Dumbstruck, I could only watch as Celestine gently ran her fingers over the sword of chaos with as much care, wiping away the blood of the decapitated hunters. The blade of oblivion didn’t strike her dead.
How? That’s not possible.
Sunlight should have hurt her. Silver damn near killed her. Even oblivion couldn’t touch her...
Delicately, Celestine licked the fresh-spilled blood off her pale white skin.
Peggy didn’t move the whole time.
Celestine looked directly at her, as stubborn and loving, like family. Exactly the same way the stray cat had met Bastet’s gaze.
“We need you, Peggy,” she began, starting with the most important point: the truth. “Now that your armor is restored, there is a tiny bit of hope: shiny and new. Perhaps this world can be saved. Together, my vampires and your sisters, we can turn the tide away from the emptying of the living. Back towards balance. Warriors fight on both sides, honorable mixed with scoundrels. Only a valkyrie could see the difference. We need you. Come with me. We will free your sisters. United, we can still save the world.”
When she finally replied, Peggy spoke gruff words with a sorrow deeper than the ocean. “Loki tore us apart, long ago. You are too late. My sisters cannot be recovered. They are destroyed—gone to the abyss. I am the last valkyrie. Valhalla may not even open at my petition. I understand your need, vampire. I see you, Celestine. But… the path is lost. You must find another way.”
Bastet listened to the whole conversation. She did not interrupt. But the cat she was petting, its ears perked up. “Should we tell them? Should we, kitty?” Bastet’s words were muffled as she snuggled against its fur.
“Tell them what?” I asked, throwing my mortal, ignorant self in the middle of a conversation far above my pay grade.
Bastet’s eyes narrowed for a second. With one hand, she waved away my presence like I was no more than a bothersome mosquito.
“Silence, child. Adults are talking, now,” she drawled before turning to confront Celestine’s arrogant face and Peggy’s blank gaze. “This man has no place on this journey you two must make. He is a weakness. You must discard him.”
Oh, it’s like that then.
Bastet studied her fingernails as if she had never seen them before. Meanwhile, the air in the crypt crackled with power.
I didn’t know what would happen if any of the three beings gathered around me decided they were insulted.
My feelings were of little matter to the cat goddess. That was clear.
Bastet admonished both of the scowling women who faced her, “There will only be danger and terror, death hedging every step. The puny thing,” she waved one hand negligently my direction, “...will not survive if you take him with you. But it is a choice. And the chain of Icarus holds a promise I cannot see. A Foretelling. If he goes with you, so will death. Consider. Yet, if he doesn’t travel at your side, the debt requires a horrible sacrifice I cannot see clearly. Failure, almost certainly. The path is muddled, even for a cat...”
The hesitation I heard under Bastet’s words felt like an insult and an apology at the same time.
Peggy looked at Celestine.
“It’s not up to any of you,” I stated flatly, interrupting. “I choose my own path. I already chose the way last night.” Turning to the vampire who turned my life upside down, I declared my allegiance.
“You are a woman before you are a vampire.” I did not look away.
Neither did Celestine.
Brutal honesty seemed the best course. Even then, I didn’t dare touch her. Vampires bite—as I well knew. But I didn’t back down either. “You have not taken more than I willingly offered,” I said. “You raised me up from a depression so deep I was slowly drowning. For that, I am grateful. But the world you’ve shown me, the real earth filled with magic and mayhem? I won’t easily abandon the wonder I have witnessed.”
I could see it in her eyes, a wary trust that I already shared.
“As long as you need me, I’m with you, friend or lover, stranger or companion, I’d rather live and die by your side than gain the promise of long life or great riches. You, Celestine. In the end, no discussion will change that fact. You. That’s my choice.”
Neither one of them said anything, considering my decision.
Bastet stepped in again, the way oblivious, self-centered cats do. She nodded. “I accept your offer, St. Denis. May you find a way to not regret it.”
Turning to the vampire and valkyrie, Bastet purred matter-of-factly, “Your path is clear. Even your destination has been chosen. There is only one place you must go. And one goal to achieve. In order to stop the harvesting of the mortals, you must board the Folkvagnr. Your sisters are not destroyed. If you search, you’ll find them on the ships.”
“What?” Peggy cried out, “How do you know? What proof do you have?”
“We—,” the goddess drew out her answer like she tugged a toy on a string, “We found their striped and broken armor, next to yours. Ancient gods traveled into the abyss following the mortal’s plea and…”
Peggy started screaming. Her face contorted in a mask of rage more frightening than a enraged, spitting viper. “You knew where they were? And you didn’t tell me? How long did you play with my life? I am not your toy. No one’s play thing and yet… You let me die of sorrow a hundred times? And never once in your ignorant heart did you think to show even the tiniest mercy?”
Peggy tensed, lunging forward.
Bastet easily stepped aside.
With a concussive explosion, the shimmering spiral in the air returned, sending a halo of light and sound throughout the crypt. “Spare me your anger, valkyrie. I was not the one who betrayed Valhalla. You have Loki to thank for that.”
The rage on Peggy’s face was frightening. Awesome. Devouring of all logic and joy, the valkyrie attacked the cat goddess. Her halberd spun. Quicker than a striking scorpion, the longsword of chaos sliced wickedly through the air between them. Every weapon missed its mark, a nearly impossible feat at that distance. Bastet should have died on the spot, dissolved in a torrent of power.
Instead, she dodged and danced between the arcs of the blades and emerged unmarked from the valkyrie’s killing rage.
Though now, she did not laugh.
Mistakes could be made, even by gods. And I'm sure that Bastet did not actually wish to die. But a smile did crawl across her little pouty lips. Even her whiskers seemed to dance as she moved in an opposite pattern to the swinging of sword and pole arm.
“Nine mischievous lives—that’s a long time to learn to avoid the blade. I've had some practice. You, on the other hand, Valkyrie, might need to work on patience…”
With that she twirled in place, grabbing the stray cat that even now sat there, licking its back foot. Scooping the tiny beast into her arms, Bastet finally let go of a tinkling laugh, as if all of this really was somehow hilarious. All this pain, all the rage, misdirection, ignorance, greed—as if destruction was something glorious to behold.
We were all just toys for her amusement.
And just like that, she spun twice. Then she and the cat stepped into the shimmering portal that Bastet used to first grace us with her presence. With a POP! the shimmering stopped. The portal dissolved into mist.
She was gone, taking the stupid cat with her.
After Bastet stepped into the beyond, the valkyrie grunted. A mournful sound that turned into a earth-shaking roar. Slowly, she looked around—wanting a scapegoat. Needing to strike someone or something, that anger had to find a target.
The valkyrie’s fury was frightening—bloody terrifying as she scattered around the seeds of destruction and vengeance. With a swish of her tail, Bastet had escaped the justice of the valkyrie. Peggy seethed with uncontrollable rage even though her real target had vanished.
Her eyes flashed with power that sent waves of fear across my skin. A weaker mind would have ran from the destruction that was surely coming. Deep pain radiated out of her face. The wh
ite-knuckled grasp she kept on her mighty weapons of destruction said more than any words.
I’d already picked my allies. I couldn’t run. Even though I badly wanted to flee to the next continent than stay a second longer in the presence of that much erupting, cataclysmic anger.
Berserk: the ancient blood rage—unleashed in the heat of battle. Devastating to every enemy.
Defiantly, I stepped in front of Celestine, who made no move to defend herself. Like an erupting volcano, Peggy raised her arms, ready to strike us both dead. Without hesitation, she gathered her muscles and swung hard enough to cleave a man's head straight from its body.
Right as the blade was about to fall, I shouted in her face.
“We are not your enemy! We are not. Look at us. See? We are the only family that you have, Peggy! Stop! Together, we can fix this wound. We can heal the world. We can change the apocalypse that is even now on our doorstep.” There was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes, but it was quickly swallowed up by the red tide of anger.
I tried again.
“Listen. Put down the weapons.” I kept talking but even as I spoke she struck. Harder and stronger than Paul Bunyan with his mighty axe knocking down giant trees, the valkyrie drove her weapons straight towards our heads.
I couldn’t stop a strangled cry from escaping my lips.
Celestine still didn't flinch. She didn’t move. She could have, of course. A vampire could move faster than smoke. She didn’t. She didn't say anything, either. She didn't try to stop Peggy.
Because she knew the truth which I knew too: Peggy was the last Valkyrie.
If we were supposed to die, in war, in battle, if it was our time... Peggy would know that. And no force of heaven or hell would stop her from harvesting our souls.
But until that time... Celestine trusted her. Probably even after the valkyrie killed her and sent her to the fields of oblivion or took her spirit to an unknown feasting hall.
Wait. Vampires in Valhalla?
Celestine did not flinch, even in the face of honest, unrelenting rage.
And right as the blade came crashing down, its devastating edge swung closer than was humanly possible, Peggy averted the strike. Only an immortal could have timed that strike to fail. Her blow didn't even cut one hair on Celestine’s head.
A forceful wind passed by my cheek as the blade turned sideways and smashed into the stone coffin that had saved Celestine’s life.
The last crypt in Los Angeles split in two. Cracked beyond any repair that we could make, any hope of refuge fell apart with its broken husk.
It was time to move on. Past time.
All around us vampires stood, mixed with suddenly-remade mortals. Those were the few that Peggy had chosen to return to new lives as humans, they retained their Reborn knowledge. To their bones, they could feel the loss of the venom. Humans who knew the fight that tore the earth apart.
To a man, they had witnessed the arrogance of an ancient Goddess from a long, dead country. And they witnessed the return of the mythic valkyrie. Like me, they watched Peggy's rise. World-shattering power, the anger of a valkyrie was nothing to ignore.
When she was dancing, when she was fighting, when she was striking at the heart of an ancient goddess or using the weapon in her rage, the birds had flown up in a black cloud, towards the high ceiling.
One at a time, they now settled down as the valkyrie’s anger dispelled. Soon coal black feathers rested on her shoulders and on the shoulders of the ten mortals that she had just remade.
“You are no longer vampires,” Peggy spoke directly to them, a judge giving instructions to a pardoned convict. “I have freed you from that slavery and taken back that heavy gift. Some of you will weep to know that you are once again mortal. Being human is difficult. You won’t last long unprotected by venom and fang. Never fear. Never. I will not leave you unassisted.”
She gestured to the huge, black birds with the beady dark eyes. “These are your protectors and friends. As long as you live, my murder will guard your back.” Ten humans gulped as enormous crows settled on their suddenly frail shoulders.
“Your lives are your own,” Peggy dismissed them with a few words of comfort and sorrow. “Mortal misfortunes are but a trail of pain, joy, and tears between living and dying. I have brought you back from the grasp of venom and fangs because we need allies. People who actually know the dangers around us. Mortals who can fight the invasion that is coming.”
Several vampires returned to mere humans nodded. Truth is truth: that never changes.
“In order to do that,” the valkyrie kept their focus, “...we must entrust you with the art and treasures that are in these underground vaults. One at a time, day after day, year after year, you will empty this crypt and the one other address that Celestine will give you.”
Solemnly, the vampire nodded her agreement.
Urgently, Peggy laid out a plan to those who would continue the fight. “Whatever you can salvage, whatever you can repair, sell. Build something new. We can no longer rely on the past to save us. The long-dead and the forgotten do not care about our pain. Our tears are only gasoline to their engines. And I refused to build their power.” The valkyrie stood confident, decisive, ready to plan a battle against Heaven itself.
“Do you hear me?” she asked, demanding the mortals answer. Rebellion was always a choice. To be effective, Reborn humans had to understand what we were up against. “We are more than a crop,” Peggy declared, “...whether to vampires or gods. Even the sorcerers of death must answer to worshippers. I will fight. Celestine will fight. Tristan will do his part.”
Looking each of the remade humans in the eye, the valkyrie challenged them. Each one, man or woman, they all bowed. In perfect time, the crows on their shoulders beat their wide black wings, forming a pitch halo around each of the Restored heads.
“What do you choose?” The last valkyrie asked them, point blank. “Without the venom’s gift, will you still fight?” Raising her spear above her head like a banner in war, the valkyrie asked the newly-made humans one simple question.
“Are you with me?” she asked, demanding their word as bond.
And with one voice all of them responded, shouting their reply: “YES!”
“Don't stand around then,” Peggy admonish them with a slight smile to her lips. “Go. Start now. Scavenge and salvage all of the treasures you can find in this place. Save the enchanted items that glow yellow, green, or white. Catalog them. Sell what you can. Rebuild the crypts.”
“Most importantly,” the valkyrie warned us all, “Leave no trace of your allegiance.”
Like the wind that lifted the murder of crows, the flock of Restored humans scattered, zooming out of the destroyed crypt, scavenging as they went. Soon they were gone. Even the sound of their footfalls died down. Only the distant sound of Los Angeles traffic could be heard, far above our heads.
Vampires, a mortal man, and one valkyrie stood in the dust of the ruined sanctuary.
Finally, Celestine spoke. As if she was the child, she asked Peggy for permission, “Let me come with you.” Speaking with no sense of fear, she simply talked to the formidable Valkyrie. Not as friends—more than that.
They weren't in fact related. Wait. Are they?
Celestine must have read my mind.
Taking her time, she conjured up old memories, trying to reach the valkyrie in her terrible sorrow.
I could see how much Celestine really cared for the child who once loved her as she spoke softly. “I found you, Peggy, wrapped in your warm, child body, ignorant and safe. But for Vlad and I, you would have lived out your life, safe and secure in a web of lies. I apologize for that, for the peace you will never regain. Our need was- is too great. I found you because you’re needed.” Celestine did not drop her gaze.
Neither of them blinked.
“With the knowledge that I have,” Celestine forced Peggy to push aside the crazed grief and listen, “we can beat these bastards. Them and their hidden traps. With your
gifts, we can smash the proud and arm the weak. The eternal battle will finally be even. Every war must end. We can stop the madness. You and I and a smattering of truth and luck—we could crack this horror show into dust.”
She stood there, every inch the warrior, every atom of her body regal and sincere. Celestine begged the valkyrie to listen and to remember. “But you have to let me in. You have to try, Peggy. Please.”
One tear welled up in the valkyrie’s eye. When she blinked, that teardrop fell down her cheek.
Celestine caught the tiny well of sorrow and futile rage as the droplet fell. Just like she caught me.
Like she saved Peggy with cat-like reflexes.
I stood there in awe. And I wondered, when the worst nightmares fell, could she save us all?
She could. She really could.
“So,” Celestine did not let Peggy turn inward with her great rage and sorrow. That was the path of tyrants and uncontrollable broken minds. Instead, the vampire drew out the valkyrie’s sense of justice. “There is a path forward for both of us. I’m asking you again: Will you let me come with you?”
Celestine asked both the child who once had been her daughter and the valkyrie who stood fully vested in her own power. “Will you let me in?”
Peggy looked at Celestine for a piercing moment. Then the two women nodded slowly, just once.
“We have to adjust a few plans,” Celestine’s voice was smooth as melted butter across a hot iron pan. “Buckle up. W-we have some traveling to do.”
A sparkle of something caught my eye near where the cat had so casually been cleaning itself during the entire frantic confrontation. Leaning down, I pulled up a long leather belt with a sheath of flattened leather attached. A scabbard. The workmanship was beautiful, ornate, and perfect.
And it was also not for me. Holding the belt out, I casually remarked, “Valkyrie, I believe this is yours?”
Taking it from my outstretched hands, she looped it across her shoulder and over her back. Then, she buckled it in place, securing it. With one clean sweeping arc, the valkyrie sheathed the sword of ruin and chaos into the waiting scabbard on her back.
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