“Lovely. Great. Wonderful. I’ll get you a Dad of the Year T-shirt later. Can we get going now? I hear police sirens, and if we don’t get out of here now, we’re going to have a whole lot of explaining to do.” “Yeah. Demon-napping is a federal offense now, I hear,” Jim said as Baltic got into the passenger seat.
It was a very long ride back to Baltic’s house.
“What are we doing here?” Brom asked as I stopped an hour later. He peered out the window at the white house.
“We’re going to be staying here with Baltic.” “For how long?”
“Until I can rebuild Dauva,” Baltic replied as he got out of the car. The door to the house opened, and a man emerged. “Ah. Pavel is back. Good.” I looked over the roof of the car to the man I recognized from my dreams. He started down the steps toward us, stumbled when he saw me, and stared with huge eyes. “Is that… it cannot be… is it?” “Yes,” Baltic said, marching over to me in order to wrap his arm around my waist and pull me into his side. “My mate lives.” “So do I, no thanks to Baltic’s driving,” Jim said as it peed on the back tire. “Nice place. Can I go home now?” “No,” I said, digging my elbow into Baltic’s ribs. Brom was watching us with fascinated eyes.
“Aisling’s going to open a serious can of whoop-ass on you when she finds out what you did, you know,” Jim told me. “And bodacious boobies or not, I’m not going to stop her. I was supposed to go to Paris today to see my beauteous Cecile, and now I won’t be able to suck her ears or snuffle her butt or lick her belly or any of the things I wanted to do.” Brom transferred his gaze to Jim, equally fascinated.
“You bared your breasts to the demon, too?” Baltic asked with outraged eyebrows.
“No, of course I didn’t! I’ve told you several times now that I have no desire, fantasy, or other urge to bare anything to anyone, least of all my breasts. I have never, ever deliberately showed my breasts. So please stop insisting that’s all I can think of. It just doesn’t happen, OK?” Pavel, Jim, and Baltic all eyed my cleavage.
I looked down, swore, and hiked up the neckline yet again. “Gah!” “We are going to have a long discussion regarding these sexual fantasies of yours,” Baltic told me, tugging me toward the house.
“I do not have an exhibitionist fantasy!” I yelled.
“What’s an exhibitionist?” I heard Brom ask Jim.
I spun around and sent the demon a look that had it grinning. “It means someone who likes shopping at small boutiques,” it said.
“One step out of line, demon, and I’ll… I’ll…” “Or you’ll what?” it asked, tipping its head to the side.
Before I could answer, Baltic paused and shot laser beams from his eyeballs. Well, all right, not really, but the effect was the same. Fire blossomed in a circle around the demon, causing it to dance and yelp.
“Cool,” Brom said, looking with speculation at Baltic.
“All right, all right! Call off your wacko boyfriend! I’ll behave!” Jim tried to blow out flames that licked up its tail. “Not the package! Anything but the package!” “See that you do behave,” Baltic said, extinguishing the fire with a flick of his eyes. He turned to Pavel and spoke in a low tone of voice, the latter casting periodic glances my way.
I sighed to myself and pulled out my cell phone as we all entered the hall. “I suppose I should tell Aisling that you’re with me, Jim, and all right. It wouldn’t be fair to make her worry you’d been kidnapped by someone who meant to destroy you.” Jim made a face. “Yeah, well, about that…” “What?” I asked when its voice trailed to a stop.
“Normally I wouldn’t worry, because as soon as Ash realized I’d been demon-napped, she could summon me back to her, but she’s not going to realize I’m gone. Well, she is, but not. If you get my drift.” “Not in the least. What are you babbling about?” Jim sighed. “My ride to the airport was due when you showed up. Suzanne probably thought that’s where I went. I told you I was supposed to go to Paris.” “Ah, well,” I said, not too worried about Jim’s missed trip. “I’m sure you can go another time.” “I don’t want to stay here,” Brom suddenly said, giving the hall a good long look.
“Why not?” I asked, worried that he had gotten the wrong impression from Baltic’s possessive hold on me. Or rather, the right impression, but without an explanation that would help him understand the complex relationship that even I wasn’t sure I completely grasped.
“I want to go back to Gabriel’s house, where I have my lab set up.” Baltic whirled around. “What is this? My son does not prefer the house of the silver wyvern over mine.” “Gabriel told Brom he could use a room in the basement to perform his experiments. He likes to mummify things.” “I’m a mummologist,” Brom told Baltic.
“The silver wyvern gave you a room?” Baltic’s eyes narrowed. “You are my son. I will give you…” He thought for a moment. “I will give you an entire building. There is a barn to the north — you may use that.” “Cool,” Brom repeated; then his face fell. “But all my stuff is at Gabriel’s house. My natron, and my dehydrator, and my dead fox, and everything else.” “I will give you new things. Better foxes, better natron.” I raised my eyebrows. “Do you even know what natron is?” I asked him.
“No,” he said, blithely waving away the question. “But the natron I give to my son will be the best quality.” “If you want to dump Gareth for Baltic, I wouldn’t mind,” Brom whispered to me, clearly enjoying Baltic’s determination to outdo what he thought of as a rival.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him with a little flick of my fingers to his ear.
Pavel made a little bow to me. “I am pleased to see you again, Ysolde. It has been a very long time. You have not changed at all.” Baltic said something in that language I didn’t understand.
Pavel looked a bit startled, shooting me a look that I had a hard time deciphering as I answered, “It certainly has. And thank you.” Pavel gave Baltic a little nod and took off into the depths of the house.
“Brom, why don’t you and Jim go outside and look around,” I said.
“OK. We can look at the barn. I wonder if there’s anything dead in it… ” “Weird kid you got yourself there,” Jim said over its shoulder as it followed Brom out the front door.
“Just see that you mind your manners,” I warned it. “And don’t try to escape, because you won’t like how Baltic deals with pests.” “There is some business I must attend to,” Baltic said, pulling out his phone.
“What sort of business?” I asked somewhat suspiciously. “Dragon business? Because if so, I want to talk to you about that.” “No, mundane business.”
“You mean human-type business? I had no idea dragons did that sort of thing.” He shrugged. “Most of my fortune was claimed by others when I died. It takes some time to rebuild that, and since I will need a good deal of funds to restore Dauva, I must deal with business affairs.” “Oh. I wish I could give you some money, but I don’t make very much as an apprentice, and Gareth funds us from the yearly manifestations. So I’m pretty much broke.” “I do not seek fortune from you, mate. Only your love.” I glanced down the hallway as Pavel crossed from one room to another. “Er… does Pavel live here with you?” “Of course. He is my oldest and most trusted friend. He survived when the others did not.” Baltic paused in checking his phone messages and slid me a glance. “Are you sure you do not lust after him?” “Dammit! How do you know what I’m thinking? Are you a mind reader, too?” He sucked in a huge breath, approximately a quarter of all the air in the house. “You do lust after him!” “No, I do not! For heaven’s sake, Baltic! I don’t give a hoot about him, not in that way. I was just a bit curious about whether or not… oh my god! You didn’t! Oh! You did! I can see by that expression, you did! You told him about me and my fantasy about guy-on-guy action, didn’t you!” Mollified, Baltic ceased seething at me and punched in a number on his phone. “Yes. He said you could watch the next time he has a male lover over.” “Oh! I can’t believe”—I whomped him on the arm—“I can’t believe you told him that! I am going to die of embarrassment! I will never be able to look him in the eye again! I’m never going to forgive you! How could you do that to me!” Baltic just looked at me, waiting.