Dragon Soul (Dragon Falls, #3)(82)
Rowan considered them. “That’s curious. I wonder who they are.”
“I have no idea. More people to go to the promised land, do you think?” Sophea asked.
“We wouldn’t have picked them up midway through Duat if that was the case,” he told her.
“Let us go greet the new arrivals,” Barbie said, nodding toward the door into the ship.
“And leave the party?” Ken said, looking horrified. “But we just got here! And I haven’t gotten to show everyone my darling costume, let alone join the costume contest, which you just know I’m going to win because honestly, no one else’s costume comes even close to the quality of mine. No one else has a familiar… er… sheep with them.” Ken gave them a bright, and very brittle, smile. “Present company excluded from that comment about other costumes, of course. Yours are excellent, truly excellent.”
“Come,” Barbie said, jerking Ken forward so that her wig wobbled precariously.
They moved toward the doorway leading to the inner rooms of the ship at the same moment that a second car pulled up, and two more people emerged, but this time, Rowan was familiar with them.
“That Barbie is kind of rude… whoa. More people? Oh, it’s them,” Sophea said, noting the newest arrivals. “Your sister and that guy with the long name.”
“Constantine.” Rowan fought with a spurt of irritation that threatened to blow up into full-fledged anger. “Why are they here interfering? Are they checking up on us? They’ve already seen that we are now dragons—I don’t see why they have to come around bothering us again. Not that I mind seeing my sister, but that dragon she’s mated to is another matter.”
Sophea slid him a little smile and took his hand, her fingers tight around his giving him a surprising sense of comfort. “Now, now, they haven’t done anything to be so testy about. Although I admit I feel a bit like the dragons are keeping tabs on us, which is annoying at best. But I suppose Gabriel and May have helped a bit with watching Mrs. P.”
“Let us see if they have any insight as to why those dragons are here.” He turned to call Gabriel over, but froze, staring in mingled surprise and anger at the sight of several men climbing over the railing, water pouring off them. Each was armed with at least two swords, and a couple had knives strapped to their legs.
Rowan roared a Portuguese oath and leaped forward, pulling out his gun before he realized that it would do not good—even if it was a real gun, bullets did nothing but enrage demons.
And demons these were. He didn’t have to catch the stink of their origins to know—the way they poured over the rail of the ship and pinpointed Mrs. P and her ladies told him everything he needed to know. He threw away the gun and jerked his whip out of the holder just as the passengers realized that they were under attack.
Screams filled the night air, drowning out the music until someone, in their desperation to get away, knocked the CD player over the edge into the water.
The captain took one look at the invasion and shoved Mrs. P at the nearest crew member, pulling from the belt of his Captain Nemo outfit a very real looking scimitar.
“Get her to safety,” Rowan yelled at the crewman as he hustled Mrs. P past him. “Sophea! Guard her!”
The whip cracked without him even realizing he’d swung it, and the first of the demons rushing toward him slammed into the railing with a sick snapping sound. He shook the whip free, not in the least surprised to see Gabriel leap past him in a flying tackle, taking down the next demon, wrapping his costume’s tie around the demon’s neck and tightening it mercilessly.
People stampeded past Rowan to get to safety, but he didn’t risk a glance behind him to see if Sophea was taking Mrs. P away to their cabin. He yelled a native insult he’d learned from a shaman and swung the whip at two demons who rushed toward the entrance to the lower levels of the ship. One of them he caught by the leg and pulled back to where the captain was, his scimitar stained black. But the second one was too fast, and just as Rowan started after him, something whistled past his ear. He paused, staring in surprise at the arrow that projected from the back of the demon’s neck as it fell to the floor.
He turned to look behind him. Sophea had already nocked another arrow and adopted an archer’s stance, her eyes narrowed as she sighted another demon who was about to run him through.
The bow sang, and the demon went down with a squawk. Rowan stormed over to her, not seeing Mrs. P with her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“Shooting demons.” She quickly pulled out another arrow and fired it off. Behind him, Rowan heard a demon scream. “I have to say, this is the best outfit ever. I mean, I thought the Xena one was good, and it did a whole lot for my boobs, but this bow and arrow is just pure awesome. Duck!”
He opened his mouth to protest, but instead moved to the side just as she shot down another demon. This one did a perfect swan dive over the deck into the water, the arrow projecting from the side of its head.
“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” he asked, shoving her to the side and snapping the whip at the demon who was charging them with a sword held high. He caught the man around the neck, and with a jerk, slammed him into the navigation room wall. The demon fell back and feebly staggered toward them.
“College. Had to take athletics to graduate. I hate sports, so picked archery as the least obnoxious.”