I chose neither option. Did I mention I didn"t like choices? Without waiting to see if he followed, I spun on my heel–these ankle boots I"d found on a discount rack were divine–and stalked back to the puppy–er beast.
It would seem my earlier observations about his companions were correct, as a golden panther hissed and swiped at the growling hound to keep it from reaching me–the hounds still had a protective instinct where I was concerned--while blue-eyes held up a staff and chanted. I wanted to shake my head. Why did wizards always go for the long, drawn out spells? Hadn"t they learned yet that long spells meant a higher probability of death? Which, on second thought, was probably a good thing. A form of population control: survival of the fittest. But I was getting off track.
Auric"s two friends didn"t look too banged up, and thankfully they hadn"t dented the hellhound yet, either. My puppies from the pit were so misunderstood. With a sigh for men who wanted to be heroes, but who lacked the proper tools, I held out my hand to the dog and said the word for
„come" in ancient Aramaic. Only one of the many tongues I knew. Of course, the one I"d been dying to try was French, but that would have to wait for another day.
The hound, with the glowing eyes of Hell, slunk up to me on its belly, and I almost snorted at the look on Auric"s face. There was nothing to emasculate a big strong guy like taking care of a problem in a non-violent manner in front of him. When the coal-hot nose of the dog touched my outstretched fingers, I said the Aramaic word to send the beast back home to safety.
“Bravo,” said Auric, clapping beside me. I eyed him, looking for the sarcasm, but he just smiled at me benignly; although I didn"t quite trust that twinkle in his eye.
“How did you banish the beast with such a simple word?” asked Lothario, interrupting our staring match. “Are you a mighty witch?”
“Me? Nope. I"m just–um–special.” That was only a tad of an understatement.
Auric"s other friend, who"d shifted into the seriously gorgeous blond panther, became human again and, shaking his hair out of his eyes, said, “That was cool.” His deep voice still made me shiver, and I eyed his naked, well-muscled body with interest. Auric must have noticed me admiring his friend, for he stepped in front of me, filling my senses with him and setting fire to certain body parts with the intent look he gave me.
He opened his mouth to speak, but...
“Muriel, yoo–hoo, there you are.”
I mentally groaned, hearing the chirpy voice of my half-sister. Buxom Bambi–no joke, that was her name, on stage and off it–came sashaying up the street. Her skirt dipped just low enough to cover her crotch, and she wore stilettos and a rhinestone halter top that made me want to howl.
So much for attracting Auric. With my blond succubus sister on the scene, I"d be lucky if I didn"t get trampled when the guys tripped over themselves trying to meet her.
However, I ended up being surprised again because, while Auric"s furry and wizard friends reacted like every other hot-blooded male I knew, Auric only spared a quick glance at my sister before bringing his attention back to me.
I had to say ignoring Bambi earned him big brownie points, for it made him the first guy I"d ever met who managed to pass the sister test. See, it wasn"t like I hadn"t been in lust or like before.
It"d happened quite a few times, but before I made the ultimate decision to indulge in the horizontal tango, I set all of my previous boyfriends to one simple task. I introduced them to one of my sisters.
They all failed except for Auric here, and I hadn"t even planned on testing him. This didn"t mean I"d be jumping his bones–yet. I still didn"t trust him, not to mention he still had some more tests to pass. But so far, I had to admit being impressed. After all, Bambi was hot, smokingly so, and he barely spared her a glance. Suspicious, I threw some lures at him. “That"s my sister, Bambi, in case you"re wondering.”
“That"s nice,” he said, still watching me, and taking a step closer. His body hovered close enough to mine that I could feel the heat radiating from him. Or was it me? Either way, it was getting hot out here.
“She"s single.” I said helpfully.
“Are you?” he retorted.
My breath started coming a little faster as he inched even closer to me and invaded my personal space, close enough I had to look up at him. “I"m single,” I whispered, caught by his green eyes.
“So am I,” he said leaning down.
I closed my eyes and ... suddenly found myself being yanked to the side.
“Come on, Muriel. We"ve got to be going. Say „good bye,"” said Bambi, in her smoky voice that would have made big bucks on a phone-sex line.