Page 94 of Dragon Her Heels

For whatever reason, my boss had decided to pick a fight with one of the newcomers, who boasted scarlet and cream scales. As I knew they could hear me from even way down the street, I bellowed, “Knock it off, you two! Blackie, don’t you even start with Strawberries and Cream. And so help me, if you want me using your actual names, you’ll settle down without destroying something!”

Both dragons opted to land in my courtyard, and judging from how they’d disappeared from view, they’d either lessened their size or shifted to human. I shook my head and sighed.

“Did you just yell at two dragons?”

“Yep. You’ll get used to it. There are like fourteen of them there now or something like that. It’s hard to keep count. They run around the homestead, usually knee high and getting into everything. Anyway, sorry about them. I will try to remind them they need to fight over the castle if they’re going to be doing that nonsense. That keeps them out of trouble and limits the property damage.”

“What was that ruckus a while back? It made a mighty crash!”

“That was my barn suffering from a catastrophic structural failure and collapsing. Fortunately, all the animals were outside, but I lost my tack and their feed. I’ll admit, dragons are useful when you need rubble cleared. I already have a new set of barns and an arena, which is making my life a lot easier. Anyway, I have to get to a livestock show. Yuless owes me an animal. He unwisely entered a bet against me.”

“Now that is a pretty piece of manhood,” Donna Leanne announced with a rather lecherous expression. “If you get tired of him, send him my way.”

Ew. Rather than call the old lady out on her gross commentary, I politely promised I’d do just that before heading down the other side of the street to finish my rounds. The entire way, I muttered curses over the reality of the situation.

With my shit luck at attracting men, I did not need competition from the woman down the way who did a good job of driving me to madness.

Yuless would owe me for all eternity, as I would deal with him to prevent him from falling into the woman’s clutches. I would recruit my kitties, all four of them, to lure the man into joining the eclectic selection of beings living in my home. Once I had him there, I’d work on convincing him to just read the instructions properly rather than trying to beat the dragons at their dumbass game competing at who could reinvent how to bake a pie first.

I hoped I survived my housemates, my neighbors, and the infestation of dragons nipping at my heels.

* * *

A dark car with three men thought it was a wise idea to attempt to kidnap me in the view of six dragons, the Devil, and the Devil’s wife. Upon realization they’d stopped the vehicle and attempted to shove me into the damned thing, I’d opted against becoming a distressed damsel. As my first retaliation, I drove my knee directly into the groin of the bastard who’d dared to seize my arm.

“I don’t think so, asshole!” As a knee to the groin hadn’t disabled him, I began the process of forging the kind of curse he wouldn’t be recovering from, not without divine intervention.

A low growl behind me warned that one of the dragons had noticed the ruckus and took severe offense to it. A moment later, a shiny black claw with glimmers of opalescence descended, skewering the bastard from head to foot. With a single shake of his giant paw, the Destroyer of Georgia flung his deceased victim in the direction of his castle.

I gave it twenty minutes at most for the alligators to strip the man of flesh and leave bones, assuming Mr. Magic the Bold didn’t get to him first, thus removing the evidence.

With a thundering strike of his tail, my boss reduced the vehicle to rubble.

The other two made the decision to run down the street.

I found their flight rather puzzling, really. Did they think they could outrun a dragon larger than most houses? Apparently.

The black dragon growled, the sound so deep the sound thrummed within my bones.

The Devil nodded to his wife, who had sprouted a fur coat, displayed her wings, and growled, long claws extending from her fingertips. “Go ahead, my darling. They sealed their fate daring such a thing in front of the likes of him. Do escort them promptly to your favorite cells before coming back.”

The succubus lunged forward, caught up with the retreating pair, sank her claws into their backs, and vanished, taking them with her.

I wondered how long she’d keep the pair alive before finishing them off.

The Destroyer of Georgia grunted, took flight, condensed his size, and zipped off in the direction of his castle, likely to posture on his favorite spire.

I frowned, righted my wagon, which had gotten knocked over, and harbored relief I’d already unloaded everything. Had they broken even a single of my eggs, I would have interfered so I could have dealt with the last two. “Where’s Yuless?”

“He went to make use of your facilities and freshen up while waiting for you to return. He’ll be back in a few minutes. He went about the same time you started talking to the bitch down the street.”

“I got her good, as she offered condolences over having been beaten at the races. I made her confirm I kicked ass at Churchill Downs.”

“Well done,” he praised. “I trust you are all right?”

“Mr. Durant spared that asshole he skewered from a rather nasty curse,” I confessed. “The other two would have gotten the weave instead if Darlene hadn’t beaten me to the chase. How long do you think she’ll take settling in her new pets?”

“I asked Belial to be ready to help her so she’s not spending all afternoon toying with them. Belial will interrogate them and decide their fate. We might prefer them to be alive. But the other one touched you, and that is that. One dragon happened to be faster than the rest, and I was about to join the party.”