minutes before we were out of the range of the scent of gold and I was able to catch my mental breath and take charge of myself again.

Savian and Jim followed along after a few minutes.

“Sorry. Don't mean to intrude,” Savian apologized as Gabriel stood gently stroking my back while I pushed the dragon form back into a more familiar one. “But your twin is a little . . . er . . .”

“Bitchy,” Jim said, snorting when the last of the silver scales disappeared into beige-ish skin.

“Vehement,” Savian corrected with a smile at me.

“ ‘Vehement' doesn't threaten to drown someone in their lair. ‘Bitchy' is all over that,” Jim pointed out.

“Agathos daimon,”
I swore softly to myself, glancing at Gabriel. “If she's threatening him with water, she's really pissed. I suppose I should go back and intervene.”

“You'll shift again,” he pointed out. “I'll go.”

“I don't think she'll listen to you,” I said as he started back the way we had come.

“Does she ever listen to anyone?” Jim quipped.

“Quiet, beast,” I told it, about to go after Gabriel when Cyrene appeared, hauling a befuddled-looking Magoth after her.

“That's it!” she yelled as she caught sight of us. Her free hand gestured wildly. “I've had it! I've totally had it with that . . . that . . .”

“Dragon?” I offered as she pulled up to a stop in front of me. She let go of the hold she had on Magoth, who collapsed to the ground with a particularly fatuous leer toward me.

He was still naked, although no longer aroused, and had managed to lose the small shrub on his foot, but he wore a coronet apparently made up of an ancient, unused bird's nest, dirty spider silk, and a small clump of leaves sprouting from the region of his left ear.

“There you are, sweet May. Was it as good for you as it was for me?” Magoth asked.

“Better,” I said, letting myself smile just a little.

Gabriel gave me a look that let me know he didn't appreciate it. I immediately rearranged my expression into one of serenity. “Cy, please tell me you didn't flood Kostya's lair.”

“No, I didn't, but not because he didn't deserve it,” she said, snapping off each word. “I wouldn't waste precious water on that . . . beast! Do you know what he said to me?”

“Yes,” I said, taking her arm and cutting off the rant I knew she so desperately wanted to make. “I think it would be better if we were to go back to town. Gabriel?”

He hesitated a moment, casting a glance toward the trees that screened the entrance to Kostya's newfound lair. “You go. I'll follow with Kostya.”

I nodded and gave Cyrene a nudge. “Come on, twin of mine. Let's go back to town and get a drink. You look as if you could use one, and I certainly wouldn't mind a belt or two, myself. Gabriel will make sure your boyfriend is all right.”

“He's not my boyfriend anymore. We're through. Do you hear me? Through! I'm done with him! Although I would like a drink. Do you think they have lemon Perrier? You know how I love that.”

“I also know how drunk you get off it,” I said, leading the way. I gave the lair a wide berth as I headed us back in the direction of the town. “Only a water elemental could find carbonated water literally intoxicating. But if you're a cheap date, at least you're an easily pleased one.”

“You gonna leave your boss here?” Jim asked.

I released Cyrene's arm, turning to frown at where Magoth lolled on the ground. He stroked a hand sensuously down his filthy, leaf-bespecked chest.

“Much as I am tempted to do just that, I suppose the mortal world is safer with someone keeping an eye on him.”

Magoth smiled. “You can deny it all you want, my sweet one—I have seen the truth in your dragon eyes. You want me. You need me. You crave that which only I can give you.”

He was, I noted with dismay, showing signs of arousal again. I searched my mind desperately for something to distract him, not trusting the dragon shard to behave itself when he was at his randiest.

“Get your clothes on, and I'll treat you to a bottle of Bollinger's,” I told him.

Magoth loved Bollies, but even that wasn't enough to drag his mind off his cursed penis. He got to his feet slowly, completely oblivious to the fact that he more resembled a muddy swamp monster than a seductive former silent-movie heartthrob. “Not even going to try to dispute the facts? Wise woman.”

“I'm not going to argue the obvious with you, no,” I said calmly, and gestured toward the direction we were headed. “Come along with us, or don't, but make up your mind. I'm not going to stand out here all afternoon and be eaten by mosquitoes.”

“I would be happy to eat—” Magoth started to say.

“I think we can all imagine a suitably inappropriate and borderline sexually harassing comment, thank you,” I interrupted.

He leered, but checked himself almost immediately, an angry look flashing in his eyes. “May the fires of Abaddon roast that bastard Bael,” he spat out, his hands making aborted gestures of frustration. “I can't even en-thrall you as is my due! He will pay for this, just as everyone will pay for the dishonors done to me!”

“You have nothing to complain about,” Cyrene told him as he marched over to where we were waiting. “You haven't had your love and trust abused by the most hateful man ever!”

Magoth slid her a narrow-eyed look that, were we in Abaddon, probably would have rendered her as close to dead as an elemental being could be. She didn't notice, however, being fully immersed in righteous indignation.

“Your clothes?” I said as Magoth stormed past me, Cyrene hurrying after him as she continued to vent her spleen about Kostya.

“And then do you know what he said? He said he didn't have time for me anymore, that bringing together the sept would take all of his attention, and he wouldn't be able to deal with me, as well. Deal! Yes! He actually said the word ‘deal' just as if I was a problem to be . . . well, dealt with. Can you believe that? I'll feed his testicles to a shark—see if I don't!”

He ignored Cyrene, pausing just long enough to give me a haughty look. “I am Magoth, sixth principle spirit of Abaddon—”

“Former principle spirit of Abaddon,” Jim said.

Magoth ignored the demon, too.

“—lord of thirty legions—”

“Now in the charge of Bael, or whoever he's found to replace you,” Jim interrupted.

Cyrene whapped Magoth on his bare chest. “I am so not a problem person. I'm a naiad! We are the most pleasant of all the elemental beings! There's nothing about me with which he needs to deal, except my vengeance, which shall be as deep as the ocean and as dark as the . . . er . . . the ocean. In the bottom parts, that is, where it really is very dark.”

“Marquis of the order of dominations!” Magoth bellowed, no doubt in order to be heard over the chorus of Jim and Cyrene, but the smidgen of power he still possessed gave his words an unexpected volume. His voice echoed for a few seconds, the harsh sound of birds screeching their objection to the noise slowly dying out.

We all looked at Magoth.

“I have no need of such things as clothes,” he said, dismissing such mortal concerns with great dignity, turning on his heel to stalk back toward town.

“You wanna be the one to tell him he's got a big ole slug stuck to one of his butt cheeks?” Jim asked.

Magoth's shoulder twitched at the demon's question, but he didn't stop. He just kept walking.

Chapter Five

“You could think the arrival of a naked, dirty, ex-demon lord would merit at least a few raised eyebrows,” Savian said as I collapsed into a chair. “But no one seems to care.”