Rise of the Firebird (8 page)

“It was. Yanka has a lot to answer for,” Anya said darkly. “I don’t know how I am going to do it but I will kill her.”

“We’ll find the answer,” Fox assured her.

“I know we will. Why would Ilya leave all of this otherwise?” Anya’s pen stopped moving. “Listen to this, ‘The visions of my mother are becoming stronger. The woman that my father described doesn’t exist. She is pitiless and calculating. I don’t know why she had me when clearly children aren’t held in any kind of esteem. If I hadn’t seen how to open and close the gates to Skazki through a vision, it is impossible to know what may have happened.’ She didn’t even show him that! She didn’t worry that the first creatures that escaped Skazki would have killed her own son.”

“She probably didn’t have the backbone to do it herself. If she left the gates weakening, eventually something would’ve done it for her.”

“She mustn’t have expected Ilya to have as much talent as he did. Yvan said Ilya always had powerful visions. By the time Yvan met him, Yanka was already presumed dead. Ilya might’ve known otherwise, but purposely kept his mouth shut so that no one would go looking for her,” said Anya and ran her hand through her fair hair. “And I was the moron who set her free. Everyone she kills now, even Trajan’s death, it’s all on me. I might not have pulled the trigger, Fox, but I loaded the gun.”

“Anya, this is not your fault so don’t shoulder the guilt. You should go and sleep. We can work on this in the morning. Off you go. I am kicking you out.” Fox took the sheets off her.

“You’re probably right.”

“You know there’s vodka in the kitchen and there would be nobody around this time of night,” Fox said as she turned her attention back to the computer screen. “I’m just saying.”

“Good night, Fox,” Anya said, “and thanks.”

Inspired by Fox’s not so subtle hinting, Anya walked quickly and quietly toward the kitchen. She’d been there a lot in the last few days because she hadn’t felt like talking to people, let alone dining with them. Yvan had tried to pull her out of her dark mood but without any success. If Søren’s memory had done nothing else, it had sparked a deep ache for Trajan. She had handled the last few months of their life so badly. Now her decisions, made mostly out of hurt, were weighing heavily on her.

The kitchen was empty and she found bottles of vodka on one of the shelves in a huge pantry. “Hello, my old friend,” she said affectionately as she helped herself to a bottle. She felt a little guilty for taking it, but there wasn’t anyone around to ask for it. There was no way she was going to ask permission from Søren or Aramis either.

She opened the bottle as soon as she was back in her rooms. She let out a long sigh of contentment as the alcohol warmed her stomach. She was going to get some sleep tonight even if she had to pass out in order to get it.

Anya fell asleep on the floor an hour later and she dreamed.

Trajan lay next to her on a day bed. They were in a classic Roman villa made of cool stone. He smiled sleepily at her.

“I was wondering when you were going to come and see me,” he said, his voice still as deep and lovely as Anya remembered.

“I haven’t been sleeping properly,” she replied as she ran her fingers through his chestnut hair. “I’m missing you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t stop them…” Trajan silenced her with his lips.

“This isn’t real,” Anya pulled away. “I’m dreaming and when I wake, I miss you all the more.” He ran his fingers along her cheeks and down her neck.

“There is a way to bring me back, Anya,” he whispered.

“No, you died. There’s no coming back from that.”

“You can walk the Land of the Dead, Anyanka. You can bring me back and we can be together again. Yanka knows how to do it.”

“Yanka and Vasilli killed you. She would never tell me the secret. It would be too dangerous to try to make a peace between us.”

“You could trade the secret for something she wants,” Trajan said as he kissed the soft skin of her wrist.

“The only thing she wants is for me to be dead.”

“No, she wants her rune stones.” Even though it was a dream, Anya felt a chill touch her.

“How do you know that she wants them?” she questioned. Something that looked like annoyance flashed in Trajan’s eyes.

“I heard Vasilli speaking of them when I was being tortured. They are very valuable artefacts. They would come to you to trade for them, my love, and then we could be together. I’m so worried about you. Are you being protected by the others? Where are you hiding from Yanka? She is so powerful, I didn’t think there would be anywhere in the world that she wouldn’t find you.”

“I’m hiding with the Álfr.” She kissed his cheek and his temple. He didn’t smell the way he used to and that made her sad. She loved the way he smelled.

“I know you are with the Álfr, darling, but where?”

Before Anya could answer, Honaw and Chayton stepped through the walls of the villa. Honaw pounced on Trajan, knocking him out of Anya’s arms. She screamed as a sword appeared in Chayton’s hand and he plunged it deep into Trajan’s chest.

“Take that, you fucking bitch,” Honaw snarled as Trajan’s body disintegrated into dust.

On an island in Saint Petersburg, Yanka woke from her trance and screamed in rage. She ripped back her clothes in frustration. Above her heart, a dark red bruise was blossoming. She cursed herself for pushing Anya too hard for information in the dream and now she was going to have to be extra cautious. She hadn’t counted on Anya’s dreams being protected.

She needed her rune stones and her knife. If she couldn’t get them through trickery or bargaining, she would get them with force. She would send Veruschka. If anyone in all of the worlds could find her troublesome descendant it was she. Wrapping herself in a fur lined robe, Yanka walked through the dark halls of her mansion. Vasilli was awake and sitting by a burning fireplace. He was scrying the flames, so Yanka sat patiently to wait until he returned to his body.

“Mother,” he said finally, “did you find her?”

“No, the Álfr is protecting the little cow. Even my powers are not sufficient enough to find them. Their shields are too great. I will send Veruschka to the America’s to find them.”

“That creature is a liability. She causes more trouble than what she’s worth. Send someone who is more discreet.”

“I don’t care for discreetness, boy. I want her causing trouble. I want them nervous and on edge. Once she finds Anya, I shall go after her myself.”

“Anya, can you hear me?” a voice called to her, ripping her out of the dream and back into her body. Yvan was crouched over her, the golden eyes of the firebird shining through his.

“Yvan?” she was shaking violently. Yvan pulled her close to him and let the warmth seep through her skin.

“It’s okay, it’s over,” he said. “Honaw jumped into my dream and woke me up. He said that you were in trouble.”

“They killed Trajan,” she said as tears stung her eyes. She could still feel the vodka churning in her stomach.

“It wasn’t Trajan, it was Yanka.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“She broke into your dreams and used Trajan’s form to try to trick information out of you.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Chayton and Honaw have been watching over your dreams. They knew that Yanka would try to get at you that way.” Anya jumped as Aramis appeared through the door that led out to the courtyard.

“What has happened? I felt your magic burn straight through me,” he said, his face distorted with worry. Anya pulled herself out of Yvan’s arms and sat up on the couch.

“Yanka tried to get at Anya through her dreams,” Yvan explained so she didn’t have to.

“What did she want?” Aramis asked gently. He sat down next to her, making her magic leap to life. It wanted to touch him but she really didn’t want Aramis to feel how humiliated she was.

“She came in Trajan’s form. I have been dreaming about him a lot lately.” Anya ran her hands through her hair. “She tried to make me tell her where I was. She wants the rune stones badly.”

“Did she offer you a trade?” Aramis asked. She looked up at him surprised. His blue eyes were large in his pale face and they made her feel like they could swallow her whole. She couldn’t lie to him when he looked at her like that.

“Yes, she did, but I didn’t tell her anything. Honaw and Chayton broke into my dream and…stabbed her.” Anya felt the vodka start to rise and she ran into the bathroom.

“Anya?” Yvan tapped on the door softly.

“Go away,” she sobbed, “both of you. Just leave me alone.” There was a murmuring of Aramis and Yvan speaking quietly before both of their magical signatures disappeared altogether. She didn’t know if that made her feel better.

“How can you be such a screw up and still breathe?” She swore at herself. Yanka had gotten at her with a child’s trick. Yanka had been dream walking for hundreds of years. Of course, she would try to get at her while she was sleeping. To use Trajan’s form of all guises made Anya’s blood boil. Her clothes were damp with sweat so she pulled them off and got into the shower. The hot water beat down on her and mingled with her tears. She had never cried so much in her life and wondered if this was what a mental breakdown was like.

After a long while, she felt herself begin to sober up, so she got out, pulled on a thick robe and wrapped her hair up in a towel. She caught her reflection in the mirror and shuddered. Not only were her eyes bloodshot from crying, but around them was broken blood vessels from vomiting so forcefully.

She was so tired but too afraid to sleep again. Yanka had offered her the secret to resurrect Trajan. Even in the dream, Anya had known it was a lie. Trajan was dead and there was no way to bring him back, no way ever to make things right between them. Yanka had dangled that possibility in front of her to find out where the Álfr were hiding.

“That fucking bitch whore!” Anya shouted as she opened the bathroom door.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Søren was standing in the doorway that led into her kitchen. He was wearing his full warrior garb and he looked alert.

“What do you want?” Anya asked as she pulled the towel off her head.

“I wanted to make sure you didn’t tell Yanka where we are,” he responded coldly. His hand was resting on the hilt of the sword he wore on his hip.

“What makes you think I would’ve told her anything?” She snapped before she could rein her temper in.

“She came to you in the form of your dead lover. If it wasn’t for the intervention of the Thunder Twins, I’m sure she would’ve been able to get anything out of you.”

“And what are you going to do if I did tell her?” A cold blade pressed tightly against her throat.

“You’ve no idea how catastrophic it would be if she found our location,” he hissed by her ear. “She’d bring the entire Darkness down upon us to find you. I’d kill you before she even had the chance.”

“Do it,” Anya whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Do it, Søren. I didn’t tell her anything but I’m still a risk to you all, so,
do it
. You’re angry enough, cold enough, and I look like her enough to fill you with revenge. All I’m doing is making everyone a target for her rage. Do it, I don’t care anymore. Better death by your hand than hers.”

“You’re actually serious, aren’t you?” Søren stepped away from her, removed the sword from her neck and sheathed it.

“Look at me, Søren. I’m no use to anyone. I can’t keep her out of my dreams, let alone kill her, even if she can be killed!”

“No one is expecting you to face her alone,” he said as pulled out a green silk handkerchief and pressed it to her throat. “I’m sorry for drawing blood. I shouldn’t have raised my sword.”

“You had a right to. If you were threatening all the people I care about, I’d try to kill you too.”

“And yet you want to die? You dying means she wins, Anya. Don’t you understand that? You’re the only thing that’s ever going to be able to stop her. Pull yourself out of your grief and think straight. She wouldn’t have gotten to you so easily tonight if you hadn’t drowned yourself in vodka. You loved him, I know, but while you are wallowing in self-pity and grief, she can find a way into your mind to try to destroy it. You’re young, you will love again, trust me.”

“Oh yes? Like you have?”

“I wasn’t young when she died, so it doesn’t apply to me.”

“Of course, it doesn’t. I’m sure you have a string of heart broken Álfr girls after you, so pick one.” She put her hand on the handkerchief at her neck so he could move his hand away. She wanted him to change the subject. She didn’t want to start crying again, especially in front of him.

“Hardly,” he replied. “They know better to fall in love with the
Dauđi Dómr
.”

“Because you’re so frightening?”

“Partly. I’ve a tarnished soul from the things I have done.”

“Human women call that ‘high maintenance’.” Anya was starting to feel edgy having him so close to her, so she moved past him and went to fill a glass with water.

“Human women don’t feel it the way we do,” Søren said from behind her.

“We can still feel it. You have this really big,” she waved her arms at him, trying to think of a way to describe it. “It’s a big fuck off or I will slaughter you aura.”

“It doesn’t seem to bother you.”

“You aren’t special. Mychal is scarier than you,” she shrugged. A small frown appeared on Søren’s face.

“The demon hunter is not all he seems,” he said. “He can’t be all human. No one has gotten the best of me like he almost did. That is why I’m the Enforcer. I am the best. Do you know what he is?”

“I’ve no idea and he isn’t forthcoming. He saved my life and the look on his face when he killed that Nehemoth was so frightening that I almost wet myself. I’m not about to pry into something he doesn’t want to share. Whatever he is wouldn’t really matter. We are a motley crew of freaks, remember? He fits right in. Besides, you are extremely old. No wonder he is better than you.”

“I didn’t say he was better than me,” Søren said as he crossed his arms.