Black Hound by Autumn Dawn

Author:Autumn Dawn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: urban fantasy, monsters, dwarves, romance sweet, dark elves, floating tower, metal mage

If “Christian” had conjured up a certain picture in Rue’s mind, she was quickly disabused of it. The guests filling up her living room looked more like a gang of thugs.

In fact, their presence in her living quarters made her realize she needed a business parlor. Something intimidating, suitable for the dangerous visitors she kept receiving. The living room was too casual, gave the impression she was approachable.

The project went to the top of her to-do list.

Fire Under the Mountain was as black as Abyss, but sported a dragon’s scaled neck and hands. Green eyed, pointy eared, he was clearly a hybrid, but he didn’t sport the leathers typical of a shifted dragon. Did he lack wings? His casual t-shirt, jeans and scuffed boots argued yes. The black talons on his hands looked sharp enough to disembowel a moose.

Bubbles, his hybrid human/DE wife, was shy, hanging back a little, her hand on Mountain’s back. His height made her look short, but she was probably average and rather thin. Her braided brown hair revealed a puckered scar on her cheek, and she looked about six months pregnant under her loose top and leggings.

The tattooed dwarf with them, Vey, had a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket and the shortest hair and beard she’d ever seen on a dwarf, barely more than razor stubble. He had the squinty mean eyes of a badger and a habit of biting off words like a habitual f-bomber. Although he didn’t carry weapons, he had metal studs implanted in his knuckles and fists the size of sledgehammers. His heavy boots looked strong enough to stomp pine stumps into the ground.

Ironically, his name meant “peace” in dwarvish.

Although they sat after the introductions, each looked ready to bolt…or strike, if need be.

“Abyss briefed you on my problem?” Rue said after the coffee and tea was served. She made a point of pouring herself a cup of both, to demonstrate the liquid was safe. She figured the dwarf could try his own beer; she wasn’t into the beverage, not at this time of day and served warm, to boot.

Mountain still took a drink of his wife’s tea before giving it to her. Rue found she approved of his paranoia.

Vey nodded. “Yeah. You’ve got a f…freaking huge amount of toxic metal in your soil. Bubbles and I checked it out on the way in here. You’ll be da…very busy cleaning that sh…stuff up.” He poured a cup of black coffee, ignoring the beer. How odd. Dwarves drank beer like it was a religious mandate.

“I looked at the air,” Bubbles qualified softly. “That’s what I do.” She paused. “It’s terrible, though.”

“So what can you do for me?” Rue asked, curious. “Go ahead, demonstrate.”

“What? Now?” Vey asked, confused. “We were going to do the talk first.”

“Talk and work,” Rue said, sealing her helmet before opening the windows. The air was especially foul today, thick and smog-like, and she didn’t feel like coughing up a lung.

Bubbles looked startled, but stood up after a reassuring look from her husband.

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