Becoming Valkyrie

by Brandy L. Cunningham

  I knew I needed to be brave. I didn’t know why Rafael had left me here alone with the approaching darkness, but I knew he seemed always to have a reason behind the things he did. Upon opening my eyes, I immediately regretted it. Around me, the Spirits had thickened, and now they stood as far more than cold shifting air. I could see them. Some walked around as snarling Wolves. Others seemed stuck in half Wolf, half human form, as though killed during their morphing stage.

  The humans were the worst. They watched me with their sad haunted eyes. Some walked as though they were still alive, whilst others floated eerily off the ground, only the top half of their bodies visible. I swallowed. One came close to me. She laughed. Whispering close to me, her voice a harsh cackle like grating steel.

  “The clouds shift, and with it, the moon comes but not just any moon, an eclipse. The Wolves will shift, will you?”

  I had no idea what she meant. Would I shift? What would I shift into? Shaking off my terrified nerves, I stood upon shaking legs. In the distance, I heard howling. Howl after howl. Walking in that direction seemed wrong, everything in me rebelled against approaching a pack of wild Wolves, but I swallowed the instinct and headed in that direction. It irked me that several of the Ghostly beings followed on my flanks.

  All those thoughts were lost when the clouds above parted, and the bright white light of the full moon shone down upon me. I stopped. Standing, rooted to the space where I was, I felt a power coming over me. It was strange, unlike anything I had felt, but I could swear I heard the voice in my head purr. As though another body within mine stretched its muscles for the first time in centuries, my own outer body trembled.

  As I stared upward into the darkening sky, the light of the moon shifted. Only half of the moon was visible, with the bottom half covered in shadow. As I looked up at it, there appeared another shadow which slowly crossed over the moon. The bright white moon merged into an eerie orange color as the alignment between the moon, the sun, and the earth was completed.

  Power flooded through my body as well as my veins. I was aware of the fiery orange color coursing through my arms once again. Staring at them, I watched in fascination as the orange liquid flowed endlessly. My jaw felt abnormal as my fangs descended. I could feel them rest against my bottom lip, and my eyesight sharpened. I could sense movement within the dark, quiet forest.

  I felt wild, free, and alive. Hunger coursed through my veins, but I realized it was not ordinary hunger, and much of it was not familiar to me. I knew some of the desire I felt pertained to blood, but there was more to it than that. There was something else I needed, wanted with a desperation. Hearing the Wolves in the distance, I knew what they were doing. They hunted. I would hunt too.

  With lightning-fast speed, I chased them, willing myself to be as fast as the rest of them. Their bodies burst from the trees in an array of colors. Most were dark, but I recognized the white shape of my friend. She assessed me with her glowing yellow eyes and howled. I felt sure it was her way of welcoming me to the hunt. Focusing on the front of the pack, I sought the object of their interest.

  A herd of deer leaped through the forest. Their glossy brown coats becoming a blur as they bounded over boulders in their mad dash to outrun the pack of predators pursuing them. I could hear the beat of their collective hearts, sense the fear that pumped their legs and drove them forward in their flight instinct. My body responded wildly. The blood flowing through their veins was like a symphony calling to me, daring me to catch it.

  I pushed myself harder, faster. My mouth salivated at the very thought of their warm metallic blood. Quickly, I advanced to the front of the pack. I was torn, should I stay behind their leader, wait for him to take the first leap, or should I forgo Wolf etiquette and surge forward as my body told me to? I looked at the alpha Wolf. A large gray, he looked back at me. I wasn’t certain, but I was pretty sure his lips pulled back into a grin.

  As we closed the gap between us and the deer, he shot forward, grabbing the neck of one buck. I took this as my cue to follow my instincts. Lunging faster, I too grabbed a deer. Sinking my fangs into the tender flesh of its neck, I felt the warm perfection of blood as it oozed into my mouth. All of my senses seemed to overflow with one thought. Blood.

  It was all I thought about as I sucked the beast dry. I needed it, wanted it. I craved this life essence as though it was my very reason for living. The coppery taste flowed through my body, powering my veins and satiating my desire for death. Lifting my eyes to peer at the pack of Wolves feeding voraciously around me, I took in the scene with new eyes. They ripped and tore through the flesh of the deer they had killed.

  Around us, there was no mass slaughter. There were no wild rabid beasts wasting the precious gift they had been given. No. The Wolves killed what they needed to survive and no more. Looking down at the deer that lay lifeless at my feet, I was torn between pride and disgust. I had needed the blood of this animal. I knew that now. I was weak and starving. Now, I felt the strength creep into my body. But I had wasted. My only need was this animal’s blood, not its meat, or bones or flesh.

  I would not allow this animal to be wasted. Picking it up as though it weighed nothing, I flung the lifeless body over my shoulder and headed into the dark forest. I had never found my way to the home of the Wolves alone before. On this night, things seemed to have changed. I moved with precision, with knowledge of where I went and where I was headed.

  Finding the entrance to the mine shaft where Rafael made his home, I ducked beneath the opening. Once inside, I followed the dark tunnels as though they had been my home forever. I found Rafael sipping tea. Dropping the deer at his feet, I grinned. The expression on the old man’s face gave me pause. One part frightened, one part amazed, it was not the look I had expected.

  Ignoring the drained body of the deer, he stood. Walking to his cot, he picked something up. “I want you to see what I see, Valkyrie.”

  He held a hand mirror up. In its silvery surface, I saw myself. Not Valkyrie Walker, eighteen-year-old human. No. The Valkyrie I saw was far different. Alabaster skin that looked ageless, flawless, kissed by moonlight. Long lean muscles and hourglass curves. Eyes that glowed a wicked molten lava, and fangs that peeked from a bloodstained mouth of soft pouty lips. Long raven black hair kissed by a slight red hue, as though stained with blood, hung around my face.

  I didn’t feel like I was looking at myself. I felt like I was looking at someone else. She was breathtakingly sexy, this woman who stared back at me in the mirror, but she was also terrifying. This could not be me. I looked at Rafael with questions reflected in my blood-colored eyes.

  “The transformation from human changeling to Vampire is nearly complete. This time next month, we will watch as the world darkens with the first in a series of eclipses. With that first solar eclipse will come the joining of your two souls. Valkyrie the human will forever become Valkyrie the Vampire. You were burned in life and in death. You burn still. I hope you can find peace with this transformation before that time.”

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  15

  Kiss From The Past

  Sitting beside the lake, I stared out at the eerily placid surface of the water. I felt cold, but it was not my body that shivered. My soul was cold. I was still digesting the events of the previous night. I had killed a deer and sucked it dry of blood. My soul felt stained with its lifeblood. Akio had told me to be grateful my first kill was an animal, and not a human. I realized she was right. Had I killed a human I would have felt one hundred times worse.

  The others were right about me. I had darkness within me and I battled every day to keep it controlled. All the stories I had heard about Valkyrie the Vampire painted a portrait of her as a loving, kind and passionate Vampire, but what I felt within my mind, was anything but kind. Dark whispers floated in the voids of my mind, and I knew, when the merge between us was done, the kind human I had been would be wiped clean.

  It was not kindness and love she wanted. It was revenge, destruction, and death.
She wanted all who stood there, as she was crucified before them, to face judgment. Her judgment. I couldn’t help wondering if that judgment extended to those who had loved her and tried to help her. Would she persecute them for being unable to stop the events that brought her to that day? I was unsure of what she really wanted.

  Thinking of the dreams that had plagued me all night following the hunt, I shivered. Dark, wild, lust-filled dreams had haunted me throughout the night. I had burned several times during that night. I was running low on clothes, I no longer had a cot, and Rafael told me he would not give me another blanket until I learned to control myself. Thinking of those wild dreams did little to reassure my mind.

  Aeron and Desmond had been there. I realized now that I did feel attraction for both men. In my dreams, I had been…a very different person. The Vampire within me seemed enthralled by both of them. She was turned on by the power and control of Aeron, but she also desired the passion and wildness of Desmond. I felt that I would soon lose my choice over what happened in my life.

  Watching the sun move in its path across the mountains soothed me. I had much to learn, but I was growing stronger. Images washed over my mind. Aeron lay there, immobilized by the Wolf venom. I could still feel the way his fangs had pierced my skin, the way his mouth had felt as he had sucked the blood from my veins. I was glad he was not here. There was too much of a connection between her and both of them. I wanted to avoid Aeron and Desmond. She wanted them. Desperately.

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  Heath lunged at me. He wanted to annoy me. Wanted me to lose my cool and burst into flames. I understood it was his job to push my buttons, to lure me into losing my cool so I would learn control. I had been getting better at control. Slowly, I had found a way to become cold inside. The less I cared about anything, the more I could ignore. It was hard to be this person. It was hard to break my connection with humanity. I didn’t want to become this unfeeling creature, but in reality, I was no human.

  It was time I embraced what I was, and what I would soon become. I understood the Fiddler’s words now. He still hadn’t told me the rest of his story, but I had figured out already that he was the boy in it. Someday, he would tell me the rest. Someday, he would tell me why I burned.

  Heath sent me a grin. “Perhaps you like the animal side better after all. You sure seemed to become an animal during the hunt.” He tossed his shirt aside. I frowned. When he began undoing his pants, I gawked.

  Holding up a hand, I asked, “What the hell are you doing Heath?”

  He grinned in reply, pulling his jeans off and tossing them aside. “Don’t want to rip my clothes needlessly.” When he winked, I rolled my eyes. Akio laughed.

  I had seen this man naked already, the day Aeron had brought me here, but that didn’t mean I needed to see it again. Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter. Hearing the soft growl, I turned back toward him. He stood as the dark Wolf, snarling at me. I grinned. He wanted to be animals? Fine. Allowing the darker side of me to come forth, I felt my fangs descend, and my senses sharpen.

  When he came at me, teeth bared and ready to tear into flesh, I was ready for him. Leaping forward, I met him in mid-leap, clashing with him, and grabbing him by the fur. He managed to bite into my arm, but no blood spilled from the wound. I yanked him off of me, tossing him aside. He stood, shook off, and licked his lips. The spot where he bit my arm was void of any wound. I hissed at him, flashing my fangs. Behind me, I heard applause.

  Turning, I saw the Fiddler walking toward me with a wooden cane. I knew he didn’t need that cane. It wasn’t the old man my eyes were drawn to. It was the two men, well, the two Vampires walking behind him that caught my attention. Both powerful, both mysterious and sexy as hell. Aeron regarded me in his aloof way, but there was a new interest igniting in those mysterious eyes. Desmond, however, grinned at me with a seductive gleam in his.

  I did not smile at the sight of these two. They brought my past with them every time they were around, and my past was dead. Assumption was their game. They assumed to have a claim over me because of our past history, but no one had any right to claim me. I straightened up, giving the Fiddler a polite smile.

  “You are progressing well, my child. You showed not one ounce of fire this time. Very good indeed. You have visitors. Heath, thank you. Come, we will walk together.”

  I observed the men with disinterest. I would not refuse the Fiddler’s request, but there was no part of me that wanted to play nice. Falling into step with Akio, I watched the way she studied the two men. Shaking my head, I nudged her with my elbow.

  “Akio, my dear, you are drooling.” She looked up at me with a conspiratorial grin.

  “I still cannot believe you screwed both of them! I am so jealous.”

  Rolling my eyes in my still very human way, I shook my head. “I am pretty sure I have not had sex with both of them, Akio. Don’t be so crude.”

  Behind us, Heath chuckled. “Seems like you have to me. The way they assess you as though they know exactly what you look like naked.”

  I sent the Wolf man a glare with my fangs bared. He only grinned back at me. “Heath, almost everyone seems to know what I look like naked. Need I remind you what it feels like to be burned?”

  Desmond chuckled ahead of us, and I was reminded that Vampires and Werewolves both had incredible hearing. I cringed. I could only imagine Desmond’s thoughts or the arrogant look upon Aeron’s face. When Desmond fell back in line to walk beside me, I sighed.

  “So, what brings the two of you out here?” Akio looked sweetly up at Desmond. As far as I cared, she could have him. She could have them both.

  Desmond smiled back at her, but his eyes never strayed from me. “We came to check on Valkyrie. We also have some news.”

  He wanted me to look at him, but I refused. Ahead, the Fiddler cleared his throat. “Akio, Heath, if you do not mind I think the four of us need some time. I will meet you and your alpha, later.”

  Obediently, Akio and Heath left us. I wished I could banish Aeron and Desmond so easily. As though he could read my thoughts, Aeron faced me. His gaze roved over me, stopping on my eyes. He stared for a long moment. I felt there was an unspoken message there, but I apparently was not receiving it. I broke eye contact first. Whatever connection these men thought they had with me, it was broken. I had smashed it.

  Aeron broke the silence first. His eyes never left me. “Your father, Byron, knows you are alive and has sent his hound, Dominique, to scour the earth looking for you. They are becoming relentless. They have burned two more towns to the ground, and Viren tells us he has received threats from The Hallows. Belladona has left your father and is currently in hiding. We still have no idea where Valkyrian is. He seems to have disappeared with all the elders who seek to avoid Byron’s grasp.

  You will not be able to stay here much longer. Eventually, they will come looking for you. The Wolves keep you safe, for now.” Turning toward Rafael, he continued, “I would hate for them to find you.”

  Rafael inclined his head. “Do not worry about me, boy. I have been alive much longer than Byron. He does not scare me. Nevertheless, I do intend to visit old friends soon. Once the first total eclipse has passed, I will leave.”

  I wondered what would happen to me once the total eclipse passed. Would I stay with Rafael or would that be it? Would I be turned out on my own? Desmond spoke from the other side of me as if shadowing my thoughts.

  “Where will we take Valkyrie when you leave? Surely you do not mean to leave her here alone?”

  Rafael lifted a brow. “Why not? She would be well guarded. With well over one hundred Werewolves to protect her who would dare attack her? If Byron thinks he could take them all out, he is a fool.”

  Desmond shrugged. “I don’t doubt their strength. I do doubt the young Wolf’s ability to keep his paws off of Valkyrie. I can see the way he looks at her.”

  Rafael laughed. “And we can all see the way you look at her, but you would have me send he
r with you? Valkyrie will gain the attention of males wherever she goes. It is part of who she is. She alone has the choice in this.”

  “I would think that as the man who loves her…”

  Rafael cut Desmond off coldly. “Do not speak to me about loving her! I know very well the feelings you two had for each other. It was I who left you that spell, and forewarned you, was it not? You loved the Valkyrie who lived four hundred years ago, and you would do well to remember that she is not that same person. You have changed, Aeron has changed, and she has changed. Do not presume that she is still yours.”

  I was surprised by the fervor of Rafael’s voice as well as by his words. He seemed irritated. His eyes stared daggers at Desmond. Aeron watched me. Always, he watched me. Feeling curious, I stepped toward him, lifting a brow at him in playfulness. When he stepped back, I paused. What was this? He had never taken a step away from me before. Rafael’s voice was harsh when he spoke to me.

  “Valkyrie, leave us. We have much to discuss. You need rest. The eclipse comes sooner than you realize.”

  I sent Aeron an amused look but did as instructed. Rafael hadn’t specified where I rest. I sauntered away, sure to put a little more sway into my step than necessary. When I was sure I was out of sight, I found a boulder bathed in sunlight, and I lay spread eagle upon it. Staring up at the glowing orb of the sun, I allowed its warm rays to radiate heat through my body, and its solar light to blind me.

  All the while, I listened intently to the conversation between the three men not incredibly far from me.

  Rafael was still annoyed by something. I could hear the weariness in his gravelly voice. “Desmond, you must get rid of this obsession you have with her. She may look the same, but I warn you, she is not. Four hundred years she has waited for her rebirth and in that time…she has become dark.”

  Silence greeted his statement. After several minutes, Aeron replied first. “She seems different than when I left her here. What has happened to bring out this aloof coldness?”