AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As the world, it turns to sulfur.”
Beneath her palm she felt his muscles stiffen. In fact, every muscle in his body became so taut with tension she could feel shivers rippling through the air as the whole realm seemed to wait with bated breath for a more likely than not explosion from the legendary Lucifer.
After what felt like eons, but was mere seconds, his entire being, shadows and all, shuddered and curled inwards as he fell to his knees at her feet. She reached down and touched his black hair. Hair that had been bright frickin’ blue when he’d first stepped through the portal. It hadn’t looked too bad, but seeing his natural hair, now that the magic around it had been nullified by whatever was going on with him, made her heart stutter as she thought of how perfect they’d looked together all those years ago.
In her mind, Sera could still see the smile Decaria had thrown her way as she’d danced with the devil, as she’d later said. It was a smile Sera had never seen from her again. Not after the shit-fest that had found her the moment he’d left.
She’d come looking for her bestie-boo, Deca. When she’d lost the ability to track her through the blood link, she’d almost gone absolutely mental. Knowing her last traceable location, she’d gathered her shit and hot-footed it to the realm of dragon’s as fast as she could. Only to find a bigger fucking mess than she’d ever expected. She’d certainly never expected to run into any bloody Shadow Hounds, that’s for sure. The meddlesome asshole, the Almighty, certainly liked to fuck with a girl’s head. Thankfully her panic had settled somewhat when she’d noted his absence. Nor had she expected to have a crying Lucifer hugging her legs like a devastated man-child. Which it seemed is exactly what he was doing at the moment.
The temptation she’d felt to run when she’d seen them come through the portal was outweighed by the thought of the two most important people in her life. How they seemed to have disappeared completely, despite the tracking bonds she had with them both. While she’d been informed that she was not to look for the first, she would not lose them both, and since no stupid gold-lined envelope had arrived telling her to back up and let it go, she was one bitchin’ witch on a mission.
Thank fuck she’d had a full pot of coffee before she’d left, otherwise she’d probably not have recalled the poem Deca had made her memorize all those years ago, just in case she came in contact with the blubbering lump at her feet and needed him to trust her.
“What have you done to him?”
Ah yes, Jackass 2.0 was headed her way now the immediate danger had passed, the anger and concern in his voice both agitated and calmed her. Not that she’d stand for any shit from any of them, but it was nice to see his concern for his boss.
The closer he got, the more aggressive the dragons began to feel. Their energy levels were peaking as they noted the Shadow Hounds still had their weapons drawn. The aggressive tone didn’t sit well with them either. The fact it was directed at a female, of the species or not, just added insult to injury. Especially when said female had just informed them the mage they’d long thought a friend had the stench of evil tainting the very essence of his magic. An evil she’d felt before, the same evil Deca had warned her about, one which had pervaded the space the day she’d ‘died’.
She tilted Luc’s face to look up at her own.
“We will talk more another time. I will help you find Decaria. She is like my sister, and I will not lead you astray in this. I feel the time is coming for you to be reunited. I know she has longed for it.” She sighed heavily at the exhausted leader of the Hounds. “But right now? Now I need to go and deal with the idiots about to start a bigger fight than they originally stepped into.”
Lucifer went to try and stand, but she halted his feeble attempts and shook her head. “I got this.” Her cocky wink had his lips twisting in a tired and grateful smile. There would be time for questions later . . . if he could find her.
“Stand down, boys, I have divine protection. Well, for as long as it suits the Almighty’s fucked up purpose. It is what it is.”
She shrugged her shoulders, a look of long-suffering boredom on her face to match the rolling of her clover-green eyes. She never got sick of her powers and projecting her voice like this was always so cool. Only in her dreams, her nightmares, did she remember not having them. Remember, not imagine, because she knew after all the lives she’d lived, they were indeed memories and not just horrific fantasies of death and betrayal.
“The time for fighting is not now. Your friend is fine. Your insult to the dragons can be rectified, and the answers you seek here are not as they seem.”
The two she’d noted earlier stepped forward, swords down but not sheathed. Swords, sheaths, damn, it had been too long if that was all it took to make her traitorous body tingle.
“We must find her, the one who killed the mage.”
Oh, he had such pretty colored eyes, all gold and blue and purple. Sera was mildly jealous of the fact such pretty eyes actually belonged to anyone. Not to say she didn’t like her own, she did, but tricolor eyes were just totally awesome.
“And what, pray tell, will you do when you find her?”
“She won’t be harmed, I assure you. We just need the mystery of it all to end.”
Sera laughed at this so hard she thought she’d wet herself. They thought the mystery would end when they found Deca? Like fuck it would. The Almighty loved long games, and if anyone knew how long the game could go, it was her.
“Surely you know better than that, right? There are always going to be more mysteries. That’s the fun of the game of life, even for us non-humans.”
Turning to the Chief of Thisavrós, whose name, funnily enough, was Thisavrós, she nodded and gestured for him to call off his guards. Finally, the Chief took flight and sought a private place to shift. Dragons viewed shifting as a sacred, and sometimes intimate experience. Only when absolutely no other option was possible did they shift in public. The guards withdrew to their regular posts, fully aware that she could handle the intruders. It was a good thing dragons could sense the level of magic a witch or mage was capable of, if not the intent with which they would use it.
Weapons disappeared, helms were removed. There were eight of them. She hadn’t paid much attention to them earlier, but damn! She could see why Deca had fallen for Luc, he was just her type and drop-dead gorgeous in a very movie star kind of way. The one with the white and red eyes and take-charge attitude was fucking sexy, despite his obvious mental handicap. Seriously, if he thought he could command her like he’d tried to, there must be a few screws loose. Yeah, she’d felt his power threaded through the order he’d given. It didn’t do anything to her, except tickle along the arch of her foot, and that was bad enough. What right did they all have to be so fucking hot? If she hadn’t already sworn off the capricious nature of men, she’d be all over them like butter melting on a hot corn cob. Was she tempted? Maybe a little. Was it worth it? Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels of ‘Fuck, No!’ it wasn’t. Not even the pretty little dark-haired lass with the lavender eyes could convince her to go near those males for ‘sexy time’. Fuck, when had she become such a man-hater? Actually, scrap that, it wasn’t really that hard of a leap to make, considering.
“Anyways.” She clapped her hands and smiled. “Listen up, stud muffins, and one smokin’ hot princess,” her voice took on a slightly huskier tone at the last bit, as she threw in a wink aimed at the female, and was rewarded with a faint blush. “When you find them, you’d better be on your best behavior, because if you hurt them, angels or not, I’ll rip your wings off and shove them so far up your asses you’ll be tasting feathers every time you lick your lips.”
Before they had time to pick up their jaws, she made a hasty, slightly ungraceful exit, taking the long route to portal home. Hoping like fuck they chose not to follow.
Chapter 14
The fucking bastard! Tears streamed down her face as she clutched at her stomach. Of course, he was the kind of asshole who’d do something so literal. But damn it, every time Jezzie thought she had her laughter under control, she’d catch sight of those fucking curtains again, the ones now hanging along the front of her room, and off she’d go again.
They really were literally what she’d asked for, she couldn’t blame him for that. Fucking curtains, and that they were. Couples in every imaginable position and configuration graced the expanse of hanging fabric. Men, women, beings of all realms doing the nasty. Hmm, her laughter petered away as her breath hitched with a flash flood of desire. Oh, but that one looked interesting, the one with the three beefy guys and the ravished woman, cocks everywhere . . .
