Demon Storm: Belador book 5 Page 14

  They stayed on edge in this fire pit coated with ice, and that made them uber-sensitive to visiting spirits. Evalle hadn’t found him without calling in spirits, but how had she done that when the only spirits who could reach Mitnal were dark in nature? Storm found it hard to imagine that Evalle would ask her white witch friend Nicole to touch anything dark.

  Frigid air washed over his skin.

  He’d been shivering for so long now he couldn’t remember when he hadn’t, yet a fire raged inside him, a constant burning that he kept hoping would torch him. Anything for relief. The slightest touch on his skin sent pain spiking through every muscle.

  That’s why demons out in the open space had sensed Evalle. Maybe not when she first arrived and traveled slowly through that throng of monsters to reach his hidey-hole, but he’d scared her so badly she’d flown out of here.

  Speaking of monsters.

  I couldn’t stop my jaguar from lunging at her when all my beast could understand was that I wanted her to leave. Storm cupped his head. He hadn’t been prepared or he’d have kept his animal in check.

  But the longer she stayed, the more agonizing it was to forget that she’d once been his.

  He still wasn’t sure his beast could harm her when she was not physically here, but he’d stopped the jaguar only an inch short of reaching her.

  That had been too close.

  Dropping his head back against the cold stone wall, he closed his eyes and pleaded for death. If he died, he could join his father and keep him company in the realm of the lost souls. On the way there, Storm would see Kai one last time, just long enough to let her know he was gone. He’d use every second with Kai to beg her to find Evalle.

  Kai would do that. She’d find his mate and make sure Evalle never risked hunting for him again, even if she could find a way into Mitnal.

  Knowing his hellion, she could.

  He laughed, but it ended in a moan.

  She’d been so angry with him, thinking he’d quit fighting. She couldn’t know that he battled with every breath, refused to give up hope of being with her again even when he knew this was no place for something as fragile as hope.

  Opening his eyes, he lifted his hand.

  Not a hand, but a paw. Claws extended and contracted. Fur sheathed the paw and continued up his forearm, fading near his elbow.

  The rest of him had shifted back the last time.

  He would never give up, but neither would his jaguar, and right now the beast was winning. One more shift might be all he had left in him. He’d heal to fight again, but if he didn’t shift back to human right away ... hope would die a cold death, right along with his humanity.

  When that happened, he would give the demons his throat.

  Not even Hanhau could save him from a pack of hungry demons that would shred his jaguar, then devour him.

  Chapter 17

  “You can’t stay in here forever, Tzader.”

  At the sound of Macha’s voice, Tzader came fully alert from where he’d nodded off again on the cushion covering the alcove in Brina’s sunroom. The temperature in the castle had dropped considerably.

  Or was that just due to the frosty attitude of a temperamental goddess? One who was blocking his view of Brina’s hologram.

  “Please move to the left or right, Macha.”

  “Why? So you can stare at her image as it continues to disintegrate?” Macha still wore her dark clothes from saying words over each of the fallen Belador warriors sent home for their families to bury.

  “Don’t test me right now,” Tzader warned. Yes, using that tone of voice was unwise with a deity, but he seriously doubted that she’d risk injuring any Belador in their current weakened condition.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d take that as a threat,” she warned him right back, throwing off enough energy to make the castle quake.

  He stood up to be on the same level with her. “I’m not threatening you, but I am tired of being yanked around with no more concern than a child playing with puppet strings. I have always done your bidding and that of the Beladors, but you kept me apart from Brina. If I’d been inside this castle when it was attacked, no one would have gotten near her. Definitely not a Belador too old to carry a sword.”

  But Horace hadn't been too old to carry a grudge–or to go after Brina in revenge–when the goddess refused his request to bring his wife and child back to life.

  Macha bristled. “Are you blaming me for Brina’s being gone?”

  Tzader crossed his arms, too numb to think about the consequences of speaking his mind. “I’m blaming you, me and Brina. We should have found a way to take down this ward four years ago.” Plus he didn’t believe that Brina had suddenly decided to marry Allyn, a guard. A memory of seeing her under their favorite tree near the lake smoked through his mind. Of making love to her ... recently. No, that wasn’t right. They hadn’t been able to touch in four years.

  Regardless, his mind and his heart were in agreement that there was something severely off about the way Brina had gone from loving him to being engaged to a guard, practically overnight.

  Now he wanted the truth. “Tell me, Macha, did Brina really want to move on from our relationship or were you playing her against me while you also played me against her?”

  “Careful what you accuse me of, Tzader.”

  “You know what? I’ve got nothing left to lose if I don’t have Brina. If you’re going to torch me then do it, but if you want me to continue being the Maistir who will stand between you and Brina against any force, then I want the truth.”

  Macha’s face gave nothing away until she finally frowned and her hair spun into a braid then twisted into some pile on top of her head. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head at him. “You want the truth? Then here it is. I had no way to take down the ward on this castle or to remove your immortality. Did you ever consider that I trusted you two to figure it out on your own?”

  He pulled back at that. “What?”

  “Think about it Tzader. For four years I watched the two of you live this way with you coming here in hologram or her going to you that way. I couldn’t allow her outside this castle when she was at the height of her power inside it and there was no other Treoir alive. Would you have risked her being harmed or killed?”

  “Of course not.” Was Macha saying ... “You did want us together?”

  “Please don’t tell me I’ve gone through all of this to mate Brina to an imbecile,” Macha muttered, starting to turn away then stopping.

  But not moving far enough for Tzader to get a clear look at the hologram. “If you weren’t against us being together, why didn’t you help us?”

  Macha spun around, her dark, gauzy pants spinning into a liquid shape. “I. Did. I allowed you four years to figure it out, because I foolishly believed that two people who constantly swore their undying love to each other would be motivated enough to find a way to make it happen. When you both settled into this state of... of... I have no idea what to call it. Basically, you were both content to live this way forever because of being immortal. Living forever doesn’t give you the luxury of sitting back for the ride. We are responsible to Beladors all over the world. Not just me, but you and Brina as well. ”

  The light bulb moment blinded Tzader with realization. “This whole thing about you ordering Brina to move on with her life and have an heir, then telling me to allow her to move on was your way of solving our problem? Are you kidding me?”

  “Don’t take that tone with me. It was inspired thinking. Far more than you two were doing.” She glared down her nose at him. “You two did nothing to solve the problem. Your answer was for me to break an oath I made to each of your fathers. I’m insulted you even considered that I would do such a thing.”

  How had she turned the tables to make him feel like a nasty slug? She’d put him and Brina through hell because that was her wacked-out idea of tough love.

  Tzader argued, “You didn’t even give us a chance to come up with
a plan.”

  Light exploded around Macha. “I. Gave. You. Four. Years. To be honest, I began to question whether you really loved her.”

  “I loved her enough to run through a ward that kills immortals to get to her!” he shouted right back.

  “Then you should have tried harder to find a way to be with her.”

  Silence whipped through the tension, slicing it up and shoving his anger around.

  Tzader locked his arms tight, because he wanted to strike out at something, but dammit. Macha was right. He didn’t want to admit that her screwed up thinking had a lick of logic, but seeing the situation through her eyes put everything in a different perspective.

  Tzader’s father would be ashamed of him for expecting Macha to break her word. Brina’s father would be disappointed in both of them, too.

  They weren’t teenagers any more.

  That meant taking responsibility for their decisions.

  Like the fact that he and Brina had chosen to be complacent for four years. Why? Had they really thought Macha would fix this for them? What had they been waiting on?

  He could only blame so much on his father, Brina’s father and their duties to the Beladors.

  Tzader ran his hand over his face then down to the tired muscles in his neck. When he looked up at the goddess, it was with regret pouring through his heart. “I apologize for all the times I asked you to break your vow to my father. To have even requested that lacked honor on my part. Brina and I are as much at fault for this mess.” He still wanted to strike out at everyone from Macha and Allyn to the Medb, but he only had to find a mirror to locate his enemy.

  “I accept your apology.” Macha’s hair and clothes quieted along with her voice. “Now that there is no ward standing between you and Brina, it will be up to you two to move forward. The next time you come up against an obstacle in life, and you two will, figure it out. Don’t wait for me or anyone else to solve your problems. You’re by far the best Maistir I have and more than suitable to be Brina’s husband. If she ...” Macha took a breath that made her voice catch. “When she returns, you two have my blessing to be together.”

  “Thank you. Would you mind moving aside so I can see ... her?”

  Macha took a moment, then she floated out of the way.

  Tzader couldn’t breathe. “No, the druid said–“

  “That he hoped the hologram would last four days.”

  Eighty percent of Brina was gone.

  At the rate the image was deteriorating, would the lingering pieces of Brina’s hologram last even one more day?

  Breathe. Brina had not vanished yet. Tzader shouted, “Darwyli!”

  The druid appeared, took one look at the hologram and muttered, “Worse than I thought.”

  Tzader hadn’t needed to hear that. “How long does she have?”

  Swinging his ancient gaze past Tzader to take in Macha, Darwyli lifted two white eyebrows in question.

  Macha lowered her chin and pushed a narrowed-eye look at Darwyli. “You may answer his question, druid.”

  Darwyli harrumphed, then his expression eased with understanding when he addressed Tzader. “’Tis not long. I think we’re down to less than a day.”

  Tzader pinched the bridge of his nose. “This can’t be happening.”

  “We have a greater problem, Tzader.”

  He dropped his hands and stared at Macha in disbelief. “Do you really think that’s possible?”

  Her animated face and hair turned stone-cold still. “I’ve been called to a Tribunal meeting.”

  “Now? Haven’t they heard what we’re up against?” Tzader shouted, furious at VIPER, the Medb, Noirre majik and the world in general.

  She lifted a hand to ask for silence when she could have used that same hand to lock his jaws. When she spoke, her voice was softer than he’d ever heard before. “That’s why I believe they’ve called the meeting. We are the force behind VIPER and the coalition. We’ve always held the majority of control because of that power. Now that our forces have been weakened, sightings of the Medb have been reported all over the world. Our people estimate over forty witches and warlocks in Atlanta alone.”

  Her words hollowed out his gut. “Tell me that the Tribunal is raising a defense to help our tribe.”

  Her chuckle was short and grim. “Hardly. I’m fairly certain they are calling me in to ask me to withdraw my pantheon from VIPER voluntarily so they won’t have to do it by force.”

  Energy sparked around Darwyli. “That would be an insult you could not allow.”

  None of that made sense to Tzader. “Why would VIPER even consider such a thing when we still have the largest army of nonhumans?”

  “For that very reason,” Macha explained. “VIPER does not have the resources to defend our tribe when they know every enemy we’ve ever had will come for us, starting with the Medb. The Medb’s current lack of leadership will only add to the chaos. VIPER is pulling in all agents to protect its base of power.”

  “We can only assume the Medb lack leadership at this point,” Darwyli said, but Macha ignored him.

  Disgust stamped each of Tzader’s words. “The coalition would leave us high and dry after all the Beladors have done for them?”

  Macha’s hair lifted up and down when she shrugged her shoulders. “Ours is not the kind of world that binds allies forever. They may simply look at this as nothing more than evolution, the survival of the fittest.”

  Tzader searched for something appropriate to say, but the only word that covered it was, “Fuck.”

  “I’m not a fan of that language, but it’s not far from my initial reaction. I’m going there now and I will stretch out the meeting as long as I can. You won’t be able to reach me unless you request Sen to come for me. If he does, the mere fact that my pantheon can’t maintain its defense without me will draw a vote of no confidence with regard to keeping us in the coalition. You’re in charge while I’m gone. We can’t afford for any issue to be brought in front of a Tribunal right now. Understood?”

  “Yes.”

  Macha lifted her hand and paused. “If Brina returns, I’ll know it immediately. Or if ... she doesn’t, I’ll know that, too. Pull in the gryphons and all our warriors on the island to the castle if that’s what it takes to hold Treoir, but it must not fall into the hands of the Medb even without Brina here.”

  Macha disappeared.

  Silence stumbled through the room.

  Darwyli sighed with the weariness of one so old. “I don’t mean to add to your burden, Tzader, and I didn’t want to speak of this with Macha present, but I think you should know that the hologram’s disintegration may affect Brina.”

  “You don’t think she can return?” Tzader’s heavy heart rallied from too many blows to thump with panic at that possibility.

  “No, I believe she can return as long as she has something that offers a path back, which is this hologram. But that projection is part of her, just as breathing is. I only want you to be prepared for the possibility that she may not return to us whole.”

  As Tzader turned back to the hologram, another piece of Brina’s dress broke away, crystalized and twinkled out of existence.

  He wanted her back no matter what.

  How had his mighty tribe come to this point?

  Chapter 18

  Everything was too quiet, even in an old neighborhood at ten in the evening. Even the balmy breeze of earlier had settled.

  Where was that witch doctor?

  Evalle searched the night for movement from where she and Adrianna hunched down in a dark shadow created by a deteriorating, single-story ranch-style house forty years old. A modest home on what was still a nice corner in the town proper of Stone Mountain, Georgia. This house was newer than many in the area like the residence across the street she’d like to own. She loved how someone had glassed in the porch on one side. That two-story brick-and-stone structure had to be at least seventy years old, and came with a nicely trimmed yard.

  As opposed to the
weeds surrounding the house she hid beside. A fallen For Sale sign in this yard told of the tough housing market, and two broken windows pointed at a bad influence infiltrating the neighborhood.

  The human scum that local police handled.

  But dealing with demons and witch doctors like Nadina fell under Evalle’s job description.

  She studied a two-story, saltbox-style colonial house also across the street and next door to the brick home with the glass porch. The unadorned wooden structure leaned to one side. Understandable for a house built before the Civil War and still settling into the Georgia clay. A security lamp on a pole just past that house shed the only light in this area.

  Evalle reached for her spelled dagger and came up empty. She’d left it hidden in Storm’s Land Rover. Adrianna had warned her that the spell on the dagger could possibly alert Hanhau to Evalle’s presence, assuming they found a way for her to sneak into Mitnal.

  Thinking out loud, Evalle whispered, “We might be staking out the wrong house.”

  Adrianna hadn’t moved a muscle since crouching next to her when they arrived forty minutes ago. “Kai said Nadina had taken possession of a former Civil War infirmary near a bald mountain. We’re within sight of Stone Mountain, the only bald-looking mountain I know of in this area, so the question is whether your friend’s intel on this specific house is good.”

  True. Stone Mountain was a gigantic granite belch, one big smooth chunk of rock rising over sixteen hundred feet.

  “I’m not questioning Isak’s intel. If I pressed him, he’d tell me the dates this place was active and how many soldiers were treated here right down to their names and injuries. His information is solid. I’m just wondering why we haven’t seen a sign of Nadina.”

  “She probably knows something or someone is hunting her. I would.”

  Evalle swept a look at Adrianna, who had said that in all seriousness. “Can she find us first?”

  “I honestly don’t know what she can do, but I wouldn’t underestimate her.”