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

  “What if she’s going to give him the object?” Mila suggested.

  Victoria shook her head sharply. “I don’t care how far she’s fallen; she would never do that. It would mean the destruction of everything she’s trying to get back to. No, it’s something else.” She scrubbed her face with her hands. “It has to be something else.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Mila stroked Victoria’s arm.

  “I need to get the sisterhood moving. We need to cut Missy out before she can do any more damage.” Victoria set her jaw with a new task to distract her. She opened the Valkyrie phone Mila had given her and dialed a number, then put the phone to her ear when it started ringing.

  Mila pulled her knees to her chest and hoped she and Finn wouldn’t ever have to learn what it was like not to be there for one another. She smiled as she thought of him walking down the beach searching for treasure, like one of those old men with a metal detector.

  She wondered what kind of swim trunks he took. Probably some kind of board shorts. She hoped it was board shorts. The last time they’d gone swimming together, he hadn’t worn anything. While that was just fine with her, she was pretty sure the authorities would have something to say about it.

  She really should have gone and bought him trunks just to be sure.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Finn awoke with a start, snorted, and sat up. He found himself in a domed subterranean cavern. The ground under him was more of the white sand he had been walking through all day, but the walls were a black rock that shimmered wetly in the flickering light of a fire.

  The only way in or out of the cave seemed to be through a dark pool of water that took up half the floor space.

  Reaching up to brush the hair out of his face, Finn found that he was wearing a pair of handcuffs. They looked like a regular pair of cuffs a cop would have…or a park ranger.

  Finn frowned and g up onto his knees, to see a campfire burning. The tanned little park ranger sat on a log and poked the fire with a stick.

  Movement caught his attention. He looked over to see the five naked, hoofed men and women who had attacked him earlier. They were digging through his bag, having dumped the gold in a pile beside them so they could get to his personal belongings.

  One of them pulled a Roman coin from the pocket of his jeans and babbled excitedly in a language he didn’t understand. A gift from Mila, the coin was worth more than all their lives put together, at least to him.

  “Hey!” he roared.

  The strange people jumped and backed away in fear.

  “Put the fucking coin down, or I will end you all.”

  The man with the coin glanced at the ranger, who motioned for him to drop it. The man dropped the coin onto Finn’s crumpled jeans, then made as if to squat and continue rummaging. Finn let out a long, low growl that made the top layer of sand vibrate and dance.

  The naked people looked at one another, then ran across the sand in herd formation and dived into the water. They didn’t come back up.

  “You’ll have to excuse the Kelpies.” The girl drew Finn’s attention. “They don’t have much chance to socialize with humans, and they do love to collect baubles. They’re worse than magpies, I swear.”

  She chuckled light-heartedly.

  Finn moved closer to the fire and dropped into a cross-legged position, holding his cuffed hands out to the flames.

  She eyed him critically. “You are a human, right? You’re not like a troll or something with a concealment spell, are you?”

  Finn almost said he was a dwarf, but he wanted to see where this was going, so instead, he just gave her a quizzical, raised eyebrow.

  She chuckled again. “My name is Freya. I’m the dryad of this island, and the Kelpies are my charges.” She looked at him with a half-smile, but when he didn’t respond, she frowned. “Look, I don’t want to be a bitch here, but you gotta work with me, dude.”

  “Are all the ponies on the island Kelpies?” he asked, drawing another smile from Freya.

  “Yeah, they are, though this particular breed must’ve been altered by someone a long time ago. They’ve been considerably dumbed down. Normal Kelpies are free to travel the seas and lakes at will. Did you know a Kelpie can swim across the Atlantic in less than three hours? That’s some serious speed, man!” She clucked her tongue.

  “Not these poor guys. They get more than ten miles out, and they start freaking. Not really sure what happened to them. I woke up one day, and there they were, crawling all over my island. I quickly realized that they needed serious taking care of, let me tell you.”

  “Don’t they round up a bunch of the ponies each year and sell them?” Finn remembered that detail from Penny’s thorough report on the island. “Doesn’t sound like protecting them to me. Sounds like selling people for profit.”

  “It’s not like that, man. These poor guys degrade as they get older. I can’t figure out why, but when they hit around two or three years old, they get so dumb that they forget they’re Kelpies and never change back to their human forms. At that point, they are, for all intents and purposes, just regular ponies. I started the pony-penning traditions so I could raise the capital to take care of the ones that needed it most. It’s not a perfect system, but the ones that are sold live great lives. Chincoteague ponies are very much sought after. They get a good home, and the money helps the ones left behind.”

  “Why not just use the chests of gold to fund your operation? You could probably buy the whole island with what you have buried up there.”

  “It’s complicated.” She sighed. “We’ve got a pretty good thing going right now. The government funds most of the park, and the pony sale funds the extras. For now, it’s the best move. Plus, the little guys just love to collect the stuff. They find stuff every other day, and we just throw it onto the pile.”

  She was silent for a bit, poking the fire and sending sparks into the air. Finn followed the trail and watched as one or two made it far enough to pass right through the stone.

  He chuckled. The cave was just an illusion. It was a really good illusion, but still just an illusion.

  “What so funny, fella?” she asked, smirking at him.

  He shook his head. “Nothing. So, what are you planning on doing with me?”

  She blew out a long breath. “Well, that’s the thing, innit? I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m afraid you’ve seen too much. I think we’ll just meet in the middle and I’ll turn you into a pony. You’ll have a great life here. I’ll take care of you, and you’ll have plenty of friends. Don’t worry, I’ll dumb you down a bit, so you won’t even remember being human. You’ll see. It’ll be great.”

  Finn chuckled again. “You know, I think I’ll pass.”

  “Sorry, bub. You don’t really have a say in the matter.”

  Finn slowly reached up and brushed his hair to the side, exposing the buzzed undercut. “Actually, I do.”

  The skin around his head where the undercut was began to glow with blue dwarven runes as he willed his “crown” to show. It was an inherited trait that only dwarves born into the royal family had, and it was recognizable across the galaxy.

  Freya stood and backed away from him, almost tripping over the log she had been sitting on. “No, that’s impossible. You’re all dead. The dwarves have been gone for a thousand years.”

  “I’m new to town.” He suppressed the crown and let his hair fall.

  Freya’s face went from terror to anger. “I will not be subject to another Dwarf King! That’s the whole reason I left on this ship in the first place.”

  Finn held up his hands. “Calm down. Let’s not do anything rash. We can work something out.”

  She screamed, and her features changed from a skinny tanned young woman without any distinguishing characteristics, into a willowy, beautiful woman with skin the color of mahogany that showed a light wood grain. Her brown hair turned a vibrant green like springtime leaves, and her teeth grew sharp and pointed.

  “Freya, come on n
ow. Let’s talk this out.”

  She charged, her fingers twisting together to form into wooden spikes, and she drew her arms back as she ran to strike a deathblow.

  Finn sighed.

  He went from sitting to standing in one smooth movement. He pulled the chain of the cuffs apart like it was made of paper and reached into the front of his Speedo with one hand while he snatched her off the ground by the neck with the other.

  A whispered word later and he had Fragar out and unfolded, glowing with a menacing dim purple nimbus.

  Freya’s eyes went wide as she stared at the axe that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

  Finn set Fragar down, leaning the handle against a log before walking over to his pack and finding two of the four beers he had left and picking them up. He carried the beers and the dryad back over to the fire, and gently set Freya back on her log, where she sat frozen in fear. He took the log next to her and tossed her a beer.

  She caught it, but only after fumbling it twice and almost dropping it into the fire.

  Finn cracked his beer open and took a foamy sip. “Now, like I said, let’s talk. I’ll start. Hi, I’m Finn, king of the Earth.” He laughed, but she just kept staring in fear. “That was a joke. Sorry.”

  He cleared his throat. “So, I have an idea that might help you.”

  She didn’t say anything, just gave him the slightest of nods.

  Finn took that as a good sign and started laying out his idea.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Victoria’s condo took up the entire third floor of a three-story building that shared walls with a four-story building of apartments on one side and a two-story warehouse that had been converted into retail shops on the other. The building was in the Russian Hill neighborhood close to the famous Pier 39 shopping center.

  She had them park the van in one of her parking spaces in the bottom floor garage, and they took an elevator that opened directly into her living room.

  Carl had the team bring up a crate of various weapons and supplies, just in case, and they set up at the huge dining table that looked like it could seat twenty with plenty of elbow room.

  Mila and Remmy were the last off the elevator, and Mila’s jaw dropped when she saw the huge condo. It had to be two or three times the size of her place back in Denver, and they had recently doubled its size by buying the second condo on their floor and expanding into it.

  The entire place was basically one room with modern-style wood and steel accents everywhere. An impressively done circular walled-off section filled the center of the space and housed the kitchen and a powder room, along with a wet bar on the living room side of the circle. Behind a door that was curved to disappear when closed was the laundry room.

  To the left of the elevator, Mila found the dining table where the team pulled equipment out of their black crate

  To the right of the elevator, the office, which took up a large section of the open floor plan, had a huge desk and multi-monitor computer system.

  Along the front of the living room, a wall of windows looked out onto the street. Behind the elevator hid two bedrooms, both huge and equipped with their own master baths.

  Victoria waved for Mila and Remmy to follow her. “Remmy was right, you smell like you were covered in blood and jumped into a ditch to wash off. Not that I’m any better.”

  “You have no idea how close that example was to the truth,” Mila said, with a wry smile.

  “I’ve been around long enough to know the smell of battle on someone.” Victoria snorted, led them into the second bedroom, and slid open a closet door built into the wall so perfectly that Mila would have taken twenty minutes to find it. “There are towels and robes in here. I also have an assortment of underclothes you can change into. They are separated by size in these drawers here. If you want to wash what you have, the laundry is out in the main room behind the kitchen.”

  “Sweet!” Remmy opened one of the drawers and pulled out a red lacy thong. “Why do you have extra clothes for guests?”

  “Because I’m rich enough to.”

  Remmy nodded. “Makes sense to me. You want to go first, or do you want me to go?”

  “Actually,” Victoria interjected, “why don’t you take this one, Remmy? Mila can come with me so we can talk while we get cleaned up.”

  “Works for me.” Remmy walked into the bathroom, spinning the thong on her finger like a lasso.

  “What an odd woman.” Victoria laughed. “Come on, I have a robe you can use. I have to admit the leather you two are wearing is spotless, despite your face and undershirt being covered in blood and grime.”

  “The leather is enchanted. Keeps itself clean and mended. Is my face really that dirty?” Mila swiped her face with a finger and felt a bit of grit flake off. “Ugh.”

  They walked into the main bedroom, which was laid out in a similar fashion to the guest room, only larger. Built-in closets and a vanity, along with a modern wooden king-sized bed and matching side tables, gave the large room a spartan but functional feel. The bathroom opened on the opposite side of the room as the one in the guest bedroom, but it still had the same large, doorless opening that revealed a completely white marble room, though only the sink and vanity could be seen from the bedroom.

  Victoria opened a closet and pulled out two billowy white robes and tossed one to Mila. “I won’t be long. There’s a hamper in there for your underthings if you want to save them. Personally, I’m throwing all of this away.” She plucked at her ruined blouse as she walked into the bathroom, leaving Mila to get undressed alone.

  Mila walked to the bed and unzipped the black moto jacket. As she tossed the robe on the bed, she removed the jacket and examined it as she heard the shower in the bathroom behind her. She knew it was enchanted, but it still shocked her how clean it was. The leather didn’t show so much as a scuff after the frantic fight, but still looked brand new.

  Mila gave the jacket a thorough sniffing but couldn’t smell anything but fresh leather. She sniffed her armpit just to be sure and was quickly convinced the enchanted leather was keeping itself clean.

  She laid the jacket on the bed and marveled at how she actually did smell like a dumpster.

  The pants came next. They were as clean as the moment she had put them on. Too bad she couldn’t say the same for the rest of her clothes,

  Her socks and underwear had not only been soaked with blood through her leggings during that first fight in the Market but had been put back on damp after her quick rinse in the alley with Remmy. She really didn’t want to think about how gross they were now, so she pulled them off, along with the now-bloody white t-shirt and sports bra, crumbled them all up in a ball, and spiked them into the hamper.

  As she slipped her arm into the robe, she felt the amazing quality of the fabric. By the time she had slid her other arm into the sleeve, she didn’t know how she could ever be satisfied by another robe ever again. She felt like a cloud had come to life and hugged her all over.

  As she sat on the bed to wait for Victoria to finish, Mila reached for her phone to call Finn but remembered that she had left it at home like an idiot.

  “Mila,” Victoria shouted to be heard over the water, “come in here so we can talk.”

  Mila rose and walked to the bathroom entrance. Inside, she spotted a plush bench against the far wall, past the vanity tucked in next to a large standalone tub. Opposite of the vanity and sink, the shower looked like a floor-to-ceiling frosted white glass box.

  As she headed for the bench, Mila jumped when the top half of the shower door went from frosted white glass to clear in an instant to reveal Victoria’s head and shoulders as she looked out into the bathroom and spotted Mila.

  “Oh, there you are!” She went back to shampooing her hair. “We need to decide how best to deal with Azoth. I was able to contact every Valkyrie left out there, and had the Lones scatter to unknown locations, but I told the others to gather together, then head here. It’ll take longer, but it will be much safer fo
r them to travel together. I don’t want one of Azoth’s minions spotting them coming in one at a time; it might give away our location. Valkyries don’t exactly travel quietly.”

  Mila was well aware of how visible they could be in the night sky. She was sure a lot of reports of ball lightning were more than likely people spotting a Valkyrie just going out for dinner.

  “Why have the Lone Valkyries scatter? Doesn’t that just leave them vulnerable in a new place? We should gather them in a safe location.”

  “They wouldn’t do it. Coming together means they lose their powers over time. You saw what it did to me when Azoth arrived with Sarah. Granted, I was already weak from the shackles, but you saw how debilitating that was. No one wants to put themselves through that on purpose.”

  Mila bit her lip, then frowned. That brought up something else that was bothering her. “About being drained when close to a Lone Valkyrie—”

  “Why aren’t you draining me right now?” Victoria rinsed the soap from her face before clearing the water from her eyes with a swipe of her hand. “I wondered when you would ask about that.”

  She chuckled. “That’s another of those little details I hadn’t told you yet. I didn’t know how it was going to manifest, and I wanted you to have a strong understanding of what you could do before we addressed it.”

  “I’m not going to lie, Victoria. All this keeping things from me for my own good is not helping our friendship. I understand that in your mind, I have thousands of years to learn the intricacies of being a Valkyrie, but that’s only true if I survive this battle with Azoth. I need information more than I need you to coddle me.”

  Victoria licked her lips, blinked water from her eyes, and regarded Mila through the glass. “I can appreciate that you feel like I might be cruel by keeping you in the dark about some things, but you have to understand that there are particular ways things have to be done when a new Valkyrie is born and brought into the fold. Frankly, our friendship is not high on my list of concerns; we don’t have to be friends, we’re sisters. And sometimes the elder sister has to do things that the younger sister doesn’t like. Families are complicated like that. This is the way things are done when a child comes to us newly formed.”