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.Several minutes later, he gripped the book tight and let out a soft sigh of relief.Now to get the hell out of here.The ballroomwould probably be the best place to cast the return spell.Moving quickly, he made his way back downstairs and through the enormous house to the ballroom.He'd just knelt andbegun to draw, book tucked into his jeans, when he heard the door creak open."Well, well, look at what we have here," said a voice Edison didn't recognize - though he recognized the tone well enough."The sorcerer has our book."Two men came toward him, guns cocked."Stand up," said the speaker."Throw the book this way.""Why?" Edison asked bitterly."You'll shoot me anyway.""Maybe, maybe not," said the second."We were under orders to get the book first.Killing you is secondary.Give us thefucking-"His words were drowned out by a sound that was like nothing Edison had ever heard.An animal roar, it seemed to shakethe house."What the fuck was that?" The first man lowered his gun as he looked wildly around for the source of the sound.Edison used their distraction to quickly draw more of his spell circle, trying not to let his own fear consume him as theunearthly sound came again.His head jerked up at the sound of something breaking - the front door, but even as he realized that the ballroom doors flewcompletely open, and he saw the source of the terrible sound.Yellow moonlight, filtering in thin shreds through the dusty ballroom windows, shone here and there on Blade's scales.Lightflashed as the men fired, but the bullets only ricocheted off.Swearing loudly, the men turned to run - though Edison wasn'tcertain to where they were running, there was only one way in and out of the ballroom.They didn't get far, and Blade's tail made quick work of them, the sound of the hard scales against flesh awful.He didn't move as Blade padded toward him, heart beating a furious rhythm in his chest.With a deep growl Blade pushedhim down, that fearsome face pushing against his own, against his throat, his chest, the dragon sniffing and rubbing andEdison realized Blade was making sure he was okay.It was more than a little unnerving to be pawed at by something as fearsome looking as Blade, but Edison found he wasmore confused than anything.He pushed gently at Blade."I'm okay.What in the hell are you-""I'm going to kill you myself," Alec said, appearing as suddenly as Blade had, stalking toward them looking as though hevery much meant what he'd said."What in the fuck were you thinking?" He bent and yanked Edison to his feet."I'm going tothrash you within an inch of your life."Edison bristled."I didn't fucking tell you to come here - I'm pretty sure you quit.That's what good riddance usually means,last I checked.""Quit? I didn't quit.You're the one who told me to go the hell away, that a fucking demon lord could do a better job-""You're the one who tried to dump me off on the demon lord!""I did no such-""Go to hell-"They were both drowned out by one of Blade's deafening growls.file:///H|/NOVEL/New%20novel/The%20Dragon%20Pits.htm[9/25/2009 10:22:03 AM]AmaSour Fiction"Knock it off, dragon," Alec snapped.Blade's eyes flashed, and he growled again, much lower this time - then turned sharply, tail catching the moonlight, andswept their feet out from under them.Edison swore loudly, fumbling to find his feet, realizing suddenly that he'd landed on top of Alec this time.He froze as hecaught Alec's eyes in the barely there light.Tearing away with an effort, he glared at Blade for a moment, then directed it at Alec."Why does your damn dragon keep-"He was cut off as Alec's mouth covered his, the gesture abrupt and awkward enough that teeth nicked his lip, and he couldfeel and taste the blood, but really didn't care because Alec was kissing him.A hand sank into his hair, another arm sliding around his waist, and Edison moaned despite himself because fuck, Alecknew how to kiss.He didn't know what was going on, or if he'd knocked his head somewhere and was making this up, butdamned if he wouldn't take what he could get.Channeling all of his anger from a moment ago into the kiss, he gave back forall he was worth, jerking away only long enough to get his damned glasses out of the way.Distantly he heard an approving growl, and it was enough of a dose of reality that he jerked away from the kiss.Fumblingfor his discarded glasses, he shoved them back on even as he scrambled to get off Alec and relocate his brain.Except he'd only managed to get on his knees when he was bowled over by a dragon and treated to a second kiss that wasjust as devastating as the first.When he was finally permitted to breathe, he was more confused than ever."What the hell?""Magic not Katherine?" Blade said, cutting off whatever Alec had been about to say."Huh?" Edison managed.Blade frowned at him."Magic not Katherine, right?"Was he crazy, or was there a bit of plaintive note to that question that still made absolutely no sense."He's not Katherine, Blade," Alec said with a sigh."Look, we're not doing this here." He helped them both to their feet."Wereally need to at least find somewhere to sit and talk."Edison attempted to make his brain function."My bedroom here should be good.What about those guys?""They won't be waking up," Alec said coldly.Shivering, Edison turned and led the way out of the ballroom and up the stairs to his bedroom at the far south end of thesecond floor.It was a bit dusty, but overall good to go.The bedroom was huge, half of it a sitting area, the rest of it devoted to a widewindow seat and a massive bed.He was sorely tempted to collapse on it and ignore the world for an indefinite period oftime, but instead he simply threw the damned book on it then stalked to plant himself on the window seat."Why in the helldid you kiss me?" he asked."Because I was tired of Blade knocking us over," Alec said, then sighed softly."And also because I've been trying not tokiss you for the past few days."Edison stared, truly surprised."Oh," he said weakly.He scrambled for something else to say, not certain how to deal withthe revelation, not after good riddance."Who the hell is Katherine?""My ex-wife," Alec replied, face going tight."Oh," Edison repeated, feeling stupid but unable to come up with anything better.Of all the things he'd expected to hear,that wasn't one of them."I didn't know you were married.""Five years," Alec said, sounding weary, "and then I came home early one day and found her fucking my brother."Edison winced - and then felt a painful ache in his chest as something else fell into place."You killed your brother."Alec nodded.file:///H|/NOVEL/New%20novel/The%20Dragon%20Pits.htm[9/25/2009 10:22:03 AM]AmaSour Fiction"I'm sorry," Edison said softly, standing and moving without thought, reaching Alec the same time as Blade.He immediately stopped, letting his hand fall, reminded abruptly it wasn't his place or right to comfort - that was Blade's role.Which reminded him they'd both kissed him, and Alec saying he'd wanted to do it for awhile really didn't clear anything up."Wait-I don't get it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]