"Come down, Valkyrie," he yelled over the thunderous falls. "You don't know what you're doing."
Have to run. And there was only one way to go. Down.
Reasoning trail: Jump into the waterfall, possibly lose head, which will kill even an immortal. If I survive, float directly into Wendigo lair to be eaten alive.
Or accept the spike.
Could she actually force herself to make this leap?
"You won't survive it," Groot bit out. "And if by some miracle, you do, you'll wish to the gods that you hadn't."
44
Her scream had ripped through the darkness of his mind, beginning to pull him back from the abyss. Fight...
Her electricity pricked his skin, as if refusing to let him stay under. Thunder boomed insistently all around him.
She's in danger. Needs me to fight...
His demon instinct began to stir within him, rousing him to consciousness, grappling against the effects of the poison.
Two guards were dragging Cade away from her. Farther away from her with each step that he didn't resist.
Somehow he slitted open his eyes. His blood began pumping faster, fueling his muscles, feeding his wrath.
With a bellow, he lunged to his feet, shoving the two guards free from him. When they brandished their swords, he unsheathed the one at his back, frowning for the briefest instant.
It was Groot's. The bastard had actually kept the terms of their bargain, putting his sword in Cade's case.
Raising the sorcerer's weapon against his own guards, Cade slashed at the two. Before they could rise again, he charged past them only to halt in his tracks at the walkway to the forge.
Dozens of them converged, choking the narrow path. And there was no way Cade could get to Holly without passing through the forge.
Though the poison was dissipating, it was still blunting his change, preventing him from turning completely.
And his enemies couldn't be destroyed. He slew them again and again with the sword, but they rose each time. The weapon was useless against them.
Cade sheathed it at his back once more. Surveying the scene, he realized what he had to do. He charged them, heaving the revenants over the side of the walk into the water. He thought the current would catch them, sweeping them away. Corpses...meet the corpse eaters.
Instead, they sank like rocks with their heavy armor.
Throwing them bodily, he plowed his way to the forge. Inside were three walkways to different towers. Which one to choose? More revenants appeared. Where had the bastard taken Holly?
His question was answered when he caught sight of her.
She was atop a balcony rail - at the direct edge of the falls.
As he frenziedly battled to get to her, she slipped, waving her arms for balance, robbing him of breath. "Holly!" But she couldn't hear him over the falls.
With her hair whipping in the wind, she swept a glance over her adversaries. Trapped. She knows she can't fight them.
"Holly, no!" Cade roared, charging for her. "Don't do this!"
She swallowed...then stepped off the ledge.
Ah, gods, no! Heart in his throat, he sprinted to dive in right behind her. He dimly heard Groot yelling at him. Almost to the railing, tensing to hurdle it -
Like a shot, his body flew across the space, crashing into the wall of the forge, pinned there by a dozen swords.
She hit the water with shattering force, a scream ripping from her chest.
Eddies churned, keeping her submerged. Can't get air. The roiling power of them.
Kicking desperately, she stretched her arms up to the surface that she could see - but couldn't reach.
The underwater current seized her, shooting her down the river like a bullet in a rifle barrel. The force slammed her into a boulder; she clung to it with her claws, scrabbling up from the deep.
Finally, she broke to the surface, sucking in air, but the waves soon pried her from her sanctuary, tossing her like dross.
A fallen tree ahead. She swam frantically for it. Can't miss it. Just ahead...almost there...Got it!
She used it to haul herself in, then crawled on hands and knees up the rocky shore.
I made it. With each ragged breath, she coughed, an agony on her ribs. I survived. I -
Her ear twitched. She dragged her gaze up. And met red eyes glowing with an unearthly hunger.
For her.
"If you don't release me, she's going to die!" he bellowed as Groot approached him. Cade had never wanted anything so much as he wanted over that ledge. With all his might, he writhed, slicing his skin on the swords, biting at his own flesh to get free.
"She probably wouldn't have survived the falls," Groot said, pinching his nose and snapping it back in place. "But if she did, would you really expect me to let you go with the female, the sword, and my secret location?"
"Fuck the sword!" At last, Cade was turning completely. "Keep it! And I'll vow to the Lore...not to tell of this place."
"Even if the Valkyrie lived, she'll be infected or eaten before anyone gets to her. Besides, there'll be another Vessel in a few centuries. And all I have is time."
Cade roared with fury, his horns straightening, sharpening, his fangs and claws lengthening.
"I'd really hoped you would kill my brother, but now I see you can't be controlled."
You have no idea.
Groot sent another sword flying straight for his neck. In a rush of blood, Cade tore free, ducking under the sword with an inch to spare. Once more, he lumbered toward the railing, almost to the edge...Thoughts grew hazy in his rage state. Get to my female...Protect her...
Groot himself sacked Cade with the force of a freight train. He looped a thick arm around Cade's neck. "I can squeeze the life out of you, demon..."
I want over that goddamned edge! Cade's head shot back, his sharpened horns sinking into Groot's face like a viper's fangs.
The sorcerer collapsed, instantly paralyzed; at once, revenants descended upon Cade.
He mindlessly slashed at them with claws, horns, fangs. But they couldn't be slain as long as their master lived. Cade swung his gaze on Groot, then wrestled to get past more guards to him.
The sorcerer lay with his grotesque muscles clenched, his eyes wide, registering everything, but unable to move.
Snatching up his great body, Cade battled to get to the forge, taking sword thrusts, growling in fury with each strike. At the edge, he lifted Groot overhead.
The bastard had recovered enough to beg, "Please..."
With a roar, Cade heaved him into the fire.
Flames consumed Groot's body, then flared, too large to be contained in the smoke stack. The entire castle shuddered.
Mortar cracked, stones beginning to plummet. Cade faced off against the revenants standing between him and the water. The next one that he slew stayed down. But the fortress never settled, continuing to quake on its supports. He felt heat building all around him...
Cade fought ever closer to the ledge, to Holly, to protecting her.
So close -
The furnace erupted, exploding the forge, spewing boiling metal. The blast engulfed him, hurtling his seared body into a wall. He slumped down.
The ground began to disappear beneath him, the castle giving way.
45
The explosion in the distance distracted the Wendigo just long enough for Holly to bolt to her feet and sprint past them. The sky rained embers as blast after blast rocked the castle, towers collapsing.
Holding her ribs, she raced down the riverside, slipping on the rocks. The Wendigo gave chase, running with a lumbering, uneven gait, their long, knifelike claws bared.
More emerged from the shadows before her, forcing her to dart back toward the town. She realized they were maneuvering her, but there was nothing she could do about it -
Once on the main street, she scanned the area. Their eyes glowed out from around the corners of buildings, from roofs, from inside homes. Dozens of them.
Need a weapon...anything.
There! Behind a home. Her gaze fell on an ordinary wood ax, wedged into a stump. She limped to it, tearing the ax free. Getting a good grip, she swung it, growing accustomed as she sized up her foes.
Wendigo stalked closer.
Monstrous. Up close she saw they had dripping fangs and smelled like rotten meat.
There would be no hacking with the ax - she couldn't afford to have her weapon get stuck in one of their bodies. No, she would use full-forced swings, taking their heads cleanly off their necks.
Just when the larger ones tensed to leap at her, night turned to day. The last mighty tower erupted in a plume of fire, bathing the valley in light.
The nocturnal, north-dwelling Wendigo shielded their eyes. As they hunched with wet hisses, she raced past the line of them.
She chanced a look behind her. I'm outrunning them! They couldn't catch her.
By the time she neared the edge of the town, she'd left them in the dust. Free! Still running, she passed the sign.
And slowed...
Prosperity.
Three hundred and thirty-three villagers had sought to make a life here. There'd been no prosperity awaiting them - only terror, then gruesome, agonizing deaths.
They'd been lured here by a promise that was far different from the reality. Just like her.
Lured by the hope of a better life, or by the love of a demon - what did it matter?
She stopped, breaths fogging in the growing chill. The Wendigo thought another meal was here for them. A piercing fury bloomed within her. How would they like to be the prey for once?
Furies are predators. Valkyrie are warriors. I'm both.
Something inside her...clicked. Things became clear.
She turned back, surveying the town. Without the heat from the forge, flurries began to swirl.
The old Holly would be screaming that this wasn't rational. But she wasn't the old Holly.
Briefly setting down her ax, she wrung her clothes and hair out, then bashed the ice off an evergreen limb. She rubbed the needles all over her, disguising her scent.
She doubled back, creeping around buildings as she made her way to the chapel. At the entrance, she stole inside, her calculating gaze flickering over the boarded windows.
Ax in hand, she leapt up onto one of the exposed rafters. Crouching there, she slowed her breaths, calming her heart. Awaiting.
One by one, they entered, hunting, sensing her. She tilted her head, dispassionately eyeing her quarry as her foremothers had before her.
When the chapel was filled, a bolt of lightning flashed over the valley. The largest one finally craned its head up.
With a shriek, she dropped down between them and their only escape.
She lives.
Cade forced open his eyes once more. She'd screamed, not in fear but in fury.
The blast had catapulted him all the way down to the valley. The impact mangled his body, splintering bones out from his thighs and forearms.
But she lives. And she was in jeopardy once more. Gritting his teeth, he began to shove bones back under his skin, as he gazed around him, wary for his enemies.
Why hadn't he been attacked by the Wendigo? Why weren't they attracted to the scent of his blood?
Though he couldn't yet stand, he would reach her somehow. She'd believed in me.
He'd fucking crawl to her if he had to.
Just as he was about to shove his femur back into place, he stilled. That goddamned sword...
It was still strapped to his back.
"Where do I go now?" she whispered, as she closed the church doors behind her. There was no answer, nothing but echoing silence.
She'd swept death over this place. Yet she felt little of the satisfaction she'd expected, only gut-wrenching sadness from Cadeon's betrayal.
So alone...
By the time she'd reached the edge of the town once more, her clothes and hair had frozen. Ice formed on her eyelashes.
As Holly turned in dazed circles, shuddering from cold and shock, she felt warmth from above. She raised her face in confusion.
The northern lights.
They waved and floated so peacefully, calling to her, beckoning like opened arms.
Without thought, Holly ran headlong toward them, into the darkest wilds, with no other thought than to follow the lights....
46
Holly had eluded him for four days, but Cade was fast on her trail, hauling ass down a frozen road toward another mining town. He had even more of his crew scouring the countryside for her.
Cade had lost her in Prosperity that night. After finding a scene of carnage, Cade had realized the reason he hadn't been attacked by Wendigos was because she'd slaughtered every last one, unwittingly saving his life.
After that, she hadn't headed south as anyone else in her position would have. Had she gone in that direction, then she would've been trapped in the same bottleneck that had blocked his men.
Nor had she headed east, following the river or the road toward easier terrain.
She'd cannily headed northwest, straight into the heart of the mountains.
By chance, he stumbled upon her direction, having spied a miner with a black eye and a broken arm. The man had grown cagey when given Holly's description.
Apparently, she'd cleaned his clock. Good girl...
Cade had broken the man's other arm for her trouble.
Once on her trail, Cade had been able to readily trace her movements because the men in the Territories remembered her. In the dead of winter, not many females were about, much less beautiful ones.
At the portage where the miner had previously stayed, Cade had been directed to the next town to the north. There, Holly had sold her watch for a single meal and a pair of snowshoes, then made her way on foot to another camp. Once she'd bunked through the worst of a storm, she'd begun hitching to the mining town Cade now sped to.
He believed he was only hours behind her - he'd find her there. The thought made him increase his speed even more.
She was out of money and had no one to call. She wouldn't contact her human friends and didn't have Nïx's number. Not that she would call her aunt anyway. Holly had to know that Nïx had been in on the scheme from the beginning.
The scheme... Cade's gaze flickered over the sheathed sword propped on the passenger's seat. Cade hated the mere sight of it, a constant reminder that he'd been forced to choose yet again.
Before, he hadn't really gotten the term "hollow victory" - a win is a win, so what's not to like? - but now he understood.
The ne'er-do-well had finally done well.
And he'd never felt more like a failure.
Because of him, Holly was in constant danger, no doubt afraid and confused. Yes, she was stronger, but she was still so young and had hardly ever left New Orleans, much less hitched across the Territories in the winter.
The worry for her was punishing. In his lifetime, Cade had been tortured many times. He'd been a sinew away from being beheaded. None of those ordeals came close to the constant ache in his chest...
Cade was in love with her. Damn it, he wanted his halfling back.
Holly huddled down in a side alley, sitting on a mound of dirty snow. More of the vile stuff was coming down wetly. If she never saw snow again...
She had no idea where she was. Yet another barren mining town. They were beginning to blur together.
Unable to sleep for the last four days, she was nearing mental and physical exhaustion. The hunger she hadn't felt in weeks now redoubled, making her dizzy.
She was out of money, her watch long since sold, and there were no banks for wiring funds here. There wasn't even a regular post. Not that she had anyone to contact for help.
I am utterly alone -
The pay phone at the corner began to ring. As a girl who worshipped technology, Holly didn't want to be in a place where there were still pay phones about. Pay phones equaled somewhere she oughtn't ever be.
Eventually it stopped ringing.
So what to do now? I can keep moving, or I can sit in the dirty snow till I freeze.
She actually could sit in the dirt. No longer was it incapacitating for her. Of late, fate had enrolled Holly in a comprehensive immersion therapy. She hadn't showered for days, had no way to brush her teeth. She'd slept in unwashed sheets, bunking in portages that smelled of men's feet and cooked onions.
What is my next move? She could only hope to hitch another ride -
The ringing began again, and this time the sound grated on her frayed nerves. She shakily rose, then crossed to the phone, intending to take it off the hook. But once she picked it up, curiosity compelled her to answer.
"Hello?" Her voice was hoarse.
"Look for us!" Nïx yelled over blaring music. "We're vibrating with bass." Click.
What - the - hell? Holly hung up the phone, staring at it for long moments, as if it held the answers as to how and why Nïx had just called her.
Minutes later, a red thumping SUV skidded to a stop in front of her. A Valkyrie with a glowing face and a wry expression was behind the wheel. Nïx was in the passenger seat, waving for Holly to get in.
Holly flipped her off, returning to burrow in her dirty snow.
The two women followed her.
"Wow, you look like a bucket-o-fuck," the glowing one told Holly.
In a cheery tone, Nïx said, "This is your aunt, Regin the Radiant. We don't believe she possesses verbal governors of any kind. Now, come along, dearling. We're late for the airport."
Holly's brows rose. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
Nïx blinked in confusion. "Why ever not?"