“I won’t hurt you, Will. I need you to believe me.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“I know,” I nodded, “which is why I’m going to help you find the real killer.”
“Raven—”
“Why the hell would I leave the body at the bar, Will? It doesn’t make sense and you know it.”
His expression turned cold. I knew the discussion was pointless. He was going to believe what he wanted, and I just needed to prove him wrong. I could hear the yells and loud thumps of officers rushing toward us after Will’s gunshots had alerted them. That was my cue.
“Find the real killer,” I whispered before I spun around and sprinted toward the massive window at the end of the hall. I snatched the handle of my trunk on the way and burst through the window. Glass rained around me as I landed on top of a parked car, the trunk rolling onto the street and the sound of the car alarm wailing into the night. I peered up and caught Will looking down at me.
“What is it with you and windows?” he yelled.
I grinned. “Ten-second head start?”
He nodded, and I was gone.
8
Will didn’t send the hounds after me. At least I didn’t think so. There were no sirens or yells, nothing on the radio. It was silent. As if I’d never broken into the police department.
Dawn had broken, the sky a mixture of pink and orange. I gazed up at the morning sky as I drove straight to my apartment. It was the best time to pick up some of my belongings, particularly a change of clothes. It was too early for anyone to still be milling around, and I didn’t want a run-in with Donnie. He hadn’t said anything when I was arrested, so I assumed I was fired, and with my termination would come a thirty-day eviction notice. I wasn’t sweating it. Too much had already happened for me to even contemplate staying in town once I found out who was framing me.
The Drunken Monkey was a ghost town—and not because of how early it was. The front door had yellow caution tape across it making an X, and a notice on the front window said the bar would be closed until further notice.
Pressing my forehead against the window, I sighed. I didn’t care much for the humans, but my intention was never to hurt them either.
I went around to the side entrance of the bar. Locked. Looking around, I pushed the door open. The sound of wood splintering and the lock breaking echoed in the foyer. I winced as I stepped inside as quietly as possible and jogged up the stairs, stopping midflight when I heard voices.
“Check the closet. It has to be here,” a man directed. From the sound of their heavy boots, there were two men in my apartment. They must have entered through the back entrance.
“It’d be hard to miss. There’s nothing but dirty laundry and booze,” the other said.
I grinned.
“We can’t show up empty-handed.”
“We have no choice. There’s nothing here,” he snarled.
“If I knew I’d have company, I would have spruced up the place,” I said as I walked in. “Oh, don’t stop on my account. Continue your search.”
The two men were frozen, staring at one another as if waiting for some directive. In the meantime, I absorbed as much information as possible. They were pros—that much I could tell—with leather gloves and blue hospital sleeves over their boots to avoid leaving footprints. My apartment was a complete mess, but that could have been from when it was raided by the police.
“Where is it?” one of the men demanded. He stepped forward as to intimidate me, and it only made me chuckle. He was so stupid. The shorter of the two looked dumber by just standing idly to the side.
“I’d be more helpful if I knew what you were looking for.”
“Don’t be stupid, valkyrie. You know what we want,” dummy number one said.
I swallowed my shock as I looked at one and then the other. They weren’t human, but what were they?
My answer didn’t come quick enough because dummy number two released daggers from the sleeves of his jacket and began to slash them in my direction. I blocked his hits with my forearms, slapping away his advances. I was rustier and slower than I had been in my glory days. The gunshots from earlier also didn’t help. I’d healed once I plucked the bullets out, but the wounds still stung. The other assailant tried to grab me from behind, but I ducked out of the way and kicked him in the back, sending him tumbling onto the other dummy number one.
“Seriously, boys, let’s use our words.”
“Where is The Sword of Souls?”
I shrugged.
He looked me up and down. “Where is your hair?”
My eyebrow quirked. “My hair? That’s what you care about?” I snorted. A valkyrie’s lock of hair was once valuable on the black market as it could summon the owner and temporarily control her. For us, it was a badge of honor. The longer the hair, the stronger we were. The first thing I did when I realized I was stuck in Midgard was to chop it off and burn it. Once our hair had been desecrated, it lost its value forever.
“And the sword?” dummy number two asked.
This was bad. They knew who I was. I’d been the only wielder of The Sword of Souls and it was tucked away nicely in the trunk I’d just broken out of police lockup. I didn’t steal it back just to have it taken again.
“The police have it,” I said nonchalantly. “If you help me retrieve it, I’ll give you a lock of my hair.” Obviously, they had no idea my hair was no good.
One of them crossed his arms over his chest. “No deal. We have orders to bring in both. You’re going to get that sword back and bring it here.”
“Or what?”
The two men looked at one another and smiled.
“Or there’ll be hell to pay,” dummy number one chuckled.
“I’ll take my chances,” I said as I ran out of my apartment.
I wasn’t the kind to run from trouble, but in this case, letting the two thugs run back to who hired them was a better option. Whoever was pulling the strings was a major player who would need a bit of coaxing out before I slaughtered his whole operation.
It’d been a long night.
I slept in Charlie’s car as I waited for Dumb and Dumber to leave my apartment so I could grab a change of clothes. Grabbing a pen from the glove compartment, I wrote down the license plate number of the white van they drove.
After packing up a bag with the essentials—including a bottle of whiskey—I headed back to Charlie’s apartment. Without saying a word, I dragged my trunk behind me as I trudged inside. My body was close to shutting down and I needed sleep. Charlie must have known because she pointed to a guest bedroom and I face-planted the bed.
I must have slept for hours because I awoke in a cold sweat and my hands started to shake. I’d been so tired that I didn’t take a pill or have a drink. My body was craving it. With my stash in the living room, I snuck out of Charlie’s guest bedroom and shuffled out. I should have known something was off—that another presence was in the apartment, another soul. I was a shitty valkyrie.
“Happy you could join us,” Detective William Callahan said as he sat on Charlie’s couch with her beside him. Her bottom lip quivered, and her eyes glossed over behind her thick-framed glasses. “Looking a little rough, Raven. Stayed up late last night?”
Gooseflesh crawled over my damp skin, and I swallowed a few times to get my bearings. “You’re not looking too hot either.” I nodded toward him. There were bags under his eyes that were ringed in darkness.
“Raven?” Charlie whispered. Her gaze traveled over me, and her concern was evident. “Are you o—”
“Ready to arrest me?” I cut her off and stuck my wrists out to Will. My eyes darted around the room for the stash of pills I’d taken from the evidence locker. I didn’t see them.
“Nope,” he shook his head. “You’re free.”
That made me pause. “Come again?”
“You. Are. Free.”
“Can I get that in writing?” I raised a brow. Even Charlie’s mouth dropped at his st
atement. This was definitely a trick. I had to keep my wits about myself.
Now, where are my pills?
“There was an intruder at the station, but I couldn’t make out their face when they jumped from the window. I tried to stop them, but our systems have been acting funny as of late so there is no video footage to capture the incident.” He shrugged. Will lied for me.
“How did you find me?”
“I put a tracker on the trunk. I knew it was only a matter of time before you came for it.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why are you doing this? What’s your end game?”
“No games.” He shook his head. “You told me to find the real killer, and that’s what I plan to do … what we plan to do.”
My eyes bulged. “Excuse me?”
Will stood, his hand going straight to the gun clipped on his hip. He didn’t move his hand, just held on to it.
“A call came in about an hour ago with the same M.O. as Kendall Carter’s murder. The symbol carved on the abdomen, the missing eye, all of it. The problem is, according to the timeline, you’ve been here.” Callahan sighed heavily.
I shrugged at him. “I guess your stalking panned out in the end.”
“This isn’t the end, Raven. I can’t clear your name until we find the real culprit. With the murder weapon missing, we cannot arrest you, but you’re still a suspect. Commissioner Carter wants your head on a spike, and Thompson will be on you like white on rice.”
“Does he know where I am?”
Will shook his head.
“So you put a tracker on me—”
“On the trunk,” he corrected.
“Whatever. Same shit.” I rolled my eyes. “You put a tracker on the trunk illegally?”
He stayed quiet, his bedroom eyes narrowing.
“Enough said.” I winked. “Now that we’re on the same team—”
“Do you know who it is?” he demanded.
“If I knew, do you really think we’d be having this conversation right now?”
If Will wanted to play in the big leagues, I needed him to get his shit together. We were dealing with otherworldly situations. He was no longer swimming in the kiddie pool but was about to nosedive into the ocean without warning. I wanted to trust the cop, but I’d never been too trusting of anyone—much less a human.
“But you know something,” he said. “You have to tell me everything if we’re going to catch the killer.”
“I know everything you do. Nothing more and nothing less,” I lied. I couldn’t tell the human that someone knew I was a valkyrie. He’d arrest me just for being idiotic.
“If I find out, Raven—”
“There’s nothing to find out,” I interrupted. “Now, what’s up with this new body? Who is it?”
Will ran a hand through his hair, looking at anything but me. Humans were easy to read. Their nervous ticks were dead giveaways something bad had happened. The next words out of his mouth were going to be another nail in my coffin.
“It was Donnie Deluca.”
I’d always been good at schooling my emotions—keeping a stoic face was my specialty—but I couldn’t stop the slight widening of my eyes. Donnie was one of the few mortals I somewhat cared for. Not enough to cry and declare war on whoever was doing this, but a small twitch in my heart gave way and I clenched my fists.
“Where was his body found?”
“In his apartment.”
Another attack at the bar. Will could have easily tried to pin it on me since I’d been there earlier. I wondered why he didn’t.
I paced. “And the murder weapon?”
“It hasn’t been found.”
“Fuck!” I grabbed the first item my hand touched and threw it at the wall in blind rage. It shattered, and glass rained around us.
“Uh … that was a rare figurine I got at Comic-Con last year,” Charlie mumbled.
I glared at her.
“That I can totally replace. No big deal.” She laughed it off.
Will shook his head. “You’re still a suspect, but we can’t arrest you until we have probable cause. It gives us a small window to catch this son of a bitch, so let’s get to work.”
9
“Where’s the body?” I asked as we snuck into Donnie’s apartment and I saw the outline of where it had been.
My first observation was that his door had been kicked open. Pieces of wood littered the entrance, and the rest of the apartment had been trashed. At first glance, it appeared as if it were a robbery gone bad. I’d seen the thugs that trashed my apartment leave. Had they returned?
“It’s been taken to the coroner’s office,” Will said. “Don’t touch anything. This is still an active crime scene.” He took his cell phone from his pocket and handed it over to me. “I had Thompson send me the pics of the body. The injuries sustained are identical to Kendall’s.”
I scrolled through the pictures, my heart racing at the sight of the carving on his abdomen and the missing eye. The black hole on his face made my upper lip twitch. Just like Odin … and Kendall. An outsider looking in would think nothing of it, but it was a dangerous obsession. No one should have that power.
“Thoughts?”
I shook my head.
He sighed. “Fine. I don’t know much yet, so I’m going back to the station. You need to lay low, Raven. You escaped custody, which means you can still be arrested. And it’s only a matter of time before they come after you over the missing evidence. They don’t have proof it was you, even the officer manning the room doesn’t remember who it was, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“I understand.”
Will pulled a flip phone out of his pocket. “This is a burner phone. Do not give this number out to anyone. I should be the only one calling you. I bought two extra SIM cards in case you’ve been compromised. Have this with you at all times.”
Pocketing the phone and SIM cards, I followed him out of the apartment.
Sunset was near, and the pink and orange hues of the sky were bright, making me squint.
“I programmed my number in there. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to give me a ring.”
“Sure thing—” I started but paused, coming to a complete halt. Raising my hand to try to block the setting sun, I noticed two birds flew overhead. Their black, beady eyes scanned us, and their black feathers had shades of blue under the sun as they flew in circles over us. One of the raven’s beaks parted and a loud squawk pierced the quiet evening. A lump formed in my throat.
It couldn’t be …
“Everything okay?” Will interrupted my gaze. I nodded, and we continued our walk back to his car.
Instead of finding answers, all I got were more questions. None of it made sense. Nothing was okay.
William dropped me off at Charlie’s house and I entered in a daze. Going straight for my stash of goods, I popped four pills without a drink and filled my Pez dispenser to have it at the ready. My hands were shaking, and not from needing a hit.
“Raven?” Charlie called out from the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“I-I saw something … someone,” I tried to explain. My eyes went to hers as I attempted to control my erratic breathing. “Hugin and Munin.”
I went to the bathroom and splashed water on my face multiple times. Gazing into the mirror, I could see the fear and hopefulness all at once. Hugin and Munin were Odin’s ravens. They sat on both of his shoulders whispering everything they heard and saw throughout the day. Seeing them could mean a lot of things. First, it meant Odin was nearby, maybe even on this realm. He would be able to send me back to Valhalla. But if he’d had me followed, why was he not helping me?
It was Odin’s love for the humans that had swayed me into staying when my sisters left. I thought if anyone would be proud it would have been my father.
“That’s great!” Charlie said until I turned to face her. Her smile fell. “Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know.”
She bit her lip. “Maybe you
should see the Norns. I know you don’t want to out yourself, but they might be able to help you get the answers you need.”
“Meeting with those hags always comes with a price. I’m not sure if I’m ready to pay it.”
After filling Charlie in on everything that happened at my apartment, we parted ways and I dragged the trunk into her guest room and shut the door. I took a deep breath before kneeling before it.
My hands ran smoothly over the leather. There were no locks. The gold borders lining the opening were the only clue it could be unsealed. It’d been decades since the last time I’d opened the trunk. It held a time of my life I thought I’d never see again—a time of both good and bad memories. Some memories plagued my nights as the years passed. When you lived forever, it gave you plenty of time to reflect on your sins. I had many to reflect on.
Having stalled enough, I took the knife I’d taken from the kitchen. With the jagged edge firmly placed over one corner of my palm, I dragged it across my skin, making a deep cut. Crimson spilled forth, and I quickly placed my hand over the top of the trunk. I could feel the leather taking in deep pulls of blood, soaking it all in because it had been deprived for so long. I was its owner, and the only way to open it was if I fed it my blood. It was also for protection so no one else would ever be able to access it.
Once it released me, I slowly opened the trunk, its hinges squeaking in the silence. A golden breastplate covered the contents. Norse runes were carved all over the armor, its leather straps loosened and ready to be tightened when worn. It was cold to the touch when I pulled it out, but it quickly warmed beneath my fingertips. My pauldrons and vambraces that cover my shoulders and wrists were beneath. Chausses for my lower legs were still strapped to the boots just as I’d left it the last time they’d been worn. It clinked together as I pulled it all out of the trunk. My leather strap skirt lay atop what I was really looking for. Still sheathed was the Sword of Souls. Its intricate golden handle was carved with many hands reaching for the sky—the hands of the sword’s victims trying to escape. They were the hands of the people I’d killed.
The Last Valkyrie Series Complete Boxed Set Page 7
