The crowd cheered.
“It’s time we take Rossi’s head.” Fabian’s voice was taut with venom.
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Rossi shouted, “Behold the dragons!”
Three Hasai dragons circled overhead, filling the night sky with cascades of
flames.
The crowd went nuts.
Dammit, Rossi had enchanted the poor souls.
A blinding light hit us.
“The Dragos dragon slayers.”
The spectators shouted, “Kill the slayers. Kill the slayers. Kill ‘em.”
Right on command, the Hasais swooped down and blasted us with their fiery
breath.
We took refuge under our shields. Intense flames swirled around us.
The heat was becoming unbearable. In sheer desperation, I chanted, “Transferam
nec facile utaiunt.”
102 | GAIL KOGER
Whoosh! The holocaust of fire blew back and engulfed the closest Hasai. It
disintegrated into ash.
There was dead silence, and then the audience erupted into catcalls, boos, and
jeers.
“Huh. The dragons aren’t immune to their own fire. Imagine that.”
“Looks like there’s another way to kill them too.” Fabian pointed to another
dragon.
Xero was perched on top of its head; her pink ribbons fluttered in the wind. “Me
help, Myee.”
“No, sweetie! It’s too dangerous.”
“Grams put spell on Hasai. Me boss of it.”
“Oh, dear God. Is she nuts?”
Fabian sighed. “Probably.”
As if possessed, the Hasai dived toward the announcer’s booth and blasted it with
flames.
When the fire vanished, an extremely pissed-off Rossi stood in the middle of the
smoldering remains. His comb-over had been reduced to charred tufts, his eyebrows
were gone, and his armor was a blackened ruin. Rossi raised his hand and released an
energy bolt.
It hit the dragon. With a squall of pain, the Hasai fell from the sky and crashed
into the far end of the arena, just missing the bleachers.
“Oh, my God!” I frantically scanned the area for my baby. “Xero!”
Xero appeared by our feet. “Me did good.”
Fabian scooped her up and cradled her against his chest in relief. “You were
awesome.”
“You’re such a good baby,” I added, petting her head.
Its great wings flapping, the remaining dragon flew over the grandstands.
CATCHING DRAGOS | 103
Rossi’s fans hollered, “Burn ‘em. Burn ‘em. Burn ‘em.”
“Lovely.”
Xero squirmed in Fabian’s arms. “Grams needs me.”
He put her on the ground. Poof! Xero vanished.
Smoke seeping from between its teeth, the dragon hovered above us. With a
rumbling hiss, its claws reached for me.
I swung Excalibur at the Hasai, catching it across the snout. It jerked its head back
with a bellow of pain.
Rossi screamed, “Kill her!”
The dragon rumbled deep in its great chest and blasted me with white-hot flames.
I barely got my shield up in time. “Fabian!”
My hunter summoned Excalibur and scrambled up the Hasai’s back. The dragon’s
head whipped around and its teeth snapped together, missing him by inches.
Rossi shouted, “Up, Beelzebub!”
The Hasai launched itself into the air.
Fabian hung on for dear life as the dragon dipped and dived steeply, trying to
knock him off. He locked an arm around one of the spines and hacked at the left wing.
Bleeding badly, the dragon bellowed and spiraled down.
The minute the Hasai landed, Fabian drove Excalibur into the base of its neck.
The Hasai gave a single violent shudder and crumbled into dust.
Holding Excalibur over his head, Fabian let out a triumphant yell.
Rossi appeared in front of me. “This isn’t a fairy tale, and you don’t get to live
happily ever after.” He gestured.
My shield and sword vanished. “Oh crap.”
With an evil grin, Rossi swung his bloodstained sword at my neck.
104 | GAIL KOGER
Instinctively, I summoned the only weapon I had left. My family’s magical shovel.
I blocked the blow and kicked him in the groin.
Howling like a little girl, he crumpled to the ground, holding his man parts.
I bashed Rossi in the face with my trusty shovel.
Crunch! His head snapped back, and blood gushed from his broken nose.
Roaring in anger, Rossi transformed into a demon with Medusa-like snakes
squirming about his head.
“I knew we should have brought some holy water.”
Fabian stepped in front of me. “You want a fight, Rossi? You’ve got one.”
The demon Rossi gave a rumbling laugh, and a magical bolt shot from his clawed
hand. It struck Fabian in the chest, slamming him back against the sand.
“And the noble knight meets a tragic end.” Rossi raised his sword.
A bucket and Rossi’s medallion appeared at my feet. “Holy water,” Grams said.
I threw the water on Rossi.
Screaming in agony, Rossi reverted back to his human form. Huge blisters erupted
on his badly burned skin.
I held out the medallion. “You wanted a face-to-face meeting with Lucifer. You’ve
got it. Geengun tham sevill smeed.”
The ground cracked opened beneath Rossi’s feet, and he fell into the portal.
The wails of the damned and the stench of sulfur filled the air.
Before I could close the entrance, Rossi’s head popped up, and he levitated out of
the hole. “Well, shit.”
“Die, you bastard.” Fabian threw his knife at Rossi, hitting him dead center in the
chest.
Vibrating with rage, Rossi removed it and hissed, “You first.” Bolts of energy
crackled wildly around him.
CATCHING DRAGOS | 105
“Running is good.” I tried to pull Fabian away from the sorcerer.
“A Dragos never runs.”
“The last time you refused to do the smart thing, you ended up with boobs and a
butt like a Buick.”
My lover glared at me.
“Just saying.”
Without warning, a ghoul’s bony hand shot from the swirling hellhole and
wrapped around Rossi’s ankle. The rotting creature climbed up the sorcerer’s leg.
Rossi unleashed a flurry of magical bolts at the ghoul, incinerating it.
More hands rose up and grabbed Rossi, yanking him down. His shriek of horror
was cut off abruptly as the ground sealed.
I yelled triumphantly, “Who said we don’t get to live happily ever after?”
“Happily ever after is what I do best.” Fabian swept me into his arms and gave me
a long voracious kiss.
Serafina snapped, “Why are you celebrating?”
“Uh, Rossi has been defeated,” I answered.
“Has he?”
I exchanged puzzled glances with Fabian. “Didn’t we kick his ass?”
Fabian nodded. “We did, but he does have artifacts that—”
The Hasais’ thunderous roars reverberated through my skull. I winced. Mind links
could be a bitch. I looked at Fabian. “You heard that?”
“Yes.”
“We still have four dragons to kill,” Serafina spat.
“I thought if we killed Rossi, the spell would be broken.”
“You didn’t kill him.”
Okay, valid point. “But I sent him to purgatory. That should have done the trick.”
106 | GAIL KOGER
“He lives. The dragons live.”
“How utterly wonderful,” I groaned.
Fabian picked up Excalibur. “Where are you, Nonna?”
“The Superstition Mountains,” Serafina responded.
Of course they just had to pick one of the most dangerous locations on the planet.
“You couldn’t find a better place to corral the dragons?”
“It’s isolated, few humans dare enter the preserve, and the caverns are big enough to
contain the dragons,” Grams answered.
Yippee.
Serafina stated, “Xero will fetch you.”
CATCHING DRAGOS | 107
Chapter Fourteen
One minute we were standing in the Renaissance Festival arena, the next Xero, in
her enormous white demon form, grabbed us. A tumbling orange vortex opened
beneath us, and we were suddenly hurtling through purgatory. All nine of them. The
screams of the damned seemed to go on forever. Intense heat and cold buffeted us.
Demons, ghouls, and hell spawn of every sort gave chase.
I buried my face in Xero’s fur and screeched, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. They’re
going to catch us.”
Fabian shouted, “Where’s my sword?”
“No need sword. Can’t hurt us,” Xero said.
A scaly head with glowing yellow eyes and eight-inch fangs snapped at me. Its
breath stunk of rotted meat.
I shrieked, “Can’t hurt us? Another two inches, and it would have bitten my arm off!”
A ghoul grabbed Fabian’s leg. He kicked it away. “Get us out of here. They can hurt
us.”
Another ghoul seized Xero’s foot and started gnawing on it.
With a furious cry, Xero hurled us out of the vortex.
We flew across the cactus-strewn desert and crashed into a stony, horseshoe-
shaped ridge.
The rising sun seeped over the mountains, turning the morning sky crimson.
God, I hoped that wasn’t an omen. I plucked a prickly pear out of my butt.
“Ouch!” I just had to land on a friggin’ cactus. My gaze narrowed on Xero. “We’re never
doing that again. Do you hear me?”
108 | GAIL KOGER
Xero cringed. “Me sorry.”
Something moved in her stomach. “Shit. What is that? Did you pick up a hitchhiker?”
“I was hungry.” Xero burped loudly and spat out a rotting skull. “Ghouls taste