poured from under his palm. Royce relaxed and unclutched his fists.
Tennessee pointed one finger in his face, then turned and stormed toward the water, pausing only to take Tegan’s hand. Code: look normal. I took a deep breath and held my hand out. Riah chuckled and took it. His hand dwarfed mine. He clutched Olli to his chest and tugged me into a brisk walk to catch up.
We stepped onto the sand together as a unit.
Henley – demon-Henley – stood on the shore, where the waves rolled over her leather boots. From behind, to the naked eye, she would look normal. But I felt the shadow hovering over her soul.
My boots sank in the sand. The crunching of our footsteps echoed over the waves. Tennessee held his hand up, signaling us to stop. Most of us froze. Cooper, Kessler, Bettina, and Emersyn walked a few more feet before stopping. I let my arm hang down so that the citrine crystal dangling from my bracelet rested against my palm. If a fight was coming I was going to be ready.
“Okay, weirdo, we’re here. I don’t know why you couldn’t come back to Lookout Tower though,” Tegan said as her and Tennessee stopped a few feet behind her. “What’s your plan?”
Henley turned and a huge grin was plastered across her face. Her red eyes glowed like lava. “This.”
Demons dropped from the sky like rain.
Oh my GOD. No stars! It wasn’t the sky, it was demons!
Sand splashed everywhere as demons plopped down all around us. Tennessee shouted orders but I couldn’t hear him over the thunder of my own pulse. A roar ripped through the chaos and then massive black objects jumped over the tall dunes and landed on all fours in the sand. My stomach dropped. Wolf demons. Great.
I gripped the citrine stone and felt the familiar rush of the golden armor covering my upper body. In the corner of my eye I saw my Coven-mates attack. I heard the sound of metal against scale-y flesh. The smell of maple syrup tinged the air.
The moment my sword hilt hit my palm, I slid to one knee and swung it in an upward arc right through a demon’s stomach. Demon blood splashed onto my right arm but I’d already lunged for the spider demon in front of me. My wings popped out and they tingled against my spine like they were dying to play. I flew up and then landed on the demon’s back, slamming my sword’s blade into its spine.
As it vanished beneath me, I looked toward movement only to find bright orange flames dancing through the crowd. Emersyn screamed like a banshee, shooting fire balls left and right. A demon popped up on my left so I jabbed my sword straight through its open mouth with a sickening sludge. I yanked it back out and spun in a tight circle, slicing my blade as I moved and cutting a head clean off another demon.
A dark shadow passed over my head. I ducked and six spider demons crashed into the sand right in front of me. Emersyn roared and jumped right on top of the pile with her double-sided fire sword. Fire poured from her eyes. Flames danced along the edges of her body and in the tips of her hair. She showed no mercy as she burned the spider demons in half. When they were all dust she looked up with liquid rage in her eyes for her next victim. Then she screamed and charged into the chaos.
“Blood in vine, root and key, blind them, bind them, now to me,” Royce chanted with a terrifying grin on his face and a new light in his sapphire eyes. “Stalk and petal, bud and tree, give my touch thy killing plea.”
Red lightning flashed in front of me, freezing me in place. I turned to my left just as Deacon sank to his knees in the sand and shot red lightning out of him in every direction. The red bolts slammed into demons and froze them mid-step. “NOW!”
“Poison Roycy!” Royce sprinted from one to another just touching each one like this was a game of duck, duck, goose.
A wall of sand shot up from the ground right in front of me. I pulled my sword back to swing when bright mid-day sunlight slammed into it. The wall hissed and squirmed like it was melting. Easton dove forward with his sword and chopped the demons to little pieces.