But, for some reason, Didi was one of the few who could get away with it. Skuld liked Didi. No one was quite sure why, though. Other than Didi was naturally charming. But Skuld seemed to hate charming since very few of the women she chose for her army were what one would call friendly, much less charming.
Neecy stood up. “Come on, Arri.”
Didi’s feet dropped to the floor with a dangerous thud. “Wait a minute. We’re not done.”
“We are so done.” Neecy pushed Arri toward the door. “Go out back and meet me outside. I’ll be there in five.”
“O-okay.” Christ, the girl sounded terrified.
Once Arri was gone, Neecy turned back to Didi. “Could you at least try and be nice to her?” she snapped.
“I am nice to her. I just don’t know why she’s here. And I seriously don’t know why you’re taking her out on a hunt.”
To be honest, Neecy didn’t know either. But Skuld made it clear this was what she wanted.
“Skuld has asked me to do this… I’m doing it. And you’re going to back off and let me—”
“Get yourself killed protecting her?” she cut in.
Sighing, Neecy headed toward the door. There was no talking to Didi once she’d made her mind up.
“And what about Yager?” Didi demanded as Neecy pulled the door open.
Neecy glanced at her from the doorway. “It was just sex, Didi. You of all people should understand that concept.”
Yelling through the door as Neecy closed it, “Just sex my ass, Lawrence!”
This was bad. Really, really bad. How was she supposed to do this? Everyone knew she was a mess. She could get Neecy killed and she’d never be able to live with herself if she did. Neecy cared about her. She knew that for a fact.
Arri rubbed her arms as Neecy came to stand beside her in the back garden. “I don’t want you to panic about this, sweetie. It’ll be okay.”
“I see auras.”
Neecy didn’t say anything right away. Instead, she scratched her head and stared off into the enormous backyard. Only a small part of the many acres of The Gathering’s land in the tri-state area.
“You can do what?”
“I can see auras.”
Neecy nodded. “Um… so?”
Arri smiled. That’s why she loved Neecy. Direct and to the point. And a really funky purple she’d love to paint all over her bedroom wall.
“I’m not making fun of you, Arri,” she rushed to add.
“I know. I just think that’s why Skuld brought me here.”
“Why does it matter? So you can see auras. So?”
Arri’d been holding onto this for so long, it seemed only right to tell Neecy first. So she did. In one big rush: “I can tell if someone’s sick. If they’re dying. If they’re lying. If they’re about to kill. If they already have. I can see if they’re plotting to take over the Kremlin. I can tell Didi doesn’t like me, but I don’t need to see her aura for that. But I knew Misty needed to see a doctor a few months ago. So I convinced her and they caught that infection before it got really bad. And I knew Olivia was pregnant with a boy the day she conceived.”
Neecy took a step and Arri knew it was simply to steady herself.
“You’re serious.”
“Very.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Arri walked off the patio and onto the hard, ice-covered ground. During the summer it was a beautiful lawn. “It’s a thing I’ve always had. It’s why my father…” She stopped, hating even mentioning the man.
Neecy took a deep breath. “It was why he killed you.”
A family adopted her and took her from her homeland when she was barely three. Weird enough being Korean among a bunch of Anglos, but the fact that her father was a religious zealot added to the bizarreness of her life. How many times had the kids in school called her “Carrie”? Heck, how many times had she felt like her?
When her father found out about her abilities, he’d drugged her breakfast, put her in his car, turned on the motor, and closed up the garage. He was doing fifteen to life for attempted murder. Funny thing was… he did murder her. There was nothing attempted about it. But Skuld came for her and she took her hand gladly.
The best part was the look on the bastard’s face when the cops came to the house a few days later to arrest him and she was with them. Alive, well, and marked by a goddess.
“Yeah. He said I was evil. Everything about me was evil and unholy.”
“He’s a religious zealot, Arri. He doesn’t matter. We’re your sisters. We’re you’re family.”
She remembered when she met Neecy. One second she was taking Skuld’s hand and the next she woke up in a big bed to find Neecy looking down at her. “Welcome to the party, kid,” she’d said with a pretty smile. And her colors were so honest, so pure, Arri felt an immediate kinship to her.
“But you’re the only one that’s accepted me.”
“That’s not true… and Didi doesn’t count.”
“Yes she does. She leads the Crows. What she feels affects the rest of them.”
Neecy stood in front of her. “Then prove that you’re worth having here. Skuld would have never sent you here if we didn’t need you. She wouldn’t waste her time or ours. We both know that.”
As always, Neecy was right. And so soothing and calming. She always made Arri feel like she could do anything.
“Go on one hunt with me and the team. Just one. If it doesn’t work, we’ll never go there again and I’ll tell that to Skuld myself.”
Arri chewed her lip. A really bad habit she had, and Neecy picked up on it immediately.
Smiling, she teased, “You going to answer me, shithead, or just chew your lip off?”
Neecy was the only one who treated her like family. She joked with her. Teased her relentlessly. And Arri loved every minute of it.
Arri giggled. “Okay. You evil heifer.”
“Evil heifer, huh?” Neecy laughed. “Those are some mighty fightin’ words there, Arri.” Neecy hugged her and Arri felt her warmth and caring. It flowed around her like soft rain. She knew those outside The Gathering saw Neecy as cold and unapproachable. They were wrong. She was anything but cold and unapproachable.
“I wanna show you something. Look up.”
Arri pulled away from her mentor and looked up into the bare trees towering over them. That’s where they were. Where they always were when Neecy was at the house. There were hundreds. At least. They lurked constantly. Always at the ready for Neecy.
“They’re not going to dive-bomb us or anything, are they?”
“Don’t be silly.”
Neecy motioned to one and a huge crow glided down from the trees and landed on her shoulder. The bird rubbed her head against Neecy’s cheek, and the incredibly tall woman smiled.
“They’re my friends. They wouldn’t hurt anybody I cared about.”
Arri hid her smile. She didn’t want Neecy to know how much what she said meant to her. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yep.”
“When did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you could call the crows?”
“About a week after I got here.” Neecy grinned at the memory. “I was back here and suddenly looked up and saw all these freakin’ birds in the trees. There had just been an Alfred Hitchcock marathon on channel nine or something the night before, so you know I freaked out big time. Anyway, I screeched like a banshee and they suddenly flew at me. I was only sixteen, so it never occurred to me to run. So I covered my head and screamed ‘stop’. And they did.”
“And then you knew?”
“Pretty much.”
“It’s very cool. Your Gift.”
“So is yours.” Although Arri’s ability to see auras was not the Gift from Skuld. Her ability to read people had been there since birth. The problem was… she had no idea what Skuld had given her as a Gift or if she’d given her one at all.
Still, she had no intention o
f telling that to Neecy. Instead, Arri would go out on the hunt. Get her Korean ass kicked and that would be it. Her only concern was not getting any of them killed in the process. If she could manage that, she’d be damn happy.
“It’s just weird,” Arri admitted. “Knowing more about people than I feel comfortable with. Probably the way Kerri feels about seeing glimpses of the future all the time. It can get overwhelming.”
“I understand.” Neecy put her arm around Arri’s shoulder. “But it’s still cool. And you should be proud of it. Use it to your advantage.”
Arri nodded as she looked up at the trees. With all the birds that hung around, Arri thought there would be more bird droppings. But their cars, the backyard, the windows… none of them ever had any messes on their stuff. Like all the birds in the world knew who The Gathering was and respected the sisterhood for it.
“So… you and Yager, huh?”
Neecy stiffened next to her. “How did you…”
“Anytime he’s around, you get these big fat swirls of pink in your color. And they’re all over you right now. It’s really cute. They’re all extra swirly, too.”
“That’s bullshit, Arrianna. And we both know it.”
Smiling, she told Neecy, “He’s crazy about you.”
“Shut up.”
“His colors change as soon as he sees you.”
“Shut. Up.”
“Not a little either. Big, fat swirls of color as soon as he knows you’re in the room.”
Growling, Neecy yanked her arm off Arri’s shoulders, causing her little bird friend to head back to the safety of the trees.
“Don’t worry,” Arri yelled at the woman’s retreating back. “They’re pretty colors!”
Didi handed Delia Kim a beer as she sat beside her on the big couch.
“Thanks. So what’s up?”
“I want you to track down the Hunters. Track ‘em down, so we can wipe ‘em out.”
Delia opened her bottle of beer using the corner of the coffee table. “No problem. I’ll get started tonight.”
“Good.”
“Although I’m still trying to figure out how they saw us. Has Skuld said anything to you?”
“Not lately.” Didi sighed. “I can ask her… Maybe in the next twenty years I’ll actually get an answer.”
“These Nordic gods sure are difficult.”
“That’s a nice way of saying bitchy.”
Delia stared at her beer bottle. “One question, though.”
Didi gulped down a swig of beer. “Shoot.”
“Shouldn’t Neecy be on this? This is the kind of stuff she lives for.”
“I know. That’s the problem. The woman has no life.”
“It has gotten kind of pathetic, hasn’t it? Ever since Mr. Tiny Penis Man dumped her about four months ago.”
“Try six months. And I knew that wouldn’t last. She was calling him Mr. Tiny Penis Man.” Didi took another gulp of beer and shook her head. “Right now I want her concentrating on more important things.”
Delia grinned. “Like Wilhelm Yager?”
“Exactly.”
“For a white boy, he’s not bad.”
“White, black, brown, or yellow, he’s perfect for Neecy. That’s all that matters.”
“Maybe. But this is Neecy we’re talking about, Didi. If it’s not about The Gathering or school, it doesn’t exist for her.”
Didi grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “Trust me. Yager’ll make sure she knows he exists.”
Neecy stood in the middle of the mom-and-pop video store, staring blankly at the horror section. She already had three DVDs in her hand, but she’d completely forgotten what she was supposed to be doing.
Christ, forget what she was supposed to be doing? How about… what the fuck have I done?
To get involved, even for a day, with Yager was such a stupid move on her part. A move she would have never made five or six years ago. But lately she’d been feeling restless and tense, she just didn’t know why. Like she was waiting for something.
Clearly what she needed more than anything, though, was a solid slap to the back of the head like the nuns used to give her.
And what made all of this even worse… she still wanted him. Nice-guy Yager. She had no idea what to do with a nice guy. She definitely wasn’t a nice person. Far from it. Forget her first-life, Crows were simply not nice beings. When you did hits for gods, the last thing you could afford to be was nice. She’d learned that early on from her mentor Lorraine. She still had the scar from the ceremonial dagger shoved in her back, just missing her kidney. Her mentor saw it coming and didn’t stop it because she knew she needed to teach Neecy a lesson. And it was a lesson Neecy never forgot—being nice gets you shanked.
So she protected her own, trusted in her goddess, and went on about her day.
But Yager… Yager confused her. He’d been confusing her for a year now, and the time she’d spent with him the night before sure as hell didn’t help. The whole time she was with him, he’d treated her better than anyone had ever treated her, and they never left his apartment.
“Are you just going to stand there or what?”
Neecy looked over at Janelle. “Shut up.”
“Yo, Neece.” Janelle tugged at her turtleneck sweater that still smelled of Yager. “Are those hickeys? Ow!” Janelle grabbed her nose, which Neecy had happily slammed with the DVDs. “What the fuck was that for?”
“For asking too many goddamn questions.”
Neecy stopped. Her entire body tensing. Someone was watching her. She spun around, her eyes searching every corner of the small store.
“You feel it, J?”
“Yeah.”
Janelle turned and stared off at the back entrance. But Neecy saw something out of the corner of her eye at the front of the store. A man, shorter than her. Grey hair. Enormous muscles over his entire body. She looked in the direction where she knew he stood, but she saw nothing. Still, she wouldn’t turn away. She kept staring at the same spot until, finally, she knew he’d left.
“He’s gone.”
“He?”
“I think I saw him. I’m not sure.”
“What do ya wanna do?”
She shrugged. “Rent these movies, then go home, and tell Didi.”
Janelle glanced at the movie cases Neecy had in her hand. “No way, Neece. No way! We are not watching goddamn Evil Dead again!”
“Oh, get the fuck over it.”
Yager snuggled down deeper into his covers and smiled. Half-asleep and half-awake, he’d been thinking about Neecy Lawrence’s cranky, evil ass all night. He dreamed about her. Thought about her. He thought about her naked body pressed against his, her hard brown nipples burrowing into his chest. That soft little panting noise she made every time he entered her.
He wanted Neecy. All the time in every way possible.
“Having sweet dreams, baby doll?”
That deep male voice rumbled through Yager’s consciousness, and he leaped out of bed, his fists up and ready, his back slamming against the far wall.
“Jesus, Odin! I hate when you do that shit!”
Odin, the All-Father of Norse gods laughed as he stared at one of his Raven leaders. His back against the headboard, his long legs reaching to the end of Yager’s enormous bed, his big hands comfortably folded over his stomach. Christ, is the man wearing Armani?
“Sorry. Did I interrupt passionate dreams of Ms. Lawrence?”
Yager’s eyes narrowed as he relaxed his stance, crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you want?”
“Is that any way to greet your god and leader?”
“It’s the best you’ll get at three in the morning and when you mention Neecy to me.”
“You know you can do—”
“If you say I can do better, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“I think you already have.” Odin gave that indulgent smile he gave all humans. “Foolish boy. Crows are not to be trifled with. They protect their o
wn. If they think for a moment you’re merely toying with that girl…”
“But you know I’m not. That’s why you’re here. Afraid I’ll muddy up your Viking gene pool with our kids?”
One pale blue eye turned his way. Odin had given up his other eye centuries ago… eeesh. There had to be an easier way to gain wisdom. Yager found reading quite beneficial.
“I have nothing against the Crows, per se.”
“But…”
“But they’re not one of us. They’re not Vikings. They’re mutts. Skuld with her damn sense of humor.”
“They’re more Viking than any Valkyrie you’ve brought in here the last five years. Speaking of which… Morgan says she’s been trying to get in touch with you. She says you’re avoiding her.” Morgan was one of the older Valkyries. Very old school and very dear to Yager. She was the mother he never had once the Raven Elders took him from his own family.
“She’ll simply complain again.”
“You better pray she doesn’t call to the Original Seven.” Yager smiled. “You know they’ll make your life hell.”
“The pain a father has to go through.” Odin easily pulled himself off the bed and stood. There were not many men in the universe who were taller than Yager. The few who were normally were in carnival sideshows or played starting center for the NBA. But at seven-ten, Odin made Yager feel downright tiny.
“I want you to live your life. But don’t forget who you are and what you represent.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything. And Neecy Lawrence is mine. So you might as well deal with it.” Yager grinned. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t just show up in our bed once she moves in. I can tell she’d hate that.”
Odin growled. “I blame Skuld for this,” he muttered as he headed toward the door. He passed by Yager and did what he always did. He playfully slammed Yager’s shoulder with his own. The first blow, like always, knocked Yager’s shoulder out of joint. But slamming into the wall quickly popped it back into place.
Yager knew one day the bones in his poor shoulder would be nothing but shattered pieces.
Hunting Season (The Gathering Book 1) Page 9