by Charley Case
Victoria sighed. “I understand why you want to save her, but your opinions will change after you’ve lived a few lifetimes. She’s dead, dear. We can't take the chance of exposing ourselves by getting too involved. Our first mandate is to keep the Reaper safe.”
“This is fucking bullshit,” Mila exploded. “How dare you patronize me? I don't give a shit if Heather will be born again, she’s still alive right now. You keep telling me how important the sisterhood is, but when one of our own is in trouble, we just abandon them? Why? Because you don't want to expose a weapon you created? We keep the fucking Reaper in the Elsewhere! How can it be stolen when it’s not even here on Earth? You need to suck it up and do something. Now, what you’re going to do is meet me in the fucking woods in northern Idaho and see that what I’m saying is the truth.”
Victoria chuckled darkly. “Fine. I’ll meet you there.”
Mila blinked a few times in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Do you need to know where the cave is?”
“No, I can see where it is from your phone’s location. I’ll meet you there in half an hour,” Victoria said, a smile in her voice.
“Okay. Half an hour. See you then.” Mila hit the end call button.
“That was fucking intense,” Danica said, making Mila turn. She and Penny were eating deli meat and watching Mila like she was the best thing on TV.
“Yeah, I guess it was.” Mila laughed. “I need to call Preston next.”
“You want me to make us some lunch?”
“Chi.”
“Yeah, we know you want lunch, Penny.” Danica laughed as she went to the fridge.
Mila put the sisterhood’s phone in one pocket and pulled her normal one out of the other. After finding Preston’s number, she hit send and prepared herself for another intense conversation.
“Mila. I didn't think I would hear back so soon.” Preston’s baritone rumbled out of the phone, tickling her ear.
“So, we found the settlement.”
“From your tone, it wasn't good.”
Mila swallowed and told him what they had found. She skipped the detail about Heather and her part in it all, but she told him about the Rougarou and the woman.
“I’ll send a G.A.E.L. team up to take care of it. I should have a team available in a few days,” Preston said with a sigh. “It’s a shame about the settlement. They were good people.”
“Actually, is there a way to free up one of the teams sooner?” Mila asked, crinkling her nose.
“I suppose I could. Why?”
“There’s someone being held captive, and I’m pretty sure the Rougarou are going to start hunting more people soon. I’m heading up there now and can get more info.”
“I don't know that I like you going back there without backup.” Preston’s voice was full of fatherly concern.
“Don't worry, I have plenty of backup for a scouting mission. I’ll be careful.”
She heard him take in a deep breath and blow it out slowly. “Okay, I’ll get on pulling a team back here as soon as possible. Call me and let me know where you are as soon as you’ve done your scouting.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks, Preston.”
“No problem.” He sighed. “Mila, be careful.”
She chuckled. “Now you sound like Finn.”
“Why do you think I want you to be careful?”
“Because of Finn?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “What does he have to do with it?”
“You’re out on a mission for me. If something happens to you, who do you think he’s going to blame?”
She laughed. “I think you’ll be fine. You’re a fucking Minotaur.”
“I may be a Minotaur, but he’s a fucking dwarf king berserker. He would tear my house down to get to me, and it’s not even finished yet.” He chuckled. “Just be careful so we don't have to see what he would do to me in retaliation.”
“I promise. I’ll be careful,” Mila said, crossing her fingers.
Chapter Eleven
Mila sat at the kitchen island, cracking open her water bottle and taking a long drink.
“Preston’s on board?” Danica asked, dumping a box of mac and cheese noodles into a pot of boiling water on the stove.
“Yeah, he’ll have a team ready for us at some point.” Mila laughed. “First time for everything, I guess.”
“Went better than your chat with Victoria.”
“Shee,” Penny agreed with an eye roll.
Mila felt her dark mood come back in a flash. “I just don't get how she can so callously let her sisters die. We know Heather’s alive! We saw her.”
“I mean, she’s really old.” Danica shrugged. “When you live that long, you get weird. Even elves get weird after a few hundred years, and we’re used to it.”
“Yeah, I get it, but it doesn't make it right.”
“Okay, I understand that you don't want to let her die, but,” she held up her hands to forestall an argument, “why are you so sure she’s wrong? I mean, Victoria has known Heather for thousands of years. How do you know Victoria doesn't know what Heather would want?”
Mila pressed her lips together as she took the time to think that over. “It’s because I learned about fighting evil from Finn. Not in the way that he charges in headfirst, but in the way that he can't abide it. The issue is simple. There is someone who needs to be saved, and we know about it. That means we’re obligated to do something.”
Danica nodded, stirring the boiling noodles. “Yeah, he is all about doing the right thing. He’s just so put together when facing a problem.”
“It’s that quiet confidence,” Mila agreed.
Penny rolled her eyes and chuckled.
The wall crumbled under the insistent boot of Finn. Concrete and stone exploded inward as his foot came through the wall.
Raw sewage poured out of the hole as Finn stumbled forward, coughing and falling to his knees. His stomach contracted and he fought to keep his breakfast down, but as it passed his uvula, he knew there was no stopping it. He spewed tacos across the roughly paved floor of the chamber.
He spat the last remains of tortilla out of his mouth and swallowed hard. Taking a few deep breaths, his hands on his knees, Finn focused on the relatively fresh air. After getting to the point that he was fairly certain he wasn't going to vomit again, he scanned the room.
His brows rose when he saw how big the chamber was. Rows of eight-foot-thick columns held up the ceiling that soared into the darkness. The room was so large he couldn't see the other side. Glancing left and right, he couldn't see the sides either.
“How fucking big is this place?” Finn grumbled as he climbed to his feet.
The stink of sewage made him wrinkle his nose and move deeper into the chamber. After a dozen steps, a sound made him stop and cock his head to listen.
It took him a few seconds to understand what he was hearing, but when he did, he immediately pulled Fragar from its holster and whispered the power word. The axe unfolded in the blink of an eye as fifty two-foot-tall ratmen came out of the dark.
They ran on their hind legs and wore scraps of leather as armor. Each had some sort of weapon in their hands, from short swords to a simple club, and all of them began chattering war cries in their language.
“Holy shit!” Finn shouted in surprise. Then he smiled.
Hefting his axe, he began sprinting toward the incoming pack. “LET’S DO THIS, RAT-FUCKERS!”
With a pop, Mila, Danica, and Penny appeared in the middle of the woods beside a fallen tree with several smaller trees growing from the dead trunk.
Mila glanced around, trying to get her bearings. “Where are we?”
“I didn't want to teleport us directly to the cave in case they were waiting for us,” Danica said, pointing. “The ravine is over that way a couple hundred meters. This was the closest landmark I could remember.”
“I wonder if Victoria is here?” Mila said, starting toward the cave.
�
��I’m here,” a deep, sultry voice said from above and behind them.
Mila spun, her Ivar out and pointing at a tall blonde woman with tan skin and a muscular build. She wore a pair of dark green form-fitting hiking pants and a red and black plaid flannel shirt. Her hair was up in an intricate braid that had been pinned to her head in a spiral pattern, giving the impression of a lot of hair being styled as compactly as possible. There was also the hilt of a long sword peeking over her right shoulder.
“Victoria?” Mila said, lowering the gun. She had only seen the woman twice back when she had been able to go to Elsewhere, before she’d used the Reaper to save the woman who had become the Dark Star. Since then, she had only spoken to Victoria on the phone, and even then, the conversations were brief due to the woman having very little time to herself since she ran some large corporation. Mila realized she still didn't know what Victoria’s company did besides make shit-tons of money.
“Yes, dear. It’s me.” She smiled, hopping down from the fallen cedar tree and holding out a hand to Danica. “You must be Danica Meadows. I’m Victoria Gara.” They shook hands with a single solid pump before Victoria glanced at Penny, sitting on Mila's shoulder. “And you must be Penny. Wonderful to meet you. There hasn't been a proper dragon on Earth for quite some time.”
“Shir shee, squee,” Penny said, putting her hands on her hips.
Victoria raised a manicured brow. “I’m sorry, I don't speak draconic.”
Mila turned a little red but translated. “She said, ‘Not that you know of.’ She can be a little,” Mila gave Penny a hard look, “opinionated. Sorry.”
Victoria smiled. “It’s not a problem. She’s right, I’m assuming there aren’t any dragons because I haven't seen or heard about any for the last thousand years. There very well could be one or two in hiding.”
It wasn't so much an admission of wrongness as a statement that she knew better. Mila picked up on it, and so did Penny.
“Chi shir,” Penny said, crossing her arms.
Victoria raised an eyebrow and looked to Mila for a translation.
Mila suddenly understood what Finn went through when he had to translate for the opinionated dragon. While Mila agreed with Penny that Victoria was being a bitchy know it all, she couldn't say that to her mentor.
“She said we should get moving,” Mila said, giving Penny a pleading glance to keep her mouth shut. But to Mila's surprise, Penny didn't even flinch at the blatant mistranslation. Realization hit Mila in the face like a wet sock; Finn did this all the time, and Penny expected it. How many times had Penny made some scathing comment that Finn just played off?
Mila narrowed her eyes at Penny. “This is your real game, isn’t it?” Mila whispered as they all set out, Danica in the lead.
Penny gave her an amused half-smile and winked.
They made their way to the edge of the ravine and hunkered down as Penny went to scout the area. She came out of the cave and gave the all-clear, a frown on her tiny face.
Taking the cut path to the ravine’s bottom, Mila held out her hand for Penny to climb up her arm. “What is it?”
Penny explained, shrugging at the end.
“What is it?” Victoria asked.
“She says the caves are empty,” Mila growled before marching into the opening, the others following close behind her.
“I’m not surprised,” Victoria said, holding out her hand and creating a ball of light in her palm before tossing it into the air, where it floated and followed along beside her. “Werewolves are fairly nomadic when the pack is young and growing. Too many people going missing from the surrounding area draws too much attention. They probably saw Heather coming to investigate as a sign that they had overstayed their welcome.”
“I’m telling you, those were not werewolves,” Mila said, frustrated with the elder Valkyrie.
“I know what you think you saw, Mila, but once you have a few lives under your belt, you’ll understand better how things work. You’ve only known about the magical world for less than a year. These things take time.”
Mila ground her teeth but decided arguing about it wasn't going to do them any good. Instead, she led the way to the corner she and Danica had hidden at less than an hour ago and peeked around the corner.
The large chamber was empty and dark. She listened, but there was no sound to give away anyone waiting to jump out and ambush them.
Victoria had no such concerns and walked around the corner and into the chamber, her orb casting harsh white light across bare walls and floors. Even the lights across the ceiling were gone. It was clean. Like, really clean. Too clean for a cave. But there was no trace of anyone having been there, especially not in the last hour.
“I don't get it,” Mila said, walking into the chamber. She went to the wall where she had seen Heather chained up, but there wasn't even a hole where the chains had been secured. “She was right here.”
“I don't feel the magical oppression that was here the first time,” Danica said, slowly taking in the empty chamber. “It’s like the whole place has been scrubbed clean.”
“As I said, they probably moved on when they realized we were coming after them. Mila, you did a fine job tracking down the problem. The corruption we detected was probably from the werewolves. They all have a taint, and in large groups, they can give the impression of a dark magic-user. I am sad that our sister will have to go through another cycle so soon, but it is part of being a Valkyrie. I have spent all the time I can on this, unfortunately. I have obligations back home that I must attend too. We shall talk again on Friday. I’ll let Missy know you did more than your due diligence.”
She walked over to Mila and put a hand on her cheek in a motherly fashion. “I know you wanted to do more for her, but this is the way things go for us most of the time. It’s a fact of the life of a Valkyrie. Now, I must leave. Being close to you is draining my power at a prodigious rate. I’m sorry, my dear, but there’s nothing more to be done.”
Mila wanted to say more, but she knew it would fall on deaf ears. She nodded and held out a hand, indicating that Victoria should lead the way. “After you.”
They headed out of the cave and back into the early afternoon light. Mila squinted, holding up a hand to shade her eyes from the bright sun as she let her eyes adjust.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Danica. You as well, Penny. Please take care of my sister while she is with you in this life.” Victoria gave them both a short bow before turning to Mila. “Take the rest of the day off; you earned it. This was excellent work, dear. I’ll talk to you on Friday.”
She stepped back from the group and held out her arms, her eyes closed. Mila raised an eyebrow in confusion, then jumped back with a yelp as what looked like a lightning bolt shot from Victoria, consuming her completely. The bolt shot half a mile into the air, taking the tall blonde woman with it. They watched it travel up in the blink of an eye before it made a ninety-degree turn and headed east faster than they could track.
Mila stomped on the ground, sending a loose stick flipping through the air. “I fucking hate being patronized! Just because she’s so fucking old, she thinks she knows everything. The only thing I think her old age has given her is a complacent attitude. Just because you haven't seen it before doesn't mean it isn’t possible. Fuck!”
“So, are we done then?” Danica asked, letting Mila stomp out her fury without trying to stop her.
“Fuck, no!” Mila looked up at her friend, her fists clenched in anger. “I know what I saw. We’re seeing this through to the end.”
“That’s my girl.” Danica smiled. “So, what’s next?”
Mila’s rage deflated. “I have no idea.”
“Shee shir. Chi chi,” Penny reminded them.
“Oh, yeah. I suppose we should return Harvey’s motorcycle,” Mila said with a shiver. “Can we at least drive at a reasonable speed on the way back to town?”
Danica laughed. “Normally I’d say no, but you’ve had a hard day. I’ll give you
a break.”
Mila snorted. “That’s more than I deserve, considering how many times you’ve had to tell me to slow down in the Hellcat.”
Chapter Twelve
Danica kept the bike under fifty and didn't complain when Mila cinched down on her torso to keep herself from falling off the back. They drove the five miles to town, mostly on paved roads that were in desperate need of repair. The dirt roads were smoother than the paved.
When they were about a mile from town, Penny gave the signal that she was going to fly ahead. Mila gave her a thumbs-up before quickly wrapping her arm back around Danica.
“You doing okay back there?” the elf shouted over her shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Mila shouted in reply over the constant buzz of the motor.
There were still in the rather thick coverage of the woods. The road, which had been laid down in the early 30s, was barely wide enough for two cars to pass one another, and the forest had grown right up to the edge of the lane, making the ride a little more claustrophobic than normal.
Mila saw Penny come swooping in from above. She was moving fast and banked hard to come up behind them. With a burst of speed, she surged forward, grabbed the back of Mila's jean jacket, and crawled up so she could speak in her ear.
“Shir squee! Chi shir.”
“Fucking hell. Danica, step on it,” Mila shouted. “Penny says the town is under attack by the Rougarou.”
Danica twisted her wrist and the bike lurched forward, making Mila hold on tight as they quickly passed seventy miles an hour. Mila could see the bright sliver of light where the tree line gave out coming up fast.
The bike buzzed like a thousand wasps in a jar, working as hard as it could to get them to town in time.
“How many are there?” Mila asked Penny, who still clung to her back.
“Chi.”
“What did she say?” Danica asked, focused on the road ahead.
“All of them,” Mila answered as they shot out of the relative darkness of the forest road and out into the clearing behind the bar that sat on the main drag.