Chapter Nine
Erik went to Snake Eyes without going home. The throbbing of the ward on the door startled the younger Draugr who had assembled there for their morning cup of blood, and as he walked past them, he had to wonder why they weren’t out fending for themselves.
He stopped and looked around. “Don’t you idiots hunt anymore?”
They looked astonished. One of them, a red-haired man with a smattering of freckles across his nose, stammered, “N-no…”
“Why not?”
The redhead looked away, embarrassed. “Human blood doesn’t taste as good as this.”
He looked at the bartender, Helaine. “Really? All faery dreyri all the time?”
She nodded. “That’s all they ask for. If they have the coin, they get the drink.”
Erik scowled. “God damn it. They’re cut off from the strong stuff. Give them regular dreyri or nothing at all.”
There were mumbled protests, but he ignored them.
He stalked into his office and sat at the desk, hating it. He wasn’t a desk job sort of person and never had been. Since his abrupt discharge from Special Ops, he had been more sedentary than at any time in his life, and that had him feeling agitated today.
The reports that he had asked Elke to compile weren’t on his desk. He pulled out his cellphone and glared at it while he punched in her number. His assistant’s phone rang twice, then a mechanical voice answered and told him to leave a message. He hung up in disgust.
Not two minutes later, Elke came into the office with a man’s body slung over her shoulder. She dumped him on the couch, and Erik recognized Dominic immediately.
“Look what I found,” she chirped.
“What did you do to him?”
Elke shrugged. “Eh. I fed a little. I might have overdone it.”
He went to the unconscious Ulfen. He could hear Dominic’s pulse, slow but rhythmic, and from his scent and the cold sweat on his brow, Erik could tell that the Ulfen was very depleted.
“Nice. You almost bled him out.”
“He tasted really good,” she defended. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a manila folder. “Here’s that info about Paris that you wanted.”
He took the folder and sat at his desk. “If he dies, it’s on you.”
She sat down in one of the chairs facing him and propped her ankles up on the desk. “Take it out of my salary.”
Erik looked archly at her boots and raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
She put her feet back on the floor.
He reviewed the information she had provided. The two most powerful Draugr in Paris were Derek Dupin and Laurentia Moselle. Dupin ran the Paris on the east side of the Seine, and Moselle ruled the west. There had been no love lost between the two of them for as long as anyone could remember. Both Dupin and Moselle had been turned during the years of the Black Death, and their age and power helped them to hold their territories in iron grips. Dupin was ambitious, though, and had taken advantage of Laurentia’s presence at Uppsala to stage a coup. He now possessed all of Paris, on both sides of the Seine, as Elke had told him on the phone. The information available indicated that it had been a largely bloodless take-over.
According to the information Elke had provided, Laurentia had busied herself over the years with collecting magickal texts and vat after vat of supernatural blood. She and her men had drained countless faeries, shifters, witches and other inhuman creatures into enchanted barrels that prevented both coagulation and decay. She was like the Draugr version of Elizabeth Báthory, drinking her fill but bathing every night in blood to suck up the life force it contained, soaking in more than her stomach could hold. She was a vain and greedy woman, and she collected power and hid in the bowels of her mansion while the world went by.
In his opinion, both Dupin and Moselle were too corrupt to rule.
“Moselle is here in Stockholm?” he asked her.
Elke nodded. “Yes. She’s staying with Maria.”
“Bring her here.”
“Yes, sir.” She hopped up and gave him a quick and sloppy salute. “Hey, if my wolf there wakes up, can I have him?”
“No.”
“Killjoy.”
“Live with it.”
Elke opened the office door and nearly collided with Nika, who was on her way in. Both women laughed in surprise, and Elke stepped aside to let Nika enter unimpeded. Elke winked at Erik and closed the door as she was leaving.
Nika hesitated when she saw the sleeping Ulfen. “Is that Dominic?”
“Apparently. Elke found him and brought him here. She fed from him first, so I think he might be under-sanguinated right now.” He put the folder aside and smiled. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” She came around the desk and kissed him, then pulled away before he could touch her. He frowned.
“Nika, is there something wrong?”
She smiled brightly, and it felt patently false. “No,” she said. “Not at all.”
He sighed. “You’re lying.”
Nika looked shocked. “I… I just thought maybe you were upset with me.”
“I should be asking you the same question.”
She sat down in the chair that Elke had just vacated. “Why would I be upset with you?”Erik sat back. “You tell me. What did I do? You seem like you don’t want me anymore. Like right now, I tried to put my arm around you, and you pulled away, like you pulled away from me last night. Is there something you need to say?”
“No.”
He sighed. “Why don’t I believe you? Nika, answer me. Do you still want me as your lover?”
Nika looked down at her hands, evidently finding it difficult to speak. “I do still want you, but I want to know that there’s more to our relationship than sex.”
He felt affronted. “If you’re doubting that, after everything we’ve been through together, then we have bigger problems than I thought. Of course there’s more to us than sex. By Odin’s eye, Nika, I’ve waited for you through lifetimes. I went without properly feeding for years and years because I wanted to prove to the gods that I deserved to have you back. Centuries. Don’t you think I would have given up by now if sex was all that I was after?”
She couldn’t meet his gaze, and her voice was small when she said, “I needed to be sure of you… after what you did with the other First…”
His stomach tightened. “You mean what happened to the Huldra.”
She tried to speak, but could only nod wordlessly.
“You yourself said once that I was not responsible for that, because I was under the influence of Mia’s enchantments. That’s why you hate her, if I’m not mistaken.”
“I needed to know if you would take no for an answer. You never did with Magda.”
“We’ve talked about my past, and about my sins. What happened with Magda was many, many years ago, and I know now that it was wrong, but at the time…” He sighed. “I have promised that I would never hurt you. If my word isn’t good enough for you, then I don’t know what else I can do to prove myself to you.”
He rose and collected his coat. Nika stared at him, shocked. “Erik, I’m sorry. I was…”
“If you think that I could ever raise a hand to you, you mistake me.”
“Erik…”
He walked out of the office without looking back.
***
Mia and Derek stood in the mairie, the government office that oversaw civil marriages. She was wearing a long white lace dress and white satin heels, dressed like a bride. He was in an impeccable suit. His two goons, the ones who had dragged her from the catacombs, were waiting to act as witnesses, dressed in suits of their own. One of them was filming the proceedings with his cell.
The actual wedding was short and dry, as emotionless as the couple themselves. The functionary performing the ceremony barely looked at them until after they had signed the register and all of the paperwork.
“There,” Derek said when it was over. “Our alliance is co
mplete.”
The Draugr with the cell snickered. “Not quite complete, boss.”
Mia glared at him. “I understand what’s required of me.” She turned back to Dupin. “Let’s go back to the house and get this over with.”
He smirked. “Most women don’t greet the thought of lying with me in such a negative light.”
She snorted. “Most women have a choice.”
“You had a choice, my dear.”
“Not a good one.”
“It was a choice, all the same.” He held the door for her, smiling. “After you.”
They left the office and walked directly into a smiling man in a muddy overcoat. “Mia,” he said. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl.”
She recognized him immediately. “Assassin!” she hissed. Magic flared at her fingertips, and she flung it at Vladimir’s face. The Russian batted it away, magic of his own surrounding his hands.
Dupin and his men pulled guns from beneath their suit coats and opened fire. The bullets bounced harmlessly away, and Vladimir ignored them, focusing his attention on the Dark Sister before him.
“I went through a lot of trouble to find you,” he said. The magic around his hands was intensifying, glowing a sickly green and crawling up toward his elbows. “You almost got away.”
She bent and slipped a knife from inside her boot. “I still will.” She added her magic to the blade and threw both at him, snarling words of power. The knife penetrated his defenses, striking him in the shoulder. His magic flickered, and in that instant, Dupin fell upon him with fangs and claws.
Vladimir pushed his hands, still crawling with green magic, into Dupin’s face, and the vampire howled in pain as his skin blistered and split. Dupin reeled away, and Vladimir vanished into the ground, her knife still stuck in his body.
Mia went to her new husband and cast healing magic for him, augmenting his innate Draugr ability to recover from injury at lightning speed.
“Where did he go?” one of their companions demanded.
“In the ley lines,” she said, irritable. “He’s running, but he’ll be back.”
“Who was that?” Derek asked her.
“Vladimir. He’s a witch hunter.” She searched the spot where Vladimir had disappeared, hoping that he hadn’t taken her knife with him, but it was nowhere to be seen. “Damn.”
“Did Thorvald send him?” her husband asked.
“I have no idea. Most likely.” She glanced around. Their tussle was attracting a crowd of bewildered humans. “Get the car. We need to get out of here before the police arrive.”
Chapter Ten
Nika dialed Erik’s number, but the call went straight to voice mail. She bit her lip. Why did I listen to Tamara? She knew that her doubts had hurt him deeply and all she wanted was to make amends. She tried again, but again he failed to pick up. She swore and tossed the phone back into her purse.
Tamara was on a plane already, flying from America to Sweden. She couldn’t have reached her if she’d tried. The thought that she might have ruined things with Erik haunted her, and she wished he’d pick up the phone. She put her head into her hands and began to weep.
A moment later, a groggy male voice asked, “Rune Master, why are you crying?”
She gasped and turned to look at the couch. She had almost forgotten that Dominic was there, and now he was looking at her, his amber eyes cloudy, his face pale. He struggled to sit up as she wiped her cheeks.
“I… it’s personal.”
He nodded slowly. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to pry.”
She waved her hand at him. “It’s okay. It’s not … what happened to you?”
The Ulfen rubbed his hand over his neck, and he said, “One of your vampires happened to me.” He looked at his hand as if he expected it to be bloody, then dropped it into his lap. His expression took on an edge of shame and embarrassment. “She said her name was Elke.”
“Ah. That’s right. Erik told me.” She went to the bar and poured a glass of whiskey, which she brought to him. “Drink this. It might help.”
He sniffed the liquid suspiciously, then shook his head. “No, thanks. I don’t think I need alcohol right now.”
“Water, then?”
“Sure.”
Nika went to bar and got a glass of Perrier for him. He accepted it when she brought it back. He sipped it, then grimaced at the mineral burn. She sat beside him.
“You were with Mia.”
“Yes.” He leaned back, slouching on the sofa, the glass cradled in his hands. “I was trying to help her hide from the vampires in Paris, and we got separated. They found her, shot me, and then I was picked up by some Russian named Vladimir.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Interesting…”
“He healed me, then sent me on my way with new clothes.”
“Why Paris?”
“That’s where she wanted to go. I don’t know why. I wanted to get off the train in Cologne, but I couldn’t leave her.” He looked down into his glass. “Maybe I should have.”
“Do you know where they took her?”
Dominic shook his head. “No, and everybody can stop asking me. I volunteered to protect her because I’m an idiot. She didn’t lift a finger to help me. Now I’m back here in Sweden, and I just wanted to get the hell away…” He looked at her. “Ulfen aren’t very welcome in Stockholm, you know.”
Nika tried to look sympathetic and encouraging. “I know… why don’t you go back to your pack?”
He grimaced. “No, thank you.”
“Can werewolves even survive without a pack?”
“This one will.” He put the glass aside and rose unsteadily. “Listen, thanks for the water, but I have to get out of here.”
The door opened, and Elke came back in with a handful of papers. She grinned like a predator when she saw Dominic standing there. “Hey, handsome.” He blushed furiously and looked away, and Elke handed the papers to Nika. “This is the invoice for the delivery that just came. Thought you’d like to look it over.”
She glanced at it, her heart completely not in the task. “Whatever. You take care of it.”
“Where’s Erik?”
“He… left.”
“Huh. He wanted me to bring Laurentia Moselle here, but she needed time to get washed up and ready to see him.”
Nika sighed. “Maybe you should find him and give him that message.”
Elke nodded, no doubt aware she was being dismissed but not caring. “Sure thing!” She strolled over toward Dominic and reached up to brush some of his dark hair from his forehead. He jerked back.
“Don’t touch me.”
She pouted. “That’s a hell of a way to treat someone who just gave you such a good time.”
He took a step away, a low growl in his throat. Nika frowned and rose. “What’s going on?”
“Who knows?” Elke shrugged. “Dogs these days. See ya, lover.”
She strolled back out of the office, and Nika turned to the Ulfen. He was standing with his fists clenched, ready to fight, his eyes looking more wolf-like than human.
“Dominic,” she said gently. “Are you all right?”
He turned to her and forced his wolf traits to recede. “Fine,” he said, although he was clearly lying.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care what you believe. Can I go?”
She stepped out of his way. “Of course.” Nika watched as he headed toward the door at speed, the taint of fear altering his rich animal scent. Just as he passed her, she put out a hand to stop him. “If you need help, I can help you.”
He stopped and looked at her hand, which she removed from his arm. “I don’t need anybody’s help. I just need to get out of Europe.”
He yanked the door open and all but ran out of Snake Eyes. Nika followed him down the hall. Several of the young Draugr rose, attracted by his flight, ready to give chase.
“Stop it,” she snapped. “Sit down and leave him alone.”
They turned surly eyes
to her, but they obeyed. Being the King’s woman and the Rune Master gave her more sway than she should have, given how recently she had turned. She knew that it was fear of Erik’s reprisals that kept them obedient. Her heart sank like a stone. She was nothing in this new world without him.
And she might have chased him away.
***
Erik went to Maria’s townhouse not far from the Royal Palace in Stockholm. Back in the day, when the palace had been occupied by Gustav III, Maria had been his Spanish mistress, installed in the very apartments she still occupied. She had even performed in plays written by the monarch. Erik remembered those days with a certain fondness.
She opened the door herself when he knocked instead of sending her butler to do the task. Her beautiful face was composed and smiling when she curtsied to him, her gesture briefly transforming her bathrobe into a ballgown. “Your Majesty,” she said, lowering her dark head in respect that was only a little mocking.
He smiled. “Good morning, Maria. I’ve come to speak to your houseguest.”
Maria stepped aside and said, “You may enter.”
They both knew that the traditional Draugr greeting probably wasn’t necessary, but he hadn’t actually crossed her threshold for over fifty years. Her earlier welcome may have worn off, and it was better to offer an extra invitation than to let him suffer the embarrassment of bouncing off of an invisible force field across the doorway.
“Thank you.” He stepped inside and looked around. “It’s always 1792 in here.”
“I preferred those days,” she said. “I was happiest then. Laurentia is still bathing. As you know, sometimes the oldest of us are not so quick to move about.”
Erik snorted softly. “She’s hardly one of the oldest of us, and if I can haul my ass around at dawn, she can certainly get up at noon.”
“Not all of us are as blessed with Viking tenacity and boldness as others,” a smooth female voice said from the salon door.
Laurentia stood there, a pale blonde figure wrapped in a plush white robe. Her fox-brown hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders like a silken waterfall, and her large blue eyes were artfully lined and accented. Her pink lips curved up slightly and she said, “To what do I owe the honor of both a summons and a visit, my lord?”
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