Becoming Valkyrie (Pyralis Book 1)

by Brandy L. Cunningham

  “What’s wrong with him? Someone help him! Please!” One man stepped forward. He was huge, an incredibly tall, broadly built man. I couldn’t look at him in his state of nakedness.

  He looked down at Aeron. “It is the Wolf venom. We have a venom in our saliva that will slowly kill a Vampire if he does not heal fast enough. You can save him.”

  I gawked at him. “Me? How can I save him? I hardly know how to do anything except catch on fire!”

  The man studied me for a long moment. “You are a Vampire, aren’t you?”

  I sighed. I didn’t even know how to answer that. “I…I don’t know. Yes, I guess I am, Aeron says I am, but I am more…”

  The Wolf man laughed. “Clearly you are more than just a Vampire.” Looking down at Aeron, he smiled. “He is strong, stronger than any I have fought before. He may live on his own, but if you prefer not to take that chance, you must give him your blood.”

  I stared at him, my mouth hanging open in shock. Looking back and forth between him to Aeron’s eerily still body, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know if it was possible to bleed. Walking to Aeron’s body, I doused my flames and kneeled beside him. Staring down at him, I was torn. Within me, something stirred. I had felt her presence before. She was the other part of me, the one who had slept for four hundred years, but until now, I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge her.

  She flared to life within me, whispering secrets into my mind. Following those whispered instructions, I lifted my wrist to my mouth. Opening my mouth, I felt something happening. Running my tongue along my teeth, I felt the protruding points growing. Shaking my head, I thought, here goes nothing. Sinking my fangs into the tender flesh of my wrist, I was surprised when I tasted the warm metallic flavor of my own blood.

  Looking down at Aeron, the voice inside me whispered again. Taking a deep breath, I pressed my wrist to Aeron’s lips. I was startled when his fangs pierced my skin and he began to suckle. Glancing up at the Wolf man, I saw him nod.

  I stayed that way for a long time as Aeron sucked the blood from my veins. I hoped it wouldn’t harm him further, with the fire that lived within me. After a while, I began to feel faint. Looking down at Aeron, I felt the suction from his mouth slacken. His eyes snapped open, and he stared up at me in shock. As I stared down into his eyes, my vision slowly clouding, I could have sworn the gold color in his blended eyes stood out more than it had before. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to consider this as I began seeing spots pepper my vision, and I swayed.

  Dizzy, I tried to speak, but the next instant my vision went dark, and I floated into my sub conscious mind. She was there, the other half of me. She whispered to me, showed me visions from a time long past. She promised that soon I would be strong enough to become her once more. She whispered stories of grand balls, and beautiful castles. She told me of her love for a man she no longer knew, and how magical it had been in his arms.

  She told me secrets, deeper than flesh that coursed through our veins. She spoke of her brother and her sister whom she missed dearly. She spoke of a man who had been kind, and she had betrayed. In a saddened voice, she told me she had been betrayed by one of her own. Throughout her words, I caught glimpses of the things of which she spoke. Fragments of the blood moon and of my town burning penetrated the fog of my mind, and a man, bloodstained with glowing eyes. He scooped me off the ground as though I weighed nothing, and he held me in his arms, even when my body burst into flames in self-protection, still, he held me.

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  Voices surrounded me, confusing and disturbing. Sometimes whispering, sometimes raised. One familiar. The deep, smooth baritone of Aeron. Normally smooth and polished, but now it seemed afraid. An older voice, worn with age and time unknown. The third voice, female. Smooth and silky, beautiful, like tinkling bells. I felt weak, delirious. I wanted to know what they spoke of. The voice in my head whispered for me to be still, to be quiet.

  The voices floated to me more clearly. “She was not strong enough. She should never have tried to heal me.” This was Aeron, I had little doubt.

  The woman replied. “She obviously cared deeply for you. How were we to know you would not succumb to our venom? You are a Vampire, and we kill Vampires.”

  “I understand you would not have known I was not like others. It matters not whether she cares. She is a child. What matters now is figuring out what she is.”

  The older voice sighed. “Aeron, you loved her once. Does that matter for nothing? She chose to help you when she didn’t have to.”

  I heard Aeron growl. “It matters, why do you think I am here, taking her into my home, and accompanying her to find you? But regardless, I loved her four hundred years ago, does that mean I am damned to love her and watch her choose another again? Have I not been tortured enough in my long life, Raphael?”

  The others were silent. I was silent. Finally, the older man Aeron had called Rafael spoke again. “What she has become is what I foresaw long ago. She grows more powerful with each passing of the moon. Another eclipse will come soon, and she will gain her full strength. Her power is very unique. Each time she rises in flames, she is rejuvenated, cleansed, and stronger.

  She is the true description of changeling. She is never finished, always changing. She will continue to grow stronger, to morph into what she will become. Vampire, yet not. Fire Bringer, yet not. Witch, yet not. There is something else inside her as well. It is buried deep, and I cannot identify it. It was passed to her from her mother at birth. Both she and Valkyrian have it. Has she mentioned her other…self to you, Aeron?”

  Silence. “Other self? What is this other self you speak of, Rafael?”

  “So, she has not told you? I sense a split in her soul. She is Valkyrie Walker, born on Halloween eighteen human years ago, and unaware of those immortals around her. But, she is also Valkyrie Walker, born four hundred and sixty-eight years ago. Burned at the stake by her father. Within her is both. She was reborn to a new life, but she is still the same woman. The same Vampire. She has changed though. When she is strong, and the Vampire within her has matured, she will be one soul, merged from both, and she will recall all the memories of her past, but it will take time. Memories are not subtle, they come in clusters.

  It is that woman I both fear and look forward to knowing. The old Valkyrie Walker knew many things of the high Vampire Cast, and we need her to remember. The new Valkyrie brings a stronger touch of humanity and humanness to her that I hope will help control the darkness I sense in her soul.”

  Aeron sighed. I could hear the worry in his voice. “What is she now? What happened with Desmond’s spell that changed her so? How did she come back as this…fire creature?”

  There was silence for a long moment. When Rafael finally replied, his answer was cryptic. “There are some things that are meant for her ears only. What I can tell you, is that the spell is a fickle one. If the Witch who Casts it is not at full power and does not have a clear instruction in his mind of what shall happen, the spell will take on a mind of its own. Sometimes, the magic that resides in the world will take something unfinished, and shape it to its own design.

  When Desmond read those words, he was torn apart by grief. He saw only the woman he loved within his mind. The spell brought that woman back, but he did not specify the parameters, so the magic that flowed through those ashes created what it saw fit. When revenge, anger, and love all meet with a magical spell like that, the consequences can sometimes be catastrophic. It is why I gave him the lunar pendant. I saw what was possible if he completed that spell. We are lucky Valkyrian was able to give her the necklace before she died the second time.”

  The space was quiet once more. I heard a shuffling. Then, Aeron’s voice once more. He sounded upset. “If you knew the boy would not read the spell correctly, and that something of this nature was possible, why did you not stop him?”

  Rafael laughed. “If you had a premonition of a woman dying who you had hoped would be the salvation of her kind, a w
oman you had known since birth, whose mother you had raised as your own, would you have kept from her the possibility of another chance?”

  Aeron sighed. “If I knew she may come back as the absolute destruction of the world, yes I would have kept it from happening.”

  There was a sadness in Rafael’s voice as he moved closer to me. I felt his cold hand lay on top of mine. “You are so ready to condemn her, you cannot see the possibility that lurks there. You call her the damnation of the world when in reality, she could be the savior it needs. You need to let go of the past Aeron. You still love the Valkyrie you lost, and you are blinded by anger. Yet, you have been given another chance, and she lays right before you. Open your eyes.”

  Aeron laughed. The sound was grating, cynical. “Another chance! You speak as though I have any chance, old man. I have seen her with Desmond. I have seen the way her body responds to his mere voice. You would have me raise my hopes only to watch her choose him a second time?”

  The female voice spoke then. “Desmond is not the same young Witch he was four hundred years ago, Aeron. For starters, he is now Vampire as well. He has lived a long time with the regret of her death upon his conscience, just as you have, but you have both changed much in these long centuries while you awaited her rebirth. You do not know she will love Desmond again. Her path is yet unwritten. Do not walk away so easily.”

  Aeron moved closer to me. I could feel his presence. I was immensely aware of him. I felt the soft smooth feel of his lips as they brushed my forehead.

  “I will take my leave now. She needs to be here with you. With people who can give her the chance to be something good, and not something evil. I am not the one she needs.”

  I wanted to call out to Aeron not to leave me here alone. Not to leave me at all. I wanted to tell him he was wrong. That I was good, and that I cared for him, but my tongue seemed tied in knots, and I remained silent as I listened to his steps retreat into the woods.

  For some reason, I felt as though I had lost something profound as Aeron walked away from me. The fact that he so easily doubted me, and turned his back on me made me angry. I felt annoyed with myself for caring enough to try and save him while he seemed so eager to turn his back on me. I had allowed myself to grow attached to the man, no matter how much I had tried to fight it, there still existed a strong connection between us. It seemed, however, that I was the only one who was so affected by our past connection. The knowledge that I apparently meant so little to him made me angry, and hurt.

  The hurt made me wonder why I bothered to be so compassionate about others when they could so easily forget me. It felt foolish to care about anyone. I was at an uncertain crossroad in my life, and I didn’t know who truly was my friend anymore. Like a pawn on a chess board, I was moved around depending on where others needed me to be. There was no thought or concern for my feelings. The depression welling up inside of me was unbearable. I realized there was only one way to keep myself from future hurt. Deciding I would care for no one again was not easy, but it was necessary to protect myself. My new goal was to keep myself alive. No one else could matter to me from here on out. It was the only option for protecting my heart.

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  14

  The Fiddler

  The Fiddler watched me as I watched him. An unusual name for an unusual man. He reminded me of photos I had seen of Albert Einstein. Graying, frizzled hair that stood up in every direction and worn, leathery skin full of wrinkles. His eyes, bright blue like a summer day, seemed ageless. There was a wisdom reflected in them that contrasted sharply with the youthful expression he wore.

  In his eyes, I could see many things. I could see knowledge, passion, pain, and sadness. I wondered what he saw in my own eyes as he studied me. I knew from the conversation I had overheard that he knew about the soft feminine voice that whispered to me within my mind. I wasn’t sure how he knew. He didn’t speak for a long time as he seemed to evaluate me.

  When finally he did speak, it was with an aged voice. “Valkyrie. It is a wonder what a simple spell can do when placed in youthful inexperienced hands. I am absolutely stunned by you. Part Vampire, part Witch. Born of fire and ash. What an amazing anomaly you are, my child.”

  I almost laughed as his face lit with a smile. His features seemed to lose years when he smiled. “I thought I was going to doom the world?”

  He chuckled. “Doom it or save it. Only time will tell. Hell, maybe you have nothing to do with whatever happens, and we are all just captivated by you.”

  He shrugged his aged shoulders as he walked away. A teapot whistled somewhere from the back of the room. He glanced back at me. “Sorry, my dear. I would offer you a spot of tea, but alas, you cannot drink it.”

  I frowned. “So, you’re human then? You look very old. No offense. It’s just that I had expected the Fiddler to be some amazingly powerful…something.”

  He smiled at me in humor, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “Oh, I am no human, girl. I am a Witch. I am the oldest Witch alive today, at least as far as anyone knows. I am very powerful.” He winked at me as he poured the tea into a small cup. “In fact, I am so powerful that I foresaw the events that led to your death, and to your rebirth. All it takes is a hint here and there. There is a reason Valkyrian knew where to be on Samhain.”

  I blinked, trying to digest his words. “So, you could’ve changed things then, if you’d wanted to?”

  Walking back to me, he sat on an old chair across from me. “Child, I did choose to change things. I saw your death, and I chose to warn Desmond. I also chose to leave my very powerful book open to a certain spell. Just as I chose to give that necklace you wear to him. Indeed. I have chosen many things that resulted in the path we have all taken to be here today.

  It was a choice to send the letter to Valkyrian telling him in which town he might find a young woman who carried the blood of his sister. Do you think it was such a coincidence that a powerful Witch like Tamyra had lived in that cottage near your town for two hundred years?”

  I thought over his words. I had a great many questions for him. “Why did she have to stay for two hundred years if you knew the exact Halloween I would be reborn?”

  “Because, my child, foresight is a tricky thing. I saw your birth in that little town. I felt Valkyrie within you. I whispered thoughts of your name into the mind of the human mother that would bear you. Unfortunately, I could not pinpoint the exact day and year of your birth, nor the day Dominique would find you. So, I guessed the best I could. Valkyrian traveled to that town every Samhain for the last few decades waiting for the eclipse."

  Sitting still, I shook my head in wonderment. All these years so many had waited for me. Looking up at the old man, I asked, “Why? Why was it so important to find me? Why am I so important?”

  The old man’s eyes took on a faraway look. After a second, his eyes snapped back to mine. “There are many reasons. Today is not the day for you to have those questions answered. I’m sorry. For now, you need to focus on your powers, and on survival. You are not at full strength yet, and you have very poor skills. Aeron tells me you refuse to drink blood, and that is why you were affected so strongly today by giving him your blood.”

  I looked away. I didn’t want to talk about Aeron, or drinking blood. I felt the softest touch on my hand. Looking down, I nearly leaped from my own skin. A Wolf stood before me. Its white fur standing out in stark contrast to the darkness. Before I realized what I had done, I had leaped from the cot and had my back pressed hard against the wall three feet behind me.

  Rafael laughed. “Well, at least we know your survival instinct against Wolves is strong. Unfortunately, that instinct I am going to ask you to ignore. It will not be easy; long have Vampires been wary of other Casts, but it is imperative. The Wolves of Acadia are our allies. They have been since the days of your mother.”

  Staring at him and the white Wolf which now hunkered down at his feet, I sucked in lungfuls of air. It was really difficult thinking of this woman e
veryone said was my mother when the mother I knew was the one who had raised me these last eighteen years. A human mother that had been mercilessly burned alive in the blast on Halloween. Reincarnation was difficult enough to think about, let alone when you are told that you are not the person you believed yourself to be.

  Lifting a white brow at me in question, Rafael waited for me to come away from the wall. Everything inside of me told me not to. Very slowly, I moved back to my cot, weary of the Wolf.

  “This is Akio. She will be helping to train you. She is a friend, and I trust her with my life, as well as yours. Please, do not set her on fire.”

  I almost laughed at the way he said the last part. I watched as he draped a blanket over the Wolf. Standing, he walked deeper into the darkness of the odd room Looking back at the white Wolf, I was enchanted as she began to shift into a human before my eyes. I understood what the blanket had been for. I watched her as the transition from Wolf to human was complete, and I was stunned. The young woman who sat before me was breathtaking.

  Long waves of white-blonde hair hung around her face, and startlingly bright yellow-gold eyes stared at me from a lovely heart-shaped face. When she stood, I glimpsed enough of her body through openings in the blanket to know she was perfect in every way. I groaned. Plopping back onto the cot, I blew out a breath.

  “Are all people who are not human super pretty and beyond perfect? It seems to be a prerequisite.”

  I heard her laugh. It hit me then that this was the woman’s voice I had heard speaking with Aeron and Rafael. For some confounding reason, the thought of this magically beautiful woman standing beside Aeron made me feel sick. Was I actually jealous? What the heck? No way. I was not jealous. I couldn’t care less if Aeron were interested in her.

  Finishing her laugh, she sat in the chair Rafael had vacated. “I have not met many, other than the Wolves I live with and the few who visit Rafael. I have yet to see anyone of a Cast not human who is ugly. You, for example, must be one of the most unusually beautiful women I’ve seen.”