No Rest for the Wicked (12 page)

and for the first time in a Hie, she was going to ask her coven for help. Just please don’t

let Regin answer when I call...

Kaderin heard helicopters outside, engines humming louder as their bows dipped to surge

forward. Strike hard, strike fast. Yes, that one. She rolled the parchment up and dropped

down.

Before she could leave, Riora asked, “You disapprove of my vampire knight?”

Kaderin faced her. “I’m well aware that you couldn’t care less about my approval. Or my

extreme and absolute lack thereof.” Why was Riora studying her so closely? Kaderin

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) flushed under her scrutiny. Riora had always seemed to take an unaccountable interest in

Kaderin, but this was intense.

“You seem different.”

’Cause I can freaking feel! “New haircut,” Kaderin mumbled instead. Could Riora sense

her new emotions—most particularly, her shame over her attraction to the vampire? Her

gaze darted to Sebastian.

“So, the interest flows both ways, Lady Kaderin? How inconvenient.”

“Pardon?”

Riora tilted her head and perused him. He leaned against a wall, staring at Kaderin with his

arms crossed over his muscular chest above his injuries. “Of course, if one were to be

interested in a vampire, that one you could almost justify.”

“Riora, I never said I—”

“I’m merely saying it appears as if some gods blessed my knight in form.”

Kaderin felt her expression tighten. “Did they bless your knight with a raging appetite for

blood?” she snapped, shocking even herself.

“Watch your tone, Valkyrie.” The flames hissed and swayed. “This isn’t a coffee klatch.”

Behind them, Scribe leapt back, swatting when his sleeve caught fire.

Kaderin ground her teeth, then said, “Yes, Riora.”

She sighed. “Go.” Her tone gentled. “If you win the race, you can bring back your

sisters.”

Kaderin’s eyes narrowed. “You know about them? I’ve never told you of my loss.”

“I already knew of you when they were killed.”

“If you understand how important this is, then would the incandescent Riora like to

bestow some tips on the race?”

Riora gasped, playful once more. “You treat me as if I’m a one-nine-hundred chess

helpline. I feel cheapened.” She regarded her nails. “I’ve blinded men for less.” Scribe was

again busy behind them, more tentatively dousing the last of the fires, but he paused to

nod, as if he’d definitely seen that one happen.

“I’m sorry. I should have known,” Kaderin said. “Everyone says it’s impossible to get

information out of you.”

“You’d best step lightly, Valkyrie,” she warned, but she was amused. She glided forward

to put her arm around Kaderin, startling her. Riora’s touch was warm and soft, as she

shepherded her to the side. Then, in a low tone, she said, “Here’s a hint. If you come

across the blade of the blind mystic Honorius, know that he charmed it never to miss its

target.”

Before Kaderin could ask her more about this cryptic hint, Riora turned abruptly. “Oh,

here comes your vampire. He can’t stand it anymore.”

Kaderin tried to deny that he was hers, but Riora spoke over her. “Look at him watching

you so greedily! And how arrogant his stance! What thrilling hubris—and broad

shoulders.” She gave a growl in her throat. “Shall I stall him while you leave? It won’t be

a chore.”

Kaderin pressed her lips in irritation, then felt ridiculous. She couldn’t be jealous over a

vampire. “I’d appreciate that. Though I don’t think it possible to stall him for more than a

few hours.”

“Cheeky, Valkyrie,” Riora said, her gaze never wavering from Sebastian. “You have a

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) day.”

“Vampire,” Riora murmured as Sebastian strode by. “A word with you.”

He impatiently turned to her but continued glancing at Kaderin as she crossed the length

of the temple. She met the werewolf near the arched doorway, and they had a terse

exchange.

“Relax—yes, she’s getting away from you. But then, nothing has changed since five

minutes ago, when she never wanted to see you again. So, who carved you up? Was it

that naughty red-clawed Lykae presently threatening Kaderin?”

Sebastian was going to kill him. “We had an altercation,” he said absently, beginning to

stride to Kaderin. “I must go—”

Riora appeared in front of him. “How did you find this place?” she asked, her voice

becoming more forceful. “I don’t recall sending you an invitation, neither does Scribe

here”—she snapped her fingers, and the man dropped his candle snuffer to hurry to her

side—“and I’m not certain I appreciate you crashing my party.”

“I traced here.” He had to remember he could reach Kaderin at any time. And that he had

better not anger the deity who had given him the favor of competing.

“You couldn’t ever have been here.”

Finally, the Lykae loped away. Kaderin gave the Scot a vulgar hand gesture behind his

back, then stared in obvious bafflement at her own finger.

“I traced to Kaderin.” When Sebastian saw Kaderin dig a phone from her jacket, then slip

through the doorway, he turned back to Riora with his jaw clenched. “She was my

destination.”

Riora’s lips curled as if she were delighted. Suddenly, her eyes seemed to burn. “But,

vampire, that’s impossible.”

In a distracted tone, he said, “Perhaps it was considered so before, but—”

“How did you do it?” She placed her forefinger on the altar and used it to press herself up

to a sitting position at the edge.

He hurriedly explained how the variable constraints couldn’t be separated. You couldn’t

have one possible and the other impossible when they were so similar. If it was a feat of

mental dexterity and sense-memory detail, then it followed that tracing could be taken to

extremes not seen before.

“Ut-ter-ly fascinating.” She turned to the small man, fanning herself. “Scribe, I think I’m in

love. He’s like my very own foot soldier! How shall I reward him?”

Scribe said, “To tell by his grinding teeth and bulging jaw, I’d say he has only one desire at

present.” Sebastian saw that Scribe did not appreciate his interest in the Valkyrie.

“Oh, yes. Kaderin.” Riora sniffed. “I’m jealous, vampire, and let down. And later I shall

cry.”

Sebastian sensed power in her, fickle power, and until he knew what he was about in this

world, he thought it wise to tread carefully. “I... meant no offense.”

Scribe cleared his throat, and as if the words were tortured from him, he said, “Goddess

Riora, it’s incumbent upon me to tell you that your attraction to this male is quite possible.

I daresay his winning over Lady Kaderin is, given her history, impossible.”

Her eyes widened, and she nodded sagely. “Ah, you are right. This is why I keep you

alive—”

“What about Kaderin’s history?” Sebastian interrupted.

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) Riora squinted at him as if he were a bug she’d never seen before, actually leaning her

head in closer to his face. “You spoke over me. I’ve conflicting impulses to boil you and

coddle you.”

“Goddess, I apologize,” he said, but he continued undaunted. “You mentioned her

history... ”

As though the trespasses were forgotten, she whispered in a conspiratorial tone,

“Vampires have behaved very badly toward Kaderin. And, well, you’re a vampire.”

His fangs sharpened at the thought of her being hurt. “What was done to her?”

She ignored his grated question, and asked one of her own. “Do you have any idea how

high you reach for one such as her?”

In fact, he was well acquainted with that idea. Though Kaderin abhorred what he was, he

couldn’t be more pleased with her. When she’d hopped up onto this altar next to Riora,

he’d seen that the goddess had nothing over his Bride.

Still, he raised his chin. “I have wealth to spoil her and strength to protect her. She could

do worse for a husband.”

“Arrogant vampire.” She chuckled. “She’s the daughter of gods.”

He swallowed. And that would be why she outshone a goddess.

“Still feel so confident?”

He hadn’t been before. Now he wondered if even the minuscule odds he’d given himself

were overestimated.

She asked, “Do you plan to win the key for her?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Wouldn’t want it for yourself?” she asked. “Imagine the possibilities.”

“It is hard for me to believe it would work,” he admitted. “Is there any proof it will?”

“No. I have no proof, at all.” Riora sighed. “Just the word of Mr. Thrane.”

Sebastian ran his hand over the back of his neck, but the movement made his chest

muscles scream in protest. “Then can I ask why you are convinced it will work?”

“I am convinced it will work, vampire, because it’s impossible for it to work!”

Just when he wondered if rational discussion with her was possible, she suggested, “You

should take this day to learn about Kaderin.”

This definitely struck Sebastian as a worthy plan. “I would love to, but I lack the resources

to learn anything.”

“Resources abound. Kaderin likes the now, and Valkyrie are amused with evolving human

culture. Yet you do not seem to know much about this time. Read as much as you can get

through today. And listen to the TV out of the corner of your ear.”

“TV. I don’t own one.”

“I daresay Kaderin does, and I can say with certainty that she won’t be at her flat today.”

Trespassing in his Bride’s home when she wasn’t there?

“Scribe knows her address in London .” A look passed between them, and Scribe’s pale

face seemed to darken as though flushed.

“Yes,” Scribe said with a thinly veiled sneer. “If you go there, remember that Spike TV

and the Playboy Channel will hip you to our times as well as anything. Start there.”

Sebastian would be sure to steer clear of whatever he’d just suggested. He glanced at the

door once more, though he knew Kaderin was long gone.

“Still antsy?” Riora asked. “You can trace to her at any time.”

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)

“You said there are prizes all over the world. I do not know that I can trace halfway

around the earth, much less accurately to her.”

She murmured, “It would seem impossible. But in the past, she’s always stayed on this

side of the earth at the start. Close by Europe . Low-hanging fruit. That’s the way she’s

always worked. And since dawn’s less than an hour away, you would trace to her right

into the sun... ”

Surveying his chest, she said, “Let her go, knight. Besides, you need to heal. I fear Bowen

hasn’t had all his shots.”

Trust a mad goddess and her vengeful scribe? Beggars couldn’t be choosers. And you

don’t have a friend in the world.

“Right.” Sebastian nodded firmly. “How far can she get in a day?”

13

Russian Ice Station Kovalevska, Antarctica Eight hours later

Prize: Three mirror amulets, used as glamours, worth twelve points each

V oila,” Regin said to Kaderin, pulling down her fuzzy purple scarf. “I told you I’d get

you a snowcat. I told you I had Russian connections. And what is that?” She tapped her

chin. “Hmmm. Oh, yes, let me look. A snowcat.”

Kaderin cringed at the black-market vehicle before them. This junker was supposed to

take them to the amulets closeted in the Transantarctic mountain range?

She had seen similar vehicles used to groom snow in the States. And so she was aware

that this one, purchased from Regin’s Russian connections, was... subpar.

Of course, when Kaderin had called the coven, she’d gotten none other than Regin.

Kaderin glowered at her, pulling her farther away from the five Russian humans who’d

choppered them to the abandoned station. The ex-military crew was a small phalanx of a

larger consortium that sold off military equipment for the Russian mob.

Regin had told them she and Kaderin were scientists; Regin sported disco swirl snow

boots.

Kaderin had been forced to abandon the sleek Augusta 109 helicopter, leaving it and her

pilots behind on one of the helipads of an unregistered icebreaker. Apparently, neither the

Augusta nor the pilots were comfortable flying in the extreme low temperatures here. The

Russians’ helicopter, the Arktika Mi-8, was—fitting, since it was a Cold War relic.

And now, this sad, sad little snowcat.

She’d known better than to let Regin assist her with this multi-leg jaunt, much less meet

her. Yes, Regin did have the military contacts Kaderin had known she’d need to get

south—really south. And yes, Regin had sworn she spoke Russian, which was about the

only Baltic language Kaderin didn’t have a handle on.

But the easiest way to get disqualified from the Hie was to draw human attention to the

Lore, and Regin’s utter lack of subtlety—and her glowing skin—kept Kaderin wary.

When asked why her skin was so radiant, Regin had been known to answer, “Eight glasses

of water every day. Skin polish! Fateful swim in a radioactive lake... ”

“Regin, why is the cab wooden?”

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) She tilted her head, puzzled herself, then rallied to say, “Just on the outside. Inside? We’ll