Page 7 of Surprise Me

Where are you? Some grumpy German man just called and said they accept your offer. Offer for what? My birthday present?

Finally, some good news. He tapped a message back.Yes. Stop snooping.

Yvaine sent back a GIF of a unicorn sticking its tongue out at him.I'm not snooping and you're no fun.

Jett chuckled.I'll show you fun as soon as I get home and it will definitely include tongues sticking out.

Speaking of tongues. He'd better buy their party supplies and get them to the newly procured castle before any of his Warriors stuck their tongues in places they shouldn't be. Like into the mouths... or other areas of these lovely shop girls. Actually, the girls were not human at all. Wolftresses if his nose was to be believed. Time to go. "Men, if I let you throw Yvaine's party in a real castle with every single one of these seizure inducing decorations can we go now?"

"Fabulous," the biggest and baddest of the group of Warriors singsonged.

Jett slapped his credit card down on the counter, choked at the total, and glared at the Warrior toting the ice-cream machine down the stairs. There was no way to know if they were throwing the best birthday party ever or creating a rainbowpocalypse. The shop girls didn't seem to care that the group of them came and went magically so Jett slipped into an aisle and found a bit of shadow to take him back down to hell and then across the ocean.

If he encountered any demon wyrms on the return trip he'd simply annihilate them with rainbow glitter exploding birthday candles.

Demon Wyrms Make Horrible Party Guests

Jett guided the Warriors to the Rhineland and again, they didn't encounter any demon wyrms along the way. There was definitely something wrong. He should have asked the White Witch about that. His greatest fear would be putting Yvaine in danger. The Black Dragon was always trying to access mates and the sway they held over dragons souls.

Either the disappearance of the the wyrms mean they were focused on an unknown mate, one yet to find her Dragon or this was a trap. The Black Dragon knew Jett and the way he thought. The asshole probably put together a ploy to make him feel at ease. No demon wyrms, no worries. But that would be exactly the time for the forces of evil to swoop in and kidnap Yvaine. She wasn't like all the other mates. She didn't havehis soul shard, because he didn't have one. She wasn't a witch either, and didn't control any elements. The magic in her blood made her a target.

He and his Wyr needed to keep an extra eye out and be more vigilant than ever. They popped up in the forest around the castle and the stench of wyrms hit him so fast and hard it made his eyes water.

Jett shifted into his dragon form instantly.Warriors. Join me. I don't know how they found our new home before it's even official, but I will not allow them to taint this first hold we have outside of Hell. We must make this place safe for Yvaine and your future mates.

His proclamation was met by growls all around. They were not unaccustomed to battle, but Jett had hoped not to make them fight and kill the beasts they had been not that long ago. He could only hope they all understood these wyrms would never be sentient, never be free of the curse of Ereshkigal and the Black Dragon. They were nothing more than mindless drones that wreaked plague upon the world.

Jett could taste their trepidation in the air.These wyrms are not our brethren. They have been sent to harm us and their havoc will hurt the humans who live here. We are Warriors, and it is our duty to send the demons back to Hell.

He looked each of his Warrior in the eye to make sure they understood and was ready to send any that weren't prepared for this battle back to the gasthaus or to protect Yvaine. Each and every one of them returned his gaze with a fire behind their eyes. Good. Promotions to the new Elite team all around.

I'll fly over the top of the tower and take out as many as I can. The rest of you, flush them out the front gate. Do not let them get out of the kill zone. You three spread out and surround the castle and catch any stragglers before they can escape back into the shadow. I don't want any survivors to report back to the Black Dragon that the new Demon Dragon stronghold can be compromised.

Without another word the Warriors did exactly as they were told, no hesitation, no questions asked. Maybe he'd underestimated his Wyr. They were more ready to fight than he'd been when he'd first emerged from Hell and Erishkigal's curse.

Jett took to the sky and used the dark of night to hide himself from the stupid wyrms. He landed on top of the tower and peered down with his dragon sight into the courtyard. There was no ground to be seen, only a black mass of writhing demon dragons flapping their useless wings and nipping at each other.

They reminded him too much of a stockyard where beasts were corralled ready for the slaughter. It was too easy. Someone had lured these demon dragons here and trapped them inside the walls of his new home. Who the fuck would do that?

An enemy who wanted to destroy the Demon Dragon Wyr's home... or a friend helping to rid the world of demon wyrms? Because taking this many wyrms out while they were penned in this way would be like squashing bugs under his shoe. Easy, but messy.

Jett spread his wings wide and dove for the ground. He detected the slightest shimmer of white magic shielding the area all around the courtyard and recognized the spell. Fallyn had used this exact same spell on her little caverns in Hell filled with her hoards of weapons and Christmas ornaments. It was a simple glamour that kept anyone from seeing in her caves. In this case, the spell kept the wyrms from seeing him.

He circled once and then let out a hot burst of flames that instantly disintegrated a third of the demons right where they stood into piles of ash and oily blotches on the land below. The rest squawked and shot their pitiful spittle of fire in his direction. Since they couldn't see him, their only weapons were completely useless unless they accidentally aimed it just right. None were that lucky and several actually hit other demon wyrms starting their own rounds of infighting. Stupid beasts.

Jett circled again, examining the situation from every angle to see any way this could be a trap for him or his brethren. No matter which way he looked, he was sure the demons had been trapped for him to eviscerate at his leisure. Like a present.

Fucking hell. He hoped this wasn't his birthday present from Yvaine. Had she been conspiring with Fallyn? No. He wouldn't believe that she would purposefully plan the destruction of any beings, even ones as evil as demon wyrms. Yvaine was everything sweet and good in the world.

Jett dove one more time and in a couple of bursts of dragon's flame, he took out the remaining demons leaving a mass of disgusting black goo puddled in the courtyard. He shot one more burst at a window where a shadow caught his eye. They might be more of the little bastards inside.

Hey, boss. Aren't you going to leave any fun for us?

The collective thoughts of the Warriors joined the one who'd sent him the question over their connection. They were worried about him. Cute.

He was happy to be able to spare them this fight. He circled past the buildings checking the interiors with his dragon sight. He didn't smell any more live wryms there.Brothers. I have eliminated the threat. Join me at the tower and hide yourselves in the darkness. Something mysterious has happened here tonight and you're going to find out what.

They were ready for anything. Well, maybe not a unicorn birthday party, but anything hell sent their way. Jett kept a close eye out while filling the Warriors in on what had happened. He allowed one of the Warriors to take charge and assign the rest of the team tasks. Jett was pleased to hear the list of to-dos included investigating in both the human realm and the outskirts of Hell that could be reached from their forest.

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