Page 25 of Dead Serious Halloween Special

Clutching their ropes, the newcomers leap off the mast, and as they swing closer, I see one is actually my husband, which sets my heart pounding, and a wide smile spreads across my face.

“Danny!” I exclaim.

“I bet Chan chose his outfit,” Aidan replies.

As they reach us,Thor grabs Aidan and Danny grabs me.Their momentum lifts us off the perilous plank and swings us over the deck. They drop us onto the comfy sofa, and we land with agrunt. The boys swing out over the edge of the ship andthen back in, where they both body roll onto the deck and jump up ready to fight.

“And what time do you call this?” I call out to Danny, who is grappling with a pirate. “You were supposed to finish work hours ago.”

“Sorry, love,” Danny pants as he knees the pirate in the balls. “I got held up.” As the pirate doubles over, Danny grabs a small wine casket and cracks him over the head, dropping him to the deck.

“DCI Butler?” I ask as he twists around to plant his fist in another guy’s face.

“Three bears, actually.” He wrestles another into a headlock.

Thor, it turns out, is actually our nephew, Nick. While Aidan is staring at him with stars in his eyes, Nick leans down andgrabs Aidan’s bound hands, hauling him up off the sofa and throwing him over his shoulder.

Bless him, he must have been watchingThe Princess Brideagain.

Nick has a cutlass in one hand and, with the other firmly holding one of Aidan’s thighs to keep him in place, Nick proceeds to fight off two pirates.

“Holy shit.” Aidan lifts his head and peers over his shoulder. “Nick, where’d you learn to do that?”

“After-school fencing club while Mum was working. It was that or crocheting, but my fingers kept getting knotted up in the yarn.”

I’m beginning to thinkthe Hayes men just have this air of sexy competence about them, but then again, I’ve met Danny’s older brother, Derek, and he’s a complete dick, so clearly not all Hayes men are created equal.

A shrill whistle pierces the air, and when I look over, Chan has just climbed over the rigging.

And boy, does he mean business.

His long skintight black gown has been ripped so it now only reaches mid-thigh to allow for more movement. There are tiny rips and tears in his fishnet tights, and on his feet are a pair of neon pink Converse. But most noticeable is the shiny metal baseball bat he’s holding in one hand and tapping menacingly against his other palm.

Three of the pirates still, like animals sensing danger. One of them has a small bald patch over his right ear and a long scratch mark down his face, and I’m pretty sure he was one of the ones Chan went for earlier.

“So you thought it was a good idea to make my kid walk the plank, huh?” He raises one brow dangerously.

The three of them look at each other and then turn and run. I can’t help the chuckle that escapes me as I watch Chan leap gracefully over the bodies piling up on deck and chase after them.

“Get those bitches, Chan! You show them who’s boss.”

Glancing up, I see Dusty standing on top of a barrel with one arm wrapped around the main mast,hanging half off it with a bull horn in one hand as she shouts encouragement.

She’s still wearing the corset, skintight pants, and thigh-high boots, but she’s switched the cat ears for a bandana and gold hoop earrings that are so big, they look as if they could be used for the obstacle course at Crufts.

I haul myself off the sofa and onto the wooden planking as another pirate is thrown in my direction.I duckout of the way just in time, and he tumbles over the back and hits the floor with a loud cry of pain.

Icrawl across the floor commando-style, thankful that those idiots had tied my hands in front of my body, and head towards the body of an unconscious pirate. Grabbing the small knife tucked into his waistband, I set about sawing through my restraints with the half-blunt blade.

“Tristan!” I hear Harrison call out to me, and even though I keep frantically sawing away at the finest Persian-weave ropes, I look up. Sam has a long piece of pipe he’s obviously appropriated from somewhere and is in front of Harrison to clear a path for him to get to me.

Harrison is clinging onto the book that I accidentally opened earlier.

“The Gospodar!” Puck shouts excitedly, standing up and rattling the bars of his cage. “Remember what I said, human? Only the one who opened it has the power to force them back inside.”

“Tristan, catch!” Harrison goes to launch the book at me, but at the last moment, he trips over a prone body and loses his grip.

The book arcs slowly through the air, straight for me.