I grabbed her wrist and brought her close. “Stay by my side.”
The ogres were getting to their feet and approaching us again. I couldn’t see Ken in the mass of bodies. There were too many for us to defeat, and I was losing energy.
Just as I was ready to spread my wings and fly us out of there, the sound of pounding feet could be heard in the distance. It sounded like a stampede of horses, and I didn’t need to take a wild guess to know who it was. My gamble had paid off and my favorite stalker had come through. A group of ogres standing by the brush fell like bowling pins as a pack of hellhounds barreled in, led by Fen in wolf form.
The flaming fire in the hounds’ eyes was a glorious orange, gold, and red. They shot fire from their mouths, setting ogres ablaze by the numbers. Their cries of pain echoed in the night.
Fen came to our side, and I tightened my grip on the sword. He placed his muzzle in my hand, and I reluctantly petted him, knowing damn well Charlie was watching our every move. Stupid wolf.
In a split second, Fen was gone to join the massacre around us. I spun around and saw red. The hounds were destroying everything in their path, and we needed to get out of there before they set their sights on the sword and us.
“Raven, look!” Charlie yelled as she pointed in the opposite direction. “Ken!” The Kitsune hobbled between two ogres and a hellhound. The hound took a deep breath, preparing to set fire to them, and I ran. The kid wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for us. Without thinking, I jumped in front of Ken to shield him, giving the hound my back, and the flames penetrated my clothes and skin. I struck the sword in the ground to hold myself steady and gritted my teeth, spittle flying everywhere as I took the pain.
“Go!” I screamed to Ken, and he went to Charlie. I dropped to one knee and gasped for air once the hound was finished. Sweat dripped down my body, and the corners of my vision began to darken. If I pushed myself much more, I was sure to pass out. “Ken, can you run?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Take Charlie somewhere safe.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m not leaving you!”
Ken gripped her arm. His face stricken with fear, he nodded slowly—he understood what he had to do. No one should have survived what I just had.
“Go …” I whispered.
And they were gone.
Death surrounded me, and sooner or later, there wouldn’t be any ogres left and I’d have to answer to Fen. I needed my strength. I tried to stand, but the ache in my back was unbearable.
I scanned the area and found Fen, his canines in the throat of an ogre as if it were a chew toy. Gripping the handle of the sword, I pulled myself off the ground and stood. Regaining my balance, I quickly sheathed the sword. Once it was cloaked, Fen snapped his attention to me and prowled toward me like a predator, shifting back to human in the process.
“Raven,” he growled, “give me the sword.”
I grimaced as my wings ripped out of my burned back and spread out around me. He stopped mid-step, his eyes going wide.
“Y-your wings,” he muttered. “How?”
My vision was going in and out, and I worried I’d pass out before I got to safety. I needed to hurry. “I’m a valkyrie, Fenrir. Just because I’m not in Valhalla, doesn’t make me anything less. Maybe you’ve forgotten. Maybe you need a reminder.” I shot into the air, my honey-brown wings gliding back as I hovered above them all like a god. “You will fear me,” I said before flying away into the night sky and leaving them in a huddle of their own mess.
11
The breeze in my face was the only reminder I had to stay alert. The rhythm of my flapping wings was slow and erratic as I made my way to the cemetery. Since the sword was sheathed, it was cloaked and made untraceable by Verdandi’s magic. I had to get there as soon as possible to keep it hidden. The pain on my back was a burn like none I’d ever had. I imagined this was what being tortured in the Underworld felt like. One wing stopped and I started to dive, my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I crashed on soft dirt and took on a mouthful of grass. I could barely lift my head and open my eyelids to see the headstones that surrounded me. I’d made it.
“Verdandi,” I mumbled into the ground. “Verdandi,” I repeated. The force with which I landed was sure to have shaken the ground and notified her of my presence.
My eyelids closed, but I could hear running feet coming toward me. The heat from her body was familiar, and she touched my wings. I flinched.
“Retract your wings, Hrefna. I cannot treat your back with them out,” she whispered so gently I wondered if it really was her.
“The sword,” I muttered. “Hide the sword.” My only concern was that the sword wasn’t in the open where prying eyes could see.
She responded by carefully removing the sheath from my body and left for a few moments before returning to my disfigured body. I retracted my wings, screaming into the night as I did. The pain was blinding and I saw stars, my fingers digging into the soil, dirt getting beneath my nails.
“Easy, Hrefna.” Verdandi tried to cover me with what was left of my shirt. “C’mon, let’s try to get up.”
I attempted to stand, but my knees groaned and buckled. She quickly put my arm around her neck and held me by my waist, putting pressure on the burn marks. I winced and gritted my teeth.
Verdandi walked me to the crypt, dragged me at times, and laid me on top of the tomb in the middle of the catacomb. Its flat surface was cold as I lay on my stomach, my cheek on the concrete.
“I can make a salve for you,” she said and she walked around, tinkering with the bottles she had on a shelf. “It will relieve you of pain and make the burn marks disappear, but it will initially hurt.”
“Do it,” I grunted. I’d endured more than enough pain in my long life—this would be nothing. I couldn’t heal myself as I normally did because I was weak. I’d poisoned my body with human vices and now I craved them. I’d broken myself.
“All right, take this.” Verdandi handed me a brown, worn-out leather belt. “Bite on it.”
“I don’t need it,” I said faintly.
“But you will.”
I eyed the ointment carefully and decided not to take the risk. I feebly took the belt and bit down on it softly. Verdandi moved the scraps of clothing from my back and brushed away any hair. Without warning, she slapped the first amount of salve on my skin. It was like taking the fire to my back all over again, but this time, it was on raw flesh.
I passed out.
When I awoke, I’d been sleeping in the same position for so long my neck was stuck. It cracked as I tried to turn it the other way. Sleeping on a slab of concrete was rough and brought back many unpleasant memories. I climbed off the tomb and tried to touch my back under the new shirt I wore. The parts I could reach were spotless save for the two scars from my wings. I arched my back, and sure enough, I felt no pain.
“Damn, that old hag was right,” I muttered to no one in particular.
“Did you ever doubt me?” Verdandi responded from the opposite corner of the crypt. She sat near a couple candles as she measured some liquids in a bottle.
“I never know with you,” I said apprehensively. “I’m not necessarily your favorite person.”
She smirked. “Be that as it may, we’re stuck with each other.”
“Right you are.” I leaned against the tomb. “Thanks, by the way. For last night.”
She nodded.
“So how are preparations coming along? Are we almost finished?” I was anxious about this imprisonment and how it would work. Capturing Odin was going to be tough in itself.
“That’s the least of our worries right now,” she said. “The vision is coming true.”
I didn’t answer or bombard her with questions right away. The vision she spoke of was of the world on fire. That couldn’t be true because we were in here. Safe. This was another trickery of the Norn.
“What game are you playing?”
“No games, Hrefna. It’s all over
the human news. Fires across the world have started simultaneously. They even believe it is the end of time.”
I scoffed. “Humans always believe the end of the world is coming. Hello? Y2K?”
She shook her head. “This is different. The fires, Hrefna, are the same as in my vision.”
“Was there a fire in Portland?”
“Will and Charlie are safe,” Verdandi answered my unspoken question. “I called them as soon as I heard.”
I sagged in relief. “Did you tell them it was your vision?”
“No,” she said. “That is not something you say over the phone.”
I rolled my eyes. “For the love of the gods.” I grabbed my things and began to leave. I had to get to the station and let Will know what was going on.
“It’s beginning, Hrefna. We must prepare.”
“Prepare that cage for Odin!” I called over my shoulder as I left the crypt. The fires might have started, but we still had my father to deal with, and he didn’t care if it was the end of the world.
I got to the precinct and everything was in an uproar. The firefighters were still putting out the fire, and the police were helping with whatever they could. I found Will in the back of the squad room by his desk with Thompson.
“Raven!” he called out. “Speak of the devil. I was just about to call you.”
“Uh … can we talk in private?” I looked to Thompson and then Will.
“No time,” Will said. “We found Castellano’s compound.” He grinned, and I’d never seen him so excited.
Thompson nodded. “It wasn’t easy, but the shell corporation he used for the abandoned building was the same as the new location. We just had to go down the rabbit hole to find it. It was hidden under many corporations.”
“But the fires …” I stabbed my thumb behind me.
Will shook his head. “Crime doesn’t stop, Raven. We finally got him and we need to shut down his whole operation. We’re cleared by command to do so, and I have a team ready to go at fifteen hundred hours.”
My head was spinning. I hadn’t spoken to Will in a while. I knew he was hard at work trying to find the new location, but with everything going on, it was just horrible timing. I took him by the arm and pulled him away from any eavesdroppers to a corner.
“Can this wait?” I whispered.
He jerked back. “Are you serious? We’ve been at this case for weeks. I thought you’d be jumping for joy, calling Charlie to tell her the good news.”
“You know the fires that are happening all over the world?” I asked him, and he nodded. “They’re Verdandi’s vision. It’s happening. The damn shit is starting.”
Will’s mouth fell open as he stumbled back a little. He closed his mouth and ran a hand through his hair. “How do you know?”
“I just came from seeing the old hag. She told me.”
“We can’t just ignore the Castellano case, Raven.” He raised his shoulders as if he didn’t know what to do. “You have no obligation to the PPD, but I do.”
I sighed loudly. “Of course, I’m going to help you, Will.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he pulled me into an unexpected hug. “Let’s go get this bastard.”
I chuckled as I hugged him back. Our relationship was like this embrace: surprising but definitely welcome. It started with an attraction, but I soon realized he was more of a friend than lover. And it was better that way.
We drove to the new location of Castellano’s compound while I called Charlie to make sure she’d made it home safely after Ken had whisked her away. She wasn’t necessarily happy with me, so I decided to wait to tell her the good news. She would have wanted to come with us, so I didn’t want to tempt her with the information. I’d serve Castellano to her on a silver platter once he was in custody.
We were outside of Portland and obscured by forestry. We couldn’t drive onto the property without sounding alarms, so a couple of teams were dispatched to investigate further and make sure it was clear for us to approach.
I, of course, was with Will and his group, and I really wished I hadn’t been dealing with humans so I could just fly into the compound. Everything was much easier now that I had my wings, and I almost wondered why I’d gotten rid of them to begin with. But I was in a different mindset back then—I’d given up on my life. Not anymore. I looked over at Will who wore his bulletproof vest and had his gun at the ready. I, too, wore a bulletproof vest, per the commander’s orders. Little did they know I was bulletproof.
“Everyone in position?” Will said through his earpiece. I didn’t get one because I was only a consultant. “Do we have eyes on the roof?”
The PPD surrounded the compound and, sure enough, there was security with what looked like rifles on the building’s roof.
“Now,” Will ordered.
I’d missed what he had communicated because, before I knew it, the men on the roof dropped like flies.
Shocked, I turned to him. “Do we have snipers?”
He ignored me.
“Are the exits covered?” he spoke into the headset and waited until he heard the responses. “No one leaves the building. Let’s go.”
In a crouch, we stormed the building as Will kicked open the front door and our team rushed through, swarming the area. The young woman at the front desk screamed.
“PPD!” Will yelled. “Everyone freeze!”
The people in the first-floor lobby raised their hands and were quickly instructed to get on the ground while officers, SWAT, and other PPD people I didn’t recognize infiltrated the building.
“Will,” I tugged at his shirtsleeve, “we need to find the lab. These people can’t find any trace of supernaturals,” I whispered.
“What about Castellano?” He raised both brows.
I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wanted to find that son of a bitch just as much as Will, but supernaturals had to keep their secret too. We’d be in another mess if I had to break into evidence—again—to destroy whatever they had.
“Let’s do both.” I shrugged. “Whatever or whoever we find first.”
“Deal.” Will extended his hand and we shook on it.
We hurried out of the lobby and to the elevators. The directory didn’t tell us much, so we’d have to stop at every floor. Will was about to select the second floor when I put a hand over his. “No. Start at the top and let’s work our way down.”
Will frowned but then nodded. “Smart.”
We started at the twenty-fifth floor: a lab, but not the one we’d hoped for. It looked like they stored things here, so we emptied whatever vials we found just in case. This was going to take longer than predicted.
We found Castellano on the eighteenth floor, except he wasn’t the clean-cut, loafer-wearing drug dealer I’d met weeks ago. No, he was scruffier. His hair was overgrown and his clothes were baggy, but I’d recognize that face anywhere. I’d recognize that soul.
“Castellano,” I said as we walked into the lab. The walls were lined with incubation tubes with people inside them. They pounded on the impenetrable glass once they saw Will and me. Castellano’s eyes widened. He was in the middle of stuffing a satchel full of papers and vials. He was going to run.
He laughed. “Raven Romero, we meet again.” He swayed as if he found this interaction amusing. “I have to say since our last encounter I’ve learned so much about your world. Your people.” He waved to those in the incubation tubes. They were all supernatural. “They’ve made me a very rich man. Rich enough to leave this godforsaken country and start anew.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Will aimed his gun at him. “You’re under arrest for the murders—”
“We all know I didn’t murder them.” Castellano met my gaze with a knowing look. “Chuck, yes, but the others …” He tsked and shook his head. “Nice try.”
“You’re going—”
“Don’t say anything, Raven,” Will interrupted.
Castellano’s gaze whipped to the detective beside me. “
So you’re in on it too? My, my, who’s crooked now?”
“On your knees,” Will gritted, but Castellano didn’t move. “I said, on your knees!”
It was obvious we were missing something because he stood still and grinned at us. I turned slightly and looked at one of the supernaturals, a vampire with deathly pale skin and greasy strands of dirty-blond hair that barely fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were wide as she pointed insistently to something behind us, yelling something we couldn’t hear.
I didn’t think. I only reacted. Spinning around, I stood back-to-back with Will. Covering him, I took multiple bullets to my chest and shoulders and one to the forehead, wincing with each hit. I heard Will’s breath catch. Before me stood the last person I would have ever thought to see—Thompson.
Will shot his gun, and Castellano yelped before he hit the ground.
“What the hell?” Thompson looked at his gun and then me. “You-you’re—”
“Not human?” I finished for him. “Your buddy should have warned you.”
Will turned around and aimed his gun at his partner. “How could you?” His voice shook.
“This was a one-time thing, I swear,” Thompson pleaded. His forehead was sweating profusely, and his hands trembled. He licked his lips and blinked away the sweat that dripped in his eyes. “I just had to help him out of the country for a million dollars. I have kids, Callahan. I need the money.”
My gaze turned to Castellano who was clutching his bleeding leg. That son of a bitch was a disease. I didn’t like Thompson much, but anyone desperate enough for money would be willing to do anything. Even kill their partner for it.
“Let him go, Will.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
Thompson looked at me then Will. “No, just kill me. Do it!”
“So he can be labeled a cop killer?” I raised a brow. “I don’t think so.” I lowered Will’s gun. This wasn’t the way, and that took a lot for me to say because valkyries were more of the kill-first-ask-questions-later type. These humans were definitely rubbing off on me.
The Last Valkyrie Series Complete Boxed Set Page 28