"I gave you all the info." I motioned to a note I'd tacked up on the fridge.
Oona looked back over her shoulder at it and read it aloud. "Amaryllis Mori. The Nysa club in Gold Coast. That's it?"
"That's all you need to know if you decide to send out a search party," I said. "But don't be premature about it. Wait until at least three A.M. before freaking out. If you're worried, text me first."
"But you have to reply to the text, or I'll panic. You know me."
"I do."
"Be careful, Mal. There's a lot of crazies out tonight because of the holiday tomorrow," Oona cautioned. "I'd go with you, but I'm no good in a fight."
I smiled. "That's true, but I appreciate the sentiment." I bent down and kissed Bowie on his forehead. "'Bye, Bowie. Be good for Oona."
With that, I left, heading out into the city to commit my first independent kill.
EIGHTEEN
Hiding out beside the dumpster in the back alley behind the gentlemen's club, I had to appreciate that at least the garbage smelled better in the Gold Coast than it did around Shibuya. It was still dank, and the air held the putrid stench of stale beer, moldy food, and exhaust fumes.
Even a nice establishment like this--and Nysa was arguably the nicest strip club in the whole city--had a familiar stench to it. Whenever the back door to Nysa opened, the scent of cheap buffalo wings and sweat would waft out, along with the thumping bass of whatever music the women danced to.
The building itself had been styled after the Greek architecture that inspired the name, with Parthenonesque pillars surrounding it. They'd added plenty of gold flourishes and neon lights for good measure.
It was getting late, and while I had seen plenty of women coming out after their shifts--all high heels and body glitter--I had yet to see Amaryllis Mori. I was beginning to fear that tonight might be a bust, but then I began to feel it.
My sword felt heavier and grew warmer on my hip. I glanced down and saw that Sigrun had begun glowing a dull purple in its sheath; soon it would be bright enough to light up the entire alley.
The anxious electricity raced through me, and it was difficult to force myself to stand still. My body wanted to move, to run, to chase anything it could. My breathing grew more shallow as a metallic taste filled my mouth. The buzzing around my heart intensified, sending a heat pulsing through me, and the pressure began to build in the base of my stomach.
The hyperfocus kicked in, and I could barely feel my own body. I was aware of every subtle change in the breeze, every tiny sound that happened in the fifty-foot radius around me. The world slowed down, and I saw everything.
Amaryllis finally stepped out of the club, and she was even more beautiful in real life than she was in pictures. Her skin was like porcelain, with her long slender legs stretching below her short skirt to her stiletto heels. A few gold-leaf extensions had been added to her long silken black hair, glinting as she walked.
She took a few steps in the opposite direction from me, going toward the street where she could catch a taxi, but she stopped short. Warily, she turned back to look at me--she was the first to look at me the entire time I'd been staking out Nysa--and her big doe eyes widened even farther.
"No." She shook her head once, slow and deliberate. "It can't be you. It can't be now."
"Amaryllis Mori, you have been chosen to die," I said, as I walked toward her. "It is my duty to return you to the darkness from whence you came."
She smiled then, a bright red slit spreading out across her face. "Not if I send you first."
In the hours leading up to our confrontation, I had read every single thing I could find about the Jorogumos. But I had never seen one in real life before, and there really isn't anything that can prepare you for watching a beautiful young woman transform into a spider.
Her face changed first--her lips peeled back, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, including two fanged incisors, and her eyes multiplied, with bright red eyeballs popping out all across her forehead and cheeks.
Her legs went next--the pale satiny skin ripping open with an audible tearing sound. Her two legs quickly became eight spindly spider legs, covered in venom-filled razor-sharp hairs called setae, and her abdomen filled out and expanded to take on the bulbous shape of a black widow.
Her torso remained mostly unchanged, with her slinky dress clinging to her womanly curves, and human arms. Her willowy neck remained attached to her monstrous half-human, half-spider head, and her long black hair swirled around her.
"You think you can kill me, little Valkyrie?" she cried out at me, smiling through her fangs at me. "Kurnugia is more powerful than you'll ever know."
As she stepped closer to me, her pointed feet pattered on the asphalt. I stood my ground, and I felt no fear. The Valkyrie in me had taken over completely, and the only thing I could think about was ending Amaryllis.
"It gives me no pleasure to end you," I told her as I unsheathed Sigrun, but the pressure was building inside me so much, I could hardly stand it.
"Too bad," Amaryllis said, somehow making a tsking sound with her awful mouth. "Because I am going to love killing you."
She swung at me with her leg, and I narrowly ducked out of the way. In her spider form, she was much taller than me, which made it much harder to cut off her head. I jumped at her, but my sword merely nicked her shoulder before she struck me with her leg and sent me flying back into the building.
It didn't hurt, because I couldn't feel anything other than the anticipation of the kill, but for a moment I couldn't breathe. But everything I read had said she shouldn't have been able to throw me like that. Jorogumos were weak compared to Valkyries.
Amaryllis ran at me, and I tried to scramble out of the way. The sharp end of her foot stabbed through my calf like a knife, and she lifted me up off the ground. I dangled upside down, as she held me up by my left leg, and I could hear the sound of my pants and flesh ripping.
"The tables have begun to turn, little Valkyrie," Amaryllis said, holding me up in front of her. "But don't worry. Soon enough, the underworld will come for you."
She cackled then, and I swung out with Sigrun, slicing off the end of her leg. She howled in pain as I fell to the ground, with the end of her leg still embedded in mine.
I lay motionless on my back, letting her charge at me. She stabbed her foot into my right shoulder, pinning me to the ground, and I allowed her to. I waited until she was hovering right above me, her saliva dripping down onto my forehead, and I drove my sword right into her abdomen.
She screamed like a banshee--her voice echoing through everything and sounding like a thousand voices screaming out at once. Her belly opened up, pouring out thick black blood, and she stepped back from me, unpinning me.
As she lost blood, she stumbled and tried futilely to hold it in. While the injury was severe, it wasn't fatal, and I still needed to finish the job.
"No! No!" she screamed as I climbed onto her back. "No, you can't do this! It isn't supposed to happen like this!"
I grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back, and told her, "This isn't my decision to make." Then I pulled my sword across her throat, easily slicing through her neck and decapitating her.
The air around us began glowing bright purple from Sigrun, and a wind came up, out of Amaryllis, and twisted through the alley. Relief began flowing over me in warm waves, and my muscles quivered.
I climbed off the corpse of the Jorogumo, and I fell to my knees on the ground beside her, breathing in deeply.
The sound of wings flapping pulled me from my moment of relieved euphoria, and I looked up to see a massive black raven standing at the end of the alley. It was roughly the size of a bobcat, larger than any raven I'd ever seen before, and its beady eyes were locked right on me.
Even though the purple light from Sigrun had all but gone out, the light somehow seemed to linger on the bird's black feathers. It tilted its head as it watched me, squawking once.
"What do you want?" I demanded, but the raven
had no reply. It just flapped its wings and disappeared into the night sky.
NINETEEN
While I was in full Valkyrie mode I may have felt nothing, but now the pain hit me with the intensity of a thousand suns. I doubled over on the ground, writhing in the thick blood spilling out from Amaryllis's body.
"Malin?" a familiar voice called out, sounding panicked, and suddenly Quinn Devane was at my side, kneeling down beside me. "By the gods, Malin, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm great," I lied through gritted teeth.
She frowned at me, brushing back her silver hair from her face. "You are not great. You were attacked by a Jorogumo, and you have poison flowing through your veins."
I wanted to argue with her, but there was an agonizing fire inside me that felt like it was burning me from the inside out, so all I could manage was a grimace.
"It shouldn't be hitting you this hard, though," Quinn said, her husky voice tightening with worry. "Valkyries aren't entirely immune, but the pain shouldn't be so severe."
I squeezed my eyes shut and barely managed to say, "Sorry my pain isn't at the correct levels."
"Wait. Just wait," Quinn commanded, and I heard her rummaging through her purse. A few seconds later, she held a cold vial to my lips. "Drink this."
"What is it?" I asked.
"I'm not a stranger trying to roofie you in a bar. I'm your..." Quinn trailed off, then quickly added, "Whatever. Just drink it."
I did as I was told, swallowing down the cold bitter liquid. It tasted exactly how gasoline smelled, and I barely gagged it down.
"Oh, hell, that's terrible," I groaned.
"It's not supposed to taste good," Quinn said. "It's an antivenom, not a soda pop. It'll stop the pain."
Sure enough, within moments I felt it running through me like ice, putting out all the fire that had been threatening to burn me alive. I blinked a few times, and stared up into her worried emerald eyes.
"Thanks," I said.
"You're not all healed up yet," Quinn warned me. "You'll still need Oona to stitch you up when you get home."
I groaned as a realization hit me. "That's what you're doing here. Oona sent you to check up on me."
"And you're lucky that she did. It's strange that the venom affected you so powerfully...." She trailed off for a moment, thinking, then she shook her head. "But it did, and you could've died, rolling around in pain, if I hadn't gotten to you."
"I would've been fine," I insisted, even if I wasn't sure that was true. "I'm always fine."
Quinn let out an exasperated sigh, a sound I'd heard quite often during our brief relationship. She would always talk about how much she enjoyed being around me, but the thing I seemed to do most was exasperate her.
"Why do you always have to be like this?" Quinn asked. She sat back on her knees, watching me as I struggled to get up. "There's nothing wrong with accepting help."
"There is if I don't need it," I said and then stumbled and nearly fell over.
I would've actually fallen, if Quinn hadn't gotten up and raced to catch me. Her arm around me felt strong, stronger than I remembered her being, and I allowed myself to lean into her.
"I'm walking you home," Quinn said firmly. "And I don't care what you say. I won't be able to live with myself if I don't make sure you get home safe."
"Fine, if it's what you want...." My voice trailed off.
"It is," she said, and we started walking down the alley toward the street. Her arm securely around my waist, me leaning against her as I limped.
My luft was parked three blocks away, but I was in no condition to drive it. I didn't know if Quinn planned on walking me the entire way home, or if she had a car somewhere nearby. But at the moment I didn't care all that much. I was just relishing the way it felt to be touching her again.
Her skin was so soft, and I remembered the way it felt when she ran her hands over my body. My mind flashed to when she had kissed me for the first time. Her mouth had been so hungry and eager, and she tasted like plums. We had been drinking, but the only thing I was drunk on was her.
I had never felt that way before I met her--so light-headed and excited and nervous and wonderfully sick.
"What were you doing anyway?" I asked, trying to distract myself from my own thoughts. "Before Oona called you to come rescue me."
"A Feast of the Dead pre-party," she replied, and that explained her outfit.
It was a skintight sweater dress with thigh-high boots. The dress was low-cut, so when I happened to look down, I could see the edges of her black lace bra barely covering her chest, and her Vegvisir amulet lay between her breasts.
I pulled my gaze away, forcing myself to look at the sidewalk in front of us. "Were you with anyone?"
"So what if I was?" she asked, not unkindly.
"I was just making conversation," I contended.
She waited a beat before asking, "Are you still seeing that guy you were with the other night?"
"I'm not seeing him."
"That's not what it looked like to me."
"He's just my mechanic," I insisted.
Quinn scoffed. "Uh-huh. My mechanic has never looked at me the way he was looking at you."
"Well, maybe you should wear this outfit, then."
"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
I sighed. "I was just trying to say you look amazing tonight."
"Oh." She paused. "Thank you. I'd say that you look good, but honestly, you look like crap."
I laughed. "I wouldn't expect any less from you."
"Why were you out on your own, anyway? You could've gotten yourself killed, and are you even licensed yet?" Quinn asked, and I involuntarily tensed.
Telling Oona about Marlow had been one thing. She'd been my best friend forever, and I pretty much had to tell her everything. But the more people who knew about Marlow's flagrancies, the more likely it would be that a higher-up would find out, and then she would be done for.
"My mother had stuff to do," I answered cagily. "She couldn't be here, and I had a job, so I did it."
"That's not protocol."
"Please, Quinn," I begged. "I've had a long night. Can you not lecture me, for once?"
"Oh, sorry," she said with exaggerated remorse, her words dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't realize that having a conversation was lecturing you."
And then I remembered exactly why I had ended things with her. Quinn was always pushing and pushing, demanding more from me than I was ready to give. Probably even more than I was capable of. I would never be enough for Quinn, no matter how hard she tried to mold me into being who she needed me to be.
When we'd first met, she'd taken my breath away with her beauty and her quick wit. But by the end I was suffocating under her unmet expectations.
I stopped. "You know what? I'll just get a taxi." I pulled away from her, even though putting the full weight on my leg hurt like hell, but I kept my expression stoic, so she wouldn't know how much it hurt to walk away from her.
Her face instantly fell, and she reached out for me, but I just hobbled back from her. "Malin, no. I didn't mean it like that. I can get you home."
"No, a taxi will be fine." I walked to the edge of the sidewalk, raising my hand to flag down the first thing that came by.
"Malin," Quinn repeated, just as a bright yellow hovercar pulled up beside me.
"It's fine, Quinn," I assured her. "Thanks for all your help. I'll see you around."
TWENTY
"Oh, bloody hell!" I cried out, causing Bowie to thump his back foot on the floor in a show of anger.
He'd already taken to hiding under the kitchen table, since I'd been cursing and yelling for the past twenty minutes as Oona attempted to take care of my battle wounds. She had cut off my pants just above the knee so it would be easier to get to my injury.
"Isn't there something you have to make this more painless?" I asked through gritted teeth.
Oona knelt on the floor in front of me, wearing thick vinyl gloves t
o protect her from the Jorogumo venom inside the setae, and her tackle box of thaumaturgy healing and apothecary tools was open beside her. She'd placed a towel on the floor underneath me to help maintain the mess, since my leg was soaked with blood--red from me and black from the Jorogumo.
"Okay, Mal, you have a giant spider leg jabbed straight through the muscle of your calf," Oona explained as calmly as she could. "There's only so much I can do to make this painless. You really should go see a doctor."
"No doctors." I shook my head.
While a doctor, with expertise, sterile equipment, and syringes filled with beautiful, beautiful morphine would be ideal, I couldn't risk it. Doctors would ask questions, which could lead to them figuring out that I was working on my own as an unlicensed Valkyrie, and they were legally required to report that to the Evig Riksdag.
So that left Oona as my only option for medical care. And she really wasn't that bad at it. She'd already stitched up the puncture wound in my shoulder that Amaryllis had given me, but pulling a spider leg covered in needlelike hairs out of my leg was a little beyond her usual area of expertise.
"Here." Oona held a thick piece of leather toward me. "I'm gonna pull the leg out now. Bite down on that."
"All right, screw it, let's do this." I took it from her and did as I was told. I bit down as hard as I could and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Here goes nothing," Oona said, more to herself than to me, and pain exploded in my leg.
It already hurt like hell before she even touched it, but now the setae were burrowing deeper into my muscle as she yanked on the spider leg. It felt as if she were trying to pull my leg inside out.
When the pain began to reach the point where I felt I couldn't take it anymore--I screamed against the leather in my mouth as nausea rolled over me, and darkness edged around my thoughts like I was on the verge of blacking out--I heard the wet thwak as the spider leg finally came free.
"There!" Oona declared proudly, but I already felt it.
My leg still hurt something fierce, but nowhere near as bad as before. I spit out the leather and relaxed back against the couch, gasping for breath.
"It should be much easier from here on out," Oona assured me. "I'm going to start cleaning it now."
I winced as she started digging around in my leg, getting out any setae that had decided to stay embedded in my muscle, and I stared up at the ceiling.