Valkyrie Divided (Pyralis Book 2)

by Brandy L. Cunningham

  When he lifted his eyes to mine once more, he shook his head. His eyes held a haunted expression. “I saw everything. I saw her future, I saw her children, and I saw it all. I saw that this one child could be both the salvation of the world, and its destruction. It was all there in those white eyes of hers. All the questions about whether I was an animal or a man, about what place we had in this world. In that moment, cradling her in my arms, I saw the future of our race, and it was your face I saw.”

  My breaths came in shallow rapid spurts now. I felt like I were hyperventilating. Was that even possible for a Vampire? Staring at him, I stood and fled from the room. Through the halls and out the front door with a crash. The freezing cold air outside stung my lungs as I gasped for breath. I hadn’t made it more than a few feet out the front door when my raven-like blue black wings burst from my back and I was airborne.

  Pumping my wings fiercely, I rose higher and higher, pushing all of my limits. Ice crystalized along my feathers and hair as I climbed into the freezing atmosphere. I needed to be free of this fear I felt. I needed to forget the man I desired, and I needed to understand what had just been said to me. I could feel the fear of the unknown trying to paralyze me.

  Soaring amongst the clouds, I closed my eyes, feeling the wind whip my face as I flew at great speeds through the darkening clouds. In the distance, I heard thunder as the atmospheric pressures crashed into one another, creating the loud rumbling booms that echoed through the sky. Opening my eyes, I watched as lightning streaks lit up the darkness. The world was already beginning to change.

  The absence of the sun was causing catastrophic events across the globe. It was not just America that would be affected, but the entire world. I needed to get my head screwed on straight, and I needed to figure out how to stop this, and how to get the planets to rotate on their axis once again. Closing my eyes, I pictured Aeron. His beautiful eyes called to me, and his arrogantly handsome features stirred my desire.

  Rolling onto my back, I imagined myself floating. I could almost feel the way he had held me that last time, when he had finally given in and kissed me. He had not been controlled and poised. He had been wild and lust filled. He had been my equal. Warmth surrounded me, as though the fiery wings of the Fenix held me close once more. I could feel their sultry heat as they enclosed around me, and I could hear the whispers of his voice.

  “I am here with you, Valkyrie. You are Pyralis and I am Fenix. Together, we will burn up the sky. Hold on beautiful one. Your darkness is not the enemy you think it is.”

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  6

  Date with Revenge

  Watching Valkyrie flee from the castle, my anger began to rile. I had only just reunited with her. What had Villart said to her to drive her away like this? Storming back up the stairs and into his study, I flung the door wide and advanced on him.

  “What the hell did you do, Villart?”

  Dresden stood by the window with his back to me. his arms were folded across his chest, and he didn’t seem surprised that Valkyrie had exploded out of the house the way she had. When he finally deigned to give me his attention, he stated, in a calm, matter of fact voice, “I told her the truth, the same as I did for you.”

  “Then why did she leave?”

  His face became troubled. “I would assume she left because she fears that the evil she senses within herself is that of the bloodline she knows she possesses. She is afraid of what’s inside her.”

  Blinking in surprise, I asked, “Should she be afraid?”

  Now, Dresden turned fully around to face me. “Yes, she should, Valkyrian. What I didn’t tell her is that there are whispers about the possibility that Vangrough is still alive. If these rumors spreading through the council like wildfire are indeed true, she should be very afraid.”

  My jaw clenched. “So you believe the whispers then?”

  Dresden paced to his desk. “Recently, there have been some scrolls uncovered in the library of the Ancients, and the scribbles on them do make me wonder. I fear that our Goddess of Light may have failed to mention a few details when she told the Council to eradicate the line of Vangrough.”

  Slamming my hand down on his rich walnut desk in frustration, I yelled, “What does this have to do with my twin?”

  Dresden shook his head, his eyes growing sad. “Everything, my friend. If the link to Vangrough is alive in her, then she is a loose cannon, one we may regret releasing upon the world. In Vangrough’s children, the bloodlust was a dangerous thing, but in one such as Valkyrie, it could be the destruction of us all. Her choices will shape our future. She is the only one who can stop Vangrough, but Airi will never allow her to live.”

  “Then Airi be damned! She will not touch my sister!”

  Dresden shook his head. “Airi is weakening. She is no match for Valkyrie. She will send the Ancients to wipe her out. Mark my words, they will come for her.”

  Facing him, I seethed with anger. “Then you will help me stop them.”

  Dresden sighed. “And who will stop her, my dear friend, if she chooses the wrong path?”

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  The darkness inside of me was growing stronger. I was growing weaker. Maybe Dresden was right. Maybe it was the lineage of the murderous Vangrough finally peeking its ugly head again. There was no way I could save the world if that side of me took over. As it was, we were losing. Byron now held control over five of the Lost Cities. Two remained free from his rule, but had fallen to darkness and the Cast who ruled them barely held onto control.

  The Draikais were safe, for now, but they could not stand against the horde of Vampires with only twenty male warriors and a handful of females who knew how to fight. Savanna stood in a stand-off currently. The Aerwyna-a sacred race of merfolk-who ruled the city of Savanna were foul tempered and refused to side with either us or Byron. Some of them had fled, but the ones who remained were strong and dangerous.

  The Lost Cities of Salem, Minot, San Antonio, Portland and L.A. stood with us. The Gargoyles and the Werewolves of Acadia were also on our side. Wandering in the world, there were many others. We called them Rogues. They either refused to take sides, or had been driven from their homes and hid. Then, there were those who had never followed a Cast or leader. They had lived all their lives away from others and sought to blend in with the Humans.

  The Humans had begun to realize something was afoot as well. Their military bases were buckling down, and people who had fled their cities were now taking refuge in camps and bunkers around the country. We continued to find new creatures who had been let into this world through the portals Desmond and Byron opened in the Lost Cities that had fallen. We killed any who rebelled against us, and held the others prisoner.

  We hoped to drive them back to the Hell they had emerged from, but there was a lot we still needed to know. We had no idea how Byron and Desmond were opening the portals, and we had even less idea how to seal them back off once we drove the hordes of marauders back inside. Things were not looking good. The axis on which the planets rotated seemed to have stalled, and the shadow that lay over the world had not lessened.

  Rafael had a dim outlook on us ever seeing the light of the sun again. It seemed the longer our planet went without light, the more the world was changing. Storms had begun raging in the sky and across the land. Tornadoes destroyed towns and floods chased humans and Others alike from their homes. Snow fell where it was not likely, and the ocean became unruly. I couldn’t imagine what would happen during an entire century of darkness if things remained the way they were.

  No one really knew the link between evil being released into the land, and the absence of sunlight. Was this all just a natural phenomenon that Byron and Desmond were taking advantage of, or had it really been brought around by my rebirth? One thing I knew deep down in my soul, was that this world would never be the same again. Too many lines had been crossed already. Humanity would have to evolve, or be wiped from the world.

  Even those of us who were not human w
ould have to evolve. Vampires depended on blood to survive. They could feed on animals, but they preferred humans. Wolves and the other predatory animals, both natural and Shifter, depended on meat. Humans too depended on plants and animals to sustain them. With all the natural disasters beginning, I could not imagine what would become of any of us.

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  Five days remained until the prophesized final Eclipse. Today, I had found a place where sunlight had begun to return. Ever so slowly, the moon and the sun were moving, and small areas of the earth were once again bathed in its light. Sitting on the peak of the volcano, I bathed in this light, knowing full well it may be the last time I was able to feed off the radiation the sun cast down upon me.

  Wings beat upon the air, and their rhythmic melody called to my soul. Opening my eyes, I looked upward, tracing the lines of the dark clouds. The first of the Gargoyles crossed my line of sight, and he began his downward descent toward me. Landing with a thud and scraping of his claws on rock, he settled in beside me, folding his wings and looking out over the view spread out before us.

  “You really are the clumsiest creature when you’re not trying to be stealthy, Chandler.” Laughing, I elbowed the giant gray gargoyle.

  Turning his large animal-like face toward me, he chuffed. It was a noise he made often, somewhat like crossing a purr and a growl.

  Turning my gaze back to peer at the blinding light of the sun, I sighed. “Let me guess, Desmond is on the move, and you’ve tracked him.”

  Chandler chuffed at me again. Pursing my lips, I stood and stretched. I guess it was time I pulled myself from the melancholy mood I had slumped into. Depression was easy for me lately, hope was not. Right now, I needed hope. I needed to believe we had a chance to stop whatever plot it was that Desmond and the man I once thought to be my father were hatching. Giving my dearest friend a nod, I dropped forward off the rocky peak of the volcanic mountain. Gargoyles dropped around me, flanking me as we shot into the sky.

  ͼ ͼ ͼ ͼ

  The street was dark, and an eerie wind had blown in during the time I stood there awaiting the man I had once loved. It howled around me, stirring up garbage and debris from the deserted streets. The city of Savanna was unnaturally quiet tonight. I was unsure who ran the Lost City below the southern town, but I could practically feel the unrest here. Humans had hidden in their homes early, and street lamps flickered.

  A chill seeped into my spine, and it was not from the cold. It was a result of the spirit who hovered at my side. I didn’t know who it was, for they kept their face hidden from me, but they had been shadowing me since I entered this city. I felt their presence strongly, and I was sure they had been powerful in life.

  Thunder roared above me as the first true darkness of night without an eclipse wrapped us in its blanket of obscurity. A shadow crossed the dimly lit road ahead of me. I braced myself. I needed to be prepared for anything. Desmond was devious and I could not trust him. The shadow grew across the street, projecting the image of him in front of me.

  The moment he stepped into sight, the darkness within me stirred. An orange glow ignited within my veins. My body recognized this man as the one who had hurt me. It was ready to defend me. Desmond was sultry and sexy as always. His dark brown hair fell over his face and shadowed his sensual warm brown eyes. He walked alone, head back, as though he studied the sky. His dark golden skin tone glistening in the way only his seemed to.

  “Lovely night, isn’t it, my beautiful Valkyrie. Enjoy it while it lasts. Soon, there will be nothing but the hazy light we have seen lately.”

  My skin crawled at his voice and his words. No longer did that voice remind me of sweet warm honey. Once, it had seduced me, that deep warm southern drawl, but now, it made me sick. My time in darkness, being tortured by him and touched by him without choice had soured everything about this man. He had sought to cripple me, and control me.

  “I am not your Valkyrie. You have no right to be here in this City, Desmond. This is not your territory, and you will not win this city.”

  Desmond laughed. He continued to walk down the street, ambling along as though he had all the time in the world. I was not blind nor dumb. I would not be caught unprepared for him again. He though I didn’t see the Vampires that slowly crept into alleys and streets around me. I wanted to laugh at him. The darkness within me begged to be unleashed, but I held it in check. I was too emotional in that state of mind.

  Right now, I needed to be calculating. I needed to see everything before it happened. I asked the darkness inside of me to be patient. I allowed my senses to tell me the exact location of Desmond’s soldiers, seeing the grid click into place across my mind.

  “The Aerwyna will side with us. They are weak. They do not know how to fight back. Do you think they will stand with you as you defend a city that isn’t even your own?”

  I smiled sweetly. “All of these cities are mine. Mine to defend from the hatred and evil you plan to bring into this world. We should all have a choice in how we live, not be forced to slave for you and Byron. You think he will still allow you to act as leader once this plan of his has fulfilled itself? You are a fool. Byron is more demented than you realize.”

  Desmond chuckled. “Clearly, you never knew me as well as you thought. I wish Aeron were standing there beside you, so I could remind him how I used to enjoy using you, fucking you, and making you moan.”

  I grimaced. No matter how much I fought it, the mental images he brought up invaded my mind. I kept my features expressionless. I would not show him how he affected me. I would not show him how the very mention of Aeron brought my darkness to the surface.

  “I guess we all make mistakes, don’t we, Desmond. I’m glad I finally grew up and realized how much better it could get.”

  Desmond’s jaw ticked. Unlike Aeron, he had never been able to completely control the emotional side of himself. He sent me a bone-chilling look at the same moment his soldiers emerged from their hiding places, coming straight for me. An instant was all it took for me to ignite. The fire that combusted from my body was terrifyingly hot. Flames ran up and down my body as the Reaper in me surfaced. My skeletal, shredded wings rose above me, taking the place of the shadow that hung over me constantly.

  I reveled in the shock and disbelief that crossed Desmond’s face as he stared at me. The Vampires faltered in their attack as my eyes burned crimson. My fangs elongated, and my fingernails lengthened. I laughed, and the sound was chilling.

  Moving my eyes to the first Vampire, I threw a blast of fire at his head. The second it hit him, his entire body was engulfed in flames. The Vampire hit the ground rolling and writhing in agony. I laughed again. Another Vampire neared me. The tip of my wing sunk into his throat, and I yearned to taste his blood. The other three had halted.

  As I dropped the Vampire from my wing, I walked forward, one sultry sway of my hips at a time. Lifting my chin, with my hair floating around me in flames, I laughed slowly, darkly. Humming, I sang a little tune as I made my way slowly toward my prey.

  “Don’t fear the Reaper…Desmond…there’s no rest for you, my wicked lover… tonight, tomorrow, it matters not, for Death calls your name…”

  My shadowy wings trembled behind me in expectation. I was determined. Tonight, I would spill Desmond’s blood. He held his ground, but the fear in his eyes was like a sweet scent, calling me to him. Three feet before I reached him, Desmond’s eyes darted around. He lunged at me, pulling a long silver knife from his belt. A celestial blade. Again I only laughed. My body had begun rising off the ground, my torn wings hovering over me, spread wide, ready for the kill.

  Desmond faltered for just an instance. It was all I needed. Swooping down, I grabbed him around the throat. Sinking my fangs deep into his neck, I sucked harshly. Biting into his flesh seemed to only fuel the anger and hatred in me. Blood ran down my mouth, my throat, and my breasts. The fire that burned on my skin was burning him. He writhed in my arms. I held tight. My wings changed, and I rose to the air as
I sensed more Vampires coming.

  Lifting my head, I stared down at Desmond’s glazed eyes. He was not dead, only in a state of paralysis. It was another nifty side effect of my newfound powers. When the venom of my saliva entered the blood of Vampires, they went into a sleep state. Laughing wickedly, I cradled the man in my arms, torn between finishing him off or delivering him to my troops to gain as much knowledge as possible. What I really wanted was to rip the throat from his neck and bathe in his tainted blood.

  Wings beat the air behind me, and I sighed. Chandler hovered next to me. “Good work, Valkyrie. You captured Byron’s most valuable asset. Why don’t I take him?”

  Rolling my eyes to the side, I contemplated killing him now. Chandler moved closer. He stared into my eyes. He had that look again, the one he got when he was worried the darkness was gaining control over me. Growling, I tossed Desmond at him before taking off. I

  needed to kill, to feed, and to let the darkness take over.

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  Bathed in blood, I roused. I was dazed and confused, like an alcoholic who has delved into the bottomless pit of drunkenness. My vision was blurred, and my head cloudy. Shaking it, I groaned. My mind supplied me with memories of my excursions from the previous night. I had gone after Desmond’s army, left in the streets of Savanna, not sure what to do without their leader.

  Let us just say that Desmond’s army was much smaller now. Dead bodies would have littered the streets of Savanna that night, but I had piled them up and set fire to what proof remained of my inability to control myself. Dresden was right. Vangrough’s blood ran in mine, and I was becoming a monster. Through it all, I had seethed, angry at the world for taking Aeron. But who was I kidding. Aeron hadn’t even wanted me. He only came to my aid because of the woman he had once loved.

  I was not that woman. Far from her, in fact. I was not sweet little Valkyrie Walker. I was Valkyrie, Pyralis, Reaper, and Death. Nothing good came from me. There was nothing good that ever would come of me. The only things I knew how to do were kill and destroy. I felt jittery. Standing, I lumbered into the city, staring at the bloodstained streets. As I stood there, scrutinizing the evidence of my handy-work, I heard a soft voice.