The Unyielding

by Shelly Laurenston

  * * *

  “Okay. Open your eyes.”

  Karen did, and then she gawked, stunned speechless, which was new for her since rarely did anything make her speechless.

  “Well?” Erin pushed when Karen didn’t say anything. “You like it or are you gonna have Stieg kick my ass?”

  Karen had originally drawn a simple flower design, assuming that Erin would give it a little punch and make it cool. What she hadn’t expected was the tribal flower piece in black and gray that went down her side, from just above her breast to the top of her hip bone. It was unbelievably detailed and gorgeous, and it didn’t just say “pretty girl tattoo” to Karen. It said “survivor.” She didn’t know how Erin got that in there without anything obvious, but that’s how Karen read it.

  Standing in front of the full-length mirror, the white towel still held up in front of her tits, Karen turned and wrapped her arms around Erin, hugging her close.

  “Uh . . . hon?” Erin cleared her throat. “You dropped that towel.”

  “I don’t care,” Karen said, crying into Erin’s hair.

  “Yeah, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with your bare tits against me.”

  “Suck it up, whore.”

  Erin laughed, finally wrapping her arms around Karen and hugging her back. “You’re welcome.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Six Crow Strike Teams, three Raven teams, Ski’s team, including, Bear and Gundo landed silently in Palm Springs. They surrounded the mansion used by the finest clientele of the resort, three of the Crow teams taking the roof, the rest going in from the ground floor.

  Kera took the lead, pulling her blades out and keeping low, she sprinted toward the back of the mansion. She eased up, peering into the windows. Hearing a whistle, Kera looked over her shoulder. Leigh motioned to her and Kera ran to her side.

  This window faced the well-lit ballroom. Bodies littered the floor and blood streaked the walls.

  “It’s a breach,” she ordered, running past the teams and kicking in the door. She ran into the mansion hallway, Vig right by her side, the others bringing up the rear. They split off when they hit the door to the ballroom. Vig and his Raven brothers headed upstairs. The teams on the roof would keep lookout until they heard another order.

  Kera and her sisters entered the ballroom and immediately stopped, their hands covering their noses and mouths.

  “God,” Maeve gasped, “that’s a revolting smell.”

  “Well . . .” Annalisa added, looking at all the bodies lying around, “now we know what it was really like after the raping and pillaging.”

  “Is everyone dead?” Kera asked, moving past the bodies, some of which were already decaying.

  “It looks like—”

  “Kera!” Vig bellowed from a floor above.

  Glad to be away from the ballroom, Kera took off running, her sisters with her. They charged up the stairs, forgoing the elevator, taking two steps at a time. They found Vig and the Ravens on the third floor in the master bedroom. The Vikings separated and Kera moved forward.

  Jourdan Ambrosio had curled herself into a corner—her face and body bruised, patches on her scalp where her weave had been pulled out, and old makeup still caked under her eyes, a thick gold necklace the only item she still wore.

  Well . . . the necklace and the six-inch boots.

  Kera motioned the Ravens back with both hands so Annalisa could come forward. But the forensic psychologist whispered something to Tessa and it was Tessa, the registered nurse who’d spent most of her First Life career in tough ERs, who now crouched a few feet away from Ambrosio and spoke softly to her, gently trying to coax her into assisting them before they got her the help she so desperately needed.

  Tessa was good, but after about thirty minutes, Kera could feel her own patience running out and she hated herself for it. She was better than this, wasn’t she? Much better than this.

  Or she was slowly becoming her mother, which was too horrifying a scenario to even contemplate.

  As she forced herself to continue to wait, Annalisa moved to her side. Keeping her back to Ambrosio, she whispered, “That feeling you have at the moment is annoyance.”

  “I’m not that big a bitch, am I?” Kera whispered back. “Please tell me I’m not.”

  “Your annoyance, sweetie, is because the little cunt is lying.”

  Kera’s gaze snapped to Annalisa’s. “No way.”

  “I know my own kind, Kera. She’s a sociopath. Whatever may have happened to her . . . she’s so over it. They can endure anything if it gets them what they want, which is usually other people’s suffering.”

  “What time is it?” Ambrosio asked softly.

  “Time?” Tessa leaned back, searching the room with her eyes until she found a digital clock on a side table beside dead flowers. “Uh . . . it’s nearly ten.”

  “Thank God,” the woman snipped, her voice no longer soft. She stood. Naked and comfortable in that nakedness. “I didn’t know how much longer I could keep that bullshit up.”

  That’s when Kera knew that Annalisa had been right. Ambrosio’s bruises were real, but her suffering had not been like that of the women and men whose bodies littered the ballroom.

  Ambrosio smirked at Kera. “Your girl should be dead by now.”

  Stieg suddenly turned and ran, charging out of the room.

  Tessa exhaled. “Erin.”

  * * *

  Erin and Karen ended up staying at the shop until closing. In that time, Karen had taken one of the girl-sized tees and cut off the sleeves and most of the bottom so that it barely covered her breasts. Then she sat around letting her tattoo hang out. Erin kept telling her she needed to cover it up for at least an hour, but she wanted to show it off.

  Finally, Erin convinced her to put a bandage over it, but she could already tell that this would not be Karen’s last tat. She just didn’t know if she’d be the one giving Karen her future pieces. Just in case there were any problems with her skin’s reaction to the ink, Erin told her, “If I’m not around, any of my other artists here can help you out.”

  “Okay. But why wouldn’t you be around?”

  “I’m busy,” she lied. “All the movie stars and everything.”

  Thankfully Karen accepted that excuse, and they eventually headed out, Erin’s team closing the shop for her.

  As they began the several blocks’ journey to Karen’s car, Karen’s energy level was pretty high. She was kind of bouncing all over the place, feeling really good about everything. Erin wasn’t sure all that energy would last, though, once Karen got home and went to wash her tattoo the first time. It would be sore for the next forty-eight hours at least, but nothing quite like the first time she put water on it.

  “Why do you keep telling me that?” Erin finally asked Karen, coming to a stop on the sidewalk.

  “Telling you what?”

  “You’ve said at least six times today that you and Stieg never hooked up.”

  Karen faced her. “Because I don’t want you to think I’m in the way of you two getting together.”

  “I know you’re not in the way.”

  “No. You know I’m not in the way of you two fucking. But I’m talking about a relationship.”

  Erin laughed. “Me and Stieg Engstrom? Are you high?”

  “He likes you.”

  “He likes pussy. He’s a guy.”

  Erin started walking again and Karen quickly caught up to her, arguing her point.

  As they moved down the street, they passed three large men. They sized up a non-bra-wearing Karen and one called out, “Hey, mamacita!”

  Karen missed it completely, busy as she was trying to convince Erin to make Stieg a part of her daily diet. Like Cheerios.

  But Erin kept a close eye on the three men as they passed, wondering if they were more gang members hoping to make money on her head. She really hoped she wouldn’t have to put poor Karen in the middle of a fight with gangbangers. Erin wasn’t sure Stieg would ever forgi
ve her for that level of fuckup.

  As they continued on for a bit, Karen abruptly stopped talking. And stopped walking. Then Erin noticed that the three men behind them had suddenly disappeared.

  “Uh . . . Erin?” Karen said, her voice soft.

  Erin didn’t even turn around. She didn’t have to. She sensed them. Moving in.

  She reached out and took Karen’s arm. “I need you to run.”

  “I’ll be honest with you . . . I’m a runner. I’m more than happy to run when danger’s near. But I don’t think that’s an option at the moment.”

  Still holding Karen’s arm, Erin looked one way, then the other. The Carrion were moving in from both sides of the sidewalk and down at the corner. When she returned her gaze to where the three men had been standing earlier, she saw that they’d been replaced.

  Two of the Carrion walked a bit closer, one wrapping his arm around the other’s shoulders, leaning on him.

  “Heard you were looking for my friend here.”

  The “friend” lifted his hand to wave and she saw Hel’s rune burned into his decaying flesh.

  “So . . . here we are, slave. Come and get us.”

  Erin zipped through her options. She could fly. She could even carry Karen with her, but the Carrion could also fly. She could fly without Karen in the hopes of leading them away from her, but the way a few of the Carrion were looking at Stieg’s wingless friend . . .

  No. Erin couldn’t leave her.

  Erin heard a squawk and she shifted her gaze to the top of the building she stood in front of. The nosey crows were there, watching her. Three took off and she knew they were going for help, but that would take time. Erin needed help now.

  She motioned to the Carrion and the bird squawked at her again. Really? They were giving her shit about calling them rats with wings? Seriously? Now?

  Gritting her teeth, Erin nodded at the Carrion again.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Karen demanded, her muscles vibrating against Erin’s hand.

  The birds lifted off and Erin did the only thing she could think of.

  Keeping her grip on Karen’s arm, she took hold of the back of Karen’s jeans, lifted her off the ground and chucked the bigger woman across the hood of a car parked at the curb.

  Karen squealed as she flew, but when she landed, she rolled over, quickly got to her feet, and took off running.

  Grateful the girl had some natural survival skills, Erin followed, relieved when she saw the birds descend on the Carrion like a vicious horde. She jumped over the car and went after Karen. Together they ran into an alley until they reached an apartment building that was being renovated. That meant it had a lot of rooms but no tenants.

  Erin dodged through the construction equipment, and Karen managed to keep up with her. Reaching one of the doors that had been chained shut, Erin lifted her leg and kicked once. The chain broke and the door slammed open.

  “Go.” She pushed Karen ahead of her and down the hall.

  Thankfully the interior was still intact so she searched for a good apartment to use.

  “Karen, you are going to see some things. I just need you to roll with it. Understand?”

  “No. But you don’t survive six years on the streets if you don’t know how to roll with bizarre shit.”

  “Good enough.”

  Erin stopped in front of an apartment. She went to kick the door open, but Karen tried the doorknob first and it was unlocked.

  Raising her eyebrows, Karen walked in and Erin followed. Just what she needed. Stieg Junior.

  She heard the battle cries of the Carrion and knew they were coming. She closed the door, stepped back, and quickly pulled her blades from the holster around her ankle.

  “You walk around with knives?”

  “LA’s a rough town.”

  “No kidding. Who are those guys anyway? They look . . . dead.”

  “They are dead. Dead-ish.”

  “Is it the zombie apocalypse?”

  Erin glanced away from the door so she could give Karen her best Are you fucking kidding me look.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Karen mumbled.

  “When they come after me, go out the window. Just run. Don’t stop.”

  “Leave you?”

  “Sweetie, you have to. Please. For—”

  The door exploded in and Karen screamed, using her arm to block the wood skittering across the room.

  Erin moved, jumping forward and slamming one blade into the eye of a Carrion and the other blade into a nearby Carrion’s throat. From the corner of her eye, she saw Karen make a mad dash for the window, but as soon as she reached it, Carrion standing on the outside punched their fists through the glass, reaching for her.

  She jumped back and several Carrion grabbed her, dragging her back into a dark corner.

  A hand fell on Erin’s wrist and her muscles retracted as her skin burned. The touch of the Carrion could turn a human into dust, if allowed to linger for a long enough time.

  Erin didn’t wait for that. She used her other blade to cut off the hand holding her, then shook off the still gripping fingers.

  She tried to move toward Karen but, again, more Carrion came between her and her friend. Now there were more men on Karen because the former street kid was putting up such a fight, but she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

  Then again, Erin wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, either.

  She heard Karen scream. One of the Carrion had her around the throat, lifting her off the ground.

  “Let her go!” Erin bellowed, cutting the throat of another Carrion. She knew she wasn’t killing any of them. It took a lot more to kill them. But she was hoping to buy enough time to let Karen get away.

  The Carrion yanked Karen to the floor and she disappeared underneath all their big bodies.

  “Karen!” Erin started to push her way through the Carrion, trying to grab her friend, but the entire group froze at the same time when they heard it.

  As one, they all took a step back. Then they heard it again.

  She knew that sound. She ought to from watching so much Animal Planet and National Geographic. It was . . . it was a . . .

  A leopard?

  The big black cat she knew was Karen tore her way through the Carrion and tackled one of the men standing beside Erin, taking him to the ground. Karen dug her fangs into the Carrion’s neck and even though he tried to push her off, she held on until she’d completely removed his throat—leaving the Carrion dead.

  Not dead-ish, but actually dead.

  And with that throat in her mouth, Karen charged across the room to the broken window and spit the flesh out. She followed up with several long and loud roars. But she didn’t run.

  Why didn’t she run? “Karen! Go!”

  “Kill it!” the lead Carrion bellowed. “Kill them both!”

  A fist hit Erin hard, sending her flipping and rolling across the floor. As blood splattered, she was sure her nose was broken. Thick boots kicked her in the side, the back.

  Erin switched her blades to her left hand and unleashed flame from her right, hitting the Carrion in the face. He growled, stumbling away, but another moved up to take his place. Erin flipped over and slammed her blades into his Achilles. He dropped, screaming.

  At least they felt pain. That helped.

  She got to her feet, but another hand wrapped around her throat, lifted her up. Unlike with Odin, though, the hand on her flesh instantly began to burn. To sear.

  Erin stabbed at the hand gripping her, trying for the eyes. But even as she fought, she heard stomping moving down the hall.

  Her sister-Crows were quieter, and the Ravens and Protectors made no sound at all. Still, she never expected to see the weak walls of the apartment torn apart as three grizzly bears burst into the room, her attacker immediately dropping her in panic.

  Because there were grizzly bears. In a soon-to-be-demolished West LA apartment building.

  What the fuck was happening?
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br />   The bears roared and charged, going after the Carrion attacking Karen, dragging them away from her before slapping them around the room like toys. Other Carrion tried to use their hands to harm the bears the way they’d hurt Erin, but the power didn’t work.

  It was the strangest thing Erin had ever seen.

  Fortunately, though, the presence of the bears distracted the Carrion from her as they began to pull out their flint-edged weapons. Weapons they’d kept hidden. They knew that Erin—a Crow—would use them the first chance she got. As they were the only weapons she knew of that could actually kill a Carrion.

  Erin dove at a Carrion, landing on his back and reaching over his shoulder to grab hold of the long-handled axe he held. They struggled over it, but he refused to hand it over. She slapped one hand over his eyes and unleashed fire. He screamed and she yanked.

  With weapon in hand, she jumped down, hefted the axe and swung, taking the screaming Carrion’s head off. She stepped over his body and began hacking wildly, moving closer to her goal.

  A few bear claws lashed out at her, one dragging across the skin of her bicep, leaving deep gashes, but she kept moving. She had no choice.

  The Carrion seemed to have had enough. They began fleeing toward the exits—the doorway, the windows, the large holes in the walls. But as they escaped, she saw her target going with them.

  The problem was the bears that stood between her and what she absolutely had to get. She knew it was her one and only chance.

  “MOVE!” Erin bellowed at the top of her lungs, which she then followed up with a blast of flame at the space on the floor between the bears.

  As any mammal would do, the bears jumped away from the fire and Erin hefted the axe and threw it with everything she had. It hit the Carrion right in the spine, laying him out.

  As he was the Key, the Carrion came back for him. The lead fighter grabbed his compatriot by the head to drag him away. Erin slapped her palms together, released the power of her flame between them, then unleashed the large ball of flame at the Carrion’s face.

  With a roar he stumbled back, arms flailing, and then he was abruptly dragged back by Vig Rundstöm.

  Crows came in through the windows, Ravens and Danski Eriksen rushed through the front doorway. The bears panicked, roaring at all the new people.