Read The Dark Storm for Free Online Page A

Asian eyes and skin the color of soft moonlight. His stringy hair, that was so black that it could’ve passed for blue in the right light, hung freely around his broad shoulders. A black motorcycle jacket hugged his frame like armor, bearing patches from different wars. In ancient times he was the warlord of the death god Thanos, but now he served Belthon.
    “Knight!” he roared. “I am called Riel, Shepherd of the Dead and King Maker. By the will of my lord Belthon, I have come to claim your weapon and your head!” he shouted, and waved the blade in a low arc, leaving an eerie trail of greenish smoke. Under the streetlight Gabriel could see the scorch mark that ran up the blade’s crease and fanned out to cover the point. It was called Poison, the burning death, and a strike from it would cause just that.
    “I’ve already sent one of you boys home packing this week, hell spawn; don’t make yourself number two,” De Mona warned.
    “You shouldn’t throw stones, little girl,” Riel laughed. He turned and addressed the walking corpses: “The hunt has been called and the prize is flesh!” Riel pointed Poison at De Mona.
    “Flesh!” the Stalker in the brown suit snarled before slamming its shoulder into Gabriel, sending him crashing over the hood of the car. He hit the ground, shattering hisglasses and feeling like he’d cracked a rib, but it was nothing compared to what the advancing Stalker was going to do when it reached him. The Stalker had just about closed the distance when something grabbed the back of its tattered suit jacket. It turned to see a pair of moonlit eyes staring at him from the face of the girl. With Gabriel being out of sight she could take the gloves off, and that meant trouble for the Stalker.
    When Gabriel hit the ground the fork slid down the street and lodged itself under a car’s wheel. The dazed boy managed to stagger to his feet and move his gut out of the way as Riel tried to splay him. The demon came around in an arc, trying to split Gabriel in two with his cursed blade, but the former acrobat was able to bounce out of the way. When the blade hit the concrete it left a scorch mark.
    Gabriel shuffled his feet once and hit Riel in the jaw with an awkward right cross. Riel smiled the blow off and retuned the favor with a blow to the chest. Gabriel hit the ground and bounced twice before landing in the middle of the street. Before he could even shake the cobwebs, Riel was lifting Gabriel by the front of his shirt.
    “What cowardice.” Riel shook the frightened young man as if he were an unruly child. “One of God’s chosen shakes in the face of evil.” He pulled Gabriel close enough so that he could smell the sickly stench of the grave on Riel’s breath. “Where is your God now?”
    In response Gabriel grunted and slammed both of his legs into Riel’s chest and rolled backward into a crouch. Riel swung the blade, but Gabriel was quicker and managed to scramble under a car.
    “Come out, Knight. I promised to make your death painless,” Riel taunted.
    Gabriel lay under the car shaking like a leaf. He hadcome across some unexplainable things in his studies of the forgotten and unknown, but nothing compared to what he was witnessing in the flesh. He shut his eyes as he saw Riel’s fingers grip the edge of the car’s fender and begin to lift. Slowly the automobile began to come off the ground, and Gabriel knew he would soon be exposed. “Somebody please help me,” he whimpered, covering his head with his hands.
    “Release me.”
    Gabriel almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice. It sounded like the speaker was whispering in his ear, but there was no one else under the car.
    “
Release me and know my name
,” the voice went on.
    Gabriel looked near the front wheel and saw the fork peeking out of its wrapping. As if of its own accord, his hand shot out and grabbed it. This time it was hot to his skin, almost to the point of burning. A wave of energy went from the