“We’re in Valkyrie territory now. They give off lightning with emotion. Feed from it too.”

“Do they all control it like Nïx, making cages and blades?”

He shook his head. “As the primordial of her species, she must have learned to wield it.”

“This place looks like a mad scientist’s laboratory.”

“You haven’t seen the worst yet.”

As she and Rune approached a clearing, a sprawling, creepy mansion came into view. Against a background of lightning, ghostly females in ragged red garments flew through the air, circling the structure. “The wraiths?”

“Also known as the Ancient Scourge,” Rune said. “They’re as strong as Titanian steel, and even older than I am. You can’t tunnel under them, can’t fly over, can’t trace past. Overpowering them is impossible.”

She raised her face to scent the air. Thad was here! Behind their guard? She’d just tensed to do something when Rune clamped her forearm and traced her back to Tortua.

“Why’d you leave?” She flung her arm away. “Thad is inside! I can challenge Nïx. She might come out to fight me!”

“She’s not in Val Hall.”

“We can wait there until she shows up.”

“The other Valkyries wouldn’t tolerate it. I could keep you safe, but I couldn’t do anything for your brother until we handled the guard dogs. If you anger Val Hall’s inhabitants, they might take it out on him.”

Jo made a sound of frustration. Resigning herself to a wait, she said, “I can’t believe Thad’s in there.” At least she hadn’t scented his fear. He and Nïx had seemed chummy. “If Nïx isn’t there, who’s watching him?”

“Her Valkyrie sisters. They’re likely coddling him, convincing him to join their alliance.”

In other words, they were brainwashing her brother. “There has to be a way around those wraiths.” If tracing past them wouldn’t work, ghosting and walking right through them probably wasn’t an option.

“For now, our best bet is to hunt Nïx. You have to be patient.”

“Patient? Not my strong suit. You got a plan B?”

He gazed away and murmured, “Always.”

Why did that one word send a chill down her spine?

THIRTY-THREE

Josephine took Rune’s hand to trace him to her home, what promised to be some grand manor or stately castle. As she began to teleport, she and Rune seemed to fade before traveling. Whereas Sian’s tracing was quick and seamless, the vampire’s left him swaying.

Rune frowned at his new surroundings, a small dingy room with red carpet worn down to the foundation and paint curling away from the cinder block walls. A garish floral cover topped the bed, and the air conditioner rattled. “Where did you take us?”

“To my digs.”

“This is where you live? It’s a rat trap! You had the nerve to call my place quaint?” In one corner of the room, next to stacks of comic books were stacks of cash. “If you’ve got money, why not get a nicer place?” This one was pitiful and demoralizing. The only positive he could discern? It was spotlessly clean.

“I like to fly under the radar. I don’t mind it here.”

A picnic table stretched the length of one wall, covered with random things: a phone, a tiara, plastic beads, a metal stick with a camera on the end.

“Immortals with power simply don’t live like this.”

“I can’t get an ID, okay?”

“I could get you one in an hour.” He bit the inside of his cheek. She’d never need an ID because he could never set her free in the world. She still potentially had his memories. “So this is where the fair Josephine sleeps. Since you’ve taken my blood that first night, have you had dreams of me? Experienced any scenes from my past?”

“Oh, yeah, constantly. I love watching you screw two hundred nymphs at one time and kick puppies.”

“I have never kicked a puppy.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she crossed to a garment rack filled with dark clothes, all in various stages of disrepair. She selected black jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt with some band logo, then tossed them on the bed.

“Why did you dress as a man-eater the other night?” Definitely not to seduce Thaddeus. “You wore that skimpy red dress to impress me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” No denial.

A cracked full-length mirror hung on the bathroom door. Had she inspected her reflection there before setting out to find him? “Perhaps that’s why you made your earlier vow—your power play—because you yearn to be near me. And now we’re trapped together for as long as the mission continues.” He should still be pissed over that play; yet he found the corners of his lips curling.

And for some reason, his cock was semihard.

“Believe whatever you like, Rune, but I told you why I made that vow.” To protect her brother.

If Nïx found the two siblings valuable, then the Møriør should as well. Though Rune might have difficulty assassinating the oracle, he could hurt her by recruiting the weapons Nïx wanted: Josephine and Thaddeus.

It wouldn’t matter that Josephine knew his and his allies’ secrets if she became an ally herself.

He crossed to the picnic table, reading the inscription: Orleans Parish Parks. He inspected a sequin-covered phone, then moved on to the next item. “What is all this stuff?” He twirled a plastic tiara on his forefinger.