Read Demon Storm: Belador book 5 Online
Authors: Dianna Love
“No way am I cutting myself,” came the bullet-fired retort. Jaylene might be six feet tall and built like an Amazon, with looks that could earn her a fortune as a model, but growing up alone on Chicago’s south side had made her very wary of sticking her neck or a bloody finger out for anybody.
“I’ll do it,” Kelly offered and stepped forward.
“No.” She’d probably cut a vein with her sword and then disappear on us before we could stop the bleeding. “I’ll do it myself.”
I dropped my arms, swiping one bare arm across my forehead to wipe the sweat as I reached with the other toward Kelly. “Put your sword out here.”
She did as I asked even though the blade shook. It was wicked sharp, the better for demon killing, but instead of a paper cut I dug a pretty deep slash into my right finger. “Ouch.”
I swear I could hear Mandy snicker so I shot her a glare, cupping my right hand with my left to make sure I didn’t leave a trail of blood for the demon to escape the inner containment circle. Just in case my teammates were not quick enough, or skilled enough to kill him.
That was one of the sucky parts of being the one doing the summoning. I couldn’t be holding a weapon of any kind, no matter how deadly the non-human being called. If this echo-demon found a way past the containment area, I was sorry out of luck. Except for my anathema dagger I had stashed against the nearest wall. Noziaks came to a rumble prepared to fight, but witches couldn’t carry other weapons when using magic. Which made us very vulnerable.
Using magic with a physical weapon in hand—a gun, knife, staff—meant the magic was not being honored and it could back fire on the user.
It took a few steps to reach the crudely salted circle where the demon should appear, and only seconds to have a nice snack of fresh human blood drops scattered on the floor.
Man, a sliced finger could hurt. Sucking it as I returned to my spot I realized I was focusing on the minor pain to avoid the bigger issue. If the blood did its thing then I was about to break a promise made to my father years ago. He was a full-blooded shaman, a shifter, and a wise man in his own right. Plus he loved me to the depths of his soul. He rarely punished his children, especially me, the baby, but when he did it was serious.
“Great gifts are not given lightly, Alex,” he’d said. “They come with great responsibility and consequences. Do you understand?”
I nodded my head like any fifteen-year-old who wanted to get out of immediate trouble for doing something wrong.
“Then you must promise never to use your abilities for harm of anyone or anything.”
More head shaking on my part. Right then I’d have agreed to anything he’d asked. That’s how much trouble I was in.
“Promise me as a Noziak.”
My head had started to bob faster when he’d raised one calloused hand. “And the love you have for me.”
That wasn’t playing fair. Especially since, after my mother had left us when I was five, my dad had been my whole world.
“Will you promise this, Alex?”
What could I say? I nodded and meant it.
I sucked in my breath, ignoring the throbbing in my finger which I pressed tight against my thumb to make sure the blood flow was stopped. It was harder to push aside the tenseness in my gut, wondering if calling a demon to its death meant I was harming another? Or if my dad would forgive me if he ever found out, because I felt a shift in the air and I wasn’t giving up now for anything.
INVISIBLE MAGIC, book 1 of Invisible Recruit series
Dianna Love and Mary Buckham coauthor as USA Today bestseller Micah Caida, author of the Red Moon sci-fi/fantasy young adult trilogy.
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ayen’s memory is blank. Her future's in question. Her power is dangerous.
I awoke in an unknown desert landscape that seemed familiar, yet I had no real memory of this place or...who I am. A strange ghost told me my name is Rayen and that I’m seventeen, but he disappeared just as I could have used some help. I was captured along with others my age who said the land was called Albuquerque, then I was dropped at a private school where at times things seem as familiar as the nearby mountain range and as alien as the image of my face. Everyone thinks I’m a Native American runaway, whatever that is, but the school has offered me a place until they learn my true identity, or my memory returns. As if things weren’t confusing enough, I end up stuck working with a smart-mouthed computer savvy boy then meet a strange, but gifted, oddball girl, and the three of us discover a secret that threatens the existence of this world - and the future. In the middle of all that, I’m drawn to a seventeen-year-old boy who is as deadly as he is attractive ... and thinks I’m the enemy.
Time Trap – Book 1
Time Return – Book 2
Time Lock – Book 3
www.MicahCaida.com
and
www.RedMoonTrilogy.com
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ew York Times bestseller Dianna Love once dangled over a hundred feet in the air to create unusual marketing projects for Fortune 500 companies. She now writes high-octane romantic thrillers, young adult and urban fantasy. Fans of the bestselling Belador urban fantasy series will be thrilled to know Demon Storm (book 5) was released Oct 2014 and Witchlock (book 6) will be available June 2015. Dianna's Slye Temp romantic thriller series launched to rave reviews with five books so far and more coming in 2015. Look for her books in print, e-book and audio. On the rare occasions Dianna is out of her writing cave, she tours the country on her BMW motorcycle searching for new story locations. Dianna lives in the Atlanta, GA area with her husband who is a motorcycle instructor and with a tank full of unruly saltwater critters.
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