A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark #2)(49)

“You’ve given me generous cost-of-living-index raises,” Harmann said with a grin, then tilted his head at Emma. “The little one—she’s truly a vampire?”

Lachlain crossed to her and tucked a blond curl behind her ear. “Half-Valkyrie.”

Harmann raised his eyebrows at her pointed ear. “You never did like to do things the easy way.”



Car alarms still resounded from miles away.

Though Annika had finally been calmed and the lightning that threatened to rupture the manor had quieted, that thing still had her Emma.

She tried to shake the rage free—vomiting energy as she had was only harming the entire collective of Valkyrie who shared power, a dozen of whom sat together right now in this great room. They looked to her for answers she would have to give. Answers Furie should be here to supply.

Regin was back on the computer, accessing the coven’s database once more, this time researching this Lachlain.

Impatiently pacing, Annika let her mind wander to the day that Emma had first arrived. The snow outside had been packed so high it covered half the window. Not surprising, in the old country. By the fire, Annika had cradled the baby, falling each second for the golden-haired girl with her tiny pointed ears.

“How are we to care for her, Annika?” Lucia had murmured.

Regin had sprung from her seat on the mantel to snap, “How can you bring one of those among us when they slaughtered my people?”

Daniela had knelt beside Annika, peering up at her, giving her a rare touch—and the stinging of ice from her pale hand. “She needs to be with her own kind. I know this well.”

Annika had shaken her head determinedly. “Her ears. Her eyes. She’s fey. She’s Valkyrie.”

“She’ll grow to be evil!” Regin had insisted. “Damn if she hasn’t snapped at me with her baby fangs. By Freya, she already drinks blood!”

“Trifling,” Myst had interjected in a casual tone. “We eat electricity.”

The baby had clutched Annika’s long braid, as if saying she wanted to stay. “She was Helen’s, whom I loved dearly. And her letter begged me to keep Emmaline from the vampires. So I am raising her and will leave the coven if that is your collective wish, but understand—she is as my daughter from now on.” She remembered how sad her next words had sounded. “I will guide her to be all that was good and honorable about the Valkyrie before time eroded us. She will never see the horrors we have. She will be protected.” They’d all quieted, reflecting. “Emmaline of Troy.” She’d rubbed noses with Emma and asked the baby, “Now, where’s the best place to hide the most beautiful little vampire in the world?”

N?x had laughed delightedly. “Laissez les bon temps roulez….”

“Okay, here it is!” Regin said. “Lachlain, king of the Lykae, disappeared for two centuries or so. I’m just going to update the database and say that apparently he’s back at the desk.” She scrolled down. “Brave and vicious on the battlefield, and he appears to be in every battle the Lykae ever engaged. What was he doing? Trying to earn merit badges? And, uh-oh, careful, ladies, this big boy fights dirty. He’d just as soon end a sword fight with his fists and claws, and hand-to-hand with his fangs.”

“What about his family?” Annika asked. “What does he care for that we can use?”

“He doesn’t have much of a family left. Damn. Demestriu killed them all.”

When she paused, continuing to read, Annika waved her on, until Regin exclaimed, “Ooh, the chicks in the New Zealand coven are evil. They’ve noted here that though they haven’t engaged him, they’ve seen him fight vampires, and barbs about his family will make him go mindless with rage, making him easier prey for a skilled killer.”

Kaderin laid one of her swords flat in her lap, her diamond hone file finally at rest. “He’s hurt her, then. If he thought she was one of the Horde.”

Regin said, “He’d had no idea she was a Valkyrie. She must be trying to protect us. Boneheaded little leech.”

Lucia murmured, “Can you imagine how utterly terrified she must be?”

N?x sighed. “The Saints aren’t going to make it to the playoffs.”

Gentle, fearful Emma, in the hands of an animal…Annika clenched her fists and two of the lamps closest to her—just fixed along with the chimney by a Lore contractor today—burst, shattering glass twelve feet into the air. Valkyrie in the way casually sidestepped or lowered their faces, then shook out their hair and resumed whatever they’d been doing.

Not looking up from the screen, Regin said, “It’s the Accession putting all these pieces into play. It’s got to be.”

Annika knew it was so. A protracted imprisonment had just ended for the Lykae king. Kristoff, the rebel vampire leader, had taken a Horde stronghold just five years ago and was dispatching soldiers to America. And the ghouls, led by a fierce and occasionally lucid leader, had begun making a power play by infecting as many people as possible to build their army.

Annika crossed to the window and looked out into the night. “You said Lachlain didn’t have much of a family. Then who?”

Regin put a pencil behind her ear. “He’s got one younger brother left. Garreth.”

“How do we find this Garreth?”