Choose The Slain (The Lone Valkyrie Book 2) Read online

  Nuts were some of the densest food they had on hand to help her replenish her magic. Luckily, they had a lot of nuts in the pantry. So far, Penny had eaten six bowls of the salty treats in order to replenish what she had used in making the first half of the device’s parts. After Lance had filled the third bowl, he’d just left the bag on the table, to Penny’s relief.

  “Like a frozen…” The look of disgust on Lance's face made Penny's eye ridges rise in alarm. “You poor thing. What kind of monsters are you drinking with? That’s it, I’m making you a daiquiri. End of discussion.”

  Rebecca laughed and picked a cashew out of the mixed nuts. “You tell her, babe.”

  Penny watched as Lance poured light rum, lime juice, and simple syrup into the shaker, then put the top on, hit it with the heel of his hand to secure it, and shook it vigorously for nearly a full minute. While shaking away, he opened one of the cabinets that turned out to be a large freezer faced to look like the rest of the cabinets, pulled three chilled coupe glasses out, and set them on the counter. After removing the lid from the shaker, he strained a frothy off-white concoction nearly to the rim of each glass. With a twist of lime peel in each, he carefully brought two over to the table and served one to each of them before returning for his own.

  Lance sat and held up his coupe in a salute.

  “Cheers,” he announced, then took a sip and smacked his lips.

  Penny sniffed the concoction. Not surprisingly, it smelled of lime, but there was a real sweetness to the lime that made her mouth water. Not wanting the spill the extremely full drink, she lowered her head to the glass and sipped from the rim.

  Her eyes widened as the perfect balance of sweet and tart hit her tongue, followed quickly by the earthy spice of the rum.

  “Good, isn’t it?” Rebecca took a sip of her own.

  Penny nodded in answer as she took another sip right away.

  “It’s your new favorite drink, isn’t it?” Lance said with just a touch of smugness.

  Penny nodded again. It really was one of the most delicious drinks she had ever had. Finn and Mila would love them. She would have to make some for them when she got home. She was pretty sure they had all the ingredients at the condo already.

  Looking between Lance and Rebecca and their happy, content faces, Penny had to smile.

  “Chi chi, chiri shee. You two remind me of Finn and Mila. Comfortable with each other while not demanding anything more than you should of one another. It’s nice to see that they aren’t the only ones out there who figured it out.” Penny smiled at their happiness.

  Rebecca cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Who are Finn and Mila?”

  Penny didn’t know what to say for a few seconds. She had forgotten that as far as Rebecca and Lance were concerned, Penny was the one who needed a device to fight and kill a Drude.

  Penny reconsidered that maybe these two were not so much happy, as just insane. Who helps a random dragon build a powerful magical artifact just because they asked nicely? Finn would, that’s who. Mila might ask a question of two, but she would help too.

  Penny chuckled and dove into the tale of how she and Finn had met, adding detail when they asked for clarification, and drawing out the tale.

  They finished their break, and Penny was still telling them about some adventure before her and Finn ever got to Earth. She realized this was going to be the long version of the story.

  They had created three more parts and had a couple more daiquiris before she got to the part where they defeated the Dark Star and Mila realized she was a Valkyrie.

  Rebecca stopped the tale with a raised hand. “Wait, Mila is a Valkyrie?”

  Penny nodded as she chomped on a handful of nuts.

  “But you said she’s a Doctor of Anthropology. What is she, some kind of super genius?”

  Penny narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. “Skee chi. Chi? I mean, she’s pretty smart, but I wouldn't say she’s a genius. I mean, maybe in some vague technical sense you could argue, that is, but in reality, she’s just a smart and capable person. Why?”

  “How old was she when she awoke to being a Valkyrie?”

  Penny shrugged. “Squee? Shiri see squee. Like thirty. Thirty-two? Actually, I’ve never asked her how old she is; age isn’t a concern to dragons. We live for so long, it doesn't matter to us.”

  “Am I missing some part of the timeline?” Rebecca shook her head slightly. “When did this fight with the Dark Star happen?”

  “Chi. Five or six months ago.” Penny frowned, not sure what Rebecca was getting at.

  Rebecca returned the frown, then opened the old book her ancestor Gregory had written about his time with the Valkyries. “That’s so weird that she awoke so late. It’s very well documented that it happens right around the end of puberty. Who did she end up being?”

  “Shee shee. She’s Mila. That’s it. She hasn't had any other lives yet.”

  “She’s a new Valkyrie?” Rebecca sat up straight and flipped pages excitedly. “I can't believe this. Okay, where is it? Here it is!”

  She read the passage while Penny’s eyes grew wide with surprise.

  “Right here. Okay, Gregory asked specifically about how Valkyries were born, but all the elder knew was that they would spontaneously pop into existence every few thousand years. She also said it hadn’t happened in her lifetime that she knew about.” Rebecca looked a Penny with a “holy shit” look then continued.

  “It gets really interesting later, though. Gregory isn’t satisfied with that vague answer and eventually seeks out the librarian at Alexandria. He explains that he’s a historian and that he’s trying to compile a complete compendium of the races and asks if they had any information on new Valkyries, and son of a bitch, they had a whole book on the subject.”

  Rebecca was becoming animated as she summed up what Gregory had found at the library.

  “According to this book, which by the way was written by a Valkyrie, which goes against their typical secret society thing they have going on. Anyway, according to her, Valkyries are a product of the universe’s desire to fall towards entropy; you know the whole heat death of the universe?”

  Penny nodded, then stuffed more nuts in her mouth.

  “Okay, well, if the universe needs to get to a place where everything is evenly divided out until there’s nothing left, then things need to be balanced. According to the author, she believes the entire race of the Valkyries is a direct balancing act, by the universe, to even out the Drude.

  “We know the Drude were the first to appear, then the Valkyries followed a few thousand years later, but no one knows where either of them actually come from. But, the idea that Valkyries are somehow a specially designed counter of power to the Drude comes from the fact that ‘newborn’ Valkyries thrown into unique situations that traditionally their kind didn’t have a way to fight have been known to develop powers unique to them in order to overcome their particular situation.

  “But even more interesting is the fact that those new powers are usually an adaptation of those around them, the evolutionary theory being that if the “locals” can survive, they must be onto something.

  “I can’t believe there is a new Valkyrie on Earth. She must have some incredible abilities considering her boyfriend is a Dwarf King.”

  “Shir chi? Why does Finn being a royal matter?”

  Rebecca laughed with glee. “Because Dwarf Kings are incredibly magical. Almost on par with dragons. Actually, that’s a bit much; nothing living is as magical as dragons. But I would argue they’re on a par with unicorns. People want to follow them, even if they say otherwise. When the shit hits the fan, everyone lines up behind the Dwarf King. That doesn't mean they are good rulers or even good people; it just means that they hold power over people whether they want to or not.

  “And now there’s a new Valkyrie who is subconsciously soaking up every advantage she can get, and she just so happens to be trained by and sleeping with one of the most influential crea
tures in the universe.”

  Rebecca laughed and shook her head in disbelief. “Between Mila’s ability to assimilate powers and traits and Finn’s potent lineage, I would be shocked if Mila doesn’t end up with a little dwarf in her DNA. I have to meet her someday. Promise me you’ll introduce us. I have so many questions for her.”

  Penny was thunderstruck by all the information but nodded to Rebecca. She would definitely bring Finn and Mila to meet them, if for no other reason than to experience Lance’s mixing abilities.

  As she thought back to all the new abilities Mila was beginning to show, Penny could see a lot of Finn in them.

  She had to wonder if this whole Fate thing Finn was always going on about mightn’t really be a thing.

  Penny shrugged. Life would be interesting either way.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Nick slowed the van down now that they had a few blocks and several turns between them and the factory full of horrors. The farther away they got, the better Victoria got as the distance between her and the Lone Valkyrie Azoth had captured increased.

  Mila sat on the floor of the van, Remmy’s head in her lap as she groaned in pain. Tina opened a cabinet, pulled out a healing potion from a limited stash, and handed it to Mila.

  “Thanks.” Mila uncorked the vial and held it above Remmy’s face. “Open up.”

  Remmy's eyes opened, saw the potion, and brightened. She opened wide and Mila poured the contents in, giving her time to swallow at the halfway point.

  Gently stroking the goblin’s green cheek, Mila smiled down at her. “You saved my life back there. Thanks.”

  Remmy gave a pained smile. “Just doing my job, boss. Although if you wanted to do me a favor…”

  Mila chuckled. “Sure. What can I do for you?”

  Remmy locked eyes with Mila and gave her a sad look. “If at all possible, could you take a shower soon? You smell like you last bathed in an alley.”

  Mila laughed a lot harder than the rest of them thought strictly necessary.

  “Back at you, ya little shit.”

  A loud popping sound followed by a yelp from Remmy let everyone know that the potion was kicking in as her shoulder reset itself. The tight look of pain on her face quickly faded to a euphoric high as the magic in the potion released endorphins to cut down on the discomfort. After a few more seconds, she reached up and started scratching at her ribs as they healed.

  Still a little high from the potion, she sat up and scooted across the floor to lean against the bench between Howard and Carl’s knees. She pulled out her phone and buried her nose in it.

  “Good talk,” Mila said with a chuckle.

  “Uh, is there someplace I should be heading?” Nick made a right turn onto a major thoroughfare. “I mean, I can just keep driving around, but I figure we need to make some plans and call in the cavalry to take care of that creepy Azoth guy. Not an easy thing to do crammed into a van.”

  Victoria finished a bottle of water Carl had given her. “I have a condo here in the city. We can go there.”

  “Won’t Missy know about it? It would probably be the first place she comes looking for us.” Mila didn’t know how much control Azoth had over Missy, but if he could order her to attack, then he could just order her to find them.

  Victoria shook her head as she finished off the water. “No one knows about this place. I use it to get away when I need to. None of the sisterhood has ever been there, and I used a fake name to buy it. We should be safe.”

  “We can set up some quick wards as when we get there as well,” Carl added.

  “Okay, sounds good enough to me,” Mila added.

  Victoria gave Nick the address then turned back to Mila. “Do you have your phone? Mine was broken when I got captured.”

  Mila nodded, unzipped one of the pockets in the moto jacket, and handed the phone to her. “How did you get captured?”

  “I thought I had made a mistake.” She sighed. “But now I realize Missy set me up. She had me go check on one of our Lone Sisters, but as soon as I walked in, Azoth and Yaminah were waiting for me. They jumped me from behind. We struggled, but Azoth quickly pinned me to the wall with his fucking tentacles and Yaminah slapped the shackles on me. Once I was cut off from my magic, she hit me with a sleeping spell. Next thing I knew, I woke up hanging in that factory.”

  “I don’t understand why she’s doing this,” Mila growled in frustration.

  “I don’t either. I’ve known Missy in one form or another for thousands of years. She’s been fighting the Drude longer than most of us, but now she’s feeding her sisters to our sworn enemy. I really don’t get it.”

  “I don’t know if this helps,” Remmy said, holding out her phone to Mila, “but I found her Facebook page.”

  Mila took the phone and saw a profile picture that was not at all what she expected. Instead of the blue-haired goth girl, it was a school photo of a brown-haired smiling girl in a private school blazer. If she hadn’t known it was Missy, she wouldn’t have looked twice, but now that she did, she could pick out the facial features easily.

  With a frown, she handed the phone to Victoria. “What the hell? How did you find her?”

  “Well, turns out I’m a clever goblin.” Remmy smiled smugly. “I started under the assumption that there was no way a fifteen-year-old girl from SoCal didn’t have a social media account somewhere. It was ridiculous to think she didn’t, so I just looked up every girl born fifteen years ago named Missy Walker living in SoCal. When I didn’t see her there, I knew she was lying about something. If that was her name, I was shit out of luck, but I guessed it was her age. There is no way she’s younger than fifteen, so she had to be older. I just kept stepping back the age until I found her.”

  “Wait, you believed she was lying about her age before you believed she didn’t have an account at all?” Carl asked.

  “She’s a fifteen-year-old girl from SoCal!” Remmy shouted with exasperation. “It was guaranteed that she had a page somewhere.”

  “I concur,” Howard chimed in.

  “Thank you!” Remmy held out her fist, and the orc bumped it with a wink.

  “I mean, you found it, so you were right, but there are a lot of people who don’t have social media,” Carl said defensively.

  “Yeah, old people,” Remmy remarked under her breath.

  “I don’t have social media,” Carl shot back. “Are you calling me old?”

  Remmy looked up at him pursing her lips. “If the shoe fits…”

  “You’re one to talk, Remmy,” Mila interjected. “You’re older than Carl is.”

  Remmy crossed her arms with a pout. “Not in spirit, I’m not.”

  “I’ll agree there,” Jenny chimed in from the passenger seat. “Spiritually, Carl is about a hundred and fifty.”

  “You guys are the worst!” Carl crossed his arms and pouted.

  “Was that all?” Mila tried to get the conversation back on track.

  “Well, the last post is from five years ago. Evidently, she and her parents were in a car crash. Both parents died instantly, but she walked away without a scratch. My guess is that she really did awaken at fifteen, and that’s how she survived the crash. But that was five years ago. She’s twenty now but saying she’s only fifteen. Granted, she is a young-looking twenty-year-old, but I think she started going goth so she could hide her age behind the makeup and clothes.”

  “But why?” Mila shook her head in confusion. “What was she doing for five years? I mean, she lost her family, but she had the sisterhood waiting for her, and instead, she spends five years alone? I don’t get it.”

  “I think I know what she’s trying to do.” Victoria spoke quietly as she scrolled through the posts on Missy’s page.

  Mila scooted closer and saw picture after picture of Missy with her mom and dad, smiling and having fun together. The photos were interspersed with text images like “Family always has your back!” and “Stronger together :)” along with a picture of her and her mom lifting
a huge cake they had just baked out of the oven.

  “She’s trying to go home,” Victoria guessed.

  Mila frowned. “How? There aren’t any ships left on Earth. The Anthem was the last one, and Finn took care of it permanently. And why would her post history make you think that?”

  Victoria sighed, then shut off the phone and handed it back to Remmy. “There are things we haven’t told you about being a Valkyrie yet. I was waiting until you had a better understanding of why we are here at all, but now is as good a time as any.

  “Being a Valkyrie has its perks. You won’t age after a certain point, you have your powers, and you have a close group of people that you can call sister forever. But there are costs as well. One of the big ones is that we can’t have children. Because of that, we grow very close with our birth families and cherish the family time we have with them because in the future, we will have to say goodbye, usually by disappearing before people notice that we aren’t aging along with them.

  “It’s a pretty lonely existence in the end, but some Valkyries find a partner among their sisters—a person who will always be there, even after death. You can just find them again. It’s a rare occurrence, though, so when it happens, it’s cherished. Missy was one of the lucky ones who found a partner among our ranks. They have been married longer than most civilizations have existed, but when Missy took the assignment to transport,” Victoria glanced at the other occupants and edited her words, “the object, she had to leave her wife at home. It was only supposed to be for a couple of hundred years for the whole mission, but Earth got stuck here, and now she’s alone again.

  “I think the death of her latest family was the last straw. She can’t do this anymore.”

  “That’s awful!” Mila tried to imagine what it would be like to be separated from Finn like that and shuddered. “But what does that have to do with joining the Drude?”

  “Because the Drude are one of the few races that can travel through interstellar space without a ship, and they can take their thralls with them; it’s how they invade other planets. I’m guessing they made a deal. She feeds him until he’s strong enough to leave, and he takes her with him? I don’t know.” Victoria looked worn from the heaviness of the subject.