A WHO’S WHO FOR THE BEFUDDLED
Aisling, Drake, and Jim: Aisling is a guardian savant, Drake is the wyvern (leader) of the green dragon sept, and Jim is Aisling’s personal demon. Jim is also the son of Desislav the Destroyer and Soveriegn Parisi, although he prefers to live with Aisling and Drake.
May and Gabriel: May is a doppelganger, twin of Cyrene, and mate of Gabriel, the silver sept wyvern.
Ysolde and Baltic: Ysolde is a former apprentice of the archimage Dr. Kostich, and mate of Baltic, who is the youngest firstborn son of the First Dragon (the dragon progenitor demi-god).
Thaisa and Archer: Thaisa is a medieval scholar, and mate of Archer, who, with his twin Hunter, were the first dragon hunters. Archer and Hunter are sons of Xavier.
Becket and Yrian: Becket is an artificer, one who creates glamours. Yrian is the firstborn child of the First Dragon, and is thus more or less a demi-god.
Berry and Owain: Berry is a thieftaker and knocker (Welsh spirit), while her mate Owain is one of the four thanes who created the race of Dark Ones (vampires).
Allie and Christian: Allie is a Summoner (of spirits) and her husband Christian is the head of the Moravian Council, and a Dark One.
Sally: formerly one-half of the Sovereign who ruled over the Court of Divine Blood.
Dr. Kostich: powerful archimage who leads the Committee that oversees the L’au-dela (AKA Otherworld).
Parisi and Desi: Parisi was the former Sovereign of the Court of Divine Blood, but was sent into the Beyond to keep her from fading away. Desislav the Destroyer, creator of the Blood Moon amulet, was one of three men who formed Abaddon (known to mortals as Hell). Both Parisi and Desi were recently reunited.
Lattsa: oldest child of Desislav, and leader of the Jabmead Sisterhood.
Bael, Xavier, and Deus: Bael was the second child born of the First Dragon, but later was stripped of his dragonhood due to embracing dark power in order to become a demon lord. Xavier created the race of dragon hunters, and later tried to eliminate all dragons. Deus is Xavier’s son, and half-brother to twins Archer and Hunter.
Blood Moon: in its initial form, an extremely powerful amulet, sought by everyone.
Because I know people like to see the books in reading order, here’s the big list of dragon and dragon-related books in reading order:
Green Dragon Novels
- You Slay Me
- Fire Me Up
- Light My Fire
- Holy Smokes
- Death’s Excellent Vacation (Perils of Effrijim short story)
Silver Dragon Novels
- Playing WIth Fire
- Up In Smoke
- Me and My Shadow
Light Dragon Novels
- Love in the Time of Dragons
- The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons
- Something Dragon This Way Comes
Dragon Fall Novels
- Dragon Fall
- Dragon Storm
- Dragon Soul
- Dragon Unbound
- Dragonblight
Dragon Hunter Novels (pre-2025)
- Memoirs of a Dragon Huner
- Day of the Dragon
- A Confederacy of Dragons
- You Sleigh Me
Otherworld Adventure Novels
- Becoming Effrijim
- Dragon Revisited
- Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
- All the Jingle Ladies
Axegate Walk Dark Ones Novels (A Vampire in a Pear Tree includes the dragon storyline to that date)
- Axegate Walk
- A Vampire in a Pear Tree
Dragon Hunter Novels (2025 and on)
- The Dragon With a Girl Tattoo
- Like Water for Dragons
ONE
MABEL
“I put it to you that the reaper’s sole purpose was to facilitate removal of the prisoner known as Desislav the Destroyer. For that crime, she will be banished to the Akashic Plain.”
I fought against the urge to shriek at Dr. Kostich, despite an almost desperate need to defend myself.
I hadn’t released Desi, the man who had created Abaddon. I simply brought the love of his life to see him.
“And I put it to you that although Mabel has a level of limberness that would thrill every member of the Carrie Fay Academy of Perky Bosoms and Flawless Comportment, she does not have the capability to remove a demon lord from any location. Not unless he was dead, and as you and I both know, demon lords can’t really die. They just get shunted into a different, less volatile form,” Sally answered the annoying Dr. Kostich. She had a pronounced Southern drawl, wore a cherry-red power suit ripped straight out of the 1980s, and didn’t appear to be in any way bothered by the circumstances in which we found ourselves.
Since she used to lead an important organization in the Otherworld, I wasn’t completely surprised by her willingness to challenge him.
Kostich made a sour face as she blithely smiled at him, ignoring the fact he was a powerful archimage and head of the Committee that basically ran the Otherworld.
I, on the other hand, was very much aware that he could make life extremely difficult for me.
I kept my gaze on my folded hands, and did as Sally had instructed me before we were summoned to the conference room—I trusted her.
“That makes no difference to the charges laid upon you, the reaper Mabel Touchet, and … Monish, where is the charge list? I know there were others involved in this reprehensible caper.” Dr. Kostich, a tall man with faded blue eyes and an autocratic manner that made me feel itchy, shuffled through a stack of papers.
Sally giggled. I shot her a quick look of surprise that she could be so blasé about the charges against us. It wasn’t just a matter of a slap on the wrist—we were facing possible banishment to the Akasha, the place mortals used as the model for their limbo, and I very much did not want to be sent there to live out eternity in punishment.
“It’s on the tablet, sir,” Monish answered, nodding to the device that was just barely visible under the papers.
“Ah, yes. Part of our paperless scheme.” Dr. Kostich curled a lip at the tablet, but picked it up and tapped on it a few times. “I prefer to see things in actual print, but I suppose we must stay current with the mortals. Here we are. Other participants in the release of Desislav the Destroyer include a demon in dog form—don’t tell me that pesky Guardian is involved, too?”
Monish, who appeared to be a nice man stuck in a bad job, gave a sympathetic smile. “Aisling Grey is her name, sir, and yes, it is her demon who is said to have been involved.”
“I know her name,” Dr. Kostich said with a thinning of his lips. “Unfortunately, I’ve had dealings with her over the years. And a more irreverent, heedless member of the Guardians’ Guild I’ve never run across.”
“Now, personally, I find her refreshing,” Sally said, moving over to the desk behind which Dr. Kostich sat. She picked up a few sheets of paper and started reading them, despite his sputtered protests. “True, the demon Effrijim can be a bit much at times, but you know how it is when others see you as one thing, but you’re really another.”
Dr. Kostich shot her a piercing look before snatching back the papers. “No, I don’t know.”
“Reeeally,” she drawled, pulling another sheet of paper from the stack Kostich had just tidied. “Now, that’s very interesting, because Terrin, my better half—Sovereignly speaking, you understand—says that he’s been helping you with some troublesome members of the Magisters’ Guild who aren’t at all what they appear to be.”
Kostich cleared his throat, frowned to the side where Monish stood looking thoughtful, then back at the tablet. “That is not pertinent to this examination. The fact remains that you, the annoying Guardian’s personal demon, a Dark One named Dante, and a dragon who leads one of those outlaw groups all assisted the reaper in her release of Desislav.”
The memory of Hunter, the dragon who’d helped beat back our attackers during the rescue of Desi, rose all too quickly in my mind.
Even though I hadn’t formally met him, he popped into my brain with increasing frequency. Maybe it was the way his black hair swept back off his brow and its accompanying slight widow’s peak. Maybe it was his gorgeous face with a faint chin dimple that made me go weak in the knees. Maybe it was his fighting prowess. Indeed, his talent for handling the gem-encrusted two-handed sword was still a highlight in my mind.
Or perhaps it was his pale green eyes with thick black lashes that held my attention. I’d always had a weakness for green-eyed men, and physically, Hunter ticked all the boxes.
“Why on earth would you think that?” Sally asked, dragging my attention away from just how impressive Hunter had been when he was slashing his way through a massive wave of boggarts. She gestured toward me. “Dear Mabel is sitting right here. She is clearly a reaper, and a top-notch ballet dancer. Her Snow Queen a few months ago was outstanding.”
That had me giving her a side-eye. Mostly because I didn’t follow her line of conversational reasoning, but also because I wasn’t aware she’d seen me dance. I was mildly uneasy with the knowledge that she might have popped over to Beck, the tiny northern European country where I danced for a small ballet company, and watched me without me knowing.
“As admirable as her dancing is,” Sally continued, “I assure you she does not have the ability to break into so secure a prison as the Thirteenth Hour, get Desi out of his bindings, destroy all the guards roaming willy-nilly around the Hour, and finally smuggle Desi—who is very much not dead, and thus out of her purview—out of the Hour. That would take some serious chops to pull off, and much as I like Mabel, she simply doesn’t have that in her.”
Kostich leveled his gaze on me. I watched through my eyelashes as he really studied me. “Well …”
“As for the rumors that a handful of vampires and dragons were involved … darlin’, I haven’t heard anything quite so ridiculous since the mortals decided that hair spray was hurting the ozone. There is nothing quite so important as a really good hair spray.”
“The point is—” Kostich again tried to get a word in, but Sally wasn’t having any of it.
“Everyone knows vampires and dragons have nothing to do with one another,” she interrupted, waving a hand in an airy gesture. “And the idea that they would work together to release someone so dangerous simply doesn’t make sense. I don’t like to point fingers, but surely you must see that someone is wasting your time with these ridiculous rumors.”
“The reaper does not appear to have anything but poor posture,” he said quickly before she could go on, his nostrils flaring a little.
I fought the urge to straighten up, feeling the smaller and more insignificant I made myself, the better.
“You, however, are another matter,” Kostich added, his eyes narrowing on her.
She beamed at him, showing a whole lot of teeth. “Of course I am, sugar! But if I had splashed around the sort of energy, skills, and magic required to get someone of Desi’s stature out of the Thirteenth Hour, people would have noticed, wouldn’t they?”
“It is true that we’ve had no sign of that,” he admitted, immediately adding, “Although there is no physical proof you directly aided the escape of Desislav, I cannot help but find the fact that you were present suspicious. Highly suspicious.”
Sally rose, a little flick of her hand indicating I should do the same. “I don’t know who’s spreading such untruths about me, but rather than conducting witch hunts, you should look to your unreliable informants. Mabel, darlin’, I’ll give you a ride to the portal shop, since it’s obvious that the Committee has no proof of any of its outrageous and wholly specious claims. If I was a petty sort of person, I’d lodge a complaint with the Court of Divine Blood, but I’m sure everyone here would prefer to move forward without dwelling on mistakes made.”
Sally sailed toward the tall double doors, now framed with scaffolding, as the entire building that housed the main offices of the Committee was being rebuilt after a devastating fire.
“I have not dismissed you!” Kostich called after us as I followed her, still silent, but with my back twitching at the possibility of an attack from behind. “You are prohibited from leaving! I have more questions! Blast it, woman, this is not the end of my investigation!”
“If you have proof of anything, we’ll be happy to return,” Sally said as we escaped the room, closing the door softly behind us.
She looked at me.
I stared at her.
“Let’s book it!” she said with a brilliant smile.
“Holy shit,” I swore as she took off, dodging workmen, employees, scaffolding, stacks of flooring, and mysterious wooden cases scribed with protection runes and sigils. “You’ve got titanium balls, Sally.”
“Just regular old steel, darlin’,” she answered with another of her sharky smiles. “And really, it wasn’t the dire situation you made it out to be. Dr. Kostich is an archimage, and you know how they are.”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” I said, almost trotting to keep up with her as we hit the streets of Paris, where she had a car and driver waiting. “As a reaper who deals with spirits and the like, I don’t usually work with anyone but the Akashic League. Do you think he’ll bring in that vampire who helped us?”
“He might, but I’m sure Finch won’t admit to anything. Vamps tend to keep to themselves, and are suspicious of the Committee. Now, that delicious Hunter is another matter.” She settled into the comfortable leather seat with a satisfied sigh.
I sat beside her, my adrenaline only just starting to fade. At the mention of Hunter, I fought with my brain’s desire to continue dwelling on just how fine he was. “Will Dr. Kostich make trouble for Hunter? I’d hate to see him being punished when he helped us out of the kindness of his heart.”
“You think that’s why he offered his assistance?” Sally gave me a curious look, one I couldn’t quite understand. She gave a little shake of her perfectly coiffed French twist.
“I figured it was because Aisling asked him,” I said, wondering how Aisling and Jim were doing.
“That was just an excuse,” Sally said, pulling out her phone and tapping out a text message. “I told him I had someone he’d want to meet, so he made himself available.”
I frowned, wondering what she was implying. Did she mean me? A blush washed up from my chest at the idea that Hunter wanted to meet me; then I immediately damned both the blush and my befuddled mind. Sally hadn’t known me before we met rescuing Desi, and had no way to even know I existed, let alone would be susceptible to his enticing self. “Er … I’m not sure I understand. Who did you want him to meet?”
“He’s a dragon hunter, did you know that?” Sally answered, waving at someone on a sidewalk while we were stopped at a light. “There are only four in existence right now, Hunter and his twin being two of them.”
“I … I think someone mentioned him being a dragon hunter, but I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that. Is he like the police force for the dragons?”
“No, dragon hunters are outside the septs and weyr. At least, they are for now. They are working to change things up, but others are fighting against that goal. Regardless, a dragon hunter is part dragon, part demon.”
I shifted to the side, taken aback by the idea of Hunter being a demon. “They’re dark beings?”
“Not as such, no. The dragon side rules, you see. It keeps the demon part in check, using it to subdue and destroy beings of dark power. You know how it’s hard to destroy a demon?”
“Not really. I don’t have many dealings with them, either, although I think I heard if they are killed, they come back in another body.” A warning bell in my head shrieked. How could I have an interest in a man who was part demon?
“That’s not quite right. They can be killed, utterly killed. No coming back, no new form. But it takes someone special to do that, and Hunter is one of those people. But to be most effective, he needs an esprit.”
The memory rose in my mind of a time in my teen years when I studied the wrong material for a year-end test, and I was left with the same feeling of being completely and utterly at sea. “Er … an esprit is what?”
She shot me a pointed look. “How much do you know about the Court of Divine Blood?”
“Not a lot other than it’s what mortals based their idea of heaven on, just as they did hell on Abaddon, where the demons live.” I suppressed a little shiver at the idea of Abaddon. Other than the (nice if a bit inquisitive) demon Jim, I had no experience with demonkind, and I much preferred to keep it that way. “And of course, you and your partner used to be Sovereign, but now someone else is running it.”
“That’s right. And amongst the denizens of the Court are esprits. They are special beings filled to the very brim with all sorts of good qualities like loyalty, and devotion to the cause, and most importantly the light of the Court. And the dragon hunters, since they are masters of the dark power, need that light to balance their special swords.”
I stared in abject horror at her. “Are you saying that Hunter has sacrificed a happy light spirit to make his sword more powerful? That’s horrible! How can you support that?”
“There’s no sacrifice involved. The esprits choose to power up the sword because …” Her lips twitched, and with a fast glance at the driver, she leaned in close to whisper, “To be honest, sugar, they get a boner for justice. And what more justice can they enjoy than the destruction of demons?”
“Oh.” I thought about that for a few seconds. “I guess that makes sense. So you wanted Hunter to meet a sword spirit?”
“He needs one. His last, a delightful young woman named Clover whom he was also dating, broke up with him for the third time, and according to the extremely exclamation-point-laden email she sent me, she’s never going back. I told Hunter it was time to find someone new, so he arranged to be available when we needed him.”
I wondered if anyone I had met during the rescue of Desi was secretly an esprit. For a reason I refused to acknowledge, the idea annoyed me. “Gotcha. Looks like we’re here. Thanks for giving me a ride, and more importantly, thank you for dealing with Dr. Kostich. I’m really not comfortable with lying, since I can’t do it convincingly, so you’re literally a lifesaver.”
She waved away my thanks as we pulled up to one of the three Paris portal shops. “As if I could leave you to his nonexistent mercy. You’re far too vital to the dragons to let you be stuffed into the Akasha. There’s always so much red tape to get anyone out of there.”
I had emerged from the car as she spoke, but leaned down to catch her words. “Me? How am I important? I’m just a reaper.”
“You’re that and so much more, which is why you’ll have to go into the Eleventh Hour sooner rather than later. Consider it paying me back for getting Kostich off your nerves. Giancarlo, you delicious hunk of man, how do you feel about the Seychelles? I’ve an urge to run along a sandy beach with you clad in a thong, and me in nothing whatsoever. Yes? Excellent. Take us to the north portal shop, and I’ll see to the rest.”
“The Eleventh Hour? What do you mean?” The word fell on empty space as the car zoomed off, leaving me on the sidewalk staring after her with confusion, uncertainty, and a profound sense that I’d missed something important.
I headed into the portal office, still turning over her comments. How could I be important to the dragon people? Did they know about Papi and the hold he had over me? Were they planning on using that to force me into doing something heinous?
“Life sucks right now,” I told the portal agent just before I stepped through the grayish-purple swirling mass that hung in the air, and which would zap me to Beck.
“Ain’t that the truth,” she answered as the miasma claimed me, leaving an increasing sense of worry that something was very wrong. I had a horrible suspicion I was at the center of it.
