Page 79 of Dragon Her Heels

Lucifer kept his engine idling to spare us from having to get the monster restarted. As promised, he got on the hood of his rig and posed for the people cursing having to wait to get down the street.

“Crystal Magnolia Culling, what have you done?” my father burst out.

I laughed at my father’s delayed reaction. Rather than be deterred by his dismay, I bounced forward, hugged both my parents, and hurried to my trailer, getting to work releasing Zenzi and Moon so my baby could have a snack.

The colt behaved, and I beamed at my parents with pride. “I stole Zenzi from the Devil so I could give Moon a new mommy. His had died, and he was up for sale at the feed shop I frequent. He’s friendly, so go ahead and pet him once he has his meal.” With that taken care of, I went to retrieve the true surprise of the day, Alligator Bait.

My mare whinnied at the chance to stretch her legs before the next part of our journey. I brought her out, positioned her for display, and announced, “This is my precious angel, and her name is Alligator Bait. The Iroquois Stakes will be our second race, and I’m her owner, trainer, and rider.”

My father dug his phone out of his pocket, spluttered, and checked the device. For a long moment, he stared at the screen, likely comparing her race photos with the flesh and blood horse. “You’re her jockey?”

I scowled. “That’s the part you’re questioning? I am a lithe, perfectly weighed woman of exceptional breeding and skill. Of course I’m her jockey. I pulled her out of a slaughter pen for a pittance. I run her at home, and she missed the track so much I took her to Tampa for a race. She won. It was the kind of low stakes race nobody pays attention to, so there might be one or two people in the world who realizes she’s actually a good horse. Since she’s the right age still, I decided I’d give her what she wants the most, and that’s to race. I’m registered in the jockey club, and I use the loopholes allowing owners to ride and train. I threw Alligator Bait’s name into the hat, so here we are.”

“And you knew you were going to be racing when you planned this?”

“Yep.”

“Coal,” my father muttered. “You are so getting coal for Christmas.”

I laughed at his complaints. “I may have lied a little about the hotel, too—well, I kinda lied. You have a suite in a hotel near the track. I’ll be staying elsewhere, but I have a bunch of grain guzzlers with me I need to care for. You’ll appreciate that on race day, as I have to get the horses settled early for the race. You’ll be riding with me and my friend Ashley in my truck. The others will be going with Lucifer in his rig.”

The Devil waved at my parents.

My mother stared at the Lord of Lies. “When did you start keeping company with him?”

“When he offered me an obscene amount of money to work for him. He’s a great employer, too. My other boss is something else.”

“And who is your other boss?”

“The Destroyer of Georgia.” I shrugged. “So far, he’s tame enough, and when he really irritates me, I pick him up, take him out back, and punt him into the lake. Most of the time, he’s roughly the size of a football. When he behaves, he rides on my shoulder and intimidates people from there.”

The first time I took him to a business meeting, I expected those stuck with him would faint from horror upon realizing a being capable of devouring dead cities could transform into a shoulder dragon.

My parents stared at each other before gaping at my horses, who behaved and enjoyed their time out of the trailer.

“I’ll explain more in the truck, okay? I’d rather not make the horses stay in the trailer any longer than necessary. They’re good babies, but one is a literal baby, so let’s not stress him more than needed.”

* * *

As I couldn’t drive and show my parents pictures of my home, Ashley handled the task, twisting around in her seat to present the various pictures she’d taken of the estate. My father had gone from gifting me coal for Christmas to dishing out praise, especially when my housemate showed evidence of me having a shoulder dragon from time to time.

She’d also captured pictures of Joy, Mr. Magic the Bold, and Lady. My mother freaked over the alligators, swearing she would teach me my manners, and if I was just creating trouble, she would take me out back and give me a reason to cry.

I busted a gut laughing over the threats, which had stopped working when I turned eight and realized my momma wouldn’t actually beat me for being naughty.

As planned, we stopped for the night halfway to Churchill Downs, although we made use of one of Lucifer’s estates rather than a hotel. My father adored Joy, and to my horror, I realized the living quarters portion of my trailer had a hitchhiker.

I had not planned on an alligator coming along for the ride. Fortunately, at eighteen inches long, she wasn’t a threat to much of anybody.

Lady chirped and cooed at me, engaging in aggressive cuddling the moment she spotted me. Joy joined in, as there was nothing Joy loved more than cuddling.

“Lucifer,” I wailed, hoping the Devil could save me, both from my chicken and the pint-sized predator.

To my amusement, my distress summoned just about everybody, and they caught me holding my poor alligator, who had gotten chilled while riding around in the trailer with Joy, who’d grown into a huge ball of fluff with a tiny tip of visible beak.

I loved my ridiculous frizzle of a chicken, and I would be inconsolable the day she died.

Yuless stared at my reptilian pet, heaved a sigh, and shook his head. “I see. Despite you having asked us to please confirm that blight was in her pond, the blight was not in her pond.”