Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

“Heh. This ought to be fun.”
    “What is Savian doing, telling everyone in the Otherworld where I am?” I muttered as I set down the tray of cut glass crystal goblets and opened the door. “Good afternoon, Dr. Kostich.”
    “Tully,” he said, inclining his head toward me. “I trust you will excuse my unannounced arrival. I have matters of great import to discuss with you.”
    “Actually, I’m a bit busy today. Could you come back another time? Say, next year?”
    The look he gave me said much, and none of it was in my favor. He strolled past me into the house, casually tossing over his shoulder, “I assume you have the von Endres blade by now. I have come to collect it.”
    “Oh, lord,” I swore, looking heavenward for a moment. “Why me?”
    “What’s going on . . . oh man. Greetings, your eminence,” Jim said, almost groveling toward Dr. Kostich. I didn’t wonder that the demon, normally the most flip of beings, had adopted a respectful air. Clearly it had come into contact with Dr. Kostich before.
    I turned slowly back to the foyer, trying to think of a diplomatic way to explain to the head of the Otherworld that I would not be stealing Baltic’s sword.
    “What are you doing here?” Kostich asked, staring at Jim where it sat in the center of the narrow hall.
    Jim dipped its head again in a doggy bow. “Ysolde’s making me be a pack mule. I didn’t know you were going to be here, though. Not that there’s anything wrong with you being here,” it added quickly as it backed up a few steps.
    “I dislike demons,” Dr. Kostich told it, his eyes narrowing and his fingers twitching as if he might cast a spell.
    “Ysolde!” Jim almost yelped, hurrying over to press into my leg. “You promised Ash to keep me safe! Don’t let him do anything to me.”
    “You’re a demon,” I told it, patting it on its head nonetheless. “He can’t harm a demon. No one can but a demon lord. Not permanently, anyway.”
    “Wanna bet?” Jim peeked out around my leg at my former employer.
    My eyebrows rose. “You can harm a demon? Not just its form, but the demon itself?”
    Dr. Kostich just smiled.
    “Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone harm you,” I said meaningfully. “Jim is my guest, Dr. Kostich.”
    The demon moved out a few steps. “Hostage is more like it. Ysolde demon- napped me. Not that I mind, because she’s cool and all.”
    “I can’t imagine why she would want to do that—” The words dried up on his lips as Baltic emerged from a back room. He paused at the sight of Kostich. The two men stared at each other.
    “Uh-oh,” Jim said, backing up again.
    “You!” Kostich said, pointing dramatically at Baltic. “It is you!”
    Baltic shot me an irritated glance.
    “I didn’t tell him where we were,” I answered the look. “Savian did.”
    “Now you will pay for your crimes against the L’audela!” Dr. Kostich announced, and began to cast what I knew was a morphing spell.
    “I really should have killed you when I had the chance,” Baltic snarled, holding out his hand. The light blade materialized in a burst of blue-white light.
    “No!” I yelled, running to stand between them. “I will not have this! Not now! Not today! Not when I haven’t made the lemon sorbet yet!”
    Baltic, in the act of raising the sword over his head, presumably to strike down Dr. Kostich, paused and frowned at me. “Lemon sorbet?”
    “For after the sárkány . I thought a little lemon sorbet and some ladyfingers would be refreshing.”
    He lowered the sword, his lips tight as he turned to face me. “This is not a party, Ysolde!”
    “Lemon sorbet does not constitute a party,” I pointed out.
    “Regardless, I will not feed my enemies!”
    “Might I interject a note of seriousness into this bizarre conversation—” Dr. Kostich started to say.
    “Don’t think it will do any good,” Jim answered as I pushed my way past Dr. Kostich to face Baltic.
    “They are our guests, and I will be damned if I have it said that people came to my house and I did not offer them common hospitality.”
    “Sorbet is not common hospitality,” he argued. “It’s dessert.”
    “I thought people would like something to cleanse their palates after the canapés!” I said, slapping my hands on my thighs. “Pardon me for being civilized.”
    “Canapés? Now you have canapés?” His face was beginning to flush, always a sign his temper was slipping. “What next, champagne?”
    Pavel emerged from the door