She turned to Constantine. “Osiris is your uncle? Is everyone in the Otherworld related to you?”
Constantine looked even more put upon. “Not everyone. And there’s a reason I keep my family tales from you. Now you see proof of why I do so.”
Osiris lifted his glasses and squinted at the First Dragon. “You’re here, too?”
“I started it,” the First Dragon said, spreading his hands. “I felt I should be at the end, as well.”
“Ah. Yes.” Osiris glanced at Bael. “I see your point. You, demon lord—”
“My name is Bael,” the man in question snarled. “I am the premier prince of Abaddon. I rule the Otherworld and am soon to rule the mortal world. You would do well to temper your tone, lord of the Underworld, lest I turn my sights to you, too.”
“I tremble with fear,” Osiris said, clearly not in the least bit worried. He gestured for Maat to come forward.
I looked over at her, surprised to see that all the other passengers had gone. She was sitting on the edge of the table, watching the goings-on with interest.
Osiris walked toward Bael, the dragons falling into the place behind him. Mrs. P squealed when the tip of the blade dug into her flesh, a line of blood dripping down her neck, disappearing into the bodice of her costume.
“Stop there, or I will kill her,” Bael warned. “And then I will damn her soul to eternal torment. I might not have my full powers here, but I have enough remaining to see to it that your beloved suffers for eternity.”
“What an asshat,” I said softly to Rowan, my eyes on the knife. “What are we going to do?”
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “With gods and demigods scattered all around, you expect me to take charge of the situation?”
“Yes,” I said firmly, taking his hand. “Because you truly are a champion, as well as a butt-kicking dragon. And you’re not the sort of man to let others fight your battle.”
“I wasn’t aware it was my battle.” One of his eyebrows rose as he spoke.
“Well, okay, it’s probably more my battle, but we’re a couple now, and that means we share things like that. Right?”
His mouth quirked. Dear god, how I loved his mouth. And his chest. And his legs. Oh, who was I fooling, I was wildly, insanely, madly in love with him. I couldn’t imagine life without the man, and that thought suddenly stopped scaring me, and made me feel like the happiest woman alive. “You are correct. Very well. If you insist I take action…”
He strode forward, handing his sword to Constantine as he passed by, no doubt to show Bael that he was no threat. I had no idea what he was going to do, because at that moment, someone grabbed my Lara Croft braid and brutally yanked me backward, knocking my bow and arrow from my hand.
“Argh!” I screamed, and out of the corner of my eye I saw two men climb over the rail. Evidently a few more demons had been held in reserve, and one of them now held an arrow to my throat, the tip of it piercing my flesh.
Rowan spun around and roared his anger. He leaped toward us, his body changing in midstep into that of a red-scaled dragon, his eyes all but spitting fury.
Bael slammed Mrs. P to the ground, pinning her to it with the knife, while he chanted something that sounded extremely bad, his hands waving over her chest in a strange pattern.
What I can only describe as a tear in the middle of nothing opened up, and a two small men emerged, both of them drawing symbols around us.
Pain wracked me as the two newcomers spoke. Rowan reached the man holding me just as Baltic and Gabriel shifted into dragon form, the two of them leaping on the chanting men.
For a moment I was terrified by the dragon bearing down on me, but then I saw his eyes and realized I could never be afraid of Rowan. Not my Rowan of the gentle heart, odd sense of humor, and passion that made me melt into a puddle of goo. Suddenly, the arrow was gone, and I was falling forward.
Rowan caught me with one scaled arm, while his tail lashed out and knocked the second demon across the deck, where he slammed into the bridge.
I turned to see the first demon bent over the railing… backward, in a position that told me the man’s back was broken.
Rowan said gruffly, “Don’t look, love,” before turning to help the others. He ran toward Bael, and just as Bael lifted the knife high, about to plunge it into Mrs. P’s heart, there was a flash of white, and one of Osiris’s guards was there, dragging Mrs. P to safety at the same moment that Rowan threw himself on the demon lord.
They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, some human and some scaly. The knife flashed, and blood spurted in a wide arc. Someone screamed, and it wasn’t until I had picked up the punchbowl and was bashing Bael on the head with it did I realize it was me.
Things calmed down a bit after that.