Sinister Magic: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #1) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,33
why I have to stay away from them. I’ve told you.” I gritted my teeth and focused on the road. “The same reason I don’t come here.” I lowered my voice to mutter, “I shouldn’t have come this time either.”
“It’s that bad here? Didn’t you like the cookies that Dimitri made? I thought they were good.”
“He made those? I assumed it was you.”
What kind of six-foot-six, yard-art-crafting landscaper had pastry chef ambitions? Dimitri looked like the kind of guy you hired to bounce people out of your strip club.
“When have you known me to bake anything using sugar?”
“You use dates and honey and maple syrup. It’s all sweet. I can’t tell the difference.”
“You’ve got a refined palette. Maybe you can go to culinary school when you get tired of being shot at for a living.”
“Sometimes, I do the shooting.”
“That’ll come in handy if you specialize in desserts and wield a frosting gun.”
“I’m sure that’s very similar to Fezzik, yes.”
“Fez-what?”
“Fezzik. From The Princess Bride. That’s the name of my gun. Nin said my weapons would have more power if I named them. My sword is Chopper, from Stand By Me. The dog that sics balls.” I reminded myself that Mom hadn’t met Nin—and probably hadn’t seen more than ten movies in her life. “I don’t know what the sword’s real name is. The zombie lord I killed to get it neglected to give me its pedigree.”
Mom shook her head. “When you joined the army, I thought you were going to be a pilot. I didn’t think I’d get a hitman for a daughter.”
“I’m a hitwoman, thank you.”
The first of the parking lots came into view. Thank God. I’d forgotten that keeping Mom safe from my dangerous life wasn’t the only reason I didn’t visit often.
“Go ahead and park in that one.”
As I turned off the road, Rocket barked, startling me.
“He wants the window rolled down,” Mom informed me.
“Sindari figured out how to do that on his own.” I fiddled with the controls—better to have the dog barking out the window than in my ear.
“Which of your weapons is that?” Mom eyed Chopper and Fezzik in the seat well behind me.
“I’ll introduce you to him later. He’s a new acquisition.” And he would be offended if I called him that. “A new ally,” I corrected.
A new friend, I added to myself, thinking of the therapist’s suggestion that I should make more friends. Did magical tigers count?
We parked, and I strapped on my weapons, having an inkling that I might need them. Mom slung a pack on her shoulders and fastened a special dog one on Rocket, who sat patiently instead of tearing off after the ducks loitering near the boat launch. She pointed toward a trail that headed through some reeds and tall grasses along the lake.
“Do you have water?” She touched her backpack, which appeared to have everything, including emergency flares and a hatchet strapped to the outside.
I took the bottle of carbonated lemon water I’d been drinking in the car and stuffed it in my vest pocket.
“You said it was a short walk,” I pointed out to her disapproving look.
“You shouldn’t go into the woods without supplies.”
“Can we do this without lectures, please? I’m having a rough week.”
She pressed her lips together, grabbed Rocket’s leash, and headed down the trail. I followed the brisk pace she set and tried not to think about how much time I might be wasting. If this acquaintance of hers couldn’t shed any light on that sigil, this whole trip would have been for nothing. Already, I wished I’d hunted down a forensics person to try scraping residue out of the vial to identify. But I still had that niggling feeling that whatever had been in there wasn’t listed in Wikipedia.
A familiar tingle went up my spine, a warning that someone—or something—magical was nearby. I paused to look out over the lake, its tree-filled slopes rising up on all sides. The sky was blue and clear, which made it easy to pick out the huge black dragon soaring over the ridge on the opposite side.
“Shit,” I breathed, almost calling Sindari for help.
But I caught myself. Since there was a limit to how many hours he could stay in our world each day, I had to save him for when I needed him.
“Mom?” I trotted to catch up and started to point out the dragon to her, but he’d dipped behind the ridge and out of sight. “Where does this trail go?”