Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
Downstairs in Khent’s laboratory, Hecate smoothed Valentine’s hair back, aware the reaper watched her with keen attention. She found his devotion to his mate heartwarming.
And easier to tolerate than the crazed and constantly growling vrykolakas warning everyone to watch their step around his pregnant mate.
Kaia had been pregnant for over six months at this point and likely had another six to go, giving birth to the next White Sea Witch or the powerful vrykolakas’ water-blessed heir. No need for Orion to continue threatening everyone if they looked at Kaia too “aggressively.”
She sighed and stepped away from the slight human, whose breathing suddenly shifted. Hecate peered with her inner senses, connecting with the necromantic powers that surged inside Val.
Finally.
Val opened her eyes. Khent darted to her, taking her in his arms for a hug. She patted his shoulder and looked over at Hecate. “I’m back.”
“Thank Fate.” Hecate smiled.
“No, thank Rolf.” Val eased out of Khent’s arms and into a sitting position on her own, though she continued to clutch his hand. After kissing him and giving him another reassuring hug, she turned to Hecate. “It’s bad. We’re out of time.”
“Varu should be back soon,” she told them. “We spoke to all the masters we could gather, and with the exception of the draugr and vrykolakas tribes, Varu got them all onboard.”
Khent frowned. “Why are those two tribes resisting?”
She sighed. “Likely because they want proof Varu will have the means to control them all. It’s not unexpected. If all the vampires come together and the Bloode Stones won’t contain them, it will be a bloode bath—with an E.”
Khent nodded.
“Still, many of them agreed to the battle anyway. Mostly because they want to fight in this grand brawl. But I’ll take it. We need them.”
“Where are we on finding the last Bloode Stone?” Val asked.
Mormo had recently returned from opening a portal—with her permission—to Mt. Olympus. That asshole, Apollo, had been holding out on her.
Why would none of her siblings play nice?
Before she could curse him in person, because his interference deserved a solid face-to-face tongue-lashing, something shifted.
She tensed, not sure what she felt. As if reality had bent itself in a new fold. Her existence felt heavy for a moment, paused and weighed. “Do you feel that?”
Khent scowled. “What is going on?”
“What? I don’t feel anything.” Val glanced between them. “Is something wrong?”
That quickly, the feeling faded. But the reaper had felt it too. “Interesting.” She studied Val. “You didn’t sense an odd pressure just now?”
Val frowned. “No. Should I have?”
Khent put a hand on her head and closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and dropped his hand. “I don’t feel anything burning inside you. No hint of any Darkness or infection from the imp who bit you. Perhaps your mortality has affected your ability to sense this…whatever this was.”
Like Hecate needed one more problem on top of the million others pressing.
“I need you two to stay here. Val, use the time to fully recover. Khent, please talk some sense into Orion. He’s downstairs in the pool hovering over Kaia.
That girl is way too nice to him. Get him in gear.
I need him and you to be ready to move once we go to war.
Kaia and Val can keep an eye on our home here with me. ”
Val snorted. “I’m awake now. Back to my full strength. I don’t need you to watch over me, Hecate.”
The goddess grinned. “Good. Because I was planning to use you to keep an eye on Kaia. Orion isn’t reasonable about her at all, and we need him out there, fighting what comes. If I tell Kaia I need her to keep an eye on our healing necromancer, will you allow that slight lie?”
Val blinked. “Oh. Okay.”
Khent glared at Hecate.
“What?”
“My mate is stronger than all of them combined. Hmm. Perhaps with the exception of Riley, who as a berserker, is astonishingly powerful.”
“Not Macy?” Val asked with a smirk.
“She’s a human.” He sneered. “Not like you, Valentine.”
“I’m not offended, Khent. Besides, I like when I’m underestimated. Trust me. I’ll kill and reanimate our enemies as allies. Then you and I can brag about how much better we are than the rest.”
“Acceptable.” He winked at her then turned his normally stoic expression on Hecate. “Where would you like me, exactly?”
“Convince Orion to escort you down to see Mormo. He’s hovering in my crossroads in the basement. We have a few more places you need to investigate for growing issues. I think the bazaar might be next.”
“Next?”
Val froze. Hecate recalled that Valentine’s shifter friends owned a pub and eatery at the bazaar, and many of them worked there.
“I’ll check on them,” Khent said, more to Val than Hecate. “I’ll bring Orion with me.” He smirked. “One way or the other, the brute will attend my order.” He departed in a heartbeat.
“That won’t be a problem at all,” Val said drily. “Because Orion just loves to be ordered around by Khent.” She sighed. “I know. His conceit is a big part of him. I find it kind of cute when he tries to order me around.”
Hecate liked the human who was much more powerful than she appeared. Valentine’s ability to bond with the chaotic entity of Ilu was something miraculous in itself. But that she’d survived before, while Ilu had not, had always been a bit suspect.
“Let’s just hope that between our vampires and Rolf, we can last long enough to get the last Bloode Stone into Varu’s hands.”
“And then what?”
“And then we’ll find out where this chaotic Erland character wants to make his last stand.”
“Erland?” Val frowned. “Should I know that name?”
“Not yet. But you will.” Hecate had been learning many interesting things after her last talk with Morpheus and Loki, just moments after she’d left Varu to deal with questions from the gathered masters.
Loki seemed to think Erland was a real entity, now contained in mortal form on the mundane plane. Morpheus agreed and placed the blame for his appearance in the mortal realm on the Norns’ shoulders.
Hmm. She’d been frequenting the oracles and the Furies and Fates. But not the Norns, who’d been strangely quiet.
What did they know? And why did she think she might be too late in finding out?
In a small warehouse on the waterfront of the bustling city of Seattle the humans seemed so fond of, Hafandi looked around. Erland had captured the souls of several hundred humans and fed, leaving behind corrupted flesh and bones. A few of the less broken remains stirred, coming back to life.
An interesting effect of Erland’s feasting—leftover zombified corpses that spread his chaos like a fun little plague. Already a few rats had nibbled, changed, and scurried away to help infect the rest of the city.
“Better, dearest?” she asked him.
He nodded. His eyes remained black, empty of form but not of purpose. “They taste divine.” He chuckled, his voice shifting into growls and grumbles. “That’s a joke.”
“I know.” She grinned. “I swear, it’s like you’re channeling Loki.”
“I’d like to meet him. He feels comfortable. Like home.”
“He’s not to be trusted.”
“I like him already.”
She snickered. Erland watched her, mimicking her smile.
The expression disappeared, and he sighed. “This form is fragile. It won’t last much longer. But I won’t need much more time.”
“Not here, in this world.” She nodded. “Perhaps they can help sustain you better.” She glanced at several powerful beings watching her and Erland with avarice.
A pack of upir, vampires who resided in this area of the world, were fast and strong but not particularly impressive for more than being vampire.
“Come, brothers. Let’s end this one before we take over the rest of the city.” The largest smiled, his fangs sharp.
“Yes, then we’ll show those asshole Night Bloode how weak they truly are.”
“I wonder what chaos tastes like,” another said, and the others laughed.
Hafandi left them to it, curious as to what the entity, Ilu, who remained inside of Erland, thought about all this. Hafandi hadn’t done more than introduce the pair. It would be up to Erland and Ilu if they decided to fight or ally with each other.
But she had better things to do.
She stepped through a small rift in the back of the warehouse, back into Asgard at the base of Yggdrasil. There, she found her sisters arguing over the fraying threads in the Great Weave.
Interesting. She continued to watch from behind a thick tree.
A large valkyrie with an attitude strode closer, angry and not afraid to share it. As she approached, she noticed the blue lines on Hafandi’s face and faltered.
No, I’m not the one you’re looking for, am I? Hafandi smiled. “Come, child. You’re looking for Sylvara, I’d wager.”
The large redhead scowled. “I am.”
At that moment, Urth and Verthandi rose and hurried away, back inside the great house. But not Skuld, who sat, fingering a thread she’d known would start to fray.
To the redhead, Hafandi said, “Take Skuld aside and convince her to leave with you and I’ll deliver you to Sylvara with no one the wiser.
” She winked. “We can’t allow her kind among the valkyries, now can we?
Just because the Norns have helped to raise her doesn’t mean we all agree on her present course.
Have no fear. I’ll watch over the Loom until the others return. ”
The warrior, who looked part jotun with those thighs and those arms, grinned.
“Aye. I’ll be right back.” She called for Skuld’s help with something Hlokk wanted.
A decent enough lie and one that worked because Skuld and Hlokk might as well have been sisters.
They had more in common, loving a good fight.
Skuld paused once, looking over her shoulder, as if she could see Hafandi hanging back, waiting. And perhaps she could. The Daughter of Tomorrow knew what would come.
But she had no idea of what might come, too bogged down in the certainties that life wasn’t meant to have.
Hafandi reached the Great Weave and took a strand off her belt, concentrating. It turned black, like a night full of impossible dreams. She wrapped it around a chunk of other strands. Then she yanked several others away and balled them up, ripping them from a destiny they didn’t deserve.
With a low chuckle, she walked away, having done her part.
Now she’d see what Sylvara intended to do with hers.
Having done what she had to, Skuld watched her sister walk away, pleased with the corruption of the very destiny she’d been called to create.
After sending Agatha on a fool’s errand to Valhalla, she called to her sisters.
Urth and Verthandi joined her and stared in shock at the mess that had become of the Wyrd. The Great Weave, Destiny, had been forever altered.
“There is no saving this, is there?” Urth asked, tears in her eyes.
Verthandi shook her head. “We can hope the Night Bloode will do their part.” She gently touched a slender band of threads glinting with scarlet beads. “But there is only so much they can do.”
Skuld sighed. “And even that will not be enough.” She peered into the future, wishing that just for once she might be wrong. “Not this time.”