Dragon Storm

by Katie MacAlister

  “I don’t see why,” Aoife said. “I mean, I get that you want to save the dragons, although it sounds like you’ve done a lot to wipe out the black sept—”

  “Ancient history!” Bee said before Constantine could.

  He grinned at her. She blushed in response, a fact that simultaneously delighted him and made him want to take her to bed and introduce her to a few of his favorite toys.

  “I agree with my mate,” Kostya said. “That he would help us break the curse is understandable. But what reason does he have for wanting Bael stripped of his power? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

  “What are they saying?” Aisling asked.

  “Oh, it’s all very exciting,” Gary said, his hamster ball vibrating with his enthusiasm. “Down, please! Thank you, Bee. Evidently Connie knows something about Bael, and Aoife and Kostya are being a bit terse with him about it. Would you mind?”

  Aisling lifted the hamster ball and set it on the cushion next to her, listening while Gary filled her in on the part of the conversation she couldn’t understand.

  “Are you going to tell them? Don’t feel like you have to,” Bee whispered to Constantine while Aisling was being caught up. She put a hand on his wrist and gave him a supportive squeeze. “It’s really not any of their business.”

  “Perhaps not, but I can’t see that hiding from the truth will do any good.” He smiled at her, warmed by her concern. When was the last time a woman took his side? “There is a ball that I think you would like.”

  Bee blinked at him a few times before wrinkling her forehead. “One of yours?”

  “Yes. It is metal, and filled with mercury. It can warm to the touch or be very cold, and has unexpected movements. I would very much like for you to experience it.”

  She leaned into him, her eyes on Aoife and Kostya as they held a whispered conference. “You mean like a ben wah ball? I’m not going to be into that. It’s one thing to have action in your hoohaw while you’re engaged in lovemaking, but I don’t want to just stuff things in there to be carried around while I go about my daily business. I mean, it’s not a purse.”

  Constantine’s lips twitched. “You can insert the metal ball into your ladyplant if you so desire, but there are many other things you can do with it, too. Equally enticing things. For both of us.”

  “Oh, now that does sound promising.”

  “Later,” Constantine promised, and squared his shoulders before facing his godson. “You asked why I feel responsible to make sure Bael does not harm others. It’s not just because he was once dragonkin, or is one of the children of the First Dragon. It is because he is my father.”

  He had the satisfaction of seeing identical looks of surprise on all their faces.

  “You’re the First Dragon’s grandson?” Aisling asked, her eyes big again. “But that would mean—Baltic is a son of the First Dragon, so you’d be—”

  Constantine sighed. “He is my uncle, yes.”

  “Holy cow,” she said, pulling out a mobile phone. “I have to tell Drake this. Or does he know already? I mean, you were close to his dad and all. Judging by the look on his face, I’d guess that Kostya didn’t know.”

  “The only one alive who knows the truth about my relationship with Bael is Baltic, and he cares nothing about it. He is focused solely on Ysolde and his own doings.”

  “I can’t imagine what it’s like to have a demon lord for a father. How did he become one?” Aoife asked.

  Constantine waved away the question. “It is a long story, and not one I wish to tell now. I must act—Bee and I must act. We must stop Bael from claiming the mage sword, and get the talisman needed to break the curse. He can’t be allowed to destroy others as he will surely wish to do.”

  “You’re not going to try to destroy him, are you?” Aoife asked nervously. “Obviously you don’t want to kill your father—”

  “I have tried in the past, and failed. I would attempt it again if I thought I’d succeed,” Constantine said with studied nonchalance.

  Aoife took a deep breath. “Okay. Moving past that, he’s dangerous. Very dangerous, and I should know because I was in the circle that summoned him for a few seconds before Aisling pulled me out. He was one seriously badass dude then, and if you think he’s gathering power now…” She shivered and rubbed her arms. “I don’t see how you or even you and Bee together are going to get rid of him. It’s got to take an army or something like that.”

  “Perhaps,” was all that Constantine said in response, but privately, he wasn’t so confident. He had failed in the attempt to destroy his father centuries ago, when Bael was decimating dragons and mortals alike in response to Constantine refusing to follow his father into Abaddon, but when the assassination attempt failed… mentally, he shuddered at the memory of his mother’s death in retaliation. “Bael must be stopped. There is no way mortals or immortals can live in peace with him in power.”

  “One thing at a time, I think,” Aisling said.

  “That’s sound advice.” Bee nodded. “Let’s find a talisman and break the curse, and then we can gather support to tackle the problem of Bael head-on.”

  Aisling’s phone burbled. She looked at it while Bee was speaking, suddenly leaping to her feet. “Oh man, I don’t—Kostya, Aoife, you have to leave.” She made shooing motions at them that caused them both to stare at her. “Jim, tell them they have to leave. Right now!”

  Jim, who had been chatting with Gary about the latter’s experiences in Abaddon, turned a surprised face on her. “Huh? How come?”

  “Just tell them!” Aisling ran out of the room, yelling for Jim to do as she ordered.

  “K, but I’m telling them that you’re the one going crazy, not me. Slick, Aisling wants you and Eefums to get the hell out of dodge. Like, right now.”

  “What? Why?” Aoife asked, looking a bit insulted.

  “Dunno. Ash just went a bit nuts and started yelling for you to go.”

  “Drake’s on his way home,” Aisling bellowed from the hall. “Tell them he just landed here in Paris, and Kostya has to get out of the house before he comes home.”

  “What about Connie?” Jim asked, following Kostya and Aoife out into the main hall. It was a well-appointed room, with walls of hunter green, and a beautiful white marble floor that pleased Constantine. He wondered what Bee thought of it, and decided then and there that he’d have to raise enough money to buy a house with a marble hall floor. Bee would appreciate the floor when he laid her down upon it, and licked her naked body with flames…

  “Should we go, too?” Bee asked, pulling him from the delightful fantasy that was building in his mind.

  “How do you feel about blindfolds?” he asked her.

  She pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth twitching a little. “I don’t think I’d like it.”

  “But you haven’t tried it?”

  “No.”

  “Ah.” He smiled at her, and added a new pair of blindfolds to his mental shopping list. “Good.”

  “There’s no good about it, buster,” she said, whapping him on the arm before striding forward. “I prefer to see what’s happening around me. Aisling, did you want us to leave as well?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s necessary, since Constantine appears to be some special exception to the curse rules. Tell them good-bye for me, would you? And that Jim will be in contact when we have some news.”

  Bee duly repeated the request to Aoife and Kostya, who paused at the door and said, “Do not do anything foolish, old man. I understand your desire to seek revenge, but the good of the dragonkin must come first. The curse must be broken. You have twenty-four hours to locate the talisman. If you do not do so by that time, then the black dragons will do the job for you.”

  Constantine held onto his temper, despite the overwhelming urge to show Kostya a thing or two about how old he was. “Do not threaten me, whelp. I was battling demons before your father even met your mother, and I do not need to be told how to do my job. We will
do what we must, but rest assured that Charming the curse is a top priority.”

  “Twenty-four hours,” Kostya repeated, and with a little bow to Aisling, who waved in response, Aoife and Kostya departed.

  “The nerve of him giving you an ultimatum like that,” Bee said softly in his ear, her hand sliding into the crook of his arm. “He acts like he’s all Mr. In Charge, but I don’t remember anyone nominating him king of the dragons. I mean, I know there’s two sides to every story, but I have to admit that there are times when I really want to punch him right on the snoot.” She flashed a quick smile at him, and squeezed his arm. “Don’t look so glum, Constantine. We’ll get the talisman and take care of Bael, just you see.”

  Constantine said nothing, but he thought a great many things. And none of them were good.

  Thirteen

  Constantine appeared to be in deep thought when I asked him if we should take off before Aisling’s husband came home. I had to nudge him before he turned to face me. “Hmm?”

  “I said, should we hightail it out of here, too? Or are you okay with the green wyvern?”

  “Yes, we should leave,” he said absently, his gaze directed inward. I wanted to ask him what had him so thoughtful all of a sudden, but at that moment Aisling came bustling back into the sitting room with a tall man with slick black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen on a human.

  But of course he wasn’t human. This was obviously the green sept wyvern, a man who was known far and wide through the Otherworld as a master thief.

  “There were two female demons outside,” Drake announced as he kissed his wife. “They ran off before we could capture them. Pal and Istvan are in pursuit, although the way the demons went to ground, I don’t hold out much hope they will be located. The house has not been breached?”

  “Of course not,” Aisling said, giving him a smile that was clearly welcoming in many ways. “You know I have three different layers of wards over every entrance. Nothing can get in that we don’t want in.”

  “See that you reinforce them.”

  Constantine continued to stand quiet, his mind obviously ticking away along some path that I wasn’t privy to. I had a brief review of the conversation of the last few minutes to see if I could pinpoint what had made him so introspective, but came up with a blank.

  “Bee, this is my husband, Drake. Bee is the Charmer who Kostya engaged to break the curse,” Aisling said, presenting the wyvern. He bowed formally over my hand, as is the wont with dragons, although I thought Constantine did it better. Perhaps it was the green eyes, so very calculating and emotionally distant, or the high cheekbones and the glossy black hair, but everything about Drake left me cold.

  My gaze drifted over to Constantine, who was now greeting Drake. What a study in contrasts the two of them made; where Drake reminded me of dark, still water, Constantine was fire and light, the warm glow of his eyes making me think of molten gold. He was sunshine to Drake’s shadows, and it made me shiver a little with anticipation when I remembered just how hot Constantine’s fire could be.

  I was distracted from my smutty thoughts by Aisling giving Drake an update on all the happenings.

  Drake looked startled by the information dump. “Bael is one of the firstborn? Why have I not heard of this before?”

  “Only the children of the First Dragon know of Bael’s true origins, and of them, only Baltic is alive.” Constantine shrugged. “It had little relevance until now. Bael must be stopped, no matter who his sire was. I failed to stop him in the past, but I will not fail again.”

  Drake noticed Gary at that point, giving him a look of pure disbelief. “What is that?”

  “He’s a who, not a what,” Constantine said.

  “And his name is Gary,” I said, lifting up the hamster ball so Gary could say hello and couldn’t keep from adding, “His real name is Gareth, but no one ever calls him that.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” Gary said politely, giving Drake a little nod. “You have a lovely home. My apologies about the tiny dent in the paneling in the hall. I bashed into it earlier when Bee decided to play Bowling with Gary.”

  Drake’s lips tightened.

  “And I’ve apologized twice for that. It was wrong of me, but really, Gary—you know better than to go on about traffic cones after I’ve made it clear such topics aren’t welcome.”

  “I thought it had interest,” he said with an injured sniff.

  I set him back down on the couch, saying as I did so, “Oh, balls, Gary, you’re all red again. I think your juice box is leaking. I’ll take it out, shall I?”

  “Please. And might I have another tissue? This juice is a bit sticky.”

  I removed the offending box while Constantine mopped up Gary again. While we were doing so, I caught Drake giving Aisling an unreadable look.

  She batted her eyelashes. “What?” she said finally. “You’ve never seen a disembodied head who likes pomegranate juice?”

  Drake chose to ignore that question and addressed Constantine. “I understand that Baltic and Ysolde asked you to help in the acquisition of the talisman.”

  “They did.” Constantine closed the lid on Gary’s ball, and crossed his arms over his chest, at his most formal, something that tickled my funny bone. “Unfortunately, we were given misinformation, and thus the talisman we liberated did not break the curse.”

  “You do not know where Bael is now?” Drake asked, his arm around Aisling, but a distant look in his cold eyes.

  “No,” admitted Constantine. “But I’m fairly certain he is in Paris, and if he’s in the vicinity, we will find him.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What are you thinking?” Aisling asked Drake. “Are you planning on flexing your green dragon skills? Because if you are, you know I want to help. And don’t tell me that it’s not safe—I feel fine, the twins are in the country with my stepparents and uncle, and you need me.”

  “I would be a poor green dragon if I couldn’t extricate a simple object without aid, even from you.” Drake’s gaze turned inward as he clearly sorted through some thoughts. “It seems to me that we need two distinctly different things: to keep Bael from finding Thala and the light blade, and to locate his hiding spot. I propose to deal with the latter. You would be hard put to do both, and we green dragons are well suited to the task at hand.”

  Constantine rubbed his chin, his eyes on me. “I was asked to find the talisman. I hate to go back on a promise to do so. What do you think, Bee?”

  I was touched that he even thought to ask me, given that my experience with dragons—and, initially, Constantine—had led me to believe they just did what they wanted without consideration for others. But I was wrong. Constantine was different. Where other dragons were overbearing and insufferable, Constantine was thoughtful, and kind, and considerate. I couldn’t think of any other man, let alone a dragon, who would care for a disembodied head, and yet there was Constantine, not only fixing up a new home for Gary (and making sure he stayed hydrated), but giving him a mode of transportation.

  “I think you’re pretty awesome,” I said before I realized I’d spoken that thought aloud.

  Constantine’s eyebrows rose. I felt my cheeks warming when Aisling stifled a giggle, and Drake looked embarrassed.

  “Man, we going to have another mate? Can I watch when he claims her?” Jim asked, snuffling my leg. I swatted at him.

  “I am not anyone’s mate, and stop wiping your nose all over me. It’s cold.” I turned to give Constantine a no-nonsense look, just in case he was listening to Jim’s babble. “I am responsible for lifting the curse. That’s what I was hired to do, and that’s what I will do, come hell or high water.”

  “Abaddon,” Gary and Jim corrected at the same time.

  “So my inclination is to say that we will get the talisman, since I’m the best person to know what will work and what won’t work. However—” I lifted a hand to stop Aisling at the beginning of her protest. “I am willing to change my mind if you can answer one
question, Constantine.”

  “Forty-two,” he deadpanned.

  I stared at him for the count of three, then burst into laughter. “If I didn’t like you already, the fact that you’re a Douglas Adams fan would raise you high in my estimation. Unfortunately, the answer I need isn’t going to be as amusing.”

  “Very well. What is your question?”

  “If Bael gets hold of the light sword, will it make it harder for me to Charm the curse?”

  “Oooh, good question,” Gary said, hopping up and down a little. “And scary, too, because what if Asmodeus gets the light sword? Then we’ll have two powerful demon lords going at it, and where will it end?”

  “The head has a point,” Drake said.

  “I have a name!” Gary said indignantly.

  “He does have a point,” Constantine said slowly, his eyes now dark with thought, with only a few little amber flecks showing bright. “And Bee’s question drives home the question of what we must deal with after the curse is broken.”

  “Assuming it is,” Drake said drily.

  “Of course it will be broken,” Aisling said.

  “The Charmer has already tried and failed. There is nothing to say that can’t happen again,” he pointed out.

  “Hey now,” I protested. “We weren’t told that the curse originated with Bael. The fact that the Charming failed isn’t our fault.”

  “The answer to your question is yes, I think,” Constantine said, having ignored us all to focus on what was important. “Bael cast the curse on us. We still don’t know how he did that from the Akasha, but the fact that he could warns us that even there he had powers beyond our estimation. But if he were to gather together three new Tools…” He hesitated, then glanced at Drake, who immediately wrapped an arm around Aisling and pulled her close.

  “If he gets new Tools, then he’ll become unstoppable?” I finished.

  “No. Or rather, not in the sense you mean. He will, however, be able to layer curse upon curse on dragonkin, to the point where we couldn’t break them. That is just one reason why he must be kept from gaining the light sword.”