Courts and Cabals 2 by G.S. D'Moore (warren buffett book recommendations TXT) 📗

snapped shut and she sat up. Her eyes were normal, but they were a little unfocused, and my jaw dropped as she reached up and squeezed her breasts.

“Exquisite.” The rumble that came out of her throat could be construed as a purr, but I couldn’t think of a cat big enough with a purr that made your bones rumble.

Her eyes locked with mine, and seemed to draw me in. I took a step, and would have walked right down her gullet if Lilith hadn’t sat up and screamed like a banshee.

“Look out!” her hands flashed, and emerald fire erupted from them.

Via hissed as she stepped in front of the flames. The fire stopped when it touched her flesh, and her robe was vaporized under the intense heat. Her body glowed for a second as the fire died away, and while my eyes were initially focused on her erect nipples, other aspects of her quickly came to the forefront of my mind. First off were the scales. Select portions of her body were covered with them. They glowed red under the fading heat before disappearing all together. One second, she looked like something that had crawled out of the core of the earth, and the next, she was a normal, naked, but extremely fit woman.

“I would take it as a courtesy if you didn’t burn down my home, child. That would be ironic to say the least,” Via waved off the inferno like it was nothing.

Lilith’s eyes were wide and panicky for a few seconds as she took in her surroundings. Once she saw me, Dani, and Xamira, she relaxed a tad.

“Good, you didn’t eat her,” she pointed her thumb at Dani, and I felt my jaw drop.

“Fuck you too,” Dani replied by displaying another finger.

Via rolled her eyes, and gestured for Lilith to join her in the kitchen. We all started to follow, but Lilith waved us off. Apparently, this was above our paygrade. With them gone, Dani seemed to be able to fully freak out.

“No fuckin’ way I’m getting out of here alive. No fuckin’ way,” she paced back and forth, looking at the kitchen door like it was going to eat her.

Xamira leaned against the wall, but her eyes never left the door, and she didn’t look much happier.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked, trying to act casual as I took a seat in the chair Via had vacated. I used one of the pillows to cover my junk and give me a modicum of privacy.

Dani stopped and glared at me. “That’s right, you don’t know shit about my people,” she let out a breath and tried to regain control. “What do you think Via’s full name is?”

The question surprised me. “I don’t know, Olivia?” I ventured a guess.

Dani just laughed and Xamira shook her head. “No, it’s not Olivia,” Dani drew closer. “Try, Vesuvia.”

“Vesuvia, like Mount Vesuvius in Italy. The one that destroyed Pompeii and all that?”

Everyone knew about the eruption that destroyed the Roman city. They’d even made a movie about it with the guy from Game of Thrones.

“Okay, her name sounds like a volcano that killed thousands of people,” I had a bad feeling where this was headed. “So, whoever named her has a hard-on for history,” I shrugged.

That got a laugh out of Dani. A sad laugh, but it was better than complete fear. “She wasn’t named by anyone. She is named for the event that birthed her.”

“Birthed?” I scratched my head, before a little tidbit of information I’d learned a long time ago resurfaced. “Oh shit,” my face paled, and I couldn’t believe I’d consented to her lying on top of Lilith.

“There it is,” Xamira shook her head, embarrassed that it had taken me this long.

I gulped as the words finally came to me. “Via is a nearly two-thousand-year-old dragon.”

“Got it in one,” Dani fought back a shiver and collapsed onto the couch as far away from the kitchen door as possible.

If you wanted to get technical about it, dragons fell into the shifter species; but that was like saying an eighteen-wheeler and a jalopy were both powered by internal combustion engines. It was true, but no one would consider them the same. What’s more, full blooded dragons were extremely rare. As Dani had pointed out, they were born of the fires of the earth itself during a volcanic eruption of sufficient magnitude. The last dragon to be born was back in 1980 during Mount Saint Helen’s eruption.

I’d never seen a dragon before, and neither had most humans. They kept to themselves and their horde, “which explains why there is a bunch of old, expensive shit in this house,” I suddenly became very conscious of where my hands and feet were. Dragons were famous for protecting their horde . . . with extreme prejudice.

From what I knew, the legends had been pretty accurate about dragons; although, Saint George had likely never killed one. They were one of the strongest preternatural species; fast, tougher than all hell, and with shifted forms that could dwarf aircraft carriers. Like most magical things, they grew stronger with age, and considering how long earth’s volcanos had been erupting . . . I shivered to think about what that meant. Thankfully, for mankind, dragons also didn’t give a shit about mundane squabbles as long as they didn’t intrude on the dragon’s horde or privacy. I don’t think the UN had ever set up a dragon hunting division; likely because it was a futile waste of money.

“How . . .why . . .?” I struggled to understand why we were here, but then the kitchen door opened.

“. . . and thank you,” Lilith finished whatever they’d been talking about. “Cam,” she waved me over, “Via has agreed to help us if she can have a moment alone with you.”

I