The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez

while Tia hugged the ground. The house collapsed as the limb crushed a corner. Mice ran screaming in all directions.
    â€œThere goes my security deposit,” said Thelma with a scowl.
    Connie slipped on her knuckledusters and charged the dragon. Thelma slammed her tail in front of Connie and wrapped it around her, pinning her arms and the knuckledusters to her side. The iron burned the transformed fae’s scales, but not enough to make her release her prey.
    â€œI do regret it came down to this.” Thelma smiled. Half her teeth were missing, but the half that were there were sharp enough. “But, in the end, I did promise you a glorious death.”
    Connie had been face-to-face with death many times. She’d made peace with the reaper years ago. Literally. She’d met the Grim Reaper, and he’d seemed a good guy only doing his job. He hadn’t told her when she would die, and she hadn’tbeen tempted to ask. It didn’t matter. Everybody died, extraordinary and ordinary people alike.
    But, damn it, she did not want to die like this, eaten by a washed-up fairy godmother. If this was indeed her last adventure, it was a lousy way to go out.
    Tia threw a rock that struck the dragon just under her eye.
    â€œLet her go.”
    â€œTia, stay out of this,” said Connie.
    â€œYes, do stay out of it. It doesn’t concern you.”
    Tia grabbed the burnt remains of Thelma’s wand. “Don’t make me use this.”
    Thelma shook her head. “I know what you’re doing.”
    â€œWhat am I doing?”
    â€œYou’re attempting to distract me so that your friend can pull off one of her legendary last-minute escapes.”
    â€œAm I?”
    â€œI’m not an idiot. Now shut up so that I can end this already.”
    â€œWhy don’t you shut up?”
    Thelma groaned. “Really? That’s the best you can do? You’re embarrassing yourself and me and Connie. Is this the best sidekick you could find?”
    â€œIt was short notice,” said Connie.
    â€œHey, I’m trying to save your life here!” said Tia.
    â€œYou don’t do that by threatening a dragon with a broken wand,” said Connie. “You were better off with the rock.”
    â€œExcuse me for trying.”
    Thelma chuckled. Green flames danced at the back of herthroat. “I must admit, this wasn’t the way I expected Constance Verity to die, but I suppose there is a certain poetic nature to it. I planted the enchantment. I might as well be the one to finish it.”
    â€œAbracadabra!” shouted Tia as she hurled the wand at the dragon’s back. It bounced away harmlessly.
    Thelma shook her head. “Just for that, I’m going to eat you after I’m finished with your friend here.” She turned to Connie, clutched tightly within her tail.
    Connie wasn’t there.
    Thelma glanced around the yard. “Where?”
    Connie whistled from under the dragon. Thelma craned her neck down. “How?”
    Connie slammed her iron knuckledusters in the equivalent of a dragon’s solar plexus. Thelma collapsed with a shriek, and it was only Connie’s reflexes that allowed her to jump out of the way instead of being buried under her opponent.
    While Thelma gasped for breath, Connie punched the dragon across the jaw. The iron and the blow proved devastating for the fae dragon, who fell limp.
    â€œBut I had you,” she said in a rough whisper. “I had you.”
    â€œI studied escape artistry under Houdini’s ghost,” said Connie, “and I’ve fought enough dragons to understand their biology. And a helpful distraction never hurts either.”
    â€œStop,” said Tia. “You’re embarrassing me.”
    Thelma tried to rise, but her strength had left her. She spit out several loosened fangs and slumped on her yard. “I can’t believe I fell for that.”
    â€œDon’t feel bad. Better bad guys