by Lola StVil
“Your hair is perfect as it is,” Perry says.
“Flattery will get you nowhere, so what’s your angle?” Atlas asks, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Well, now you mention it, I thought maybe you two could do this bar thing on your own,” Perry says.
“And what are you planning on doing?” I ask.
As much as I’d rather be alone with Atlas, I don’t see why Perry should get to sit back and let it all fall on us.
“I’ve got stuff to do. Important stuff. There’s a bunch of emails I haven’t answered. And guess who hasn’t cleaned his closet out in months? That’s right, this guy,” Perry jokes as we reach the bar.
“Perry, we don’t have time for this shit. We’ve already wasted half an hour. Get your ass inside. Now,” Atlas says.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he says.
Atlas shakes her head and shoves him through the doors.
The bar is crowded, filled to the brim with people. Or to be more precise, Valkyries. The inside of the bar is dingy and smoky, and it smells of stale hops, but the Valkyries aren’t letting that stop them from having a good time.
They sit at the tables and the bar knocking back shots, and they dance on the dance floor and various tabletops. One of them swings back and forth from the light fixture. The bartender looks on with amusement.
I’m just going to put it out there—Valkyries are hot. They are tall and muscular, lean and taut. They all have long flowing hair, and every one of them is beautiful, with curves in all the right places. Their clothes are tight and hug their curves. Their eyes sparkle in what little light shines through the bar.
Until they get pissed. When they get pissed, they transform. Their hair goes flat; their eyes become black sunken pools deep inside their faces. Giant gray wings spread wide outside their shoulder blades, and they wear the eeriest smiles you’ll ever see on a woman who isn’t in the middle of murdering you.
Atlas and I move into the bar and stand beside Perry. The blast of cold air from the street gets the attention of the nearest Valkyrie, and she glances in our direction.
“Well, well, well. Would you all look who has the nerve to show up in our bar,” she shouts.
Her voice carries over the pumping music, and as one, the Valkyries turn in our direction, and their faces change. It’s like walking into a Vegas bachelorette party the morning after the party. Yup, it’s that bad.
The room falls silent except for the electronic beat, the chatter and shrieking laughter of only a second ago gone. The Valkyries’ eyes turn black, and I know we’re in deep shit. They’re about to attack. I don’t remember pissing them off at any point, but obviously, I have.
They begin to close in on us, and I feel Atlas take a step back. That’s good. They can focus all of their anger on me and leave her out of it.
The nearest Valkyrie reaches me. And steps past me. What the fuck?
They aren’t coming for me. They’re coming for Perry.
The energy in the room instantly changes, and I feel hopeless, worthless. I try to concentrate, but my mind is clouded. As the Valkyrie closest to me makes it past me, my mind clears a little. The whole room still stares at us in anger.
The first thing I notice as the Valkyries crowd in is that this isn’t a standard Valkyrie attack. When their eyes go black like that, they are seconds away from using their powers to bend an enemy to their will, perhaps even go so far as to kill them, with the power of their minds. If this group wanted Perry dead, with as many of them as there are, he wouldn’t be left standing now, and he is.
No, this isn’t a typical attack at all. It feels personal. Like they’re pissed off rather than feeling threatened or acting on any sort of official business. That doesn’t necessarily mean Perry will live to tell the tale though.
One of the Valkyries picks a chair up, and with a roar, she throws it hard at Perry. He ducks just in time. He pulls the nearest table over and ducks down behind it. Atlas and I crouch down at either side of him.
He’s lucky she was pissed enough that her aim was off, or he’d be in pieces now. More furniture is sailing through the air, and glasses smash off our makeshift shield.
The air is rife with Valkyries shrieking out what they’ll do to Perry when they catch him, and they curse. Boy, do they curse.
“I knew I shouldn’t have come in,” Perry mumbles.
“What the fuck did you do to piss them off?” I snap.
“I might have dated one or two of them,” Perry says.
He pokes his head above the edge of the table and pulls it back down quickly as a pint glass whizzes past.
“Bullshit,” Atlas says. “What did you really do?”
“Okay, it was four. That’s all. But it might have been at the same time. And I might not have mentioned that part to them. And they might have found out,” Perry admits.
“Great,” Atlas sighs. “And I’m guessing they are like the original sisterhood?”
“They tend to take a ‘piss one of us off, piss all of us off’ kind of approach,” I confirm.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Atlas asks, incredulous.
“I tried to get out of coming in,” Perry says.
“But you didn’t tell us this would happen,” she says.
“I didn’t want you to judge me. You know, after the way I reacted to you and Regal kissing, then to admit I’d done the same thing,” Perry admits.
“What sort of a dumb excuse is that?” Atlas says.
“Look, we all have a past we’d rather forget,” Perry reasons.
“And your past is about to catch up with you,” I say.
One of the Valkyries is tired of the game, and she spreads her wings and dives towards us. She swoops down and grabs Perry by the collar. She goes back up high, and the others whoop and clap as she dangles her prize for them all to see.
She takes a knife from her back pocket. Atlas and I jump to our feet, but not before the Valkyrie pins him to the celling and keep him there, useless.
Atlas breathes a sigh of relief when they don’t immediately kill him. I do the same. I want to kill him myself for getting us into this mess.
“We have to get him out of here,” Atlas says.
“I know,” I agree. “They’ll get bored playing with him. But we can’t kill them.”
“Why?” Atlas asks. “They haven’t exactly welcomed us with open arms. I say we kill them and take a vial of their blood.”
I shake my head.
“If we kill any of them, it’ll start a war in the Shadow world. A war no one can win. It’ll cause devastation like you can’t even begin to imagine.”
“So, what do we do then?” she asks.
“We attack. Enough to get them to give Perry up, but not enough to really harm any of them. Oh, and Atlas? Don’t look any of them in the eyes. They can knock you unconscious with the power of their mind if you do.”
“That’s reassuring,” Atlas says, standing up from behind the table.
The Valkyries aren’t paying any attention to us. They are focused on Perry. He dangles from the ceiling, and the Valkyries are taking turns throwing things at him.
“That’s for breaking Carla’s heart, you two-timing bastard,” one of them says as she launches a wineglass at Perry.
It smashes into his head, and cheers go up all around.
“Technically, I was four-timing her,” Perry says. “But she only found out about one of them.”
“He doesn’t know when to shut up, does he?” I say, incredulous.
Atlas nods to me to go one way, and she goes the other. We circle them until they stand between us. I catch Atlas’s eye through the crowd, and she nods.
I fire, but instead of aiming at the Valkyries, I fire into the ceiling. The cursing and whooping stops again, and all eyes turn to me. I force myself to keep my eyes trained on the floor.
“Leave now, demon, and take your girlfriend with you. Our fight isn’t with you, and trust me, you want to keep it that
way,” one of them says.
“We can’t do that,” Atlas says.
They turn their attention to her.
“It wasn’t a request, honey,” the Valkyrie purrs.
Her voice raises a level as she addresses the others.
“Deal with our visitors,” she says, and turns her attention back to Perry.
Three Valkyries move away from the crowd in the air and advance on me, and three float down and advance on Atlas at the same time. I hope she took my warning seriously. A war is the last thing we need right now.
I lose sight of Atlas as I focus on the ground and fire into the Valkyries, hoping to warn them off rather than harm them. If it were up to me, I’d give them Perry in exchange for a vial of blood, but I know Atlas will never go for that, even though it’s Perry’s fault we’re in this mess.
I fire again, and I hear a yelp from one of the Valkyries. My shot hit her in the leg, but she limps towards me.
The three of them are almost on me now.
“Oh, won’t you look us in the face as we finish you off?” one of them says in an almost sing-song voice.
I refuse to take their bait. I keep firing into what I think is their legs. I can hear the group around Perry. They’ve resumed their bit of fun, but it seems they’ve taken it up a notch. I can hear him screeching in pain.
One of the Valkyries gets too close to me for her own good. I reach out and grab her wrist. I twist it and force her to spin, her arm up behind her back.
“Let him go, and I let her go,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Are you sure that’s what you want? Wouldn’t you rather we let your girlfriend go?” one of the Valkyries says.
My eyes fly up before I can stop them. Atlas is fighting hand to hand with two Valkyries, her eyes squeezed tightly closed. She’s winning. I’ve been tricked, I realize too late. The Valkyrie who spoke steps into my line of vision, and before I can stop them, my eyes meet hers.
My vision begins to swim, and my head spins. I try to force my eyes away, but the hold of the Valkyrie’s eyes on mine is too strong.
“Sleep now,” she whispers.
As my vision goes fully black, I hear Atlas scream my name, and I know she’s looking up. I want to shout at her to run, but it’s too late. I’m unconscious.
My eyes snap open, and I blink a couple of times against the dingy light that seems to sear my eyes.
Where the hell am I? Who is the woman standing in front of me?
I try to move, but I can’t. I’m tied down. My vision comes into focus, and I see a Valkyrie standing above me. It all comes flooding back.
The Valkyries, Perry pinned to the ceiling. And Atlas. Oh my God, Atlas. I turn my head frantically to the side. Atlas sits beside me, tied to a chair. She’s awake. She looks a bit more alert than I feel.
“Thank God,” she sighs. “I thought you weren’t going to wake up.”
“I told you he would wake up. A war isn’t in our best interest any more than it is in yours,” the Valkyrie says.
I dare to glance up at her quickly, then I tear my eyes away.
“Relax,” she says. “You’re both tied up. I don’t need to knock you out again. Assuming you don’t try to make any more trouble.”
I look at her. Her eyes are no longer black. She isn’t in attack mode right now. I look past her to where Perry still dangles precariously from the ceiling. The other Valkyries surround him, taunting him, but if the talking can be believed, at least they aren’t planning on killing him.
“I’m Kiki, by the way,” the Valkyrie says, drawing my attention back to her. “Carla is my best friend. And Perry there decided it would be a good idea to date us both at the same time.”
She turns her attention to Atlas, who stares her straight in the eye, almost daring her to attack.
“I’m sure you can appreciate why that wasn’t a good idea. Us girls have to stick together, right?”
“Sure, but killing him is a little extreme, don’t you think?” she says.
I know she’s thinking of what Quinn would do.
“Killing him? Does he sound dead to you?” Kiki asks.
She looks back over her shoulder and shouts to the others.
“Our guest here thinks we’ve killed Perry. Can we let her hear he’s still very much alive?”
Perry screams, and I see Atlas wince.
“See, alive.” Kiki smiles. “Now as fun as this is, I’d be very interested to get back on with my day. Why don’t you explain why you’re here?”
Atlas takes a deep breath.
“We need your help,” she says.
“My help? Wow. Bringing Perry here as anything other than a gift was a bad idea then, wasn’t it?”
“Look, I had no idea what he’d done. I’d have beaten his ass myself if I’d known,” Atlas says. “But this is bigger than a broken heart.”
Kiki raises her eyebrow.
“Regal, one of my team, he’s been poisoned by The Hydra Hold. His only chance of survival is if we can get a couple of drops of Valkyrie blood. Regal is a good guy. He’s smart, brave, loyal, and he deserves to live,” Atlas says.
“Wait here,” Kiki says. She grins. “As if you have any choice.”
She walks away from us and whispers to the other Valkyries. I strain my ears, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.
Atlas and I try in vain to get free from our bonds. Kiki isn’t gone long.
“We’ve discussed it, and unfortunately, that won’t be possible,” she says.
“What? Why?” Atlas says. “You think Regal deserves to die?”
“Look, honey, I don’t know him. But if what you said about him is true, then probably not, no. But you see, he made a huge error. He chose to be friends with someone like Perry. And we’ve decided it’ll be much more fun to let Perry suffer a broken heart, just like I did. Just like Carla did. And you know the best part? He’ll know it’s his fault,” Kiki says.
“But that’s barbaric,” I say.
She nods.
“Yeah. I guess it is. But you’d know all about that wouldn’t you, demon? Don’t tell me there isn’t a little part of you that thinks this is genius,” she laughs.
“Not even a little bit,” I snarl.
“Oh, you really believe that, don’t you?”
She tuts and shakes her head.
“You’ve really tamed the beast, haven’t you?” she says to Atlas, stroking her cheek.
Atlas ignores her and glares at her.
“Carla, come on over here,” Kiki shouts.
A Valkyrie steps away from the crowd and comes to stand beside Kiki.
“Our guests think we’re barbaric because we won’t help them,” Kiki says.
Carla sighs.
“People really don’t get us, do they? They still think we’re all sweet, delivering souls to Valhalla and all that. Well, you know what? We have a choice who we save and who we don’t. And your friend doesn’t meet the cut I’m afraid,” Carla says.
They’re playing with us, taunting us. I’m about ready to lose my shit and break free from these bonds and start killing them, war or no war.
“But you know what?” Carla says. “We’re not complete monsters. If you let us kill Perry, we’ll give you what you came for. How’s that?”
It works for me.
“You can’t do that,” Atlas says.
Kiki turns and shouts across to the other Valkyries.
“Why don’t we ask Jenna?” Carla says.
“Jenna, could you come here?” Kiki yells to another Valkyrie.
“Yes, girls?” Jenna says, dripping with sweetness.
“Atlas here thinks she can give us a good reason not to kill Perry over there. What do you think?” Carla asks.
“I think maybe we should ask Leah,” Jenna answers innocently.
Atlas rolls her eyes at their games. But they call yet another Valkyrie over to us.
“Leah, Atlas says we can’t kill him. What do you think? They need our bl
ood, and their friend deserves to live?”
“She’s made her choice. Perry lives. Carla, do you want to do the honors?” Leah says with coldness.
Carla flies across the room to Perry and pulls the knife away from him. He falls to the floor with a loud crash. The Valkyries begin filing out of the door.
“Next bar?” one of them shouts.
The others whoop and cheer as they pile into the street.
Perry is slowly regaining his senses. He groans and lifts his head up.
“By the way,” Kiki says as she reaches the door, “I thought you should know. I’m the leader of the Valkyries, only second to Freyja herself, and I’m declaring here and now that any Valkyrie who gives her blood to aid Perry or his team will be kicked out of Valhalla. Forever.”
That’s the end of that then. None of them will go against their leader and risk being exiled.
“Seriously? What the hell just happened?” I blurt out as Perry makes his way over to us and starts untying us.
“We just signed Regal’s death warrant,” Atlas says bitterly.
We return to the Tamlo, defeated and at a loss for what to do next. We’ve been pacing the waiting room for a couple of minutes when Langston, Saudia, and Tracey come in.
Atlas jumps to her feet.
“Please tell me you got some,” she says.
The downcast look of their eyes already answers the question, but Tracey answers anyway.
“No,” she says, looking pointedly at Perry. Perry looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
“What happened?” Atlas asks.
“We found a couple of Valkyries in a bar in Mexico. Those girls like to drink, don’t they? We told them our story, and they agreed that they would help us. One of them pulled a dagger out of her back pocket and went to cut into her palm. The other one’s cell phone beeped, and she told her friend to stop. Said something about an announcement in their Facebook group that anyone who helps Perry, and by extension, Regal, is out of Valhalla for good. What on earth did you do to them, Perry?” Langston says.
Perry looks down at the floor.
“I dated a couple of them at the same time. They found out. They were pissed,” he says.
Saudia snorts.