“Killed?” Shotgunner asked, “Dude, we’re on fire.”
“That is an excellent idea,” A woman’s cold voice said from behind him. He turned around, revealing an Asian girl dressed in white and gold, her eyes shimmering and green.
“Get away from her!” I screamed, but it was too late. The Valkyrie laid her hand flat on Shotgunner’s chest. Her eyes flared and green energy rippled around Shotgunner’s body. He was silent for a single instant, staring at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. Then he started to scream, a high-pitched, wailing shriek of pure, unbearable pain. The green energy became bright white, and when it faded there was nothing left of Shotgunner but a set of charred black bones.
“You whoring bitch!” John Deer spat.
“God damn it!” Rifle screamed.
Hand Cannon and John Deer aimed their weapons at the Valkyrie. She snarled and grabbed the barrels, ripping the guns from their hands. She clubbed John Deer in the face with his weapon, cracking his jaw, snapping his neck, and dropping him to the ground, then stuck John Deer’s shotgun in Hand Cannon’s stomach and pulled the trigger.
The whole thing happened in a fraction of a second, too fast for me to react. I hate to say it, but Rifle was actually quicker than me. He raised his gun and jammed it toward the girl’s face. He pulled the trigger at the same time the Valkyrie grabbed the barrel. The gun bucked and fire spat out the end, but the bullet whizzed past her head.
The Valkyrie pulled her dagger and prepared to gut the poor fool redneck. My brain finally decided to get back to the whole thinking thing, and I wrapped my mind around her blade, sending it flying off into the darkness. She howled in fury and moved to tear Rifle’s throat out with her bare hands, but a pencil-thin blast of light knocked her back fifteen feet. Thank God. I wouldn’t want the world deprived of what was almost certainly a champion pig calling voice.
Rifle grabbed his weapon off the ground. “Come here you slant-eyed–”
I jerked the rifle out of his hand. “Listen to me, you inbred hillbilly assclown. That girl just killed three of your friends in about half a second. I know you probably have your Rambo DVD set on endless repeat, but you are in way over your head here. So why don’t you get back in your truck and find a locked door to hide behind?”
The guy stared at me, the vein in his forehead pulsing. He spat chewing tobacco at my feet, then climbed into the truck and squealed away.
I walked past a chiropractor’s office, following a pair of Valkyries. I raised my hands to attack them, but a blaring horn and a roaring engine made me dive onto the sidewalk. Rifle roared past me, foot to the floor, a pistol in his fist. He fired through the windshield, shattering it, and continued pumping rounds at the Valkyries.
A round bounced off the left Valkyrie’s shoulder armor, spinning her halfway around. The right Valkyrie hurled her spear. The weapon shot through the air like a missile and embedded in the man’s throat. The truck swerved wildly, almost hitting the Valkyries, then slammed into a tree. Rifle’s body was ejected from the vehicle and landed twenty feet away.
I ran, firing lances of white light as I moved. My head was pounding and my breath was labored. I’d thrown around too much power, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to keep the fight up. But I needed to find Holda, needed to–
“Caden.”
The voice was cold, almost harsh, but still unmistakable. I turned slowly around.
Her skin was nearly as pale as the translucent gown that swirled and billowed around her. She wore no armor, carried no weapons, and was barefoot. If the cold bothered her, she gave no sign. Her red hair mimicked the fires burning around us. Her emerald eyes burned with the fire of a demon’s soul.
“Miranda,” I said, my voice hoarse.
She was beautiful and terrible all at once. She was perfect, bewitching and elegant, her diaphanous garment accentuating every curve and teasing with promises and glimpses of what lay hidden below. She stood proud, unashamed, brazen, raw sexuality and overwhelming confidence radiating from her.
But it wasn’t Miranda. It was the thing inside of her, the thing that had stolen her, flaunting her body for its own ends, tempting me with something it had no right to offer.
Miranda smiled and glided forward, walking on tip-toes and leaving not a single mark in her wake. She circled around me, looking me up and down, a lion considering prey. “Holda sent me to you, Caden. She wanted me to reiterate her offer.”
“Thanks. You know, I’ve really been considering it, but I’ve always gotten my oil changed at the Steak and Lube, and it just doesn’t seem right to trade up.”
Miranda laughed. She ran her fingers along my jaw. “Oh Caden. Always a sharp tongue. She likes that about you, you know. It’s a pleasant change of pace from her grandmother’s constant yammering.”
“Hey now, Ethel DuBois is a classy lady.”
She looked me up and down. “You would be a wonderful addition to our court, Caden. A man rejected by his god, fighting alongside women rejected by their own deity. Think of the things we could do together, you and I. We could defeat Wotan. We could defeat them all. And then, when the battle is over and your flesh is weary,” she gave me a hungry, predatory smile, “I think you would find my ministrations quite invigorating.”
I showed her my teeth, but only a fool would call it a smile. “You have a lot to learn about me, sweetheart. If you think I’m going to roll over and show you my belly because you’ll let me use Miranda like a sex doll–”
“She wants it, you know,” the Valkyrie interrupted. “The tall, handsome man, the mysterious stranger, the dark and powerful avenger. She’d never admit it, but I know. I can feel it. It wouldn’t take much convincing at all. No, I think she’d enjoy it. The thought of you dominating her, taking her and having your way …”
My fury boiled over. My mind roared and my will closed around the demon like a vice. The Valkyrie choked and grabbed at her throat, unable to talk, unable to breathe. “Come out of her,” I said, my voice cold and flat. The demon trembled, then fell to her knees. “Come out of her,” I repeated. The Valkyrie fell forward and clawed at the ground, her fingernails carving gouges in the asphalt. “Come out of her!” I shouted.
The Valkyrie coughed up blood and smiled. “You’re killing her, Caden.” I held out my hand and closed my fist. My willpower cinched around the monster, crushing it. Miranda’s body convulsed. I wrenched the demon with my thoughts, drawing it from within Miranda. She opened her mouth. Green fire glowed inside her throat. I could see the demon within her.
But she was right. Miranda was dying. The demon was ravaging her, shredding her on its way out, and right now, the Valkyrie’s presence was the only thing holding her together. I released my grip on the demon and it disappeared back inside Miranda’s body.
The Valkyrie knelt in the snow, gasping, then looked up at me and laughed. “Maybe Holda is wrong. I’m not sure you have what it takes to be her Champion.”
The Valkyrie leapt from the ground, shockingly fast, and drove her knee into my face. My armor shimmered and the blow sent me flying through the air. I landed on a car, crushing the windshield and nearly peeling the roof off. I gathered the Æther to counter attack, but the Valkyrie was already on top of me, pinning me down with one knee and driving a flurry of punches into my face and body.
I threw light at her, but the Valkyrie expected my move. She rolled to the side just in time, disappearing next to the car. I rolled to follow her, every vertebrae in my spine popping as I moved. The Valkyrie was gone when I landed. She slid beneath the car and popped up on the other side, green eyes blazing.
And then she threw the car at me.
Her fingers sunk into the metal, making a horrible shrieking noise. She lifted the damn thing up over her head, like a professional wrestler about to do a body slam, and brought the car crashing down on top of me. I threw an uppercut, using all of my strength, and released a blast of Æther as I struck the car. The frame bent around my fist, folding
like it was hinged. The force of the Æther tore the car from the Valkyrie’s grasp and sent it flying ten feet into the air. White light punched through solid steel and shone up into the night like a beacon.
I smelled gasoline. The Valkyrie looked at me, smiling. “Oh, shit,” I muttered.
The car exploded. Superheated air blasted us, knocking us backward and away from each other. Fire followed an instant later, washing over my shield and occluding my vision. The remains of the car crashed back to earth, landing with a deafening thud. The burned out shell sat on the pavement, flames dancing sullenly.
My armor flickered, then vanished. The spells that protected me and strengthened me were done, my energies expended. I was just a normal human being again, weak and vulnerable. I felt like every muscle in my body had been torn, like every joint had been hyperextended. My head rang, my vision was filled with white spots, and my mouth tasted like metal.
The Valkyrie in Miranda’s body stood over me, sneering. I tried to sit up, but she planted her toes on my chest and pushed me back down into the snow. I grabbed her ankle, but the demon inside of her was ferociously strong. She stepped on my neck and ground her heel against my windpipe. Fire shot down my throat and my eyes bugged out. I couldn’t breathe. I clawed and her leg, but the Valkyrie just laughed.
And then she released me. She knelt down and ran her hand up the inside of my thigh. “I will have you, Caden. One way or another. With your consent or without it. The only question is how badly I have to hurt you before you give in.” Her emerald eyes flared. “And how badly I hurt you after.”
She stood up and walked away. Snow swirled around her, briefly masking her form, and when it cleared, Miranda was gone.
I let my head fall back and closed my eyes. Darkness claimed me soon after.
December 27th
Chapter Twenty-Four
The sun was starting to rise by the time I woke up. I was lucky I didn’t have frostbite. As it was I felt like I was suffering from the world’s worst hangover. I found my way back to the Jeep and drove slowly through the streets of Issaquah.
The Valkyries were gone, and they had left devastation in their wake. It looked like the bombing of Dresden. Nearly every house, shop, and church inside a three-block radius had been reduced to a burnt-out husk. Pillars of black and gray smoke rose up into the sky, inky tendrils trying to snare the sun. Dozens of fire trucks were parked along the streets, spraying water, but they were fighting a losing battle.
A squad of police cars and a horde of ambulances were parked near St. Michael and All Angels Church. I pulled over to investigate. Dozens of people were scurrying about, most of them wearing jackets emblazoned with Police, Fire, or more troublingly, Coroner. Sheriff Skerrit was directing the action, waving his hands like an air traffic controller and barking into his walkie-talkie. He glanced at me as I approached. “The hell do you want?”
“How bad is it?”
“Fifteen dead. At least thirty families are homeless. Governor might declare the place a disaster area, which will help with the rebuild, but it won’t bring anyone back.”
“What did you tell him happened?”
“The truth. Bunch of crazy bitches rode through town lighting everything on fire. He ain’t sure if it’s gangs or drugs or what, but he deployed the National Guard. They’re tryin’ to dig their way in now.”
I shook my head. “That won’t help.”
“No?” the sheriff wheeled on me. “Because you’re the expert? Son, we took your advice, and look what happened. My whole goddamned town is a pile of ash and rubble right now, and your little light show didn’t do a damn thing to stop ’em. Come ’ere.” He led me to the front of the church and stood there while I surveyed the scene.
There were five corpses, and I recognized four of them. John Deer, Shotgunner, Rifle and Hand Cannon, along with a guy in a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt. Their stomachs had been cut open, and their guts lay at their feet. Their internal organs had been replaced with straw, and the corpses had been hung on poles, arms extended, as if they had been crucified.
“There are three more little displays like this, at three different churches,” the sheriff said. “Turned ’em into goddamn scarecrows.”
“They were outside,” I said helplessly. “I told them not to go outside.”
“Yeah, and I told you we should have killed those things when we had the chance.”
I stared at John Deer. His eyes were still open, and his mouth hung open in a silent scream. “They’re just kids.”
The sheriff sighed. “They were. Not anymore. Kids didn’t do this. Innocent people didn’t burn down people’s houses. Monsters did.”
“I thought I could save them.”
“Me, too. Least, that was the hope. I promised those parents that I’d get their girls back. But I have a responsibility to everyone in this town, Mr. Lyndsey, and if those girls try a repeat performance, I’m gonna have to make some hard choices.”
“I understand. It’ll be easier to protect everyone if they’re in one place. Get them back in the elementary school, or somewhere you can watch over them.”
The sheriff chewed on that for a minute. “Yeah, makes sense. I’ll see to it. And I’ll make sure everyone’s got silver.”
I nodded silently and stared at the corpses for a moment longer. The sheriff was right. Holda had taken dozens of girls hostage, but Mirrormont and the surrounding communities were home to thousands of people. If I let Holda’s horde ride again, they would be home to thousands of casualties.
It made me sick to think like that, like it was a math equation, but the numbers were impossible to argue with. Holda’s Valkyries had to be destroyed.
I got into my Jeep and drove away. I was exhausted, bone-weary, and my head pounded like a jack hammer. All I wanted to do was sleep for an hour or twenty, then maybe eat something, but I had one more thing to do before I could let myself rest.
The highway was empty. Light snow fell gently on the evergreens. It was strange; just five minutes outside of Issaquah and you couldn’t tell anything monstrous had happened the night before. There was no smoke, no flashing lights, no sirens. It was calm, peaceful.
I drove one block past the DuBois’ house and parked my Jeep by the side of the road, walked up to the tiny house, and knocked on the door. I heard rustling inside, and a moment later Francine Lockhart opened the door. “Caden?” she asked.
“Hello, Mrs. Lockhart.”
The little old lady looked up at me expectantly. “What can I do for you, young man?”
“I’d like that knife now.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
I spent the rest of the day in a semi-trance, trying to put myself back together enough to make it back onto the battle field that night, and trying to gather enough magic to survive it. The sirens started at eight PM, signaling everyone to move to one of the sheriff’s protected locations.
The Valkyries had wreaked havoc on Issaquah, but they hadn’t destroyed it completely. Their focus seemed to be on churches and households, and everything else was collateral damage. The elementary school was the biggest building still standing, so that’s where most of the townsfolk gathered to wait out the night, under the protection of Skerrit and his remaining deputies.
My ward had done no good against Holda’s siren song, but I still thought it might prevent her from physically entering the building, so I spent the better part of an hour creating protective spells around the building’s doors and windows.
Nobody looked particularly happy to see me, and I didn’t blame them. This wasn’t their fight. Defeating Holda wasn’t their job. They were scared, many of them had lost their homes, and some of them had lost their loved ones. As far as they were concerned, I was just the guy who hadn’t protected them, who hadn’t made good on his promise to get their children back. I kept my eyes down, found myself a corner in the back of the gymnasium, and waited.
The horn sounded at midnight. The people of Mirrormont reacted. Some cried, some huddl
ed together with loved ones, some snarled and brandished weapons. The room held its breath. The wind howled and snow blotted out the windows. The sound of paws lashing the earth echoed like thunder. And then, for a heartbeat, nothing.
Someone pounded on the door, a big garage door at the back of the gym. “Easy, everyone,” the sheriff said, and cocked his shotgun.
The door shook again. A baby started crying. One of the deputies tried to get the mother to hush it, but what was she going to do? “It’s not like she doesn’t know we’re in here,” I said in a normal tone of voice. Pretty much everyone cringed.
The door exploded. It ripped clean off its tracks and hurled toward us. The crowd drew its breath to scream, but I had expected something like this. Gods love making a dramatic entrance. I threw up a ward and caught the door, deflecting it away from the people inside. The door crashed against the invisible barrier and fell to the ground. It was loud, but everyone was safe.
Holda stood in the doorway, bathed in moonlight. Her white wolf stood by her side, and the Valkyries’ glowing green eyes were visible from the shadows behind her. She surveyed the room, then spoke in a voice as cold as the arctic wind that preceded her. “Hello, my subjects.”
I walked forward. “Subjects? Don’t people technically have to know who the hell you are before they can worship you?”
“Shut up!” a woman behind me hissed.
“I mean, does anyone here even know this lady’s name? Or what pantheon she belongs to?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” A guy shouted at me.
“Are you trying to make her mad?” Another woman demanded.
“Well, yeah. Sun Tzu once said that a pissed off demon is a sloppy opponent. Or something like that.”
Holda laughed. “They have a point, Caden. Who appointed you their Champion? Who elected you to speak on their behalf? You’re playing with their lives, after all. Don’t you think you should honor their wishes?”
A tiny, dark-haired woman with sunken eyes stepped forward. “She’s right. We didn’t ask you to come here. We didn’t ask you to bring this down on us.”
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