Serpent's Kiss: A Dragonfire Novel (34 page)

No wonder it was time for the gods to leave their realm.

What would happen to Myth? Tisiphone didn’t think it was an accident that Myth was so empty. Maybe even the ghosts were forgetting how to reach this place. Maybe the old lessons learned here weren’t of any relevance. But when the last portal closed, she wasn’t going to be left behind. She would be with her sisters, wherever they were.

She had to get out of the mirror.

That was a challenge, given that some sorry soul had to look into the mirror to free her from its depths. In a realm devoid of occupants, there weren’t exactly a lot of takers.

All Tisiphone had was her belief that it could be done, that it must be done, that it would be done. She closed her eyes and believed. She envisioned someone—anyone!—coming through the jungle and stumbling upon the large mirror that held her captive. She imagined that person being surprised and intrigued. She thought of how that person would look into the mirror, quickly the first time, uncertain how a mirror could be in this place. Then he or she would look again, more lingeringly, curious. He or she would note details in the reflection, that hair was a bit too long over the forehead, or that there was mud on the cheek, or even that the lips that curved into a smile were particularly inviting. Mortals all had a sliver of Narcissus deep inside, and once her liberator had glanced and looked again, he or she would lean in to study the reflection.

One good long stare would be all it took. Tisiphone would be free, once more, even if her savior never looked in a mirror again.

Every action had consequences, after all. Every mortal had his or her purpose. Tisiphone was less interested in the price paid or the balance struck than in her own survival. She’d suck the mortal dry who freed her from the mirror, taking every last crumb of his or her strength to fuel her own.

She could see it all so clearly, and she believed in the possibility of it happening with all her might. She knew that she could shape at least part of her reality and she turned what was left of her power upon making that dream come true.

She smiled when she heard the tread of a foot in the jungle.

She willed the person to come closer.

She straightened when the footsteps became louder, when the jungle leaves were brushed aside, when the person froze in wonder.

Tisiphone opened her eyes and looked out of her prison, astonished to find Thorolf staring back at her. “Viv!” he cried, then raced to the mirror. He ran his hands over the glass, his glance running around its perimeter. He was broad and strong, a warrior who always persisted. What a sexy beast he was. He looked to have been tested, though, and in rough shape as a result, his skin burned and his hair disheveled. She felt a pang of guilt for having had any part in his injuries.

The worst part was that she knew she’d have to do it all over again.

It was her or him, and that choice was easy to make.

She swallowed and stood, wishing it didn’t have to be this way. “Thorolf!” she whispered, filling her voice with an affection she didn’t have to feign. A smile touched his mouth at her tone and he glanced at her face. She spread her hands in appeal, knowing his weakness when it came to women. “Just look at me.”

She conjured a tear, letting it slide down her cheek, and knew her vision would come true.

* * *

Thorolf couldn’t stand it when women cried.

To see Viv crying in frustration just about ripped his guts out. She was always so strong and resilient, always razzing
him
about being emotional.

That single tear killed him.

Chandra had bewitched her and trapped her, once again removing a woman he cared about from his life. It didn’t matter that Viv wasn’t his destined mate. He cared about her. She deserved better than this. They could talk and part ways. She didn’t have to die.

And he couldn’t believe all that crap about Tisiphone’s vengeance upon the
Pyr
, not when he saw Viv cry. He and Viv had been pretty good together. If she’d wanted to finish him off, she’d had plenty of chances to do so. There had been lots of nights that he’d slept deeply by her side. She’d had a thousand opportunities.

That she’d never taken one told him that Chandra was wrong.

He stared at Viv in the mirror. “You’ve lost some weight,” he said.

She smiled sadly. “No woman can ever lose enough.”

“We’ll get out of this and go for dinner,” he offered. Even if his only accomplishment was to get Viv to stop crying, he’d be doing something right. Besides, he
was
starving. “We were always going to check out that Japanese place a block over.”

She raised her eyebrows to look him over. “But you have to turn it on a bit to go there. No flip-flops or sneakers.”

She’d stopped crying anyway. He could work with that.

He winked and gave her his best smile. “Hey, you think I can’t turn it on?”

She laughed and leaned her forehead against the glass barrier. “I know you can.” She took a deep breath and raised her hand to the other side of the mirror, spreading her fingers flat. “I’ve missed you,” she murmured, her voice breaking slightly.

Thorolf hesitated only a moment before he matched his own hand to hers on his side of the glass. He felt a twinge of guilt because he hadn’t really missed her that much. She’d been fun, but not his mate. He had to admit that she wasn’t nearly as attractive as Chandra, never mind as intriguing. He’d been marking time.

He’d been messing around with Viv instead of stalking Chen.

He tried not to think of Viv as a distraction.

But she’d been one. There was no escaping that fact. If he’d done as he’d planned when he came to Bangkok, he would have hunted Chen down and finished him off. He would have done right by the
Pyr
, and Erik wouldn’t have banished him. He could have achieved something and made a difference.

Sex with Viv hadn’t been nearly good enough to give up all of that.

Thorolf hated that he could see the point of his father’s argument. He still didn’t agree, and he didn’t think that what had happened had been right, but there was nothing like a firestorm.

And he’d walked away from his. Thorolf felt like a failure, no matter how he looked at it.

He also had the definite sense that Viv wanted something from him, like she was trying to manipulate him. Maybe Chandra
was
right.

Maybe he should go back and talk to her.

But Viv looked like she’d start to cry again.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said with a resolve he didn’t feel, then looked deeply into her eyes to reassure her. Darkness flickered in their depths, and he shivered in dread.

That made no sense. This was Viv. His lover, friend, room mate and fellow partier. He knew Viv. He trusted Viv.

He really wished she’d stop crying.

Even if he wasn’t so sure anymore that he should have trusted her.

Was the firestorm right?

He kept looking, didn’t even blink, and he felt the mirror ripple under his hand. He stared more determinedly and Viv stared back, neither of them breathing, as the mirror began to tremble. Viv’s eyes brightened and she looked as if she might crack a smile. Thorolf held her gaze, willing her to abandon the tears. The mirror vibrated as if it would shatter at any moment, but he didn’t look away.

If he’d been better at beguiling, he might have summoned flames in his eyes and convinced her to smile. Thorolf stunk at beguiling, though. He’d practiced when he was with the
Pyr
, but he hadn’t bothered while hanging out with Viv. Never mind those twenty-two months that were missing out of his life.

He wished, perhaps for the first time, that he’d learned to better use his innate abilities.

He wished he could shake the new idea that Viv had been a distraction.

But now it seemed he couldn’t avert his gaze from hers. He felt snared.

When he saw the tear of blood form in the corner of Viv’s eye, he didn’t believe his own eyes. The mirror began to shake violently. It seemed to be rippling, like the surface of the ocean.

A tear of blood formed in the corner of the other eye, and he fought the power of her gaze. He was mesmerized, though, unable to look away, unable to avoid seeing her transform right in front of him. The mirror’s surface bucked under his hand, and he heard the first crack.

Then to his horror, Viv wept tears of blood.

Thorolf seen tears of blood only once before.

In that vision.

The one in which Viv was one of the Erinyes, hunting the
Pyr
.

Chandra was right.

“No!” he shouted, but it was too late. The mirror shattered into a thousand pieces, shards flying everywhere as Viv erupted from its imprisonment.

En route, Viv shifted shape to one of those old women with bat wings. The blood ran down her face onto her sagging breasts and her hair turned to a nest of writhing black snakes. Thorolf stumbled backward over the shards of mirror as she burst forth. He was shocked when she laughed and bared her fangs.

“They do say no good deed goes unpunished,” she said, then changed shape to a green serpent that rose from its coiled tail, poised to strike.

It was a huge snake, one that Thorolf had seen before. It hissed and its eyes glittered. Its fangs were enormous and dripping with venom.

Snakes!

He turned to run but the serpent launched itself at him, its substantial weight landing on his back. They fell together, the serpent’s tail winding quickly around his legs to trap him. Thorolf struggled as he panicked. He caught the viper’s head in his hand and tried to crush its skull. It thrashed in his grip as venom dripped from its sharp fangs. The drop of venom hissed and burned where it landed on his skin. It sent a frisson of heat through his whole body, both electrifying him and paralyzing him.

It
was
happening again.

Thorolf saw the apartment he’d shared with Viv. This was the serpent that had bitten him twenty-two months before.

The serpent that was really Viv.

Chandra hadn’t lied to him.

And he’d been too stubborn to believe in the firestorm.

Thorolf rolled and slammed the serpent’s head into the ground, just as he had once before. The viper hissed and writhed, more slippery and powerful than he’d expected. Its tail jabbed into his jeans, driving into his genitals so hard that he loosed his grip. It wriggled free, then rose over him. It seemed to laugh, and Thorolf saw a ghost of a gleeful Viv above him.

Then the serpent dove for his throat, fangs bared.

Thorolf recalled the same viper diving for him in the apartment. He knew exactly where it would strike, because he felt the old wound from the fangs burn on his arm.

The instant lasted forever, stretching out to feel longer than it really was, as if the serpent would taunt him with his powerlessness. Thorolf was reminded of a car accident he’d been in once, the whole incident happening in slow motion, inevitable and inescapable. He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t escape, couldn’t shift shape, couldn’t save himself. That first drop of venom had immobilized him on contact.

He heard Chandra shout, but her voice could have come from a thousand miles away. “She’s mine!” she cried, and he had no doubt she was in her Valkyrie form.

Then the serpent fell on him, crushing him beneath its weight. The fangs sank into the same two wounds on his arm and the wounds burned as the venom poured into his body. Thorolf closed his eyes and would have screamed, but he couldn’t make a sound.

This definitely would be his last mistake.

* * *

Chandra feared she was too late.

She saw Thorolf fall backward and the serpent poise to strike. She wished for her crossbow, but it was gone forever, thanks to Chen. Instead she had only the knife jammed in her belt. She flung it at the serpent, cursing herself for letting Thorolf be alone for even a moment.

If anyone could find trouble in Myth, it had to be the dragon shifter chosen to save the
Pyr
.

“She’s mine!” she shouted, hoping her presence would give Thorolf more encouragement to fight.

He didn’t move.

Her knife flashed as it spun end over end. She kept running toward him, determined to wrestle down the serpent and smash its head if necessary. Her shot was sure and the blade sliced the viper’s head cleanly from its body. Its body continued to twitch, even as blood spurted from the wound. The serpent became Tisiphone, then Viv, then the snake again. All versions of Viv were decapitated. Only when the body stilled and the shifting stopped did Chandra heave a sigh of relief.

Her quest was completed.

She’d saved the
Pyr
from Tisiphone’s vengeance.

She could leave Myth and the mortal realm, get another assignment.

She was shaking when she turned to Thorolf, expecting him to give her a hard time about how long she took. She was ready to give him a hard time for getting into trouble, even in Myth, probably for the last time ever, but the words froze on her lips.

He was out cold.

No, he’d been bitten.