I stopped talking aloud to myself, and instead focused on the only remaining loose end. Ziva the valley nymph had shown up out of nowhere, insisting we look for the Talon of Frost. Our “investigation,” if it could even be called that, had led nowhere. Distracted me from my other tasks. I thought it had been her effervescent, unfocused personality, but what if there was something more calculating behind it all?
Whoever possessed the Talon of Frost was likely old, if it had disappeared during the Ice Age. And they had to be in Inonda, since nowhere else was under nearly a foot of flash snow.
I knew only one person who fit that bill.
“Watch him.” I rose from the ground and grabbed my leather jacket.
“Where’re you headed?”
“To get the Talon of Frost.” I glanced back at Javier, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch. “Make sure you keep an eye on him.”
Then I headed out into the cold and made a call.
“Hello,” Tina Chen said, answering cautiously. “I hope this isn’t a threatening call. The Crimson Conclave has already made it clear that I’m dead woman.”
“How much was that painting worth?”
“Painting?”
“The one my plus one, as you called her, waltzed out with.”
“About a quarter million dollars,” Tina said, confused. “I don’t know why you care, though—”
“Something expensive like that, you’re going to keep an eye on it, right? Maybe tag the frame in case it suddenly walks?”
There was a sigh of understanding. “You need to find the girl.”
“Tell me you’re as controlling and obsessive as I think you are.”
“I’ll send you the tracking information on file with the insurer.”
Thirty seconds after she hung up, my phone dinged. I examined the map.
Shit. Ziva was already at my apartment.
And so was my potion.
And my best friend.
And I wasn’t.
28
It was nearly seven by the time I reached the apartment complex. The entire lot was buried under almost a foot of snow, with no end to the raging blizzard in sight. Struggling forward in the heavy powder, I made it up the front walk by following in someone else’s half-filled footsteps.
“Ziva.” My breath turned to foggy frost almost as soon as it left my mouth. I hurried up to the door, straining under the effort. It was half ajar, moving slightly in the wind. With a tentative nudge of the boot, I pushed it open.
A light dusting of snow coated the hardwood near the entrance. Some slushy footprints led around the rest of the apartment, disappearing into the bedroom.
“Argos,” I called, stepping inside. I closed the door, the howl of the wind suddenly replaced by dead silence. The cool air had done wonders for the smell, although it hadn’t dissipated entirely. This Life of a Thousand Cuts potion was going to be nasty, if the production process was any indication of what to expect.
I glanced at the dining table. The essence gauge was missing, as was the Journal of Annihilation. My faithful companion was nowhere to be found. Dread began spreading like wildfire in my gut. Thousands of years together, and he was gone because I hadn’t seen it.
I looked at the wall, where Tina Chen’s hideous painting hun. Ziva basically called me here. Nothing is ever as it seems. Even valley nymphs are dangerous if you underestimate them.
Shoes squeaked inside the bedroom, sending my heart racing. “Argos?”
“Oh good, you’re finally here, dude.” Ziva emerged, tossing her red hair back. The swooping bangs bounced over her eye. We stood staring at one another for a moment.
“If you hurt my dog, your death is gonna be longer than your life,” I said through clenched teeth, sweat pouring from my skin, eyes ablaze. The dim room glowed from the light of my eyes alone. “Where is he?”
“No need to shout,” Ziva said, waving her hand in the air. “Totally uncool, man.”
“I’m not fucking around.”
“Nor am I,” Ziva said, reaching for something in her torn jeans. It glinted.
“If you think you’re gonna stab me, I’d urge you to reconsider.”
“It’s a key. Jeez, jumpy. Didn’t know demons were so paranoid.” Ziva threw the key to me, and I caught it. “Your dog and the Talon of Frost are inside.”
“What about the Journal of Annihilation and essence gauge?”
“The Sol Council were thrilled to hear about that,” Ziva said. “At first, I was just supposed to keep you from finding the Talon of Frost. Run a little misdirection, you know? A rogue wendigo could sway supernatural fence-dwellers, force them to take a side on the fence. Bad look, man.”
“Where’d you find it?”
“Picked it up off the ice.” She shrugged. “When they cut it off the first Ingi. Might have rubbed it the wrong way messing around. Got cold afterward.”
“You caused an Ice Age accidentally?”
“Dude, it was no big deal,” Ziva said. “Everyone survived.”
“Not really everyone.”
“Ice water under the bridge,” Ziva said. “Anyway, a couple old contacts knew I still had it. So when a wendigo was rumored to be afoot, they called me in. And things escalated.”
“How so?”
“They got so excited about this Annihilation Journal and little gauge. Paid me a bunch of money to use the Talon of Frost again and distract the shit out of you.” She batted her eyelashes. “It worked. And then, when everything was just right, I stole your precious belongings.”
“So you’re just a mercenary?”
“Don’t look so surprised, Kalos.” Ziva flashed a megawatt smile. “I’ve charmed bigger fish than you.”
“You didn’t really charm me.”
Her face drooped a little. “Don’t be like that.”
“The Sol Council is aware that we made an agreement following that little werewolf fiasco two months back, right? One that specifically involved not fucking with me ever again, since I cleaned up their mess.”
“Guess they got greedy.” She shrugged. “Not my decision. This was just business, man. Don’t take it personally.”
“What’s stopping me from coming after you and the Sol Council?” I didn’t look kindly upon those who broke promises. “Because I’ll make it my goddamn life’s mission—”
“Fix your pressing issues before making empty threats.” Ziva came forward and poked at the bandage on my shoulder. I winced, barely restraining myself from cooking her on the spot. “You didn’t think I would do this without a contingency, right? You have been listening to me.”
“It’s rather difficult,” I said.
“Oh, Kalos, I liked you better when you were less bitter.”
“Get to the point. My dog. The Talon of Frost. An Ice Age isn’t good for business. I’d suspect a Blood Frost is worse.”
“True that,” Ziva said with an impish smile. “The address is on the fridge. Just don’t get any ideas. Contingencies, remember?”
“I think you’re bluffing.”
“The Sol Council is excited to have you back in the fold,” Ziva skipped off through the door, like a maniacal prankster who had taken a little but too much cocaine. “Dark times are ahead, and your services will be most welcome. Didn’t you hear on the news? There are wendigos running around!”
She disappeared down the walk, into the white landscape. I touched the Remkah Talisman around my neck, hidden beneath my shirt. And the Carmine Chain that I’d been carrying around in my pocket.
Luckily she hadn’t seen either of those. But the Sol Council already had plenty in the Journal of Annihilation and the essence gauge. Marrack knew about both, and he wouldn’t let them slip through his grasp without a fight.
A war was coming.
Goddamn nymphs. I glanced at the ke
y in my palm, rage boiling over.
There would be a time to address this egregious offense.
But right now, I had to save my best friend, my own ass and an entire town from a freezing, cannibalistic scourge.
No pressure, right?
29
Nothing had ever been easy. It wasn’t like destiny was gonna cut me a break as the apocalypse loomed on the horizon.
The address on the fridge led to an old storage unit at least eight miles away. A fifteen-minute drive under good conditions, it would take hours in this blizzard. Time I didn’t have, since the cemetery where I needed to choke down the counter-potion sat on the dead opposite end of town. It might only have been a little past seven, but that kind of journey would zap all my energy—along with any chance of stopping either Isabella or Ingi.
Extended exposure to frigid temperatures sapped a demon’s energy. I’d found that out after many years in the Scandanavian wilds. I wasn’t eager to revisit that feeling, particularly when I already wasn’t feeling my best.
“Gunnar.” I breathed heavily into the phone. “Pick up, pick up.”
It rang three times before he answered. “Ja?”
“Good, you’re awake,” I said. “Can you go outside?”
I heard him rustle on the other end of the line, checking his sun meter. “Did something happen while I was asleep, Kalos?”
“The dog didn’t call you, did he?”
“He did not,” Gunnar replied. “Was he supposed to?”
“Nevermind.” Argos had been snatched before he could get Gunnar to help him bottle up the Destroyer of Former Lovers potion. Which meant that Gunnar would hopefully not be concerned about making a little trip.
“You could say that. You grew up in the cold.”
“Yes, I grew up in the glorious—”
I spit the address of the storage unit at him. “Can you get there quick?”
“Perhaps the cold will toughen the dog.”
“And perhaps the entire town will be buried in permafrost by morning,” I said.
“Twenty minutes,” he replied.
“Even in the snow? It’s deep.”
“Not deep like my homeland. In the old days, I—”
“Yeah, spare me the old man act. Just get moving.”
“I see, old friend.” The line went dead, his feelings hurt. But I didn’t have time to deal with a vamp’s ancient ego.
The clock was ticking, and I needed all my ducks in a row.
Even then, I was as good as dead.
*
As promised, Gunnar arrived at a little past eight. Argos darted inside, wriggling with glee.
“I couldn’t do anything, Kal. I thought Ziva was nice.”
“Yeah, me too. She’s an asshole.”
Gunnar stood in the doorway, his ice-blue eyes staring at me expectantly. A glass vial of black liquid was held in one hand, a dark, vicious looking claw in the other. “I have retrieved your belongings.”
Lucky me. Ziva had bottled the potion on her own.
“Guess I owe you a poker room for Lux,” I said, glancing up. He glared. “What?”
“A thank you is custom in this country.”
“Since when did vampires give a shit about custom?”
“I am liking this United States. And doing nice things for my old friends.”
“I’m sure,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Don’t get too soft on me, buddy.”
“We will need to work with the mortals, now that we are exposed.” He showed an eager smile that was too much teeth. “Kill them with kindness, they say.”
“Stick with the brooding James Bond thing,” I said. “You’ll do just fine.”
“But they are always happy in the ads. I can be happy, too. Friendly”
“Please don’t.” His eyes peered at me quizzically, not quite grasping the cultural and temporal differences. I didn’t have time to explain the finer points of American history to him, so I just waved him off. “Just be you, man. And don’t eat people. That’s all you gotta do.”
“Perhaps you are right,” Gunnar said, standing straighter. I liked him better immediately with his old suave demeanor back. “It is this Blood Frost. It will be bad for business.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that.”
Me, I was relatively unperturbed given the shitstorm nipping at my heels. Maybe it was because demons had always been hunted. My feet were well-calloused from repeated visits to the flames.
“You have the Talon of Frost?”
“It is quite heavy.” Gunnar’s designer chukkas slid smoothly across the floor without a sound as he brought the claw to me. “I am surprised such a small woman found it. Although to the dog she is probably as fearsome as Ingi is to a demon.”
Argos growled, but his ego was still recovering from being kidnapped and held for ransom by a valley nymph. That breed of supernatural critter wasn’t exactly known for its ruthlessness and fighting prowess. Which, when I stopped to think about it, made it the perfect cover for a deceptively ruthless mercenary.
Although maybe I should’ve been thanking Ziva. She had left the Talon of Frost behind for me to fix the situation. Even if it was solely for business. No one to rip off and fuck over in a frozen wasteland.
“How we do we activate it?” I said, taking the sharp, lengthy claw from Gunnar.
“That is the dog’s area of expertise.” He rushed to the door in a blur. “I must make sure my construction site is not being destroyed by this storm.”
“Good luck with that,” I called before he raced off, leaving Argos and I alone. With an annoyed sigh, Argos went over and nudged the door shut with his nose.
“I’m sorry, Kal.”
“It’s okay.”
“She has the Journal of Annihilation, and it’s all my fault.”
“Actually, the Sol Council has it.” I filled him in with the quick summary. “You know what contingency she’s talking about? Because I’m gonna rip her head off and feed it to her.”
Argos’ ears flattened against his head. “She took some of my blood.”
“Shit.”
“I guess if you come after them, she’s going to curse me.” His tail dipped low. “I don’t think I can handle what you’re going through. I’m a sensitive animal.”
“It’s all right, buddy.” I walked over and patted him on the head. He groaned slightly, forgetting his whole man of wealth and taste thing in the face of adversity. After a moment, I lowered the Talon of Frost to his eye level. “You know how to use this thing?”
“It might take a while.”
“Can you show me on the way to the graveyard?”
“I guess.”
“Then let’s multitask.” I slipped the plastic container holding the Life of a Thousand Cuts potion into my pocket. I jammed my .45 into my waistband. Would barely scratch a wendigo, but the noise might scare him. I stared at the bare table, where the missing Journal of Annihilation and essence gauge loomed large. The stupid nymph hadn’t even realized what she had stolen. Giving those things to the Sol Council was like handing an insane dictator a cache of nuclear weapons and a crate of meth.
Bad shit was gonna happen.
Bad shit I would have to deal with after the snow melted.
Talon of Frost gripped tightly in one hand, I opened the door. After struggling against the ice for a few seconds, it broke free and I stumbled onto the slick front steps.
“You ready, buddy?”
“Ready when you are,” Argos said, lacking enthusiasm. “You think you can do this?”
“We’ll find out.” I took a step into the powder as the howling blizzard picked up. It looked like no one had ever been out here at all. Gunnar’s footprints were almost completely white-washed from the blank landscape.
Wrapping the lea
ther jacket around me for lukewarm comfort, I put my head down and plodded into the blizzard, Argos trailing behind.
It was time to go wendigo hunting.
30
I didn’t know how to summon a wendigo. But I’m sure Marrack had whispered into the beast’s Haelstrom-warped ear that a certain demon was a top priority.
It would find me again.
Not that I was prepared.
My teeth chattered in the frigid cold as I listened to Argos explain how to use the Talon of Frost.
“It’s takes some heavy-ass magic to stop the blizzard once the Blood Frost begins.” Argos blinked, his normally black-and-white head turned almost completely white by the storm. “Much easier to start an Ice Age than to stop one.”
“But it’s definitely possible.”
“If Ziva attempted to stop the ice last time, she failed.”
“I’m a little more powerful than a valley nymph,” I said. Although maybe not as smart. That bit of trickery was still depressing. “And I don’t think she cared that much.”
“Probably not. Still, it’s gonna take a lot of power.”
I pulled the Carmine Chain from my pocket. “Any way this can help? I figure with the Remkah Talisman…”
“That’s good.” Argos yipped. “Let me think.”
“Don’t think too long.”
My strength was waning from the cold and the vicious comedown from the Haelstrom. I wasn’t experiencing any psychosis, so that was a plus. But as its effects wore off, I discovered Isabella hadn’t been slacking. The temporary strength of the drug had masked her spells, but now each step felt like a bundle of razor blades were bouncing inside my rib cage.
The cemetery was just over the hill. We were a tad early. The storm was too fierce to determine if the moon was out.
“It’s now or never,” I said, breathing heavily. “Before I’m too weak. Tell me what to do.”
“You won’t make it to the cemetery at all if you do that.” Argos tugged at my jeans with his teeth and whined. “You’ll die from the curse, Kal.”
“At least the heat wave will return,” I said, teeth rattling in my skull. “Never thought I’d say that.”
Blood Frost (The Half-Demon Rogue Trilogy Book 2) Page 14
