Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,16

take Nin’s money for doing a favor, but I’d happily take dinner.

When she returned, she carried six dinners wrapped in paper. She stacked them in my hands. “These will fill you up during your long journey.”

“It’s only a half hour up to Bothell at this time of night,” I said dryly.

“That is only the beginning of your journey.”

“Hm, probably true.”

“It’s also possible that you’ll be mugged by a dragon on the way. They seem to flock to you.”

I sighed. Had she heard about the new one?

A knock came at the side door.

Nin frowned. “Nobody has an appointment to come by now.”

I sensed someone with a touch of magical blood out there, familiar magical blood. “It’s my mom’s roommate, Dimitri.”

“He is your mother’s roommate? He did not explain where he was from last time.”

“Actually, he lives in the van in her driveway. I think he would love some of your business advice.”

“I am still learning. I am not capable of being a mentor.”

“Just show him some of your brochures.” I opened the door and surprised Dimitri, who’d been about to knock again.

The six-and-a-half-foot-tall, pock-marked, refrigerator of a young man was standing outside and holding a pot with a fake cactus in it.

“Hello, Val,” he rumbled in his deep voice. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Am I in the way? Did you come to court Nin?”

Dimitri’s eyebrows flew up, and he almost dropped his pot. “No, nothing like that. I… already met someone in town here. At the club.” Looking flustered, he glanced at me, then at Nin, then back at me. “I just wanted to thank her.” He looked back at Nin. “To thank you.”

“For what?” Nin looked puzzled.

“I’ve been watching your videos online for your food truck and figuring out some things I can do to help sell my yard art. I’m going to start recording videos for the internet, but I could use some help. My landscaping boss laughed when I asked him—he thinks my yard art is goofy. And Val, your mom only got footage of her nostril hairs when I tried to get her to use my phone to record me showing off one of my sentinels. This one, as a matter of fact.” He hefted the pot.

“She’s not that experienced with technological gizmos.”

I eyed the blue metal faux cactus. Since I’d seen his work before, I had a feeling those barbed thorns could shoot out and fill someone with holes.

“It was just my phone,” Dimitri said.

“Have you seen her phone?”

“The one where you pick up the receiver and make circles with your fingers to dial numbers by hand? Yeah.”

“It’s called a rotary phone. I promise you can’t record nostril hairs or anything else with it.”

“I know. I figured I might be more able to find help up here.” He lowered his voice and glanced around the square. “I’ve also been talking to Zoltan.”

I started to ask why but remembered the vampire alchemist supposedly had a huge internet presence, won by sharing videos of himself making potions.

“I drove up here because I got a booth at the farmers market in Woodinville. I’m going to sell my yard art and also some of his wares. In exchange, he said he’d show me how to get started building a platform online.”

“Did you bring your cervical collar for protection?” I was joking—that wasn’t going to stop the fangs of a determined vampire—but Dimitri nodded gravely.

I needed to make a trip to see Zoltan at some point too. I still had the notebook I’d taken from the dark-elf alchemist’s lab, and I was curious if there was anything useful in it. Maybe I could convince Dimitri to take it to him for me.

“Anyway, this is for you, Nin.” He thrust the pot at her. “If you press that button on the top of the cactus, it arms itself, and then you have five seconds before it starts spewing needles. Or you can automate it here.” He flipped up a panel. “Sort of like setting a security system. If someone intrudes and doesn’t know to turn it off, it’ll fire. I wasn’t sure if you needed something like this, but this neighborhood gets kind of rough at night, doesn’t it? And I saw some graffiti on your truck.”

“Yes.” Nin nodded firmly, took the pot, and set it down on a counter. “Thank you for the gift.”

“You’re welcome. I’m hoping to find someone up here—” Dimitri waved vaguely toward the city, “—who programs apps, so the owners could also use their phones