Windburn (The Elemental Series #4) (17 page)

I pushed myself to my feet, wobbled, and locked my knees. “Let’s do this.”

The scream cut off so my last shouted word was loud and clear. The Bastard rolled his legs under his body and then lurched to his feet. I reached for the power of the earth and wrapped it around me, using it to give me strength. Striding forward around the now-smoldering bonfire, I realized the night was nearly over. The time spent healing The Bastard had allowed the coven to complete their heinous ritual.

Winters, the one who’d been tied to the stake, stepped toward us, a grin on his lips. His eyes were no longer the bright green they’d been, but a flickering red glow that told me all I needed to know. The demon possessed him.

“Well, well. A pair of elementals?” His voice was gritty, and no longer the high tenor of Winters’s, but a deeper baritone. He put his hands on his hips and smiled at me. “What are you doing out of your designated prisons?”

Several of the coven members slunk forward behind him. Cactus had cut their numbers, but he was right. To take them on would be hard. A nose pushed hard between my shoulder blades, shoving me forward a step. “Go on, kick him in the ass,” The Bastard said.

Winters held up both hands. “Shall I quote Elemental Law for you? You are not to interfere unless you’ve been asked for help, and then you may only do the bare minimum.”

My whole body stiffened. I didn’t like that he knew Elemental Law. Didn’t like that he could quote it to me.

Hell, I simply didn’t like him.

“What is your name, demon?”

“Who, little old me? What could you possibly want to know about me?” He put a hand to his chest and grinned. Behind him the remaining coven members laughed.

I swung my spear tip so fast it blurred, and laid it against the hollow of his throat. “I am not like other elementals, demon. Do not mistake me for them. Rules are made to be broken as far as I am concerned.”

His eyes widened as I pushed the blade harder. “I see. That is interesting.” He paused and his red eyes widened further, though I was surprised that was possible. “You met Astrid, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and now she is no more. So may I suggest you are careful with what you say, demon,” I said, keeping my voice even.

With great care he shoved the blade away, a funny little smile on his lips. “Oh, I doubt you’ve seen the last of Astrid. She shows up when you least expect. As to your question, though . . . I have been summoned into this body to train these coven members.”

“What did they offer you in exchange?” Peta stepped up beside me, her coat orange in the firelight. His eyes dipped to her and he opened his mouth, but I stopped him.

“If you lie, I will know, and I will end you where you stand.”

The coven members sucked in a unanimous breath. The demon that’d once been Winters pursed his lips. “I want a promise, then. No matter what I say, you will let me go. You will not pursue me regardless of what comes out of these lips.”

The desire to kill him, to end his life and stop whatever mayhem he had planned, rippled through me. I lifted the spear, centering it over his heart.

He flicked his eyes to the spear and then to my face. “Do not be hasty, Elemental.”

“I’m not.” I tensed, ready to run him through.

“Winters is dying. He is dying, and I will be able to keep him alive long enough to pass on the training and knowledge both he and I have.” The demon spoke fast, and the fear in his voice and eyes was enough to give me pause. Without thinking of the consequence, or perhaps not caring, I spun Spirit through him.

The man Winters was indeed sick, and the disease curled through him in every cell, every part of his body. So that much was true. “What do you get in exchange? Demons are not known for their largesse. I doubt you are here out of goodwill.”

“A little freedom from the seventh veil. I have a time limit here, Elemental. Winters will die and when he does, I will be sent back.” But that was not completely true, and the lie was thick in the air between us.

Indecision flickered through me. I could kill him, and Winters would die with him. But the man was already dying.

Cactus, Peta, and The Bastard said nothing. This was my choice. “Tell me what you are truly getting for your help, your real name, and I will let you go.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Give your word.”

My lips curled as I spoke. “You have my word that
this
time, I will let you go if you tell me the truth. Lie, and I will end you. If I meet you again, I will end you.”

The demon nodded. “Done. My name is Orion. And I have been promised a witchling child of my choice from the coven.”

One of the coven members gasped. “No!”

Apparently not everyone had been aware of the deal. I lowered my spear, feeling the truth of the demon’s words. I didn’t like it, but I had given my word. “I hope we meet again, demon. I look forward to sending you back to the seventh veil.”

He barked a laugh as he stepped away from me. “You fancy yourself a Slayer now?”

Peta leapt toward him, landing in a crouch at his feet, swiping at him with one big paw and knocking him on his ass. “Blood of the Slayers springs from a single well, demon. Do you not wonder where that well is grounded?”

He scrambled backward, scooting across the grass, the firelight illuminating the fear on his face.

“Then I hope we never meet again, Elemental. Slayer. Whatever you are.” He spun and strode away, the coven encircling him.

As they disappeared into the night, a trickle of anxiety spread upward through me. “I should have killed him.”

The Bastard snorted. “And break your word? You’d sooner give up your connection to your element.”

I didn’t answer, just stared into the bush where the coven and the demon had disappeared. I didn’t realize I’d taken steps in their direction until Cactus stopped me. “Lark, that is not our battle. We have to get to your father, and for that we need the Tracker.”

He was right, but that did not mean I had to like it. “I should have killed him. Worm shit.” I jammed my spear into the ground several times, digging up the turf.

Peta cleared her throat. “Before The Bastard leaves, you’d best ask him for help.”

I spun to see that the Pegasus was indeed flexing his wings. “Wait, I need your help. Please.”

He tipped his head to one side and blew a breath through his lips, making them wobble. “What kind of help?”

“We are looking for a Tracker. She’s gone to the Namib Sand Sea. It’s too big to search on foot in a timely manner. Will you take us?”

He shook his head and ruffled his feathers. “Normally I’d tell you to buck off. But since you put my guts back together, I think I can give you this one flight.” He bent a knee and I leapt onto his back before he could change his mind. Peta shifted into her housecat form and did the same.

A breath of relief escaped me, chased by a surge of anxiety. We were one step closer to finding my father. I gripped The Bastard’s side with my legs. Cactus swung up behind me and tucked in close so as to stay out of the path of The Bastard’s wings.

Beneath us, The Bastard’s muscles bunched and he leapt forward, going from a standstill to a gallop in one stride. His wings beat furiously as we reached the edge of the clearing, and he lifted. His legs treaded the air as if he were still running as his wings did the work of holding us aloft.

“Do you have a name besides The Bastard?” I asked as we swept toward the coastline.

He gave a low grunt. “We aren’t friends, Elemental. I did that once, it did not end well. You don’t need my name for this exchange of favors.”

I tightened my grip on his mane as we swooped through a bank of clouds. “You mean you had a friend? Or you were friends with an elemental?”

He tipped his head so his large dark eye could look at me. “Both.”

Peta squirmed into my lap. “Bastard, I have worked with you before.”

“You are not an elemental, Peta. You are a familiar and a child of the goddess. That I can respect. The elementals are a spineless lot who cower in their homes like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand and their asses in the air.”

His words were not untrue, which made them sting all the more.

“Lark is not like the others,” Peta said. “It is why . . . why she is worth fighting for.” Her green eyes locked with mine. “She is different.”

The Bastard snorted. “All that means is she will be killed. Or banished, which is the same thing.”

“How do you know so much about elementals?” Cactus beat me to the question on the tip of my tongue.

Peta shook her head, but The Bastard answered. “Elementals were what the humans thought were the Grecian gods. They set themselves up to rule. They were petty and cruel and thought nothing of manipulating people.”

My jaw dropped, I’ll admit it. “That can’t be.”

“I was there, Elemental. I saw it with my own eyes and lived through it.” His wings stilled as we coasted high above the treetops and then over the ocean. “Your kind . . . they have done far more harm than good to this world because of their pride.”

His words shouldn’t have stunned me, yet they did. I wanted to believe my people weren’t the problem. That it was the humans who’d caused all the destruction of the earth and the elements . . . but maybe if we’d shown them the way. If we’d been a part of their world instead of separating them, things would be different. Cactus slipped an arm around my waist. “He’s wrong.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he is, Cactus. Where would we be if we had helped the humans? If we’d shown them how to care for the elements and our world?”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “That would mean exposing ourselves to them.”

I said nothing more, feeling the weight of The Bastard’s words on my soul. He was right.

The elementals had been selfish. They had caused harm to the world, and now they acted as though it was not their place to fix anything.

Hours passed, the day came, the sun rose and waned, and as the west lit up with the final rays of the day, we reached the Namib Sea.

The sand dunes reared out of the desert into the sea, the triangular dunes mimicking that of a dragon’s head in an eerie replica.

Below me, The Bastard shivered. “I smell a dragon. This does not bode well. Breeding season is on us and it makes them moodier than usual.”

Cactus twisted around. “I don’t see any dragons. And even I couldn’t miss that.”

A laugh burst out of The Bastard. “How many dragons have you dealt with, boy?”

My shoulders twitched as though we had eyes on us. I slowly turned my head, searching the skies around us. If I were a dragon, and so large as to be seen from miles away, I would not swoop in from the side or behind my prey. I tipped my head back and stared into the sky above us.

The body of a dragon swept downward, silent on its leathery wings, its mouth open in a soundless roar. “Above us!”

The Bastard dropped, tucking his wings tightly as he spiraled to one side. The dragon whooshed past, sending out a wave of air in its wake.

“I cannot avoid her in the air. We have to land,” The Bastard hollered.

He didn’t waste any more time or words, but barreled straight toward the closest dune. We hit the ground hard enough that the three of us were bucked off and into the loose sand. I scrambled to my feet, as did Peta and Cactus. From above, the dragon roared and spat a straight blast of fire at us. Cactus lifted his hands and deflected it before it could do any damage.

The sound of feet running on the sand spun me around. The Bastard pranced, then reared up as a whip curled around his neck right behind his jaw. I rushed forward, swung my spear in a wide arc and cut through the leather. There was an “oomph” on the other end of the line and the sound of someone hitting the sand.

A flash of white fur and Peta put herself between whoever wielded the whip and me, blocking my view of them.

The Bastard shook his head, his long mane flipping in the air. “Damn Trackers, always so touchy about every little thing. I didn’t mean to step on you.”

“Fuck you, horse!” someone yelled back from what seemed like a far greater distance than she should have been. Wait . . .Tracker . . . then we’d found her.

Peta stayed where she was, crouched with her belly pressed into the sand, ready to leap on whoever was attacking. I stepped beside her and saw why I’d not been able to see the Tracker sooner. She had tumbled down the edge of the sand dune into a shallow valley perhaps thirty feet in depth. I spun my spear and buried the haft into the sand.

The Tracker stood and stared up at us, covered in sand, her eyes flashing with anger visible even at a distance. Her hair was cut short, barely brushing the edges of her shoulders; it was the color of obsidian. Her eyes narrowed. “You want to fight? Then get your ass down here and we’ll fight, witch.”

I did not correct her as to my designation. “Tracker, I want only to talk to you. I’d like to employ your services.”

“That’s more than talking then, isn’t it?”

Above us the dragon roared. I flattened myself to the sand out of instinct. Claw tips raked either side of me, missing me by mere inches. Peta screamed, and I rolled in time to see her scooped into the air. From my knees I snapped my arm back and threw my spear with everything I had. The blade buried into the dragon’s leg, right above the claw that held Peta in a death grip.

The red dragon roared and its claw opened. Peta fell, but like any self-respecting cat, landed on her feet. My spear fell beside her, blade in the sand.

I ran to her side and crouched so I could put a hand on her back. My familiar’s bond with me was humming with energy so intense it felt as though she would fly away at the drop of a leaf. She shifted into her housecat form and I lifted her to my shoulder.

“Thanks, Dirt Girl.”

“Any time, cat.” I spoke to her, but my eyes were glued to the Tracker. She had stepped back and waved at the space around her.

“If you want to talk, then fucking well spit it out,” she yelled up at me.

I scooped up my spear and started down the slope, taking my time. “Call off your dragon.”

“Ophelia,” she waved a hand above her head, “ease off, you big bitch.”