“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 Nïx.”
“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 Nïx’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 Nïx. 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 Nïx, 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 Nïx. 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 Nïx had seemed chummy. “If Nïx isn’t there, who’s watching him?”