Snickers sounded behind her.
--This is amusing to them?-- Allixta was spoiling for a kill. --How will those witchlings feel once I put a lien on their abilities? When all the spells they've ever cast boomerang back upon them? Their 'House of Witches' will crumble in a time of nightmares. The tax lady cometh.--
Nix gestured back at Val Hall. "Tsk tsk, Rune, you and your mate didn't leave this place as you found it."
The mighty oaks were strewn about like driftwood, the wraiths still dazed above. Upended cars crowded the property.
"But," Nix said, "we remain."
Allixta conjured a larger beam of magick. --Easily remedied.-- Addressing everyone, she said, "Trifling beings, you are presently beneath my boot heel; you just don't have the awareness to grasp your own doom. We are the bringers of it."
Lothaire, the red-eyed vampire, laughed. "Well, I like them already." At others' glares, he added, "What? That sounds like something I would have said. With, of course, a dash more verve." Then he asked Nix, "Are we going to war or not? If we don't, this exercise is tedious enough to count as repayment, soothsayer."
Nix absently told him, "Always with the payments, Enemy of Old."
Rune asked the Valkyrie, "You know what my arrow will do?"
She nodded happily. "It will pulverize all our bones, and nothing will ever heal us."
Lothaire said, "That sounds unpleasant. This is what we get for planning a fair fucking fight. We deserve nothing less." To his female, he said, "Trace the hell away from here. Now."
Rune drew his bowstring. "Tell me where Josephine is."
The lightning bolts around Nix flared and expanded. "I'll never let that arrow hit the ground. I'll deflect it with my lightning--or my very body."
--Can she do this?-- Blace asked.
Rune said, --Yes.--
"And if you kill me," Nix continued, "your poor mate won't be a blood drinker anymore, will she?"
Blace stiffened beside Rune. --What is she speaking of?--
--Josephine made a vow to the Lore not to drink if I went about the mission to kill Nix without her.--
Blace narrowed his eyes. --Then you can't target this Valkyrie.--
Sian said, --I can.--
Allixta added, --As can I. The demon and I will wipe out this entire force.--
Blace pointed out, --Orion never commanded us to war here. Not yet.--
One of the wraiths had begun to stir. It drifted over and materialized a massive braid of hair, as if pulling it from the ether, then dropped it at Nix's feet. The braid was as long as Uthyr's tail. Locks of all different colors had been plaited into it.
The Valkyries' payments to the Scourge.
Nix's hands flew to her cheeks in mock surprise. "But whatever could this be?" She toed the braid. "Are we starting our bar tab over? We did, after all, pay for continuous protection, and wraiths are levitating on the job right above us." She confided to Rune, "It is so hard to find good help these days." To the Scourge, she called, "Such a shame for you, when we were only one toll away from enslavement." She gave Rune a broad wink.
She might as well have booted him in the balls. --She set all this up. The wraiths were about to exact their payment. She couldn't do anything to them, so she put me into play, a pawn.--
For the first time, he wondered if this Valkyrie warlord had a shot at victory. If she ever grew coherent . . .
She stroked the bat on her shoulder, brushing away dust. "Rune, you're testing the limits of your mate's vow just by being here without her. Only one way to reverse this damage."
"How?" he grated.
"You vow to the Lore never to kill me. That would end your mission, nullifying her vow."
--She played me utterly.-- He'd already lessened his utility to the Morior this night. Now he would reduce it further? Would Nix go down the line, neutralizing the Morior one at a time until none were free to take her out?
He yearned to kill her just to rid his allies of her. His fingers tightened on his bow. Was he about to fail Orion for the first time?
"Before it's too late," Nix said. "To sweeten the pot, everyone leaves in peace tonight."
Allixta's eyes flashed. "You presume to dictate terms--to us?"
"Yes, least-favorite-Wiccan-person. Until you return with the monsters you keep in Perdishian. Until you return with our Undoing. But my warlocks are working on a shield." Some of the Vertas immortals cast her questioning looks at that. Lothaire appeared amused. "I've heard it's challenging to take over a world--when you can't reach it."
This was a threat Rune would normally investigate and contain. For now, all he could do was pop his arrow off the string and slide it into his quiver.
"Chin up, Rune," Nix said. "You don't really want to kill me. If you do, I will rise in memory and wallow in power. All the factions of Gaia will unite under my banner."
"Very well, soothsayer."
Allixta snapped, --Don't you dare, baneblood!--
"And no qualifiers, if you please," Nix said. "This is for your mate's health and safety."
Gods damn it. "I vow to the Lore never to target you for death."
"Excellent." Nix smiled. "That wasn't so hard, now, was it? Perhaps you'd like to go even further? Come, archer, step over to our side. Become one of the good guys."
"Good? Valkyrie, you have no idea what you're doing. You're far too young and confused to understand the ramifications of your actions. You spoke of the monsters we keep in Perdishian? They display more reason than you."
--Except for Kolossos,-- Sian, Blace, and Allixta said as one. Darach grunted his agreement.
As if Rune hadn't spoken, Nix said, "Join us, and I'll give you a signing bonus, tell you what the symbols on your talisman mean, what powers it doesn't hold. Maybe I could fill in the blanks of your mother's last letter to you."
Nix knew? "I'm Morior," Rune said simply. Orion might punish him for making that vow, but he still had Rune's loyalty.
"I understand," Nix said, tucking her hair behind her pointed ear. "You can't blame me for trying. To win this war, I'll use every trick in my tricksy little bag of tricks." She faced Sian and mouthed, Hold on to your ass, demon.
He answered with a killing look.
Then she whispered to her bat, "Evac, Bertil." With a screech, it flew off.
Rune told Nix, "Whatever your interest in Josephine is, retire it. She and Thaddeus are with us."
--Scent.-- Darach sounded like he was on the very brink of a full turning. --Mate.--
Rune tensed. --You have Josephine's scent?--
He nodded. --Close.--
--We'll start in the city. I'll trace you all.-- They clamped hands on his shoulders and forearms.
--We flee like cowards now?-- Allixta said as Darach growled. But those two couldn't trace, had no choice but to come.
With one hand, Allixta grabbed Rune. With her other, she seized one of Curses' whiskers in her fist. --Fine!--
--We'll return,-- Blace said. --This fight is young yet. For tonight, we are done here.--
Darach wasn't.
He inhaled a long breath, his immense lungs expanding.
--Oh, fuck.-- Rune and the others braced.
With a gleam in her eyes, Allixta said, --Huff and puff, primordial. Do it!--
The wolf released his roar. A primal blast.
Nix's lightning protected her, but beyond . . .
The gust scattered yelling immortals and swept the beleaguered wraiths across the night sky like flecks of dust. The force sent the manor's roof flying like a disk. Boards groaned, glass shattering. Walls collapsed.
Just as the deafening demolition quieted . . . the chimney crumpled.
Darach had flattened the manor. Val Hall was no more. The Valkyrie leader stood against a backdrop of destruction.
Rune nodded at her. "Good warring to you, Nix."
She smiled blankly. "And a happy Accession to you, Rune."
SIXTY-SIX
A cool cloth bathed Jo's face. "Please wake up," s
aid a muffled voice. "I didn't know it was you!"
Consciousness came by degrees, her head pounding. She blinked open her eyes. "Thaddie?" Her brain felt like jelly after her strangling.
After that memory.
Thad tossed away a washcloth, taking her hand. "I'm here. I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were Jo. I never would've hurt you." He helped her sit up on a couch.
She was in a living room with fancy decor and expensive-looking furniture. "Where've you taken me?" Her voice was scratchy.
"To my family's place in New Orleans. It's warded. You're totally safe."
New Orleans? He'd always lived in a suburban pad in Texas.
Except when he lived in a phantom realm for one day. He and I crossed the universe, held in some kind of stasis. They must be thousands of years old.
She hadn't unlocked everything from her childhood--only a few other dim snippets. Maybe she couldn't handle more than a peek at a time. "Thad, I've been trying to get to you in Val Hall for two weeks."
"Earlier, you said you were there to save me. From what?"
"Valkyries. I smelled your fear. I freaked out."
"Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I was kinda scared of . . . you and that archer. You two were attacking, and I was inside. I didn't know who you were."
"You weren't a prisoner, were you?" He'd been in no danger, just as Rune had assured her.
"They're my allies. They've been helping me with my powers. Nix told me a huge threat to the coven was coming, so I was there to protect Val Hall."
Nix, getting the last laugh once again.
"She called for all hands on deck."
So that's why so many immortals had been there. Jo rubbed her throat. She hadn't thought things could possibly get shittier for her. Wrong.
She grieved for her mother. She already missed Rune, even though he was a cheating dickwad. Her neck was killing her.
But . . . I'm talking to my little brother. "What happened after I blacked out?"
"The Morior came."
Rune had shown at Val Hall after he'd gotten through screwing a nymph. His allies had been there too? "Are Nix and the others fighting the Morior?" Not that Jo was worried about Rune.
"She said no one would die tonight; there'd just be a lot of redecorating or something. But I wasn't taking any chances with you when five freaking Bringers of Doom showed up with a big freaking cat! Before I ditched, your mate gave me this." Thad dug into his pocket, handed over Rune's talisman. "He said he wanted you to have it, that you'd know what it meant."
It meant he was falling for her. Which made his actions even worse! That prick could be in love with her, and he still would break her heart.
Jo reached for the talisman, half expecting her hand to veer. But then, he'd given it to her this time. She shoved it into her jeans pocket. Now she was going to have to see him just to return his belonging. "He say anything else?"
"That he needed to explain some things to you, and you needed to feed."
"Explain some things?" She'd bet. Dove, you can't keep a dick like mine caged when it wants to be free.
"Is he the dark fey I've heard about?" Thad asked. "Were your tears black because you've been drinking from him?"
"Yeah." She glanced at a mirror on one wall. Thad had washed the tracks from her face. "My blood'll be red soon enough." She turned back to him. "Do you remember me?"
He seemed embarrassed. "I'm sorry, but not much. I remember impressions. You singing to me under a bridge. Teaching me how to high-five. But I didn't know your face before."
"Then how?"
"All my life, I thought you were dead--until about a week or so ago when the crap hit the fan with my mom." He ran a hand over his mouth. "She found out what I am."
"You're not supposed to tell humans about our world."
"I know. She kind of caught me off guard."
Jo popped her neck. Thad could do a damn stranglehold like nobody's business. "Did MizB see you ghost? Go intangible? I do that involuntarily sometimes."
"Uh, not ghosting so much. More on the vamp side of things. Let's just say she discovered I drink blood." His cheeks flushed.
"How long you been drinking?"
"Only a few weeks. You?"
"Since I was eleven." He looked like he was about to ask more on that sore subject. Not ready yet. "MizB discovered you drink blood. And then . . . ?"
"I figured Mom would freak out to learn her son was a vampire."
Mom. Son. The words needled her.
"And she did. At first, my vampiness seemed to give her the wiggins."
Just as Jo's had done to Thaddie.
"But she mainly kept talking about you. When you came back after you were shot, she thought you were some kind of demon or spirit that was gonna drag me down to hell or something. She told you to go away. After seeing me and hearing a whole 'nother world exists, she realized she'd banished an eleven-year-old girl from what should've been her new family. She had no idea where you were, or if you were safe. She's been overwhelmed with guilt."
Boo-hoo, MizB. Unlike Jo, the woman had gotten fourteen years of idyllic family life with Thad. Framed pictures of Thad milestones lined the fireplace mantel. Screw her.
But he appeared so worried about the woman. "I'm hoping . . . will you see her tonight? I know I'm asking a lot, and we don't deserve even a minute of your time. But I've never seen her cry before this--now she's always on the verge."
"Why would you not deserve my time?"
"Mom said I didn't want to go with you when you came back, didn't even recognize you. How could I not recognize the big sis who raised me?"
"Because I looked different. And you weren't exactly old enough to be a sleuth--I could stuff your ass into a backpack."
He seemed surprised by her crack, then his lips curled. "I heard about the Thadpack too." Seeing him smile began to erase the image of him trying to pop her "bobblehead" off.
She found herself grinning with him--
"Thaddeus?" MizB called from upstairs. "Is that you?"
"Jo, will you please talk to her? Just knowing you're okay would help her so much."
"I'm giving you fair warning: I'm not fit for social interaction on the best of days. And this has not been the best of days." Not to mention her exhaustion and thirst after all that telekinesis. "I was chucking cars not long ago, and I've got no love for your . . . mom." She massaged her temples against her growing headache.
"But you'll do it?" He blinked at her with those big hazel eyes, and she was putty.
Some things never changed. She shrugged.
His face lit up.
Why did he refuse to believe she was a bitch? "You'll end up regretting this, kid." She stood, readying for the showdown.
"No way! Lemme go and prepare her, okay?" He leapt up to rush toward the stairs. At the foot, he turned back. "You won't leave or anything?" He gazed upstairs, then to Jo, seeming torn. He traced to hug her, startling her. He was so tall. He had to hunch down just to rest his chin on her head.
Her surprise faded, and she hugged him back.
"Scared to let you out of my sight for even a minute." He eventually released her. "We'll be right down."
He disappeared, leaving Jo in this strange house--one more development to top off this epically weird night.
SIXTY-SEVEN
When Darach's tracking got Rune close enough to pick up Josephine's trail himself, he raced ahead of the other Morior, following her meadowberry scent. His heart pounded, just as it had ages ago when he'd run headlong to that glen. . . .
He found her in an imposing mansion. His ears twitched when he heard her voice coming from inside. Conscious! She didn't sound afraid or too badly injured.
Her brother was within as well. Rune caught threads of Thad's scent, both new and old, and suspected the boy had taken her back to his home. Detecting no enemies nearby, Rune faced his allies. "I have it from here."
"You don't want us to storm this structure?" Sian asked.
Allixta reached up and scratched Darach under the chin. "Careful, or the wolf might blow it down."
Rune shook his head. "She's safe here with Thaddeus. I'm going to give her a couple of hours to cool off, then approach her."
"A couple of hours?" Allixta dropped her hand. "You told us she's waited half her life to reunite with her brother. Shouldn't they bond before you barge in, with all your nympho drama taking center stage?"
"She needs to know I didn't take that female."
Allixta rolled her eyes. "No, you need the halfling to know that. Selfish male! Let her have some bloody time for herself." To everyone, she said, "Sometimes the lot of you astound me."
Not to go to Josephine's side? At the thought, his desperate need to reach her redoubled.
Allixta said, "You might not have bedded the nymph, but you were in bed with her. You still reek of another female."
Rune turned to Darach, who nodded.
Damn it! This wasn't a simple misunderstanding that could be cleared up by his saying, "I didn't go through with it." He had been in bed with Meliai--the night after he'd claimed his mate. He struggled to recall what had happened with the nymph.
"We could see your mate's pain," Allixta said. "Naturally she'd just escaped your attentions."
"Watch yourself, witch."
"Were you ever unselfish with her? Do anything kind for her?"
He'd taken Josephine to a fey ball. In order to get laid. He'd romanced her. To secure her for the Morior. He'd healed her from a fight. That she would've recovered from anyway.
Things would be different. Change? Now he only wanted the chance to.
"You forget," she added, "we've witnessed how you treat your 'tarts.' "
"It's not like that with Josephine," he snapped.
"Oh, really? Because fate says so?"
"Look into my mind." He gave them wide-open access to his thoughts.
One by one, they did. One by one, they paled.
"That's right," he said, sounding crazed. "I'm fucking gut-sick over her! Do you see why I'm maddened to be with her?"
Sian gave him a pitying glance. "I hope you're as good at apologies as you are at seduction."
In a marveling tone, Blace said, "You're seven thousand years old, and you have no idea how to handle this."
"Because it's that important!" Struggling to rein in his emotions--a blazing inferno--he turned to Allixta. "How long do I give her?"
"You're a spy. Spy on her. You'll know when the time is right to approach her."