Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

shimmied toward me, all undulating power and rampant sex appeal. He wore leather pants, and a black silk shirt open nearly to his navel. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a little breeze caught his hair and lifted it back. “And who do we have here? Sweet May, who is this delicious-looking blonde, and is she into threesomes?”
    Baltic was still far enough away down the sidewalk that I risked setting fire to Magoth’s feet.
    “Oh, don’t do that,” May said quickly, causing me to tamp down briskly on the fire. “He just enjoys that sort of thing. Trust me on that.”
    “Oooh,” Magoth purred, trailing a finger down my arm. His touch was icy, as if he’d been sitting in a refrigerator. “Someone likes to play rough. Go ahead, sweetheart-fire me up!”
    “Magoth, you promised!” May said, punching him in the arm. “This is Ysolde. She’s the mate to the dread wyvern Baltic, and he won’t tolerate any crap from you any more than Gabriel lets you hit on me, so stop it right now, or the whole thing is off.”
    “Ysooolde,” Magoth drawled, bowing over my hand and kissing my knuckles, his tongue snaking out to lick between two of my fingers before I snatched my hand back. “Would you like to see my curse?”
    “Say no,” May advised.
    “No,” I told him, then asked her, “Is there a reason you felt it necessary to bring a demon lord with you?”
    “Magoth is a former demon lord,” she corrected. “He’s without about ninety-seven percent of his power, so he’s mostly safe to be around. Although he has a libido the size of Montana.”
    “So kind of you to say, sweet May. Now,” he said, rubbing his hands together, “where do we start?”
    “Gabriel says we need a demon lord for the lifting of the curse; although he only has three percent of working abilities, they should be enough.”
    “Ah. I thought Aisling could do that since she’s a demon lord, as well.”
    “Yes, but she’s a good demon lord, and she can’t be used for this purpose because it’ll proscribe her again. Thus, Magoth. He’s the only demon lord we can deal with safely, now that Abaddon is in uproar over recent happenings.”
    “What recent happenings?” I asked.
    May waved away the question. “Bael was overthrown. It doesn’t really matter to us now, except in so much as all the demon lords are fighting for ascendancy. Magoth is our best shot.”
    “In so many ways,” he said, waggling his hips at me. “Would you like me to show you three or four of them?”
    “I’d like to give you a big old whack upside the head, but I suppose that wouldn’t fly,” I told him.
    To my horror, his eyes lit up with sexual interest. “Oooh, you like it rough, too? Excellent. Perhaps you and I can get together a little later on and compare our favorites list, hmm?”
    “You know, you make me appreciate just how non-creepy Constantine is,” I told the former demon lord. “I’m going to have to thank him for that, later.”
    “Did I hear my name invoked?”
    My shoulders slumped as Constantine shimmered into view.
    “What do you have to tell me, my adorable little squab?”
    I turned to face him. “Squab, Constantine? Really? Squab?”
    He grinned. “They’re cute. And I like to bite them.”
    “Do you really?” Magoth said, giving Constantine a once-over. “I suppose it would be preferable to bats, as that one rock star was known to do, but I myself prefer a nice, poisonous tree frog if I’m going to bite off the head of any animal. The tang of the poison as it courses through one’s blood nicely counterpoints the robust, earthier flavor of the frog. There are some salamanders that are almost as nice, but not quite the same sort of a rush, if you know what I mean.”
    Constantine blinked at Magoth. May groaned, and turned, suddenly realizing her mate wasn’t with her. “Gabriel? Where are you? What are you doing in there?” She reentered the portal office.
    “I don’t bite the heads off anything, let alone a frog,” Constantine corrected. “Who the devil are you, anyway?”
    I made the introductions, providing brief explanations of who each of them was before watching as May led Gabriel from the portal office.
    “I didn’t know dreadlocks could stand on end,” I commented as she fussed over him, straightening his shirt and his eyebrows, then handing him one shoe, which evidently had come off during the portalling. “It’s a good look, though. Where are Maata and