by Kresley Cole
She slammed one of her ice axes harder than she needed to, and it spiked through ice and met rock, sending vibrations up her aching arm and numb fingers.
Focus. She was just thirty or so feet from the highest overhang. Get in, get out. Vodka-laced Russians held her fate in their human hands.
But she was having to work for this one. Though she was only at about twelve thousand feet, the air at the poles was thinner, making it feel like a much higher altitude, and she carried a large, unwieldy pack of diverse gear.
Her secret for winning the Hie all these times? Well, besides merciless brutality to all competitors?
She was always prepared for anything—
A sudden wind howled past the mountain. Katabatic?
She was tossed fully horizontal, gritting her teeth, clinging to her twisting axes.
Sebastian lost his breath when the wind gusted, flinging Kaderin to her side, just below him.
He traced to her in an instant, seizing her coat, but came back to the ledge empty-handed. He tried once more, boomeranging back with nothing.
Only on his third attempt did he snatch her back with him.
She evinced little reaction that he'd traced her—or that he was beside her on a different continent at the bottom of the world.
Her gloved hands still clutched two ice axes, and her sword was sheathed across her stuffed pack. She had wickedly sharp ice cleats attached to her boots, the front spikes jutting like a rattlesnake's fangs.
When the wind died a second later, she briefly looked heavenward. "I had that."
"Maybe." His chest was heaving, and he hadn't shaken his alarm. "Why in the hell couldn't I take you back at first?"
Catching her breath, too, she answered, "I had a good grip on my axes." She stowed them in string loops on the sides of her pack. "Understand, vampire, if I fight you, you can't trace me. I'm far too old, and too strong."
Old and strong? She could not appear less so. He was struck again by how small she was. Standing a foot shorter than he was, she seemed so fragile, and yet she was laden with that pack. She looked as if she'd fall backward under the weight, and he didn't want to let go of her. She was winded from the climb and miserable, and for what reason? None. He could have traced her to this summit in the blink of an eye.
"Why did you fight me?" he demanded. "You were about to fall."
"Only if my axes failed, and I do believe they held out, even when a hulking vampire was yanking at me." Between puffs of breath, she asked, "How'd you get here before me?" But she was already peering around him, demonstrating her true interest. "You were in the Norwegian helicopter, weren't you?"
"I've never been in a helicopter. I traced to you."
"Vampires don't have that ability."
"I do. I thought of you as my destination. It's how I found you at the Hie assembly." Without any more acknowledgment, she began to pass around him, but he stepped in her way. "If you had allowed me to help you, I could have accompanied you here. You could have pointed to the summit and I would have traced you there an instant later."
As he had done with her competitors, in exchange for information about her.
She shrugged. "I like climbing."
"Clearly. You look... invigorated."
At his sarcastic tone, she straightened her hat over her braids, then dropped her hands with a scowl.
He exhaled heavily. I haven't insulted her enough in the last day?
"Move out of the way." She sidled around him, but he blocked her once more. "I don't have time for this."
"No, I have to talk to you. Obviously, you want to win this, for whatever reason. And I want to provide for you whatever you wish for. So, desist, and let me win this for you. You know I will give you the prize at the end." Useless though it might be. He stifled his irritation that she believed in this so blindly.
"Give me?" Her eyes flashed. "The vampire will give me the prize?"
That was probably not an optimal way of phrasing—
"You don't even know enough to know how ridiculous I find your words. I am proud and notoriously malicious, yet you think I'd allow you to make a gift of what I can rightly take?"
Definitely not going as he'd envisioned.
"Now, stand aside. More are ascending as we speak."
If she could be ruthless, he could as well—and he had been prepared to be. "There are no prizes left. I have the last one of the three."
Her lips parted.
"I suspected there might be problems and that I might need leverage. So I traced the siren and a ground dweller to the cavern behind us. Now there is one prize available to you—and it appears you will be accepting it as my gift to you."
Just then, Lucindeya the siren strolled out with her amulet, holding it above her heart. It disappeared. And for a moment, the area smelled of fire and damp woods.
"Thanks, vamp. Remember what I said," she purred, then cast a look of triumph at Kaderin. Lucindeya had confided to him that it would gall Kaderin to be assisted in spots of trouble. He'd assumed the siren simply didn't want a vampire helping her competition, but Lucindeya had said that she would love to see Sebastian win Kaderin, because "nothing would bring down the high and mighty Kaderin like falling for a leech."
She'd sworn to the Lore—which she and the kobold seemed to take very seriously—that the surest way to lose Kaderin would be to help her, especially in a physical contest. So when Sebastian had first discovered Kaderin climbing, he'd had to stop himself from tracing her to the top, though he was sweating with fear for her.
Then he'd seen her flung sideways like a rag doll.
Kaderin eyed the siren, then turned to him. "You'd better hope Cindey doesn't hum you a tune unless you want to be her lapdog."
"Please, Valkyrie," Lucindeya interrupted as she readied for her descent, pulling gear from her pack. "As if I'd even clear my throat to snare a vampire." She flashed a smile up at Sebastian as she hammered her anchor and threaded line. "No offense, vamp." And then she began rappelling down.
Once she was out of sight, Kaderin glanced past him, and her eyes widened. Sebastian turned to spy the kobold shambling down the long ice tunnel, his jaunty whistle echoing along the couloir.
When Sebastian had asked the kobold if Kaderin was married or had children, the kobold had revealed that as far as anyone knew, she was single and had not "issued offspring." Sebastian didn't know how much credence he could give to the kobold's words, since he'd also sworn that Kaderin didn't eat or drink—anything.
Sebastian turned back and found Kaderin had gone perfectly still, her eyes locked on the ground dweller's every movement as he neared. It was as if a predator had spied prey.
Without glancing away, Kaderin said, "Do you know that I hate kobolds almost as much as vampires? And Cindey was my stiffest competition at the last Hie." She finally faced Sebastian. "So if you wanted to piss me off, you've succeeded."
"Kaderin, that was not my intention."
A branch of lightning struck in the distance across a cloudless night. He now knew that it came from her. "You've put me in an untenable position." Removing her gloves, she neared until she was toe-to-toe with him. "And do you know what else you've done?" She reached up her delicate hand and gently brushed the back of her smooth claws down the side of his face. Just as he was about to close his eyes, she continued, "You've underestimated a Valkyrie."
Like a blur, she dropped down to a crouch, one leg straight out, sweeping around to stab the kobold through the throat with her cleats. As she rocked closer to the trapped creature, her arm shot out, then she gave her leg a decisive yank back to dislodge the being.
She was on her feet again in the blink of an eye, amulet in hand. Sebastian couldn't speak. Giving him a bored look, she leisurely curled one finger around it at a time and held it over her heart. Until it was... gone.
The kobold lay writhing, hands clamped to its throat and gushing yellow blood.
When it continued to thrash, she exhaled impatiently—then shuffled her
foot at it, brushing it over the edge to fall thousands of feet. As Sebastian stared in shock, she tilted her head. Then, as if thinking, While I'm here... , she plucked the siren's anchor out of the rock. She yanked until she'd dislodged the next one down as well, then let go. A scream carried on the wind.
Stunned by her sudden viciousness, he snapped, "I was responsible for this. Why not take the prize I hold?"
"They'd been warned." She yanked out her ice axes. "But next time, I will take yours. I promise you."
Then she simply dropped from the ledge.
He dove for her, reaching out, but she'd disappeared. He caught sight of her as she snagged a lip with her axes five hundred feet down.
Just as he traced to that ledge, she freed herself with a violent heave and plummeted once more, before catching with a jerk lower down. A roar of breath left his body, and he sagged when he saw her reach the base.
With a glare up at him, she tossed the axes and sprinted for her vehicle.
15
Kaderin groaned to see the kobold had plunged directly into the roof of the snowcat, bending it down in a V, and now lay sprawled, unconscious.
Lucindeya? Kaderin had passed her at one thousand feet, hanging on with her fingertips, cursing her in what humans assumed were dead languages. "I didn't think you'd start this early, lightning whore! It's on!"
"Hey!" Regin called. "What hit the roof? I don't have comp and collision on this thing. Hee-hee."
Kaderin slammed into the cab, gasping after her exertion. "Just go!" She put her hands to the window and ducked and twisted, scanning for Sebastian through the scratchy glass. It was only a matter of time.
"Um, shouldn't we get whatever is up there off the freaking roof? You know, so we'll be sveltely aerodynamic again."
"Kobold," Kaderin said dismissively, still fighting to catch her breath.
At that, Regin shoved the door open and patted around blindly on the roof. She jerked the moaning kobold off by his ankle, flinging him far.
"Put this thing in gear!" Kaderin snapped. "And get your swords ready." Regin's swords were more like refined cutlasses, worn crossed over her back in twin sheaths. They were short enough that she could use them freely in the closed cab.
Regin drew them immediately, glancing around for a foe. "What? Where's the bogey?"
"Vampire!" Kaderin gasped. "And he's right—" Kaderin jumped, startled when Sebastian appeared outside not a foot away. "Here!"
When he traced inside the snowcat compartment to sit in the backseat, Regin tensed, turning slowly. Any other creature in the Lore would have witnessed her eerie movements as she prepared to spring and would have known life was over.
Kaderin might not be allowed to kill him, but Regin would do so with glee.
Suddenly, Kaderin didn't know if she wanted to see this. After all the vampires she had killed and had seen killed, his imminent death was making her... nervous?
"Kad, baby," Regin began with a menacing purr, "you brought me a kill? And here I was getting light on fangs." Regin's swords shot out, positioned around his neck like they were hedge clippers. She wrenched them together.
But at the last second, he'd traced a foot over. Her swords sliced only air and each other with a pure metallic ring. He was either the fastest tracer they'd ever encountered, or he'd never been fully substantial to begin with.
"You can't kill a competitor," Sebastian said to Regin with infuriating calm.
"Not a competitor yet, leech." Regin's swords shot out once more and flew together. "I just drive the boat."
But he'd nonchalantly traced over again. "You try my patience, creature," he said to Regin, then gave Kaderin a last look. "Tonight, Katja." He disappeared.
"Damn it!" Regin snapped. Then the situation seemed to hit her. Her jaw dropped, and she swung her face to Kaderin. "Katja?" she cried, pointing a sword.
"Just shut up. I don't want to hear it."
"A vampire just called you a nickname! A sexy nickname."
Kaderin waved her hand dismissively. "He thinks I'm his... Bride."
Regin threaded her swords in their sheaths. "Yeah? That so?" she said, speaking far too loudly in the enclosed space. "Seems to be catching." She yanked the gearshift to speed them off at a loping ten miles per hour.
"Catching? What do you mean by that? Because of Helen?" Helen's transgression was seventy years ago. Would the covens never let it die? And if not, what would they do if they found out about Kaderin and Sebastian?
"Helen. Sure. Whatever," Regin muttered, surly again. "What's this leech's plan for you?" She drove like a consummate trucker, one hand at six o'clock on the large wheel, the other on the gearshift.
"He wants to help me win the Hie."
She made a sound of frustration. "Like you'd trust a leech with something this important!" Without even trying to miss, Regin ran straight through a snowdrift. "When you're barely trusting me to help you!" A frantically blown gum bubble. "He seemed really possessive of you already. You haven't... you haven't, like, lifted tail for him?"
"No! I didn't have sex with him!" she said honestly, hoping to manage a believable amount of indignation. Thank the gods I didn't go that far. Would never. I can always deny...
"What did he mean by tonight? He can't find you."
Um, actually he might be able to. "I can't imagine, Regin." No, no way. Tracing to a person was impossible. Vampires just didn't have that talent. And yet he'd surprised her in so many ways already. She knew he was unique. If he truly could come to her, would he tonight?
"What are you going to do in the future if you go up against him again?"
"I don't know," Kaderin admitted. "I can't kill him, because of the competition."
"Contain him, then. If he's not that old, you could still hold him with a reinforced shackle. Or throw a boulder on him. On his leg. He'd be trapped."
"Unless he took off his leg the way Emma's Lykae did to get to her."
Regin shuddered. "Eeesh, that skeeves me."
Kaderin hadn't really thought much about Lachlain's act. Now she found the idea of him willfully amputating a trapped leg to crawl through vampire catacombs to reach his mate on the surface vaguely... romantic? Would Sebastian do that for her?
"Hell." He would.
"What's that?" Regin asked. When Kaderin just shook her head, Regin said, "I'll stay with you tonight. Maybe stick around for tomorrow's task." Regin had told Sebastian that she wasn't a competitor yet. Kaderin knew she needed to nip this even before Regin turned on her music. Again.
"All... my... friends... know the low rider."
Kaderin pinched her forehead. Cowbell. How much more could she stand?
She was faced with the very harsh realization that she'd rather be accosted by the arrogant vampire—one of her immortal enemies—than stay with Regin for another twenty-four hours.
No more cowbell. "I think I can handle it."
After the unqualified failure of his first outing, Sebastian traced back to his chests to retrieve more gold—having determined that he might need to secure more money than he'd first suspected.
He had the feeling this courtship would be... protracted.
As he shed layers of clothes, preparing to dig, he felt the amulet in one of his pockets. With a shrug, he drew it out, then held it above his heart. His lips parted when it vanished. It bloody worked for him, too? The smell of the temple's fires flared over the Baltic brine. He'd... he'd simply have to think about this later.
He snatched up the shovel he'd left for the purpose, and while he dug, he wondered if he would ever be able to forget the sight of Kaderin stabbing that kindly-looking old kobold through the gullet.
As a human, Sebastian had killed and dealt viciously with his enemies. But, Christ, he wished he hadn't seen her attack—so quick and thoughtless, as if by rote.
Though he'd seen women resort to violence in wartime to protect loved ones, he'd never sensed such ferocity in a female.
He understood he couldn't compare Kaderin to t
he women of his time. He couldn't even compare her to human females. His sisters would have fainted before injuring an insect. They would have fainted at the mere idea of climbing a mountain. He knew this, but it didn't make seeing Kaderin's cruelty any easier.
He feared his Bride enjoyed it.
Digging down, he found nothing. Brows drawn, he drove the shovel deeper. Still nothing.
His fists clenched the handle to splinters and dust.
The chests were gone.
Kaderin slouched in her leather recliner on the jet, satisfied with her success. The chair beside her was empty as Regin lay on the floor of the plane, legs propped up on the chair arm. They'd planned to drop Kaderin at a Rio executive airport, then fly Regin home to New Orleans.
Yes, Kaderin was satisfied. No matter what had happened, she was in the lead. Or at least tied for it, with Cindey and that sodding vampire. How, on the vampire's first Hie—on his very first task—had he scored the maximum? Insufferable. At least Bowen hadn't been there, and the next-highest task had been only a nine-pointer.
"I really can stay with you, if you need me to," Regin offered for the fifth time. "We would make the most kick-assest team ever."
"I tried teaming up for my first Hie," Kaderin answered. "Alas, my partnership with Myst ended in a difference in opinion—one that entailed her sucker-punching me in the mouth and me tossing her by her hair. Sorry, Regin, but I'll always work alone. Besides, the amulet was a good start. Twelve points out of eighty-seven."
"What if that vamp finds you again?"
If he'd been telling her the truth on that ledge, Kaderin figured that would be happening sooner than Regin thought. "I'm sure I can figure out something to take care of him."
"When did you blood him? In Russia?" When she nodded, Regin said, "Did he trace before you could kill him?"
Her face flushed. No, I was too busy grinding on him. "I didn't have my whip with me," she said, hedging while still telling the truth. She felt she might as well be wearing a scarlet letter. Or at least a T-shirt that said, "Kissed vampire. And I was digging it."