Demon Storm: Belador book 5 (3 page)

“Hanhau. We have an arrangement.”

“Yeah, yeah. I haven’t forgotten your boast back at my house that you’re now aligned with him. Why should that matter to me?”

“Because your father’s soul and yours are no longer mine to return to you. Not while Hanhau is my master. If I do not deliver what he demands, he will order me to call Evalle to him.”

Storm’s voice rose with each word. “You made a
pact
with a demon ruler for what? That plastic beauty of yours? Are you crazy?”  He grabbed his head. “What am I saying? Of course, you’re insane.” 

Her perfect face distorted, twisting with fury. “Do not call me loco. I had no choice. I did not need him for this.” She pointed at her face. “I learned the secrets of maintaining my youth before I grew breasts. A Macumba witch captured me to trade to Hanhau for demons.”

Macumba was the Brazilian practice of Candomble, basically Voodoo, Latin style.

If not for how this would complicate his life, Storm would be chuckling over the irony of Nadina getting to experience being possessed by someone stronger. But right now all Storm cared about was how to terminate any threat to Evalle and regain two souls.

Couldn’t Evalle get a break without everyone making her a target?

Storm’s empathic senses would catch a lie the second it left someone’s lips and nothing Nadina said so far had lit up his bullshit meter. He’d received that gift through his Navajo genetics. But along with the ability to determine if someone was lying to him, Storm suffered a painful backlash if
he
tried to lie.

If Nadina were any other witch doctor than one he shared blood with, he wouldn’t have the shadow of doubt hovering over his thoughts. She’d managed to successfully twist the truth when he was younger, but his majik and powers had matured since then.

He powered up his empathic perception and pressed her. “I want straight answers. No playing with words, Nadina.”  When she inclined her head in reply, he continued. “A Macumba witch captured you, yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Then the witch traded you to Hanhau for how many demons?”

“Three.”

Truth, so far. “So Hanhau now holds full control over you and all you possess, yes or no?”

“Yes.”

No sizzle on his skin to warn him of a lie. By all that was holy, was he actually considering doing this? “If I help you then you will release my father’s soul, return my soul and swear a blood oath not to harm or go anywhere near Evalle. Got that?”

“Yes, I will give you my oath that if I leave Mitnal with all my possessions, I will grant what you wish.” Mitnal was the underworld ruled by Hanhau.

Still nothing that indicated she was lying. “Why should I believe you when this could be a trap?”  When she rolled her eyes, he asked, “
Is
this a trap?”

“Of course it’s a trap.”

“Nadina, you strain my patience.”

“Am I allowed to speak freely now?”

He growled something that could be construed as yes.

“If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it days ago when you were weakened by my Langua up in the mountains,
si
?”

Storm had gone to the mountains to track a suspicious witch after meeting her at a secret beast fight. He’d happened upon Nadina and her Langua, a human-looking pet Nadina had created using necromancy. The Langua had passed a deadly infection to Storm when he’d fought the creature. He’d wondered then why Nadina hadn’t stayed around to take advantage of his weakened state once he destroyed the Langua and escaped.

Nadina arched a sculpted eyebrow at him. “You see, I am telling the truth. I have never wanted to kill you, but I admit that I want you back and could have captured you then if not for my deal with Hanhau.”

Everything she said sounded logical. Why did his gut keep yelling at him that it was all a lie? “If I consider helping you, and that’s a big if, what do you need?”

“For you to travel to Mitnal with me.”

He scoffed, “I can’t just stroll into Mitnal.”

She drew herself up with a regal move. “No, you must be invited by Hanhau or enter accompanied by one of his ... how do you say–”  She stared off, thinking.

“Minions?” Storm supplied, then added, “Slaves, bitches, groupies–”

“Representatives!” Nadina snapped. “You can enter with me.”

“You think Hanhau is going to let me just go walking into his domain as your guest?”

“Actually, he is expecting you. He
sent
me here to find you.”

This just got better and better. “Why?”

Her arrogance came back, blanketing her words. “He is building an army of demons–”

“Why?”

“Do not interrupt me,” she ordered as if Storm were
her
minion.

“Why?” he repeated with a sharper edge.

She harrumphed. “Hanhau does not share all his plans with me, only that he is building an army and needs one such as you to turn his demons into more powerful killers.” She waved her hand around. “You know. Like general of army.”

Storm scratched his chin.
Now we’re getting to the truth
. “Why would he think I was the one to lead his army?”

Her dainty shrug did nothing to appease his anger, but it did jack up his suspicions. She took her time, but finally admitted, “I had no choice but to tell him of the blood that runs through your veins and that you had been bred for power.”

Like a prize bull in a ranch full of killers. “You threw me out as a sacrifice to save your own butt.”

“What did you want me to do when it was that or be left to suffer Hanhau’s disgusting whims?”

“I certainly never expect you to do anything honorable.”

She crossed her arms and sighed. “Fine. I admit that I might have been a bit unfair to you.”

A bit unfair?
Storm’s jaw throbbed from grinding his teeth so hard. “How does he know about Evalle?”

The drama bitch rolled her eyes. “Because I had to convince him that I could bring you back with me or he would not have allowed me to leave. Without Evalle, there would be no way to motivate you.”

She had a point. “Does he know what Evalle is?”

“Yes, and not because I told him,” she was quick to clarify. “He already knew Evalle was an Alterant thing and with the Beladors.”

Storm didn’t waste his breath straightening out Nadina, but Evalle was not an Alterant
thing.
Being part Belador and part unknown classified her as an Alterant, but in her heart she was Belador all the way. She’d fight to the death to protect the tribe of powerful warriors whose gifts had been passed down through their blood from two thousand years ago. She was the epitome of honor and all woman.

She was not a damned
thing
.

“What does Hanhau want with Evalle?”

“Nothing. He said turning an Alterant into a demon would be too much trouble and drain his energy to the point he could not trust Evalle to be in Mitnal with her ties to the Beladors. But he would order me to call her to me and send enough demons to kill her if I could not talk you into coming of your own free will.”

“If either of you touches her, I would first rip
you
into too many pieces to identify without a DNA test and then I’d find Hanhau next and show him a demon like he’s never seen.”  Only for Evalle would Storm walk into the equivalent of the bowels of hell. “So I just show up and tell Hanhau I’m his new demon wrangler?”

“No.”  Nadina made a testy sound. “Hanhau will say nothing to you, but he will question me and I will tell him you have come to train his demons.”

Was that rusty hinges on a trap being set that Storm heard squealing in his brain? “Then what’s the plan? Because I won’t stay.”

“If you convince him that you accept his terms and ask for an invitation, he will allow me to open the bolthole from this side. Once we are there, we make him comfortable until he lets down his guard. All we have to do is find a way to sneak out without drawing his attention. I have studied him for weaknesses that can be exploited and–”

“Exploiting a weakness sounds familiar,” Storm snapped, jabbing at a wound by reminding himself of how she’d duped his father.

“I find your humor irritating. I am trying to show that I know how we can escape.”

“I wasn’t being funny. And you’ll give your oath?”

“Yes, yes, yes. How many times do I have to say yes?”

“Until I’m convinced this is not a trap.”

“I already told you it is, because he sent me here to capture you!”  She huffed out a breath. “I have told you the truth about Hanhau expecting you and wanting you to lead his demons. If I had not convinced Hanhau that I could deliver you, he would have captured Evalle first to use as bait. That would have been far easier, but it would not solve my problem. I have never been in this position and will not be again, plus I did not wish to give you up for all of this. But I find some goals must be forsaken in the interest of survival.”

Yeah, she’d thought once she captured Storm that he’d give in and turn into her own personal four-legged killing machine? What a selfless bitch to give that up. “What about Hanhau? Won’t he come hunt you down when we escape?”

“You do not understand the rules of Mitnal. You must ask to enter, but not to leave. If you enter
without
asking, you will regret it once Hanhau has his hands on you. But, if you escape Mitnal on your own, Hanhau will not hunt for you, because his power would not be as strong beyond the limits of Mitnal.”

“He’d just let someone go?”  Storm hadn’t caught any hint of a lie in that, but he had a hard time believing a demonic ruler would be so cavalier about an escapee.

Nadina lifted her chin at the challenge to her words. “Hanhau does not want to return a runaway to his world who will create problems with his demons by showing them how to escape. Besides, he knows that once a demon has belonged to him, that demon will not be fit to live among humans. The death and destruction an escaped demon wreaks in the natural world is enough to appease him.”

“What about his hold over you and your possessions?”

“All deals with Hanhau end the minute I am free of Mitnal by escaping, because my agreement with him was bonded in Mitnal. If I manage to escape on my own, I break my tie to Hanhau. If that happens, I am free and my possessions once again belong to me as long as I remain in the mortal realm or some place other than Mitnal.” 

The guy must have a league of attorney demons to keep up with the fine print in contracts like that one.

Again, nothing Nadina said touched off Storm’s internal lie detector. But if he did this, he couldn’t stay in Mitnal very long. To do so would risk Storm involuntarily shifting and turning fully into a demon that would very likely rival any Hanhau currently owned.

Storm asked, “How long will it take to get in and out?”

“We will enter the minute you request passage into Mitnal and, if we are able to escape, we can do so and be back in this world in less than a day.” 

“How long is a day in Mitnal?” Storm had concerns over staying for even a few hours.

Nadina explained,  “There is no way to tell time in Mitnal, but you will know a day has passed here in the mortal world when Hanhau shuts down to regenerate his powers. That is only for what feels like ten minutes. He shares his power with his demons, which constantly depletes him. Then he has to draw new power from Mitnal itself. That short break is the only time he is in a weakened state. If I open the bolthole from this side, then I can lead us back out the same point, but I cannot get past the demon gatekeepers while Hanhau is resting. Not alone.”

Storm ran through all she’d said and still had a sick feeling this was a bad idea. What was he missing? “What if I want a day to think on this?”

“Then do not blame me for what happens. I have no control over Hanhau or his whims. If I return empty-handed, he may decide to kill me. Then you will lose all chance of regaining any souls or protecting Evalle. He will send the demons for her. If she is as deadly as her reputation, then she may be fine, but even so you will never see your soul.”

Why didn’t I kill this bitch back when I figured out how to escape her years ago?

Because he was determined to prove to himself that even though he’d been bred for demonhood that blood would not govern who he was.

The first step in proving that to himself had been walking away from killing Nadina in cold blood. But once he’d spent enough time training on his own while researching the majik she used, and once he convinced himself he would never succumb to the darkness in his blood, Storm had gone after her to regain two souls. That search had led him here to Atlanta, to VIPER, and to Evalle.

And now that plan had just flown out the window on flapping wings.

Nadina made a grinding noise in her throat. “If you kill me, Hanhau holds your souls forever. If Hanhau kills me, you will have to free the souls from an entity far more powerful than I am.”

Thanks, but he’d figured that one out on his own. Deal with her or battle the ruler of an underworld demon army. Allowing Nadina to live had been a huge miscalculation on Storm’s part. Who knew he’d come to regret an honorable decision?

He should have killed her first,
then
set his moral barometer. “How many demons does Hanhau currently rule?” 

“Over a thousand.”

“That’s not a big enough army?”  What did Hanhau have in mind?

“He desires one five times as large.” 

“What’s his target?”

She thought for a moment and said, “I told you, he does not tell me his plans, but I heard him yelling once about someone called Sen who slums with mortals. Do you know who that is?”

Unfortunately, yes.

Sen was liaison between VIPER agents in the Atlanta headquarters and their ruling body of deities known as the Tribunal. It was rumored that a majority of deities were aligned with the coalition, meaning VIPER controlled the greatest supernatural power base presently tasked with watching over the mortal world.

Sen had been a bastard to Evalle the entire time Storm had been with VIPER, so he’d hand Sen over without a moment of guilt, but Storm couldn’t allow Hanhau anywhere near Evalle. Was Hanhau after
only
Sen? Or was he after VIPER headquarters in Atlanta? If Evalle survived going back to the Medb, which Storm believed she would without a doubt, then she would stand with her Beladors to protect VIPER against anything.