“The catacombs are part of a mining system that was abandoned a long time ago,” Naomi told them as she led them forward past rows of staring, eyeless skulls. “There are hiding places in the mines that the catacomb tours won’t get near.”
They followed her for what felt like hours. The macabre surroundings gave Mia the creeps, and she drifted closer to Dominic. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a companionable, reassuring squeeze. She resisted the urge to look at him.
At last, Naomi brought them out of the ossuary and into the ancient mines. A side chamber had been carved out of the bedrock, and it was equipped with wooden crates upended like stools around a central fire pit.
“If you’re going to build a fire, keep it very small. There’s no ventilation down here, and the smoke will blind you. You’ll also use up your oxygen and you’ll die.”
Mia looked around the little space and crossed her arms, rubbing her hands over the opposite biceps. The ghosts were thick and unwelcoming. “How long do we have to stay here?”
Dominic said, “Only for tonight. In the morning, when they’re sleeping, we can leave Paris.”
“I’m not coming back for you tomorrow,” Naomi said. “I have things to do. I hope you memorized the way back.”
“You’re being paid to bring us back out,” the Ulfen reminded her.
“Then stay until I can come back.” She started to walk away. “I hope you brought extra batteries.”
She disappeared into the darkness, leaving them alone.
Mia glared at him. “This was your bright idea? Hiding from the undead in an open grave?”
“They’ll never find us here.”
“How are you so certain? This is a public place, so there’s nothing stopping them from coming down here. They’ll know that we’re hiding somewhere, so they might think this is the best place to look. I think we’re in the worst possible place.”
He sat down on one of the crates and stretched out his long legs. “You’re just saying that because you’re freaked out by the ghosts.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but the words died on her tongue. “So, you can feel it, too?”
Dominic nodded. “My family has a tradition of mediumship on my mother’s side. There are a lot of ghosts here. Maybe we can recruit them to keep watch for us.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Right. Because that’s so likely.” He looked up at her, studying her with narrowed amber eyes. After he had stared for a long moment, he snorted softly and looked away. She frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. I just almost forgot that you’re one of the Dark Sisters.” He rubbed his hands on his jeans. “How many faery children have you killed? How much of their blood have you enchanted?”
She leaned down, her face inches from his, angry with him for his tone of voice. “Dozens and dozens.”
He met her gaze, and his eyes flared with Ulfen power. He was not intimidated - not that she’d expected him to be. “Nice,” he said. “How do you live with yourself?”
She straightened and crossed her arms. “Very easily.”
“It must be nice to have no conscience.”
She turned her back on him and busied herself getting out the Coleman stove and her sleeping bag. “You should try it sometime.”
He grumbled, “I’ll pass.”
“Passing judgment, dog?” she mocked. “You weren’t too high and mighty to attach yourself to me on the train. You knew what I was then.”
Dominic frowned. “I thought you might have been running because you were forced to be in the Dark Sisterhood. Now I think you went willingly.”
“When you’ve been held down for all of your life, would you pass up the chance for power, real power, when it’s offered to you?”
He gave her a scathing look that carried the weight of secrets. “Yes.”
“Well, I guess I’m not as good of a person as you are.” She rolled out her sleeping bag with a snap and settled down in it, her back to him. “Tomorrow, you need to go your way and let me go mine. I don’t want your protection.”
Dominic snorted. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
***
Nika picked up the phone and dialed Tamara’s number. After a few rings, her friend picked up. “Hello?”
“Hi, Tam. It’s Nika.”
“Hey, long lost. How’s Sweden?”
“Beautiful. Hey… I have a favor to ask.”
Tamara sounded like she was smiling. “Shoot.”
Nika hesitated, suddenly nervous about her friend’s reaction. “Will you be my Maid of Honor?”
There was a long hesitation, and then Tamara squeaked, “You’re getting married? What?”
“Yeah,” she laughed, happy. “We haven’t got the date set yet but Erik would like you to come to Stockholm and visit. We’ll put you up in the hotel, and he’ll even pay for your plane ticket. What do you say?”
Another long hesitation made Nika worry. “I’d say that he’s a little controlling…”
“Oh, stop. He is not.”
“He makes you leave your country, move into his house, and he’s holding the purse strings…You’re not even working anymore. What’s up with that? I thought you’d never leave the museum business.”
Nika sighed. “I’m finishing up a sabbatical, that’s all. Then I’ll be back at work. And he’s really rich, so why shouldn’t he pay for a few things?”
“How did he get rich on a soldier’s salary?”
“God, but you’re suspicious. He’s from old money, okay?” She almost laughed at how accurate that term was. “And he’s not that kind of person.”
“He’s a special ops guy,” Tamara objected. “I’ve heard stories that they beat their wives and stuff. How do you know…?”
“He has a violent past, yes, but he’s never going to do anything to me.”
“Are you sure?”
Nika smiled. “Completely sure.”
“Then test him.”
“What do you mean, test him?” she asked, confounded. “Tamara, you’re crazy.”
“No, I’m not.” She could hear her friend warming up to her own topic. “Listen, the one thing that a man who’s going to hurt his woman will always get mad at, and that’s being told no when he’s in the mood. Right?”
“Right.” Nika didn’t like where she was going with this.
“Especially a guy who’s been used to having it whenever he wants it. I doubt you’ve been telling him to shove off, have you?” Her tone was teasing, but it masked something very serious.
“If you saw him, you wouldn’t say no, either,” Nika said. “But I’m listening.”
“He’s a macho dude who’s used to getting it anytime he wants. Make him wait. If he just lets it go because you say so, without getting mad, then he’s worth keeping. But if he gets mad or starts to get violent, then you’re coming back to the States with me. Deal?”
She shook her head. “You’re crazy. You know, if he were that kind of guy, I wouldn’t be with him.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
She sighed. “Fine. I’ll test him. But he’s going to pass.”
“I hope so, for your sake.” Tamara yawned. “Listen, email me when you’re ready for me to come over and I’ll see if I can take some time off. I don’t know how happy Stuie will be with me skipping out on the bar, but I’ll do it for you. Just let me know.”
“Thanks, Tam. I appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
The call ended, and Nika sat with the phone to her lips for a moment. Images rose in her mind from the video that had been taken during Erik’s foray into brutality against the faery. She remembered his stories of what he had done in the bad old days, and the hatred that Magda still bore for him until the moment she died had been based in her experiences as his victim. Erik had a history, and it was dark, and had resurfaced not that long ago.
She wanted to blame Mia and her magic for the change in him, and for the horrible things he had done to the poor Huldra th
at had died in the hands of the First. Was she sure of him? Was she certain that under duress, he wouldn’t revert back to those horrible behaviors again?
She sighed. She wasn’t certain, but she would like to be. She would go forward with the test.
Chapter Five
Mia was sleeping with her back still facing Dominic, her bleached blonde head pillowed on her arm. He was listening to the shuffling sounds in the caverns and thinking about his childhood in Canada when everything went silent. The ghosts stopped moving, and even the distant dripping of water seemed to stop. He stood and shifted into his full wolf form, his clothing vanishing into his four-legged form. He backed up and bared his teeth, waiting.
He smelled them before he saw them, even though his eyes were well accustomed to seeing in the dark. He growled as three men in black came into the chamber. Mia woke and scrambled to her feet, disorganized and uncoordinated as she struggled to rise.
“What is it?”
The Draugr on the right smiled. “Hello, Mia.”
She froze, but Dominic lunged. He leaped onto the Draugr and buried his long teeth into the vampire’s neck, tearing out his throat with one powerful jerk. He swallowed the flesh in his mouth and kept biting, tearing out his spine and ending him. The vampire vanished into a cloud of dust.
The Draugr in the middle pulled a long dagger with a silver blade and slashed Dominic in the side. He yelped and leaped away, landing close to Mia so he could protect her as the third vampire approached her from the other direction. She held up her hands, and the protective rune she had placed on her palm earlier in the day flared, lighting up the entire chamber. Flames danced over her skin, creating a glove made entirely of fire, and she began to whisper in a language Dominic did not understand.
The Draugr with the blade stepped forward, grinning. “Come here, you stupid fucking dog,” he said, his tone light despite the harsh words. “Some play with papa.”
Dominic snarled and snapped at him, his hackles risen as high as they would go. He kept himself between Mia and the vampires, and the man with the blade feinted forward. He nearly lost his hand, and he shrank back. The Ulfen’s fangs were bared, his nose wrinkled while his tongue darted in and out of his mouth in agitation. In the dark room, his eyes burned yellow, a counterpoint to the red eyes of the Draugr.
“Your father wants to see you, little girl,” the third vampire said. “Call off your dog and come peacefully and nobody will get hurt.”
She interrupted her chant long enough to laugh at him, then continued. He bent and picked up a rock from the stony ground.
“Last chance, Mia.”
Dominic snapped at him again, his growling louder.
The vampire pulled a pistol from his pocket. “I’ll shoot the wolf. I have silver bullets.”
“Go ahead,” she said, finally breaking off her incantation. Her hand still burned. “He doesn’t mean anything to me.”
The man with the blade asked, “Then why are you running with him?”
“Because he was useful at first and now he won’t go away,” she snapped. The flames around her hand brightened, flaring up as if someone had thrown gasoline on her fire. “Now this is your last chance. Leave me alone!”
“Where do you think you’re going to go, Mia?” the knife-wielder taunted. “Don’t you think the Huntsman will find you? That’s what he does – he tracks down people and kills them.”
Dominic took one stiff-legged step toward the Draugr with the pistol, his back arched menacingly, warning him to back off. The man stepped back, but his pistol remained trained on the wolf.
“Come and see my boss,” the blade user said. “Leave this animal behind and come discuss the possibilities we can offer you here.”
The fire leaped from her left hand to her right, the arc of its passage glowing orange in the dark. “I’m not Draugr. I’m Valtaeigr, the last surviving Dark Sister. You can offer me nothing that I want.”
“Sanctuary,” the man with the pistol said. “Protection when the Huntsman comes for you.”
She hadn’t been born yesterday. “In return for what?”
“That’s why you need to talk to our boss.”
She considered the offer, then looked at Dominic, who was still protecting her fiercely. “What about him?”
In answer, the Draugr aimed the gun and fired. A slug buried itself in the werewolf’s side, and Dominic fell to the ground with an ear-splitting yelp. Mia stepped back to prevent him from falling on her, and she stood over him uncertainly. Finally, she extinguished the flame on her hand.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll talk to him. You have me cornered anyway.”
The man with the gun grinned as Dominic whined in pain. “You could have dusted us at any moment,” he said. “I know what you Dark Sisters can do.”
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t want to.”
The Ulfen metamorphosed back into his human form, lying in a fetal position with his hands clutching his lower abdomen. She stepped over him without another glance.
“Take me to your boss, then. And you had better not be lying about sanctuary.”
They walked away, leaving Dominic lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He tried once to rise from the floor, but the pain overwhelmed him and he collapsed.
***
Mia looked back once at the Ulfen who had tried to protect and help her, and she felt a stab of regret that he was injured. She supposed that was what he got for getting involved in other people’s business. She’d never asked him to stand up for her against the Draugr. That had been his own bad choice. She was a little amazed that the silver bullet hadn’t killed him outright, and she would have liked to have known why. She supposed that was just one question that would never be answered. Soon he would dead, and his pain would be over. She hoped he died soon.
The Draugr knew their way around the Catacombs, and really, she should have expected that. They were the sorts of creatures who enjoyed death and all of its trappings. She was grateful that they knew a faster route. She didn’t want to stay down there with the bones and the ghosts.
They brought her up out of the underground, using the tourist entrance. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and followed them to a big black car. The man who had shot the gun opened the back door for her, and she slid inside. They closed the door and went away, leaving her alone.
Or… perhaps not alone. She could smell the scent of the Draugr everywhere; since this was their car, that wasn’t a big surprise. She and the driver were the only ones in the car, but she felt a presence there, someone close and watchful, and a shimmer of magic tickled the edges of her mind. Mia brought her hand up and began to cast, but someone invisible grabbed her wrist.
“No magic,” a man’s voice said.
“Nice, coming from someone under a magical cloak.”
“My car, my rules.”
“Show yourself,” she bit, pulling free.
There was a chuckle. “All in good time.”
She crossed her arms and legs and sat back in the seat. She was aware that she was pouting, but she really didn’t care. She’d been having a rash of very bad days, and it was enough to make anyone cranky.
Her unseen companion chuckled again. “You’re a real piece of work, missy.” His voice was a pure baritone, his accent American.
“Who are you?”
She could hear the smile in his voice as he answered. “You can call me Derek.” There was a hesitation. “You cut your hair. I liked it better when it was red.”
Mia clenched her teeth. “Fuck you.”
Derek laughed and said again, “All in good time.”
***
In Sweden, in the house they had recently purchased, Erik was lounging on the bed in a pair of silk shorts watching Nika prepare for bed with a smile on his face. She walked slowly toward him, brushing her lustrous red tresses, smiling back, dressed in a white satin chemise.
“What are you looking at?”
He smiled
. “I’m looking at you.”
She put the brush aside and knelt on the bed. “Like what you see?”
“Always.”
He held out his hand for her, and she took it, letting him pull her into his arms. She pillowed her head on his broad, muscular chest, letting her fingers play along the peaks and valleys of his defined abdomen. Nika kissed his warm skin and breathed in his masculine scent and the undefinable magic that was indisputably his. She felt it all the way down to her toes, and it made her tingle.
Erik kissed her tenderly, his lips light as a whisper against her own even while his arm was strong around her shoulders. It was a heady combination of gentleness and power, and it made her happy. She looked up into his bright blue eyes and ran her fingers through his tousled blond locks.
“You, my love, are absolutely gorgeous,” she told him.
He smiled. “Thank you. I think – “ He was interrupted by his cell phone, which suddenly blasted out the techno ringtone he had assigned to identify calls from Elke. “Seriously?”
Nika snickered and leaned over him to retrieve the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi, Nika,” Elke said brightly. “Listen, remember that guy that I’ve been seeing?”
“Why are you calling me on Erik’s phone to talk about your boyfriend?”
“Because yours is turned off. Anyway, he works for 3 Sverige. That’s a cell phone network here in Sweden.”
Nika rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s who I have my phone through.”
Erik shook his head and dropped it back onto the pillow, looking up at the ceiling and holding his arms out in a ‘why me?’ gesture. She struggled not to laugh.
“Oh, okay,” Elke continued. “I wasn’t sure. So, I sent him the data from Erik’s phone with the call about Mia, and he traced the call.”
Now Erik was much more interested in the conversation. He sat up, his eyebrows rising. Nika nodded to him. “Where did the call come from?”
“It was on a phone that was purchased through 3 Sverige in Copenhagen, and it’s on a universal card. Based on pings and triangulation and all that jazz, he says that the picture was taken is Paris.”
Erik frowned. “Paris?” he echoed.
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