Playing With Fire
Chapter Seventeen

"I haven't taken anything from Gabriel," I said, purposely misinterpreting his statement in order to give me time to think. Why was he interested in the dragons? I ran my mind over the items I'd seen in Kostya's lair again. Could the golden dragon amulet be valuable after all? It certainly wasn't anything else in the unlocked chest, which meant it had to be the amulet or something in the locked ones that piqued Magoth's interest.
A horrible thought came to me-what if Porter was working for Magoth? Was this some sort of a test? Was I about to be replaced? I dismissed the notion almost immediately; if Porter was in Magoth's employ, he would certainly know exactly what I was. His threat of the dreadlord killing me if I mentioned the amulet just didn't fit.
None of which explained why Magoth was so interested in the contents of Kostya's lair.
"You play games with me, and yet, they are not the games we can both enjoy," he said in a light tone, but the undercurrent of menace was enough to turn my blood cold. "Answer the question, servant."
The word stunned with the force of a lash. I didn't want to tell him the truth, but I could not refuse to answer a direct question. I could, however, censor out any information not specifically questioned. "I didn't have much time to spend in the dragon's lair. I took only one thing away, a gold amulet in the shape of a dragon."
"An amulet?" He frowned, sitting up. I was pleased to notice that his erection had ceased being quite so rampant. "What sort of an amulet? Describe it to me."
"It was nothing special," I said, relieved that he hadn't asked me either what I'd gone there to find, or who had sent me to take the amulet. It was far, far better that he think Gabriel had sent me to rob another dragon than to hear of the phylactery. "It was about so big, made of gold, but not made very well, as if it was a child's toy."
He froze. "Describe it."
"I just did." Why was he so interested in the amulet? I shook my head at his odd reaction. "It's just an amulet. Gold, shaped roughly like a dragon, very primitive and quite honestly, not attractive in the least sense. It was in the unlocked chest, so it can't be worth much to anyone."
"The Lindorm Phylactery," he murmured, his gaze filled with disbelief and confusion.
My jaw just about hit the floor at his words. "The... the what?"
"Could it be?" His eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "I had not heard of it surfacing. It was in an unlocked chest, you say? That does not seem right, not right at all."
"The phylactery? Are you saying that ugly little lump of gold was the phylactery?" I shook my head. "It can't be. It's not at all like the Gulden Phylactery you made me take from that oracle in South Africa. That was a lovely crystal vial. The thing I'm talking about is an amulet, a primitive-looking amulet of a dragon."
I hurriedly scooted out of the way as Magoth rose from the chaise, mindlessly pacing back and forth as he thought out loud. "What would a dragon be doing allowing the most valuable artifact of his kind to sit in an unlocked chest? It does not make sense, and yet the description matches."
"It doesn't make any sense at all. I might not have a great knowledge of dragons and their society, but from what Gabriel told me-" I stopped in horror of what I'd said, one hand going to my mouth.
Magoth spun around, his gaze so intense it slammed me backward a good six feet to the wall. My ears rang with the blow, giving me a moment of disorientation.
"The wyvern spoke to you of it?" The temperature of the room dropped ten degrees as Magoth took a deep breath. I'm not a cowardly person in general, but at the look of unabated fury on his face, I crumpled into a ball on the floor, covering my head with my hands. And not a moment too soon.
"You were sent to take it!" Magoth roared with a fury I'd never heard, loud enough to shatter every bit of glass in the room. Glass shards from the windows, pictures that hung on the wall, light fixtures, and assorted other sources rained down to the floor, several pieces piercing my skin.
I stayed curled in a protective ball until the worst of it was over, then carefully lifted my head and eyed Magoth.
His eyes were lit with a glow that left me terrified. "Where is the Lindorm Phylactery, May?"
"I don't have it," I said quickly, my gaze darting around the room for a possible escape.
Magoth eliminated that idea by simply grabbing my neck in one hand and lifting me a good two feet off the floor. "Where is the Lindorm Phylactery, servant?"
"I don't know."
He shook me as effortlessly as if I were a dish towel. I clutched at his hand, trying to ease its grip enough to allow air into my lungs. "Where?"
"The L'au-dela has it!" I cried as wavering black blotches appeared before my eyes. "They took it from me. It's in their vault."
He opened his hand, allowing me to plummet to the floor. I lay stunned for a few seconds, rubbing my neck as I dragged in huge, gasping breaths. Before I could do anything else, he jerked me onto my feet, his eyes boring twin holes into me as he spoke.
"You will find the phylactery and bring it to me."
My voice came out as a croak. "You can't possibly want it. It's a dragon artifact-"
"You will find the phylactery and bring it to me," he repeated, but this time, the power he put into the words stung my skin like a million little snakes.
"Why?" I cried, ignoring the pain.
He released me, strolling back to the chaise, where he took up a reclining position. He didn't answer for a few minutes, but finally he turned his head to me and gave me his usual sardonic smile. "I want it."
"It has no power you can use," I said, still massaging my neck. "It can have no value to you."
"It does not have power over mere mortals, true... but it is the basis of all power to dragonkin."
I shook my head, retucking the blanket that was wrapped around me. "If that's so, the item I saw wasn't it. I would have been able to feel something with that much power in it, and I'm telling you that this lump of vaguely dragon-shaped gold did not have any sort of emanations other than age."
"You are not a dragon." His eyelids dropped halfway, shielding his gaze. "It has no power for you to feel because it is not connected to you as it is to them."
"All right. Let's say for the sake of brevity that the gold blob was the phylactery-not that it looks anything remotely like a vessel-"
"It is a vessel," he interrupted. "It is part of the dragon heart, that which holds the essence of the first dragon. Your wyvern didn't tell you that when he ordered you to steal it for him?" He shook his head in mock sorrow. "Regardless of what you think, it is of value to me."
My head was still reeling from the last few minutes, leaving me feeling particularly stupid. Now it made sense why Porter had wanted me to steal the amulet, but it didn't explain why Kostya would keep something so precious in an unlocked chest. Nor did it explain why Magoth wanted a dragon relic when it held no power over mortals-over whom he was always trying to gain control-or over any other beings in the Otherworld. Other than the dragons, of course... The light dawned at last. "You're going to use it against the dragons," I said, horror mixing with bile in my gut.
The long, slow smile he gave me would have stripped a few decades off the lifetime of a mortal.
"You can't control them," I said quickly, fear bitter on my tongue. "They're dragons, Magoth. They do not bow to Abaddon. They never have."
"Never before has a demon lord held the Lindorm Phylactery," he said in a soft, sinister voice that left me sicker than ever. "With it, and with the other pieces of the dragon heart, the weyr will come to heel... and I will have the chance to establish a presence in the mortal world."
My legs gave out. I fell to my knees, sick to the very depths of my soul with what he was saying.
"Bring me the phylactery, sweet May."
I shook my head, knowing full well he might strike out for such insubordination.
"Bring me the phylactery, and you will be rewarded."
"There is nothing, nothing you can give me that would make me betray the dragons in that manner."
His fingers tilted my head up, forcing me to look into his obsidian eyes. What I saw there scared me to the depths of my being. "Not even your freedom?"
I looked at him, unable to speak.
His mouth curved in a wicked, knowing smile. "If you bring me the phylactery, I will grant you a temporary rescindment of your bondage for... shall we say a century?"
A century. A hundred years of freedom from Magoth and his demands. A hundred years of happiness with Gabriel, untainted by the stain of Abaddon that clung to me. A lifetime of servitude for the dragons.
I couldn't do it. There was nothing he could offer me that would induce me to betray Gabriel and his sept, of all the septs, in that way. "No," I said softly, bracing myself for a blow.
Pain lashed through me with sharp precision. I doubled over, clutching myself against it. "Sweet May. Lovely May. It would be such a shame to lose a servant as devoted as you."
He lifted me up, his eyes blazing as he pulled me against his body, but for once, there was no erotic intent in his expression. "Do not fail me, May, lest I be forced to recall you to Abaddon, where you will remain until the end of your days."
"-too early to do anything. I haven't had my breakfast yet!"
"You're just going to have to wait, Jim. Finding May is more important than feeding you. Gabriel, are you sure she didn't say anything before she disappeared?"
The voices reached me even before I fell through the rip in reality that Magoth's minion had created. I hit the floor, disoriented as I always was when shoved through a tear in the mortal plain.
"Speak of the devil. Ouch. Looks like you've been to Abaddon and back," Jim said close to my ear. I felt a faint moist sensation on my shoulder. "Oh, yeah-hellfire and brimstone. Well, back safe and sound, that's all that matters. Now can I have my breffy?"
I hadn't shaken the dizziness from my head before I was yanked upward and slammed against a hard surface... a warm hard surface, one with arms that tightened around me, which smelled like heaven, and tasted even better. Gabriel didn't wait to ask me what happened-his mouth took possession of mine with a need that demanded all. I let him plunder away, ignoring my guilt for a moment in order to give him everything I had.
His lips and tongue pulled away from me with violence, his eyes literally scorching me as he looked down, his face set in hard planes. "I need you," he said in a low, intimate growl.
I blinked for a moment in surprise, glancing to the side where Drake stood next to Aisling. It would appear the demon had dropped me off in Drake's kitchen. Behind the two of them, Drake's men, and a woman I remembered being introduced as Istvan's girlfriend, stood watching with silent interest. Surprisingly, Cyrene wasn't present. "Er... right now?"
"Yes." Gabriel didn't hesitate-he simply scooped me up in his arms, blanket and all, and headed in long strides toward what looked to be the back stairs.
Aisling glanced at her wyvern. "I know it's none of our business, but does May look to you like she's up to the sort of activities Gabriel is clearly planning?"
Drake leaned down and kissed her. "She has been taken from him and returned. It is the way of dragons, kincsem."
The last thing I saw before Gabriel leaped up the last of the stairs was Aisling giving her husband an odd look. "Really? You never did that with me. I wonder if I could get someone to kidnap me for a bit..."
"Is that true?" I asked as Gabriel pounded up a second flight of stairs.
"Yes. You are not harmed in any way?"
"No, I'm fine. Just a little... er... taken aback by your sudden passion."
He slid me a look that was part desire, part amusement. "I'm sorry, little bird, but you are my mate. I must possess you. It is a primal need, not one that can be controlled. A mortal man might do so, but I cannot."
"Oh," I said, not wanting to admit that I found it immensely flattering that the second I was returned, he felt the need to join again with me.
He kicked open the door to our room, setting me down on the bed before locking the door. I was trying to get up so I could untangle myself from the blanket, but before I could, he was on me, unrolling me deftly, his hands trailing little paths of fire as he caressed my thighs, my belly, my breasts.
I don't know how he got his own clothes off so quickly, but I wasn't about to ask. His eyes were molten, brilliant with desire. "Mayling-"
"I know," I said, pushing him onto his back. "No foreplay."
"I swear to you, we will do this slowly the next time," he answered, pulling me over him. "But I must have you now."
"It's not like I've had a lot of foreplay before," I pointed out as I leaned down to nibble the nipple I'd wanted to molest earlier. "So I'm not bound to miss- agathos daimon!"
He took me at my word, not waiting to even find out if I was ready for him, just lunged upward as he pulled my hips down. The sudden shock of his intrusion caused a burst of pleasure that left me bucking against him. He was right, this was a possession, pure and simple, but it was a possession that went both ways. I leaned down to nibble on his neck, savoring the feel and scent and taste of him. I didn't have to ask for his fire; he gave it to me as I rode him, our mouths finding each other despite the wild dance.
I closed my eyes as he pulled me down onto his chest, the warm, damp skin beneath me burning me outside even as the fires within flared to new heights. I tilted my head to nuzzle the sweet spot behind his ear, making him groan when I bit down gently, a groan that changed to a roar that bathed me in fire as he found his pleasure. The sensation as he slammed himself into me was enough to send me over the edge, too. I let go of my guilt, of the worry about what would become of us, let go of everything but the joy of joining myself to the man who had somehow become a part of me, giving myself up to the spiral of flame that spun up and around us.
There had to be some way to stop Magoth. There just had to be.