“I thought you were better than this Valkyrie. I thought you were stronger than those fools who choose to follow evil. You used to stand for good, and now look at you. They have made you into an animal.”
Baring my fangs at the Gargoyle turned man, I hissed. “You know nothing of what I am boy! You know nothing of the darkness I have seen.”
I turned my back on him. If he didn’t leave, I would kill him. Of course, he was stubborn and foolish. He didn’t leave.
“Do you have any idea what Byron is doing to the other Casts? He has made them slaves. They are tortured, caged, treated as less even than animals. They need you. They need the beautiful caring and brave Valkyrie I know is still in there somewhere.”
I whirled around, growling. “How dare you! You do not know who is inside of me. You take a trip into the fires of Hell, and tell me you will return unchanged. I am the servant of the darkness now. Go. Or I will kill you!”
Releasing a long breath, he shook his head sadly. I saw the disappointment that flashed across those eyes. He morphed once more, leaping into the sky and leaving me to wallow in my darkness. Anger coursed through me, and I leaped from the rooftop to land on the broken pavement below me. I needed to keep killing.
As I trudged through the pouring rain and ice, across puddles into the darkest parts of this town, I felt I was being followed. At first, I thought it was the one I called Aeron, but I quickly began to realize it was another, much more dangerous presence I felt. Like a lullaby in my head, I heard his voice, and I felt his dark shadow as it fell across me.
“Valkyrie, my child. Why do you fight so hard? Why do you hold onto the evil he has fed you when you have the power to choose?”
I halted. With my back toward him, I felt the soothing comfort wash over me from his voice. “Who are you?” I asked. “Why do you make me feel safe and warm?”
I didn’t want to turn around. I was afraid of what I might see standing in that windblown street behind me.
“Valkyrie, I think you already know the answer to that. Why don’t you turn around, and see for yourself?”
I hesitated a moment, unsure if I really wanted to know. Inside, the chance to know ate away at me. Slowly, I rotated around until I looked upon the dark figure standing there. The first feeling I had was confusion. He was a man. Standing there, with his shoulder length raven black hair waving in the wind, and his bright golden colored eyes staring at me, he was just a man. Shaking my head, I thought that couldn’t be right.
“Who are you?” I frowned, my thoughts trying to make sense of him. When he spoke, it was not from his mouth, but into my mind.
“I am your father, Valkyrie. Together with your mother, we created you. My name is Orpheus. Once, I was called other names. Azrael was my first name.”
Blinking, I watched as the man before me began changing. His height grew several feet, and a shadow fell across the road, stretching all the way to my feet as large fearsome wings of bone and shredded flesh rose behind him. His eyes faded to black, and his face elongated, becoming thinner and more skeletal looking. A black cloak hung in tatters around him, and he held the infamous scythe in his right hand. It’s long curved silver blade gleaming even in the absence of light.
Sucking in a breath, I thought, so the Fiddler was right. “You are the Grim Reaper.”
He laughed, a soft frightening sound. “That is what some call me, yes. I prefer Azrael, as that is my true name. This is only one side of me. In human form, I like to be called Orpheus. It is what your mother called me.”
Staring at the dark image of the Reaper before me, I asked, “Did she know? Did my mother know what your true form was?”
The Reaper inclined his head. “Yes. Your mother knew who I was. We had met many times in the past, your mother had a tendency to experience near deaths, or to be present at the deaths of others. It is my job to collect the souls of those fated to die, it is how she and I met. Your mother was torn between her love for me, and for Byron Walker.”
I swallowed. “So, if you are my father, what does that make me?”
Tilting his head, he shifted once more to the man with glowing golden eyes. “You, my child, are something unique. You are a Reaper too, but your job is not to collect the souls of those fated to die as I must. Your job is different, and it is something you must discover for yourself. You must learn that the darkness inside of you does not have to be your enemy. It does not have to control you. If you were to realize this, you would be so much stronger.”
Staring at the man before me, I felt my inner selves battling. The part of me who still held hope tried to break free. The side of me that was dark and wanted to rule with the demonic presence who had taken us tried to maintain control.
The darkness was stronger than the light. Turning, I began to walk away from the one who called me his child.
“Valkyrie?” he said my name softly. I paused. Did I want to hear anymore that this dark angel had to say? Eventually, I turned toward him, lifting an eyebrow.
“He has given you the key to his defeat. The whispers he feeds you, if you look hard enough, you will know what you need to do to come back to those who love you.”
Scoffing at him, I shrugged. “I don’t need anyone to love me. I don’t need anyone at all. I am better alone.”
Orpheus smiled sadly. “I used to say the same thing. I believed the darkness inside of me was evil, a curse. Until I met your mother. She made me realize I was not stronger alone. My one regret is that she had to die. She loved you more than you can imagine Valkyrie, even without ever knowing you.”
I walked away. I didn’t need this man’s words. I did not need the anger and disappointment I saw in the Gargoyle’s eyes, and I most definitely did not need what I had seen in Aeron’s eyes as he buried himself inside of me. Closing the door to those emotions, I headed toward the smell of blood and death. It called to me, like a long lost lover, and I was desperate to find it.
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Blood sprayed across my face as the head of the Vampire slumped to the ground with a sickening thud. His lifeless blue eyes stared at me, as though his mind still held thoughts. In front of me, his body swayed before falling to the side. Looking around the chamber of beings, my eyes flashed between black and crimson as the dark spirit whispered into my mind. He wanted me to burn this chamber and everyone within it.
As I took in the details around me, I became aware of what was happening. Men and women, their hands bound in chains, stared at me with shock and fear. Some were human, and some were not. Cuts and bruises marred their bodies, and they heaved carts full of some shiny sparkling materials. From where I stood in the dark hall of the chamber-like room that descended into the bowels of the earth, I couldn’t tell what the substance they carted was.
Vampires and Witches alike had begun to notice me, they stood over their slaves with silver whips. I recognized these whips. They had been used to flay the flesh from my own body during my time of torture. The temptation to follow my orders and burn this entire place to the ground was indeed difficult to resist. Flames came to life across my body, coursing through my veins, and warming my skin.
One of the slaves caught my attention. He looked at me long and hard, as though he knew me. His dark eyes luminesced in the dim light of the chamber, reflecting the light from my fire. He was no human, I could see that easily enough.
As I studied this man, a voice whispered across my mind. “He is Arannea. Will you watch him burn as you destroy this place, or will you help them, Valkyrie?”
There was not a doubt in my mind as to whom the voice belonged. Enraged, I whirled around. There was no sign of him. How was I hearing his voice inside of my head? “Get out of my mind Aeron!”
The voice laughed huskily. The sound brought to my mind memories of the intimacies we had shared. “I will not, Valkyrie. You have gotten beneath my skin, now it is my turn.”
For an instant, the hatred in me wavered, and something else tried to surface. Want? Desire? Love? No!
I fought it, shoving the feelings down deeper inside of me, back into their barred prison. I had no place in my life for love. All that had ever gotten me was pain. The man I heard right now was no one to me. He had used me. I would never be used again!
The eyes of the Arannean man stared at me, and I wasn’t sure if it was accusingly, or beseechingly. Either way, I couldn’t bear to look at him. Bloody whip marks crisscrossed his back, and his body was even thinner than it naturally would have been. Turning my back on his pained eyes, I allowed the flames to lick along my body, gaining heat. My dark master wanted this chamber and everyone in it destroyed. He was my commander, and I his servant. With a dark chuckle, I readied myself for the blast.
Something inside me shifted, and around me, time itself seemed to still. The people shackled in chains froze, their eyes glazed and unmoving. The air stilled to such an extent, that the debris that had floated there only moments before now plummeted to the ground. Frowning, I glanced around, wondering what was happening. Inside, my predatorial grid kicked in, and I sought its help. Around me, I could see the pulse of those frozen. It was slow, almost as though slowed by the same phenomena that held them immobile.
Beyond the chamber, several heartbeats pulsated rapidly, and I knew that they were not held in the same frozen state as the ones I could see. There were others gathered outside, moving closer slowly. I could tell from the signature of their pulses that they were not human, and that they were not all the same. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes momentarily, allowing the scents in the air to permeate my sensory nerves. Witch, Vampire, Wolf, Gargoyle….and Panther. I could detect them all outside the walls of the chamber where I waited.
I didn’t have to think hard to imagine who I might find out there. I was turning away, when another scent hit me, this one having a much different effect. Sulfur, and ash was what I smelled, but as I inhaled deeper, there was something else mingling there in this unique scent. The smell assaulted me so intensely, I could actually imagine running my fingers through dampened earth, the odor of soot lingered along with it. My jaw muscle ticked, and rage bubbled to the surface. Would he never get the hint? Was he going to shadow me everywhere? Whether it was he himself that made me so annoyed, or the feelings that always hit me when he was near, I didn’t want to contemplate.
Knowing I wouldn’t be able to finish my job inside the chamber until I dealt with the nuisances outside, I growled, dousing my flames, and tossing my shredded wings back, I ascended the steps and up into the ash filled street above. If it was a fight they wanted, then fine. If that was the only way to get the point across, then so be it. I took the steps slowly, one at a time, my bare feet silent on the cement. My skin remained dark like charcoal, my eyes like black orbs. As I stilled on the final step, I faced the adversaries who had gathered there.
A Gargoyle I knew all too well hung from the medal flag pole atop a nearby building, while a white Wolf and a large black Panther paced in the street. Beside them, Tamyra stood with her brown hair billowing around her, her blue eyes full of anger. At her side, the green eyes of my own twin brother regarded me with regret. Beyond them, Rafael leaned heavily on his cane, his frazzled white hair floating in the wind. I didn’t see Aeron, but his stench was heavy on the air, and I knew he was close. A shift of shadows several yards behind them all drew my gaze, and I sighed when the murkiness of the shadows solidified into a man with raven-blue wings hovering over him. Orpheus had come too.
Scoffing at them all, I was almost amused. What did they think to accomplish here? Did they think they could actually defeat me? An animal of Hell? The thought was laughable. Actually, I was a little disappointed they thought me so easy to take down. A handful of them was all they thought to bring to this fight? What fools? Lifting my chin, I regarded them all down the length of my nose.
“I hope you have backup hiding in the allies, for you’re going to need it.”
No one spoke, and no one moved. They watched me, and they waited. Rafael, however, took a step forward. His blue eyes bored into mine in a way that nearly made me squirm. “My sweet girl, isn’t it time you came home?”
My teeth ground and my fangs dug into my lip. “Come home? Are you joking? Why would I want to do that when I am finally free? Oh, I’m sorry, did you need to make me your puppet again? Who shall you have betray me this time? Desmond? No, you already corrupted him…hmmm…let me think, my brother? Oh, wait,” I shook my head as though I was forgetting something.
“No, that won’t do either. He’s already stabbed me. Aeron, perhaps?” Inhaling as though deeply surprised, I grimaced. “No. Aeron’s deceit was the final one, wasn’t it? You didn’t think you would have to deceive me again after that one, did you?”
Rafael’s expression was saddened, but in it I still saw hope. “I understand you’re upset, Valkyrie, but will the deaths of all these others, of the ones you fought so hard to protect really ease your own pain?”
Baring my fangs at him, I roared. “You know nothing of my pain!”
He laughed. “How wrong you are, my girl. Do you think I felt nothing when your mother died? What about the day I felt your soul leave this world so many centuries ago? Do you honestly think I felt nothing? Do you think it doesn’t hurt to see what has become of Desmond, my apprentice? But, you know what, Valkyrie? Nothing hurts me more than you are right now. Feeling the evil that lives within you, knowing the violence that you unleash, that hurts more than anything else.”
My eyes flashed from crimson to black and back several times. “It doesn’t matter, old man. I’m finally free of all the schemes of others.”
Rafael’s face reflected surprise. “Are you? That’s odd, because it seems to me all you’ve done was to trade one master for another. You think this demon of otherworld doesn’t have his claws sunk into you? You think he doesn’t control you?”
He was right. His words resounded through my soul, and every part of me knew he was right. The one I called master now was worse than any of the others. He sent me to do his dirty work, ordering me to kill without mercy, and without remorse. The crack inside of me split wider, but I didn’t want to admit that they were right and I was wrong. They had been wrong to lie and deceive me, and to use me like a pawn. Instead of my anger cooling, it rose to a new height. My darkened skin brightened to a blinding red, before flames blasted from me, the heat from them sending the others gathered there flying backward where they landed roughly.
Rafael held his ground, his head bent against the blast of my inferno. We stood there in a standoff, him regarding me with love and hope, me glaring back at him with anger and defiance. All at once, the others attacked. Lightning lit up the black void of the sky, striking my wings and sending an electrical storm through me. My body went still, twitched, and then exploded with a new velocity, static electricity fueling the fire within me. I could see from Tamyra’s face that she hadn’t expected that.
The large black outline of the Panther flew at me, digging its claws into me as it sped past, trying to avoid the scorch of my fire. Looking down at my thigh, I watched as the four long gashes closed, and then I threw my head back and laughed darkly. The gray form of the Gargoyle swooped down on me, grabbling me and lifting me off the ground. I knew his skin could withstand only so much of my flames before he would have to let go. His stone-gray eyes stared into mine, begging me to come back. Narrowing my own, I shoved away from him, flipping before hitting the ground on my own two feet. I didn’t want to come back! I liked the dark, the blood, and the death.
His roar of pain where I’d burned his flesh echoed through the buildings that stood on each side of the narrow street, and the buildings trembled. Again the Panther rushed me, this time flanked by a blur of white. Instantly, I tossed them both aside, watching as their figures fell to the asphalt road. Facing my brother, I called out to him, “Come on Valkyrian. You’ve already wounded me once, won’t you try again?”
I saw the hesitance in him, the denial he still held onto as he stared at the dark creature hi
s sister had become. “You should join me, brother. Have you any idea how sweet it tastes to drink the blood of humans!”
Valkyrian shook his head, his eyes turning sad. “This isn’t you, Val. Please, I know the real you is still in there somewhere. I never meant to hurt you.”
I laughed. “That’s rich. You allowed me to think the man I loved was dead, and you didn’t mean to hurt me?”
He pulled his gaze from mine, but I saw the flick of his wrist beneath his coat. His movements were so subtle, but I was keenly aware of the knives he hid there. In a flash, he had flung two of them at me. I could have moved, could have avoided them had I chose, but I wanted my brother to suffer the way I had suffered. He had hurt me and wounded me, he had broken my heart and lied to me. What would he feel if now he killed me? The thought was too sweet to resist. The blades hit me hard, one in the chest, the other in their abdomen. I could feel them burning my skin, and I looked down, completely certain of what I would see.
As I expected, the decorated hilts of celestial blades glimmered amongst my flames. Where they lay embedded, my flames made a wide berth, avoiding them. Lifting my eyes to my brother’s, I pulled my flames back, sucking in my power, and I retracted my wings, my skin clearing, becoming alabaster cream. I watched my reflection in his eyes, seeing the darkness fading only to be replaced by his sweet little Valkyrie. As the me I was born fully returned, and the healing flames were gone, blood oozed from the two spots where the blades were still embedded in me.
In Valkyrian’s eyes, I saw the extreme pain I had known I would see. He tried to rush forward, realizing that he had wounded me. Tamyra reached out, grabbing him and holding him back. I watched them through golden-hazel eyes, a tear falling down my cheek. Valkyrian screamed my name as the others moved in around me, all of them unsure. Had he killed me? Would I come back this time? I had never died like this, only ever in flames. Closing my eyes, I waited for the end to come. My body began to glow, and eventually, as the screams of my friends and family surrounded me, I burst into nothingness.
Valkyrie Divided (Pyralis Book 2) Page 19