Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

leading to the basement, a cardboard box in his hands bearing the name of a famous brand of champagne. Baltic looked at him in disbelief before turning a scowl on me. “That’s my vintage Bollinger’s!”
    “It won’t hurt you to share.”
    “With people who want me dead!” he yelled.
    “I completely understand their feelings,” Dr. Kostich said. “About the von Endres sword—”
    “That’s it,” Baltic said, raising the sword again. “I’m killing him; then I will deal with you, mate.”
    Dr. Kostich took a step back, his hands going through the intricate twists and turns of a morphing spell.
    “You will not hurt him! I will never forgive you if you hurt him!” I told Baltic.
    He glared at me, his eyes sparking onyx, his jaw tight with tension. “You are pushing me too far, woman!”
    “I just want everyone to get along!” I yelled, so frustrated I could . . . well, yell. “Why can’t people stop trying to kill each other and steal things from each other and so help me god, Dr. Kostich, if you complete that morph spell, I’ll slap you with one myself!”
    My former employer lifted his nose, his fingers dancing in the air as they drew near to completing a particularly detailed morph spell that would turn Baltic into some other form. “You are under an interdict. Your magic does not work.”
    “Wanna bet?” I snarled, and pulled hard on the dragon fire within me, letting my own fingers do a little spell casting.
    A banana materialized out of the air and fell to his feet.
    He stopped his morph spell. Everyone stared at the banana.
    “Um. That was supposed to be a slavering tiger,” I said, prodding the fruit with the toe of my shoe. “I guess the interdict is making my magic wonky.”
    “Understatement time,” Jim said, sniffing it. “You want me to pretend I’m a tiger and stab the archimage with it?”
    We all ignored Jim.
    “You should not be able to even cast a spell,” Kostich said, giving me a long look. “It is not possible that you can do so with the interdict placed upon you.”
    “My mate is not a normal woman,” Baltic said, hauling me into his side with his free arm. With the other, he waved the sword at Kostich. “She is a light dragon. She is beyond your understanding.”
    “You!” Kostich snapped again, glaring at Baltic as he gathered up arcane energy into a bluish white ball.
    “Here we go again,” Jim said, taking the banana to the bottom step of the staircase. “At least I have snacks for this show.”
    “Don’t you dare!” I told Kostich just as he released the arcane ball. Baltic parried it with a flash of his light blade.
    “Very Wonder Woman,” Jim said, its mouth full. “How are you with bullets?”
    “Oh!” I yelled, glaring at the mage, rolling up my sleeves. Baltic hauled me back as I was about to pounce on my former employer. “Let go of me, Baltic! No one throws arcane magic at my man!”
    “Dragon,” Jim corrected.
    “Move out of the way,” Kostich warned, pulling on his power to form another arcane ball. “I shall smite the dragon where he stands!”
    I twisted in Baltic’s grip, shoving him hard to the side. Kostich’s ball of power shot past us and hit a vase standing on a pedestal, exploding both into a bazillion tiny pieces.
    “Steeeerike!” Jim said, tossing the now empty banana peel onto the floor in front of Kostich.
    “What the hell are you doing?” Baltic asked as I continued to shove him toward the drawing room. “Leave me be, mate! I must attend to that deranged mage once and for all.”
    “I am not deranged!” Dr. Kostich bellowed, turning as he pulled together yet more power, forming it between his hands into a sphere that glowed blue. “Now stand still, damn you, so I can smite you!”
    “Oh, no, he’s not deranged,” Jim said, cocking an ironic eyebrow.
    “Stop it!” I shouted as Baltic yanked me sideways, out of the path of the ball of power. It went through the window, shattering the glass along the way.
    “You are so going to pay for that window!” I said, storming toward Kostich.
    “Mate, will you get out of the way so I can kill the mage?” Baltic snarled, his blade flashing from side to side as Dr. Kostich, muttering imprecations under his breath, quickly threw tiny little sparks of light at him one right after another.
    “No one is killing anyone—you bastard!” I gasped as Dr. Kostich, whirling around when the wind caused the door to close loudly, sent a blast of arcane power into the