Demon Storm: Belador book 5 Read Online Free PDF

you wish to do that?”
    “No,” Storm told him in all sincerity, because every minute in Mitnal put him at risk of losing what grip he had on humanity. He hoped he really could last one day there.
    Power lashed through the air from one side of the brick building to the other, striking steel I-beams and leaving burn holes in its wake.
    Nadina covered her face with her hands and trembled, looking like someone expecting to die.
    Storm continued. “I don’t want to do it, but I will since I understand you’re threatening Evalle. I figure we can either do battle or work something out.”
    “Wise decision as you would lose a battle.”
    Not necessarily, but even Storm had to admit that until he had a chance to size up Hanhau he had no idea exactly what he was going up against. “How long do you expect me to stay?”
    Every word had Nadina’s shoulders hunching against possible retaliation.
    Hanhau said, “You may leave Mitnal when I release my army. Very soon.”
    “What’s very soon in your world?”
    “Time has no relevance to a demon.”
    A vague answer when Storm needed specifics. He pressed on. “And you’d trust me to lead that army?”
    “I trust no one, but I do know that once you leave here by my order that you will follow my orders without question.”
    The confidence in Hanhau’s voice gave Storm a moment of hesitation. But he could gut out anything the demon ruler hit him with for one day after having survived what Nadina put Storm through as a young man. He’d walked away from that with his humanity in spite of having no soul.
    He could make it through this.
    Hanhau’s voice didn’t rise in sound but it filled out with power. “Decide, Storm of the Ashaninka.”
    That decision had been made the minute Evalle was put at risk. “I request entrance into Mitnal.”
    “I grant that request,” Hanhau answered. “Open the bolthole on your side, Nadina.”
    When she dropped her hands from her face, her skin had blanched. She lifted her arms, chanting as she moved her hands apart, palms facing. Light exploded between her palms and grew into an arch. In the next moment, the glowing arch moved from her palms to the concrete floor.
    She chanted and continued lowering her hands to her sides, then quieted long enough to say, “Follow me.”
    When she walked through the arch, Storm followed her through the bolthole into Mitnal.
    Cold rushed across his skin, peppering sharp stings that felt like ice picks striking him. He’d expected as much upon entering the underworld of the cold, but hadn’t expected his body to go icy on the outside and hot as a stoked blaze on the inside. Sweat dripping from his chin hit his chest and froze. Within two steps, he entered a hall of gleaming black stone that flickered with light from hundreds of candles.
    A thousand pairs of red eyes turned to the new arrivals.
    Demons lounged on surfaces cut into the walls of the massive chamber. Bodies were in all shapes from bulls to serpents to others that were mere skeletons with skin. The smell of despair and hate wound through the air, clinging to Storm’s skin. The energy of the demons crawled over him, seeping into him to test his blood.
    He allowed his own energy to pulse through his body and shoved it out hard to back off any inquiries. Several demons howled. Don’t like getting your fingers slapped with an invisible ruler, huh?
    He kept following Nadina through the hordes of demons until she stopped and bowed low. That was something Storm had never expected to see.
    She hissed at him. “Bow.”
    “No. Not part of the deal.”
    Bright orange-red light flared in front of them, illuminating a throne of skulls. Not carved to look like skulls, but empty-eyed bone ghosts staring out at nothing.
    Perched on that was a being with arms and legs that gave the impression of human and male.
    Storm had heard of Hanhau’s owl-shaped head, but this hideous manifestation insulted the beauty of owls. The demon ruler had skin that looked