Witchlock

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  WITCHLOCK

  Dianna Love

  Copyright (c) 2015, Dianna Love Snell

  Electronic EDITION

  All rights reserved.

  By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.

  Please Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this eBook via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

  Cover Design and Interior format by The Killion Group

  https://thekilliongroupinc.com

  The Belador series is an ongoing story line,

  so it's better if you read the series in order:

  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 (April 2016)

  *

  Midnight Kiss Goodbye (novella in DEAD AFTER DARK)

  Firebound (short story - free at www.AuthorDiannaLove.com)

  Dedication

  This book is for Lisa Kulow who shows the world a beautiful smile no matter what she faces.

  Chapter 1

  How am I supposed to find a demon among all these Santa elves and Christmas decorations?

  Evalle Kincaid rubbed her gritty eyes and repositioned her sunglasses. She kept moving through throngs of locals from Atlanta's suburbs, all enjoying the first weekend in November at Memorial Hall in Stone Mountain Park. She'd been here for four hours and it was only nine-thirty. A half hour yet until closing.

  The park was decorated to celebrate the start of the holidays, and every tree was lit up. She'd never seen so many bright lights and happy freaking people.

  Shoot, every surface glowed or sparkled. She wore dark sunglasses to protect her oversensitive eyes and to protect the locals from seeing those same green eyes glow.

  Humans didn't know about the strange beings that existed in their world. Like her. She was a Belador, one of an ancient line of warriors living secretly in the world today. But most Beladors looked human. Her weird eyes and deathly aversion to the sun came from her mixed blood.

  Not her favorite topic to think about.

  She squinted to avoid looking right into the hottest lights, because they kept messing with her vision.

  If someone viewed the historic park from above, Memorial Hall would look like a glittering jewel against the dark night.

  She'd be hearing Jingle Bells in her sleep tonight.

  But even that would be better than the nightmares she'd had for the past week.

  "Are you the Secret Service, babe?" a mouthy young guy wearing a dark pullover and dress pants asked Evalle.

  "No." She smiled and tried to pass.

  "A Hell's Angel?"

  "No." Without the smile this time.

  He finally went on his way.

  Okay, so she had on jeans, boots, a black jacket and dark glasses after sunset. She didn't get the memo on wearing perky holiday colors, but that wouldn't have changed her choice in clothes anyway, since this was her standard fare.

  She caught sight of her potential demon again.

  Or maybe between the lights screwing with her eyes, lack of sleep and wanting to go home, her brain was trying to help by convincing her that some poor schmuck might be a demon in glamour.

  Wearing khaki pants and a fleece hoodie, said schmuck looked like every other middle-aged, thinning hair, slightly overweight man she'd seen tonight, but she could swear the face on this one had flickered for a second.

  All of VIPER had been up in arms for the past week. Something had been killing trolls in Atlanta, and the last body was found butchered near the Chattahoochee River on the north side of the metro area. Thankfully, this was not summertime when a human out rafting or kayaking might have happened on the body.

  Humans didn't know about the trolls--or the demons--because Evalle and other VIPER agents like her stood in the gap. VIPER was a secret coalition of powerful beings who protected humans from nonhuman predators.

  Sometimes they had to protect the nonhumans, too.

  That's why Storm was gone.

  With the blood of a Navajo shaman and an Ashaninka witch doctor, along with the ability to shift into a black jaguar, Storm was the best tracker on the southeastern VIPER teams. He could identify a majik scent and track it as easily as he could a human or animal one, and he could handle whatever had taken down a troll.

  That didn't stop her from worrying about the man she loved.

  She gave her watch another glance. Twelve hours and six minutes until he would be back in Atlanta. Nine in the morning couldn't come soon enough. The last six days had been the longest of her life.

  And the most conflicted.

  She missed him. But she'd also spent every day since he left stressed about his return. This whole relationship thing was still new and left her off-kilter some days.

  She hated that. Hated to feel clueless about things most twenty-three-year-old women took in stride. She could kill a demon six different ways, but she had no skills to cope with the changes that living with a man had brought about.

  Storm had moved in with her just hours before he'd been asked to leave and track the troll killer.

  Less than one day of living together, and it had been a major fail.

  On her part.

  Giggles erupted nearby. Evalle turned to find three little girls laughing and talking to one of Santa's elves. Without a preternatural loose in here, all the families visiting tonight would normally be perfectly safe with Stone Mountain's top-notch security staff.

  Evalle gave the elf a once-over and got nary a ping on her internal radar. She smiled at the girls, who were obviously having a great time. I'll keep you safe, too.

  What would it have been like to grow up as a normal girl? One who hadn't spent her first eighteen years locked in a basement?

  Khaki Guy stepped into view again and pulled Evalle's gaze from the girls. Finally, he was where she could get a really good look at him.

  Not quite six feet, average-looking male with brown hair. He stood on the edge of all the activity as he eyed the bustling crowd entering and leaving Memorial Hall, where Santa was holding court.

  His appearance fit right in with the suburbanites, but no one else out here stood that still or watched with predatory intensity.

  Monsters came in all types, human and nonhuman.

  Evalle had faced both.

  This guy's gaze latched onto the three little girls and tracked their forward movement.

  He wore a blank expression.

  Energy buzzed in the air for a moment, then disappeared so fast she couldn't pinpoint where it originated.

  In the next second, the man's face blurred.

  Gotcha.

  "You'll have to wait your turn for Santa, lady," a female voice said from close behind.

  Evalle wheeled around, blowing out a brea
th that fogged in the chilly air. "Don't do that."

  Adrianna Lafontaine's lips angled up on one side with her signature half smile. "What? Catch you zoning out?"

  "Don't sneak up on me," Evalle scowled and turned back quickly to look for Khaki Guy, but she immediately regretted admitting that the Sterling witch had managed to do just that--sneak up on her. "I was not zoning out. I was watching a potential perp ... Crud!"

  The space where he'd been standing was vacant, and the little girls were gone, too.

  "What?" Adrianna asked, stretching her head forward.

  "This ... guy was watching three little girls." Evalle caught herself before saying demon out loud.

  Adrianna kept her voice down. "Are you sure he wasn't human?"

  "Sure enough."

  But Adrianna must have caught Evalle's hesitation. "If he is human, that's for the park security, not us."

  Adrianna was right, but Evalle didn't care. Human or not, that creep was not going to hurt those little girls on Evalle's watch. And his face had blurred. She was tired, but not that tired ...

  "He was not a human," Evalle said with more conviction and started forward.

  Adrianna's boot heels clicked behind her as she took quick steps to keep up with Evalle's much longer stride. "Where are you going?"

  Evalle tossed an answer over her shoulder. "To find him and make sure he isn't around those kids. Any kids."

  Adrianna groused, "I hadn't planned on running through Stone-freaking-Mountain tonight."

  Either give me patience or something to kill. Evalle kept her gaze on the crowd, searching for her guy, but slowed a little until Adrianna came up beside her and she caught an eyeful of the witch.

  Surprisingly, the petite fashionista had donned jeans, boots and a leather jacket that might just be custom made for her perfect five-foot-three body.

  In spite of dressing in the same clothing items as Evalle, Adrianna's jeans were black where Evalle's were blue denim with worn spots earned honestly. Bright blond hair swooped around the shoulders of Adrianna's red, leather jacket that sported a white, faux-fur collar. Her matching red boots had been designed for runway effect as opposed to running ability.

  They were now in the middle of the throng heading toward Santa, so moving fast was impossible. Pausing to stand on tiptoes, Evalle swept a long look over the tops of heads, still not seeing Khaki Guy's balding globe. She huffed out a breath, muttering, "Excuse me," over and over while she weaved through the excited park visitors. "Trudging through the Okeefenokee swamp waist-deep in muck has to be easier than moving through this crowd."

  Adrianna warned, "Stop scowling. You're scaring the natives." She scooted ahead, spearing her way politely through middle-school kids who probably thought the witch was one of them until they got a look at her body.

  "They're not looking at me," Evalle said, passing Adrianna and taking the lead again. "They're trying to figure out if you're Santa's biker babe. Did you get a red Harley broom to go with that outfit?"

  "You're a bucket of laughs tonight. Don't tempt me to put a spell on that mouth of yours," Adrianna snipped, but without malice, and followed close behind. "And don't be a hater just because my clothes don't look like I've been dragged through a field."

  Evalle's black Gortex motorcycle jacket had seen its share of battles and her scuffed boots concealed sharp blades for fighting.

  Adrianna asked, "Have you heard anything from Rowan or Nicole?"

  "No. Should I have? Is something up?" Evalle swatted away hairs that had slipped loose from her ponytail. She ignored the three guys she passed whose jaws dropped in Adrianna's direction.

  "Maybe." Adrianna paused and must have realized no one was listening to them or that only Evalle could hear her over the kids squealing in delight. She continued, "The white covens across the country are forming councils in major areas now that the Medb have dumped warlocks and witches into Atlanta. The fighting between Beladors and the Medb faction is spilling over into the witch population. Until now, no witch has ever had to declare if he or she was dark or white."

  Evalle stopped again and turned slowly, scanning the crowd. With the same happy faces and winter clothing, they were starting to blend together. What was Adrianna saying? Something about the Medb?

  The Medb were the oldest and deadliest enemies of the Belador race, and even though Evalle had recently found out she was half Medb, she held no sympathies for that coven. Didn't matter. The witches would have to work out their own issues, because VIPER had bigger problems.

  As one of six agents covering the park tonight, Evalle had to determine if she'd actually seen a demon, and whether it was the same one that'd been sighted an hour ago in the town of Stone Mountain.

  When Adrianna didn't say anything else, Evalle ran back over the conversation. She'd been only half listening about the witches. "So? What's the problem?"

  "If the witches form a council here, which they will because Rowan is pushing for one, then VIPER will recognize the council, which means VIPER will expect me to tell them where my loyalty lies."

  Evalle lifted her hands. "Just declare that you're a Sterling and be done with it."

  "It's not that simple. Never mind," Adrianna murmured, then looked around as she switched topics. "Think the Medb coven is behind this demon tonight?"

  Evalle growled in frustration. "Who knows? VIPER should never have welcomed the Medb into the coalition. The Medb spend a few days acting like good Samaritans, killing demons that they created, and VIPER conveniently forgets how many years of blood has spilled between the Beladors and the Medb. Apparently they've also forgotten that dark witches are dangerous and untrustworthy as a rule."

  Adrianna lifted a sharp eyebrow at that slam.

  Evalle rolled her eyes at the Sterling witch, who had used her dark powers to help Evalle--and VIPER--more than once. She amended her statement. "Present company excepted."

  Having once been the bane of Evalle's existence, Adrianna was now ... a friend, though Evalle still had to work at the trust part. Wind swatted more loose hairs around her face. When Evalle stretched her neck, she looked up past Memorial Hall to where spotlights illuminated the carving of three Confederate soldiers on one side of the bald mountain.

  Power snapped around Evalle again and she jerked her head around, searching and rubbing her arms. "Did you feel that?"

  "That buzzing?"

  "Yes. Like some kind of energy."

  Adrianna shrugged. "Probably a ghoul in the area."

  "I don't think so." Evalle moved through the crowd, ignoring the stares at her dark glasses.

  They'd stare even more if she took them off.

  Adrianna tagged along. "When will Storm be back?"

  "By nine in the morning, last I heard."

  "Good, because I've waited as long as I can, but I--"

  Evalle's phone chimed with a text, but the default tune that played meant it was not Storm. She lifted the phone and gave Adrianna an index finger signal to hold her thought. Then she read the text: Your week is up.

  Oh. Hell.

  "You look like you just heard from the Grim Reaper," Adrianna quipped.

  "Worse. Isak." Evalle pushed the off button and put the phone back in her pocket.

  "You haven't gone to dinner with him yet?"

  "No."

  "Why not? You told him you'd get in touch within a week after he helped us contain that witch doctor."

  "I know that," Evalle groused back at her and returned to her surveillance. She rubbed her eyes again. "I didn't get a chance to talk to Storm before he had to leave town and I'm not about to have him come home to hear that I was having dinner with another man while he was gone."

  "With a hot warrior no less," Adrianna teased. "You're afraid to tell Storm."

  Evalle didn't have the energy to argue.

  Isak would not wait long. The last time she'd ignored him, he'd sent his black ops team to snatch her off the street.

  Then he'd served her a mouth-watering Italian me
al.

  A profiler would have a field day with the men in her life, but the only one who mattered was Storm.

  Evalle widened her stance and said, "I'm dealing with the Isak situation as soon as Storm is back." Sounded perfect. Confident. Decisive.

  A total lie.

  Adrianna snapped her fingers. "Anyhow, as I was saying, I need to meet with you and Storm about our deal."

  There went Evalle's fantasy about the down time VIPER had promised her this week. But Adrianna had helped Evalle and Storm several different times. They both owed her major debts. Plus Adrianna had yet to say what she wanted, and Evalle smelled a secret. "I'll check with Storm. If he's good to go, I am."

  "I don't have much time--"

  The suspicious guy stepped back into Evalle's line of vision once more, stared in her direction, then turned to walk away from her and Memorial Hall.

  Evalle lifted her hand. "Wait a minute."

  Adrianna huffed, "What now?"

  Evalle kept her eyes on Mr. Khaki Pants as she told Adrianna, "There he is. I'll be right back."

  Adrianna leaned to look in the same direction Evalle had been watching. "I'm supposed to be your backup."

  "Look, this may be nothing more than my eyes playing tricks on me because of all these damn lights," Evalle explained, "But that's the guy. I saw something odd happen to his face earlier."

  "What kind of odd?"

  "It was just a blur. I can't call in a blurred face or I'll never hear the end of it at headquarters. Just stay here and keep an eye on the crowd. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, call in the cavalry."

  "Fine, but I'm not going to deal with Tzader going off on me if you get hurt."

  "He won't." Tzader Burke was Maistir of the North American Beladors, and one of Evalle's two best friends. "He'll go off on me," Evalle assured her and hurried forward, weaving her way through miniature Santa stalkers.

  If she could just catch one more flicker of change in that guy's outward appearance, she'd know for sure what she'd seen before hadn't been an optical illusion created by all the mash of lights around her.

  Her special sunglasses shielded her eyes from normal city lights at night, but this place was uber-bright. Give her pitch dark anytime, where she could see without eye protection.

  Taking off her glasses would reveal unnatural neon-green eyes, but more critical, it would leave her blind and vulnerable. As dead tired as she was, the glare from the screaming-white strings of Christmas decorations in this park might be tricking her eyes.