by Dianna Love
They’d chosen well for a hideout.
They’d have remained hidden, too, if they hadn’t started killing adults and kidnapping children.
Giving Devon a hand signal, Quinn continued on, preparing to insert his team and rescue kidnapped human teenagers from dangerous preternaturals.
It would be simpler if Quinn and his people didn’t have to hide whatever happened from humans in the area.
Rush hour traffic had started hours ago, but still slogged along the interstate fifty yards away where six lanes crossed the river.
At least now it was dark. Between that and today being Monday, he had less chance of his team getting seen by some sporting enthusiast floating down the Hooch, as this part of the river was known locally. On the other hand, the city was enjoying warm temperatures for early April. Some adventuresome spring breaker might decide to get wet.
Eyeing the trestle ahead, Quinn shook his head. What had triggered this insane action?
The local trolls had to be out of their minds to harm any human, but to go after families of Belador warriors was suicidal. Beladors had even stopped a preternatural who’d been killing trolls last year.
Relations had been pretty decent, until now.
In the latest attack at a midtown home, a mother had been found dead, mangled, and her two teenagers missing. That made five attacks in two days.
Three dead and a total of eight teenagers taken.
So far.
Those two words twisted his gut. No child should fear being kidnapped.
What about my child? Who is watching over her?
Quinn’s chest tightened with pain. Weeks of searching for a child he’d learned of only recently, and he’d turned up nothing. He had a duty to save these teenagers first, then he’d go right back to hunting Phoedra.
Devon tapped his shoulder.
Quinn turned to see what the Cajun wanted.
Evalle and Tristan were Alterants, mixed-blood Beladors, with bright green eyes they hid behind dark sunglasses, but they had natural night vision.
Like Quinn, Devon was a full-blooded Belador with supernatural powers, but they had to utilize night vision monoculars. Quinn looked down to where Devon had located four-toed footprints heading toward the dark underpass. Each toe had a deep claw mark.
That confirmed the intel.
Nodding, he turned to move ahead. He and his team had finally gotten a break on today’s heinous crime, which led them to this location.
Good thing since Storm wouldn’t be back until later this evening. Evalle’s Skinwalker mate could track any scent, even a preternatural one, in his human form or as a black jaguar. He’d been in Roanoke, Virginia, for the last twenty-four hours helping a short-handed Belador team dealing with similar attacks there.
Six hours had passed since a Belador father here in Atlanta, just off patrol, had walked into his house expecting to find his family getting ready for a spring break trip.
Instead, the Belador had found food scattered around the kitchen island, his wife ripped into pieces and his two children missing.
Quinn continued moving slowly toward the underpass.
His team was exceptional, but they were also friends he didn’t want to see harmed. As their Belador Maistir, he ordered people into danger all the time, but everything about these attacks said this was not a normal situation.
He did a mental eye roll at that thought.
Talk about an oxymoron.
Everything Beladors confronted fell under the heading of abnormal.
Reaching the spot where he and Devon were to watch for Evalle and Tristan, Quinn dropped into a crouch behind a small bush to scan the area. From the other side of the narrow rail bridge, Evalle removed her dark sunglasses, exposing her glowing green eyes. She blinked twice at Quinn to signal that she and Tristan were in place.
Quinn gave a hand signal of confirmation, then looked over his shoulder at Devon, who crouched close behind him. Quinn gave the signal to move out. Devon had limited telepathic ability, but the Cajun could move in this environment as silently as a lizard.
Speaking mind-to-mind would be simpler, but Quinn had been the one to caution against using telepathy unless they had no other choice.
Until recently, no one besides other Beladors or their Treoir rulers could communicate with a Belador telepathically. The one exception to this rule being select Beladors who could reach the VIPER liaison, Sen. But the Laochra Fola, an enemy group related to Beladors, had appeared in Atlanta recently with the ability to pick up their telepathic messages.
As if trolls weren’t enough to contend with?
Quinn opened his senses wide as he picked his way over rutted ground that deteriorated further every time foul weather drove the water hard through here.
He smelled rotting foliage, but no trash.
Another sign this had to be the right place.
Trolls kept the area leading to their nest free of human debris.
Dirt had been piled against one shoulder of the underpass.
Using his telekinetic ability, Quinn pushed gently at the loose earth. The dirt shifted aside easily, meaning it hadn’t been in that spot very long.
As he used his power to quietly clear dirt out of the way, a rough-cut, wooden covering five feet across and six feet tall came into view.
No hinges.
It should lift away, but what waited on the other side?
Cutting his eyes around, he signaled Evalle and Tristan to watch their backs.
Quinn motioned Devon into position on the opposite side of the wood covering.
Devon moved with Belador hyper-speed.
Since they were somewhat hidden, humans shouldn’t see anything unusual that happened down here unless this turned into a battle of power and majik that exploded in bright bursts.
Letting out a slow breath, Quinn lifted his hands and nodded at Devon, who mirrored his moves.
They each raised one side of the wood hatch by using kinetic power, and moved it an inch at a time until Devon took control of the cover and slipped it softly to the ground.
No one came flying out with a mouthful of sharp teeth, but trolls wouldn’t need to when they could wait in the perfect ambush spot.
Quinn squatted to look inside.
Stone stairs went down, disappearing into a black hole.
That could lead to a simple, large room if the trolls hadn’t been here long, or if they’d had more time, to a maze of tunnels.
He hated tunnels. Only one way in and one way out unless you had inside information.
The trolls would have an exit plan, but they’d also keep it well hidden, which made for a perfect trap if someone was crazy enough to break into a troll nest.
Schedule me for a psych eval as soon as this is over.
Quinn ducked his tall frame into the hole, glad he’d worn cargo pants for ease of movement. They were all outfitted in similar black clothing from neck to toe.
The air had a damp, sour odor to it the deeper he went, but he had no complaint about the solid rock steps.
No squeaking noises.
No sound at all.
His skin crawled with warning.
Trolls had never been a docile group, but for the most part the local ones kept to themselves. There had been one instance when Svart Trolls from another country invaded Atlanta with plans to take over the city. Other than that, the trolls tended to be good about policing their own community to avoid VIPER stepping in to do that for them. The VIPER coalition acted as a governmental body over all preternaturals in the human world.
With the exception of a select few, humans never knew what happened in the supernatural underbellies of cities across the country because VIPER did police its own. But trolls attacking the human families of Beladors threatened to expose the preternatural world if they didn’t put a stop to it.
Once humans discovered just what lived among them, it would be chaos.
Twe
nty steps down, Quinn moved aside to allow Devon to join him. Tristan followed with Evalle taking up the rear.
Quinn gave them a sign to wait, then stepped away to figure out what lay ahead of them. The area opened up into a wide hallway fifteen feet across and an easy eight feet tall, but maybe forty or fifty feet deep.
A light glowed way down at the other end, which outlined an arched opening into another room.
Giving a hand signal to move out, but be alert, Quinn led them forward.
Halfway to the end of the tunnel, Quinn sniffed. Ah, the putrid stench of troll.
He looked around at Evalle, Tristan and Devon who all pinched their noses to let him know, yes, they smelled the nasty beings.
Quinn would have liked for Storm to be here, since the Skinwalker could discern just how many trolls they were going up against.
Devon touched Quinn’s shoulder. When he looked back, Devon pointed at Evalle, who tapped her ear.
Quinn listened, and the faint sound of a child crying reached him. Shit.
He nodded and moved ahead.
At the end of the tunnel, he peered ahead into a cavernous area with a higher ceiling. Ripped roots dangled from where the trolls had hollowed out earth for their hideout. The barren space held two wooden tables and four beat-up chairs suitable for the dump. Two torches were mounted on each side of a room sixty feet across.
Quinn couldn’t determine the depth.
The room fell away into blackness.
The child’s whimpers were louder now. Was it real?
His instincts screamed trap.
Troll stench permeated the air. He was not leaving until he knew for sure whether the children were here or not.
He took it all in, trying to figure out what he couldn’t see. There had to be some kind of strong glamour hiding the true interior of this place and the number of people actually inside here.
A child whimpered again.
Stepping inside the room, he moved quickly to the right, leaving enough space for Devon to follow his lead and stand with his back to the wall as well.
Evalle and Tristan did the same on the other side of the archway.
Tristan leaned forward and gave Quinn a signal that he had an idea.
Oh, hell. Quinn’s disconcertment must have shown because Tristan sent him an irritated look.
A bonus of being half-blood Beladors meant Tristan and Evalle could shift into gryphons. This would be the worst place for them to shift, though, with limited room for movement.
What else could Tristan be thinking? He sucked at hand signals.
Then it hit Quinn.
Tristan had once been given a special, majikally-spelled drink by a witch. A power highball, as Tristan described it, which had included the blood of immortal beings. He’d ended up with the ability for limited teleportation under the right conditions.
Teleporting here would be just as insane as shifting.
Tristan had no idea what area would be safe for landing.
Still, their dragon king had made Tristan his second in command. Since then, Tristan had proven himself to be competent and loyal as hell. A real change from when Quinn had first met the young man, so he gave Tristan a go-ahead nod to show the team what he had in mind.
Tristan blinked out of view and all hell broke loose.
Order your copy of Belador Cosaint: Book 9
Reviews on Belador books:
"…non-stop tense action, filled with twists, betrayals, danger, and a beautiful sensual romance. As always with Dianna Love, I was on the edge of my seat, unable to pull myself away."
~~Barb, The Reading Cafe
“…shocking developments and a whopper of an ending... and I may have exclaimed aloud more than once…Bottom line: I really kind of loved it.”
~~Jen, top 500 Reviewer
"DEMON STORM leaves you breathless on countless occasions."
~~Amelia Richard, SingleTitles
“...Its been a very long time since I've felt this passionate about getting the next installment in a series. Even J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.”
~~Bryonna Nobles, Demons, Dreams and Dragon Wings
The Belador series is an ongoing story line,
so you may want to read the books in order:
Belador urban fantasy Series
Book 1: Blood Trinity
Book 2: Alterant
Book 3: The Curse
Book 4: Rise Of The Gryphon
Book 5: Demon Storm
Book 6: Witchlock
Book 7: Rogue Belador
Book 8: Dragon King Of Treoir
Book 9: Belador Cosaint
Belador novels are released in print, e-book and audio.
BLOOD TRINITY – Belador Book 1
Atlanta has become the battlefield between human and demon.
As an outcast among her own people, Evalle Kincaid has walked the line between human and beast her whole life as a half-blood Belador. An Alterant. Her true origins unknown, she searches to learn more about her past before it kills her, but when a demon claims a young woman in a terrifying attack and there's no one else to blame, Evalle comes under suspicion.
The one person who can help her is Storm, the sexy new agent brought in to catch her in a lie, just one of his gifts besides being a Skinwalker. On a deadly quest for her own survival, Evalle is forced to work with the mysterious stranger who has the power to unravel her world. Through the sordid underbelly of an alternate Atlanta where nothing is as it seems to the front lines of the city where former allies now hunt her, Evalle must prove her innocence or pay the ultimate price. But saving herself is the least of her problems if she doesn’t stop the coming apocalypse. The clock is ticking and Atlanta is about to ignite.
“BLOOD TRINITY is an ingenious urban fantasy … Book One in the Belador series will enthrall you during every compellingly entertaining scene.” Amelia Richards, Single Titles
“…a well written book that will take you out of your everyday life and transport you to an exciting new world…” Heated Steve
~*~*~
ALTERANT: Belador Book 2
Evalle must hunt her own kind...or die with them.
In this explosive new world of betrayals and shaky alliances, as the only Alterant not incarcerated, Evalle faces an impossible task — recapture three dangerous, escaped creatures before they slaughter more humans…or her.
When words uttered in the heat of combat are twisted against her, Evalle is blamed for the prison break of three dangerous Alterants and forced to recapture the escapees. Deals with gods and goddesses are tricky at best, and now the lives of all Beladors, and the safety of innocent humans, rides on Evalle's success. Her Skinwalker partner, Storm, is determined to plant all four of his black jaguar paws in the middle of her world, but Evalle has no time for a love life. Not when a Tribunal sends her to the last place she wants to show her face.
The only person she can ask for help is the one man who wants to see her dead.
“There are SO many things in this series that I want to learn more about; there’s no way I could list them all.” Lily, Romance Junkies Reviews
~*~*~
THE CURSE: Belador book 3
Troll powered gang wars explode in cemeteries and no one in Atlanta is safe.
Demonic Svart Trolls have invaded Atlanta and Evalle suddenly has little hope of fulfilling a promise with the freedom of an entire race hanging in the balance, even if she had more than two days. She takes a leap of faith, seeking help from Isak, the Black Ops specialist who recently put Evalle in his cross hairs and has a personal vendetta against Alterants who killed his best friend.
Bloody troll-led gang wars force Evalle into unwittingly exposing a secret that endangers all she holds dear, and complicates her already tumultuous love life with the mysterious Skinwalker, Storm. But it’s when the entire Medb coven comes after her that Evalle is forced to make a game-changing decision with no time left
on the clock.
“Evalle, continues to be one of my favorite female warriors in paranormal/urban fantasy… I loved The Curse… This was a great story from start to finish, super fun, lots of action, couples to root for, and a fantastic heroine.” Barb, The Reading Café
~*~*~
RISE OF THE GRYPHON: Belador Book 4
If dying is the cost of protecting those you love… bring it.
Evalle has a chance to find out her true origin, and give all Alterants a place in the world. To do so, she’ll have to take down the Belador traitor and bring home a captured friend, which means infiltrating the dangerous Medb coven. To do that, she’ll have to turn her back on her vows and enter a vicious game to the death. What she does discover about Alterants is not good, especially for the Beladors.
Her best friends, Tzader and Quinn, face unthinkable choices, as relationships with the women they love grow twisted. With time ticking down on a decision that will compel allies to become deadly enemies, Evalle turns to Storm and takes a major step in their relationship, but the witchdoctor he’s been hunting now stalks Evalle. Now Evalle is forced to embrace her destiny . . . but at what price?
"Longtime fans of the Belador series will have much to celebrate in the fearless Evalle Kincaid's fourth outing…with such heart and investment, each scene has an intensity that will quicken the pulse and capture the imagination..."
— RT Book Reviews
~*~*~
DEMON STORM: Belador book 5
We all have demons... some are more real than others.
With Treoir Island in shambles after a Medb attack that left the survival of the missing Belador warrior queen in question and Belador powers compromised, there is one hope for her return and their future – Evalle Kincaid, whose recent transformation has turned her into an even more formidable warrior. First she has to locate Storm, the Skinwalker she’s bonded with who she believes can find the Belador queen, but Storm stalks the witch doctor who’s threatening Evalle’s life. When he finally corners the witch doctor, she throws Storm a curve that may cost him everything, including Evalle. The hunter becomes the hunted, and Evalle must face her greatest nightmare to save Storm and the Beladors or watch the future of mankind fall to deadly preternatural predators.
