Dark Desire After Dark

9

"Rydstrom isn't here. He's always where he says he'll be."

They'd pulled over to the side of the gas station parking lot twenty minutes ago. Cade called Rydstrom's cell phone again, but got an out-of-area message.

"Maybe he got caught in traffic," Holly offered.

"No way." Cade rubbed a palm over one of his horns, then got out to pace in front of the headlights. Ten more minutes passed. Something's definitely wrong.

His brother had told him just tonight that Omort would be dispatching everything he had to stop them. Had Rydstrom somehow fallen victim to the bastard's powers?

Cade couldn't continue this job without Rydstrom—he didn't know where the first checkpoint was and hadn't been in contact with Groot himself. I need Rydstrom for the directions.

I need him to keep me in line with the asset.

Half an hour had dragged by when a red Bentley pulled up behind them, hopping the curb in an alignment-wrecking jounce.

"Well, if it isn't Nucking Futs Nïx," he muttered to himself as she parked the wheezing car. Never had Cade seen such an abused Bentley.

There were dings in the body, mud all over the tires, smoke tendrils rising from the hood, and at least two bullet holes. A Garfield doll was stuck to the rear window.

Surely Rydstrom had sent her to tell Cade about a change of plans. But this was a problem. Cade couldn't let Nïx near Holly without the chance of getting caught in his lie about reversing her transition.

He hastened to the car—and found the soothsayer shutting down the engine and the blaring music. "Where the fuck is my brother?" Cade demanded as soon as she opened the door. Sand poured from the floorboard.

Nïx gracefully stood, immediately strapping a sword over her back. She wore a T-shirt that read: Keep Me Separated. "Rydstrom's a bit tied up at the moment."

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked, studying Nïx's exotic eyes for lucidity. He'd seen them go blank with confusion many times and couldn't afford that now. "Nïx, did he send you to meet me?"

"No. I thought I'd drop by to see my niece." She peered past him in Holly's direction, and he stepped in front of her.

"Nothing is more important than this to Rydstrom. If you know where he is, then you must tell me."

Her tone casual, Nïx said, "Sabine, the Queen of Illusions, tricked him, capturing him."

Dread settled like a brick in Cade's stomach. "She's Omort and Groot's half sister." And rumored to be a hundred times more evil. "What does she want with Rydstrom?"

"I'm guessing she wants to be impregnated by him," she said blithely, while Cade's jaw slackened. "The last of the holdout rebels in your kingdom would be forced to recognize Rydstrom's heir—under any circumstances."

"But Rydstrom can't get her pregnant. Not unless she's his female."

"I'm sure with Sabine's powers, she could work something out."

"Is she in league with Omort? Is Rydstrom being held in Tornin?" No one escapes the dungeons of Tornin.

"I don't know if Sabine works with Omort or if she has her own agenda. And I can't see exactly where Rydstrom is imprisoned. All I know is that it's a shadowy cell."

"I need that sword even more now." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know how to contact Groot or even where the first checkpoint is."

"I know where it is, but I don't see any further than that."

"What? That's all I need! Tell me."

"You just assume I'm going to allow you to ransom my niece to an evil sorcerer?"

"You're the one who set up this deal!" he snapped.

"But I hadn't seen that the Vessel would be one of our kind."

"You know what's at stake."

"What's at stake for you," she said. "This is my kin."

"Then why are we even discussing this?"

She blinked at him. "Because I'm mischievous?"

Nïx started toward Holly, and short of violence, there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop her. Cade was a lowlife mercenary, but he drew the line at hurting females.

Immediately, he thought of that vampire's Bride he'd killed. Or rather, Cade didn't hurt them purposely. Block it out….

At the car, Nïx said, "Come, dearling."

Holly opened the door, pulling Cade's jacket tighter as she got out. She met Nïx eye to eye, almost exactly the same height as the Valkyrie soothsayer.

"Welcome to the family." Nïx kissed both of Holly's cheeks with loud mwah sounds, seeming not to notice Holly's startled expression. "I'm your aunt Nïx, the Ever-Knowing. I'm also the Proto-Valkyrie and Soothsayer without Equal."

"You're a Valkyrie?" Holly asked, her gaze on one of Nïx's uncovered ears.

"Only the oldest and greatest," Nïx answered.

Cade said, "She's a powerful prognosticator."

Nïx's eyes grew silvery with emotion. "And you are the spitting image of your mother. Strawberry blond hair and violet eyes."

"You were related to my mother?"

"Greta was my half sister."

"Greta," Holly said slowly, as if stunned to finally know her mother's name.

"She was a famous warrior. She died two decades ago, a glorious death in battle."

"Warrior? Battle? I thought Valkyrie were docile."

Nïx laughed. "Did the demon tell you that?" She made a tsking sound. "Cadeon Woede! For shame."

"Just having a bit of fun with that."

"What was Greta like?" Holly asked.

"She was part Fury—"

Cade made a strangled sound but covered it with a cough. "No way." The most fierce race of females in existence. Valkyrie were violent. Furies were…incomprehensible.

Hell, if Cade turned her over to Groot, Holly might off the sorcerer herself.

"Look at Holly's violet eyes, with the dark ring around the iris. A Fury's eyes."

"Why did she give me away?" Holly asked. "I know there must have been a good reason."

And there was Holly's signature confidence. She expressed no bitterness or self-doubt over the fact that she'd been given over.

"I've put together a welcome package with a letter that will explain more. But for now, you need to leave. It's dangerous for you here."

"Where am I going?" Holly demanded.

Nïx nodded in answer.

"Um, that wasn't a yes-or-no question."

"Indeed."

"I thought we were supposed to meet Cadeon's brother here."

"You were," Nïx said. "But he's not here."

Exhaling impatiently, Holly said, "Just tell me, how did I become like this."

"You make it sound like it's a tragedy."

"I…no, I didn't mean to, but I just want to go back to my old life. I'm a single code away from getting my doctorate, and I have classes to teach—"

"Yes, well, if I had students like your delicious football players, I'd be eager to return, too. Re-rowr."

Cade prompted Nïx, "Again, how'd she get like this?"

Nïx looked confused as if she didn't understand the question, then finally answered, "The seed was always there but was given water and sun with the lightning bolt." She turned to Holly. "And now you'll grow into the Valkyrie you were always meant to be."

"Cade told me that it's reversible?" she said in a tone tinged with disbelief.

"Did he, then?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, prepared to be busted.

"He's right," Nïx said, shocking him, going along with his lie. "Only one man can reverse this. His name is Groot the Metallurgist. He's a powerful sorcerer. If you get to him before you become fully immortal, he can change you back," she said, though Cade knew that she knew that wasn't true.

Without a word, Nïx sauntered back to her car, leaving them no choice but to follow. "Now, I took the liberty of visiting your vampire-infested building and packing a bag for you. I know you'll want to change."

Nïx popped the trunk, displaying a large suitcase atop another pile of sand. She lifted the weighty-looking bag with a finger, setting it on the ground. "Oh, and here are your spare glasses." She pulled a pair from her jacket pocket, handing them to Holly. "Style name Smitten Kitten—love it!"

Enunciating every syllable, Cade repeated, "Smitten Kitten?"

Sliding him a discomfited glance, Holly donned them.

Nïx continued, "Of course the glasses will become redundant, since your eyesight should continue to improve each day. And here are your pearls." She handed over a strand that looked exactly like the ones Holly usually wore. Naturally, she would have backups. "These items are your talismans."

"Talismans?"

"Do you feel stronger when you wear them?"

Holly bit her lip and nodded.

"Then, yes, talismans. Now, those pearls have been bespelled. When you wear them, you'll be protected from scrying eyes."

Holly turned to Cade, as if for translation.

"It means, don't take them off." He collected the necklace from Holly and turned her around by the shoulders. "Pull up your hair."

When she piled up all those red-gold curls, he just prevented himself from kissing her slender nape….

He shook himself and finished.

"You need to get dry," Nïx told her. "You're still a vulnerable little mortal. Oops, I forgot—you want to stay that way." She tittered behind her fingertips as if that inclination was so misguided it was cute.

Seeming dazed, Holly took the bag and turned toward the station bathroom.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cade snapped.

He tore into the bag and snatched the first pair of shoes he could find, shoving them on her feet. Then he took the bag and escorted her to the women's bathroom.

She groaned when he followed her inside and checked the stalls. Before he left, he pinched her chin. "Little bit, if anybody fucks with you in here, you give 'em a taste of what you gave the demons. Clear?"

Anytime someone asked Holly what she'd done the night before, she answered: "Studied, went to the library, swam."

Occasionally she varied the first two by doing them with Tim.

Tonight's activities? "Slew demons in horrific bloodbath, got shot at by vampires with machine guns, had a mad car chase through a swamp. Found out who—and what—my birth mother was. Learned about a secret world existing side by side with our own…."

Too much to take in. She didn't respond well to change in even the most ideal circumstances. Now, she was just…numb, deadened to the shocks that kept coming.

At least, she hoped that she was numb. Otherwise that would mean she didn't particularly feel bad about her mass murders this evening.

Yes, those men were monsters, and, yes, Holly believed they'd gotten what they deserved, but shouldn't she feel a twinge of something that she'd done it? Revulsion? Fear?

She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her eyes. The rings that had always circled her irises were much more noticeable. Because—don't you know—I'm part Fury.

Whatever that was.

Nïx's eyes were also uncanny, but their golden color was breathtaking, while Holly's violet was merely odd.

Holly drew back her hair, unable to ignore her sharply pointed ears any longer. Again, ears like this looked great on Nïx—exotic and interesting—while seeming foreign and weird on Holly.

One of the most classic OCD symptoms was an unfounded fear of losing oneself. But Holly's fear wasn't unfounded. She truly was losing herself, one feature at a time. If only I had my—

Her eyes widened. If Nïx had picked up things for her, surely she would have noticed all the pill bottles Holly had left lined up on the counter.

Diving into her suitcase, she yanked the zipper open. Inside, she found the contents of the shoulder bag she'd dropped when she'd been abducted. Her wireless laptop and case, her cell phone, even her antibacterial wipes were all there.

But no pills….

Nïx had somehow found that bag, then deliberately removed the two bottles. Why, Nïx? Holly leaned against the wall, tempted to run away, to escape all of this.

But Cadeon and Nïx were the only ones she knew who could help her get back to normal. Holly had no choice but to go along with their plans for her.

Plans that involved leaving town.

She hadn't crossed the borders of Orleans Parish in fifteen years. In fact, she rarely went anywhere except from her loft to the campus ten minutes away.

The campus really was her entire world—a regimented and orchestrated microcosm where things made sense. Days were divided into class hours, weeks into school days, and years into semesters.

Yet now she felt as if she'd been temporarily exiled.

Shaking away that thought, she collected her phone and dialed her friend Mei. When there was no answer, she left a message.

"Hi, Mei, this is Holly. I was wondering if you can take over my classes for a spell? Not a literal spell. Ha-ha. Um, I've had a family emergency crop up and might not be back for"—how long will I be gone?—"a week?"

Holly felt distanced from herself as she spoke, stunned by how normal she sounded when she was on the verge of breaking down. "Call my cell if anything comes up. I owe you big-time."

After she hung up, she exhaled unsteadily. Need to get dressed, get moving.

Crouching beside her bag, Holly checked the side compartment for her underwear, frowning at what she found. Inside were thigh-highs, thongs, and demi-cup bras, each still packaged or with the tags attached. They were all in her size, and they were…provocative.

Why on earth would Nïx swap out Holly's perfectly good high-waisted briefs and minimizer bras for these?

Left with little other choice, Holly smoothed on silky thigh-highs, and for the first time in her life, she donned a thong.

Once she was fully dressed with her pearls and glasses in place, she set about righting her hair. With angry strokes, she brushed the curls back, wrestling them into submission as usual, only now she made sure her weird ears were covered.

With the last hairpin in place, she studied her reflection. How could she look much the same as usual when she was such a wreck inside? Her eyes began to water, and she clutched the countertop for balance.

After all the madness of the night, she knew only two things for certain. I have to get this condition reversed. And Cadeon Woede is dangerous for me to be near.

The countertop cracked under her grip.