“Kostie will have us to help him,” I said, fighting a smile. “This is not a moment for thoughts of glory, Cyrene. Aisling is in a very vulnerable state and Drake’s dragons will be stretched rather thin.”

She nodded. “You’re right. Poor Aisling. I will go and defend her and her baby. No one will get past me. Maybe Nora can tell me how to summon up all of Magoth’s legions? I bet I could order them to help protect her, too.”

I had a horrible moment where I envisioned the house full of demons running amok under Cy’s command, but realized that there was no way Nora would ever let Cyrene summon anything. “Thanks, Cy. We’ll hold down the fort here.”

“Viva la black dragons,” she called out, blowing Kostya a kiss before heading for the kitchen and the stairs down into the underground lair.

Savian staggered down the stairs, listing to starboard and weaving somewhat, but relatively hale and hearty as he joined us.

“You don’t think she’ll really summon demons, do you?” Kostya asked me, looking momentarily unsure.

“Oh, she’ll want to, but no one will tell her how, and Cy doesn’t have a clue about how to do it on her own. I’m beginning to think she’s the ideal person for Magoth’s powers. She’ll never use them.”

He nodded and turned back to the door.

“Where are your supermodels?” I asked, suddenly realizing what was missing.

“My what?”

“Your female guards.”

He looked nonplussed. “They . . . er . . . Cyrene thought they would be better suited to duty elsewhere.”

“Ah.” I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing. I had no doubt that one of the first things Cy would do was to get rid of his harem.

But before I could say anything, before Kostya could turn back to the door, before so much as a second passed, the entire front entryway of the house exploded, sending us flying backwards in a barrage of glass, wood, plaster, and metal.

Chapter Nineteen

I was stunned for a few seconds, shadowing without knowing it, hearing only the ringing in my ears from the explosion. When my head cleared, I realized the noise I heard was not an echo—the clang of metal on metal sounded loud and sharp.

“This day is never going to end, is it?” a familiar male voice said in deep resignation next to me. “The world is not going to be content until it bashes in my poor head once and for all. Ow. Oh, ow.”

I yanked a brocade chair off the once-again-prone form of Savian, yelling as I got to my feet, “Gabriel!”

“I like that. I’m right here, with my ribs crushed in, and my spleen ventilated, and bits of my brains hanging out, and she is worried about her immortal boyfriend. Did I say ‘ow’? Because seriously, ow.”

“If you can complain, you’re fine,” I told Savian as I peered through the cloud of dust for a familiar form.

“Stay back, May,” Gabriel called, leaping upward several feet as a dragon swung low at his legs with a huge sword.

“The mate is here,” another yelled, and pointed at me. I counted quickly as a familiar figure strode through the twisted, smoking, gaping hole that had been the front door. There were only three dragons, the redheaded woman, and Baltic—hardly a huge force. We more than outnumbered them.

“Take her, then locate the other shards,” Baltic called out, surveying the destroyed entryway. His eyes lit on Gabriel with amusement. “I told you I would be back.”

“And I told you that you would never have my mate,” Gabriel snarled, and shifted into dragon form, handily decapitating the dragon who was about to skewer him. “Shadow, May!”

I didn’t argue; I shadowed, coughing on the dust generated by the explosion.

“Find the mate,” Baltic demanded, then leaped aside and screamed as Gabriel lunged toward him. One of his guards hit Gabriel full in the chest, and the two of them went down.

A growl behind me had me crouching in defense, but the man who shoved aside the chair next to me was no danger to me. “Oh, she didn’t come. Tell me she didn’t come,” Savian said, his eyes alight as he focused on the redhead, standing as still as a statue next to Baltic. “The world could not be so good to me.”

A slow smile spread across his lips as he ignored his bloody hands to crack his knuckles.

“I take it you’re suddenly feeling better?” I asked.

He didn’t take his eyes off her. “Oh, yes. It’s payback time. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this.” He hefted a bit of broken furniture, weighed it in his hand for a moment or two, then tipped his head back and howled before charging at the woman.

All hell broke loose. Dragons fought dragons. Savian, with the advantage of surprise, threw himself on the redhead, and was on the floor rolling around with her, his piece of wood flailing madly, while Dr. Kostich . . . Agathos daimon! The explosion! Dr. Kostich had been near the door, still working on it when Baltic had blown it up.

I avoided being seen by Baltic’s henchman who rushed toward where I had been standing, skirting the edges of the room until I came to the remains of the front door. A long piece of the metal had twisted off it, embedding itself in the floor. As I started to move around it, I saw movement. Kostya was underneath the door, pinned to the floor by the long spearlike strip of metal.

“Don’t move,” I whispered, making sure none of the dragons was near me as I braced myself against the wall, using my full strength to yank the impaling metal from his body. It took three tries, but I got it out at last. I dropped to my knees, crouching when a dragon, alerted by the noise of the metal falling, came over to investigate. “How bad are you?”

Kostya waited until the dragon had moved off before answering. “Well enough to do what needs to be done.”

“Good. I have to find Dr. Kostich.”

I pulled his sword over to his hand, then moved off as he clawed his way to his feet, listing heavily against the wall, leaving a long smear of blood on the gold and green wallpaper as he finally pushed himself upright.

The expression on Baltic’s face as he caught sight of Kostya was one of sheer delight. He roared something in Zilant, kicking aside a bit of debris as he ran for him, his body changing into the form of a white dragon.

Kostya yelled, leaping to the side and shifting into dragon form, as well, his sword dancing in his hand as Baltic descended.