Demon Forged

one,” Olek said. “And enjoying every moment of what Michael does to you now isn’t it.”
    A dark form streaked out of the cloud, slammed into Anaria’s side. Her sword ripped from Olek’s stomach.
    Michael. He flew headlong into the mountainside, smashing Anaria face-first into the granite. His face rigid with fury, he wrapped his arm around her neck from behind, caught her in an unbreakable hold.
    Irena didn’t understand a word Michael shouted at his sister, but his rage needed no translation. Anaria kicked at the granite; the ground beneath Irena’s feet shivered.
    She turned back to Olek and formed her wings. “If they begin to fight, we don’t want to be caught in the path of it.”
    “Yes.”
    With swords in his hands, he stood over her as she bent to Alice. She lifted the Guardian against her chest. Alice’s skirts and side were slick, wet. Irena’s heart clenched as she searched for the source of the blood. Her hand came away clean.
    Not blood. Not blood. Water.
    She sniffed her hand and looked up at Olek. “There’s water. Sea water.”
    “From where?”
    Irena stood with Alice in her arms, her gaze scanning the ground. Drops over there, splattered as if from high above, traveling away from the cave entrance. Farther away, another drop, and another. But here, beneath Alice, there hadn’t just been drops but a puddle. As if someone flying had spilled the water, and—still wet—had left more drops in his wake.
    She glanced up into the sky just as Michael shouted her name. A huge shadow arrowed toward them from high above, taking shape at terrifying speed. A shimmering blue-green dragon, its black wings tucked, its talons outstretched, like a hawk preparing to snatch a rabbit from a field.
    Fear speared through her, hot and thick. She reached for Olek, pulled in steel for a shield—
    The dragon vanished.
    Irena blinked.
    “The portal,” Olek murmured. “Holy Mother of God.”
    Michael flung Anaria away, ran toward them.
    Give me Alice. I will inform the others, and we will be right behind you, he signed, even as he roared a single word that drowned out the screams.
    “GO!”

    Alejandro dove through the portal into cold water. The still-healing gash in his stomach burned. He tasted salt, and vanished his wings when the weight dragged at his speed. Stone ruins lay half-submerged in the sand around him. Somewhere among the ruins, Anaria must have written the symbols to open the portal. He would not stop to find them now.
    Above, he spotted the dragon, swimming with the undulating grace of a serpent toward the moonlight piercing the surface of the water.
    Fewer people would be on the sea, but the ruins suggest they probably weren’t far from land. He glanced over at Irena. Though she’d come through the portal after Alejandro, her powerful arm strokes had already caught her up to him. He couldn’t see her feet through the churning of the water she kicked.
    Her knife was clamped in her teeth. Her eyes glowed a brilliant green.
    A hunt, like they’d never had before—one they could not lose.
    The dragon skimmed along the surface of the sea before lifting into the air. Distance blurred its shape into a dark smear.
    Irena’s scream of rage boiled from between her teeth.
    Michael appeared in front of them. He reached for Irena’s hand, grabbed Alejandro’s. They teleported out of the water into the sky.
    Alejandro fought the disorientation, formed his wings again. The dragon flew below.
    Irena dropped without wings. Michael circled around beneath the creature as Irena landed on its massive back. Calling in her saber, she lifted the weapon high and drove the blade straight down into the dragon’s shoulder.
    The steel snapped against the scales. The dragon twisted its body, rolling in the air. The pale green scales of its belly and chest were exposed for a brief second. Alejandro dove. The dragon changed direction mid-twist and he rocketed past it. From beneath the dragon, he saw Irena lose her seat, scramble for a grip on its glossy blue hide, and slip. The dragon back-flipped and snapped enormous teeth at her as she fell.
    The dragon missed. Alejandro’s wings beat several times before his heart did again.
    Michael teleported beneath the dragon. His sword stabbed deep, but must have missed the heart; roaring, the dragon raked his hind claw at the Doyen, catching Michael’s leg, sending him spinning toward the water. Before the dragon could dive for the falling Guardian, an iron