Never Back Down

by Susan Harris

  Loki grinned, his eyes lighting up with mischief and mayhem. “This normal you speak of doesn’t sound fun at all.”

  Ever groaned as she sat down. However, this time, she slid into the seat next to Derek, pushing him a little with her hip. Derek went easily, leaving Loki to adjust his suit. With a wave of his fingers, the suit magically repaired itself, and he took the seat opposite them.

  Derek slipped his hand around the back of Ever’s chair, his fingers grazing her arm.

  “I will cut right to the chase, Kyria. The general is up to her pretty little eyebrows in trouble.”

  Ever sat ramrod straight. “What’s going on?”

  Loki clasped his hands together on the table, his face marred with concern. “She is putting herself in unnecessary harm’s way, simply because Freya told her to do something. Apparently, since you went walkabout, Freya has taken it upon herself to order everyone around. It’s been quite annoying.”

  Ever gave a startled laugh. “You mean Freya tried to order you about?”

  “Indeed.” Loki quirked his lips. “I was highly amused until she demanded I stay away from the general. I haven’t even been very visible. Just insuring Erika does not get killed.”

  “How close is she to doing just that?”

  “Very.”

  “Explain it to me.” Ever almost balked at the sound of the order in her tone, went to apologize, yet Loki didn’t even bat an eye.

  “There is an underground fighting ring for supernaturals. One of your father’s Berserkers is guarding the games master. Erika thinks if she can get her hands on the Berserker, she can find out where Odin sleeps and kill him before he kills you.”

  Ever laughed. “Is that it? Is that what the big fuss is about? Erika can handle a few fights, Loki. It’s in her blood. Erika could go toe to toe with any man or monster and come out on top. She is everything Freya trained her to be. Bloodthirsty. Vicious. She doesn’t have a breaking point. Having spent her childhood getting beat on by my bigger and stronger sisters, Erika made it her mission to be the best, and she accomplished that. Have no fear, Erika is perfectly fine.”

  Loki tapped the table. “I have seen the way she fights. I know she can handle herself. However, when she fought before, she did so to survive. Now, she is reckless as if she doesn’t care anymore. It is as if she has given up.”

  That didn’t sound like Erika, Ever’s best friend in the world. They had been through thick and thin together, countless trials and tribulations. Ever had to go home, she had to help Erika if she could. Her friend could be stubborn as hell when she wanted to be.

  “We have to go back. We have to go home.”

  Ever slid from her seat, rounded the corner and stood in front of the man who had treated her with more kindness in the last few weeks then her father had for countless lifetimes. Ever embraced Stan, pressing her lips to his cheek in a fleeting kiss.

  “I knew you were special the moment I met you.”

  Stepping back, she pulled the wig off and shook out her hair. Stan smiled as she said, “If I survive what’s coming, I’ll come back and visit.”

  Spinning away before she teared up, Ever headed for the door, tossing the wig in the trash as she exited the café with Derek hot on her heels. She strode around the corner, following the path as it swerved around and into an alleyway.

  “Ever?”

  Checking that they were alone in the alleyway, Ever flashed a big grin at Derek. “One of the positive things about being an immortal Valkyrie, is it has some cool powers. Come here.”

  Derek came to stand in front of her, and Ever lifted his arms so that they looped around her neck, her own hands wrapping around his waist. Derek shuddered under her touch, and Ever cursed herself again for being so selfish. Wolves needed touch from their mates, and she had withheld it.

  “So, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this with anyone. And the last time, I think it was one of your past selves. You need to just let it happen, okay? I got you.”

  Closing her eyes, Ever summoned the power inside her, felt it the moment the clouds gathered above her, her skin tingling as lightening built in the sky and struck her in one fluid motion. A moan of ecstasy slipped free of her lips as she thought of home, thought of the police station where Derek worked, and willed them to be there.

  Between one breath and the next, Derek rode the storm with her, their entire bodies coming together and dissipating before reforming with a loud crack as Ever’s lightening shattered the ceiling of the gymnasium. They stood in front of a very startled Sarge, Melanie, Caitlyn, who clutched a little boy to her chest, and a girl Ever didn’t know.

  Derek staggered on his feet, stepped out of her grasp, and upchucked all over the floor. Ever wavered on her feet, the toll of using so much energy sending black dots floating in her field of vision. Derek puked again as she swayed, her godfather and leader of P.I.T coming quickly over.

  Ever felt the exhaustion seep into her bones and gave the spectators a grin as she said, “Hey guys, so what have I missed.” The words came out a little slurred as her balance teetered and she slunk to the floor, darkness a welcome friend.

  The berserker did nothing to temper his rage as he lashed out, digging his fist into the partition wall, cracking the plaster, pieces falling to the ground, leaving bits of the material clinging to his knuckles. Centuries they had waited, centuries they had masked their true selves from the world, until the day that their Master awoke from sleep, and they reined terror down on this world.

  Bound as he was to the games master, he could not strike out against the one person whose blood he craved the most, the Valkyrie General.

  “You will get your hands on the Valkyrie, Berserker. But right now, that pint-size bally of fire makes me a lot of money. I need her. Once the time comes for us to leave this wretched island, I will give Erika to you. That is my solemn vow.”

  Growling at the chaos demon, the berserker stomped from the room, the need to quench his rage pulsing in his blood. His boots made a steady thump, thump as he crossed the landing and paused outside the Valkyrie’s quarters, the scent of ocean and sand igniting the lust for the kill. He could hear her move about inside the room.

  If he flung open the door right now, could he snap her pretty little neck before she recovered from the surprise? This was the Valkyrie who had thwarted his master many a time and had more of a role to play than the false Valkyrie Queen even knew about.

  He would take her feminine body against his and inhale the scent of her fear. As she gazed into his eyes and saw her death, he would snap her neck and be done with her.

  The shockwaves her death would cause could cripple the remaining Valkyrie while Odin recovered from his sleep. This was about so much more than Valhalla or Odin’s madness. This was about showing the world that they were at the top of the food chain, and all would bow down to them.

  Controlling the urge to kill, the berserker took off down the hall, grinning like the Cheshire cat as he allowed his mind to imagine all the ways he would kill the Valkyrie.

  Derek

  Derek’s knees hit the gym floor at almost the same time Ever slumped to the ground, and his stomach rolled, another wave of nausea springing forth as he vomited all over the floor. Sarge darted over to Ever, checking her pulse, and Caitlyn handed the little boy–Ricky’s if his nose was right–to Melanie, before coming to crouch in front of him.

  “I’m okay.” The words came out hoarse and unsure as Caitlyn helped him stand. “Ever’s okay too, she just wiped herself out flashing us here.”

  Sarge yelled out a command, and a poor uniform came to clean up Derek’s mess. The entire room waited for the uniform to vanish before they all began to talk at once. Derek massaged his temple, his head still spinning a little. A shrill whistle sounded, causing everyone to halt their questions. Derek tilted his head to the left and assessed the girl who whistled.

  Dressed head to toe in black, she stood with the grace of a fighter, her black hair pulled back off he
r face, the creamy complexion of her skin so alike to Caitlyn’s, it was not hard to see that they were in some way related. Her fingers twitched as if they were used to having a weapon of some sort grasped in them.

  The wolf in him rose to the surface, his lips curling into a snarl as he let out a warning growl, testing the girl who was not completely human. Pride rippled through him as the girl slightly adjusted her stance, bending her knees, but casually positioning her body in front of Melanie, who clutched the little boy in her arms. His wolf approved. She defiantly held his gaze for three long heartbeats, before cursing and lowering her eyes, still watching him.

  “Ease up, little warrior. I mean no harm.”

  “Bite me, wolfman. Don’t know who the hell you are, but you can’t come in here and scare the hell out of the kid.”

  Derek looked at the kid, who looked the spit of his dad with long black hair, haunting green eyes, and thick-rimmed glasses that dwarfed his face. The kid narrowed his gaze and growled at Derek, and he knew the kid had a backbone of steel.

  Caitlyn sighed, giving Derek an exasperated grin when she turned to the girl and explained. “Derek, this is Kenzie Blake, my niece. Kenzie, this is Agent Derek Doyle, who happens to be your supervisor.”

  Kenzie glanced at Melanie who grinned and handed the kid to Kenzie before she galloped over and hugged him fiercely.

  “I got your message. We’ll take soon,” Derek whispered, his tone low and only for Melanie. As she stepped out of the embrace, Melanie punched him lightly on the shoulder.

  “That’s for leaving and not telling anyone where you were. How do you think I felt waking up and finding you, Ever, Donnie, and Caitlyn all vanished into the night?”

  Derek turned to Caitlyn who shrugged. “A lot has happened since you went after Ever.”

  Inhaling a calming breath, Derek’s nose, now free of the stench of vomit, caught the new layer to Caitlyn’s scent. Disappointment flooded his veins as Derek gave her a small grin. “Congrats.”

  “Many things have happened in the short time since you left.”

  Waving his arm out, Derek motioned toward Kenzie and the little boy. “I can see that.”

  “Not to interrupt this happy reunion, Derek, but what am I to do with your sleeping beauty?”

  Derek glanced down at the unconscious Ever and his mentor. “She’ll be fine. I’ll take her downstairs in a minute, and she can sleep it off in the bunker.”

  “I can take her.” Kenzie said, striding over to where they stood, but not before handing Ricky’s kid back to Melanie. The young woman bent down to slip her hands under Ever’s body, a growl slipping free from Derek’s lips.

  “You’ll drop her, human.”

  Kenzie snorted and gave him a glare that was all Caitlyn. “Simmer down, wolfman. And I guess at this stage, I’m not entirely human.” As easily as Caitlyn or he himself would have, Kenzie hoisted Ever up into her arms and strode to the door, pausing as Derek held the door open for her and pressed a kiss to Ever’s forehead.

  When Kenzie was gone from the room, Derek turned to Caitlyn. “She smells human…what is she?”

  “She is blood kissed. Cain addicted her to his blood to stop her aging and moulded her into an assassin. I’ve been limiting her vampire blood to see if it will kick start the aging process, but alas, she still looks seventeen.”

  “And how old is she?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  Derek snarled. “Damn, someone needs to kill that bastard already.”

  Silence met him as he glanced around. Caitlyn had tensed, Melanie had tears in her eyes, and Sarge sighed.

  “What? What did I miss?”

  “Cain’s dead. I killed him. And now Caitlyn is Queen of the Vampires,” Kenzie said as she strode back into the gym. To his surprise, Kenzie sounded quite proud of the fact that she had killed the monster who had tortured and murdered Caitlyn’s family.

  When he stole a glance at Caitlyn, the vampire simply shrugged and sighed. “It is a rather long story, mon loupe. I would rather tell it over a nice glass of wine.”

  Caitlyn plucked the little boy out of Melanie’s arms, who clicked her tongue at Caitlyn, disappointment all over her face. It seemed that Ricky’s little man had all of his father’s charm as well. Caitlyn opened her mouth to speak when the door to the gym swung open, and Donnie and Ricky strode in.

  One look at Ricky had Derek glaring at the rest of his team. Eyes sunken into his head, sweat dripping from his forehead, Derek could smell the fucking drugs leaking from his pores. Ricky had lost some weight, reminding Derek of the time Ricky thought a liquid diet was all he needed to get over his ex. The chatter between Donnie and Ricky stopped dead when they spotted him, Derek surprised as anger flashed in Ricky’s eyes.

  Striding over, Ricky took the boy from Caitlyn’s arms, ignoring Derek completely and tossed his phone to Donnie, telling him he was going to get some air. The boy struggled to get free and Ricky set him on his feet, sighing as the boy shimmered with light, a small black panther remaining. Ricky gathered up the clothes left on the floor and opened the door so the little cat could pounce out of the room.

  As soon as the door slammed shut, Derek whirled on his friends. “Does somebody want to tell me what the fuck happened to him? Anyone with a nose can tell that Ricky’s jonesing for a fix. I’ve been gone just over a week! How the hell did this happen, and why has no one tried to stop it.”

  Donnie inched closer to Caitlyn, but Derek saw that the vampire did not touch his mate, something that a newly mated vampire would not be able to control, the need to touch and show the world that she was his. As Derek read Donnie’s thoughts, the vampire arched a brow as if to dare him to say a word. The silence stretched out for too long, only broken when Melanie spoke.

  “That’s why he’s been acting all weird, isn’t it? That’s the strange powder smell I keep getting, right?”

  Donnie scrubbed a hand down his face. “When we started this team, we made a promise to not get into each other’s private business. It wasn’t our place to tell you, or anyone, about what’s going on in his head. He’s coming down hard, but he hasn’t taken anything since Fionn turned up to his house with Zach.”

  Sarge let loose a growl. “Is he a liability to this team? Do I need to bench him?”

  Donnie closed his eyes for a second, and Derek cut in before Donnie could say a word. “You bench him, and he could get further into trouble. Hopefully, Zach will keep him from going down whatever rabbit hole he was headed.”

  “Derek,” Caitlyn uttered, her voice low and soft. “Sadie is dead. His father is dead. All in one night, and he learned Sadie kept Zach from him for five years. Ricky is already down the rabbit hole, my friend. He needs to drag himself out.”

  Jaysus. Derek couldn’t believe that Xavier Moore had finally gone and done the world a favour and died. Derek only met the man once or twice, while on investigations for the council, and the man had barely spoken to his son with respect for the office he held. Ricky had ignored his father, simply being more professional that ever. When Derek queried him on it, Ricky had simply said, “If I’d have shown I was pissed at having him order me about, he’d have gotten his rocks off from it. Ignoring him will piss him off more. When Xavier can’t get one over on someone, it drives him mad.”

  “Let’s move into the squad room, I’m sure Donnie has some news about the case.”

  They all filed out after Sarge, Derek studying Caitlyn as she walked beside Donnie, her body stiff, her shoulders heavy with tension. Donnie wasn’t much better. Melanie sided up to Derek and shrugged when he looked at the mated pair, then back at Melanie.

  Entering the squad room, Derek continued to watch as Caitlyn perched on the edge of her desk, and Donnie gave into his vampire nature and placed a hand at the back of her neck in a possessive hold. Caitlyn closed her eyes, and when she opened them, red tinged the black of her eyes. She blinked, and the red was gone, a mere slip in her control.

  Donnie gritted his teeth, removi
ng his hand from her neck, and sat down on his own chair. Once they had all taken their seats, Donnie began to tell them what they had discovered at the crime scene.

  “Now, I know we all want to have some chats and go over the gossip, but we’ve got dead bodies.” The former rugby player grinned, sobering as he went on. “Me and Ricky ID’d the body, a Fury from Wexford. Snapped neck was cause of death from what I could see, but without your Anna, Sarge, that’s just my guess.”

  Derek glanced at his mentor. “Where’s Anna?”

  Folding his arms across his chest as he replied. “She’s at a conference in Dublin with the intern, Tadgh. She’ll be back next week. Go on Donnie.”

  Donnie fiddled with Ricky’s phone, Melanie tapped the keys on her computer, and the printer whirred. He continued, “The victim was beaten pretty bad, but she had some wounds that were weeks old, barely healed. Her knuckles were split, and there was some skin under her fingernails. We dropped the evidence off at the lab, but we could be waiting days for analysis.”

  The door to the squad room opened softly. “Did you show them the stamp?”

  Ricky came in, a sleeping cat in his arms, and pulled open his desk drawer. Melanie yanked off the hoodie she’d been wearing and threw it at Donnie, who leaned over and put it into the empty drawer. Ricky set his son down with great care and then sank into his own chair.

  “I was waiting for you to come back.” Donnie replied.

  “Vic had a stamp on her right hand, all weird arrows and shit. Did Donnie send it to you, Melanie?”

  Melanie answered him with a quirked brow, before she addressed the rest of him. “The image is the symbol for chaos; it’s got eight arrows to it. According to the internet, it’s also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star, the Chaos Cross, the Chaosphere, or the Symbol of Eight. But, if you wiggle your way through the darker edges of the web, it’s also the symbol for an underground fight club that pops up in various cities all over the world.”