“Good God, an Irish poem where two women duke it out, and the day of judgment as told in one of the main stanzas from the original Requiem Mass! Damn that’s just…evil,” Jace complimented me.
“Yes, remind me not to slight your Mother,” Gareth told me with a grin.
“And no shimmering. I like you much better like this.”
“Yes much better.”
“And no flute playing just yet,” Jace added. “We’ve got enough on our plate without pissing off the Fairies.”
“Fine, but just so you know, dirges aren’t the only music I can play.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he muttered.
We cleared the table and helped each other to put the dishes in the sink. Jace made it clear that if we tried to put them in the dishwasher we’d be in for a nasty surprise. Apparently Snick took his cleaning duties very seriously and didn’t appreciate help.
In the end I removed the heels and let them dangle in my hand. The floors were smooth and I was more worried about twisting my ankle than I was about dirty feet. Perhaps if I’d started wearing high heels at two this wouldn’t be such an issue for me.
We started by heading back toward the bedrooms, only this time we checked out the first doors on both right and left. On Jace’s side of the hall was a huge library, filled floor to ceiling on three of the four walls with books of every shape and size. The room came complete with a huge fireplace that took up nearly the entire fourth wall, one that I could have stood up in. Sheepskin rugs covered the floors and deep comfortable looking armchairs and ottomans where spread out about the room. I apologized for my comment about them not reading and wandered around until Jace couldn’t stand it anymore and dragged me over to his special section filled with conjuring books, some of which looked to be very, very, very old. Obviously he liked to dabble, and maybe he’d teach me a thing or two. Hey, if I was going to attract demons maybe I should know more about them.
Back into the hall and over to Gareth’s side I discovered a very modern, very high tech office, or should I say, set of offices since there appeared to be at least two of everything. I wasn’t an expert, I think my computer was so last year, but it looked like they could have launched space shuttles to Mars from that room! Gareth breezed me in and then whisked me back out again. Either he didn’t want me touching anything or he didn’t want me looking too closely. Either way I was glad to be holding my shoes instead of wearing them as I’d surely have ended up in a graceless heap on the floor trying to keep up with him.
Back into the hall we went, Jace and Gareth both explaining that each room had an escape location and promising to show them all to me later. At the moment, they pulled me down the hall to the last door at the end and pushed it open. Behind it was another set of doors, but this time there was only one on either side and one at the other end. Again all the doors were closed and Gareth pulled me toward the one on his side while Jace tried to pull me toward the one on his side. I ended up pulling free from both of them and standing in the middle of the hall with one hand on my hip giving them the one eyebrow raised look.
When they finally mumbled an apology, I shook my head and wandered down to the end door, reached for the round handle and swung the door open. A rush of steam whooshed out at me and I blinked rapidly in the warm damp moisture rolling back into the hall behind me. Curious I stepped through the door and felt the temperature go up about 30 degrees. Apparently I’d found the spa and underground swimming pool, a very large one. Feeling my hair curling into ringlets, I quickly glanced around the room, taking in the coarse sand surrounding what looked like a deep pool maybe forty or fifty yards across. Dropped lighting hung from the rocky ceiling and there appeared to be several deep areas where the sand was piled high. For all intents and purposes, it looked like a Dragon’s lair. Goldy actually sat up and stared at the water, apparently the sand and warm water looked appealing to her.
I wandered farther into the cavern almost to the water’s edge and when I turned back to the door, both Gareth and Jace were watching me and I found myself considering pulling off my clothes and inviting them into the water for a swim. I could almost feel the waves lapping over our naked bodies as we entwined at the edge of the water. I shook my head and realized we’d be back before the night was over. Right now I wanted to finish the tour.
Jace sighed and Gareth just smiled. The way these two went on you’d think I was the only date available to the prom!
“I think she means a dance.”
“A dance of significant importance.”
“It’s a rite of passage for young men.”
“I like to dance,” Jace replied.
“We’ve already had our rite.”
“Naked, I like to dance naked.”
“Speaking of which, you should see what she’s got on under that dress.”
“Nothing?”
“No, worse.”
“Truly?”
“It’s all gold and red and lacy.”
“It’s been at least an hour.”
“That long?”
“I’ve never felt this attracted to anyone before.”
“She wants to see the rest of the place.”
“It’s not going anywhere.”
“Take off your shirt.”
That made Jace look at him, but he didn’t hesitate, just reached for the hem of his grey t-shirt and pulled it over his head. He dropped it on the floor and took several steps into the room. Meanwhile Gareth was busy with his own buttons and his shirt ended up hanging from the doorknob. They both reached for their pants at the same time and Goldy flexed her claws and glanced over her shoulder at the water behind us as if she could sense something at our back.
Her agitation had me turning back to the water and I noticed there were bubbles disturbing the surface. Something rippled under the water almost like a large fish and it was headed in my direction fast. I tensed but held my ground as a large scaly head about four feet long lifted out of the water directly in front of me. Behind me I could hear Jace and Gareth coming, but not fast enough to have stopped that thing if it had wanted to eat me. In a show of aggression it opened its mouth, exposing razor sharp teeth and a forked tongue. Inside me Goldy let out a challenging roar and leapt from her cave and for the third time in less than twenty-four hours I shifted.
Gareth was right: some days it was good to be Dragon, especially when the sight of you causes big scary monsters to cower in fright and grovel for mercy. I spread my wings away from my body, making me look larger and stood there … teeth bared. Apparently that was enough because the creature flopped onto the sand and rolled over exposing its softer underbelly. I’m not positive but I think it actually grinned and might have wagged its tail if it hadn’t been in the water still. Almost like a wolf cub, or maybe a dog. I think that if I’d have been closer, it might have tried licking me or rubbing itself against my body.
Baffled, I turned to Gareth and Jace who had crossed to me and were now standing naked at either side. Seeing that the creature presented no threat I shifted back to human form, complete with my gold sandals still held in my hand and stood there waiting, again the only one in the room dressed. Don’t ask me to explain how it works: I just know that my clothes, much like Areth earlier, just come along for the ride and reappear when I’m done. I don’t know where they go while I’m in Dragon form, I’m just glad it’s not embarrassing to shift as long as I’m dressed prior to the process.
“You’ve frightened Spot,” Jace chided.
Spot? Surely not, I thought to myself, yet he flashed me his amused smile and nodded
“Now don’t look at me like that, you couldn’t pronounce his name anyway. We just call him Spot.”
Meanwhile Gareth had crossed to the edge of the water and sat in the sand so he could give Spot a vigorous scratch on the scales just above his eye ridges. Spot appeared to enjoy the attention as he began humming softly and raised his head into Gareth’s lap so both eye ridges could easily be reached. I took a mo
ment to marvel at those rough scales so close to Gareth’s manly parts, but he didn’t seem too worried about it so why should I be?
A good portion of Spot’s body was still in the water, but I could tell that he resembled a Dragon, only he appeared to be missing wings as well as horns. His body was almost black and he was covered in Dragon scales with spiky ridges running from the top of his head straight down his neck, and I assumed down his back, though his body disappeared under the water so I couldn’t really tell. His eyes were a brilliant pale white color as if he was sightless or perhaps they allowed in light under the water. He seemed able to see just fine as he watched me shyly from one eye while Gareth continued to scratch him thoroughly.
“What is he?” I finally asked. “And what is he doing down here?”
At the sound of my voice Spot actually whined. I couldn’t tell if it was a worried or excitedwhine. But it caused Gareth to scratch him harder probably as a means to distract him.
“He’s a sort of watch dog,” Gareth replied. “He protects the entrances to the tunnels in here.”
I glanced around the cavern wondering where the entrances could be. I couldn’t see any doorways so they must be hidden behind rocks or maybe just crevices in the cave walls.
“We’ll show them to you later,” Gareth told me. “Come and meet Spot. He thinks he’s angered you and you’re making him nervous.”
He charges at me out of the water like some prehistoric Loch Ness monster and I’m making him nervous? Should I feel bad about that?
“He was just doing his job. Good thing for you Goldy shifted or you may have ended up toast.”
Toast? I don’t think so. I shrugged as I walked toward them. “He might have tried, doesn’t mean he’d have succeeded.”
Jace flashed me a grin, crossed to Spot, knelt and grabbed a handful of sand which he used to rub the somewhat softer looking scales just under Spot’s leg.
I’d never owned a pet aside from Mi, and I couldn’t really call her my pet, more the other way around actually. But if I had had a pet, I imagine it might look something like these two looked in caring for their… Spot? Just what was this creature anyway? Jace and Gareth weren’t exactly making cooing noises but it was dang close. Who would have thought these two Dragons could be such… softies? What was that saying…small children and animals? And it was clear that the feelings were mutual, it nearly made me go gooey inside. I mean really, here we had two drop dead gorgeous totally naked men petting and fussing over a fifteen or twenty foot long scaly watch dog. It just made my heart swell with emotion.
Gareth actually chuckled and urged me over. Apparently, I didn’t have a choice. I was meeting Spot. My dress made it difficult to kneel so I bent at the waist instead, leaned over and gave Spot a nice gentle pat on his head. I think it made him feel better because he blew out a very warm breath of air, a breath that actually smelled like charcoal, or maybe brimstone? Oh my God! Could it be? Was Spot an actual wyrm? I didn’t know they existed!
“Does he breathe fire?” I demanded, pulling up my dress so I could kneel. Spot blinked his eyes at me and shifted his head slightly in Gareth’s lap.
“Yes, that’s why the pool is heated. And of course it comes in handy for eliminating undesirable tunnel trespassers.”
“Where did he come from? Are there more? Mi has spoken of them, aren’t they related to Dragons? I thought she was just telling stories.”
“I supposed there was a time when we were more closely related,” Gareth replied. “There are many worlds on the other side of the Everlasting and many creatures traveled the paths between worlds. It’s not unlikely that Dragons and wyrms started with similar ancestry. I know that there were no wyrms on our world but that Spot isn’t the only wyrm that lived in the Everlasting before he appeared here.”
“Appeared here?”
Jace stopped scrubbing and looked at me. “I think Snick had something to do with it. We needed a way to defend this cavern and poof there was Spot.”
“Handy.”
“I’ll say the heated pool was an extra benefit.”
“So what does he eat?” I asked, glancing around wondering if there would be piles of bones or some other tell tail sign of past meals.
“Fish, mostly.”
“Ex girlfriends,” Jace responded at the same time. His voice had a tinge of sarcasm to it so that I couldn’t tell if he was serious.
Gareth frowned and then added, “They just appear in the water, compliments of Snick I suspect.”
“Compliments of Snick. Ha! That’s rich.”
I glanced between the two of then and noticed that neither was willing to make eye contact. This was the first time I’d detected any discord between the two and it surprised me. Apparently the sudden tension affected Spot too because he lifted his head and glanced at each of them, then settled his gaze on me. I think his tongue actually slipped out of his mouth and he got that dopy look again, not unlike an overgrown puppy. I was kneeling in front of him, dress hiked to mid thigh, loosely holding my shoes, when he tilted his head slightly and started undulating just his head back and fourth on his neck, not so unlike a cobra before it strikes. I wasn’t certain what he was up to, and then quick as lightening he grabbed my shoes and slipped into the water making a honking sound as he slid under the surface.
“Hey!” I yelped as the shoes left my hand and disappeared out of sight. “That was my only pair of shoes, darn it!”
Gareth and Jace both laughed as Spot surfaced several yards from the edge holding the straps in his teeth and proceeded to shake them vigorously before tossing them in the air over his head. At which point he leapt out of the water and came down with a mighty splash that soaked me to the bone and wet the sand nearly to the door.
I pushed damp ropes of hair out of my face and frowned between Gareth and Jace. Both appeared to be trying very hard to hold a straight face. “You might have warned me,” I told them grumpily. I assumed they must have known this was going to happen, which might account for their lack of clothes. And here I thought it was me they were after, not just the saving of their threads.
In the end I stripped to my panties and bra, at which point Gareth leaned over while he was pulling on his shirt and whispered, “You see why I didn’t warn you?”
We left the dress in the cave. Jace assured me it would find its way home and Spot didn’t seem interested in it. I was getting used to going naked, or near naked, so it didn’t really matter much. But my hair and shoes were a total loss.
Chapter 12
It turned out that both rooms yet unexplored down the hall were bedrooms, big surprise there. The one on Jace’s side was larger with a similar walk in closet and oversized bath, but the rest of the room was bare except for a large bed of a more feminine design, complete with four posts carved out of some type of beautiful light wood. Aside from that there was no bureau or seating area. The room looked like it was just waiting to be custom designed to whoever would occupy it, a blank canvas. One thing it did have that the men’s rooms lacked was a hardwood floor.
The room on Gareth’s side was a different story. I suppose what I was expecting was something similar to the one across the hall but when we opened the door all three of us stood in wide eyed amazement. The room was big, bigger than either Jace or Gareth’s and I’m not sure how to describe it except to say it looked like it had recently been decorated in early chaos with a heaping side of pigsty thrown in. At closer inspection I could see a bed and chairs, although I couldn’t determine the color of either under the heaps of clothing strewn about the room. Clothing which was clearly female, and mostly of the leather variety. The art on the walls was dark, abstract, and not very pleasant to look at. I’m not art critic and what I was looking at might well have cost a fortune, but sleeping in a room with that hanging on my walls would surely give me nightmares.
And the smell… I think I actually backed farther into the hall, feeling slightly unclean. I’d never experienced a smell like that. It was… unp
leasant, and my nose wrinkled as I remarked, “Ah, I take it Snick doesn’t clean in here?”
Gareth frowned and shot Jace an angry look. Jace just shrugged and reached out to put his arm about my waist, giving me an affectionate squeeze.
“She’s right, it stinks.”
I wasn’t going to ask who lived here, but I was wondering if I could get Snick to put a lock on my door. Whoever she was, I suspected she wasn’t going to be happy with me and I had no desire to be axed to death by some irate female while I slept.
“You can bunk with me,” Jace whispered in my ear.
I smiled up at him, thinking I might just take him up on that offer. I was getting the impression that whoever lived in that room wasn’t one of Jace’s favorite people. Not wanting to dwell on it at the moment, I disengaged from Jace and headed back toward the front. Gareth stepped into his room to grab one of his shirts for me. What he came out with was a black sleeveless dress, with a scoop neck, that reached to mid thigh and hugged my curves like a glove. Jace moaned as I pulled the stretchy cloth over my head and then growled in appreciation as I tugged it into place. Little black flats accompanied this outfit and Gareth helped me into them before we wandered out through the front room on the way to the elevators.
“She doesn’t care who lives there,” Jace commented as we stood waiting for the door to close.
“Let it go,” Gareth advised.
In the reflective paneling I saw the anger that crossed Jace’s face before he schooled his features back to benign. Oh oh oh… this wasn’t good. I linked my fingers together and tried to think happy thoughts. I so didn’t want to get in the middle of their squabble about whomever it was that was creating this friction between them. Besides it wasn’t like I had any right to ask questions. I’d known them less than twenty-four hours and while we’d had sex…multiple times, none of us were mated for life and it wasn’t like I was intended to be monogamous. Shoot, my first time and I’d been with the both of them! If ever there was a precedent, surely that was it!
Dragon Lust Page 12
