THIRTY-TWO
I admire your optimism, but she trounced you." Rune hit that flask again. "She amused herself with you."
"Our next matchup will be different," Jo assured him. "I'm ready for it."
"You are a very, very young vampire who should never pick a fight with a primordial."
"Relative to you, the big bang is young. And what's a primordial?"
"Don't know that either, Forbearer? It's the firstborn of a particular species, or at least the oldest one living."
"Are you the primordial dark fey?"
A shadow flashed across his face. "I may never know."
"Whatever she is--I've got this."
"Say you could somehow prevail over her, why would I give up my kill?"
"Is it personal?" Jo asked.
"It's important. She's been playing with forces she's too young and confused to understand, forces that can throw the entire universe into chaos. She flirts with an apocalypse. I happen to be one among a group that opposes her."
"What did Nix mean when she talked of the Morior?"
"That's the name of my alliance. I'm a Morior."
"But you're not a nightmare made flesh." Not a Bringer of Doom. Jo figured Rune would need to keep it in his pants for more than a hot minute to be a doom bringer.
"And you're not a bomb," he said. "Can we agree that Nix alleged ridiculous things?"
The Valkyrie had said she'd kept her eye on Jo and Thad: her nuclear weapons. "Do you share a castle with monsters?"
He ran his hand over his chin. "That part is true. But not material."
"The hell?" Her potential guy lived with monsters? Girlfriend/roommate issues would take on a whole new level.
"We're speaking about Nix."
"Fine." Jo would address his monsters in the future. "What does she intend with me?" With Thad?
"Depends on what you are. Nix said you were rare. You're half vampire, so what's your other half? The first time we met, you cut me off as soon as I asked you what you are--as if I'd reached the limits of my usefulness. But you do know?" Whatever he saw in her expression made his lips part. "How could you not know? If you were raised by one parent, were you told nothing about the other? You said you were all by your lonesome. The generation before you is gone?"
Jo couldn't bring herself to share her story yet. If he'd given her just one good reason to trust him . . .
"I'll have your secrets soon enough, Josephine."
The second time he'd said that. Why was he so confident?
"Since you can stomach my poison, you could be one of the mystical species," he said, "like the Sorceri or Wiccae. It's possible you could be fey. Most fey have magicks in them."
She recalled her dream of Rune's first kill. "Maybe you're enemies with the Wiccae or Sorceri. You're half fey, but you still might not be a fey fan." She wondered if he would admit to hating them.
"I despise the fey, but I wouldn't make you my enemy just because you possessed fey blood. As for the Wiccae, I've sworn allegiance to a witch. She's one of the Morior. I don't care about the Sorceri either way." He took another swig from his flask, his mind on this mystery. "Vampire hybrids are uncommon, but would any of those combinations be enough to attract the attention of a primordial Valkyrie?" He met her gaze. "When I kill Nix, this information might go to the grave."
Never to know? "As long as Thad is safe, I don't care."
"Then let me deal with her. As I told you, I'm an assassin by trade and have been for thousands of years."
"I need to make sure you don't accidentally off my brother. I will be watching over him. Either we go together, or I go alone."
He leaned his shoulder against the hearth mantel, examining his black claws. His silver rings shone in the firelight. "Then I'll keep you trapped in here."
"Asshole! So I'm back to being a prisoner? And you wonder why I don't trust you with more information about myself?"
"You need to clean up this mess. And more . . ." He traced away for a split second, returning with a weighty book. He dropped it on his fireside chair. "You can read this and learn about the Lore."
Lemme get right on that. "What's in the book?"
"Everything you ever wanted to know about immortals."
She pursed her lips. Of course it is. The treasure trove she needed most. "No dice, Rune. Nothing matters more to me than keeping my brother safe."
He smirked. "I'll do my best not to make him a collateral casualty."
So arrogant! Rune seemed to take those vows to the Lore seriously. Why not try one? He loved it when she drank from him, so . . . "If we aren't partners in killing Nix, if I don't go everywhere you go when involved in that mission, then I vow to the Lore I won't drink blood."
"You did not just say that." He actually reeled a little. "You will be bound by that vow, compelled by it, even if you later decide differently. You gave few qualifiers--and no time limit."
"What's the big deal?"
"Say I returned here in five seconds with the Valkyrie's head and your brother safely in tow. All your problems would be solved. Yet because you didn't accompany me, you wouldn't be able to drink blood--ever. The vow would prevent you from ingesting it. You'd be incapable of it!"
He had to be overreacting. No way a few words were so powerful.
"So I either have to partner with you or allow you to starve." He pointed his finger at her. "Guess which way I'm leaning, vampire!" He was madder than he'd been about his stuff. "You shouldn't throw those words around, much less so broadly! It was an immature move. Which is completely understandable given your age."
"Look, I've never made a vow like that before I did with you, okay?"
"Yet you refuse to read the Book of Lore and educate yourself?"
Ugh! She wanted nothing more! "I'm having a hard time believing words could make me starve."
He pulled that trinket from his pocket. "Vow to the Lore you'll never take this talisman from me without my permission."
"So it's gone from trinket to talisman?" She stepped closer. "Tell me what that is."
"Perhaps I will in time. If you make the vow."
"Fine. I vow to the Lore I'll never take that from you without your permission."
He held it out to her.
When she reached for it, her hand veered to the right as if repelled by some invisible force. Brows drawn, she attempted again. Same result. She raised her chin. "Then my vow is bulletproof. Good. That means we'll work together to kill Nix."
"I have done this by myself a time or two, vampire."
"You've failed with her twice already. I botched your attempt from the roof--"
"Because I chose not to kill you." He squared his shoulders, clearly unused to criticism about his skill. "In a nanosecond, I could have shot you and strung another arrow for the Valkyrie."
"You couldn't hit her when she attacked me. I assume you were trying?" When he'd been yelling for Jo.
He ground his fangs.
She had him! "Then that settles it. We're partners in crime for this mission."
"I'll make sure it's a very short mission." He strode closer to her. "We begin now."
"I need to get clothes from my place first." She gestured at her bare feet.
"There's more I want to say about your actions--my wrath is in no way appeased--but I'm curious about your home, since you found mine quaint."
"After that, will we go to Nix's?" Jo tried to picture a mad Valkyrie's crib. "Does she live in a different dimension?"
"She resides not far from New Orleans on a property called Val Hall. But there's no need to go there. I have spies watching it every minute of the day. They'll alert me if she returns there."
"How?"
"This rune will glow." He pointed to a band inked around his right wrist. "In any case, we hope she doesn't. The wraiths guarding Val Hall make it the safest place for her."
"Wraiths?"
"Spectral she-beings. They fly around the mansion, keeping intruders out."
"How
do you kill them?"
"You don't; they're already dead." He took her arm. "It'd be best just to show you. But say nothing about what we intend. The nymphs concealed around Val Hall would overhear it."
Concealed? "So?"
"So they're there to help me for two reasons. One: I fucked them. Two: They believe I only want to sleep with Nix. They can't hear us arguing about how best to assassinate her." He traced Jo to an overgrown stretch of misty bayou countryside.
Moss dangled from oaks. Fog draped the area. Lightning rods jutted all over the property, corralling repeated bolts.
"We're in Valkyrie territory now. They give off lightning with emotion. Feed from it too."
"Do they all control it like Nix, making cages and blades?"
He shook his head. "As the primordial of her species, she must have learned to wield it."
"This place looks like a mad scientist's laboratory."
"You haven't seen the worst yet."
As she and Rune approached a clearing, a sprawling, creepy mansion came into view. Against a background of lightning, ghostly females in ragged red garments flew through the air, circling the structure. "The wraiths?"
"Also known as the Ancient Scourge," Rune said. "They're as strong as Titanian steel, and even older than I am. You can't tunnel under them, can't fly over, can't trace past. Overpowering them is impossible."
She raised her face to scent the air. Thad was here! Behind their guard? She'd just tensed to do something when Rune clamped her forearm and traced her back to Tortua.
"Why'd you leave?" She flung her arm away. "Thad is inside! I can challenge Nix. She might come out to fight me!"
"She's not in Val Hall."
"We can wait there until she shows up."
"The other Valkyries wouldn't tolerate it. I could keep you safe, but I couldn't do anything for your brother until we handled the guard dogs. If you anger Val Hall's inhabitants, they might take it out on him."
Jo made a sound of frustration. Resigning herself to a wait, she said, "I can't believe Thad's in there." At least she hadn't scented his fear. He and Nix had seemed chummy. "If Nix isn't there, who's watching him?"
"Her Valkyrie sisters. They're likely coddling him, convincing him to join their alliance."
In other words, they were brainwashing her brother. "There has to be a way around those wraiths." If tracing past them wouldn't work, ghosting and walking right through them probably wasn't an option.
"For now, our best bet is to hunt Nix. You have to be patient."
"Patient? Not my strong suit. You got a plan B?"
He gazed away and murmured, "Always."
Why did that one word send a chill down her spine?
THIRTY-THREE
Josephine took Rune's hand to trace him to her home, what promised to be some grand manor or stately castle. As she began to teleport, she and Rune seemed to fade before traveling. Whereas Sian's tracing was quick and seamless, the vampire's left him swaying.
Rune frowned at his new surroundings, a small dingy room with red carpet worn down to the foundation and paint curling away from the cinder block walls. A garish floral cover topped the bed, and the air conditioner rattled. "Where did you take us?"
"To my digs."
"This is where you live? It's a rat trap! You had the nerve to call my place quaint?" In one corner of the room, next to stacks of comic books were stacks of cash. "If you've got money, why not get a nicer place?" This one was pitiful and demoralizing. The only positive he could discern? It was spotlessly clean.
"I like to fly under the radar. I don't mind it here."
A picnic table stretched the length of one wall, covered with random things: a phone, a tiara, plastic beads, a metal stick with a camera on the end.
"Immortals with power simply don't live like this."
"I can't get an ID, okay?"
"I could get you one in an hour." He bit the inside of his cheek. She'd never need an ID because he could never set her free in the world. She still potentially had his memories. "So this is where the fair Josephine sleeps. Since you've taken my blood that first night, have you had dreams of me? Experienced any scenes from my past?"
"Oh, yeah, constantly. I love watching you screw two hundred nymphs at one time and kick puppies."
"I have never kicked a puppy."
Rolling her eyes at him, she crossed to a garment rack filled with dark clothes, all in various stages of disrepair. She selected black jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt with some band logo, then tossed them on the bed.
"Why did you dress as a man-eater the other night?" Definitely not to seduce Thaddeus. "You wore that skimpy red dress to impress me."
"Don't flatter yourself." No denial.
A cracked full-length mirror hung on the bathroom door. Had she inspected her reflection there before setting out to find him? "Perhaps that's why you made your earlier vow--your power play--because you yearn to be near me. And now we're trapped together for as long as the mission continues." He should still be pissed over that play; yet he found the corners of his lips curling.
And for some reason, his cock was semihard.
"Believe whatever you like, Rune, but I told you why I made that vow." To protect her brother.
If Nix found the two siblings valuable, then the Morior should as well. Though Rune might have difficulty assassinating the oracle, he could hurt her by recruiting the weapons Nix wanted: Josephine and Thaddeus.
It wouldn't matter that Josephine knew his and his allies' secrets if she became an ally herself.
He crossed to the picnic table, reading the inscription: Orleans Parish Parks. He inspected a sequin-covered phone, then moved on to the next item. "What is all this stuff?" He twirled a plastic tiara on his forefinger.
She snatched it from him. "Mementos from my experiences." She set down the tiara, arranging it just so.
"So you took my talisman to remember me by?"
Shrug. The one that meant Yes, Rune.
"How do you steal so easily? And why not anything of significant value?"
"Like your relics? All you're doing is inviting B&E."
At his blank look, she said, "Breaking and entering? People coming into your territory to boost your stuff?"
He'd noticed a brace on her motel room door. She might be a hybrid, but she was just as territorial as other vampires he'd known.
She walked to a set of drawers, opening one filled with underwear, selecting two pieces of black lace. "So what's up with your talisman anyway? I've seen you roll it in your pocket."
"I'll start talking about my past as soon as you tell me anything about yours." He sat on the bed, his good mood unaffected. How could he feel this way after what he'd lost? For millennia, his collection had been his one nondeadly pursuit. Perhaps it'd masked his lack in other areas.
No generations to discover before him; no generation to come from him; no hope of a mate.
Now as he gazed at the vampire about to undress, he had difficulty recalling which piece had been his favorite. Which one his newest. At least she'd spared his precious library. Still, he said, "I should destroy everything here for turnabout."
She smiled over her shoulder. "See where that lands you."
He leaned back on the bed, hands behind his head, inhaling the meadowberry scent of her pillow. "So you believed I was out diddling nymphs, and you smashed my belongings? You must've been in a fit of jealousy." Possessiveness had always rankled the hells out of him. Strangely, hers made his cock grow harder.
He'd still break her of it though. "This is why we need to work on your jealousy issues. . . ." He trailed off when she removed the shirt she'd borrowed from him, leaving her naked in front of the cracked mirror.
He rubbed his now-aching cock. When he could drag his gaze off her ass, he met her eyes in the mirror. Black forked out over his. "If we're going to be partners on this mission, we'll partner in other ways."
"How's that?" As she wriggled into a tiny thong, light glinted off the metal
of her nipple piercings.
He needed to suck those nipples so hard she'd feel him the next day. "Prepare for blood and bed play." Once his task was complete, they wouldn't leave his room for weeks.
"You're bringing up sex again? I'm not looking for a meaningless hookup. Be warned: I'm going all-in with the next guy I sleep with. Relationship, trust, commitment, love. The works."
So young. So immature. "What do you know about any of these things?"
She fastened a lacy bra over tits that should never be covered. "I've seen love, and I want it for myself." The combat-boot-wearing blood-drinker wanted romance?
Fascinating woman. Still, he made a scoffing sound.
Her eyes flickered as she explained, "When two people form an unbreakable bond, it's like a reactor, feeding them power and heat and a sense of belonging. It makes them strong. They're the true superheroes."
She was so passionate about this, he could almost find himself believing. Then he remembered reality. "Dark fey don't love. We aren't capable of it."
She glared at him as she reached for her jeans. "Don't pull that Spock shit with me. Everyone's capable of it."
"Spock?"
"Star Trek? TV show? He's all logic and pointed ears."
"So Spock is a fey? They are known for both." Rune was somewhat versed in this world's popular culture since his sources--mainly the nymphs--were. But he wasn't a hundred percent certain about Spock.
Josephine rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'd never sleep with you unless we were exclusive."
"In your strange imaginings, how long am I not to take another?" That he was considering even a day of monogamy . . .
"If you have sex with me, you'll be telling me you want a commitment, a bond between only us. That you will never want another female as long as you live."
He tilted his head as she tugged jeans over her ravishing ass. Then her words sank in. "Given your parameters, sex is decidedly off the table," he said, even knowing he'd bed her soon. He'd seduce her into thinking his way.
Seduction was what he did. "Your views on this are naive. Not surprisingly."
She pulled on her T-shirt. "Your loss."
He was fine with his life right now. Or, at least, not utterly miserable, as Dalli had said. Any other male would kill to have Rune's existence, traveling worlds, warring, and swiving new females each night.
Now this vampire wanted to change Rune once more? "You've known me for four days--and you were passed out for two of them. Yet you think you know me well enough to have a relationship?"