I frowned, not wanting any decisions to depend on me. The knock sounded at the door again. “Ten or so,” I answered, “though it's hard to be sure.”
“A scouting party then,” Mikael commented thoughtfully.
If Faas and Tabitha showed up, we'd almost be evenly matched. Of course, having Alaric and Sophie on our side helped even the odds. I was yet to see Mikael or Aila fight, but something told me they would be proficient. James would do in a pinch, then there was me. I was useless in a fight.
The charm pulsed so rapidly it made my neck twitch. An indignant thought arguing against my uselessness echoed through my mind. The charm didn't view us as useless, and was offended I’d even question it. Alaric caught me as I swayed to the side, thrown off balance by the second presence in my head.
There was a loud thunk on the door, then another, drawing my attention back to reality. They were going to break it down.
“Fight apparently,” Mikael commented.
The charm shared Mikael's attitude. Both would always rather fight than flee. I felt compelled against my will to move toward the door, but Alaric shoved me behind him. Sophie suddenly had two long blades in her hands, and she tossed one to Alaric as she came to stand in front of me by his side.
I finally got to see the long sword that Mikael wore across his back as he drew it. The center of the blade was tarnished, but the sharp edges gleamed in the sunlight cast by the nearby window, belying its age.
James stood wordlessly, not needing a weapon, though in reality neither did Alaric or Sophie. Aila apparently didn't need one either as she stood next to Mikael empty handed, a deadpan expression on her face.
A much heavier thunk sounded and the door burst open. At the same time, the nearby window was shattered by a large rock, echoed by the sound of shattering glass in other areas of the house. Alaric and Sophie turned toward the first of our attackers. I was stunned to realize that I recognized one them, although last time I saw her she'd been missing a foot.
Maya now stood impossibly whole, framed in the doorway with several others standing behind her. More stood outside the now broken window, not entering, but the threat was there.
Maya's dark brown skin had all grown back to cover the burns James had given her, as had her curly deep umber hair. She quirked the corner of her mouth at me. “You're going to have to come with us, Madeline. Aislin would like you unharmed.”
I stepped forward to stand between Alaric and Sophie, rather than behind them. Sophie was quivering slightly, and as I neared her I realized it was from rage. Sophie had risked everything to save Maya, and now I was pretty sure she was ready to kill her.
We will not be taken prisoner, the charm echoed in my head.
“No we will not,” I murmured in reply.
Maya looked at me like I was crazy, and opened her mouth to say something else, but she didn't have time as Sophie launched herself forward and crashed into her, sending them both out into the sunlight.
“Well that makes that decision,” Mikael quipped, stepping forward to meet the other Vaettir who now entered the doorway.
My vision went blurry as the charm started feeding on the small amount of energy generated by Maya and Sophie, fighting beyond our sight outside.
I had a moment of regret for ruining the peacefulness of the quiet, safe, neighborhood, then the real fighting began. I backed away as my companions met with our opponents. I knew I’d do more harm than good if I tried to fight and got in the way, but the charm’s energy sent a shiver of bloodlust through me, something I’d never felt before. It was like it awakened some deep, primal part of my brain. Kill or be killed. The charm wanted to get closer so I could take the lives of our enemies as soon as they were weakened.
Pain hit me, bringing me back to myself as Alaric tossed aside a man who’d almost made it past him to grab me. Mikael sliced another man nearly in half with his sword, and my pain increased. I doubled over, wracked with nausea, but the feeling was soon wiped away by the charm's excitement. It didn't care about pain, and wouldn't let me care about it either.
I shook my head over and over again, wanting to reach out to someone for help, but everyone was busy fighting for their lives. I watched as Alaric threw the same man he’d tossed before against the wall above the couch. The man thudded onto the couch cushions, then slipped down onto the floor. The entire backside of my body ached for a brief second, then the pain was once again blocked out by the charm.
I stared at his prostrate body, feeling oddly transfixed, then hands wrapped around me from behind, covering my mouth and lifting me off my feet. In all the chaos I had forgotten about the other Vaettir I'd sensed behind and around the house. They'd come in through a back door or window to get the jump on us.
My attacker carried me backward into the hallway, then toward one of the bedrooms at the far end of the house. The charm screamed in my brain, more because it was being taken away from the battle, than because I was being kidnapped, though it wasn't happy about either. The key’s will warred to overpower mine. It wanted to free us, but at what cost? Would relinquishing control mean I’d never gain it again?
Internally fighting the key, I weakly thrashed about, dragging my feet across the carpet, but was unable to free myself of my own volition. Whoever held me was massive, and had arms like steel traps. I looked down the empty hallway in despair, screaming against the hand that covered my mouth, then Aila appeared.
She watched thoughtfully as I was pulled into the bedroom. I turned my head briefly to see the wide open window that I'd likely be going through, then I was whipped around and tossed to the ground. I scooted away on the floor as Aila launched her foot into my captor’s chest. Other than his size and the way he flailed about to avoid Aila's kick, he looked perfectly normal with his bald, gleaming head and punk-style street clothes.
It was almost comical to watch him fend off the attacks of the lightning-fast, blonde Viking who whipped about like she could walk on air. Her movements were so fast, I almost couldn't follow what was happening. Then the man suddenly stopped defending himself, and Aila stood still a few feet away. In painfully slow motion his body slumped, then fell sideways, narrowly missing the area where I was crouched.
Now that he was on the floor, I could see the little knife sticking out of his neck. Blood welled up around the blade from the artery Aila had perfectly severed.
I looked up at her. “You almost let him take me,” I commented, remembering her expression when she'd first come into view.
She sneered. “Mikael would not have forgiven me, now out the window you go.”
My eyes widened in surprise. I could still hear fighting in the other room, and both the charm and I wanted to get back to it.
“Are you kidnapping me now?” I asked, distracted as I listened to the chaos just a few rooms away.
“I will get you to safety,” she stated. “Mikael will meet us.”
I glanced around the room for a means of escape, not liking how she'd only mentioned Mikael meeting us and not the others. I needed to get back to the outer room to make sure Alaric and Sophie were okay.
Knowing I wasn't likely to get past her to the doorway on physical prowess alone, I decided to stall in hopes that the fighting would end and the others would come to find me. I’d use the key before I’d let her take me.
A dull, throbbing pain, drew my gaze down the large, bald man, with a pool of blood slowly forming underneath him on the beige carpet. Maybe I didn’t need the key after all.
Misinterpreting my thoughts, Aila rolled her eyes. “Quickly,” she demanded.
I reached out to the mostly dead man and released his soul, feeling the usual rush. I drew my hand away like I'd been burned, a little shocked at how easy the process had become, and how little I thought about the fact that I was taking a life, even if he was already dead in the most literal sense of the word.
“Now go,” Aila prompted.
Police sirens wailed outside.
I stood. The sounds of fig
hting were cut through by a scream of anguish. “That was Sophie,” I breathed, terrified that something had already happened to Alaric if he wasn’t there to protect her. There was no way I was going out that window now.
Aila's eyes narrowed. “Don't even think about it,” she warned, moving to block my way.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot, weighing my options. I had a little bit of power now, but I’d only have one shot at using it.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, just before forcing the stolen energy in her direction.
It wasn't enough to send her flying, but it did knock her down. She fell on her butt with a surprised yip, then I launched myself over her long legs and out into the hall. With her speed I knew she'd only be moments behind me, but luckily I didn't have far to go.
Someone grabbed me as soon as I entered the room, and I realized with a start that it was Alaric. His pale face was dotted crimson with blood, and there were larger splashes on his clothes. “We have to go,” he explained quickly. “Aislin's people fled at the sound of sirens, and we should do the same.”
“Sophie—” I began, but then my eyes found her. She was hunched over, sobbing with her now-bloody knife held loosely in her hand. James was trying to help her up, but she kept swatting him away. The rest of the room had turned crimson, the work of Mikael's sword and Alaric and Sophie's blades.
I pulled away from Alaric and tried not to focus too hard on the bodies as I grazed my fingers across them, releasing that bit of energy that lingered in the Vaettir, even after death.
“Grab her,” Alaric demanded of James as they both looked down at Sophie. He turned and guided me toward the kitchen and the back door as I wiped my bloody fingertips on my pants.
I looked back over my shoulder to see Sophie swat at James again, then Aila pushed him aside and picked Sophie up herself. She threw Sophie over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, ignoring the knife still clutched in Sophie's hand.
I turned to find Mikael already waiting in the kitchen, cleaning the blood off his sword with a dish towel. He stood grinning at us with crimson spatters in his hair and on his clothing.
“This is more fun than I've had in years!” he exclaimed.
“It won't be fun dealing with the human police,” Alaric stated, pushing me forward.
The sirens closed in, accompanied by the sound of tires screeching to a halt.
“Shit,” Alaric commented, tugging me away from the back door.
“To the tunnels!” Mikael exclaimed, a finger lifted in the air.
Aila shoved her way into the kitchen with Sophie hanging limply over her shoulder, still crying.
A megaphone screeched to life outside and we were flooded with the sound of a man speaking Norwegian.
I crossed my arms to suppress a shiver, looking to Aila. “Tell me he isn't joking and there really are escape tunnels in this place.”
She glared at me. “He isn’t, and there are.”
She passed me to open a door into what I’d assumed was a laundry room, then held the door open and gestured for someone else to go first. Not wanting to be out in the open when the police stormed the building and saw the bodies, I obliged, finding myself in a small room with a washer, dryer, large basin sink, and tattered floral rug covering much of the linoleum floor.
His sword now sheathed, Mikael shooed me off the rug, then lifted the edge of the dusty fabric. He folded the whole thing back, revealing a trap door with its lid glued to the bottom of the carpet. It was quite clever really, as the rug would still cover the door once we escaped . . . if we escaped.
The megaphone had silenced and I could hear footsteps and shocked, murmuring voices in the living room. Not waiting for further instruction, I jumped down through the opening, barely catching my hands and feet onto the ladder inside. I made the short journey down, then waited in the near-dark as everyone else hurried down. Mikael came last, pausing on the ladder to shut the trap door quietly above him, leaving us in complete darkness. I heard a lock being slid into place, then lights flickered on.
We now stood in an old root cellar, complete with various jars of food and dusty barrels that might have once held apples or potatoes.
Aila, who'd carried Sophie down the ladder like she weighed nothing, now finally let her down to her feet to stand on her own. Sophie's eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, and her hands were still stained with blood. I wondered if it was Maya’s.
“I tried to leave her to come back and help Alaric,” she mumbled, “but she came after me. She came after me like I was just another enemy. She would have killed me if the sirens hadn’t started. Even after I cut her, she wouldn’t stop.”
Alaric held a finger up to his lips to silence her as footsteps sounded above us. I cringed when I heard someone walk over the trap door, but they kept on walking normally, not noticing it.
Mikael went to open a door at the far end of the room, then waited for the rest of us to follow.
I hesitated, then put an arm around Sophie and guided her forward. “You know she’s the enemy, right?” I whispered as everyone else waited on us. “You can’t trust her.”
Sophie shook her head. “I still thought she loved me, at least, but she would have killed me.”
Not knowing what else to say, I gave Sophie's shoulders a squeeze as we walked through the doorway together. Alaric, James, and Aila followed us, then Mikael entered with an old kerosene lantern in hand. He shut the door behind him, and we were left with only the dull light from the lantern to guide our way.
Mikael took the lead and started forward while the rest of us formed a single file line behind him. What had started out as an extension of the cellar soon turned into a narrow tunnel like in a mineshaft. It had that damp, mineshaft smell too, making breathing unpleasant.
Sophie had walked ahead, directly behind Mikael, then came Aila, followed by Alaric. Their bodies blocked out most of the lantern light, leaving me blind. Luckily Alaric held my hand, guiding me with his superior low-light vision so I wouldn't be running into walls. James walked behind me, cursing to himself as he tried to keep up in the darkness.
“Where are we going?” he asked, out of breath.
“Away from the cops,” Alaric replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, but where?” James asked, sounding annoyed.
It was a good question. I waited for someone else to answer, but no one did, so eventually I answered, “I don't know.”
“How can you not know?” James asked, making me regret saying anything. “Doesn't that little key you wear make you the person in charge?”
I snorted, but Alaric gave my hand a little squeeze before I said anything. I was so not in charge. Mikael may have knelt before me, but we all knew who was calling the shots on this little adventure. Well, everyone but James apparently.
Some of us may have been more blind than others, but we were all being led by the mischievous Viking in front of us.
13
Three days later.
We walked for over an hour before we finally reached the tunnel’s end. The sunlight streaming in through the small, cave-like opening was a welcome relief, as Mikael's lantern had begun to dim twenty minutes prior.
We climbed out one by one into a wooded area to find Faas and Tabitha waiting for us.
Faas crossed his well-muscled arms as he looked each of us up and down. “We came to meet you and saw the police,” he explained. “What happened?”
I observed Faas as he spoke. He had similar coloring to Aila, blond and pale, but was a good eight or nine inches shorter than her, putting him at around 5'7”. His pin-straight hair was long on top and shaved on the sides, a hairstyle I didn't find terribly becoming, but who was I to judge with the frizzy mess on my head?
Tabitha was taller, with hair so blonde it looked white. Unlike the others, she was more lithe than muscled.
“A scouting party,” Mikael explained with a roguish grin.
Faas quirked his lip in reply, then looked at the rest of us one by one. His small s
mile disappeared when his eyes met mine, deflating my excitement about finally spending some time around another executioner.
Estus had once explained to me that when an executioner was born into a clan where the position was already filled, the child was dumped into the human world to be raised not knowing what they were. He'd said it was a needed precaution, as executioners tended to compete and often ended up killing each other. The remembered words sent a chill through my bones as Faas stared at me.
Tabitha cleared her throat, cutting the tension. “Will we move on with things as planned?”
I turned to Mikael in time to see him nod. “Indeed. Those of you not coming will join the others in hiding. You will come out for no reason. I will not have you harmed while I'm away.”
Tabitha nodded, as did Faas, though he was still staring at me. I avoided eye contact, too worried about the implications of what Mikael had said to focus on Faas. He'd made it sound like we were going to be away for a while. As far as I knew we were just going to a meeting, so why would Faas and Tabitha need to join the others in hiding?
Alaric cast a worried glance at his sister, clearly sharing my concerns. Sophie didn't return the look, and instead stared forward like she was pretending she was somewhere else, maybe somewhere with a non-traitorous Maya.
Tabitha nodded in James' direction. “You'll come with us now.”
“Now?” I asked, wondering why we would part ways before reaching the meeting place.
“The place we seek is not far,” Mikael explained.
Alaric snorted. “You planned on leaving through that tunnel all along, didn't you?”
Mikael accepted a satchel that Tabitha had been carrying, then turned to Alaric. “I did, though I had not planned on leaving in such a dramatic fashion.”
“And you couldn’t have told us beforehand?” Alaric pressed.
Mikael shrugged.
“You offered Madeline a partnership,” Alaric went on. “This does not seem like a partnership.”
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