Death Before Dragons (Books 1-3): An Urban Fantasy Series Box Set by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-09T22:00:00+00:00

15

Someone had broken into my apartment again.

I stood in the hallway, staring at the door slightly ajar, all four of the deadbolts I’d coerced the landlord into letting me install unlocked. A three-year-old with a couple of hairpins could have thwarted the cheap doorknob lock but not the deadbolts. They weren’t even visible from the outside.

Sighing, I summoned Sindari. Whoever had done this had probably long since gone, but there was a chance he or she was still inside. Or they.

I didn’t sense anyone magical, but mundane humans could ransack my apartment as effectively as an irritated panther shifter.

There is nobody inside, Sindari informed me after he materialized. Do you wish me to go in first in case the thief left booby traps?

I don’t know. Are you more in the mood to be dangled upside down from the ceiling than I am?

With my speed and agility, I am unlikely to be dangled at all.

In that case, you should definitely go in first. I pulled out Chopper.

Sindari pushed the door open further and padded inside.

A click sounded from across the living room. Still in the hallway, I dodged to the left, whipping my sword across defensively. Something tinked off the edge of the blade and clattered against the floorboard before hitting the thin gray carpet. A tiny silver dart.

Warily, I picked it up. A gunky blue residue smeared the tip. Poison?

“Clearly, I need a taller tiger,” I said.

My height is perfect for seeing over the tall grass on the Tangled Tundra on Del’noth.

“Helpful.”

Very much so in hunting there, yes. Sindari padded farther into the room, avoiding the lamps, books, and clothes strewn across the floor. I’d just gotten everything cleaned up from the last break-in.

“It may be time to move again.”

Perhaps you should not use your real name when you lease an apartment.

“You have to. They do credit checks before renting you a place. Gone are the good old days when you could lie about everything and pay in cash.”

Living in the human world requires an unsettling lack of privacy.

“Tell me about it.” I itched to go inside and try to figure out if the intruders had only come to ransack the place or if they’d taken anything. My giant wine jug of change was still sitting on the bookcase beside the door. Nobody ever stole that. Either it was too heavy for the average intruder to lift, or nobody wanted to deal with rolling coins to get the bank to take them.

I see the slender tripwire leading from the door across the ceiling and to this shelving unit. Sindari looked up at the ceiling, then put his paw next to my signed hardback of Elric of Melniboné. By some miracle, the Moorcock books were still on the shelf. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings hadn’t fared as well. A heavy vase I’d picked up at a thrift store was the bookend on that shelf and the object of Sindari’s attention.

Something akin to a miniature crossbow has been affixed in here.

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