Chapter 31
Lucifer
Moving had taken most of the day, and the monotony of shifting furniture had exhausted me. Tiamat was driving, giving me time to imagine how the evening would go.
In an ideal scenario, a good boyfriend dedicated to our relationship would be waiting for me in bed, ready to ask me how my day had been and help me relax.
Well, maybe a good boyfriend in one of the more straightforward erotic romances would do that kind of thing. Nelly wasn’t that easy, not by a long shot. He was like a cute little hedgehog, only ever showing me spikes when I showed him my soft, soft belly…
Then again, maybe that was the issue right there. Maybe he needed to see more of me wearing less. It really was a shame Trony had let him slip away.
“What are you smirking about?” the Dragon Mother asked. She wasn’t even really looking at me, she had her eyes on the road.
“Nothing much, Dragon Mother. I was just thinking how much I miss my boyfriend.”
“Mm-hmm. Like most humans, I expect he has a hard limit on what he is willing to put up with. Do you know why that is?”
I straightened as the setting sun’s light hit me right in the face. “It’s because they don’t know the gloriousness of being with a god, Dragon Mother.”
She sighed. “Lucy, sometimes I wonder whether your shell was shattered and tossed away on the wind. Humans force their limits on us because unlike us, they are quite breakable.”
I froze. Cleared my throat. “There was no shell, Dragon Mother. But…well, I suppose he’s quite…
delicate. I mean, his features are exquisite, and I can understand, just from his looks, why you might be worried, seeing as how I will—I’m generally the one who does the fucking.
But, Dragon Mother, I’ve always made sure to prep my partners beforehand. ”
She turned a corner, but took her eyes off the road, narrowing them at me. “That’s not what I mean. Being a giving lover is the absolute minimum of affection, didn’t I always tell you?”
“Yes, Dragon Mother.”
“Boundaries are for those who break easily, Lucifer. Kindly remember that.”
I frowned. Nelly wasn’t that breakable. He’d de-animated that zombie all by himself. Then again, if he was breakable, it followed that he’d do better with someone taking responsibility for him. Now there was a thought.
“Yes, Dragon Mother.” I could imagine it, my breakable boyfriend begging me to break him, just a little. Hmmm.
Tiamat continued looking at me as she drove. “Things will grow as they choose, and all I can do is water the life that is and nurture it. It’s not an easy task, Lucy.”
“It’s good advice, Dragon Mother. You know I cherish your advice.”
Turning her attention back to the road, she accelerated slightly, then let out a third, heavier sigh.
When we got home, Tiamat parked right in front of the house and went straight through to wash off in the lake and collect her things so she could move to her new house.
I was going to shower, change, and make love to my boyfriend.
Dusk was welling red against the horizon, and I hadn’t seen him all day. That wouldn’t do.
Trony and Soul were sitting on the couch, watching some ridiculous 3D action movie projected onto the white wall Trony had kept bare for that specific purpose. The poodle was growling at the screen on and off, though I wasn’t sure what exactly displeased her.
“Nelly?” I asked
Trony turned toward me and twisted one of her locks around her index finger.
“He looked like he was running away, you know. Wouldn’t it just be easier to tell him he owes you for keeping the poodle and explain what that means? Instead of going through all of this forced proximity and pretend relationship trope bullshit?”
Trony really was the best when it came to running the house, but true romance, she simply didn’t understand. And the appeal of doing it this way was beyond her.
“If I did easy, I wouldn’t be the Devil.”
She rolled her eyes, and Soul looked at me, then growled. If anyone else had been as obsessed as Trony with ironing jeans and socks and organizing the best orgies in town, I’d have replaced her a long time ago, but good help was so hard to come by, so I had to accept that she had opinions.
I straightened. “I’ll take a shower and change, and then I’ll go find him. Maybe I’ll carry him to my bed fireman style.”
Trony gave me a level look, the kind she used to get humans to submit to her. “Lube is all stocked up, and I took the liberty of getting you a new set of butt plugs, because I care.”
I beamed at her and Soul, who was now drooling fondly. “You really are an angel.”
“Get the fuck out of my hair, Lucy.”
Trony had put the butt plug set in the nightstand that also held several fresh bottles of lube, some flavored, some not. Trony being Trony, she had thrown out all the other toys I’d had in there. Hell forbid I stuff my boyfriend with anything that had been…elsewhere.
The butt plugs ranged from light pink to fuchsia, to violet to purple, increasing in size as they changed color.
The bases were molded into heart shapes, with the points and tops of the heart elongated so they were safe to use.
Next time I went out to do the Dragon Mother’s bidding, I could just put one in Nelly to make sure he knew what to expect when I came back.
Of course, I had to find the stubborn human first.
After the shower, I styled my hair quickly and dressed in tailored jeans and a T-shirt with a deep V-neck. I knew Nelly liked stealing glances at me, and this outfit would help. I’d always enjoyed tracking where his golden gaze roamed.
I passed Trony and Soul on my way out but was pointedly ignored by both. With a spring in my step, I walked to the crossroads. Tiamat’s splashing about in the lake echoed toward me. She was in her dragon form then, much larger and even more impressive than normal.
From the crossroads, it was easy to teleport to right outside of Nelly’s apartment.
I wondered whether he was even there. Maybe he was near some grave, resurrecting something and getting oozed on.
I’d never seen a necromancer who got oozed on quite as much as Nelly.
In fact, it might have been harder to get that amount of fluids on oneself than not as a necromancer, and more than once had I wondered how he managed it.
Getting ready to sling him over my shoulder, I knocked. After some thirty seconds, I knocked again. No one opened the door, and a magical skim of the apartment let me know he really wasn’t there, rather than him just trying to get me to bring him something to make up for my long absence all day.
I looked at his battered door while I smoothed my hair. I could have tracked the debt he owed me, but that would be boring and too fast.
I could also track his distinctive necromantic magic, which would be a little more difficult, a little less accurate. It would show more effort on my part though, so I did that, even if Nelly with his human magic wouldn’t be able to really appreciate it.
One of the stores on the corner was a flower shop, and as I walked past them right as they were closing up for the day, I handed the girl carrying the flowers in a hundred bucks and took a single long-stemmed rose from the bucket in her arms.
“Thanks!” she called after me when she had recovered from being startled by the bill and my dazzling looks. “And good luck!”
“Thank you, but I don’t need it.” I winked at her, and she blushed. It was a perfectly normal reaction.
With the rose in my hand, I traced the slightly sour bite of Nelly’s necromantic magic across the river to a restaurant called The Angry Dragon. The name and the wannabe Chinese music all seemed like fun.
That was odd. Not only did Nelly not strike me as someone who had a good handle on the concept of fun, he also shouldn’t be having any without me, given he was my boyfriend now. There was a lot I’d have to teach him.
I ran a hand through my hair to make sure it looked right.
Several people turned to devour me with their eyes, so the hair and outfit were fine.
I twirled the rose in my fingers and sniffed the air for the heady scent of death magic.
A thorn tried to bite into my skin, but something so simple as a rose couldn’t hurt me, the Devil, seducer of stubborn necromancers.
I smiled at the night and the neon lights above the restaurant. The taming could begin.