Dark Deceit (15 page)

Starting at her toes, he stayed true to his word. He kissed her
feet, her legs and her thighs, hovering just away from the place he really
wanted to be.

‘Please,’ Bryn begged, her toes curling into the sheets. He smiled
up the length of her sinuated body.

‘I’m going to make you come,’ he whispered. She whimpered and he
lowered his head.

He wanted to taste her so badly, but he had to take it slow. He
placed kisses along the inside of her thighs, moving closer and closer toward
her slick heart. When she grabbed onto his shoulders, guiding him closer, he
pulled back and just watched her shudder for him.

‘Korvain,’ she begged in a breathy voice. He chuckled and lowered
his head once more. She was glistening already. He could see it and he longed
to taste it. Flattening his tongue out, he swept once through her trembling
flesh, sending a spasm coursing through her body.

Her hips flexed off the mattress, her fingers dug into his shoulder.
A haze of blood tinted the air, only adding to the drugging effect Bryn had on
him. He made another long sweep, latching onto the tight knot of nerves at the
top.

‘Gods!’

He looked up at her, knowing how his eyes must have been swallowing
shadows and growled low in his throat. ‘This is fantasy number one,’ he said,
licking his lips appreciatively, ‘and you haven’t disappointed.’

He sucked her into his mouth once more; her spine bowing in
response, her hands scrambling for purchase. He could feel her body twitch,
getting closer to release. Her inner thighs began to tremble. He wanted it to
be magnificent for her, so he increased his attention, redoubling his efforts.

His tongue was on her, in her, and when the tip swirled her clit,
she finally exploded around him. She rode the orgasm up, her chest heaving with
the effort. She cried out, her internal muscles pulsing, drawing it out. She
arched off the bed, her hips rocking under Korvain’s mouth.

She may have come, but he wasn’t done with her yet. Using the flat
of his tongue, he swept the entire length of her heart, lapping up her arousal
and groaning when the taste hit the back of his throat. He swallowed her down,
tasting her completely.

‘Stop, please,’ she begged. He ignored her pleas, smiling as she
shuddered once more. ‘Korvain.’ She was desperate for him to stop, but he was
desperate for her to come undone one more time. He shook his head and her hips
jacked up off the bed once more.

She came apart, repeating his name over and over again until he
could barely take it anymore. She crested the wave of her orgasm and lay limply
on the bed, her breathing sharp and jerky for a while until she calmed down.

He looked down her body, hungrily licking away her arousal when he
saw her hardened nipples. ‘I’ve wanted to do that for so long.’

B
ryn slumped
against the mattress, her breathing labored. They had not
been her first orgasms, but they were the best she had ever experienced. She
looked down at Korvain, knowing he would make a good lover. His huge body
pulsed with a juxtaposition of dangerous energy and protectiveness. She
squeezed her eyes shut. Gods, if only this was real. If only he would really
come to her and make her feel this way. Was it too much to hope for?

Deep down though, she knew why he couldn’t. She was too afraid of
what Odin would think of her. This was the reason Kara had been dismissed from
his service. This could never happen in real life, but in her dreams...in her
dreams there was nothing to stop her from fulfilling her fantasies.

Korvain was licking his lips, sitting back on his heels while half
her body was on the bed, and the other half was draped over the side of it. She
sat up slowly, aware of how her breasts swayed and the way Korvain’s eyes
watched them. He still had his pants on, his erection straining to get free.

‘Come up here,’ she said, surprised at just how husky her voice sounded.
Korvain smiled, revealing the tips of his fangs. He stretched out beside her,
his large hands playing across her collarbone, dipping between her breasts. She
laughed nervously when he trailed down the middle of her stomach and gasped
when he dipped between her still-sensitive thighs.

‘I’ve never let anyone do that to me before,’ she murmured.

‘What?’

She glanced down to where his fingers were now stroking. ‘That.’

‘Really?’

She nodded her head, flushing at what she was about to say next.
‘I’m technically still a virgin.’ Admitting it now in this dream would be the
only time she would leave herself so exposed.

Korvain’s expression sobered and his hand stilled. He withdrew from
her body slowly. Bryn reached for the fastening on his jeans, hoping to see how
far the dream would take her.

‘Don’t,’ Korvain said softly. She looked into his bottomless black
eyes and frowned. His free hand smoothed the wrinkle away gently. ‘Let’s just
lay together for a little while.’

Confused, Bryn rolled over onto her side to hide her body from him.
She didn’t know why, but his rejection felt a whole lot more than just a simple
rejection. He pulled her onto her back, his dark eyes serious.

‘Don’t ever hide yourself from me, Bryn.’

Don’t hide yourself?
Even in her dreams,
she couldn’t allow herself to cross that self-imposed line. She blew out a
frustrated breath. ‘I had no idea I could dream this up,’ she muttered under
her breath. Korvain brought her in line with his body, curling around her
spine. His jeans scratched against the skin on her lower body, a heavy reminder
of just how seriously fucked up she was when Odin and his wishes were
concerned. 

She couldn’t even dream about losing her virginity.

‘We have time,’ Korvain rumbled, his words vibrating through her
back.

She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. Korvain was all she
could smell, all she could hear. She drifted off...

‘Bryn?...Bryn?...Wake up.’ Bryn woke with a gasp, jerking back from the
hand that had touched her shoulder. She blinked Eir into focus then looked
around. She was propped up beside the couch, her face feeling like it had been
flattened. She shifted, feeling wetness between her thighs. For a dream, it was
pretty damn realistic.

‘Bryn?’ Eir asked softly.

Bryn squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. Turning her head
so she was looking at Eir, she asked, ‘How are you feeling?’

The other Valkyrie was sitting with her legs tucked in close to her
body, her arms wrapped around her knees. She gave Bryn an unsteady smile.
‘Still a little off.’

She nodded, staggering to her feet. Her legs were really stiff. How
long had she been asleep for? ‘Do you remember who attacked you?’

Eir shook her head, her long blonde hair cascading over one
shoulder. Her face was a lot paler than normal, making her blue eyes stand out
on her face. ‘I was talking to you then I was stung by something.’

‘You weren’t stung. Someone stuck you with a needle. We don’t know
what you were injected with, but whatever it was, it seems to be out of your
system now.’

Eir rubbed at her neck where the injection site would have no doubt
been. ‘Why would someone want to do that?’

Bryn sank down beside her on the couch. ‘Beats me,’ she lied. ‘You’re
just lucky Korvain was there. He saved you.’

‘Korvain?’ she asked, massaging between her eyes.

‘Yeah, one of my bouncers.’

‘Did he recognize the man?’

She shook her head. ‘Look, I want you to stay here with me until we
get this figured out. If someone is attacking Valkyries, I need to know you’re
safe.’

‘Of course. I’ll go and get some clothes now.’ Eir stood up, but
Bryn stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

‘I don’t want you going alone. I’ll call Korvain later and get him
to go with you. He can check in on the others, too.’

* * *

L
oki paced the cold
floor of the underground room he had discovered below Boston’s streets, the gun
still in his hand. Anger didn’t really begin to cover how he felt about having
his Valkyrie taken from him. Livid. Wrathful. Splenetic; pissed off, to use the
common tongue of the age.

Everything had been going according to plan. Loki had injected the
heroin into the Valkyrie’s neck. She had passed out and he was going to take
her back to her apartment and search out her cloak, but that damn Mare had come
along and fucked it all up.

And he
was
a Mare. Loki had been able to sense the power in
the purity of his blood, but that made no sense. Since the Fall, Odin had hunted
down all the Mares, eradicating them from the face of the Earth. Somehow, the
bastard must have slipped through the cracks.

Loki looked over at the two Valkyrie bodies he already had. He had
had three, but one he had given away, a gift for Odin. It was frigid down there
in the tunnels, but not cold enough to stop the decomposition process.

Even now, a hint of carrion was in the air, threatening to take him
back to the time when he was forced to suffer his wife’s and son’s rot and
putrefaction. Crouching down, he picked up one of their feathers, blotted with
blood, and twirled the calamus between his fingers—thinking.

If the Valkyries now had a guard—one of the most physically powerful,
dangerous beings ever to roam the Nine Worlds—it would make his job difficult,
but not impossible.

He paused, letting an idea he’d just had take shape. Yes, that could
work. If he was to succeed, he needed to move not only quickly, but carefully.
He only had one chance at succeeding in this new plan. Stashing the gun at the
small of his back, he faded from the tunnels and onto Lime Street.

Houses lined the pavement, each of them joined with the same
red-brick façade. He had passed through the street earlier on the hunt for
Valkyries when he’d seen the protection rune carved into the lintel above a
yellow door.

He made his way back to the house, looking it over from his position
across the street. From behind the blinds, he could see the soft glow of a
television radiating out of the darkness.

Loki glanced up the street, looking for any humans. It was
blissfully empty and the situation just got even more perfect. There was a car
parked out the front of the house. Approaching it carefully, Loki peered inside
the window. With another glance, he shoved his elbow through the glass.

The alarm began blaring. He watched as the porch light switched on
and the locks on the door slid open. Hiding himself in the shadows beside the
entrance way, he waited for the Valkyrie to come out to inspect the damage. While
her back was turned, he slid inside the house to wait for his prey.

Inside, the house was decorated in different shades of yellow, all blending
together. Loki moved silently down the hallway, ducking into the darkened
kitchen on the left. He heard the door close a few minutes later.

The stairs creaked. ‘What’s the damage?’ a woman asked. Loki froze.
This was even better than he could have hoped for. There were two of them.

‘Broken window. I didn’t see who did it, but I’m calling the cops to
report it,’ the other said.

Loki heard footsteps coming closer to his position. Glancing up, he
saw a phone attached to the wall just inside the door. The Valkyrie was coming
straight for him. With a smile, he reached for his knife and positioned
himself.

He disappeared into the pantry, pulling the door closed behind him
just in time. The light flicked on. From the crack in the door, Loki watched as
she picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers.

‘Yes, hello, I’d like to report some vandalism...yeah, I’ll hold.’

Loki pushed silently out of the pantry, his eyes glued to the woman.
Her back was to him, her fingers flicking through a magazine on the bench top.
He was within striking distance, so when she paused on one page, he stopped
breathing, holding his position.

‘Yeah, I’m here. I want to report some vandalism...yeah, someone broke
the driver’s side window of my—’ The Valkyrie stopped mid-sentence, her eyes
widening as she turned around and saw Loki. He struck her quickly, driving the
dagger into her stomach. She dropped to the floor, the phone popping free from
her hand. Loki could hear the human on the other end.

‘Ma’am? Ma’am, you there? Ma’am?’

Loki picked up the receiver, setting it quietly back into the cradle
before turning his attention to the Valkyrie bleeding out onto her kitchen
floor.

Her dual-toned blue eyes were wide, both hands covering the ugly
smile he’d punched into her abdomen. She sucked in a breath to scream out the
other woman’s name, but changed her mind; her lips sealing shut, tears
beginning to stream down her face.

‘You’re the one, aren’t you?’ she asked in a bare whisper.

Loki nodded once, crouching down in front of the Valkyrie. She
whimpered and shuffled her ass backwards on the black and white checked tile,
one hand still pressed to her stomach, the other smearing blood everywhere.

‘I know that wound won’t kill you,’ he told her, ‘but I do know what
will kill you. Tell me where you keep your cloak.’

The woman’s eyes clouded over with rage. ‘Never,’ she spat back.

Loki pried her hand away from the slice to her belly and pressed his
fingers into her flesh. ‘Tell me, or I will kill the other girl. It’s your
choice: save your friend, or condemn the both of you to a slow, painful death.’

Loki could see her trying to work over her other options. The thing
was, she didn’t have any. Loki was going to kill the other Valkyrie no matter
the bargain. When the woman’s determined eyes returned to his face, he knew she
was going to submit to him.

‘Astrid! Run!’ she screamed. Loki growled, angrily cuffing the woman
across the cheek. Her head snapped back, connecting with the tiles behind her.
With fluttering eyelids, the woman passed out. Loki whirled around just as the
other Valkyrie—Astrid—called out.

‘Sigrun?...Sigrun, what is it?’

Palming the syringe of heroin in his pocket, Loki lunged for
Astrid’s neck as she appeared in the doorway, the point sinking home. She tried
to fight him off, but Loki depressed the plunger and took a step back. The Valkyrie
scrambled away from him, her hand over her neck. He watched with morbid
fascination as the drug hit her bloodstream, weakening her in an instant.

‘Who—’ she asked, her back hitting the wall opposite the kitchen door
and slumping down onto the floor. Her long legs folded uncomfortably beneath her,
consciousness slipping away.

Loki turned back to Sigrun. Her hand had fallen away from the wound.
Blood stained the tiles around her, but Loki knew he didn’t have much time. To
give him a little more, he pulled the phone from the wall and used the cord to
bind her wrists and ankles.

Leaving the kitchen, he began his search for the ash boxes that were
guaranteed to be in the house. The only rule constraining the Valkyries was the
box must be in the place where they reside.

After thoroughly searching the bottom half of the house, Loki
started making his way upstairs. He walked into the first bedroom, his bloody
hands touching sacred items like photographs and things from their old world. He
pulled open the closet and rifled through until he found the first ash box.
Peering inside, the feathers looked like soft floating clouds.

With the box under his arm, Loki walked into the next bedroom and
started his search. He eventually found the other box hidden under the bed and
pulled it out.

Back in the kitchen, Sigrun’s blood had begun inching its way toward
the doorway—a slick, glossy ribbon of color. Taking the first cloak out of its
box, he ran the feathers through his hand slowly, carefully, before finally
picking one and plucking it free.

Sigrun’s eyes cracked open, a cry escaping her mouth. Her legs
scrambling, she tried to push her body away from him. She raised her arm to
summon her sword, but found she couldn’t move. Loki grinned. She pressed
herself against one of the kitchen cabinets, groaning with each shift of her
body. More blood flowed from the wound in her belly, dripping off her side. Sigrun’s
eyes found Astrid’s slumped body on the opposite wall and she began to cry.

Loki stripped the cloak quickly, watching Sigrun’s body writhe with
each and every feather removed. When there were feathers littering the floor, and
a fresh wash of blood spattered the floor, Loki took his dagger and drove it
through the Valkyrie’s heart.