Read Online Bitten By Deceit by Shawntelle Madison - Free Book Online Page B

breathe out fire only to choke on its own pitiful smoke.
    “You can’t do anything right,” the first spat at the third.
    The third head snapped at the first. “At least I do something. And I happen to be awake.”
    The fight grew fierce as the second head, most certainly offended by what the third one said, bit down on its ear. “You dirty bastard.”
    “Takes one to know one!”
    “Fuck you.”
    “You’re so full of it. Why not scare her off with your fire-breathing skills?”
    One body with three heads bitching at each other was a sight. I watched with amusement, wishing for some popcorn. I never got this kind of entertainment at work.
    The heads finally noticed I was still standing there. Then they made a rude gesture: they flipped me off.  
    The third head said, “Why don’t you come take it from me, Wolf? I only see you and me—an even fight.”
    I folded my arms over my chest. “If you fought me, you’d die from exhaustion.”
    The zmee snorted. “I’ve been alive for thousands of years. Talk is cheap, and so are your brand name shoes.”
    There went my sorry-ass bluff. Damn it.
    A wolf would never walk away from a situation like this. Especially if an overweight, barely smoke-breathing dragon tried to sass them.
    My fingers twitched, and the wolf inside whined from indecision. There had to be a way to solve this without fighting him. But then again, the dragon couldn’t go anywhere anyway.
    I searched through my purse until I found a set of matches. Since I often enjoyed a warm fireplace in the evening, matches came in handy. I waltzed over to a generous patch of dead grass near the tree.
    “You wouldn’t dare,” the nymph screeched from above.
    Now I didn’t need to tell them I wouldn’t set the tree on fire, but I saw no reason why I couldn’t push my point. I struck a match and waved it close to the ground. With a good breeze going through this area, the grass would burn quickly. The thick oak would be next. The nymph slid down from her high perch but stopped on a lower-lying branch. She was tiny, no match for me in werewolf form.
    Now irate and angry, she spat curses to the zmee in a tongue I didn’t understand. Perhaps his lack of mobility was a bit of a sore point between the two.
    The zmee sputtered in my direction. “I didn’t plan on keeping it. I only wanted some codes off them.”
    My eyebrow rose, and I blew out the match. “Codes? What are you talking about?”
    “Codes that lead to a huge fortune—waiting to be taken. That figurine is special. Right after the Millstadt woman killed her husband with it, two warlock brothers bought it from the original estate.”
    Given my wry expression, I was sure he could tell I wasn’t convinced. The second head had fallen asleep, again, but the first became animated. “It’s all true. Over the past century, Vladimir and Nikolai have fought over their family fortune. They hid pieces of it from each other. Not too long ago, their feud got heated and one brother killed the other. It was gruesome, actually—”
    “—get to the point.” Although he did have my attention—slightly. I was curious since their names sounded Russian.
    “Oh, yes, the surviving brother thought his sibling’s hidden stash was lost and gone forever—until he discovered that his brother, who was a metalsmith and sculptor, left behind codes on vases, figurines, and jewelry boxes. Pretty much on everything he collected. These codes have to be a message about where the money is hidden. Skeptics say it’s just a leprechaun scam. But I’ve got a few codes, so I know there are more. I’m going to get them all .”
    After listening to the zmee’s story, I felt kind of sorry for him. What did this guy have to do to finance his code-hunting operation? An operation which most likely was a fruitless one.
    “Why don’t you march—umm—slide back into your little house, get my property, scribble down your little codes, and then give it back.” See? I could be nice