Assuming this Guardian was like the other demons.
Raven knew how to kill demons, too. Which meant this one behind us was no ordinary beast.
Worm shit and green sticks, this journey was sliding into bad territory dangerously fast.
"Do it, Shazer. Take us to the humans."
I spoke the words and my skin crawled with fear and uncertainty. The humans were warring not only with the Undines, but with their own kind as well. Talan had shown me and I believed him because I'd seen the chaos of the world myself growing with each passing year.
But we had no choice. Right now, I needed Raven still at my side to train me, and I needed to have my feet under me so I could deal with that beast he and Pamela had unleashed on the world.
And I knew I could deal with it.
That certainty in myself was never in question.
"Here we go." Shazer swept us away from the waves with a few powerful thrusts of his wings. We were headed straight toward the landing deck of the human battleship, their eyes and guns trained on us as we drew closer.
This was about to get interesting.
CHAPTER 16
Shazer's wing tips grazed the edges of the landing pad on the battleship and I was off his back in a flash. The wide eyes of the men on the ship were all I could see at first and I knew I had to get them out of the way. "Back off, all of you. There is a rather large beast that's going to land. I don't want interference and I don't need any of you getting killed by accident."
I stretched my arms and hands out and wiggled my fingers, feeling for the earth far below the ship. My connection to the ground even this far away was good, and I pulled on the sand buried in the ocean floor leagues below. As far as I knew, I was the only elemental who could do things like this, pull on my power from such a distance from it. A good thing, too, because I had a feeling I was needing everything in me to face this big-ass demon.
"What the ever-loving fuck do you think you're doing on my ship?" The booming voice of what had to be the captain, or general, I suppose, echoed across to me. But I kept my back to the human and my eyes on the demon that swept toward us and sucked in a sharp breath.
Raven lay limp in its claws and the thing was going to fly right by us.
I couldn't let that happen. I did the only thing I could think of.
"Demon, I challenge you!" I roared the words, amplifying them with Spirit.
The demon slowed and turned to face me. "Elemental."
I gave it a mocking bow. "Do you accept the challenge?"
In answer, it roared, adjusted its flight path and headed straight for me.
I lifted a hand and pointed at the creature closing in on us as I spoke over my shoulder. "I'm going to kill that. And then I'm going to leave, and you're going to let me."
"We have orders to shoot all supernatural creatures on sight, Captain," someone else said.
Did they? Well, we were going to see about that. I didn't have time to deal with the humans and the demon at the same time. But at the first sound of gunfire, I realized that was exactly what I was going to do.
"Peta, Shazer, keep the demon busy a moment." I flexed my fingers and called the sand from the ocean floor faster to me. Up and up until it was right under the ship. I kept pulling on the earth, kept solidifying it until the ship rocked, listing to the left as I built a sandbar underneath it.
"You'll stay out of my way," I glared at the human captain, "or I'll tear this ship apart like blowing on a dandelion."
He glared at me, sweat dripping down the sides of his face, fear written in every twitch of his skin. "Stand down, men."
I could only hope he would hold to it.
Screams and shouts erupted from the humans, but they were the least of my concerns now. At least that was what I thought. Which was stupid, so stupid of me.
The demon beast landed as the ship lurched again under our feet. Sweat rolled down my face from the exertion of pulling on so much sand from so far away and the blast of humid air that surrounded us.
The demon threw Raven at me, his body limp as it hit the deck and rolled several times before it came to a stop. Alive or dead, I couldn't help him until I had this monster chained or dead himself. I snapped my fingers at it. "Let's do this."
The maw opened and shocked me as it spoke. "The witch has unlocked the Veil. I am the Guardian of the Veil. My job is to kill those who would keep it open. You helped him, so you are to die. Then the witch will die."
"I never wanted it open, but I can't let you kill him or the witch," I said. "So maybe you should just go back to where you came from." I smiled and its eyes narrowed. With one claw-tipped hand, it pointed at Raven.