Demon Storm: Belador book 5 (34 page)

“Of course not, but I did find Storm and he did do what we asked even at the risk of the Noirre attacking him. Isn’t that worth something?”

“Modest are we?” Macha said in a dour tone.

Garwyli spoke up. “The girl has a point, Goddess. We’d have offered a fortune for Brina’s return, if money had been all we needed to accomplish that, but we had no one to call. She speaks the truth. I failed to retrieve her and we ran out of time.”

The girl?
Evalle let that pass.

Sounding more put upon than accepting, Macha said, “Very well. What do you want?” 

“Storm has a grip on his humanity, but I’m asking for his soul to be returned.”

Macha’s eyes filled with compassion that gave Evalle hope until the goddess replied, “I don’t have any way of giving him his soul back. That takes someone with different gifts.” 

Disappointment swamped Evalle, but she hadn’t expected this to be as easy as asking a genie for a wish. “In that case, I have a second request.”

S
torm shook out the blanket that had belonged to his father and laid it on the grass covering the back yard of his house. Macha had dumped him near his Land Cruiser, which surprised him.

He’d really thought the goddess had been teleporting him to the Amazon jungle where she’d once kept an Alterant in an invisible cage bound by majik.

But she’d teleported him to Atlanta instead. That had been ten hours ago and it was closing in on eight at night.

No sign of Evalle.

What had transpired after he left?
Tell me Evalle didn’t get herself in more trouble with Macha.

Or had Macha sent Evalle home with orders to stay away from any demon unless she intended to kill it?

Settling down beneath a clear, starry night, he sat cross-legged and closed his mind to everything except finding his spirit guide. He still had not fully conquered his Ashaninka blood, but he’d held onto the energy flowing from his Navajo side since returning to the city.

With a little luck, he’d be able to connect to Kai.

He searched inside himself for the peace that his Navajo ancestry had brought him over the years when the battle to walk the line between human and demon had potholes threatening to suck him down to the dark.

“Storm!”  Kai’s voice burst into his mind with so much happiness he found a smile for her by the time he opened his eyes.

Her hands were clasped under her chin and her face held an adolescent excitement that warmed him. “You are safe.”

Was he? Maybe he would be, if he was somewhere other than Atlanta.

Without Evalle, he had no reason to stay. But he also had no desire to be far away from her. That was too conflicted for him to figure out tonight.

“Storm?”

“Sorry, my mind is wandering. I’m glad to see you. Thank you for watching over me.”

She gave a nod. “However, there were others who came to your aid.”

“I know Evalle did, but who else?”

“Your friend the Sterling witch showed up at your house when Evalle was trying to contact me.”

He cupped his eyes. “I can only imagine how those two got along.”

“They worked together.”

Lowering his hand, Storm started to question if Kai was telling the unvarnished truth, but Kai would only have known as much as she perceived from conversations with Evalle or Adrianna.

He would expect both of them to treat Kai with respect, which would have hidden the fact that Evalle hated Adrianna. Hate was too strong a word for a simple case of jealousy though, and Storm enjoyed Evalle’s streak of possessiveness.

Or, he had until now. Macha had very likely put an end to Evalle ever seeing him again, and Storm couldn’t blame the goddess. Why allow Evalle to see someone who would be a hunted man once word got around?

“Why are you sad, Storm? Is Evalle in danger?”

“No, she’s safe and she’ll remain that way as long as she stays away from me.”

Kai’s frown was comical, as if she couldn’t decide if he was joking or not. “You do know that is not going to happen.”

His throat tightened, but he managed to say, “I’m fairly certain the Belador goddess will forbid Evalle from any further association with me.”

Leaning forward with her hands on her knees, Kai shook her head at him. “Evalle traveled to another realm first to find you then she returned to bring you back. That was no easy task.”

“And it cost her something she’d never had until the last couple of days. She
gave up
the ability to walk in the sunlight,” he said with more force than he’d intended.

Oddly, no thunderstorm boomed overhead, the usual sign of Kai’s displeasure with him when he raised his voice. She said, “That was Evalle’s choice.”

He kept his words calmer. “It doesn’t change the fact that she made a huge personal sacrifice.”

“That in itself should be enough to tell you Evalle will not stay away from you regardless of who orders her.”

Not unless Macha threatened Storm’s life, but he wouldn’t debate this further with Kai. He changed the subject. “Would you please go to my father and see if you can offer him any peace where he is? I have no way to free him.”

“I will be happy to go as soon as our time ends, but I am not certain I can do much.”  Her brown eyes filled with sadness.

“I understand. Just do what you can and tell him I love him.”  Storm had no one to blame but himself for allowing Nadina to get the upper hand. Evalle thought she was responsible for losing his father’s soul as well as his, but she had only done what Storm would have in her shoes.

“Stay in peace, Storm. We will visit again later.”  Then Kai faded as Storm closed his eyes and slowly flowed back into his body where it still sat on the blanket.

He stretched back with his head pillowed against his arms.

Energy swept toward him from the side of the house.

He recognized the source and didn’t move. “Did Macha finally do something for
you
, Evalle?”

“Yes.”  Her footsteps were light, but his jaguar hearing picked up the slightest sound.

He let out the breath he’d been holding, worried that she’d come after dark because she had not regained her ability to be exposed to the sun. “I’m glad. That’s how it should be.” 

Three more soft steps and she stood at the side of the blanket, looking down. Black hair spilled over the shoulders of a vintage BDU shirt that had seen its share of time on a working soldier in the past. Jeans hugged legs that were impossibly long from this vantage point and ended at the worn boots that hid razor sharp blades.

Five foot ten of badass female.

Sexy badass female who propped her hands on her hips.

He lifted his gaze back to her face. “Should you be here?”

“I don’t know. Should I?”

He tried to take his eyes off her beautiful green ones, but he was drinking her in with deep gulps, needing to save this view of her for his future when he’d be all alone. “No, you shouldn’t be here. This won’t be a safe location once word gets around that I’m in Atlanta again.”

“I would have thought you learned your lesson today, Storm. You failed to shove me away then. You can’t do it now.”

He growled and finally sat up, then pushed up to his feet to face her. Now, if he could just keep his hands off of her. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate all that you did for me. There are no words to express how much you amaze me over and over again, but VIPER is hunting demons. You’re expected to hunt them. Being with me is going to put you in conflict at the very least and in danger at the worst. I’m not shoving you away. I’m trying to keep you safe. I
need
you to be safe.” 

He gave himself credit for not grabbing Evalle and running as far as he could to keep her with him, but that would take her from all that she held dear.

Clearly disinclined to help him out, she stepped up and looped her arms around his waist and laid her head next to his heart. “If anyone shows up we’ll deal with them together, but right now VIPER and the Beladors have their hands full with the Medb infiltrating the city. Tzader is reinstated as Maistir and Lanna is safely back with Quinn. Quinn’s another worry, but one that will wait for tomorrow.” She lifted her face to him. “I’m tired of battles. Don’t make me fight to stay with you, because I will.”

His body longed for her touch and he had no discipline left when it came to her. He wrapped his arms around her and his world paused in that moment. The feel of her in his arms could only be described as coming home.

Except for regaining his father’s soul and his own, all Storm had ever wanted was right here with her.

Someone made a harrumph noise.

Within a second, Storm flipped around to face the threat and had Evalle behind him.

The old druid from Treoir stood ten feet away with his hands behind his back, and appeared to be patiently waiting.

Evalle shoved up beside Storm, muttering, “We’re going to have to talk about you doing that.”  Then she exclaimed, “Garwyli!”

“Good to see ya, girl. Did ya tell him?”

“Not yet. He was too intent on sending me away.”

Garwyli must have thought that was absurd. At least that’s what the expression on his face showed. He told Storm, “I hadn’t considered that you might be addle-brained.”

“I’m not,” Storm ground out.

“Then you should be thankin’ this young woman for puttin’ your father at peace.”

“What?” Storm turned to Evalle. “What did you do?”

She scratched her head. “Macha said she couldn’t return your father’s soul so I asked if she had someone who could help him cross over to his final resting place. Macha was going to tell me no again, but Garwyli offered to do it. She said she didn’t care who did what as long as I was done irritating her.”

The old druid cackled. “The goddess can be a bit tryin’ some days.”

“Some days?” Evalle asked with a smile that lacked humor.

Getting past his shock, Storm asked, “My father is really at peace?”

“According to Garwyli,” Evalle confirmed. “It took a while and he did a bunch of things that I couldn’t begin to explain since it was in something that sounded like Gaelic.”

“’Tis a bit older language than that,” the druid said, smiling slyly. “I was able to reach the spirits that could guide your father to his final resting place. It was much simpler than tryin’ to return his soul.”

“I appreciate you doing that, but you could have put in a word with Macha before you left me stranded for eight hours,” Evalle said with good-natured prodding.

“It’s not as though you could return to Atlanta until darkness fell.”

Everything skidded to a stop in Storm’s brain. “What? Didn’t Macha fix your reaction to the sun?”

Evalle shrugged. “I didn’t ask for it.”

Garwyli added, “To be honest, Macha would not have been able to change that part of your organic makeup without knowing specifically who took the ability from you.”

“I didn’t realize that. Thanks for explaining.”  Evalle acted too casual, but Storm knew that ability had to be a devastating loss to her. One he had no way to fix, which was going to make him crazy. She lifted her chin to the druid, humor lighting her voice when she said, “I’m glad to see you, but what are you doing here with us mere mortals?”

Garwyli sobered. “I listened to your pleas to Macha and witnessed what Storm did in Treoir even at risk of what might happen with him going there as a demon.”

Evalle flinched at that term, but Storm had been trying to tell her that some things just couldn’t be fixed. Storm leaned over and kissed her forehead then her lips. “I wish there was a way I could thank you for my father.”

She lifted up and held his face. “I wish there was a way to give back your soul.”

The druid made a testy sound of clearing his throat. “And I wish for a way that you two would be quiet for a moment.”

Properly chastised by the old goat, Storm gave in to the need to hold Evalle close and put his arm around her. “Sorry. You were saying?”

“After watching the selfless way that you two were willing to sacrifice for each other, I decided to visit someone I hadn’t seen in over a thousand years. He owed me a favor that I thought it time to call due.”

Who held onto IOUs for a thousand years?
Storm kept his question to himself, allowing Garwyli to continue.

“I told this old friend that his son had been misbehavin’ and had taken somethin’ I wanted returned.”  Garwyli lifted his hand, palm out and a bright glow bounced on his palm with the enthusiasm of a two-month-old puppy. “Hanhau’s father ordered him to return your soul and I have the honor of delivering it to you.”

Storm stared at Garwyli’s hand, not sure he could believe what he saw.

Evalle touched his arm with trembling fingers.

He met her gaze that floated in liquid happiness.

His eyes were no drier. Heart thundering in his chest, Storm looked to the druid. “What do I do?”

“Call it home to you. Just reach out and open your heart to it.” 

Evalle stepped away and turned to watch him with encouragement shining in her eyes.

Storm extended his hand that he had to admit was trembling as well. The second his fingertip touched the glow, energy flowed into him like a gentle river, filling him from head to toe as his soul flooded through him to become one with the rest of his body.

There was no way to describe the sensation of having a soul returned to someone who had never lost one.

He bowed his head to Garwyli, humbled by what this druid had done.

Evalle said in a hushed voice, “You’re glowing, Storm.”

Lifting his hands, he could see the hum of light she was talking about. It was pale green, as natural as the forest. Then the glow dimmed until he stared at his human hands.

“Your eyes are brown,” Evalle cried out and launched herself into his arms. He caught her, pulling her to him and swinging her around and around, listening to the beautiful sound of her happiness.

When he finally eased her back to the ground, he hugged her back against his side and turned to Garwyli. Swallowing hard, Storm said, “Thank you. I wish I had more than mere words to give you.”