Valkyrie Divided (Pyralis Book 2)

by Brandy L. Cunningham

  Desmond sighed. Gathering himself, he pulled up into a sitting position, leaning his head back against the smooth stone wall. “Vangrough saw his death coming, so he took precautions. He “faked” his death when they came for him, and then he disappeared, biding his time, waiting for the corruptible to stumble onto him.”

  I ran my hands through my hair, and yanked on it at the last second. I wanted to scream. “All this time, I thought it was Byron we sought, but now I find out its someone much much worse…”

  Desmond sighed across the space. “It was Byron at first, but all he wanted was to rage a war against the other Casts. In his vision, he would have ruled over all, with the Vampire race reigning supreme. He wanted to exterminate all the “tainted blood” the mixed races, and then enslave the other casts. At first, those of us following his lead had no idea there was someone much more powerful, much darker, influencing him. Ian had gained control of Byron long ago, changing him, controlling him like a puppet. Like a sickness he overtook him. The day Byron crucified you, Ian already had control.”

  Frowning, I replied, “Wait, so it was Ian who made Byron murder me? Why? Surely he would have known that I…” my words trailed off, and I went still. Only my eyes moved as they met Desmond’s in the dark.

  Desmond watched me, waiting for me to finish my sentence, his face frozen between confusion and something else. Was that hope? When I didn’t continue, he asked, “What were you about to say Val?”

  I shook my head. No, I couldn’t tell him. I had no idea if I could trust Desmond. He had been so devious, so double crossing that I couldn’t take that chance. Instead, I changed the subject. “Where are we?”

  Desmond watched me closely for a minute longer, but eventually he let it go. He motioned around the room and laughed. “We are in a cage, Val. I tried to warn you, but I didn’t get there soon enough. They got us both.”

  There was something in what he was saying. Something…off. “Who got us, Desmond?”

  His laugh was harsh, almost depreciating. “Why, you’re beloved Ancients, of course, Valkyrie. You know, the ones you used to schmooze with when you were a child.”

  I swallowed. The Ancients? For a minute, hope rose inside of me. Maybe they had come to save me-but then Desmond’s words haunted my hope-why would they put me in a cage, with him? “Why am I in here?”

  Desmond sighed and shook his head sadly. “You just don’t get it Val. You’re a bright girl, always have been, but do you know what your biggest downfall is?” When I continued to stare at him, he smiled sadly, “You trust others.”

  Reality hit me full on. He was right. I had always trusted others, whether it be Byron, Aeron, Desmond himself, or the Fiddler. Hadn’t that trust gotten me killed, crucified, and broken hearted before? Now, I sat here in some sort of prison, wondering what lengths they’d gone to insure I wouldn’t escape, and I didn’t know exactly who had betrayed me this time.

  “Who was it?”

  Desmond had turned away from me, but at my question, he looked back. “Baby, who wasn’t it?”

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  Anger funneled through me. She was with him, and the knowledge made me want to rip the head off each and every Nephilim gathered before me. “How did you let him take her again?!”

  Chandler glared at me. He was angry too, and like me, he was concerned for Valkyrie’s safety, and both of us struggled to control the animal sides of our nature. The Lucina around me mumbled about some bestial creature, but I didn’t hear them, not-that is-until their leader’s voice rang above the din of their thoughts.

  “Aeron, it was not the one you think who took her. She was taken by allies, or at least what you once called allies. She and the creature.”

  My head swiveled slowly until I saw the light colored woman, her Viking-like stature rising over the heads of many of the other Lucina. “What, did you say?”

  Usela looked down her nose at me. “I saw Ancients present when she disappeared. Perhaps it’s those old Vampires you should be harassing, not my people who tried to protect her.”

  My mind was like the inferno of an oven, its temperature heating to shattering degrees as this new information sunk into my crazed mind. Ancients? Why would they take her? They were supposed to fight with us. I seethed. I would rip the head from each and every one of them if I had to. If they’d done anything to her, I would see their heads ripped from their meddlesome shoulders! Sending Chandler a look, I glanced toward Usela, inclining my head as I turned to go.

  Her words rang out behind me. “Take my spies. They are my fiercest warriors. We too value Valkyrie.”

  I glanced over my shoulder as six large Nephilim stepped forward, Wings unfurling behind them. With one last inclination of my head, I shot into the darkened sky. I would make them all pay, everyone who ever harmed my sweet, fiery Valkyrie.

  ͼ ͼ ͼ ͼ

  24

  A Taste of Ancient

  Pacing the small square room in which Desmond and I were trapped, I sighed. If I let go my inferno to test the limitations of this prison, I would kill him in the process. Desmond might be many things, but he was not able to be reborn as I was. He had told me that Byron had begun experimenting on Shifters long ago, trying to create some super weapon by blending the bloods. According to him, often times the result was death for the one being experimented on, but occasionally, the result what a beast such as the one in the cell with me now. This knowledge made me uneasy. It seemed that Ian Vangrough had formed some alliance with the Demons of Hell.

  So much of it didn’t make sense to me. Why would Vangrough influence Byron to kill me long ago? Surely he had known I was his descendant, but did he mean to eliminate me, or was it his intent all along to make me into what I am today? So many damned questions. Striking the bars with my fists, I yelled into the dark silence around me. “I’m tired of these fucking unanswered questions! I’m tired of always being in the dark!”

  Behind me, Desmond shuffled, a low growl escaping his chest. I sighed. We had spent days here, going through this same routine. He would slowly lose control of the man, and the beast would emerge. He couldn’t control it. He would attack, and I would kick his ass until he fell unconscious. After which he would wake the man again, and we would wait to see how long it would last this time. He wasn’t an easy opponent. He was strong, he was fast, and cunning. Like the wolf they had infused his blood with, he stalked me, he assessed me, and he would look for any advantage, any sign of weakness.

  The thought of others like him running wild in the already fucked up world we lived in made me very uneasy. Humans were already facing the brunt due to their lack of powers and healing ability, but with creatures like him on the loose, the Shifters would be at risk as well. We had already lost too many lives, and I was getting sick and fucking tired of seeing everyone die. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door creaking open, and I closed my eyes, my internal radar shifting in place. I saw the signature of at least four heart beats entering what seemed to be a passage leading to our cell.

  Behind me, the growl had grown more menacing, and I kicked out a hard back kick just as the beast lunged at me. He hit the wall, blood oozing from his head, and slunk down to the hard, cold floor. I sighed. Somehow, I had envisioned kicking Desmond’s ass would be more exciting and satisfying, but I guess change was inevitable.

  Voices drifted to me, and I froze as a familiar cultured voice caught my attention. My jaw ticked and my fangs began to grow along with my anger. A light switched on, and like an animal kept in the dark too long, I slunk away, hissing. How the hell did they have lights here? When my gaze returned to the bars of my cell, the four of them stood there. He was there too, and I felt my blood boil at the sight of his face.

  They studied me as if I were a crazed animal, their gazes taking in the unconscious beast on the far side of the cell, the blood stains on the walls from our ceaseless battles. They thought I was an animal too. I saw the fear in three pairs of eyes. In the fourth, nothing. His eyes were vo
id, expressionless.

  “She is…more primitive than I would have thought. Perhaps she really is more animal than Vampire now.”

  My eyes shifted to the one who spoke. His gray hair was slicked back and it had a greasy look to it. He seemed pale, small and very old. Frail was the word I would use to describe him, and inside of me, a dark laugh echoed. I would kill him first.

  Beside him, the one I hated the most spoke. “Be careful, Sebastian. She is much more intelligent and deadly than you might think.”

  My eyes moved toward him. His white hair seemed mussed up, where normally it was perfectly smoothed. His face was gaunter than I remembered, and his ice blue eyes refused to meet mine. I smoothed my features, and stepped closer to the cell bars, smiling when the four of them instantly took a step back. With a purr in my voice, I said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Viren, come out to play? Showing our true colors, are we, Brother?”

  For a brief instant, his eyes shifted to my face, and they were full of pain. The look was gone quickly, however, as he turned back to the one he called Sebastian. I followed Viren’s gaze, notating the look of interest on the old Vampire’s disgusting features. Lowering my lashes, I sent him a provocative look, licking my lips, before sashaying away from the bars. My ears heard the increased staccato of his pulse and my nostrils smelled the scent of arousal that drifted from him. Oh yes, I would kill this one first.

  “Valkyrie Walker, it has come to our attention that you carry the blood of Ian Vangrough, and as such, you are sentenced to death. Tomorrow, you will stand before the council of Ancients, and you will be executed. It is the only way to reverse the prophecy.”

  Hmm. Interesting. I didn’t deign to look back at them or reply as I thought…you can try. I listened to their steps as they walked away, and I wondered what hand Viren played in this new deceit. Where was my sister? Letting out a deep breath, I closed my eyes, channeling the many powers I had at my disposal, and, for the first time, tapping into some new ones I hadn’t yet wanted to acknowledge. She rose from me, causing a gasp to leave my lungs as the feeling of my soul being ripped from my body passed through me.

  Her dark tattered wings wrapped around me, caressing as she tried to calm me. I felt the comfort of her, and slowly my body acclimated to the feeling of being torn into two. She promised I would grow used to it, but I found that difficult to believe. I had been aware of this power, and her presence within me for some time, but this was the first time I dared give her reign. Her shadowy figure shifted away from me in the dark, and she stepped to the bars, passing between them with no more hindrance than a wisp of air has as it funnels through the trees.

  I watched her go, and somewhere inside of me, I watched what she saw as though on an internal monitor. The discovery that my soul could be truly divided, yet still connected was phenomenal. The other side of me was like a ghost, like an inky shadow. I settled in, ready to see things from her point of view.

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  Once past the bars of the dank cell in which they kept us, I sauntered unnoticed down the long corridor, through the tiny crack of the closed and locked metal door that barricaded us off, and I followed the scent of the four who had recently walked these halls. When I stepped past the third door, I found quite a surprise. A large round-shaped room, more like an auditorium, greeted me. It was lit with dim lights-I really wanted to know where they were getting electricity from-and gathered in the center at a series of tables was a group of Vampires. Viren and the three who had come to my cell were there as well.

  I counted roughly thirty of them, men and women, as I crudely scanned over their faces. I recognized some from my childhood, when Byron would bring me along to the council meetings. Were they really so out of the loop that they thought they could kill me, or had they learned a secret to which I was not privy? I needed to know the answer to this most important question. Keeping to the shadows against the walls where the light didn’t quite reach, I watched and I listened. Most of what they said was nonsense. They thought that by killing me, they could reverse the prophecy. How could they believe that? The effects of said prophecy had already come to pass, surely they realized we couldn’t simply undo it.

  As I listened, however, I became aware that they really did believe that. And then, I heard her name whispered on a breath. Airi. The female who whispered her name spoke in low tones to the male Vampire seated beside her. “Do you think Airi will honor her promise, to reverse the catastrophe, if we kill the Pyralis?”

  My heart thundered. So that is what was happening. Was it possible? Could Airi reverse what had happened? I didn’t think it was. Too much had already occurred. Besides, playing with time was never a good idea. The male Vampire shrugged.

  “I don’t know. I have never trusted her. I mean, she is the one who should be held responsible for Ian Vangrough.”

  I wanted to run down there and shout “WHY?!” but my shadowy half remained where she was, asking me to have patience, and trust her. The female frowned. “Do you think we have any other option, but to trust her?”

  As I eves dropped on their conversation, I darted my eyes around the room. That’s how I noticed a certain light haired Vampire sneaking away. Immediately, I followed the shadows, my form no more palpable than the air itself, and I trailed after him. He exited the auditorium, went through a series of doors and tunnels, and then stopped in a darkened room. My shadowy figure was able to move freely here.

  Viren seemed on edge. He looked about the room as if he were looking for something. Scrolls lay haphazardly around the room, some bound and some opened. Large tombs lines the walls, their bound leather spines like ageless forms in the dark. My insubstantial fingers ran over them, feeling the thick leather of them.

  “Dammit, it has to be here somewhere. Come on Belladona, you said it would be here…”

  His words gave me pause, and then I recalled that my sister had been part of this council at one time, before the eclipses. In fact, both of my siblings had pledged themselves to this committee of conceited bastards.

  The door clicked open behind me, and I watched another man enter. He eyed Viren, and both of them glanced back toward the door.

  “Did you make certain you weren’t followed, Dresden?” the name Viren muttered made my shadowy form spin about.

  Sure enough, Dresden Villart, the Ancient Vampire who had spared my mother’s life, stood there facing Viren. I wanted to rip something apart. Had I really been that ignorant, that gullible? How was this even possible? I felt like such a sucker at that moment.

  Villart narrowed his eyes at Viren. “I am certain. I’m a lot older than you, and more experienced, remember. This isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this. The council may think they rule us, but they are easily swayed, too easily, if you ask me.”

  I studied the two men, curious about them and what they were up to. My energy was waning, however, and I felt my two halves pulling at one another. Without the light of the sun or moon, my only source of energy was blood, and I hadn’t fed in far too long. I was weakening. Like a breath of air being sucked back in, she came zipping back to me, and the feeling of her entering our body again was nerve-racking and delicious at the same time. Behind me, Desmond was rousing, and I sighed. I would have no choice but to feed off of him, if I didn’t find another, soon.

  ͼ ͼ ͼ ͼ

  It didn’t take long for my prey to find its way to me. Although I had little idea of the time, I felt in my soul that it was night, if there still existed such a thing. Desmond snored loudly in the corner of the cell where he had leaned against the wall and promptly fallen asleep. I leaned a hip against the iron bars, listening to the unsteady rhythm of a nervous heart beat as it made its way down unlit corridors toward me. I had known the prick would come back, the way he had practically salivated over me earlier, even as he called me primitive.

  His greasy gray head rounded the corner, and his dark eyes perused me even as he became fully aroused just looking at me. I remained stil
l, watching, waiting. He stopped a few feet away from the bars.

  Rubbing his hands together in nervousness, he grinned at me. It made me want to hurl. “Valkyrie, I have come to you with a proposition.”

  I smiled sweetly, although inside, I longed for his blood. “I’m listening, Sebastian.” I made certain to put a little more sugar into my voice as I whispered his name.

  His eyes widened, the pupils dilating in his dark eyes. “A favor for a favor. You give me the….uh…the fantasies I desire, and I will see that your death is reevaluated.”

  Of course he wanted sex. What a typical, disgusting pig. I smiled seductively, shifting a hip. “I think we can arrange that.”

  His hands shook slightly as he lifted a thick metal object towards the bars. “Put these on, and I will unlock the door.”

  Looking down, I lifted a delicate brow. Thick metal shackles hung from his hands as they trembled. “You like bondage, huh?”

  His eyes shifted, a sure sign he was lying. “Well, I need to make sure I can trust you, you know.”

  I smiled. “Uh huh. It’s okay, Sebastian, I like to get a little kinky myself sometimes. Nothing to be shy about.”

  The gleam that entered his eyes made me want to rip him apart that much sooner, but I needed him to open the door to my cell first. So, I licked my lips, and lifted my hands so he could place the metal shackles around them. It was only a matter of time now.

  ͼ ͼ ͼ ͼ

  I paced the confines of the tent in front of Rafael. He was trying my patience, and we were wasting time. “I am telling you, Rafael, the council has taken her. Are you going to stand up and go after her, or not?”

  The Fiddler sighed heavily, seeming to shrink further down into his chair. “I hear your words, Aeron, but why would the council take her? They were on our side.”

  Beside him, Valkyrian looked disturbed. He swallowed, before leaning slightly forward in his seat. “I think it’s because of what happened recently. There were whispers after Val was spotted returning from…well, from Hell. Some of the council members felt she couldn’t be trusted anymore. At the time, I didn’t think anything would come of it, but then…”