Dragon Unbound
Page 10

“Wait, First Dragon like ... like Aisling mentioned? You’re the god?”
“Demigod, as my son’s mate would be the first to mention.”
I cleared my throat and, gathering unto me every last bit of energy I could pull from the surroundings, walloped him with a compulsion that would have dropped a horse.
He didn’t budge. He simply lifted one eyebrow and said in a mildly interested voice, “You wish me to do something? Ah, leave the house. That is my plan, as well. Let us go.”
“Dammit! That was my best push,” I said as he took me by my elbow and steered me toward the French doors. “Just my luck to get a god.”
“I wasn’t aware you had me,” he said, pausing when we got to the edge of the verandah. He glanced down at my bare feet and, without another word, swung me up in his arms and carried me across the stretch of gravel.
“Hey! Oh. Thank you. I ... uh ... ditched my shoes because I thought the guys were beating ... uh ...” I didn’t want to go on. I’d already made a big enough fool of myself. Besides, I had bigger worries. I had to get the band out of that house and into the van before the other dragons came out of my push.
“Because you thought I was being harmed?” He deposited me where I’d kicked off my shoes, which I hastily put on. “That is very noble of you, but it does not negate the fact that you attempted to steal from dragonkin.”
“Look, Mr.—er—First Dragon ...” I stopped, unable to keep from asking, “What is your name?”
He just looked at me with those gorgeous eyes. After about ten seconds, he answered, “First Dragon.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s what you are, but what’s your name?”
“First Dragon,” he repeated.
“You don’t have a real name?”
“It is a name. It is what I am called. I am the First Dragon.”
I gawked at him a minute, then asked, “You had a mother, right?”
“Most beings do, even demigods,” he agreed, and with a hand on my lower back, gave me a gentle push toward the part of the garden where the dragons still slept.
“Right. So what did she call you?”
He said nothing for a few moments, clearly thinking. “Ah. I see what you are after. Yes, she had a different name for me.”
I waited, but he just kept the pressure on my back so that I was moving forward.
“And that name was?”
He shot me a curious look. “Why do you wish to know?”
“Because, silly me, I like to know who I’m talking to. And yes, I know, you’re the First Dragon, but that’s what you are, not who you are, if you get me.”
“Hmm.” He seemed to think about that while he hustled me toward the side garden. “That is an interesting statement. I am not sure that it is true, but I am willing to discuss it with you at a later time. Regretfully, I see your spell has not yet broken.”
We emerged from the hedge opening to find the garden full of prone bodies. I will admit to taking a moment of pride at the fact that the push had held so many dragons for so long, but that pride soon fizzled.
The First Dragon (dammit, what was his name?) surveyed the sleeping dragons for a few seconds, then suddenly clapped his hands together, the resulting sound making me stagger to the side a couple of steps.
“Criminy,” I said, rubbing at my ears, which were ringing from the noise. Before us, the people began to stir, slowly sitting up and getting to their feet with murmurs of confusion. “You could have warned me before you did that.”
The dragon slid me a look before turning to the dragons gathered. “You have been asleep, victim to a group of thieves. This woman bespelled you. Her companions are in the hall, bound and awaiting your justice.”
“Oh, no,” I groaned, trying to pull away my arm when the First Dragon took me by it and marched me forward.
“This woman is a siren.”
“What is—Jim, dammit, get out of my way, I almost tripped over you.” Aisling stumbled forward, steadied almost immediately by a tall man with black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. “What is a siren, exactly? Why were we on the ground? What was that noise? What in Pete’s name happened? Oh, wait a sec, let me check in with the nanny.”
Aisling pulled a small walkie-talkie out of her pocket and moved off a few feet, speaking into it.
“Told you she didn’t smell right,” Jim said, shaking itself so that black hair and slobber flew everywhere.
The First Dragon had been having a little chat with a couple of the men, and all of them suddenly turned and headed for the house, leaving me stranded in a sea of dragons who were becoming increasingly annoyed.
“A siren?” The dark-haired woman named May frowned. “Isn’t that the women who lured sailors onto rocks so they’d drown?”
“Sirens are from Greek mythology,” a boy of about thirteen or fourteen said, pushing his way through the dragons to consider me with soft brown eyes. His scrutiny was so impassionate, I felt a bit like a bug pinned to a board. “I read about them last year. They lured men to their death by making them wreck their ships.”
“We don’t do that anymore,” I said indignantly, all the while trying to back up surreptitiously. The band needed my help, and I had a feeling the people before me weren’t going to take kindly to my role. “That’s so eighteenth century. Or so the only other siren I’ve ever met said, and she should know. She was an old lady then. She’s probably dead now.”
I was lying, but if there was one thing I’d discovered since finding out what I was, it was that you didn’t rat out your fellow sirens. Not that I’d met more than the one.
I backed up a couple more steps.
“You put us to sleep?” Aisling asked, returning to the fold. She was frowning, and I began to think of a way to escape. I hated to leave the band behind, but this caper was their idea, not mine, and I was sure they would think nothing about sacrificing me for a chance at escape. “How? Did you use a glamour? I didn’t feel one. Ysolde, you’re the expert with magic—did you feel a glamour?”
A slight woman with long blond hair emerged. She was as tall as the teen, who continued to examine me just like I was some sort of curiosity, and shook her head. “I didn’t feel anything other than the fact that Baltic and I had a great time dancing.”