Aldric glanced away, shifting as if suddenly uncomfortable. Finally he forced his gaze back to Anton.
“Chernobog.”
The blood fled from Anton’s face, leaving his cheeks feeling icy and sharp. He didn’t bother to fight the cold sweat that broke out on his forehead. “The god of darkness is here?”
Aldric nodded. “He has agreed to help me get my revenge on Saule.”
Dread crawled through Anton’s belly like iron spiders, sending nausea flowing up his body as it stabbed at his gut. “Master, Chernobog cannot be trusted.”
“Still questioning me Anton?”
Anton tensed, momentarily forgetting Aldric’s human nature and bracing himself for a blow. Old habits died hard. A moment passed with no strike. Aldric’s sigh whispered past him and he frowned at the resignation in the sound. His brows rose slightly as he stared at his master’s tired face.
“I am no longer the vampire that commanded your loyalty, Anton,” he admitted, running a hand over his face. “I cannot offer you protection, or anything else in exchange for your service. You and your brother are building a new life here and I would not begrudge you wanting to keep that life. You have only to tell me where your loyalties lie and I will respect your decision.” His face grew hard, the lines around his eyes tightening as his green irises grew darker. “But if you choose to remain loyal to me, then you must not question me. Doubt has no place in my plan.”
A thousand thoughts and emotions whirled like storm inside Anton. He had been loyal to Aldric for centuries, had been grateful to him for saving Kurt’s life and keeping them together. But unlike Bronislovas and Vincentas, he and Kurt had never truly thrown their hearts and souls into the revenge. It had not been their fight, their people. Their lives had been in Germany, it had only been chance that made Aldric follow one of the Russians to their town. After that encounter, they had acted out of loyalty and the servitude that came with it.
Anton clenched his hands into fists at his sides. To forget that loyalty now would be dishonor. If it had not been for Aldric, Kurt would not have lived long enough to see Valkyrine, to become a mora. It was Aldric who was there in their time of need, Aldric who had saved them. He could not in good conscience abandon him now, when it was Aldric who was in his hour of need. Taking on Chernobog, helping Aldric get his revenge . . . only that would truly free them from their oath and allow them to remain with Valkyrine.
Anton started in surprise at the direction of his own thoughts. He had not realized until that moment that he wanted to remain with Valkyrine. Forcing his mind away from that perturbing thought, he faced Aldric.
“What do you need from us, master?”
Aldric’s face remained guarded. “You speak for Kurt as well?” he asked carefully.
Anton nodded without hesitation. On this matter, he knew his brother would feel the same.
“Very well.” Aldric eyed him up and down. “It is true that you and Kurt are now moras?”
Anton nodded again.
“Can you frighten Valkyrine badly enough to make her call out to her mother?”
Eyebrows rising to his hairline, Anton paused. As moras, he and Kurt had the power to inspire fear like nothing a human had ever felt. And he believed with every ounce of his soul that all children cried out for their mothers in their greatest moments of fear.
“I believe we could,” he answered finally.
“And can you get her out of the house, but keep her in the area?”
“Yes.” Anton frowned. Though his loyalty to Aldric came first, it would be a mark on his honor if he allowed Valkyrine to come to harm.
As if reading his mind, Aldric shook his head. “Valkyrine will not be harmed. Her fear is merely the bait to get Saule to return to earth. You and Kurt will keep Valkyrine away while I entrap Saule with this.”
Aldric held out his hand and Anton felt the blood rush from his face. In his palm was a stone that looked like a ball of white webbing in a translucent crystal. Anton had heard enough stories to know what lie in the stone.
“You have one of Chernobog’s creatures.” He shifted uneasily, his gaze darting over Aldric’s face. “Master, Chernobog is the stuff nightmares are made of. I was reluctant to enter the Unseelie sithen and this . . . this is much worse. What if Chernobog tries to keep Saule forever? You want her punished, I know, but surely your hatred of her has not blinded you to your people’s need for her existence? Her punishment cannot be total destruction or lifelong imprisonment.”
A surge of anger washed over Aldric’s face and then he took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. Anton wasn’t sure if the restraint was a result of his new human level of strength or if Aldric feared losing his temper would make Anton break his oath of loyalty. If it was the latter, he was sorely mistaken. Anton’s oath, once given, would not be broken. He would not allow it.
Suddenly, Aldric’s gaze flickered to something behind Anton and to the side. Anton frowned, but did not bother to turn around. He’d seen that look on Aldric’s face before, face pale, eyes widened. It was always followed by a burst of fresh anger, and a renewed desire for vengeance. Still, no matter how many times Anton and the others had searched the area, they had never found anything that could have been responsible for spooking their master. And Aldric had always refused to discuss it.
“Perkunas would never allow Saule to remain captive for long,” Aldric answered, snapping out of his daze. “The longest Saule has ever allowed one of her daughters to drive her chariot is three days. After three days passed, Perkunas would realize something was amiss and come looking for her. Even Chernobog cannot stand against the lightening of the thunder god.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. In that moment he looked every day of his two hundred some odd years. Anton was surprised to find he felt sorry for his heavy-handed master.
“So your plan is to help Chernobog capture Saule and let him be the instrument of your revenge?”
Aldric nodded. “I would have liked for my revenge to be more hands on, but unfortunately Saule’s magic has ensured that I am far too weak to be a true threat to her. I can only console myself with the thought that the god of darkness will surely think of something to do to her that will haunt her as her abandonment has haunted me.”
Suddenly Aldric’s eyes sharpened and he fixed Anton with a stare that seemed to send time reeling backwards to a moment when he had been a fearsome vampire bathed in blood. Anton’s eyes widened and he nearly took a step back before catching himself.
“Anton, I have a plan and I must know now if I can count on you and Kurt. Will you help me?”
Something about the grave tone in Aldric’s voice kept Anton from firing off an instant affirmative. This was more than an affirmation of his oath, more than the loyalty he had once pledged. To agree to be part of this plan was to align himself with a god known far and wide for being dangerous and crafty. It was to strike out at the goddess of the sun herself, not symbolically, but in a way that would resonate with the deity forever.
For what had to be the thousandth time in the past two hundred years, Anton remembered that night on the shore, holding his dying brother in his arms. His screams had shattered the night, a mourning cry that was a mere echo of what twisted his heart. Aldric had been there for him and his brother when no one else had. Could he do any less now?
An image of Valkyrine hovered in his mind’s eye. Her sparkling eyes, radiant smile, and wicked grin called to him. His blood sang with desire at the mere thought of her. And Kurt . . . Valkyrine had more than saved his life--she’d saved his soul.
“Tell me the plan so that I may make an informed choice,” he said finally.
Aldric nodded, his eyes losing none of their intensity. “Dubheasa tells me that you and Kurt engage in erotic hunts with Valkyrine, simulating a predator and prey experience. Is this true?”
Heat rushed through Anton’s blood at the mere thought, echoes of Valkyrine’s sweet cries echoing in his ears. “Yes.”
“Am I to hide Valkyrine?”
Aldric shrugged. “Hide her or keep her busy, it does not matter. It will not take long to entrap Saule when she comes to Valkyrine’s cabin to find her. While Valkyrine is with you, Bron and Vincentas will accompany me to the cabin and we will use Chernobog’s magic to ensnare Saule and hold her until Chernobog can arrive.”
Anton’s mind whirled as he thought through the plan. As Aldric described it, Anton and Kurt would be able to keep their oath to Aldric without breaking their oath to Valkyrine.
He met Aldric’s eyes. “My oath to you stands, master. Tomorrow evening, you will have your revenge.”
Chapter 7
He killed me.
Saule snapped the reins, her eyes locked unseeing on the horizon. Her horses reared and galloped faster, moving the sun like a blazing red streak across the sky. All day long she had moved like someone dreaming, her body carrying out its tasks while her mind clicked and stuttered through a quagmire of complicated emotions. Now the day was nearly done and she was no closer to understanding her life than she had been when she set out. The emotions that had been so sharp that morning had dulled and left her half-numb. Her mind raced ahead of the chariot, ahead to Sky Mountain. He was there, waiting for her.
He killed me.
Some of the numbness receded as the thought of Aldric injected adrenaline into her veins. Saule had died before while in mortal form. Many times, in fact. Sometimes it had been when she kept her mortal form past sunset; when the hot sun disappeared, so did her powers. During those times, it had occasionally been necessary to kill her mortal body to free her spirit to return to Sky Mountain and prevent her enemies from trapping her on earth. And of course, there had been other times when she had pushed that mortal body too hard. When there had been things on earth that needed doing . . . things she could no longer do as a goddess. She clenched her teeth. Those days hurt the worst.
Aldric’s face burned like a candle in her mind, his green eyes sparkling with such rage that her heart raced. So much anger, so much hatred. She’d known his thirst for vengeance was strong, but it hadn’t been until that moment, when his hands had choked the very life from her weak mortal form, that she truly understood.
Her horses clattered to the surface of Sky Mountain and Saule leapt from her chariot. She scrambled past trees, through the small stream, and over the rocks, in too much of a hurry to go around. Her knees trembled as she rushed up the steps to her temple and into her golden home.
Aldric stood at one of her windows, looking down into Dausos as usual. His obsession with the dead--with the past--was legendary. The raw pain in his eyes brought an ache to Saule’s heart. He watched them as if they were his kin, the lines etched into his face betraying his desire to help them. But no living person could help the dead with their final task. The climb up Sky Mountain must be done alone.
“You killed me,” Saule murmured, stalking toward him.
Aldric tore his gaze from the weary climbers, his face set in a stony unreadable mask. His blood red hair glistened in the sun of her home, so beautiful it stole her breath. He was an angel of war, as beautiful as he was dangerous.
He stared at her without answering and a sudden rush of rage spilled up Saule’s throat.
“Do not look at me like that,” she hissed. “Don’t you dare look at me like that!”
She launched herself the last few feet, grabbing hold of Aldric’s soft red tunic in both fists. His eyes widened in surprise as she began to shake him.
“Why do you hate me? Why? You loved me once, how can you hate me now? All that I did for you, how could you turn on me?”
“You ask questions to which you already know the answers.”
Aldric’s voice came out calm and deep, despite the surprise still carved into his face.
Saule shook her head furiously, an entire day’s worth of tortured musings crashing like a thunderstorm in her mind. “No. No, Baba Yaga told me to ask, she told me to listen. I thought I knew the answers, but she told me to ask, and by the light I will have the answer. Tell me now, Aldric, why do you hate me?”
“You have gone mad,” Aldric said, his voice dripping with disdain as he shook his head. “Why would you go to see Baba Yaga? You know--”
“What do you want from me?”
A hysterical note had crept into her voice, but Saule didn’t care. Being trapped with someone who hated her, visiting a daughter who couldn’t stand her, constantly being reminded that people who had loved her had suddenly turned their backs on her had grown to be too much to bear. She was tired of working so hard to take care of people who treated her like a traitor. Tears burned at Saule’s eyes and she blinked, letting the hot drops slide down her cheeks. She didn’t care if he saw her cry.
“You listen to me, you arrogant little zealot! I love my people, I love my daughters. I try to be there, try to protect you, but I am not omnipresent, not omniscient! You have to try, you have to help. I cannot do this alone.” She shook her head, nightmares from her past flying like ghouls around her vision. Fear and panic seized her nerves and gave a haunted hush to her words. “I see you all dying and I cannot stop it. It’s all my fault. You rely on me and it’s all my fault. You can’t fight.”
“What babble is this?” Aldric stared at her, true bewilderment twisting his features. Some of the harshness leaked away as confusion shaded his anger. “Saule?”
Suddenly a flash of terror flickered over her, so strong it drained the blood from her face. The burst of emotion felt so familiar, though it was not her own. It came from far away . . . Her heart clenched as her daughter’s emotion vanished as quickly as it had come.
“Valkyrine,” she whispered.
Releasing Aldric’s tunic, she whirled around. She raced back to her chariot as if Baba Yaga herself stood snapping her iron teeth behind her. Her horses neighed and stamped their feet as she approached, no doubt lost as to why their mistress had left them still fastened to the chariot. Saule didn’t stop to calm them; she couldn’t stop. She leapt into her chariot and snapped the reins, urging her loyal steeds to leap into the air and over the side of Sky Mountain.
“I’m coming Valkyrine,” she said hoarsely, unable to shake the memory of that brief terror. “I’m coming.”
She sailed over the edge of her heavenly home, her battle with Aldric shaken from her mind by the maternal need to get to her offspring. She had not felt fear like that from Valkyrine in decades. Her precious Evening Star was terrified.
The burn of her mortal form encasing her body barely registered. Her eyes remained locked on the horizon as she willed her horses to travel faster. She didn’t know what had frightened her precious daughter, but Valkyrine did not frighten easily. Saule’s hand drifted down to the side of her chariot, to the weapons that lined the interior. She would not allow harm to come to her daughter. Not again.
Grasping a spear, she leapt out of her chariot before the horses had fully landed. Up ahead, she could see Valkyrine’s shack through the trees, the sad little building that her daughter seemed to treasure so. She raced to the door, her eyes scanning the surrounding area.
Please let her be inside.
Saule’s eyes flickered to the horizon. The sun was setting. She had only seconds until it set and she would be trapped in her mortal form until sunrise. Her jaw twitched as she clenched her teeth. No
mind. She had fought in human form before, she would do it again.
The door crashed into the wall as she burst into the tiny cabin. Her eyes scanned the darkness for movement as her heart pounded like a foreboding drum.
“Valkyrine?” she called out, trying to keep her voice calm. “Valkyrine, are you here?”
“No, she is not.”
Saule whirled around. Aldric stood in the doorway. His large frame took up nearly the entire space, until he blocked the last dying rays of the sun. Only the shine of his green eyes were visible in his shadowed face.
“Aldric?” Saule asked. Her confusion did nothing to slow her racing pulse. “How did you get here? Where is my daughter?”
“Valkyrine is safe. Which is more than I can say for you.”
The last of the light vanished as the sun set. Aldric’s shadowy figure shifted and the sound of a match being struck broke the sudden silence. Saule stared, a sense of dread growing heavy in her belly as he lit a small lantern.
Revenge in Vein, The Complete Series Page 19