The Unleashing

by Shelly Laurenston

  Simone let out a sigh and faced her friends. Now, it was true, Simone could have spent her money to get all this together, but . . . why? When she knew people with money? Why should she have to spend her own money to bring an ancient goddess into this world? What if it didn’t work? Then she’d have spent her money for nothing. How was that fair?

  Blocking out the screaming and whining coming from behind her—such an annoying whiner!—Simone intoned the words she’d forced herself to phonetically learn and waited for the power of Gullveig to flow through her so that she could kill the sacrifice and make herself one with the goddess.

  And Simone . . . kept waiting. And waiting.

  After more than thirty seconds—she was rich! Why should she wait for anything?—Simone glanced at her assistant. “What’s happening?”

  Darrbee—God, she really loved that girl’s name—pushed her glasses back on her nose and quickly flicked through the book.

  “Um . . . uh . . .”

  “Well?” Simone pushed, starting to feel very foolish with her arms up like this.

  “We did everything we were supposed to. We offered her gold and jewels. We sacrificed that poor goat. Our human sacrifice is wearing that Bring-a-man necklace.” She skimmed the pages a little further. “You spoke the weird words . . .” Darrbee shrugged. “I don’t understand it. You did everything you’re supposed to do.”

  Simone dropped her arms. “Give me the damn book,” she snarled, snatching it out of Darrbee’s hands.

  “Uh . . . Simone dear,” one of her idiot friends interrupted.

  “What?”

  “Do you smell that?”

  Rolling her eyes, Simone looked down at the woman. “Smell what?” she snapped.

  “Gas?”

  Simone sniffed the air and yes. She did smell gas.

  Tossing the book back to Darrbee, Simone grabbed her robe and pulled it back on before walking down the steps of the stage and across the ballroom. She reached the double doors and pulled on them. When nothing happened, she pulled again.

  “Dammit, Darrbee. I thought I told you no locked doors!”

  It wasn’t that Darrbee didn’t answer that bothered Simone. It was the deafening silence.

  Slowly, Simone turned. Her assistant still stood on the stage, a small smile on her face. Then that small smile turned wide . . . then wider . . . then it split her entire face, revealing triple rows of nothing but small, bright black fangs.

  Without a word, Darrbee’s body flipped up and, like a parasite, she attached herself to the ceiling. Then, in seconds, she was across the room and out an air duct. The problem was, the air duct was sealed closed once she’d gone through.

  “Smoke!” someone yelled, pointing at another door that wouldn’t open.

  Simone refused to panic, even while everyone else did. Instead, she marched across the room to the large glass doorways. She grabbed two of the bigger men and motioned to a metal end table.

  “Use that to break the glass!” she ordered.

  The men grabbed the end table, moved it right to the door, and after counting to three, they swung.

  But the heavy table did nothing but bounce off the glass and skitter back across the room.

  As everyone panicked, desperately trying to find a way out, Simone slowly walked to the window and stared out.

  Darrbee stood with several black-fanged women. She raised her hand, which now looked more like a claw, and waved at Simone.

  That’s when Simone understood—she was the sacrifice to Gullveig.

  They all were.

  Perched on a tree branch, high in the air, Kera watched a few of the Mara move to different points around the house and begin a ritual in a language she didn’t understand. A few of the other Mara stood back, still oblivious to the Crows’ and Ravens’ presence. For now.

  Kera glanced at her fellow perched Crows.

  “We can’t let them burn,” Kera said plainly. When no one said anything, she repeated, more emphatically, “We can’t let them burn!”

  “Those are the Mara Elders surrounding that house,” Tessa pointed out. “They’ll rip us apart. Shona-sari, their leader, is not to be fucked with.”

  “But we’re here,” Siggy said. “We can help you.”

  Tessa glanced at the Raven before adding, “I was including you.”

  “Oh.”

  Kera refused to back down. “We at least have to try.”

  “And get killed in the process?” Erin shook her head. “There has to be a better way.”

  “You know this is just rich people? Right?” Leigh asked. And when Kera’s eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open, she quickly added, “I’m just saying they probably wouldn’t do the same for us.”

  “I’m not giving up my morality just because the people I might be saving are assholes.”

  “Even if they’re suing us?”

  “Chloe!”

  Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes. “Great. We get a goddamn Marine and now we have to have a moral center. How is that fair?”

  “I’m going,” Kera announced. “You can back me up or not, it’s up to you.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Vig said. He started to move toward her, but Josef grabbed his arm and briefly held him back.

  “Is pussy really worth what you’re about to do?” the Raven leader asked.

  Vig’s brow furrowed as he immediately replied, “Yes. It is.” “He’s right,” Stieg agreed. “It is.”

  “Totally worth it, dude.”

  “He’s right, bruh. It’s absolutely worth it.”

  “I can’t believe you’re actually asking the question.”

  Josef shook his head, sighed deeply. “You’re all such idiots.”

  Vig easily moved beside Kera on her perch.

  “You ready?”

  Erin leaned forward, her hand on Kera’s shoulder. “Just remember, I’m your mentor. So if you, at any time in the next ten minutes, want me to end your life—just let me know. I’ll do my best.”

  Darrbee wiped a tear as Shona-sari put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “You did so well, my little night-mare.”

  Knowing her leader was pleased made Darrbee proud. “Thank you.”

  “You will miss her.”

  “She was a horrible human being. She made everyone around her miserable with her demands and her bone-deep unhappiness with all of life.” Darrbee wiped more tears. “I adored her.”

  “I know. I know. But think of how you’ll enjoy her dying screams.”

  Darrbee nodded. “I will enjoy that.”

  “Shona-sari,” one of the Elders called out. “Look. We have little friends joining us.”

  Shona-sari turned and watched the Crows and Ravens drop from nearby trees.

  She gave Darrbee another hug before releasing her. “Stay by my side, little nightmare. I will show you all their weak-nesses . . .”

  And Darrbee couldn’t wait.

  Shona-sari gave a wide grin that showed all her tiny, sharp black fangs. She spread her arms wide in greeting.

  “The Crows and the Ravens! More souls for the—”

  A blade flew across the space between the Crows and Ravens and toward the Mara.

  Shona-sari, an Elder Mara, moved quickly, jerking hard to the side as the blade flipped past her and lodged itself into the head of poor Darrbee.

  The young Mara fell back, landing hard on the ground. The silence stretching out as did her black blood across the ground.

  The Crows and Ravens turned to look at who’d thrown the blade.

  The L.A. Crow leader shrugged, smirked. “What? I took a shot.”

  Shona-sari screeched at the loss of her young student and she became air, then smoke; then she crossed the field and was on the Crow leader. She slammed the woman to the ground, her fingers on her skull.

  The Crow screamed out as Shona-sari showed the bitch true nightmares in all their brutal glory. But another Crow grabbed Shona-Sari by the hair, yanked her up, and tossed her away.


  “Go!” Tessa ordered the Crows, pointing at the Mara with her blades. “Kill them all!”

  Kera reached down and pulled Chloe to her feet.

  “Don’t stand there,” Chloe said, trying to shake off whatever the witch had done to her. “If you and that raging bull of yours are going to help those rich fuckers, Kera, you better get moving. We’ll protect your back.”

  Kera nodded and faced Vig. “You ready?”

  “Go.”

  Kera charged toward the mansion. Mara ripped at her, suddenly appearing in front of her or beside her, trying to grab her or knock her off her feet. But Kera kept running. Even when their talons struck out and cut across her arms and legs, her face and chest, Kera ran.

  “Light it!” the head Mara yelled out. “Light the bitch!”

  One of the Mara raised her hand, circled it once, and pointed at the ground. Kera slammed into that Mara from behind but the flames had already erupted.

  The Mara vanished beneath Kera and she briefly landed in flame before she rolled out of it and three Mara attacked her at once, dragging her to the ground and giving her nightmares to last a lifetime.

  Tessa had taken down two of the Mara and was dealing with a third when she saw another Elder grab Chloe and take her to the ground. The creature placed her hands against Chloe’s temples and instantly, Tessa’s leader was trapped in a nightmare scape. She buried her blade in the Mara’s head, killing her quickly, and tore across the yard toward Chloe. By the time she reached her, though, Chloe was sitting on the Elder Mara’s chest and was strangling the life from her with her bare hands.

  When she’d crushed the thing’s neck, Chloe got off the twitching body and stared at it for a few seconds, hands and body shaking.

  “Chloe?” Tessa gently called out. “Are you okay?”

  “Uh . . . yeah. Yeah.”

  “What is it?”

  “I didn’t realize what I was doing.”

  “You didn’t?”

  Chloe shook her head. “No. I was dreaming I was still married to that idiot.” She pointed to a fighting Josef. “And he pissed me off. Again! And I just . . . sort of . . .”

  “Snapped?”

  “Yeah.” She paused, glanced off, then said again, “Yeah.”

  “We really need to keep you two apart, don’t we?” Tessa asked.

  Chloe nodded at her. “Yeah.”

  All around Kera, her fellow Marines were dying. Their screams were so loud. Needing to help, Kera tried to fire her weapon, but nothing. She first looked at the safety. It was on, so she tried to switch it off. But the switch wouldn’t move. She couldn’t make it move! Marines on either side of her were gunned down and Kera was still struggling with this ridiculous weapon.

  She needed to help them! She needed to save them! She couldn’t allow them all to die!

  A sound in the distance caught her attention and she turned. It was a crow, sitting on a burning telephone pole. It squawked at her again and Kera forced herself to focus on nothing but that crow. On the cawing sound it made. She listened only to that until she finally dropped her weapon and, ignoring the screams of the dying all around her, she swung her arms around.

  It felt foolish but she kept doing it until . . . until . . .

  Kera dug her hands into a mass of hair and yanked, throwing the Mara off her body and into the ground.

  She brought her hammer up and over and crushed in the thing’s head. Snarling, she moved over to the one who had Vig on his knees, probably giving him nightmares about dying without honor. Kera took that Mara down with a swipe to the head and then continued on to the burning house.

  Erin flipped the Mara off her back and rammed her blade directly into the bitch’s head. She yanked it out, blood spurting across her face, and tossed the corpse aside. She saw an Elder wrap herself around Stieg and place her hands against his head. He immediately dropped to his knees, his face going white. Well . . . whiter than usual.

  She debated leaving him that way, but decided against it. She’d never hear the end of it from Kera.

  Erin stalked over to the pair and reached out to grab the Mara from him. As her hand nearly had hold of her hair, the Mara was gone, turning to smoke and disappearing.

  Then, seconds later, she knew the bitch was behind her.

  Erin turned and the Mara grabbed her head with both hands, her talons burrowing into Erin’s flesh.

  Stieg went from being in that alley, searching for food in the trash, like he used to do when he was a kid, back to battling the Mara in the rich part of town, trying to stop Gullveig from coming back to this world.

  When he no longer felt like screaming in panic, he saw the redhead. A Mara had her. Hands digging into the woman’s skull.

  Stieg forced himself to get up. It wasn’t easy. His body still felt like it was back in that alley. But when he did get to his feet, the Mara snarled, yanked her hands away, only to slap them against the redhead’s temples again. Then she did it a third time.

  “Are you done?” the redhead asked.

  And the Mara stepped back, hands falling to her sides as she gazed at Erin with her mouth open. Stieg didn’t understand it. He’d never heard of anyone not getting the nightmares when they were touched by the Mara. Even if they fought their way through it, they still got the nightmares.

  As the Mara stood gawking, Erin brought her blade up and into the Mara’s jaw and brain.

  When the Mara stopped moving, Erin pulled her blade out and dropped the body. She faced Stieg, smiled, winked, and walked away to find someone else to kill.

  Now he understood why one of his foster fathers used to always warn him to stay away from the redheads.

  One of the Mara had her talons dug into the side of Jace’s head. Panicked, she unleashed her wings and flew up but the Mara wouldn’t let go. She tried to fight her off, stabbing her in the belly, but the Mara just laughed and then Jace was back there. In that marriage. Her ex calmly telling Jace she was stupid. That she was ugly. Telling her that no one would want her.

  Even worse, Jace was again taking it. Like she always took it before that final time when she’d snapped and fought back—and he’d killed her.

  But this was before that. Before she’d stood up for herself. Before she’d met Skuld. Before she’d become a Crow. When she’d still felt trapped and alone and desperate. So very desperate.

  She was sitting at the kitchen table and he was leaning in, saying such horrible things to her in the softest way possible and she was wondering how much more she could take. How much more she’d be forced to take before . . . before . . .

  She heard the crow outside their perfect little house in the Valley. It cawed at her from the window. Cawed and slammed its tiny foot at the window. It cawed again and slammed its foot again. Its eyes became red with rage and it cawed and cawed and . . .

  Jace was suddenly back in the present, her hands around the Mara’s throat and her raging screams competing with the Mara’s screeches.

  The rage poured out of her and Jace let that rage come. She let it explode through her body and she tightened her hands on the Mara’s throat until she felt bone crack beneath her fingers. She unleashed her talons so that arteries were severed. And Jace screamed. She screamed and screamed so that the world would know exactly how pissed off she really was.

  They tried to drag Kera to the flames, to bury her head in the fire. But Vig grabbed two of the Mara and yanked them back and Kera punched the third off and got to her feet.

  She lifted her hammer with both hands, brought it down on the Mara trying to get back up, and crushed her skull.

  “Go, Kera!” Vig ordered as he fought off the other Mara.

  Kera saw that the flames the Mara had unleashed had reached the house and had begun burning what appeared to be a ballroom entrance. She could hear the screams of the people trapped inside.

  Hoisting her weapon, Kera jogged over to the big doors, lifted the hammer over her head with both hands, and brought it down. The glass cracked, s
o Kera took another swing. It was the third strike that destroyed the doors, and smoke poured through the opening.

  People began running out, coughing and panicking.

  A few of the Mara tried to grab some of them, but the Crows and Ravens were there to stop them.

  Kera tried to peer into the ballroom, through the thick black smoke billowing out. She had almost turned away when she saw a familiar figure, crawling toward her on her hands and knees.

  “Brianna!” Kera ran over to the girl, trying to help her to stand until she realized that her hands and ankles were tied together with duct tape.

  Kera reached down and picked her up, taking her away from the fire as quickly as she could. She laid a coughing, hysterical Brianna down on the ground, pushing her hair out of her face and removing the tape.

  “It’s okay,” she tried to soothe. “It’s okay. Just breathe, sweetie. Brea—”

  “You stupid bitch,” the Mara leader snarled at Kera. “Do you think you’ve changed anything? Do you think you’ll really stop her from coming into this world? Do you think—”

  That’s when they descended on Shona-sari like a horde of rampaging darkness, swarming her, mobbing her. They ripped at her face and body, tearing at her with their talons and beaks.

  Not Kera’s sister-Crows, but the birds. They’d come down from the trees and attacked the Mara like they just wanted her to shut the fuck up.

  Maybe they did.

  With a roar of rage, Shona-sari turned to white smoke, and was gone. And this time she was really gone. Kera could feel it because the air around her seemed to lighten. She could breathe with ease again even with the fire nearby.

  The crows turned their attention to the few remaining Mara, but they soon followed their leader. Apparently, it was one thing to fight humans, but pissed-off birds was more than they could stand. Not that Kera blamed them.

  Kera walked across the grounds until she reached the home owner. Most of her rich friends had made a run for it, leaving her to face the Crows and Ravens on her own.